Adres held his hand out and whispered for his sword on the wind. A second later, the handle slammed into his palm and ignited with an iridescent light that made the waves of heat and the putrid smoke vanish with a booming crack resounding like lightning striking concrete. Wrath narrowed his eyes as he glanced around the small cabin that appeared as if nothing had ever happened. As if he had not just brought the outskirts of the underworld into Adres’s living quarters.
“The Mother chose you as Macauley’s true mate for a purpose. You are the light of the west winds, Cavalerie. Your magic brings forth the spring greenery and ripened fruits after winter. But your curse has blinded you.” The flames in Wrath’s eyes began to cool to an ocean blue, his growly voice trailing off as he rumbled, “Remember who you are, old friend.”
Adres held his sword in front of him as if he had never seen it before.
“Go to my brother, please. He needs you.”
Adres glanced up and locked eyes with Aleksei Volkov. The blue in his irises was murky like the Devil’s Sea after a storm, and Adres could sense that Wrath hadn’t receded very far. Aleksei took Belleron’s hand and led him towards the front door. He paused just before crossing the threshold and turned to face him.
“And I don’t care if you’re my brother’s mate or not. If you ever do that to him again and leave him to die, I’ll gladly allow Wrath to surface for as long as he needs to torture and kill you, Titan of the west wind.”
Adres didn’t drop his head and continue down his spiral of despair. He could feel parts of himself that had been locked away for a very long time. Parts he thought had been severed. Adres released the handle of his Hwando, and instead of it hitting the table, it levitated in the air, its edges reflecting silvery shards of light around the room.
Adres had forgotten.
He removed his clothes and went to the westernmost part of his cabin and settled on the hardwood floor to meditate for the first time in over three hundred years. He wanted to see exactly how much of the curse Wrath had been able to demolish.
Maybe it would be enough for his beloved to forgive him.
It was almost midnight, and Macauley was still too weak to stand or shift from his wolf form. His sister and betas had shifted and curled around him as he howled for his mate. He’d seen the rage in Aleksei’s eyes before his brother retreated and allowed Wrath to go after Adres. His panic had intensified, and an agony like none other had torn through him as he was forced to listen to his mate’s screams, unable to go to him. And his betas were too enraged with Adres’s actions to go to his aid on his behalf. If Macauley had been able to communicate, he would’ve explained to his family what happened. That he should not have woken Adres the way he had.
However, since he couldn’t speak, he was forced to listen to Aleksei spill all of his and Adres’s secrets to Justice when he returned. He’d not only told them about his inability to mate because of Adres’s curse, but he’d even snitched about Macauley sending Taleb to the Monstrous Reef.
I’m gonna bite you so hard, Alek, when I’m finished healing that you’re gonna see my goddamn teeth marks on your ass for fuckin’ weeks! Macauley blared uselessly through their link, knowing they still couldn’t hear him yet.
He and Adres were so close to an answer, they couldn’t give up now because of one mistake they’d both made. He was sure that his mate was packing his belongings while Macauley was forced to lie there and recover. Was he really going to do nothing while Adres ran away, thinking he was doing what was safest?
Macauley tried to untangle himself from his betas and test his strength, but Farica nipped at his ear and barked for him to stop moving and continue to rest.
“I cannot believe you sent Taleb on that kind of mission with only his betas,” Justice said quietly as he stared out the double-paned window Adres had disappeared through without opening it first or making a single crack in the glass. “He should’ve at least taken some enforcers.”
Justice wasn’t yelling or even disciplining him for his recklessness, which would’ve been better than hearing the disappointment in his voice. “Did you not trust me as your AZ… or your brother?”
I was only trying to protect my mate.
“What if something happens to your little brother because—”
The bedroom windows rattled suddenly as though a jet had flown over too low to the ground as his cabin shook on its foundation. Farica and his three betas leapt off the bed and landed in a protective stance in front of the door. Justice’s guards who’d been stationed out front hurried inside as a gale force wind blew in behind them.