Chapter 8 Doubts and Destiny
DOUBTS AND DESTINY
Iexpect the inside of Mysthaven to feel like an old medieval castle with cold stone, drafty halls, and darkened rooms, but instead, it’s the opposite.
The foyer is grand yet modern, bathed in warm, golden light. Marble floors gleam beneath high-arched ceilings. Pale, smooth walls are dotted with extravagant art pieces and ornate details at every turn.
The sharp click of heels has us turning toward one of the three halls that lead into the space.
A woman with auburn hair that leans toward red looks over us, concern knitting her brow as her dark gaze settles on Griffin.
“Are you all right? Do you need me to soak some elderglow? Are they deep?” She doesn’t wait for him to answer before stepping closer, trailing her fingertips over the scratches on his torso. “What happened?”
The inexplicable rage that consumes me, making me want to rip her hands off him, is a tide I didn’t see coming. I grit my teeth and focus on not moving.
Griffin takes a wide step back, his brow furrowed as his eyes cut to me for a heartbeat before returning to her. I wonder who she is to them. If she’s his lover.
“I’ll be fine.” His tone is dismissive.
“Why don’t I make you an elixir?” she offers. “I’ll add moonberries and mead—just how you like it.”
Daire clears his throat. “Kandi, this is Brielle Breslin, the Elemental we recovered today.” He gestures between us. “Brielle, this is Kandi Dakkar, our strategic liaison officer.”
“You brought the recovered Elemental here?” Calculation and confusion color her tone.
“We discovered she’s one of our employees’ cousins.” Griffin’s lie is seamless.
“Really?” Kandi tilts her head. “You already received the confirmation?”
My pulse stutters.
Daire nods without hesitating. “That new processing system is really something else.”
“Did everything go smoothly? Any problems?” she asks.
Thoughts of the guards banging on the door of the prison, of every bone in my body splintering, flames, Griffin’s reaction, Willow being brainwashed, and me being maybe kidnapped barrel through my thoughts.
“No. It was smoother than anticipated.” Daire’s voice is smooth. Even.
Pride flashes in her eyes. “Of course. Have you completed the paperwork to set up her meeting?”
“I’ll be completing it tonight. We prioritized getting her here so she could meet her cousin.”
Kandi waves a manicured hand. “I’ll take care of it. The way you write in shorthand always confuses Bastian, anyway.”
Daire smiles, a reaction that unnerves me more than it should. “Don’t worry about it. I know you have a lot on your plate. In fact, you should take the night off. You’ve earned it.”
“I can’t. There's so much going on.” She glances at her phone. “I’m waiting for Lochlan.”
Griffin shifts back another step. “Actually, we have a Vestra meeting tonight, so you’ll have to catch up with him tomorrow.”
“Oh.” She stands straighter. “In that case, I should stay. We can touch base on—” Her focus shifts to me. “Things.”
Daire shakes his head. “It’s nothing that pertains to the Council.”
Awkward silence fills the air, only I have no idea if I’m imagining it as the others remain unmoving.
Slowly, Kandi raises her chin. “I guess I'll send him a note and expect him early tomorrow.”
Daire nods.
Her gait is rigid as she walks toward the door. The moment it shuts behind her, Daire’s hand returns to my lower back.
I hate the weight and warmth of his touch.
I hate that I don’t hate it nearly enough.
“Who was she?”
“No one you need to worry about.” Griffin presses his thumb to the new tattoo—rune—on his wrist. The imprint blooms back into existence, cutting through the other runes.
The front door opens, and I turn, half-expecting to see Kandi.
Instead, Lochlan and a tall, dark-haired man with sun-kissed skin and guarded eyes the color of pitch step inside.
He’s in dark slacks and a charcoal button-down, sleeves rolled to his forearms. He looks over my frame in two quick sweeps.
Doubt and panic steal the air from my lungs as I recall how Lochlan pinned my limbs to the bed and constricted my heart without even touching me before rewriting—stealing—Willow’s thoughts and memories.
The promise of my safety suddenly feels paper-thin.
As though he hears my thoughts, Lochlan’s head snaps up, and those unforgiving silver eyes focus on me.
The scents of cinnamon, smoke, and clove grow stronger as Daire steps closer to me.
Lochlan’s eyes flick to him. “This is a mistake.”
“We both know it’s not,” Daire challenges.
“Brielle, this is Holden Whitlock.” I don’t miss the way Griffin turns as he introduces us, shifting his body so his chest is open to me, as though ready to step between us.
