Chapter 10:Blood and Secrets (ii)

How long do I have?" I said.

"We don't know," she said. "Could be weeks. Could be less."

I nodded slowly.

Selene was very alert inside me.Like a wolf who has just heard a twig snap in a quiet forest and is orienting herself toward it.

*Then we don't waste time,* she said

I couldn't sleep.

I lay in my bed with my father's letter folded on my chest and the moon shinning bright through my window and my mind running through everything Mira's words, my mother's words, the order, the bloodline, Kael in the moonlight saying things in that are strange 

Then I sat up 

Selene had gone rigid.

*Someone is outside,* she said.

I was at the window before she finished.

I pressed myself against the wall and looked through the gap in the curtain carefully.

The pack grounds were dark and still.

Except there was a figure.

Tall and broad standing completely still in the shadow of the trees with his arms crossed and his face turned toward my window with a stillness that was not accidental 

I knew that stillness before I even fully made out the shape of him.

I knew it the way Selene knew Storm's voice. Without needing proof.

Kael Dawnridge was standing at the edge of the Ironveil Pack grounds in the middle of the night.

Looking at my window.

*He came back,* Selene breathed.

*Why?* I asked.

*Ask him,* she said simply.

I should have stayed inside because I had just discovered I was being hunted by a secret order of wolves but instead I grabbed my shawl and went outside.

He heard me before I reached him.

Of course he did. He was an Alpha. His senses were sharp and he had clearly been paying very close attention to this particular cottage for longer than I wanted to think about.

He was different because last night he had been warm and careful in a way that had made me feel safe. Right now standing at the border of my pack's territory in the dark with the moonlight carving his face into shadows

"You shouldn't be here," I said.

"I know," he said.

He didn't apologise. Didn't shift his weight or look uncertain or offer an excuse. He just stood there and looked at me like I was exactly what he had come to see and he was not going to pretend otherwise.

"Then why are you?" I said.

He was quiet for a moment. 

"Storm wouldn't settle," he said. "He has been pushing at me since last night. Since the forest." . I even tried sleeping but he would not let me .His eyes moved over my face slowly. "He kept pulling me back in this direction. Toward this pack."

"Toward you."

*Storm,* Selene said softly inside me.

*Selene,* Storm said.

Selene made an attempt to growl .

*Don't,* I told her.

*I am not doing anything,* she said, 

"Your wolf speaks to mine," I said.

"Yes," Kael said.

"Across pack lines??

"Yes."

"That has never happened before in recorded wolf history."

"I am aware of that."

"And it doesn't frighten you?"

He looked at me steadily. Like he was sure of what he has in mind to say 

"Many things about this frighten me," he said. "That is not one of them."

I looked at him.

"I found out something tonight," I said carefully. "About our bloodlines."

His eyes sharpened immediately. That total focused attention snapping into place like a door locking.

"Tell me," he said

I should have found it irritating.

 But I didn't.

"Two hundred years ago," I said, "when the Alphas were hunting the Moon Witch bloodlines one wolf helped hide the last survivor. Protected her. Smuggled her north and kept her safe when everyone else was trying to destroy her." I held his gaze. "That wolf was a Dawnridge."

The stillness that came over Kael was total.

Not surprise exactly. More like recognition. Like a piece of something falling into a place that had been waiting for it.

"Aldric," he said quietly. "My ancestor."

You know the story ??

I was shocked and sad because I just got to know about it 

" Yes ,I know that story," . "It is the oldest story in our pack history. Every Dawnridge child grows up hearing it. A wolf who chose honour over hierarchy. Who gave up everything to protect someone the world had decided didn't deserve protecting." His jaw tightened. "I grew up being told to be worthy of what he did."

He looked at me

"So our bloodlines have been connected for two centuries," he said.

"Yes," I said. "The moon has been circling us toward each other for a very long time."

"And now she has brought us here," he said. "To this moment."

"Yes."

He was quiet for a bit.

"There is something else," I said. "Something you need to know." I steadied myself. "The order that hunted the Moon Witches two hundred years ago. They never stopped. They are still active. And they know the seal broke." I looked at him directly. "They are looking for me Kael and don't know how much time I have."

"Who knows about this?" he said.

"Mira. My mother. Now you."

"Damien?"?

The name landed between us like a small sharp thing.

"No," I said.

"You are not safe here," he said. 

"This is my pack

"You are not safe here," he said again 

This time I fully understand that what he said was the reality of things, Because I am am omega with a waking Moon Witch bloodline, a secret order hunting her and an Alpha who just rejected her in front of everyone and is now engaged to someone else." His amber eyes came back to my face. "That is not a safe situation Lyra."

I opened my mouth

Because he wasn't wrong and I knew it.

"I can protect you," he said. "My pack, my territory the Dawnridge lands have kept this secret before. We know how." "But I will not force that choice on you. It is yours to make."

I stared at him.

At this man I had known for less than twenty four hours who was standing in the dark offering me his pack's protection like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

"Why?" I said.

He looked at me for a long moment.

"Because Aldric made a choice two hundred years ago," he said quietly. "And I was raised to be worthy of it. "And because Storm has been losing his mind since last night and frankly so have I and I think we both know this is not nothing."

The tension between us was very tense 

"Tomorrow," he said. "Meet me at the eastern edge of the Ashwood. Noon. "We have a great deal to talk about."

Before I could answer a sound came from the pack grounds behind me.

We both heard it.

Kael's eyes snapped past me. Every part of him went on alert quiet and total and very slightly terrifying in the way that powerful things are terrifying when they stop being careful.

I turned.

The pack grounds were dark.

Empty.

But Selene was pressed hard against my ribs and she was not relaxed.

*Someone was there,* she said.

*Where?*

*Near the eastern longhouse.*. *Lyra. They smelled like cedar and cold iron.*

My stomach dropped straight through the ground.

Cedar and cold iron.

 That is Damien.

"Go," I said quickly. "Kael you need to go right now."

He didn't move immediately. His eyes were still on the shadows of the pack grounds with that cold focused Alpha attention and I got the very distinct impression that Kael Dawnridge's first instinct was not to retreat from anything.

"Kael."

His eyes came to my face.

"Please," I said.

Something shifted. He looked at me for one long second at whatever was on my face right now and then he nodded. Once.

"Noon," he said. "Eastern Ashwood."

"Okay," I said.

"And Lyra." He was already stepping back into the trees. His amber eyes held mine from the shadow. "Lock your door."

Then he was gone.

Swallowed by the forest like he had never been there at all.