Chapter 48

Xander POV

When Ida and Diana walked out of the house, I had another sudden urge to tell them not to go to the meeting. My Lycan and I had a bad feeling about all this. Mainly with Ida smelling different. Diana had said she was fine, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t. Something in the past few weeks had definitely changed in her. Even Gideon had mentioned it to me. We both were at a loss to figure out what it was. I couldn’t believe that two prime shifters couldn’t tell what was wrong with her.

Leo came out of the house and looked at me, almost pleading with me to take him with us. I ruffled his hair and smiled.

“Keep Nimu in the house and ensure everything is ready for when we come back. The horses will need to be fed properly if we are to leave in the morning.”

Leo’s face turned bitter as he realized he would not be coming with us. He was still young, and I didn’t know what would happen on our outing. It was safer for him to stay indoors with the old wielder. He returned inside and closed the door a little too loudly.

Gideon and I followed a few meters back as the girls walked along the street. We made sure to always have eyes on them. They laughed and whispered as they made their way to the center of the city. We couldn’t quite discern what their conversation was about because the streets were filled with vendors and buzzing with buyers haggling for a better price.

Diana had mentioned that they were going to the central park near the Arcane Library. I wasn’t too familiar with this city since I grew up in Pine Lake, near Seagull’s Bay. My father hadn’t been duke at the time, and he wasn’t in charge of governing Airedah’s capital, but he had been high enough in rank to have a seat at the council table there.

I came here only a handful of times, mostly on business after the uprising. I knew the city's layout, but I didn't know where that park was located. I relied on Gideon’s knowledge of the city to move around and take shortcuts while still keeping tabs on the girls.

We eventually arrived at a nice-looking park and settled on keeping our distance, letting Diana and Ida sit on a bench. I could feel a little sadness coming off of Ida. She was looking at the trees and the fountain. I wondered why she was feeling this way.

“Gideon, why would they be sad seeing this place?”

Gideon was leaning on a tree. His hat covered most of his face, and he lifted his head to look around.

“They must reminisce about what it used to look like before Osprey put this disgusting statue in the middle of the fountain. What an asshole.”

I looked over and saw a bronze version of Osprey stepping on a shifter and a slight growl escaped my lips. Gideon was right; he was an asshole.

He whistled at me when he noticed a man walking over to them and sitting on the bench beside theirs. It was noon on the dot, which meant this man was most likely the contact they were to meet.

“I don’t like this,” I whispered to Gideon.

“Me either. Ever since you mentioned the person who came to deliver the letter had masked their scent, I’ve doubted the messenger’s intentions. They wouldn’t have masked it if they had no reasons to. I think the person knew there were shifters with Ida, and they didn’t want us sniffing them out.”

He echoed my thoughts exactly. I thought my identity as a shifter had been discovered. This plan reeked of a hunter’s ploy. Maybe we were simply on edge about everything, but my Lycan was restless within me, and I thought it best not to push him down this time. His instincts were usually spot on, and I would need to rely on him.

The man stood up, and so did the girls. They were leaving the park and going through small alleys between houses. Gideon grumbled when he guessed where they were going and frowned.

“He’s taking them into the underground sewer system. We won’t be able to follow them without him noticing us.”

“Why is he taking them there?”

“I heard that there was a chamber in there that wielders could use to perform magic without arising suspicions from hunters when the uprising started. It’s lined with a special mix of metals that blocks magic signals. I was held in one for some time after I had gotten Ida out of the city. That’s why I know of their existence. But they have all been found and are usually guarded. Why this one isn’t is extremely questionable.”

Maybe five minutes after Ida and Diana disappeared through the door, a small troop of knights single formed and followed inside. The knights were dressed and armed as if they were going into battle. I was right; this had been a setup.

Ida had become agitated, and I could feel her focusing her magic on something. I needed to find her and get her out of there. I made to move, to follow them underground when Gideon grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“There are more waiting at the top of the bridge. Look.” He pointed at the top, then near the stairs that led down the bridge to the underground entrance. “If you go out now, they’ll spot you, and they will kill you.”

I huffed in annoyance and stayed put, swearing that if Ida ever made it out of there alive, I would never leave her out of my sight again and lock her away. I hated that she always took unnecessary risks and refused to listen. Diana had been the same. I knew Ida trusted her, and she would have followed her anywhere. Diana should have known better.

“Damn both of them! What the fuck were they thinking?” I hissed.

