31
Savannah
Three hours later, I found myself standing in front of a portal that would whip us from Magic Side and drop me straight into the clutches of the werewolf council.
Last night, I hadn’t thought that my life could get any more fucked up. At the time, I’d just been the awful bitch who’d bound her wolf. This morning, everyone knew.That, and also that I was the herald of the end times.
Was I just supposed to march in and beg for the council’s mercy?
The other option, of course, was to run. Until I crossed the portal’s threshold, there was still a way out.
The portal was in an old stone gazebo, not far from the Garden of the Wolves. The hidden doorway opened into the dark gray nothingness of the ether. No horrid gargoyles or monsters guarded the way.
It was what was on the other side that was the problem.
I nervously adjusted the backpack hanging over my shoulder. I could feel the Moon’s magic radiating off the moonstone inside, and it helped me steel my nerve. “Where does this lead, exactly?”
“The gathering place,” Sam said. “A private island in Lake Michigan. It’s a spot where the leaders of all the Great Lakes packs can meet in secret.”
Great. How convenient. No witnesses.
“How many pack leaders are we talking about?” I asked, my voice betraying a chagrining amount of trepidation. I’d assumed the council would be Magic Side wolves, faces that I knew, or at least that knew of me. Fatal assumption.
Jaxson adjusted his leather jacket and shrugged. “This was short notice, so probably a dozen. But they’ll bring representatives of their packs, so maybe thirty or forty wolves.”
That was a couple dozen more than I’d been expecting. “Is this wise? It sounds like it could go badly.”
Jaxson studied my face as if he were deciding something, then finally spoke. “I’ll be honest—maybe. Our pack lives in the city, and we’re fairly open minded. Many of the alphas in our council are traditionalists, and they’re all familiar with your family and hate them. Now that the Dark God is breaking free, they’ll be looking for someone to blame. At this point, that’s us.”
More than any of his words, the tone of his voice was what raised the hair on the back of my neck. “And yet, we’re going.”
“Fuck the council,” he snapped. “We’re trying to save everybody’s asses. We’re not going to tuck our tails. We’re going to show up and control the conversation so that men like my father don’t.”
I took a deep breath, looking for the same internal confidence. Unfortunately, the voice whose confidence I needed right now was gone, and there was only a sorrowful void in her place. My stomach tightened. While I’d lived without Wolfie for most of my life, there was no going back to that existence—not after knowing what it was like to have her as a part of me.
I needed her.
I closed my eyes as I mustered my courage. What would Wolfie say? Probably something like, Screw those guys. We fought the Dark Wolf God himself. The council is nothing. Just nip them in the butt, and they’ll go running.
Stifling a glimmer of a smile, I jammed my hands in my pockets and nodded to the portal. “Okay, let’s get this over with. Show me to the execution.”
Jaxson reached out and lightly squeezed my shoulder. “Defeating the Dark God is all that matters at this point, not being a twin-soul, not binding your wolf. We need to make sure the council understands that. We have a plan to stop him—we just need to sell it. Don’t show fear. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I studied the lines of his face. Though I could feel his confidence, I sensed an unspoken but. I was going to be fine—but what about him? Although I’d gone against his wishes, he’d stood at my side. What did that mean for the alpha? Would the pack leaders turn on him for being complicit in a choice I’d made?
My heart accelerated, and when he turned to go through the portal, I held back.
Jaxson glanced at me, questioning.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked. “Could this council of alphas hold you accountable?”
The corner of his mouth twitched up. “I’d like to see them try.”
That wasn’t a no.
“I’m worried about this, Jaxson.”
“Don’t be.” And with that, my mate vanished into the portal.
Fuck.
I sighed in exasperation, and then, with my heart drumming, I stepped through. My stomach spun as the portal sent me hurtling through the grayness of the ether.
After a disorienting moment, my feet hit solid ground, and I tumbled out of the portal into a dark evergreen forest. Tall pines loomed all around us, though I also caught the scents of beech, maple, and moss drifting through the woods. The soft wind rustled the needles and carried the sound of waves and the scent of lake water, not far off.
The calm before the storm.
Sam stumbled out after me and gave me a thumbs-up.