Chapter 30: Infected

I'm not certain who summoned them, but the air around me bursts with blue fire, Enforcers flooding the throne room. I feel Femke's magic in the forefront, her worry for me fired with anger. When I look up from Sage's pain-filled face, I see Gwendolyn and Finlay hovering next to Maks and have my answer. My friend has made sure I won't stand here alone.

Isabelle has also come, the darkness allowing the vampires to join us, but I don't have time for Sunny and Sebastian, or for anyone but Sage. He holds himself rigid in the hands of the Dumont brothers, his eyes never leaving mine, though I can tell from the flashes of agony on his face the bite causes him great pain. I need to go to him, to protect and heal him if I can, while my logical wolf tells me such a thing isn't possible, I'm far too late to save him. But the urge is overpowering and only the weight of my grandfather's disapproval holds me in place, still pressing the files Femke gave me to my chest.

"What is the meaning of this?" Oleksander surges from his throne, rage now aimed at Femke. "You were not summoned here, Council Leader, nor were the vampires."

Femke isn't one to start a fight, her mild nature more diplomatic. But she's full-on angry herself, and as her magic crackles around her in blue flames, I feel my grandfather back down slightly.

"This issue affects us all," she says, voice cold, her ice-queen persona back again. I should resent her need to protect me, but instead I welcome it, if only to keep Sage safe for a few minutes longer. I know what's coming for him and I'm helpless to stop it.

"Council Leader Svennson is correct." Sunny lends her own coldness to the conversation. Frank has come with her, his handsome face worried under his shock of blond hair. He reminds me of Syd suddenly and I hatch a desperate plan in my mind to save Sage if I can.

Darkness erupts, Piers appearing next to me, one hand protectively gripping my elbow as the tunnel seals behind him. His grim expression tells me he regrets what's to come, but won't help me. No one will. What Sage is becoming is against the law.

I hope I'm wrong. There's one person who might take my side, though I hate to drag her into this.

"Perhaps someone should examine the young man before we jump to any conclusions?" Sebastian's smooth voice cuts through my desperation.

Oleksander shakes with anger, but he nods once, eyes on Piers. "If you think it necessary," he says. Could my grandfather want to help after all? I can't allow hope, not while they are all intent on writing Sage off completely.

Piers leaves my side, crosses to Andre and the boys. Caine's smirk doesn't lessen. If anything, it only increases. He has something to do with this. For all I know, he's the one who bit Sage in the first place.

He winks at me the moment the thought crosses my mind.

And my heart. Stops.

He did it. He bit Sage. And he wants me to know it.

Which leads me to the obvious belief Caine and his pack are the source of the revenants now plaguing Eastern Europe. But why? If they are revenants themselves, if they are successful versions of new werewolves, why are they still experimenting?

Maybe they can't make more themselves. My mind is spinning with possibilities, anything but my need to focus on the danger Sage is in. Piers lays a hand on Sage's arm, his right, while Jean Marc scowls at the young sorcerer. I see my friend's shoulders sag slightly as his dark magic slips around Sage. My love gapes at me over Piers's shoulder, obviously aware of the magic if unable to see it himself. I know he must be full of questions, but I credit him for holding his tongue while Piers examines him.

Blond hair shivers down his back, his greatcoat swinging at his feet as Piers turns away from Sage. His gray eyes slip across mine with sympathy before he looks up to meet Oleksander's waiting gaze.

"He's infected." Those two words, spoken so softly, start the beginnings of a whining wail deep inside me. I clutch at the paperwork in my arms, needing something to hold onto as Piers steps away, coming to my side again. He tries to touch me, but I finally move, dodging out of his reach while Caine laughs out loud at the sigh that carries from all the weres in the room.

There was no doubt Sage is infected. But hearing the words spoken seal his doom.

"There is little question here who is responsible." I sway as Andre speaks up. Could he actually turn in his own pack? Or does he have other plans? It's possible I'm wrong, that Andre and Caine aren't working together after all, but it seems unlikely.

Jean Marc shakes Sage a little as my love tries to jerk his arm free. "Agreed, Father," he says. "Charlotte Girard has purposely infected her little playmate," again with the shake, "in the hope she and her normal can be together."

I did what?

Rage surges, my wolf trying to show herself, but I hold her back, not wanting Sage to see her just yet. There will be no illusions for him any longer, no hiding what I am, but for this moment, while he stares at me with a pleading look of frustration mixed with pain, I want him to remember me as I am, not as a monster he will surely perceive me to be.

