“I didn’t know if it was going to work. I thought it could.” I looked toward the tree where I had set the fallen fragments of the sedative spell. “When I found the spell, I thought maybe there would be a way for us to stop what they were doing, but I didn’t know.”
And now they were coming around. More and more of them were making noises. It was a soft and painful sound. Some of them moaned, like the first person had, and others of them growled, whereas others whined. It was a cacophony of sounds.
Barden took my elbow, guiding me away from the clearing. We stood at the edge of the clearing, watching as shifters got back up to their feet, and gradually moved out of the clearing.
Surprisingly, Jean-Pierre and the chauffeur stayed where they were. I realized I was still holding onto the barrier. What power was I pushing through it? I hadn’t triggered another spell, but it looked as if the barrier were still holding. It seemed a little surprising it would be able to hold on so long. Every time I had used a barrier like that before, it had taken a conscious effort on my part to continue to push power into it, but in this case, it didn’t seem to require a lot of strength on my part. That was surprising to me, and the longer I pushed on it, the more I felt as if there had to be something different taking place.
“Thanks for helping,” I said to John Adams.
“I wasn’t responsible for what happened here.” He said it to Barden and not to me, though I suspected he really needed to target Ariel. And I didn’t know if Ariel was even going to be willing to listen. Given what had happened, and the nature of the injury to her people, it was possible Ariel would be angry enough that she wouldn’t listen to anyone.
“Why were they here?” I asked.
“They came for something,” John Adams said.
“What did they come for?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? Or you don’t want to say? Ariel seems to think this is all about their desire to free the Great Ones.” I watched him as I said it, wondering what he was willing to reveal. There had to be something in what I said to get a reaction out of him. And by suggesting it, I didn’t think I was revealing anything to him. It would be unlikely John Adams hadn’t already considered it himself.
“They wouldn’t be able to free the Great Ones from here.”
“Why not?”
“This isn’t the right place for it.”
“Did they need something from here in order to try to free them?”
“It’s possible,” John said, frowning.
“What would they need?”
“I don’t know.”
I could tell he was troubled by that, and yet as John Adams stared around the clearing, his gaze narrowed, and he watched Ariel.
That was the key. They had come after Ariel, and she was the one who had not been here. It was because of us she had not, but what would have happened had she been here? I had to believe something dangerous would have happened to her, and yet, I didn’t know if she would have been able to withstand an attack. Ariel was powerful, and I had seen just how powerful she was, the way she was able to use it to withstand an attack. I couldn’t help but think if anyone would have been able to fight off the organization attack here, that it would have been Ariel, but maybe not. Maybe they would have known a way of overpowering even her.
“Why would she be necessary for what they plan?” I asked John Adams.
Barden frowned, watching me.
“There are many reasons,” John Adams said.
“Why don’t you give me the most important one?”
“They would need the alpha.”
“Why?”
“Because they would probably believe the alpha was the key to reaching for the Great Ones.”
“Even if she has abandoned that power?”
“What?” John Adams turned to me, frowning deeply. “What do you mean?”
“Ariel. She abandoned the power of the Great Ones. She has made it clear she wants nothing to do with it.”
He smiled slightly. “Do they know that?”
“I doubt it. I didn’t know it until just a short while ago.”
“Then we can use that,” he said.
“Why could we use that?”
“They will come after her again. If she wasn’t here when they came for her, they likely will come looking for her another time. They will think they can uncover the key from her.”
“Why just her? Why wouldn’t they go after other alphas?”
“Who is to say they haven’t?” he said. Barden frowned.
That was the key, wasn’t it? If this was all about finding the shifter alphas, then that would make sense. It left me with a different question.
I stepped forward into the clearing, looking around, waiting for Ariel. When she saw me waiting, she came toward me, and she flicked her gaze over to John Adams briefly before turning toward me. “Thank you,” she said.
“I don’t know that you need to thank me.”
“I think I do. Had I waited, or had I not allowed you to do this, they would not have been able to restore themselves.”
I looked out of the clearing, watching as the shifters departed. They moved slowly, but they were alive. I should be pleased about that. It was because of me they still did. Had I done nothing, had I not recognized what had happened, I had no idea what else might have happened.
“How many alphas are there?”
“What?”
“How many shifter alphas are there?”
“That is for the shifters to know,” she said.
“I’m not trying to get you to divulge any shifter secrets. I just need to know how many shifter alphas there are.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a feeling it matters.”
She studied me before answering. “There are a dozen.”
“A dozen packs?”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
“The packs are spread all over the world. There are several within the United States, two within Canada, a couple in Europe, and… Why?”
“How many Great Ones are there?”
“What are you getting at, Dr. Stone?”
