Chapter 206: A Double-Edged Sword

\[Amaryllis\]

Following my mate’s orders, the caravan breaks up, with vans going in every direction except for back the way we came. “They are expecting us to come alone,” Calyx explains. “Don’t worry, our men are prepared for what comes next.”

The edges of Calyx’s grin look sinister in the moonlight. He’s not just expecting violence, he’s looking forward to it. Almost as if he knew it was coming.

My body tenses. “Did you know…” I ask directly, not wanting to play games or leave anything open to misunderstanding. “Did you know they were going to attack tonight?”

“No,” he shakes his head, “Lysander and I suspected something might happen tonight, that’s why we were prepared with so much security,” exhaling slowly he adds, “but we had no idea what that attack would look like. My connections in the Brotherhood hinted at something big, but they don’t quite trust me enough to give all the details. This,” he points upward, where another blast sounds overhead, “is likely a test of my loyalty. If I run from what comes next, they’ll hunt us. If I go back, they’ll know I was lying.”

Either way we were trapped. We could not go back.

“So where are we going?” I ask, not wanting to be in the dark any longer. “What is the real plan?”

“Clearwater,” he answers calmly, his voice a touch lighter, as if confessing his mission lightened his load. “That part of the plan is still going forward. We are still going to clean the town, it’s just more…complicated than we first thought.”

Apparently the rogue threat wasn’t the only problem in Clearwater. The Brotherhood had a facility hidden there, one that witches and wolves missed during their efforts to free all the rogues. One that was right underneath our noses, dangerously close to headquarters.

Which means that ghost town is a bit more lively than we were led to believe.

“We think it may have been the main staging area for all the recent attacks against both Moon River City and Crescent City,” Calyx surmises. “Which is why this mission is so important. We are going in to shut it down from the inside,” he explains. “And,” he adds, “if we play things right, we should still be done in time to cast the spell.”

Calyx’s face is calm, but his hands continue to grip the wheel tightly. There’s more, something he’s not telling me. This plan is too dangerous. There are too many pieces in play, too many ways it can all go wrong…and yet he agreed to go along with it.

“We could always just go to another town,” I suggest, wishing for once things could be a little easier for the two of us. “Solace should work for the spell as well.”

“We thought of that,” Calyx admits. “And if needed, it’s a backup plan. That’s why I sent two of the vans south, to prepare just in case.”

“And the one’s headed north?”

“Another plan, another town,” Calyx sighs. “Don’t ask more than that, Amy. I don’t want you to have too much information. It could be…dangerous.”

It’s weird that he’s saying that, considering everything he’s told me so far. What dangerous thing is he planning that he doesn’t want me to know about?

Feeling my distress, he squeezes my hand. “Don’t worry about this, mate.” He holds on tightly, as if afraid I might float away. “I can do this. I won’t let anything go wrong. I’m a natural at this kind of work.”

He means deception. Playing the double agent. Being a spy.

And maybe he’s right, but that doesn’t mean I have to accept it.

His hand moves to cup my cheek and I lean into his gentle touch. His rich, musky scent soothes my nerves and as I close my eyes, I can almost imagine we weren’t driving straight on into danger.

“Please trust me,” he begs quietly, pleading for my understanding through our bond. “You know I’d never hurt you, right?”

Not intentionally. Those words hang in the air.

But that is part of who we are. We hurt those we love, even if we don’t mean to.

“I know you will try your best,” I answer honestly as I open my eyes. “And I trust you, Calyx, as much as I am able.”

Because in the end, we are both too broken to do better.

Our gazes lock, and I can see years of heartbreak swimming beneath the surface. “I love you, Amaryllis Alexis Moon,” he smiles as he speaks my new name for the first time since we tied our souls together as a mated and married pair. “No matter what happens next, never doubt that.”

Turning my head in his hand, I kiss his palm, and he shivers at the touch. If he were a more selfish wolf, less eager to prove his worth, we might be somewhere else right now, loving one another, leaving this madness behind.

But it’s not the way we were built. Neither one of us.

“I love you too, Calyx,” I sigh. “And I’ll follow your lead.”

“Good,” he sighs, relieved, “Because things will most likely get weirder before they get better.”

The rest of the drive is somber, quiet–less like a honeymoon than a death march. As we head towards the small town on the long, winding highway heading up into the mountains, I watch as, bit by bit, Calyx withdraws, hiding his warm soul behind masks of callousness. It is painful to see, watching the one I love erased, replaced by someone with hard eyes and a cruel sneer.

But we’re going to war. This is just another one of his weapons.

And by the time he takes the exit, leading us down a small mountain town, he is no longer the laughing wolf I married.

He’s a soldier. A spy. The monster who tricked Sylvester into a trap.

“I’m sorry,” he says as we make the final turn into Clearwater.

“For what?” I ask as I watch armed men approach the van. The windows are reflective and tinted, I know they can’t see inside.

But they don’t seem afraid.

They look confident. Ready.

They were waiting for us.

A moment later, the van behind us, the one holding Parris and the others planning to set up our staging area for the spell, are surrounded by armed humans, each one pointing a spell-enhanced automatic weapon at every window.

I reach for the door handle.

“Don’t, Alexis,” Calyx says. A warning. “They are watching you.”

“Alexis?” I shiver at the sound of my old name. Calyx doesn’t call me Alexis, not anymore.

Alexis is gone.

“Oh, look what the cat dragged in,” A familiar voice laughs as my door is pulled open with a thud. “Alexis Greystone.”

My heart shrivels.

No.

It can’t be.

“You’re dead!” I growl as rough hands pull me from the van. “I saw your head on a spike, you bastard! You…”

A human grunts as he pulls me out of my seat. I kick and scrape, my heart pounding.

“Calyx!!!” I look back at my husband.

But his eyes are dead, his face unreadable. Breaking eye contact, he orders the men to tie me up, to bind my mouth. “She knows what she is now. She can’t be trusted to speak.”

“Yes, sir,” the human soldier snaps to attention, following my husband like he’s the one in charge.

“Good work,” my nightmare says as he holds out a hand to shake. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you.”

My world spins. This can’t be real.

Because standing next to my husband isn’t a wolf. It’s a vengeful ghost.

Uncle Clancy is dead.

He has to be.

“Sedate her,” my uncle leers, one eye flashing a bright amber, the jagged scars across his face and neck a stark beneath the bright moonlight. “We still need her for the spell.”