Prologue
Dezsö
Outside, the wind was on a rampage. Laying there on the bare mattress, I could feel it push against the walls of the old Queen Anne styled house. It’s icy tendrils stealthily made their way through the house, creeping into every corner. I could smell the promise of snow on the gusts as the wind jockeyed for dominance over the house with the dwindling heat from the fireplace in the main room. The hairs on my arms stood on end with the anticipation of what the cold weather would bring with it. The rush. The energy. The freedom.
A phone rang suddenly, softly playing fifteen seconds of a longer song. I propped myself up with my elbows to focus better, curious who could be calling at this hour. I could feel the slight vibrations of Linus stirring out of his bed two floors above me. Linus answered the phone in a hushed tone so as not to wake Pilar, who shifted in her sleep beside him. I decided not to eavesdrop and went back to focusing on the wind, trying to pick up the trail of something other than a change in the weather.
The wind was too strong and only offered the stinging cold. In my younger days, I could have felt past it, could have been able to pick up the impression of some quarry the next county over, without really trying. Now, it was beginning to get harder to feel past the property boundaries the house was on. I didn’t know if that was due to age or circumstance.
As I laid back down, my hands behind my head, I let my vision blur by closing my eyes halfway. The walls creaked and groaned against the shoving of each gust, melodically. Eventually, my eyes closed all the way and I felt myself fall into an uneasy sleep.
That’s when I caught the scent. Cloves, cinnamon, incense, and sandalwood. I caught the scent of her. I could pick it out now no matter the circumstances. We were linked, she and I, to the grave. If we would be lucky enough to get there. She must have been under duress, her adrenaline levels were skyrocketing. I tried to find her, but couldn’t get a fix on her location.
I could feel my heartbeat increasing as I started to panic. The forest I found myself in seemed too thick to be any of the forested areas I was familiar with. As I knelt down, my bare feet dug into the dirt and leaves of the forest floor, I listened. I was as still as a statue, waiting for her to make a sound, nose still trained on the air to catch her scent again. I could feel my breathing start to become more rapid the longer I stayed there, felt the my wolf getting ready to spring into action and take over at the first hint of her position.
Suddenly, I was on the ground in a rear naked choke that I couldn’t get myself out of. I struggled against the unseen attacker for a few moments, confused by the lack of scent they had, when they whispered into my ear,
“When the Shadow extinguishes the Light, the Dark Brother Who Isn’t will determine which crown the Purity of Fear will wear: a veil of stars or a halo of arrows.”
Immediately, I stopped struggling. That was The Night of Shadows prophecy the voice was reciting. What was this?
The voice continued.
“Which way will she go, Brother? Full of stars or full of arrows?” The grip tightened up around my jaw and my vision started to get blurry.
“Dez. Dezsö? Hey, Dez, wake up.”
I felt a hand on my shoulder and immediately jumped awake. I grabbed the unknown person by the forearm, while sliding myself around to get my legs around my attacker. In a few swift moves, I had my supposed assailant pinned under my legs. I put a significant amount of strain on key points of the arm to make sure if the attacker tried to move, I could easily dislocate the arm from the shoulder. Or just rip the arm off all together, if I felt particularly vicious.
“Dez ... stop it, please,” the assailant gasped out as he tried to hit something with his flailing free arm.
“Linus?” I asked, confused about where I was for a moment. As quickly as I had moved into action, I released the body I had a hold of and helped him sit up. “What the hell? I was going to rip your arm off.”
Linus rolled onto his side, groaning in pain as he did. “Yeah, I gathered that.” He rolled his shoulder to work out the pain. “I’ll poke you with a stick next time.”
He laughed out. I punched him in the shoulder, playfully, but hard enough to make him wince and fall backwards onto the bed again in mock pain.
“Your Beta comes in to tell you he just got news on where those shitheel Woodsmen are keeping your mate, and you’re trying to maim him?” Linus joked as I pulled him up to his feet.
“Why didn’t you lead with that?” I growled out. I didn’t let Linus go. Instead, I pulled my Beta in closer by his forearm, my eyes quickly flashing to a feral yellow.
“Oooh,” a female voice cooed from the doorway, “now kiss, but make it quick. We have shit to take care of and don’t have time for the two of you to start getting all hormonal.” A big goofy grin spread across Linus’s face as a coat hit my head.
“There is absolutely no respect for rank in this pack at all,” I muttered as I started to get dressed.
While I laced up my boots, I looked over toward Linus and Pilar. They had already geared up and were standing with their foreheads together. I didn’t know if they were talking to each other through their mate mind-link, or if they were just taking a moment before things got going, but it made Dorián, my wolf, start to pace anxiously and gave me a hollow feeling in my chest that I wasn’t familiar with. I didn’t want to interrupt, but I also didn’t want to waste anymore time letting those faszkalap Stormtrooper cosplayers keep Isidora any longer than they already had. So, I stood up and cleared my throat to get their attention before I started talking.
“We should contact the rest of Tango Company, get the Pack ready,” I started before Pilar cut in.
“Already done. Finn and Fiona are headed here now. Durga and Siegfried are getting Sanguine and Black Bear ready. They’ve also sent out the notice to the other packs, while Kieran and Bran have started gathering as many of the other houses as they can.”
“Well, hell, baby,” Linus chuckled, as he playfully smacked Pilar on her ass. “You really under sold how much time Dez and I had to make out!” I rubbed my hands over my face in the kind of exasperation you only get from the people you love.
By the time I took my hands away from my eyes, they were already walking out the bedroom door and down the hallway toward the living room. They wouldn’t have to wait long for the twins to show up, but that wasn’t a comfort to either I nor Dorián. He was ready to end this horseshit tonight and make sure that Isidora would no longer be a pawn on someone else’s game board.
And so was I.