“How many?” I asked.
“There are a dozen.”
“So there’s a Great One for each pack?”
“There is,” she said.
“Do you have a dedicated Great One for each pack?”
“It doesn’t work like that.”
“How does it work, then?”
“The Great Ones are tied to our power, but they aren’t the key to it any longer. Why are you questioning this?” Ariel asked.
“I’m questioning it because I believe they targeted your pack for a specific reason. They were after something, and John Adams didn’t know what it was.”
“That he’s telling you.”
“Fine, that he’s telling me, but I don’t believe he’s involved.” Or if he was, he was being far more deceptive about it than I anticipated. And yet, what did I know of John Adams other than a deception? I had seen it from him time and again, and so it was possible he was coming with an intent to cause harm, coming with an intent to try to find Ariel. If he was after her, and if he wanted her power, then what better way than to sneak his way into the pack?
I turned toward him, watching as I spoke to Ariel. I didn’t get the sense he was going to do anything, but I had to admit I couldn’t trust him.
But that didn’t mean we couldn’t use him. “The organization seems to think there’s something tied to the alphas,” I said.
“I’m not sure that’s accurate,” Ariel said.
“Because you don’t want to believe it, or because it’s not true?”
Ariel growled softly. “I’m not sure if it’s true.”
“Not sure, but you don’t know.”
“We don’t understand the true nature of our abilities. It’s the same as the mage council. They understand they have power, and they understand their magic is tied
to something on the other side of the Veil, but even the mages within the mage council would find it surprising they have a connection to the fae.”
“I’m not so sure they find that surprising any longer,” I said.
“Perhaps not, but despite that, they still don’t understand the true nature of their power. They don’t understand the source of it, and they don’t understand that power changes over time.”
If the organization, if the Shara and Matt Gillespie and whoever else was working with him, were after the shifters, and if they thought the alphas were the key, then that was what we had to focus on. And in doing so, we were going to have to find a way of stopping them. I wasn’t sure what it would take, or even where to start.
“Do you have a way of communicating with the other alphas?”
“I do. Why?”
“Because you need to find out if they are safe.”
“That isn’t a question one asks an alpha,” she said.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure that it matters. At this point, all that matters is to see if the other alphas are safe.”
Ariel growled softly, and I smiled at her. I could sense her frustration, but I also sensed she had some concern. It was justifiable.
“You don’t know, do you?” I said.
“I don’t know.”
“I think they were after you.”
“They harmed all of my people to come for me?”
“They would harm many others if it came down to finding power.”
“You know them so well?”
“I recognize the things they are willing to do. I have experienced them enough times over the last few years to know just how far they’re willing to go.” And having seen the way they were willing to attack, having known the nature of what they were willing to do, the extents they were willing to go to, in order to gain the power they thought they should, I couldn’t help but think they would be willing to do this. It was no different to how brutal they had been when they had attacked the hospital. They had shut down an entire hospital simply to get to me so they could draw Kate out.
And yet, that had been as much about John Adams as it had been about the organization. I looked over to him, wondering whether there was anything I could determine from him, but I couldn’t tell. We were going to have to find answers, but I didn’t know if it was going to be from him. Worse, I couldn’t help but feel as if we needed to use him for now. But I wouldn’t have to trust him. Perhaps that was the key.
I breathed out heavily, looking over to Barden, and I saw him watching me, waiting. “Send word to your others,” I said to Ariel.
“And then what?”
“And then we need to figure out what else we have to do.”
I didn’t know what that would entail, and the more I thought about it, the more I remained uncertain, but I couldn’t help but feel as if there had to be something I could figure out. If it was about finding the other alphas, figuring out what they might be willing to do, then I was willing to take the chance. And if it was about trusting John Adams, even a little, then I was going to have to decide if we were willing to do that.
Ariel turned her attention toward the clearing, shaking her head. “You trust him?”
“No.”
“If it comes down to it, I will destroy him.”
“I understand.”
“Good.” With that, she stormed off, leaving me staring after her. I couldn’t say anything, and I couldn’t help but feel as if she were doing exactly what she needed to, and yet, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had just made a mistake.
12
It was late, and the moon was out, the sky dark, and there was a certain energy in the air. The night crackled with it. The insects buzzed around us, and occasionally there came a howl from deeper in the forest. That howl sounded like it came from regular wolves, not shifters, but I wasn’t even sure if that was the case. I didn’t even know if I would recognize a regular wolf anymore.
There was a sense of energy to the air, a power, and yet there was no sense of danger. The only danger came in how long we had been taking to try to work through this. We were taking far too much time, given everything taking place.
