Wolves’ Bane (22 page)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Venturing into the Woods

An hour later, my arms felt like rubber and my hands hurt like hell. Lance had given up on the treadmill long before and was busy running through katas with his sword.

I unraveled the tape from my hands, noting with dismay how red and swollen they looked. I’d beaten the shit out of the bags all right, and now I needed some ice to ease the pain.

I watched Lance’s graceful movements as he thrust his sword in a slashing arch before ending the kata. “Can I ask you a question?”

He glanced over his shoulder, an eyebrow cocked as he slowly relaxed his final pose.

“Can you tell me where the lunar eclipse battle is going to be?” Cal was supposed to have told me but after the fight, I hadn’t really wanted to ask him.

Lance blew out a long breath as he sheathed his sword and laid the scabbard in the weapons cupboard. “Cal hasn’t shown you yet?”

I shook my head. “There’s a bit of a trust issue, you know? I have some trouble trusting a man who has vowed to kill me.” As much as I wanted to believe that Cal was acting purely on his sense of duty, that didn’t mean I accepted it. The more I thought about it, the less it made sense. I was still very hurt that the Order came first. After what he’d been though, losing his own mother in the same way—which I’m sure hurt like hell—I couldn’t imagine him wanting to do it to his own Huntress.

Lance pursed his lips and rolled his eyes. “So melodramatic. You know that Cal wouldn’t hurt you.”

“Wouldn’t or won’t?”

Lance shook his head, his playful expression gone. “He loves you, Morgan.”

I shifted my eyes to the floor. A deep burning pain ripped through me at his words and tears welled in my eyes. I fought for control, pushing away my pain. I’d cried enough tears over Cal, and I certainly wasn’t going to do it in front of Lance.

I steeled myself as I snapped my eyes back to his. “Are you going to take me to the battle ground or what? I want to see it before the shit hits the fan tomorrow.”

Lance contemplated me for a moment, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he thought. Then he turned back toward the weapons cupboard and grabbed his sword again.

“Yeah, I’ll take you out there, but you’re bringing these.” He turned toward me with the
sai
and their sheaths.

I took them from him, fitting the waist holster on as he’d shown me to do.

“And you’re going to wear this,” he added as he grabbed a bundle of cloth from the top shelf and handed that to me too.

“What?” Before I could finish the thought, I remembered. It was the cloak that Cal had made me wear when he first found me. The one he explained would keep me from Lazarus’s awareness. Before, when I had touched it, it hadn’t seemed like anything special—just a huge black cloak. Now as I held it, I felt the magic running through its fabric, pulsing on my skin as I reverently smoothed my hand along one of its folds.

“We have to go into the forest, so if you don’t agree to wear it, then I’m not going to take you.”

I nodded as I let the cloth unfurl, sweeping it around and over my shoulders until it settled there like a comforting shield. I closed the clasp at my throat and involuntarily remembered the last time Cal had done the same thing. How his fingers, brushing my skin, had sent shooting tendrils of desire through my body. And once again I was surprised by how much I mourned his touch. How much I missed him.

Lance nodded at me, his lips set in a grim line. “Ready?”

I nodded, my heart kicking up as apprehension took over. “How pissed is Cal going to be that we’re doing this?”

Lance rolled one of his massive shoulders back. “He won’t be mad if he doesn’t find out.”

I shivered at his words, somehow knowing Cal would find out and that he would be beyond angry. “How dangerous is this?”

Lance blew out a long breath. “Lazarus’s wolves don’t like the sunlight. They can and will venture out during the day, but the sunlight weakens them. It’s different for every pack, but each and every beast is at the mercy of their alpha’s cycle—whatever he can do, they can do. For Lazarus and his black as fuck soul, he and his pack can change at will but are strongest at night. Daylight disorients them and they usually lay low. With the cloak on, they shouldn’t even know you’re there, so they’d have no reason to track us.” He paused, glancing toward the door before returning his gaze to me. “But we don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Or we could find Cal and bring him with us if that would make you feel better.”

