Page 24 of The Tracker's Revenge
“It’s an area on the border of Maine and New Brunswick.”
“Ah.” That made sense. I tried to remember what I’d learned about those packs in school, but it wasn’t much. Mostly what I remembered had to do with the way colonists had treated them from the beginning. Stale religious zealots who thought all Skews were abominations of nature persecuted them and kept trying to eradicate them from their own lands. Even to this day, when Stales and Skews got along almost everywhere else in the world, over there, it was an open war for our kind.
I thought for a bit more about her answer, then asked, “When you sayPack Rule,you don’t only meanthisPack Rule, right?”
She nodded.
“So all the Pack Rules from all over the world meet here?” I glanced around at what was still nothing but a corridor leading to who knew where.
As we went, the torches behind us went out with awhoosh, while others ahead of us came to life.
“Neat trick that one,” I said nervously, feeling as if I were going down the gullet of some huge dragon. Maybe we were on our way down to his tummy where his digestive juices would turn us into... well, more juice. I shuddered.
“There is no reason to be afraid,” Yura said in her melodic, accented voice. “You’re quite safe here.”
It didn’t feel that way at all, but I tried to trust her.
After a ten-minute walk, we arrived at another dead end.
“Pardon me.” Yura gave a light bow, walked past the others, and, with a wave of her hand, opened the passage to reveal what looked like a grand hall in some medieval castle. We all stepped through another threshold that felt similar to the last one. If before we’d left “Kansas”, now it felt as if we’d left not only our state but our... time. And no doubt the passage had been nothing but an in-between.
The space where we found ourselves was large, surrounded by stone walls hung with ancient banners depicting coats of arms embroidered in fine thread. There were hundreds of them, each a different color and design, but all sporting some sort of wolf. A massive round table sat in the middle of the room. It looked heavy and ancient.
Jake joined his grandfather as he waved him toward a purple and gold banner. “This is us,” he said in a reverent tone.
Jake stared up at the banner, his features solemn, awed. A pang of envy ran through my wolf, making me aware of her presence as something separate. It was a conflicting feeling that I didn’t like at all. Lately, the wolf and I had been one. But here and now, half of me coveted that sense of belonging that shaped Jake’s expression. It was something I would never have.
I had no pack.
I was a lone wolf.
Toni Lone, they would call me.
“What is your line?” Yura asked, stepping up beside me and gesturing toward the banners. “I can help you find it.”
“Thank you, but I don’t have one.” My voice came out with a lot more bite than I intended it to, and, of their own accord, my eyes flicked in Travis Hillworth’s direction.
My momentary error was not wasted on Yura, who also glanced toward Travis and, after examining his face, seemed to reach the right conclusion. Had she detected some sort of resemblance? No! I refused to believe I looked anything like that butterface.
I bit my lower lip, cursing myself for being so transparent. Would she say anything?God, I hope not.My only goal wasn’t to get rid of the dagger but also get out of here without giving anything away to that indecent man.
Tearing my gaze away from the banners, I inspected the rest of the space. I approached the table. It had enough chairs to accommodate thirty people. The face of a snarling wolf with jeweled eyes was etched in its very center, inlaid in different wood colors, and contained in a circle. Stars and moons surrounded the wolf, and runes followed along the circular pattern. It was a work of art, unlike anything I’d ever seen.
A fresh scent of pine and resin blew in from the corner, drawing me there. Wooden shutters lay open around an arched window edged with stones polished smooth by time and the contact of many hands. I rested my fingers lightly on the sill and glanced out into a navy sky bathed in moonlight and peppered with brilliant stars. I could make out the shape of large mountains in the distance, their outlines darker than the firmament above.
Where the hell were we? The other side of the world? It must have been for the moon to be out. It had been 3 PM in St. Louis, so... Unless this was only an illusion.
A chair scraped loudly, bringing my attention back to the center of the room. Travis was unbuttoning his jacket and sitting at what some might consider the head of the table since it faced the door we had walked through.
“Let’s get this over with,” he said, pulling on his cuffs as he made himself comfortable.
My alpha instincts bristled and so did everyone else’s, judging by the way their expressions tightened. Jake rolled his shoulders as if to ease his desire to punch Travis across the jaw. I didn’t want to brawl, but if he did, I would gladly join him.
I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the dagger in my pocket. At least I could agree with him on one fact. We needed to get this over with.
