Chapter 174: Blood And Betrayal

Calix Pov

The cabin was completely quiet for five seconds and nobody moved a muscle. Thomas had his mouth wide open and his back was pressed flat against the dark pine logs. I looked at Maddie’s face and my hands started to slide off her wet leather coat because my fingers could not find a tight grip anymore.

"That is a lie, Kai," I said and I stepped back one pace until my boots hit the edge of the spilled black water. "Her mother was a valley female and her father was the leader of the lower timber scouts. We have the birth records in the iron box at the main hall."

"The iron box contains the papers your elders wrote to keep the pack from rioting," Maddie said. The voice stayed deep and heavy, and she did not blink her eyes once under the grease lamp light. "Your elders did not want the valley wolves to know that the white fur line was carrying peak blood in the winter. They needed a pure story to tell the hunters."

"Thomas, tell me he is making this up," I said without looking away from her jaw.

"The mother did not talk about the spring months, Alpha," Thomas said and he pulled his gray wool shawl tight around his neck. "She came back across the river with three salt sacks and she stayed inside her cabin for four weeks without opening the door. We all thought she had the mountain fever."

"She did not have the fever," Maddie said and she took a slow step toward Thomas, her boots making a loud wet squelch on the floor. "She had a contract in her belly and she knew the valley Alphas would drop her into the creek if they found out who touched her hand."

"Maddie, listen to my voice," I said and I stepped right between her and Thomas, grabbing her wrists with both hands. "Do not let him use your head to spin these old stories. He is trying to break your spirit so you stop fighting the anchor line."

"Calix, my brain is dividing," Maddie said and her voice went high and thin again, cutting through the deep pitch like a sharp bone blade. Her fingers tightened around my thumbs and her whole body started to shake from the knees up. "I can see the high peak hall in the gray smoke. There is a man sitting by the stone book and his face looks exactly like the image in my mother’s old silver locket."

"The locket was empty when you showed it to me," I said.

"The paper was behind the backing," Maddie said and she dropped her chin down toward her chest. "I found it when I was ten years old. I thought it was just a sketch of an old guard from the north gates."

"It was the king, sister," Maddie said and the deep voice returned fast, knocking her head back with a loud snap. "The blood knows its own home. You cannot push me out of these veins because half of the fluid belongs to my own house anyway."

"She is losing the center line, Calix," Rex said from the door. He raised his long hunting spear and held the shaft tight against his chest. "The gold veins are turning gray all the way down to her wrists. We have to do something before the color goes completely dark."

"We are going to push him out together," I said and I pressed my forehead directly against Maddie’s forehead. "Maddie, use the mate bond. The gold light belongs to the valley pines and he cannot control that part of your skin."

"I am trying," Maddie said with her own vocal cords. "The gold is too hot. It feels like someone is pouring melted lead down my throat."

"Hold onto the valley earth," I said.

"The valley earth is thin and dry, boy," Maddie said through her own lips and the deep laughter came out again, rattling her ribs against my chest. "The gold light is just a physical reaction to the woods. The white fur line is the real power and that power belongs to the father’s blood."

"It belongs to her," I said and I squeezed her wrists until my own knuckles made a small popping sound. "Maddie, push now."

A bright flash of gold light came out from under her collarbone and the heat hit my face so hard I had to close my eyes. Maddie gave a loud scream and her body went completely straight like a piece of iron timber. The gray lines on her neck started to move backward toward her ears, and for a second the deep presence inside her eyes looked like it was slipping toward the floorboards.

"It is moving," Rex said and he took two steps closer to the stool. "Keep holding her, Calix. The gold is cutting the gray thread."

"I have her," I said.

"You do not have anything," Maddie said and the voice did not sound like Kai anymore and it did not sound like Maddie either. It was a completely new sound, loud and heavy, like two people speaking the exact same words at the exact same split second.

The gold light on her neck did not go away this time and the gray lines did not slide backward anymore. The two colors hit each other right at the center of her throat and started to twist together like two ropes in a tight knot. The light turned into a strange yellow color that looked like old bone under the lamp.

"Maddie?" I asked and I let go of her wrists because the skin was too hot to touch.

"The circle is finished," Maddie said and she raised both her hands up high above her head. The yellow light went all the way down to her fingernails and the air in the small room got so thick I could barely draw a breath into my lungs.

"Alpha, get back from the circle," Thomas yelled and he scrambled over the wood box to reach the back corner.

"She is not matching the bond anymore," Rex said and he dropped his spear on the floorboards because the iron tip was vibrating loud against the wood. "The two sides are melting into one piece."

Maddie stood up from the stool and she did not look shaky at all now. Her eyes were completely clear, but they were not gray and they were not gold anymore. They were the color of yellow stone, and her silver hair was floating up away from her shoulders like she was standing in the middle of a high mountain wind.

"The valley and the peaks are inside the same skin now, Calix," Maddie said and the double voice echoed off the log walls so hard the grease lamp flickered and went out, leaving the whole room in the dark. "The contract is closed."