Barden approached. I could feel him and could feel the energy that radiated off of him. He settled down next to me, looking around. “You have been quiet.”
“I’m not so sure what I can say,” I said.
“What are you worried about?”
“I’m worried about what we’ve decided to do.”
“In going to these other packs?”
“I don’t know whether Ariel is going to let us go to the other packs.”
Somewhere near me I could feel the sense of magic, and I suspected most of it came from John Adams. In the time we’d been here, he’d been using his spells, replenishing a store of coins, preparing for the possibility he might need to attack. I wondered if he would use them.
Turning back to Barden, I leaned back on the ground, looking up at the sky. It was dark, and with moonlight coming through the clouds, I was able to make out a hint of the outline of the trees around us. Not more than that. It was dark enough that the trees were shadowed from me, making it difficult for me to fully see them, and yet I could make out parts of them.
“I don’t like you being a part of this attack,” Barden said.
“I don’t know if you get to choose,” I said.
“If we go after the other packs, I don’t want you to be involved in it.”
I turned to him, smiling. “I understand you want to protect me, but in this case, I think I need to be a part of it. As I’ve repeatedly said, I have enough experience with the organization and the people within it that I think I need to be a part of it now.”
A sense of power bloomed behind me, and I span, looking into the darkness. I couldn’t see where it came from, though I could feel the nature of the power. Somewhere out there, John Adams was working on a spell. I wished I could figure out what he was doing with the magic.
“What do you detect?” Barden asked.
“Nothing more than a sense of power I’ve been feeling,” I whispered.
“You still think you can trust him?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. The shifters aren’t going to welcome us,” I said.
“Probably not,” Barden said.
“And because of that, we need others who can ensure our safety.”
“You don’t think Ariel will?”
I looked around the clearing. Somewhere nearby there was Ariel, though I hadn’t seen her a lot since we had helped save her people. She had been working with the other shifters, making her way through here, and I had not had any interest in trying to interfere with what she was doing. Ariel had been busy checking on her people, trying to reassure them.
“If we only had a few days. Why are we spending all this time here?” I asked Barden.
“We are on Ariel’s timeline.”
“We aren’t. We’re on the Shara timeline. Anything else is just delaying.”
I think that was what troubled me the most. The fact that we understood there was a timeline, that there was a coming blood wolf moon we had to deal with. And I had no idea if we were going to be able to stop the Shara. We needed to figure out what they were going to do, then what we could do to stop them. It involved me finding out more from John Adams.
Getting to my feet, I headed toward the sense of magic.
“What are you doing?” Barden asked.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “It’s time for me to get more answers.” I headed through the trees, and felt Barden following me. I wondered if he would observe from a distance or whether he would want to be with me.
It was easy enough to track the sense of where John Adams was working, and I found him leaning up against a tree, a faint light glowing around him. When I approached, he glanced up. “Dr. Stone. Barden.”
I looked back. Barden was approaching slowly, but he stayed back a few paces.
“To
what do I owe this visit?”
“We need to better understand what the Shara are after,” I said.
“I thought you had already decided what the Shara were after.”
“We think we understand, but I want to know whatever you can share with us.”
John Adams had his hands on his lap. I noticed he had a stack of coins there. It surprised me he would still use coins like that, especially as powerful as he was without them. He was a dark mage, and he would have rivaled Barden without the coins, but when he used them, he did more than just rival Barden.
“There’s not a whole lot I know.”
“Have your people known about the Great Ones for long?”
John Adams motioned for me to sit, and it took a seat across from him. I could feel Barden pressing behind me, though that was mostly from the spell he was using. Turning my attention back to John Adams, I wondered how much he knew about what Barden was doing behind us. For his part, I suspected Barden was only holding onto a spell in order to be able to protect me. I appreciated that, but I didn’t expect John Adams to attack. Not now. If he was going to betray us, there would be another time for that. I had to be prepared for the possibility, and the more I thought about it, the more certain I was that I would need to be ready for anything John Adams might do, should he find a way to betray us. Me.
And yet, when I looked at him, saw the concern etched in the corners of his eyes, and I couldn’t help but think he wasn’t going to.
“The purpose of the organization has always been to ensure safety and stability on this side of the Veil.”
“You haven’t done so as effectively as you claim.”
“You’d be surprised. Usually, there’s no reason for us to intervene. Most of the time, the magical entities which exist here take care of things on their own. I think of the shifters and the vampires and even the mage council. Most of them have ensured their people are safe and stable. The integrity of the Veil is safe and stable. They wouldn’t want to do anything to cause problems with that, and because of that, they haven’t openly operated.”
“The organization wants to keep the presence of magic a secret?”
He nodded. “There are dangers in revealing magic.”
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