Chapter 91 RISK OF EXPOSURE
RAGNAR'S POV
“And he?” Dax asks me rather casually. “Is he strictly just pack matters? Or something else?”
The question lands heavier than it should but I do not give him the benefit of a reaction.
Dax smiles faintly at that.
“I was wondering how long you intend to keep pretending,” he says.
“Watch your tone.”
“Oh, I’m not judging.” His head tilts slightly. “I’m rather impressed.”
Yurik growls low in my chest.
“You always did chase after the crazy ones, the storms,” Dax continues. “But this one… this one could swallow you and your entire pack whole.”
“He is not a storm.”
“No,” Dax agrees softly. “He’s right at the center of one.”
Silence falls again.
“Did you tell him about the ritual?” I say.
Dax does not deny it.
“I told him there are options,” he corrects me.
“But there will be consequences,” I counter.
“There always are.” He cuts in.
The wind shifts again.
“You shouldn’t have told him anything,” I repeat.
“He deserves to know.”
The words hit harder than they should coming from him.
Dax watches me carefully.
“He doesn’t know everything, does he?”
“He knows what he needs to do.”
“Does he?”
My patience thins at all this veiled talk.
“Speak plainly.”
Dax exhales through his nose.
“There is a ritual,” he says calmly. “Older than basically anything. It was designed when ancient wolves started coming back and causing trouble for packs.”
Yurik stiffens.
“It can sever the connection between the host and ancient wolf permanently.”
“And the cost?” I ask coldly.
Dax does not look away.
“It could kill him.”
The forest feels suddenly smaller.
“Or,” Dax continues evenly, “it could strip any chance of a mate bond entirely.”
My spine goes rigid.
“And,” he finishes, “if performed incorrectly… it could cause the ancient wolf to awaken fully and erase Sebastian entirely.”
Yurik snarls.
“You speak of this like it's some sure thing,” I say quietly.
“It is not,” Dax replies. “It is a gamble.”
I study him.
“And why are you telling me this?”
He meets my gaze without hesitation.
“Because the others that I won't name are already searching for him.”
“I am aware.”
“So you are aware they won’t stop?”
My silence is answer enough.
Dax folds his arms loosely.
“If he remains as he is, he has an unstable potential. If the ritual is performed, he becomes one of three things: dead, severed, or replaced.”
“And if he remains untouched?” I ask.
“Then someone else will attempt it for you,” Dax says flatly.
That truth sits heavy between us.
“You are not his ally,” I remind him.
“No,” he agrees. “But I am not your enemy either.”
Once, that would have been enough to convince me.
Now it isn’t.
“And what do you gain from all this?” I ask.
His mouth curves faintly.
“You still assume I operate solely for my gain.”
“I assume you operate on strategy and things that only benefit you.”
“Fair.”
He steps slightly closer, though not enough to challenge dominance.
“You’ve built a powerful pack, Ragnar,” he says. “Stronger and more stable than most.”
“Get straight to the point.”
“He would destroy it.”
There it is.
“He merely challenges it, nothing to be worried about.” I correct.
“Same difference.”
“No.”
Dax studies me carefully before taking a step back.
“You’ve changed Ragnar,” he says.
“And you haven’t.”
A flicker of something unreadable crosses his expression.
“Tell me something,” he says lightly. “If the ritual stripped the mate bond… it wouldn’t affect him much, would it? I mean most wolves nowadays die without ever getting one”
The tone is casual and almost a silly conversation.
It's too casual for someone like Dax.
Yurik’s hackles rise inside.
“And why would that be?” I ask evenly.
Dax shrugs.
“Well, if he has no mate, then the bond severing would be inconsequential. It would be painful, perhaps but survivable.”
The air stills as he watched me closely now.
The bastard suspects me.
He always did read people a little too well.
I let nothing show.
“You are speculating beyond your place,” I say calmly.
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
Silence stretches.
Dax’s eyes narrow slightly before breaking into a faint smile.
“So he does have a mate.”
It is not phrased as a question but as a certain thing.
“You are walking on dangerous ground.”
“And yet you don’t deny it.”
Yurik surges forward but I rein him in.
“You are here merely as a visitor only for the challenge,” I say coldly. “You have designated quarters you should not leave.”
His expression shifts to faint irritation.
“You would cage me?”
“I would contain any variables, especially this close to the challenge happening.”
His smile fades entirely.
“Still the strategist thinking.”
“And you are still so reckless.”
Dax exhales slowly.
“For what it’s worth,” he says, “I didn’t come to hurt him.”
“Well you already have.”
A flicker of regret passes through his eyes briefly but real.
“He only deserves the truth,” Dax repeats.
“He deserves stability,” I counter back.
“Well he deserves to have a choice! Some of us didn't.”
The word lands sharply.
Choice.
Sebastian’s furious voice echoes in my mind.
‘You don’t get to decide what I can handle anymore.’
I step back.
This conversation has already gone too far and too personal.
“You will return to your quarters and stay there,” I say flatly.
Dax studies me.
“You are going to consider it then,” he says quietly. “The ritual.”
“That is none of your concern.”
“It is if someone else attempts it first.”
But I say nothing.
He inclines his head slightly.
“I meant what I said,” he adds. “I am not your enemy.”
“You are not my ally either.”
“No I won't be. And after all this years and what has happened between us, you can't expect me to be”
A beat passes.
“One more thing. If he enters that challenge match,” Dax says casually, “his emotional spike could accelerate his awakening right there in public for everyone to see.”
“One look at him and everyone will know what he is.”