"I have no idea what's going on here," he says, voice level and calm despite the dangerous situation he finds himself in. "But I'm a US citizen and you can't hold me against my will." There is bravado in his voice, but I know he's afraid, I can smell it on him, though perhaps no one else can. I do know him better than anyone here.

"You have no rights," Oleksander snaps. "If you speak again, normal, I will have your tongue torn from your mouth."

He'll have to kill me, first.

Femke has clearly had enough. "Let the boy speak," she says, the full push of her Council power behind her words. "We must get to the bottom of this before anything can be decided."

"His fate is already assured," my grandfather says. He pauses, eyes finally meeting mine before he grumbles something I don't catch. "Ask your questions, Council Leader. But his life is mine."

Femke ignores him, though I am well aware it costs her to do so. She wants so very much for all of us to work together, to tear down the walls between all races, to bring magickind into one happy family. I fear she will fail this time, her ideals too bright and shiny for the pathetic mess of the wereneations laws.

Sage nods to her, clears his throat. More of his fear shows, probably because of my grandfather's words. He thinks he's become embroiled in the Russian Mafia's business, or some other mortal threat. He has no idea what he's truly facing and I only wish I could warn him.

"I'm staying at a hostel in Milia," he says, his voice carrying despite his anxiety, clear and deep. "I went for a walk this afternoon to check out some ruins." That part could be true, the countryside is littered with abandoned villages and even the odd Roman settlement recovered by archeologists. "I was on my way back to town when something attacked me. A dog, I think."

"Or a wolf?" Femke's voice has softened, her sympathy for him obvious now. She might not know what Sage means to me, but she's certainly garnered enough from Jean Marc's little speech. I don't want her sympathy, though. I want her to take Sage away from here and protect him from my grandfather and the laws of my people.

Sage frowns, head bowing as he thinks it over. "Or a wolf," he says. "But wolves don't attack people."

Normal wolves don't, it's true. But wait. "You're sure it was a wolf?" Not a werewolf?

Sage nods to me, green eyes dark as he winces against Kristophe's cruel grip. The younger Dumont brother winks at me as I grind my teeth and imagine his death. "I had a good look," Sage says. "Definitely a dog shape." He seems confused by the question.

So does Femke. Is this possible? Her mind is churning under her contact. I thought weres could only turn part way?

It's true, I answer her, even more shaken than ever. We are unable to take full wolf form. To do so would mean the loss of our humanity.

So could we be dealing with a revenant who has somehow managed to make it into full wolf shape? She turns to my grandfather before I can answer and addresses him. "Can you explain this, Your Majesty?"

Oleksander waves it off. "He's a normal," my grandfather says. "His mind cannot grasp what he truly saw. Which means it adapted and made up the pure wolf form."

While I know it's possible, Sage is much more aware than that.

"With all due respect," he speaks up, "I know what I saw. Your Majesty." The title he adds as if by afterthought, but it comes out with respect behind it. I only wish it could make a difference.

"This is irrelevant," Caine speaks up at last, his tone almost lazy, bored. "And our conversation on the matter doesn't change a thing."

I hate him with my entire being as I turn and stare, knowing what he intends, unable to stop it, stop him, finally throwing myself into the only plan I can conceive of. The one plan that will put more people I love in danger.

All for Sage. He's worth it.

Oleksander hesitates and for a moment I wonder if my grandfather feels pity for me, for the normal I love. Regardless his feelings, he nods quickly and sits down on his throne while Femke and the vampires wait for him to speak.

I feel as though the room is suddenly empty, that it's just Sage and me and no one else. Until my grandfather breaks my illusion.

"You are correct, Pack Leader Caine," Oleskander says. "We will investigate this attack," he bows his head to Femke and acknowledges the vampire leaders the same way, "but no matter the outcome of that investigation, the fate of this young normal is sealed."

Sage looks panicked, his eyes locked on me, struggling against the Dumonts who just hold him tighter. I betray him by standing there and doing nothing, heart a trembling bird beating against my ribs, waiting for my moment to act. I hope he knows I will never abandon him, but from the desperate expression on his face he already senses what's coming.

"I'm sorry, boy," Oleksander says, his power ebbing and I feel then he truly means it. "But the law is clear. You will be imprisoned until that time your infection makes itself manifest. And, when it does, you will be executed as a revenant and burned to dust to prevent the spread of your disease."



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