What They Dug Up

What They Dug Up
Kane

The council chambers reeked of dust, ink, and death. A thick, sour tang that settled into my lungs and made anger rise like bile. Their authority had been a lie, and their corpse had been left to rot in the dark corners of the mountain they thought they owned.
Their chairs still sat around the long table, pushed back as though they’d return any moment to argue over decrees. They wouldn’t. My dark Luna made sure of that. The air still remembered their screams. Yet for all their silence, the room stank of cowards, greedy shifters who thought they could bend the world to their will.
And buried among their records, among their lies, sat a black stone that dared to whisper to my mate.

A rock. That was what it looked like when I touched it. Cold. Dull. Silent. But when Amelia laid her hand on it, when her storm stirred, it breathed. It called her “mine.”
My teeth clenched until my jaw ached. Shadows stirred under my skin, restless, eager.
Nothing in this world belonged to her but me.
I prowled the shelves, pulling down scrolls and ledgers until the dust coated my fingers. Most of it was useless. Lists of trade tariffs, long-forgotten names, arguments about pack boundaries.
Then something thin and brittle slid loose from the back of a ledger.

A scrap of parchment, edges torn, half folded over itself. I spread it on the table and studied the jagged scrawl. Not a proper map, just a hurried sketch. The mountain range, crude circles, a mark scratched in the southern flank. Beneath, words half-scribbled out.
Excavation site.

I traced the letters with one finger, rage pressing sharp behind my ribs. The council had been digging, and whatever they unearthed, they dragged here.
My shadows coiled tighter, cold and cutting. They had brought this thing close enough to touch her. They’d made her stumble into it, lose herself to it, believe she was unraveling like every cursed storm weaver before her.
I crushed the parchment in my fist. My pulse hammered. I wanted their corpses back just to kill them again.

“Fates, you brood louder than you breathe.”
Nathan’s voice rang down the hall, careless, too bright against the heavy air. He leaned in the doorway, arms folded, watching me with that grin that made most forgive him his mouth.
I didn’t look up. “What do you want.”
He sauntered closer, swaggering easily, eyes glinting with amusement. “Heard you’ve got a talking rock. Should I be worried the mountain’s going to whisper sweet nothings to me too, or does it only flirt with your Luna?”
My shadows stirred sharp. He caught it, raising his hands in mock surrender.
“Kidding,” he said quickly. “Mostly.”

I ignored the jab, turning back to the shelves. Silence stretched long, but Nathan only dropped into one of the empty council chairs, sprawling as if it were his living room.
“Truth is, I came for advice,” he said finally, grin dimming but not gone. “Ruthanne. She keeps pulling away. I try jokes, charm, and patience....nothing works. This bond is supposed to feel like fate, right? Except she looks at me like I’m another chain she didn’t ask for. How the hell did you handle Amelia, back when she hated your guts?”
At that, I did look up.
“I didn’t give her the chance to run,” I said flatly. “I made it so leaving wasn’t an option. If she fought, I fought harder.
Nathan blinked. “Romantic....but she did leave you remember?”
“Yes, I also went after her and brought her back. I didn’t give up and whine about it either.”
“I’m not whining.” Nathan scoffed, his boots on the table, his hands behind his head as if the blood everywhere was as normal as the dust forming.
“I gave her gifts. Try gifts.”
His brow rose. “Body parts, Kane....you gave her pieces of others. That isn’t normal behavior.”
“Doesn’t matter. She stayed. That’s all that matters.”
Nathan scrubbed a hand over his face. “So your advice is… give her something unforgettable. Doesn’t matter if it’s horrific, as long as it ties her to me.”
“Yes.”
He barked a laugh, half-horrorfied. “You terrify me. And I confess I’m weirdly impressed.” He sobered. “But how do I do it without scaring her away entirely? Ruthanne’s got scars and the kind of guilt that bleeds into everything. How do I make her see I am the only shifter she wants.....needs?”
“By making sure every crossroads bears your footprint,” I said. “By making the cost of leaving unbearable....so unbearable she can’t even imagine it. Not by locking doors she can break, but by holding her so tight in the dark that the world outside becomes smaller, emptier, more dangerous. Leaving had to cost more than staying ever could.”
He sat back, thinking, a look of worry bleaching his grin. “You make it sound violent.”
“It is.”
He adjusted in his seat, gaze flicking over the scrolls. “Never thought I’d catch you elbow-deep in books. Didn’t think you could read anything that wasn’t a territory map.”
I arched a brow.
He smirked. “So what is it? You sound the words out slow, or just pretend until Amelia claps for you?”
I growled, he laughed, unbothered.
“I read to her,” I said finally.
That shut him up.
“When she couldn’t sleep,” I continued, voice low. “When the nightmares had her shaking apart. I read until her breathing steadied. Until she dreamed of something better than fire and rapids.”
Nathan’s grin faltered into something softer. “Didn’t think you had that in you.”
“You don’t know the half.”
And I didn’t care to explain. Those nights were mine and hers alone. My voice is the only thing holding her together, her presence the only thing holding me sane.