Like the others, Holden towers over my five-foot-nine frame. He examines me at a cellular level, searching for each of my weaknesses and faults.
I glance at the front door behind them, the giant wolf suddenly seeming far less foreboding as I meet the fourth member of their Vestra.
“It’s impossible.” Anger flashes in Lochlan’s silver eyes, which hold so many more words than the few he’s saying aloud.
Griffin flips his left arm over, revealing the mark on his skin with the same certainty he had when I asked him how he knew I was their Mate. “Explain how she imprinted on me if she’s not our Keystone.”
Lochlan’s gaze burns hotter, fire and ice, fury and madness. “Then we’re all dead.”
Silence slices through the room.
For a long moment, no one moves. No one breathes.
Then everyone starts all at once.
“...stop being so goddamn paranoid...”
“...we knew it could be a lie...”
“...we’re so damned fucked...”
“...this isn’t safe...”
“...it’s too late...”
“We know this isn’t possible. There has to be another explanation,” Holden says above the others, his voice cutting through the chaos. “It has to be a curse or a trick.” He shakes his head. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Daire steps in front of me, his posture as defensive as the low growl he emits. “A curse? She was on fucking Earth. How would someone have cursed her?”
“Him, you prick,” Holden snaps.
Daire yanks up his sleeve, revealing the imprint etched into his skin. “Then I’m cursed, too?”
Holden’s head whips toward Lochlan, but Lochlan refuses to meet his stare, the tension in his jaw brutal.
Silence balloons, making my ears ache. I preferred the yelling and arguing. At least then, I knew what they were thinking.
Holden turns his attention to me again, confusion at war with something that looks too much like hope. “How?”
“We know it’s not possible. Can’t be possible.” The hint of defeat ghosts across Lochlan’s features as he avoids looking at me. “There has to be another explanation.”
“Then test it,” Griffin says sharply. “Test the connection. If an imprint doesn’t appear, we’ll follow your lead.”
The entire room shifts, coiling like a live wire ready to snap.
My heart is too fast and too sluggish at the same time.
Lochlan’s attention flashes to me, cold and lethal. “Not a fucking chance.” He pivots and strides out of the room without another word.
Holden pinches the bridge of his nose, tension etched into every line of his body. “If it’s a curse, it’s better that the rest of us stay clear. There could be biases or influences laced in it… or something else entirely.”
“You know that’s bullshit. When have we ever heard of a curse causing false imprints? I can sense her. Feel her.” Griffin clamps a hand against his chest. “I didn’t think it could be real, but it is. I’d bet my life on it.”
Holden’s eyes darken. “Her presence alone defies fate. If this is real—if we’ve been wrong—it could change everything.”
“It already has,” Griffin says.
Holden’s gaze flickers over me again. “Then we need to know what happens next. What we got wrong. And we need to do it soon.”
“She needs to rest,” Daire says firmly. “Chris used his power on her, and it took hours for Willow to heal her.”
I think I see a hint of horror in Holden’s expression.
“I’m fine,” I say quickly, even though I’m pretty sure fine is the last word I’d use to describe my situation. I hate that my voice is so quiet. This is the worst time and place to sound or look meek.
“Every bone in your body was shattered,” Daire argues.
“But I’m healed. Besides, I want answers just as badly as they do.”
“What kind of answers are we looking for?” The new voice, unfamiliar and mocking, draws a curse from me. I spin, hating that another person managed to sneak up on me today.
He’s massive, his chest nearly as wide as Griffin’s.
Light blue eyes stare back at me. “How Little Red couldn’t outrun the wolf?” His voice is edged with amusement.
Anger flares inside me as recognition takes root. He was the fawn—the wolf—only now, he’s a man with short hair dark as coal, dimples, and lips that are indecently rounded.
Fear staples itself to my lungs and heart.
Griffin lunges, but Holden somehow manages to get a grip on his arm, holding him back.
The stranger flashes a smile that is all teeth, but it’s gone before any cunning remark can be made. He takes three long strides to Griffin, gripping his left arm and turning it. His gaze flicks to mine.
“I fucking told you.” Griffin glares at him.
Those winter-blue eyes remain fixed on me, not deviating even as Holden suggests we go to the living room. “How?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Griffin says.
“It can’t be,” the dimpled stranger says. “I nearly attacked her. I could’ve...” He raises a corded arm, muscles flexing as he grips the back of his neck.
