Chapter 169 When the Dead Speak

Chapter 169 The Vision Stone
FREYA -

Cold tore through Freya's palm, and the Stones vanished before she could pull her hand back.
She opened her eyes in a hallway she didn't recognize, with dark wood beneath her feet and lamplight trembling against the walls. When she tried to step back, her heel made no sound. Her hand reached for the nearest wall and passed through it with a cold pressure that slid up her arm and turned her stomach.
She was not there, but somewhere far away, Casey's hand still held hers.
A woman's voice came from the end of the hall, and Freya turned toward it. "Lance."
Her mother stood in the doorway of a bedroom with one hand wrapped around the frame. Lena's hair had come loose around her face, and her mouth was a tight thin line. She looked like someone who was barely holding herself together.
Lance crossed the hall toward her, already listening to something outside. His hand settled against Lena's arm.
"She's not here," Lena said. "Sandy has her."
Lance looked toward the front of the house. "It's better that Freya isn't here for whatever this is."
Hearing her name from his living mouth hurt enough that Freya pressed a hand to her stomach.
The front door opened slowly, and Jared stepped into the house with three wolves behind him.
Lance moved in front of Lena. "Jared."
Jared smiled. "Brother."
The wolves with him spread out around him. Information filled her mind as they moved. They were trusted men. Men that her father had let close enough to know the house, the doors, and where he would stand to defend it.
Lance's jaw clenched. "What have you done?"
"What you were too sentimental to do." Jared's gaze slid past him to Lena, and Freya's skin crawled at the way he looked at her mother. "I secured the future."
Lena's fingers curled around the doorframe. "You mean you brought death into your brother's house and are foolish enough to think you won't get caught."
Jared laughed softly. "Still sharp, even now."
Lance's shoulders shifted, and Freya saw the moment he understood. Jared hadn't come to take the Alpha title cleanly. With a Claim. He'd come to erase every piece of Lance that could stand back up after him.
"You can kill me, but if my daughter lives, this territory will never truly be yours," Lance said.
Jared's smile thinned. "You always were quick. Too bad it's not enough."
Lena stepped out from behind Lance even when his hand reached back to stop her. "Our daughter's not here, so just stop this before it's too late."
"That won't matter," Jared said, watching her too closely. "You know where she is."
Lena lifted her chin. "Even if I did, I would never tell you."
"You still have a way out." Jared moved closer, and Lance's growl filled the hall. One of the wolves shifted enough that claws dug grooves into the wood, but Jared didn't look away from Lena. "Tell me where the child is, and stand beside me when this is done. Lance is going to die..." He paused long enough to hold Lena's gaze. "But you don't have to."
Lena stared at him, and the fear in her face changed into something harder. "You don't want me, Jared. You want what Lance has. The Ranch. The border. The title. Me. I'm nothing but another toy you think you can steal from your brother."
Jared's face went still, and Lena took another step closer to Lance. "You've always been jealous of him."
For a second, no one moved.
Then Jared's hand snapped out, and the blow sent Lena hard against the wall. Freya shouted, but no sound reached them. She ran toward her mother, and her hands went through Lena's shoulder as Lance lunged.
The hallway exploded into movement.
Lance shifted before Freya could blink, fur and muscle filling the narrow space as he slammed into the nearest wolf. Lena pushed herself up with blood at her mouth and grabbed a lamp from the table, swinging it into another wolf's face when he went for Lance's side.
She was human, but she fought anyway.
Jared caught her wrist before she could swing again. "So this is what you choose?" He roared the words in her face.
Lena spat blood onto his shirt. "I chose them. Always."
Jared's mouth twisted. "Maybe you were right, Lena. I do break his toys."
The knife in his hand moved too fast.
Freya screamed again, and this time her throat burned with it, but the vision did not stop. Lena's knees hit the floor, and her eyes stayed open as Lance fought to reach her.
Her mouth moved once, shaping the word safe.
Lance's roar shook the walls. He tore through one wolf, then another, but there were too many, and they knew how to strike him from behind. When he fell, his claws scraped long marks into the floor as he dragged himself toward Lena.
Jared crouched near him, breathing hard. "You know we'll find her, right?"
Lance's eyes opened, bright with pain and fury. "You won't find her."
"I don't have to." Jared wiped his blade against his sleeve. "Sandy knows what to do."
The vision snapped, and Freya stumbled into a smaller room with cheap curtains, a narrow bed, and a lamp throwing yellow light over a sleeping child curled beneath a blanket. Young Freya's hair spread across the pillow, and one tiny hand clutched a stuffed wolf.
Sandy stood near the window with a phone in her shaking hand. It rang once more before she answered. "Jared?"
His voice came through calm and cold. "It's done. Lance and your slut of a sister are dead."
Sandy's knees bent like the floor had shifted beneath her. Her eyes moved to the child on the bed.
"No," she whispered.
"Don't start crying now." Jared's voice sharpened. "End the girl. No Calder stays breathing but me. Do you understand me?"
Sandy's mouth opened, but nothing came out.
"Sandy."
Her fingers curled hard around the phone until her knuckles showed white. She looked at Freya, then toward a half-packed bag beside the dresser.
Sandy pressed one hand over her mouth, swallowed hard, and forced her voice into a shape that sounded almost steady. "I understand."
"Good," Jared said. "Call me when it's handled."
The line went dead.
Sandy stood frozen for two breaths before she moved. She shoved clothes into the bag, scooped young Freya from the bed, and held her so tightly the child woke with a soft, confused cry. Tears ran down Sandy's face as she pressed her mouth to the child's hair.
"I'm sorry," Sandy whispered. "I'm sorry, but you're going to live."
Then the room blurred, and Freya came back to the Stones with a hard breath, her fingers locked around the vision stone and Casey's arms already around her. The Claim burned against her chest, and Grace knelt in front of her with both hands hovering like she wanted to help but didn't know where to touch.
Casey's voice reached her first. "Freya, what did you see?"
Freya looked past him to Lance, still standing between the Stones with grief carved into every line of his face.
"He murdered them," she whispered. "Jared murdered them both."