The air in the chamber thickened again, the relic and need for answers hammering my thoughts as I fixate on what the stone had said to her. I could feel it through the bond....all of its emotions as if I were a storm weaver myself, to a lesser degree.
The stone wanted her.
The thought scalded me raw.

I shoved the torn map into my pocket and stood. Nathan tilted his head, watching.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to her,” I said.
“Of course.” He smirked. “Try not to smother her with gifts of severed limbs this time.”
I ignored him.

My walk back through the pack burned with rage. Every step sank deeper into the vow already forming in my bones.
That rock...whatever it was, wherever it came from, was no accident. The council had dug it up. They’d dragged it into those walls, fed by their own greed, maybe by whispers they mistook for power. And it had lain in wait until my mate touched it. Their greed had nearly handed my mate to something that never deserved to touch a soul.
My fists clenched.

I would find where they unearthed it. I would uncover every rotten trace of their work. And when I knew what it truly was, when I understood its reach, I would tear it apart.
Because no rock. No relic. No ancient thing had the right to call Amelia mine.
She was already claimed. Marked. Bound.
By me.

If the stone wanted to fight over her, it would learn what darkness truly was.
That vow filled me with a dark clarity, and the shadows that traveled inside me answered like wolves to a call. Warg wanted blood. He desired the work of destruction as much as I did.
I welcomed the fury. I’d use it.
Nathan caught up to me. He’d followed because he’d never been anything but headstrong and curious. His grin faded once he saw me. “You okay?” he asked, not mocking now. Concern laced his tone.
I did not answer with words. I opened my palm and handed him the torn scrap of map. He leaned over and squinted, then cursed low.
“Excavation,” he read aloud, sounding the word almost reverent.
“Tell no one,” I said. “Not yet. I need to find where they dug and when. I need to know why they thought they had the right to dig something up from under our land.”
His voice lowered, serious. “If they dug it up because of Amelia....because of her gift, then they were scared or greedy. Dangerous mix.” He met my eyes. “You planning on killing them again or…?” His grin was half-curiosity, half attempt at calming me that would do no good.
I let the grin curl my mouth, not kind. “If necessary.”

“And Amelia? Does she know what it is?”
“Only half.” I studied his face. “She felt the emotions when she touched it. She thought she was losing her mind, hearing a voice. It talked to her again. I pulled the darkness away.”
Nathan’s shoulders sagged. “Well, at least you were there. That counts for something.”
“Everything,” I said, because it was true. “It counts for everything.”
Nathan snorted, “We’re a mess...all of us.”
I stared at him for a moment, looking for whatever words he needed to hear, but instead, I could only give him a shrug. “Life’s messy.”
His grin returned, softer, more fragile. “I don’t know if I can do it, Kane.”
“So stop asking for permission then.”
“I’m not asking.” He frowned. “I’m trying not to panic.”
“Panic suits you less than smug.”

He shrugged, but the humor we’d shared moments before had dimmed.
“I pushed the map deeper into my pocket, “I’ll find their pit,” I said. “I’ll see what they dragged free and why.”
“And after that?” Nathan asked, voice smaller.
“Then I burn their memory out of this mountain,” I said. “Then I make sure nothing like that can ever touch her again.”

Nathan’s hand landed on my arm, “Don’t go off the rails entirely, okay? We need you steady for Amelia.”
I grinned then, sharp as a blade. “I’ll be steady enough to snap any skull that dares touch her.”