Chapter 51 BOOK TWO: Chapter 0051

Chapter 51 BOOK TWO: Chapter 0051
•SEBASTIAN•

Maverick talked the entire drive to Blackwood.

This was not unusual. Maverick had opinions about roads, about the weather, and everything that wasn't his business.

I let his voice run in the background and watched the landscape change through the passenger window.

I had done my reading on Blackwood's Alpha before the meeting. Tristan Blackwood had a reputation that preceded him by several counties.

I respected what he had built, and I didn't walk into rooms like his without knowing what I was getting into.

"You're not listening," Maverick said.

"I heard everything you said."

"What did I just say?"

"Something about the Tank Hale's business dinner," I answered. "And before that, the merger proposal from the Caldwell territory, and before that, your strong feelings about gravel roads."

"I was saying," he continued. "That we should lead with the hospital infrastructure before the schools. You want Blackwood to see the immediate community benefit before you ask him to think long-term."

"I was already planning to."

"I know. I'm just saying it out loud so you know that I know."

I almost smiled.

Maverick had been with me for six years, through three territorial expansions and one near-catastrophic negotiation with the Harrow pack that we did not discuss at formal dinners.

He was the only person in my circle who spoke to me as though the space between us was a suggestion rather than a rule.

I had never told him how much I valued that.



The moment we arrived in Blackwood, we were welcomed warmly and directed to the council hall.

We were shown to our seats by a guard. Maverick set his folio on the table and uncapped his pen. I straightened my jacket and waited.

Tristan and the elders walked in a few moments later, including his Beta, Gamma, and behind them, followed a woman I assumed to be the Luna.

I looked at her and something shifted.

My chest tightened as she headed to Tristan’s side and looked composed as she placed her hands on her lap.

I couldn't believe how beautiful she was. She looked as if she didn't belong in this world, and the more I looked at her, the more I found it difficult to look away.

Tristan introduced himself and his council elders. And when he introduced her as Luna Raven, I scribbled the name in my notebook, making sure that I never forgot it.

The meeting then started, and I tried so hard not to make Raven or Tristan uncomfortable by staring at her too much.

The proposal was one I had made variations of across seven territories in the past two years.

It was infrastructure that served both human and supernatural communities without forcing either to subordinate their needs to the other. Shared hospitals with staff trained across both populations. Schools with curricula that acknowledged the full reality of the world their students were living in.

It was, in my experience, the kind of proposal that reasonable leaders responded to positively once they understood it was not an ideological project but a structural one.

I presented but damn, I couldn't take my eyes off that woman. It felt as if I were under a spell.

She did nothing that should have held my focus. And yet, I knew her from somewhere. I was certain of it.

When the meeting concluded, I stood up and moved around the table for the customary handshakes. I expected to hear their response by tomorrow.

After shaking everyone's hands, I finally came to her. And the moment our hands shook, my chest tightened as memories from a time that hasn't come, flooded my mind.

I released her hand and cleared my throat.

It was such a weird experience and I didn't know what to think of it. Something like that had never happened to me before.

"It was a pleasure to meet you all," I said as I looked at all of them. "I hope to hear your response soon."

"Of course, Mr. Krane," Tristan answered with a smile. "The elders and I will come to a conclusion later today. And we thank you for extending this collaboration to us."

I nodded as a guard came over to us. He escorted us to the front door and accompanied us to our car in the driveway.

We were twenty minutes outside Blackwood when Maverick finally noticed that I was far in thought.

"You've said nothing since we left the hall," he said. "Are you okay? Or have you changed your mind?"

"I'm thinking."

"About the proposal? Because Blackwood seemed receptive. I'd give it a seventy-thirty chance he agrees to the hospital infrastructure before—"

"Maverick." I looked at him. "What do you know about time travel?"

He stared at me. "I'm going to need more context," he answered.

"Theoretically. The mechanics of it. Whether it is possible."

He was quiet for a moment. "Sir, there is no such thing as time travel. It is not possible. Not for humans, not for supernaturals, not for anyone operating within the basic constraints of physical reality."

"And if someone had a memory of something that hadn't happened yet?"

"Then they would be experiencing a premonition," he replied. "Or a psychological episode. Or they would need to give their advisor more information before said advisor could be helpful."

I turned back to the window.

"We are going back to Blackwood in the morning," I answered. I needed to see her again and know what the vision meant.

"The meeting is concluded. There is no reason to—"

"I know." I watched the road ahead. "We are going back anyway."

Maverick looked at me.

"You told me there is no such thing as time travel," I said. "I am going to prove to you that you are right."