Wolfsbane (11 page)

Not good. We were upwind of the Guardians.

They’d be able to smel us, but I wouldn’t catch their scent until they were almost on us.

The howls rose again, much closer.

“I don’t think we’re getting out of here without a fight,” Ethan said.

“Just keep running.” Lydia’s breath came out in white puffs.

We were closing in on the place we’d left Adne when a shadow dropped down from a tree branch above us.

Lydia wheeled, dagger in her hand.

“It’s me!” Adne held up her arms.

“What were you doing up in a tree?” Ethan asked, peering into the branches.

“Hiding.” Adne brushed snow off her legs. “I heard the howls and thought I’d better play it safe.”

“Good cal ,” Connor said, clearly relieved to see her unharmed.

“What happened?” she asked.

“They kil ed Grant,” Connor said.

Adne paled. “Oh no.”

My ears flicked up, drawn to new sounds in the woods behind us. The scrape of paws on ice. I didn’t want to change forms, so I barked at the Searchers.

It was enough.

Ethan readied his crossbow. “Adne, open a door.”

I stalked forward, scanning the forest. A flicker of movement appeared. A russet wolf slipped between the trees. My heart leapt. It was a Nightshade. Sasha

—Fey’s mother and one of my mother’s patrol mates. I dashed toward her.

“Cal a, no!” Lydia cal ed, but I kept running.

I barked again, this time cal ing to Sasha. Her form flashed between two tree trunks and I sent a thought chasing after her.

Sasha! Sasha, wait!

The red wolf wheeled, heading toward me. She was running at ful speed, not slowing at al as she drew closer, snarling.

Welcome home, Calla.

My mind reeled as her body crashed into mine and we rol ed through the snow. I twisted away, jumping to the side as her jaws snapped at my shoulder.

Stop! What are you doing?

She didn’t answer but lunged at me again, her eyes fil ed with bloodlust.

My instincts kicked in and I struck back, snarling.

My teeth sank into her chest, but the taste of pack blood in my mouth shook me to the core. Nothing about this fight felt natural. I was attacking one of my own, the mother of my packmate. It went against everything I’d ever known.

I tried to reach her again.

Please, Sasha. I’m here to help you.

I barely escaped her next strike.

Foolish girl.

The cold truth settled under my fur. Sasha was trying to kil me and if I wanted to survive, I would have to kil her. I was desperate to find another way out of this disaster.

This time when Sasha lunged, I rol ed to the side, pivoting in the snow and clamping my jaws onto her hamstring. She squealed when my teeth cut through her tendons. I tore at the muscle and she yelped again, twisting and snapping futilely at me. Satisfied that she wouldn’t be able to give chase, I released her leg and dashed back toward the Searchers. I could see the shimmering portal through the trees.

But I heard the shouts of battle as wel . I pushed harder, picking up speed.

“Cal a!” Adne waved. I made a beeline for her.

She was only ten feet away when something hard and heavy slammed into me. I rol ed over and over, breath forced out of my lungs. On unsteady limbs I struggled to my feet and turned to face my attacker.

The huge wolf’s fur was mottled gray and brown.

He stared at me, snarling.

I thought my heart had stopped as my eyes locked with those of Emile Laroche.

The Bane alpha had been hunting us.

Fear paralyzed me as events crystal ized in my mind. Sasha had been hunting with Emile. With Emile. It didn’t make any sense. Sasha was my mother’s hunting partner. She was a Nightshade.

Nightshade wolves answered only to their own alphas, my parents: Stephen and Naomi Tor.

Nightshades and Banes despised each other and avoided contact as much as they could. The packs had only ever cooperated by direct order from the Keepers.

But now Emile Laroche, the Bane alpha, was leading Nightshades. I bristled, snarling at him even as I fought my own disbelief. Everything about the reality laid stark before my eyes was wrong, unnatural. Why would Sasha fol ow Emile? Why had she attacked me? Where were my mother and father? Where was my pack?