“You were two hundred yards away from her, and the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. Your bond didn’t have the chance to override your instincts,” Daire explains.
“But she sensed you. She went running because she recognized you were in trouble.” He turns to me.
“Brielle, this is Kai.” He gestures toward the man who nearly killed me.
The man who is the fifth member of their Vestra.
Holden blows out a long breath. “We have a lot to discuss.”
“Where’s Scarlet?” I ask.
“In her room,” Daire says. “Why don’t I take you up there? You can change and decide if you want to rest.”
“I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
Daire nods, and when Holden opens his mouth to say something, Daire cuts him off. “We’re giving her a minute.”
Griffin moves with us, heading up the wide, sweeping staircase that could easily have two more people flanking us. I stop when we reach the top, transfixed by the view of a lake and forest of fir trees dusted in snow that the giant picture windows look out over. It’s breathtaking.
“Your room looks out over the lake,” Daire tells me.
His presence reminds me why I’m here, effectively peeling me away from the windows.
The second story is as impressive and grandiose as the main level.
The ceilings are high, and the floors are a stunning dark wood with darker grains woven through, creating intricate patterns.
Grand arches entice me to wander and get lost down each long hall.
“How many people live here?” I ask.
“The five of us,” Griffin says. “The staff have their own residences on the grounds.”
Questions about finances and monetary value stack on top of the mountain of questions today has created as we pass another staircase and move beneath one of the wide arches into a long hall.
We stop at a closed door where Daire knocks with a single knuckle.
Scarlet pulls the door open, looking tentative before her gaze connects with mine and softens. “Are you okay? I can’t believe you went running after a moonstag. They’re cute, but their antlers are deadly.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. I—I think I’m hallucinating.”
She snorts. “Well, you’ve invited me to your hallucination, so let’s hope for some damn good moonberry pie.” She opens the door wider, inviting us into the room.
It’s bigger than the living room of the house I grew up in.
A large canopy bed sits against one wall, covered in a thick blue quilt and a dozen pillows that have me imagining myself hibernating in their comfort and losing entire days.
A fireplace is across from the bed, constructed of large round stones with a substantial wooden mantel, but the part of the room that catches my attention is the windows that look out over the lake and forest. It’s another stunning view of the picturesque landscape that I can’t get enough of after so many months of seeing nothing but concrete.
“Now that we’re here, are you going to explain what in the hell’s going on?” Scarlet asks.
Daire leans back fractionally, but Griffin meets her stare. “Are you a seer?”
“Intuit.”
“What have you foreseen?” he asks.
She raises her brows, almost mockingly. “If you know anything about intuits, you know we don’t prophesize.”
Griffin stares at her.
Scarlet sighs. “I sense echoes of the future, mostly my own, not visions. It’s more like shifts in energy.” She digs into her pocket. “Here.” She passes her phone to him. “I pulled up my schedule at Thornhurst since you’ll probably need it to keep all these lies straight.”
“What’s Thornhurst?” I ask, recalling Willow mentioning it before.
She turns to me. “It’s basically college. We don’t have full access to our elements until we’re twenty, so there’s a lot of Elemental training, but also philosophy courses, charms, mentorships, as well as defensive magic.”
“Is there a class for what animals will kill me?” I muse, stopping on the vase of white buds on a table beside the window.
“There’s a class for everything, but...” Her words drift off as she looks between Griffin and Daire.
“I think we’re past censoring our words, don’t you?” I ask.
Scarlet offers an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I just don’t want to overwhelm you. I still remember when I was brought to Bryxton. There are many similarities, and just as many differences.”
A soft knock on the door echoes through the room.
Griffin crosses to answer it, revealing a man with reddish hair and a wide smile, and a shorter dark-haired man with a narrow nose.
The two men step into the room. The dark-haired one carries a tray crowded with cups, plates, and food to a small table by the fireplace.
“Thanks, Lief,” Griffin says.
The dark-haired man nods as his gaze briefly strays to Scarlet and me. “Of course.”
“Lief, Edmond, this is Brielle Breslin,” Griffin says. “She’s—”
Lief catches Griffin’s left hand in both of his, staring at the imprint.
He shakes his head and turns to me, wonder and something that looks uncomfortably similar to respect shining in his eyes.
“Your Mate.” He stares at me with a sense of reverence.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Breslin.
On behalf of everyone here at Mysthaven, we’re very pleased to finally have you home. ”