I rolled my lips, pressing them together as I thought over his suggestion. Cal hadn’t come to get me, hadn’t wanted me to see the battleground. I knew that for certain, otherwise he would have done so already. But I needed to see it. I wanted to have some sense of familiarity before the big fight, get to know the landscape a little. I felt in my gut that doing so was important.

“No, I want to go now,” I said as I walked past Lance to the door. “And I don’t want Cal coming. I’m not ready to face him.”

Lance followed after me with a small chuckle. “Well, you’re certainly not going to want to face him if he finds out where we’ve gone,” he muttered.

A chill ran through me, but I didn’t stop. I needed to see the battleground, and Cal be damned, I was going to get out there before I had to face off with the King of the Beasts.

Five minutes later, we stood just at the border of the forest near the house. I felt the dread of stepping beyond the protective barrier like an icy hand curled around my gut. Cloak or no cloak, I wasn’t one hundred percent okay with venturing into the forest.

“You sure about this?” Lance turned to look at me, his brow furrowed.

I swallowed my fear, forcing myself to give a strong nod, but not trusting myself to actually speak.

Lance eyed me for a moment longer, assessing my face, before he finally turned toward the trees. “Put the hood up. You need to be completely covered. And get your weapons out. Stay close to me.”

I nodded to myself as I quickly did as I was told, raising the cloak’s hood until it fell over my head, then unsheathing the
sai
and holding them ready for attack.

He moved closer to the trees, motioning for me to come to his side. Once I did, he glanced at me. “Be ready for anything. They can’t hear you, or see you and if they stumble upon me they’ll think I’m talking to myself. But if you take off that cloak, they’ll catch your scent in a matter of minutes.”

I gave a jerky nod as my heart thumped wildly in my chest. “How far is it?”

Lance shrugged as he stepped past the border of the property. “Far enough that we’ll be in trouble if they attack.”

A chill swept my body as I followed him, casting fearful looks at every shadow I could see. Lance’s words comforted me somewhat. They couldn’t see me while I had the cloak on, but what if they attacked him? Would I not have to reveal myself then?

And then another thought dawned on me. “Cal’s going to use me as bait isn’t he?”

Lance shot me a frustrated look but said nothing.

I pursed my lips as I rolled that thought in my head, my mind quickly connecting all of the information I had about the battle. “That’s how this battle is gonna go down, isn’t it? I mean, why else would Lazarus willingly expose himself on the night he’s most vulnerable? You Hunters are going to bring me out to the battlefield with the cloak on, get into position and then make me take the cloak off, aren’t you?”

Lance’s shoulders stiffened. “Yes. That’s the plan.”

Great, so now I’m bait and dead meat.
“Assholes.”

Lance snorted a laugh but didn’t answer, allowing me to stew in my anger while we trekked through the woods. I was so intent on mulling over my thoughts that I didn’t notice until sometime later how deep into the woods we actually were, how far from the house we had traveled. With quick glances over my shoulder, I realized that there wasn’t exactly a trail to follow, either. If I lost Lance, I’d have no idea how to get back.

At the sound of a branch snapping I glanced over my shoulder again, only to come barreling into Lance’s back. He grunted as he turned to steady me, holding my arm with one hand while he raised his sword with the other.

“We’ve got company,” he whispered as he motioned for me to stay quiet and move to his side.

I darted my eyes around, unsure where to look and not hearing what Lance was clearly listening for. I gripped my
sai
tightly, ready to launch an attack, my gut clenching and beads of sweat breaking out across my forehead.

I wanted so badly to ask him if he thought it was the wolves, knowing that getting that information wouldn’t necessarily ease my fear, but it would prepare me for what I was about to face.

Lance motioned toward the line of trees in front of us and then for me to stay as he slowly began to circle around, clearly planning to catch our predator from behind once it broke through the trees.

Another series of branches cracked, echoing through the forest around me. My stomach pitched as I spun in a slow circle, straining to see—to hear—what was coming for me. The cloak acted like a blinder, blocking my peripheral vision and making me feel all the more vulnerable even though it was meant to protect me. I wanted so badly to rip it off but knew better. I had no interest in becoming wolf meat.

Lance disappeared around a clump of trees, leaving me with my growing sense of doom. Chills of fear ran from the top of my head to my toes as I clenched my weapons tightly.

