Davina (Davy Harwood #3)(68)

He started to pull back, but Christian covered his hand with his. It was a rare gesture, but before Roane could do anything or say anything, the Alpha Wolf pulled him in for a hug. It was brief. Each clapped the other on the back; they had come a long way. There’d been mistrust and a reluctant aligning with each other. They loved the same woman, but now they were on the same side. They had another similar enemy.

Christian stepped back. “Go get your woman back.”

Roane swallowed a lump. Davy . . . He couldn’t think about her. Those thoughts were erased and he stepped aside to face Pippa. “Thank you. I know you came to help your friend.”

Tears were trailing down her face. The younger wolf lifted a hand and wiped at some of them, but they were replaced with new tears. Roane didn’t think they would end soon, and he had to admit that he wished he could cry alongside her. Instead, he murmured, “If I can, I will save her.”

“You are lying to them,” The Immortal chided him. “You know she is lost. Do not give them false hope.”

He thought back, “They will fight otherwise. I am saving their lives.”

He waited, but there was silence from her end. Pippa hugged him, and then he left them. He walked on the same path The Immortal had gone, and once he was gone from their eyesight, he heard one last bloodcurdling scream.

The Mother Wolf was dead.





LUCAN



He stood at the highest point among the Mori lands.

The winds had shifted. What he thought was his greatest enemy was now his greatest ally. Another Mori came to stand beside him and he spoke, knowing it was Jiyama’s father, “The thread has become her own entity.”

The elder Mori glanced at him. There was a pause and the air was heavy with tension. It was known that Jiyama was gone. Her body was never found. None sensed where her essence was, and stories of how another Mori was killed at the hands of The Immortal had spread fast. Another Mori witnessed the murder, but he had retreated to share the information. He hadn’t engaged. When the rest of the Mori realized their new danger, a council had been called. Warriors were placed near the outer edge of their land to report back the events that were unveiling beyond their river’s boundary.

Lucan heard about the transformation, and he was told how The Immortal had seemingly cast a spell over his brother.

Jiyama’s father, Jeoji, asked, “What will happen now?”

Lucan grunted. “If I had to guess, my brother’s friends will want to come here.” Jeoji turned to him, but Lucan added, “We created this. We unbalanced the thread inside of her. They’ll want us to help fix it.”

“We?” A warning growl. “You created this problem. We had nothing to do with this.”

Lucan turned and faced the Mori’s leader. They were face-to-face, eye-to-eye, and while one held all the power and magic of a Mori vampire, the other was more dangerous. Lucan was human. He remained in his weak vessel because of one thing: the thread. He wanted that thread inside of him, and he knew that he would be told of visitors traveling their way. What he predicted would come true. His brother’s friends would seek him out, and he would help them because at this moment, their wishes co-aligned. All of them wanted The Immortal contained. Afterwards, that was another issue, but he said to Jeoji now, “Do not play the ignorant fool. I was one of you. You and your men traveled with me in search of the thread. You and your men, my brothers too, helped me capture my brother’s lover. You have known since the beginning my wish for the thread. It is why you allowed the child to come into this clan. Do not act innocent. You have shed blood, just as I have.”

Jeoji was older, wiser, but he knew Lucan spoke the truth. Blame fell on his shoulders, perhaps more because he never stopped this one. “My daughter loved you.” He let that sentence hang between them. His daughter, who was missing. His daughter, who had been so curious about the thread-holder. His daughter, who would never leave without telling him or her mother. His daughter, who he thought would marry this man standing in front of him.

His regrets were deep, and he added one more to the pile. He pulled his robe tighter over himself and glanced to where the war was still going on. “We have heard their screams. We can smell their blood. We can even feel their pain, and all of them were wiped out by one being that we set free. Capturing The Immortal is on our shoulders. We will assist you by whatever means you find necessary. That creature must not be allowed to remain alive.”

There was an unspoken message between them, and Lucan accepted it. There was no proof, but Jeoji suspected him of his daughter’s death. They would help him take The Immortal down, but afterwards he would be cast out. It was the way of their clan. He’d be exiled once again, but it wouldn’t matter.