Sixty

Sixty

Haylee's POV

The proof has been scattered over Aiden’s kitchen table like pieces of a monstrous puzzle, each document uncovering another layer of Xavier’s treachery. I sit sobbing and shaking as I turn over Master Elias’s research notes for the third time, the Latin phrases and the reams of finely detailed diagrams swimming out of focus through my tears of fury.

“That motherfucker,” I mutter and slam the notebook closed. “That scheming, lying bastard has been pulling the strings on my whole life.

You need to calm down Haylee,” Aiden says softly, laying a hand on my shoulder to hold me steady. “I know you’re angry, but we shouldn’t make a decision like this in haste.”

"Calm down?" I spin to face him, my wolf almost snapping under my skin. "Xavier has been cooking up my brain with possession magic for five years Aiden. Five years of stolen memories, repressed emotions, and sired emotions. He murdered Master Elias to hide his sins, and God only knows what else he has done to ensure his secrets are kept safe.”

"I know right now, you must be furious," Aiden answers in calm, even tones. “But to storm over to your pack in the state you’re in right now is what he’ll be waiting for. You’re going into his turf, with his people, with his magic already being used against you..
"Then what do you suggest?" “Well, I’ll be,” I snap and pace to the end of the room, a caged lion in some circus act, and then the other. "That we just sit here and let him keep controlling me? “Now he’s marching against our children?”

Dr. Sarah glances up from where she’s been examining the magical diagrams in Master Elias’s notes. “Haylee, you are absolutely right to be time concerned. The possession sorcery drinks the blood of closeness and emotional frenzy.
The longer this continues, the stronger Xavier’s control gets.”

“Which is precisely why we cannot jump into this,” Aiden insists. Xavier has been preparing and planning for years. He’s tied to the Shadow Faction, he has means we have yet to fathom, and he’s demonstrated a willingness to kill in order to keep his secrets safe.”

"So what's your plan?" I blast at him, finally pacing to turn and look at him. “One of us has to go after him for real,” she said, “because brooding here and dissecting the worst we’ve done to him isn’t breaking me out of his spell or saving our kids.”

Aiden's eyes narrow, and our bonded, I sense that cold resolve of his hardening into something as unrelenting as iron. "There is another way. Something I have been researching ever since we first suspected Xavier of having been involved in your treatment.

"What kind of way?"

"Pack law," he says simply. “Something older than pack and politics and land agreements.”

Dr. Sarah raises an eyebrow. " Pack law has not been announced in sixty years. Most of the younger cohort doesn’t even realize it still exists.”

“But it does exist,” says Aiden. “And under the old codes, an Alpha who leverages forbidden magic to influence or control another pack member is open to ritual challenge. In the event of the challenger's victory, all magical ties established by the accused are thereby cancelled."

The consequences hit me like a punch to the stomach. “You wish to challenge Xavier to a duel, a formal duel.”

“It’s the only legal way to sever his control over you for good,” Aiden explains. "Contemporary pack politics and territory deals could take months or years of negotiations." But ritual combat calls on the oldest laws of the people -- laws that not even the Pack Council can overwrite."

Not in the least,” I reply pointedly. "Xavier is dangerous, Aiden. He’s been laying the groundwork for this for more than a decade, and he has ties to powers we don’t yet comprehend. I am not going to allow you to put your life in danger on my account.”

“This isn’t only about you,” Aiden snaps back. “It’s about our kids and our pack and the future we’re trying to create together. Xavier has broken our hearts, and Xavier has broken the law. There is someone who has to hold him accountable.”

“But why must it be you?” I demand, my voice cracking a little. “I can’t bear losing you again, Aiden. Not when we are just beginning to restore what we had.”

He strides across the room in two short steps and cups my face in his hands, his touch warm, comforting. "You're not going to lose me. I promise you that."

“You can’t make a promise like that,” I whisper. “Xavier’s not going to play fair. He’ll pull out every dirty trick, every advantage he has.”

“Then I will be ready for him,” Aiden responds, with reserved confidence. I’ve been preparing for something like this my whole life. "And I have something Xavier doesn’t have.”

"What's that?"

“I have something to fight for,” he declares with a steely-eyed intensity. “I have you, and I have our children, and I have a second chance at all the things in life that should have been ours.” Xavier is struggling to retain power over something he took. I’m fighting for what is mine.”