Another branch snapped and I spun, nearly screaming as I raised my
sai
to launch.

“What the fuck are you two doing out here?” Cal hissed as he barreled into the small clearing.

I stood frozen, my arm raised with my
sai
, and my stomach roiling.
Oh shit.

“Busted.” Lance groaned as he moved out from the clump of trees and stood by my side.

Cal’s chest was heaving with his anger. “I asked you a question,” he hissed again as he took a step closer to me.

I jerked my eyes from him to Lance as I slowly lowered my weapons. “It was my idea.”

“I don’t care whose idea it was. I want to know why you’re here.”

Lance stepped toward him, his hand out as if to touch his arm, but one hard look from Cal had him stepping back to his place at my side. “She wanted to see the battleground and since you seemed to be too busy to do it…”

“I would have shown her,” he growled as he turned his hard look on me.

I folded my arms, staring back at him unflinchingly. “You can be mad at me if you want, Cal, but I think I have a right to see where this battle is going to happen. Considering that I’m the one who’s going to be used as bait and all, it’s only right that I at least know where it will be.”

Cal frowned as he looked over at Lance who had such a cocky smirk on his face that I was worried Cal might rev up and pound the crap out of him again.

“She has a point.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Cal growled as he turned his gaze back to me. “You’re not bait.”

I rolled my eyes and snorted. “Yeah, okay. So what do you call dragging me out to the middle of the forest and then removing my cloak to let the wolves get a whiff of me? I think that sounds like bait. Here, wolfie, wolfie, wolfie, lunch is served.”

Cal shook his head. “It’s not like that.”

I pointed a
sai
at him like it was an extension of my finger. “You know, Cal, I’m starting to realize that you and your Hunters are just a bunch of chauvinistic pricks who undervalue your Huntress’s role. You take us for granted, lie to us, mislead us, and then use us as bait before killing us…if it all suits your plan. And if all goes well”—I shrugged—“well, then you just fuck us to your heart’s content.”

Cal flinched at my crass words. “It’s not like that, Morgan.”

I shrugged again before turning away from him. “Whatever. So what, did you follow us out here? Are there security cameras in the trees or something?”

Cal blew out a hard breath. “No, I didn’t follow you. I was already out here.”

I turned to face him again, my eyebrows raised.

“Were you etching out here?” Lance asked as he sheathed his sword.

Cal nodded. “Just making some last marks around the battleground.”

I stepped closer to them. “What?”

Cal motioned over my shoulder. “The battleground isn’t far from here. We might as well go there since you’re out this far anyway.”

I started off in the direction he pointed, ignoring the gnawing fear of what lurked in the shadows.

“You should have brought her out here sooner,” Lance mumbled from behind me as we weaved around the trees toward the large clearing.

We broke free from the tree line, and I gasped as the magic Cal had etched washed over me. He’d laid it on thick, obviously intent on giving me as much protection as he could.

I turned toward him, my eyes wide. “What have you done here?”

Cal shrugged as he nodded toward the center of the clearing. “They’ll come and they won’t be able to leave. The battle contains them here. Including Lazarus. He won’t be able to escape—it’ll give us a better chance to stop him if…”

“If I betray the Order,” I mumbled, shifting my eyes away.

Lance stepped to Cal’s side. “Hey, I’m going to take a run around the perimeter just to make sure there isn’t a wolf lurking. Don’t want them figuring it all out before tomorrow.”

Cal nodded as he shifted his gaze to trail along the tree line. “Good idea.”

I followed Lance’s form, watching until he disappeared into the trees, but I didn’t turn to face Cal once Lance had left. Instead, I stared straight ahead, my eyes riveted to the center of the clearing. “So this is it?”

Cal stepped to my side.

“This is where I’m going to die?”

Cal moved to drape his arm across my shoulders, but I flinched away, shifting a few steps to put some distance between us. “Morgan, you’re not going to die.” I could hear the desperation creeping into his voice, wanting me to believe him, needing me to believe that I would win this battle.

“Won’t he detect your magic?” I waved my hand around. “Won’t he feel it?”