Ida’s mark on my shoulder burned. My heartbeat accelerated alarmingly, and my knees gave out at the same time. It was like the air was sucked out of my lungs. I remembered the feeling all too well. It was the same I had experienced back in Maple when I was in the warehouse.

The earth shook, and the bridge’s structure cracked, forcing the knights to return on packed ground. Small pebbles and dust floated in the air as though nothing was holding them down.

I struggled to breathe. I felt like I was being crushed by immense power. I looked over at Gideon, whose face had drained of colours.

“That’s not good! That’s what happened back at Starling Castle.” He shouted over the rumble of the earth as he peered over the tree that had been hiding us.

The earth under my knees rolled as though we were experiencing an earthquake, and this time, the cracks on the ground deepened and then exploded outward. The crushing sensation I felt disappeared at the same time as Gideon pulled me to my feet.

“Come on! We need to help the citizens!”

Most of the soldiers had been standing exactly where the blast had happened. Some retreated over the bridge, but it collapsed, and many were now drowning in the stream's bottom. It did not seem deep, but the weight of their chainmail and armour, mixed with the drenched cotton of their cape, shirt, and pants, were preventing them from being able to stand up out of the water and breathe.

We hurried over to where civilians were running and screaming. Gideon aided a gentleman out of a pile of rubble. I ran in the opposite direction, where a child was projected from the blast. The small girl looked fine, but she was a lifeless lump in my arms as I pulled her close to me.

Shrills and screams pierced my sensitive ears, making me shake my head to lessen the vibrations in my eardrums. It took everything I had not to transform into Lycan form and dive into the wreckage to get to Ida. She had survived the blast, I could feel it, but I didn’t know how long she would have until her air pocket would be completely depleted of oxygen.

Gideon helped many people out from under rocks. Our shifter strength was an advantage for us in this situation. When we had cleared most of the street, I was distraught to see so many dead bodies that were crushed and killed on impact. Blood mixed with dirt littered the ground. It smelled awful. I still held the girl in my arms, trying to find her mother. I hoped she wasn’t one of the victims.

I spotted a small woman crying out a girl’s name, looking at every child that crossed paths with her. She saw the slumped, small body in my arms as I neared and dashed toward me. She was pretty quick despite being in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Her bump protruded under her skirt, which had been tied at the top of her swollen belly. She cried out in horror, then relief when I gave her the child, and she saw she was still alive.

“Thank you, Sir!” She mumbled through her shaking lips, cradling the tiny body over her chest.

I was going to reply when I caught the woman’s scent. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I looked at her belly and smelled again. Sure enough, she smelled exactly like Ida.

I could no longer see clearly. I ran towards the center of the blast and started digging. My Lycan claws had come out, and I clawed at the rocks and bricks that stood between Ida and me. I needed to find her. Gideon soon appeared at my side and pulled me out of the hole I had been making. He grabbed my face and looked at me in panic.

“Hold it together, Alex! You’re changing without even realizing it!”

“She’s pregnant! Ida’s pregnant. I need to get to her!” I snarled and almost bit his forearm with my elongated teeth.

Gideon shoved me down and pulled a silver chain from one of his pockets. He wrapped it around my arm, securing it tightly in place. The silver scorched my skin, countering the Lycan transition. Gideon winced as it burnt his fingers as well. My claws receded, as did my teeth, and my vision that had become blurred by my Lycan taking control returned to normal.

“Survivors are coming out from under the bridge. Let’s go!”

More city soldiers appeared and guided the folks away from where the explosion had happened, while an elite team of knights had gathered near the entrance of the underground tunnel. They were pulling out someone. I recognized the man that had met with the girls.

He removed his dirty and torn brown robe and showed his black hunter uniform underneath. It was the same as what the hunter Corbin Hawk had worn. He passed through the door once more, and this time, he emerged holding Ida, who seemed unconscious. She had blood splattered all over her face, mostly coming down her nose, and her hands were bright red smeared with dirt.

Once they took her, the group left, pushing away bystanders roughly, and headed straight for the castle gates.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you have enjoyed reading book one of this series. Looking forward to reading your comments about it. If you have loved this book, please do not forget to share and hopefully bring new readers. This is my first ever novel. It's my baby and I'm so proud to have written it. I'll give you a sneak peak at book two in another chapter. Thank you so much for making it this far and I sincerely hoped you enjoyed it!