Spittle dripped from the Bane’s jaws as he stalked forward.

Come to beg forgiveness?

My limbs were shaking.

His muscles rippled when he shook his ruff.

I think you may find it’s too late.

I growled. If Emile wanted a fight, I’d give him one, even though the idea felt hopeless—Emile had made his reputation among Guardians as a kil er.

He was an immense, powerful beast and had many more years of fighting at his back than I did.

I’m not sorry for anything.

I braced myself against the ground, waiting for his lunge. Even if I couldn’t beat Emile, I could stil make him hurt. A lot.

He crouched down, his growl almost like a throaty laugh.
That’s exactly what your father said.

My father?

I was stil feeling the shock of his words when he yelped, twisting his head to wrench the dagger from his side. He rol ed along the snow, leaving a trail of crimson in his wake as a second dagger sailed past him.

“Cal a! Get to Adne!” Lydia shouted. She was running at Emile with two more daggers in her hands.

I scrambled up, dashing toward the portal.

“Go! Go!” Connor screamed even as he tackled another elder Bane, a few feet from our escape route. Guardian and Searcher tumbled through the snow, leaving a cloud of sparkling white dust in their wake. I caught the flashes of Connor’s dagger in the sunlight with each slash at the wolf. The Bane’s fangs snapped, searching for flesh but missing as Connor twisted and writhed, keeping himself beyond the reach of its jaws. As I ran past him, he parried the Guardian’s gnashing teeth with the flat edge of one blade, deftly running it through with another. He kicked the wolf’s limp body off his sword and fol owed on my heels.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ethan covering Lydia’s attack with a suppressing fire of bolts from where he stood alongside the portal. I shifted forms, gasping for breath but needing to ask what came next.

“Come on!” An arm reached through the glimmering doorway and Adne jerked me into the warmth of Purgatory’s training room while Connor shoved me forward, both of us tumbling out of the snowy forest.

“Lydia, we’re clear!” Ethan shouted. “Get back here!” He had taken two steps toward her when four more wolves emerged from the forest, tearing toward the Bane alpha.

“Lydia!” Ethan shrieked, firing off more bolts.

She took her eyes off Emile and saw the approaching Guardians. Hurling two more daggers at the new assailants, she managed to take one down, slow another. But as she whirled and tore through the snow toward the portal, Emile sprang at her, sailing through the air.

The ful force of his leap brought her down, flattening her against the snow. The three remaining wolves reached him as his jaws locked around her neck.

“No!” Connor shouted, pushing past me toward the other side of the door. But Ethan was there, blocking his path. Ethan shook his head, then looked at Adne.

Connor swore but didn’t argue.

“She’s gone, Adne,” Ethan said, not turning to see Emile tearing Lydia’s body apart. “Close the door.”

SEVEN

TESS LAY IN A CRUMPLED
heap on the floor while Connor spoke softly to her.

“We’d better take her with us,” Ethan said to Isaac.

“They can send another Reaper out for the time being. I’l keep working point until Anika’s sorted this out.”

Isaac nodded.

As Adne wove a door to the Academy, I sat at the table, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Lydia was dead. I’d barely known her, but the way she’d died haunted me. Nausea rol ed through my gut, making me shudder. I buried my face in my hands.

I couldn’t shake the thought that I’d brought this grief down on my new al ies. Tess was sobbing, and each cry was like a razor slicing my skin. I’d run to Sasha. I’d assumed any Nightshade would be an al y. I couldn’t have been more wrong. My poor judgment had cost Lydia’s life.

Someone touched my shoulder. I lifted my head to see Adne gazing at me.

“Door’s open,” she said.

I fol owed her to the shining portal. Tess cried into Isaac’s shoulder when he hugged her, murmuring good-byes, before Connor put his arm around her waist and led her through Adne’s door.

When I passed Ethan on my way to the door, I reached out, grabbing the sleeve of his coat. I might have been wiser to pick someone else, but words wanted to climb out of my throat.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He shook my hand off, but his gaze was more sad than angry. “Don’t be. This is who we are.”

