The moment his feet touched down, I leapt off him and created a distance of ten feet between us—a distance that he immediately motioned to close.
“My name is Benjamin Novak,” I said, my voice deep.
The black werewolf, along with several of his companions who’d begun to circle me, paused.
“Novak,” the leader repeated. “Are you a relation of Derek Novak?”
“Yes,” I said. “He is my father. I am prince of The Shade.”
I’d forgotten about the visit my parents and sister had made to The Woodlands during their mission to end the black witches. According to their recounting of events, they had freed a pack of werewolves from the clutches of Rhys. I realized now that revealing that I was a Novak was the first thing that I should have done.
The beasts’ mood changed drastically, and they took a step back, as though out of respect. The wolf lowered his head slightly. “Then that changes things,” he said. He looked around at the rest of his companions, who had stopped chasing Aisha and Arron by now. “After what the Novaks did for one of our packs, I say we owe it to this boy to listen to what he has to say.”
I maintained firm eye contact with the wolf who appeared to be the chieftain. “Thank you,” I said steadily.
“I want to know why you mentioned the Elders,” he said. “What exactly is the relevance of those dark spirits to your visit here?”
I steeled myself to recount my history, albeit leaving aside many of the details. I explained to them that an Elder had engulfed my heart as a newborn and created a lasting connection between us, with the intention of using me to assist them in their future resurgence.
The werewolves’ eyes had darkened by the time I’d finished. The leader’s mood changed drastically. “We may be grateful to your family for the favor they did us,” he said. “But we cannot ignore the evil that lives inside you, waiting to be unleashed. You say that you need a tooth in order for the witch Uma to disinfect you. But what if your plan doesn’t work? I don’t see a reason to not kill you right now and end this evil before it has a chance to rise…” The leader shifted his heavy paws on the soil.
Aisha swept toward me, planting herself firmly by my side. She glared daggers at the wolf.
“Just go ahead and try to kill him, wolf,” she hissed. “You cannot so long as he is under the Nasiris’ protection.”
Perhaps the leader hadn’t noticed the jinni until now, having been so focused on chasing after Julie and me in the tree. But now that he did, his stance became far less confident. His eyes darted over Aisha before he retreated a step, apparently convinced that killing me was not an option after all.
“You cannot let the Elders rise to power,” he hissed at Aisha. “Why would your tribe protect him?”
“Because he has joined our family. He is one of our own,” Aisha shot back. “One more mention of killing him, and you will sorely regret it.”
Afraid that Aisha was about to turn murderous again, I gripped her forearm.
The werewolf backed away further.
“There is much at stake here,” he said after a pause. “Much at stake…” He turned to the werewolf with brown fur standing on his right-hand side. The leader’s dark face was filled with reluctance, even as he addressed his companion quietly. “We can’t kill the boy with these jinn around. I don’t see what other course of action we have than to grant him a tooth… and hope the doctor is competent in her task.”
The brown werewolf only grunted in response, before turning and bolting away into the darkness of the woods, leaving the rest of us standing together in silence.
The leader began to pace slowly up and down in front of me. “Know that this is the first time I have ever bowed to a request from a stranger.”
That much I can believe.
His eyes locked on mine. “Make good use of the tooth,” he said, his gravelly voice intense. “Remember that far more lies in the balance than just your own life. Don’t let us down.”
I swallowed hard. Don’t let us down. As I looked into his eyes, the responsibility I carried on my shoulders sank in deeper. This wolf and every other wolf surrounding me had their own lives and loved ones. Families. Children. By the mere act of keeping myself alive I was posing a danger to entire realms filled with such lives. I didn’t want to think about how many could be affected if the Elder managed to lure me back to Cruor and bring his plan to fruition.
I nodded stiffly, even though I had no way of guaranteeing I could fulfill such a promise.
My situation felt completely out of my hands. It felt like I was relying on everyone but myself—Aisha, Bahir, Arron, the witch doctor… and before there had been River. After all the blood I’d consumed, I was unable to even stand on my own two feet without Bahir inside me, fighting a battle against the Elder’s increasing influence over me.