Chapter 12
RHYS
Iwore a track into the wooden floor that was probably going to piss off whoever cleaned this place. Not that I cared right now.
Logan was talking—continuing our interrupted meeting like a proper alpha, trying to make sense of Eve’s vision, of her pregnancy that wasn’t, of the curse that had wrapped itself around Orion’s throat for generations. And we had the topic of our new arrival to discuss.
Correction, arrivals.
All very important pack business that required my full attention.
Too bad my brain had other ideas.
She’s not secure.
The thought hammered against my skull on repeat, drowning out every word coming out of Logan’s mouth. The restless energy that had been clawing at me since I’d tackled her in the woods had sharpened into a sword. A sound inside me grated with each passing second. Thoughts of her grew urgent.
Like she was calling to me.
Sable was on the other side of the town, guarded by Blair and Killian, probably plotting seventeen different ways to escape while they stood there thinking they had everything under control.
Idiots.
They had no clue what they were dealing with.
None of them did. The way she’d moved just before I tackled her—too fast, too controlled.
The way her scent had hit me right in the solar plexus and scrambled every rational thought I’d ever had.
The way she’d looked at me with those pale silver eyes that seemed to catalog every weakness I’d ever tried to hide.
Dangerous. She’s fucking dangerous.
My wolf couldn’t decide if that meant we should be running toward her or away from her. Which was a problem, because usually we agreed on the important shit.
Ours to protect.
Protect the pack, I communicated.
My wolf was getting more insistent. I felt it in my bones, getting stronger by the minute. Whatever spell she’d cast on me was tightening its grip.
“… the bloodlines might be the key to understanding why…” Logan’s voice drifted through my awareness, but every instinct I had was screaming that I needed to be somewhere else.
Watching her. Making sure she didn’t disappear into thin air or whatever she did to get past our perimeter.
A sharp pain suddenly struck my chest. I pressed my hand against my ribs and frowned. What the hell was that?
“Rhys,” Logan’s voice cut through the air. “You with us?”
I blinked, realizing everyone in the room was staring at me.
“Yeah,” I lied. “Just thinking.”
“About what?” Logan crossed his arms, and I recognized the stance. Big brother mode activated.
About how something is very fucking wrong. The pain in my chest pulsed again, and with it came a wave of… fear? Panic? It wasn’t mine. I was sure of it.
“Pack security,” I said instead, fighting to keep my voice steady. “Making sure our newest arrival doesn’t cause any more problems.”
The pull was getting stronger, like invisible claws dragging at my insides. Whatever she was doing to me—some kind of Heraclid mind trick, maybe—it was working. My wolf was pacing, agitated, demanding we move.
She’s mine to watch, to make sure she doesn’t do something reckless.
I shook my head hard, but my wolf wanted to go, to be near her. It had to be to keep the pack safe. From her.
That had to be it.
Logan exhaled, clearly deciding to let my attitude slide. “Eve thinks this… whatever it was… this phantom pregnancy is a sign the curse is weakening.”
“Or getting stronger,” Kenza cut in, her tone flat. “We don’t actually know, do we? We’re talking in circles, Logan. And could Eve’s health be at risk now? We can’t gamble with that.”
Eve’s gaze flicked to her, but she didn’t reply.
Another wave of foreign emotion crashed over me. Desperation. I gritted my teeth, my hands curling into fists. What was she doing to me?
Raina hummed, tapping her fingers on the arm of her chair. “The curse is bound in blood. That part has been clear from the start. The question is—whose blood?”
“Mine,” Eve said. “I had a vision when I first arrived. In it, I knew my being here created a chain of events that led to the end of Orion. I saw it. It’s because I let Logan claim me and because I took the role in the pack at his side. It’s because I—”
“It’s never been that simple.” Anwen shook her head. “Your vision, child, wasn’t just about you. It was about the pack. About Orion.” She looked at Logan. “About the blood that came before, and now your blood mixing with theirs. And about the blood that is currently lost.”
I stiffened, but not just because I knew she was talking about my brothers. The sensation in my chest was getting worse. It was trying to rip me apart from the inside.
Logan frowned. “You mean the twins.”
Anwen’s silence was answer enough.
A chill crawled through me. The lost threads. That was what Mariyah had said, wasn’t it? That Orion wouldn’t find peace until the lost threads were woven back together.
I could barely focus on the conversation. I could feel Sable like she was right there in the room with me, wrapping around my mind like smoke.
Anwen continued. “I’ve been reading the stars and the skies. From what I’ve seen, it comes back to bloodlines. Where there are bloodlines, there are bonds. And we’ve seen how bonds can become bloodshed all too quickly.”
Silence settled over us all.
“Bloodshed,” I spat, trying to push through the haze clouding my thoughts. “Thanks to Grayson. And how did we end up there?” I looked at Logan. “Who sent you to him as if you were a lamb to the slaughter? Sable set you up. She’s somehow involved in what’s happening to us, I know it.”
Logan exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “A curse bound in merging bloods.”
“We have to weave the threads back together.” Raina’s lips pressed together. “As Mariyah said.”
No one needed to say it out loud.
Wyatt and Nash.
