Chapter 33

Damien

After deflecting Erik’s questioning about the events of the previous evening, we briefly discussed business, confirming a few shipments, and setting up a time for me to come visit my center in their territory.

After we ended the meeting, I asked Rolf to follow up with our allies in the South, but to do so carefully, reminding him that the packs needed to believe whatever lie Iceclaw was peddling about Katla’s death. Their lack of technology in the Southern packs was really a hindrance.

I walked out looking forward to being punched in the face by a waft of Lavender, Eucalyptus, and imminent snow, but I found that is was dissapating, like it was being siphoned down a drain.

I ran up the stairs to the room where she had been, but she wasn’t there. I followed her scent down the hallway past the art that some human interior decorator had hung and down the stairs.

I walked past the living room, to the entryway by the elevator. On the table was the letter from her father. It had been crumpled from being squeezed, and when I picked it up her mother’s necklace was shimmering underneath.

How had I missed seeing this last night? This necklace confirmed everything. She was the prophesied princess, Lycan heiress of the Moon Goddess, the bearer of the moon and night flame. And she was my betrothed fated mate. Here, on the table, was the drop of moonlight, gifted to the first wolves from the Goddess. I held it up in to the light and felt Sargon awaken. Did she really not know what this was?

I grabbed the necklace and carried it back to the office. Rolf was still working on his plan for meeting up with the packs and connecting with his contacts, and he looked up and gasped, seeing the Moonstone dangling from my hand.

“Is that…?” he breathed. I nodded.

“Can I…?” he asked, in awe. I held it up for him to see, and he walked over.

“Goddess,” he said in a hushed, reverent voice, “How could she not know what she holds?”

“Fate will take care of everything,” I said. “Give it time. Also, her father left her this.” I said holding up the letter.

“Does he tell her?” Rolf asked.

“I am going to give Katla her privacy. It is not for us to read unless she offers it.” I walked the necklace and letter to the safe and locked them in, making a mental note to get the night flame diamond from the room to put in the safe, too. “What I do need you to do, though, is get with our restorers and see what we can do with this.” I handed him Lucian's Will, “Something tells me this is going to be important.”

“I have my scouts leaving for the Southern packs. I’ll let you know what I find, but it may take a little while,” Rolf reported. “As for this,” he held up the Will, “it may take a little longer. It’s very deteriorated.”

“Thank you for trying. Would it really be that hard to put cell towers in the Southern territories?” I asked, “Speaking of cell phones, Katla needs one. I can’t find her, but I smell Clarissa’s scent and her scent by the elevator.”

I messaged Peter to come with a phone for Katla, then called Clarissa. “Goddess, please let me be right about where she is,” I thought. I wasn’t used to caring about where someone was, but at that moment, it was all consuming. Once we were marked, we would always know, but it was going to be a very long two weeks waiting. “We could just do it early,” Sargon whined. He was becoming more impatient than I was.

“Good Morning, Mr. Silverburn,” Clarissa answered. I could hear sounds in the background, people talking, and the hiss of steam. They must be in a coffee shop.

“Is Miss Iceclaw with you? She’s not here, and she didn’t tell anyone she was going out,” I gave way too much information. “You’re being pathetic,” Sargon teased.

“Yes—“ she started.

“Oh, thank Goddess. Are you far? Where did you take her?”

“The Roaming Bean—“ she said. Of course she took her to The Roaming Bean. I should have told her to avoid wolf establishments until everything was sorted. “This could be bad…” Sargon chimed in again. “This was easier when you slept,” I said back to him.

“Can you bring your coffees back to the tower? Peter is coming with her phone. I would feel better if she didn’t go out until she had one.”

“No problem. We’re on the way back now.” As soon as she said that, I clicked end, and went to pace by the elevator.

As I stalked, I thought about the events leading up to now. I ran my hand through my hair. Life had been so unfair to Katla, and all I wanted to do was protect her while she learned her truth. “What is taking so long?” Sargon growled.

I checked my watch. It had been 10 minutes. 10 miserable minutes of pacing and worrying about her on the human streets. Finally, I saw the elevator illuminate, telling me that it was ascending, and as I heard the familiar ding, my heart swelled, willing Katla back into my arms.

The doors slid open, and “Oh, Peter… thank you for taking care of that so quickly. They should be back any moment.” The doors slid shut again.

I pulled out my phone and found Clarissa’s name again. It went to voicemail. I called again, and the same thing happened. Sargon came awake, his heckles were raised, “Our mate is in trouble. We need to go find her now.”

“It’s been 11 minutes, it takes longer than that to walk to Roaming Bean, right?”

“For us, no. Katla is not safe. She doesn’t know who she is, but others sense it.”

Sargon was right. Since we had been here, he had woken up, as had Rolf’s wolf. If she went to Roaming Bean, she would have been around other wolves. She also didn’t know that Viti had been saying she was dead and that alliances were shifting. She wasn’t safe, and she needed me.

“I’ll be back,” I said to Peter and hit the down arrow to call the elevator. It took impossibly long to come.

I was ready to pounce on it and felt Sargon willing himself to shift so we could find her faster. The doors slid open and I was hit with lavender, eucalyptus, and snow. I pulled her into my arms and glared at Clarissa.

“We’re sorry that it took a little longer than it should have.” Katla explained, “It got a little weird on the walk back.”