Dr. Sarah coughs softly.I spent more time with Dr. Sarah. “There’s something else you need to think about. The blood need to be seen and be witnessed by a number of the packs' representatives to be recognized as valid. Which means Xavier can't back down from the dare, or he'd have to save face in front of the whole werewolf world.”

"And if Aiden wins?" I ask.

"All his magical tethers cut in a snap," she says. “Possession magic, any control spells, even forced supernatural marriage bonds — all were broken by the ancient laws of ritual combat.

I glance back and forth at the two of them, my mind processing the options and the risks. We’ll deal with Xavier’s shit once and for all (hopefully on the one hand. On the other hand, if something goes wrong, if Aiden loses or Xavier manages to cheat in some way, its repercussions could be devastating.

“There’s something else,” Aiden says under his breath. “There’s something I haven’t told you.”

"What now?" “What?” I say, fearing whatever new information he is about to tell me.

"After we found his link to the Shadow Faction, I've been digging deeper into Xavier's history," he explains. “And I came across records of other women who’d gone missing over the years — women who were alone, or vulnerable, or in desperate circumstances.”

My blood runs cold. “You think he’s been here before?

“I think Xavier has been practicing his techniques for ages,” Aiden adds, grim. “the possession magic, the manipulation tricks, the staged rescues – you might not be his first victim, Haylee.”

The full weight of Xavier’s depravity crashes into me like a tidal wave. The fact that he took those five years from me, but he potentially ruined other women, other families, other lives with his pursuit of power and control.

“Then it’s decided,” I say decisively. "We have to stop him. Not for us, but for every woman he has hurt and for every woman he may hurt.”

“So it’s settled then, yes to the ritual combat?” Aiden asks.

“Personally, I believe it’s our best choice,” I answer cautiously. “But I need assurance about the witnesses, about the rules, about what happens if Xavier tries to cheat or bring in outside help.

“Way ahead of you,” Aiden says, half-smiling. "Marcus has been telephoning his contacts in other packs. We’ll have delegates from five major territories at least, and some of the oldest, most esteemed Alphas in the area.”

“And Dr. Sarah will be there to oversee the magic part of it and to make sure that Xavier can’t summon his powers to swindle the results,” he adds. “This is going to be a fair fight — governed by law that has protected our people for thousands of years.

I breathe in deep, a heaviness upon my shoulders—the decision is made. Everything we have strived for, everything we have been learned culminates to this point. Do we believe in ancient laws and Aiden’s strength, or do we search for another way?

"How much time do we have to prepare?" I ask finally.

“Only heroes and thugs must accept challenges within seven days of issue,” Aiden explains. “That will give us close to a week to train, to prepare our witnesses, to get everything arranged.”

“Then that’s what we do,” I tell her, my voice stronger than I am. “We take the fight to Xavier and finish this.”
Aiden envelops me in his arms, and I sense his relief and resolve over our connection. “We’re going to win this, Haylee. I promise you that."

“I know,” I murmur into his chest. "I trust you."

But as the words come out of my mouth, a dark, wormy streak of concern bites at the back of my mind. Xavier has spent nearly 10 years plotting and devising. Surely it cannot be true that he has not foreseen this very thing! But what if he’s been training for a ritual combat challenge this whole time?

I have no chance to express my concern, because Marcus forces his way through the front door without knocking, his expression grave and anxious.

“Alpha,” he murmurs, breathless. "We have a problem. Xavier has come! - He is waiting at our front gate with an entourage of enforcers, and insisting on seeing Haylee at once."

My heart stops. “How did he know so soon?

“I have no idea,” Marcus says. “But he’s not going to take no for an answer. And he says if Haylee doesn't show her face in that time so he can speak face to face, he will interpret it as an aggressive act to his pack.”

Aiden's arms close around me protectively. He can’t force her to look at him. This is my territory."

That’s what I told him,” Marcus says. “But Alpha, he’s not doing the Xavier thing. There is something about him - something not right. "It's as if he has dispensed with the last vestige of civilization."

I look through the window, I can see lights in the distance, automobiles, parked at our border, awaiting. Xavier is here to have it out and somehow he is aware that we have been looking into him.

"This is it," I say quietly. “This is where so much of everything changes.”