I turned toward the door before I could stop myself, my feet itching to move. My wolf pacing beneath my skin, restless and angry. The pull was so strong it was like a physical rope around my ribs, dragging me toward her.
I needed answers. I needed to know why Sable had thrust the image of my brothers at me. She obviously knew where they were. And I needed to figure out what the hell she was doing to my head.
I tried to shove down the wildfire that was burning in my chest. “It’s her,” I said, forcing the words out through gritted teeth.
“Sable is tied to this. I have to interrogate her.” My fingers shifted into claws without my intending it.
My wolf wasn’t going to take being in the backseat for much longer. “It has to be me.”
Because whatever spell she’s cast, I’m the only one feeling it.
Logan’s shoulders tensed. Eve’s fingers twitched in her lap. Raina exhaled slowly, and Anwen looked down at her hands. Even Kenza, who always had something to say, was uncharacteristically silent.
I narrowed my eyes. “What? Why are you all acting like that?”
No one spoke. The quiet stretched until finally, Raina moved. She adjusted her posture, folding her hands in her lap, and then she looked at me.
“Sable,” she said, her voice measured, “may not be what you think.”
I barked out a laugh as another wave of emotions that weren’t mine crashed through me. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. She’s got some kind of fucked-up power, and it’s messing with my head.”
Raina didn’t flinch. “There are greater forces at work, Rhys. Forces that were released the moment Logan and Eve formed their bond. Forces that are stirring, shifting things that have long been dormant.”
Cold slithered down my spine, but I ignored it. “Meaning?”
“Forces that reach into blood and bone. That move unseen until the moment is right. That call to things”—she glanced briefly at Eve—“and prepare them.”
Eve stiffened. Logan’s hand instinctively went to her arm, but she didn’t lean into him. Instead, her fingers pressed against her stomach, a slow, unconscious motion.
Preparing.
My pulse kicked up and a hot, frustrated snarl built in my throat. My skin was too tight, my wolf pacing, clawing, demanding I do something instead of standing here, drowning in riddles.
“I don’t have time for this,” I growled. “I’m telling you—Sable is a part of this. You all see it, you just won’t say it. And whatever she’s doing to me, it’s getting worse.”
Eve’s gaze flickered to Logan. Anwen sighed. Raina exchanged a glance with Kenza.
And then Kenza rolled her eyes and pushed off the wall. “For fuck’s sake.”
I turned to her. “What?”
“You’re an idiot,” she snapped, stepping closer. “You’re standing here, fists clenched, veins popping like you’re two seconds from shifting, and you still don’t see what’s right in front of you.”
I gritted my teeth, my body vibrating with the effort of keeping myself steady. “Why don’t you enlighten me?”
Kenza scoffed, eyes flashing. “Apparently, you’re the only dumbass in this room who hasn’t figured it out.”
Logan stood with alpha speed and clamped his hand around my arm. He tugged me toward the next room as Eve followed, but Kenza wasn’t done.
“This is a waste of time,” she called after me. “Are you going to listen finally, or should we keep pretending you’re not losing your damn mind over her?”
I snarled over my shoulder, my wolf pressing too close to the surface. “Shut the fuck up, Kenza.”
“Make me,” she shot back.
I tried to lunge, but Logan yanked me through the doorway before I could get any closer. Eve shut the door behind us, sealing us in the smaller space of what had once been a study. “Take deep breaths, Beta. You’re losing control.”
I barely heard her. My breathing was too fast, my skin too hot, every muscle in my body vibrating. The pull was so strong now it was like something was trying to drag my soul out through my chest.
I couldn’t be here. I had to find her.
“I have to go,” I said quickly, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. “She’s not secure, Logan. You don’t get it. I have to make sure she’s under control.”
Logan crossed his arms, jaw tight. “Rhys—”
“It’s all wrong,” I barreled on, wiping sweat from my forehead. “I can feel it. She’s doing something to me, some kind of spell or—I don’t know what it is, but it’s butchering me.”
Logan took a step toward me.
“Killian and Blair might already be compromised,” I continued, pacing. “I’ve seen it before. Wolves falling under her charms. She’s a fucking menace, Logan, and if they so much as touch a hair on her head,” I growled, “I’ll rip them to shreds.”
“Rhys.” Logan’s voice was sharp, cutting. I barely heard him.
“She’s not normal. We have to—”
“Rhys.”
I kept talking, words tumbling, my pulse beating like a marching band in my skull, my wolf pacing, shoving at me to move, to go, to find her, to—
“Enough.”
Logan’s voice crashed over me like a thunderclap, laced with the full force of an alpha command.
The change was instant.
My wolf—who had been clawing, raging, screaming for control—stilled. And submitted. His tail gave a slow, gentle swish, ears flicking forward in quiet obedience.
The tension in my body evaporated like mist in the morning sun, leaving nothing but a strange, empty calm. The pulling sensation faded to a dull ache.
I exhaled, slow and controlled, then straightened, swallowing hard. “Shit,” I muttered. “I-I’m sorry.”
Logan watched me, his expression knowing. “It’s normal,” he said simply.
I looked up at him, my breathing still evening out. “What?”
He tilted his head slightly toward Eve, and the hard alpha edges in his face relaxed. “I felt the same way when I found my fated mate.”