I could see that truth at work. With the exception of Tess, the Searchers shouldered their grief and moved on in a way that was brutal and beautiful.

“Send an update when you can,” Ethan said.

“We wil ,” Adne said, and gestured for me to pass her.

Anika was waiting for us. The Arrow’s eyes were fixed on Tess, who was struggling against her tears.

“Lydia?” Anika asked. Tess broke down again and Anika bowed her head.

“And our operative,” Connor added.

“Tess, you should retire to your quarters in the Haldis wing,” Anika said.

Tess nodded. When she was gone, Anika approached Connor.

“What happened?”

“Can’t be sure.” Connor rubbed the back of his neck. “When I reached the drop point, Grant was dead. He’d bled out at least an hour before. His body was already frozen.”

Anika frowned, turning her eyes on me. “And the pack?”

I shook my head, wondering if I should tel them about Haldis and my theory that the patrol routes had been shifted. About the horrible miscalculation I’d somehow overlooked. In light of what had just happened, I decided against it.

“The wolves we encountered attacked us without hesitation,” Connor said.

Working past the dryness in my throat, I said,

“Something’s changed.”

“What?” Connor looked at me sharply.

“One of the wolves that attacked us was a Nightshade,” I continued. “Not one of my own pack, but an elder. And she was being led by the Banes.”

“Are you sure?” Anika’s eyes had narrowed.

“I am,” I said, forcing my own voice to remain steady. “The wolf that kil ed Lydia was Emile Laroche.”

“What did you just say?” Monroe was standing in the doorway, Shay at his side.

Adne was already crossing the room. She put her head on Monroe’s chest.

“We lost Lydia,” Connor said, watching as Monroe put his arms around his daughter. It was the first time I’d seen them behave like parent and child.

“And it was Emile?” Monroe asked, running his hand over Adne’s hair. “The Bane alpha?”

“Yes,” I said.

The group of Searchers near Anika had closed in around her in a tight circle, hurried words in low tones passing between them.

Shay started toward me and I walked to meet him.

I didn’t hesitate when he stretched his arms out. My head was spinning. Things had happened in Vail.

Things I couldn’t understand. I leaned into him, letting his scent pour over me, steadying me.

“Are you okay?” he whispered.

“I’m not hurt.” I kept my voice low. “But things happened.”

His arms tightened around me. “What things?”

“Not here,” I murmured.

He kissed the crown of my hair.

Monroe looked at us, face grim. “We’l need to discuss this with Silas.”

Anika nodded. “He should be in his study.”

Adne had already pul ed out of her father’s embrace, wiping away tear tracks from her cheeks.

“I’l come with you.”

“You should get some rest.”

“No.” Any vulnerability had vanished, replaced by her usual rebel ious expression.

“Then I’l come too,” Connor said. He was watching Adne. I saw questions flickering through his eyes, anxious.

I wondered why he was being so protective. Adne struck me as nothing less than ferocious, and she was holding up remarkably wel considering . . .
oh.

Connor’s scrutiny suddenly made sense.

That had been Adne’s first mission as the new Weaver, her first time out with the Haldis team, and they’d lost two people. Was she real y taking it in stride like the other Searchers, or was it just for show until she was alone?

“This way,” Monroe said, though he frowned at Adne before leading us from the room.

Rather than turning down the hal , he pushed through the glass doors. The air in the courtyard was frigid, but Monroe didn’t show any reaction as he strode on the walkway. I glanced down at the barren earth. I could see twisting paths and empty fountains far below us. No one spoke as we walked. Our breath fil ed the air with tiny white clouds. The courtyard was massive. We’d walked half a mile by the time Monroe opened the doors on the opposite side of the Academy.

While the architecture of the hal way we entered mirrored that of the Haldis wing, its design was startlingly different. Haldis—from the wal s to the dark woods of the tactical room—was fil ed with warm, rich ochres, crimsons, mahoganies.