Breathe, Ruby, breathe.
I sat on the bed and lowered my head between my legs, steadying the rising panic. These questions needed to be discussed with Ash—calmly. I couldn’t solve all our problems in a few minutes, alone.
You love him, just let it go.
I moved, lying back on the soft coverlet. I looked up at the ceiling, noticing the ornate plaster work creating intricate floral patterns, each leaf and vine weaving in and out of one another. I traced the patterns with my eyes, finding the action meditative and soothing.
I did love Ash.
I could say yes, and see where fate led us. Or I could say no, and spend the rest of my life regretting the decision, every day wishing I’d had the courage to submit to the unknown and had enough faith that our love would hold me steady through the journey. I could throw myself into work, my heart slowly hardening, forgetting what it felt like to love and be loved.
I had a simple choice to make, and suddenly the answer felt glaringly obvious.
Derek
As we journeyed to our destination, we navigated a route that avoided the main roads and thoroughfares which had once been heavily populated—as evidenced by strange hoof tracks and footprints—in order to ensure we remained unseen. We tried to stay under the cover of darkness, as best we could, tracking our route so we remained beneath the patches of sky that had been torn, only showing the pinpricks of stars in the night sky. The good news was that the werewolves were also exposed to a near constant moon, which enabled them to transform.
We had been traveling for an hour before the dragons, and some of the Hawks—Field and his brothers included—stopped us. They had flown on ahead and discovered another deserted castle, one that was fully intact this time.
“Do we stop?” Lucas suggested. “It might be worth exploring—if it’s still standing it might give us some better clues as to the types of creatures we’re dealing with.”
“I agree, let’s look into it,” I replied, halting the team and changing our direction—veering north instead of east. It wouldn’t delay our journey by much, so long as we didn’t run into any trouble.
Soon we were following a muddied track, which had clearly been used recently—and by a very large group; there were hundreds of footprints and more of the strange hoof markings.
“What happened here?” Sofia wondered as we walked into a large clearing, a white stone palace in the distance. “It doesn’t look like the earthquake damaged it…why would it just be abandoned like that?”
“It looks like it’s been empty for a while,” I replied, noticing the decay of the building as we moved closer; two walls on the lower levels had been almost completely blown out.
“Derek, Rose.” Micah ran up to us. “The kids have been here too. I can smell them. I think recently. The scent’s much easier to pick up.”
Rose looked around worriedly, assessing the damage of the palace—no doubt trying to imagine what could have happened, wondering whether Hazel and Benedict had been hurt in any way. Claudia pushed her way through the group, followed by Ashley, demanding that Micah direct them to where the scent was strongest.
“Rose.” Sofia placed a reassuring hand on our daughter’s arm when Rose didn’t join them. “This is good news—if the scents are fresh then it increases the likelihood that we’ll find them.”
Kira caught my eye, then nodded her head in the direction of the forest that surrounded us. My adrenaline shot up uncomfortably. If the werewolf wanted to speak to me away from Rose and Sofia, then I doubted that she had good news to impart.
We made our way out of earshot. Thankfully Rose, at her mother’s urging, was heading up toward the palace, along with the rest of the GASP members.
“Derek, there’s something I wanted to say, but not in front of Rose,” Kira whispered, keeping her voice low. “It’s Hazel. Her scent has completely changed. She’s definitely still alive,” she hastened to add, noticing my look, “but there’s something different about her—and I don’t know what it is…like her genetic make-up’s changed somehow…. but I thought maybe you might be able to prepare Rose in some way. If her daughter’s different.”
My stomach tensed. “And you can’t tell what it is? What the change might be?” I urged.
The werewolf shook her head, blonde curls bouncing.
“I’m sorry, I really can’t tell. It’s just not…human.”
I nodded, grateful that Kira had told me alone.
“I’ll have a word with her,” I promised.
The werewolf nodded before making her way back to Micah.