Chapter 338

Chapter 338

I can’t be surprised that my original pack has been forgotten so easily. Maybe the curse has something to do with it, but the location plays a part too. It makes disappearing far easier.

Zenith is supposed to be somewhere in Laos. Yes, Laos. More specifically, the forests surrounding Luang Prabang.

According to everything we’ve managed to uncover, the pack once existed somewhere within the mountains. The problem is that we’ve found absolutely nothing. No ruins. No abandoned territory. No traces of a settlement large enough to house an entire pack.

My best guess is that reaching it requires something more than simply walking into the mountains. A spell. Blood. Some forgotten condition tied to the curse itself.

Whatever it is, none of our attempts have worked.

There is another pack living outside the mountain range, closer to the city. The proximity to humans is unsettling. Most packs hide themselves behind layers of protection and secrecy, but these wolves have no magical barriers concealing them. They survive by blending in so seamlessly that humans never think twice about them.

After leaving Italy, we travel there first, hoping someone might know something.

They don’t.

No one has heard of Zenith or Alpha Zales.

I release a frustrated puff of air and lean back on my hands. The rock beneath me is warm from the sun, while my feet dangle into the rushing waterfall below.

We eventually stop at one of the waterfalls hidden deeper within the forest to rest while Hendrix stays behind with Jericho. The two of them are still searching for anything that might lead us to my pack.

Unlike everyone else, I can feel it.

The moment we step onto this land, both my body and my wolf recognise it.

This place belongs to us.

Or it did.

The feeling is impossible to explain. It’s like standing in a childhood home you’ve never visited before. Familiarity lingers in the air, woven into the earth itself. If I concentrate hard enough, I can almost smell my family.

Almost.

The thought fills me with a deep, aching sadness.

An entire pack erased because of a cursed gift.

Dark images creep into my mind despite my efforts to stop them. The lack of answers hurts more than the deaths.

At least death is an ending.

This is nothing.

We only know that Zenith may have been the original blood wolf pack, but not necessarily the only one. If others existed, where are they?

How do I find them?

I have no idea.

As far as the world is concerned, they no longer exist.

I am the last blood wolf.

“Whoo!”

Scarlette bursts from beneath the water, her delighted squeal echoing across the waterfall and instantly shattering the gloom threatening to swallow me.

Where there’s clean water, there’s Scarlette.

The lake has become her personal paradise. Ever since we arrived, she’s done little besides swim, float, dive beneath the surface and generally enjoy herself.

Earlier, Gillian had foolishly challenged her to a swimming competition.

He lasted all of ten minutes before surrendering.

Now he sits on a nearby rock, absently shaping stone with his earth gift. Whatever he’s attempting to create bears no resemblance to anything recognisable.

Honestly, he’s terrible at it.

Scarlette sweeps her wet blonde hair back, holding it away from her face as water trails down her neck and shoulders. She turns towards me with a bright smile, her azure eyes glistening in the sunlight.

I’m still not entirely used to the change.

For most of my life, Scarlette has had scarlet hair and emerald eyes. The blonde hair and blue eyes suit her, but in a completely different way.

It’s strange. A little intimidating. Oddly attractive.

Mostly strange.

“Nothing beats cool air, clean water, and naked bodies,” she declares happily.

I laugh.

“You’re the only naked one here.”

Her grin immediately widens as she turns towards Gillian.

Earlier, he’d lost his underwear while swimming. Instead of searching for it, he’d simply pulled on a pair of trousers and called it a day.

Unfortunately for him, Scarlette has found the incident endlessly entertaining. Not once since it happened has she let him forget it.

Gillian feels her stare on him and glances over. The moment he realises why she’s grinning, colour rushes straight to his face.

“Fuck off,” he mutters.

Scarlette only giggles harder.

I know exactly what she’s doing. She’s trying to cheer me up.

It’s not working—not really—but I’m not miserable enough to shut everyone out either.

“If Cooper and Everett were here,” I say, “they’d have done something stupid by now. Probably jumped off the waterfall. Or the mountain.”

Gillian snorts.

“If Alpha Hendrix had been here when I lost my boxers, I’d be dead already.”

Scarlette erupts into laughter.

I choke out a laugh of my own, pressing my palm against my lips.

He’s not wrong.

Drix would absolutely have tried to murder him. The fact that Gillian is ridiculously good-looking certainly doesn’t help. Hendrix still acts suspicious of him for the most ridiculous reasons.

“I can’t wait to find my mate,” Gillian groans, glaring at me. “You lot are making being single unbearable.”

I lower my hand and stare at him, confused, still laughing.

“What?”

“Don’t think I didn’t hear you and him last night.”

“Oh.”

The single syllable leaves my mouth before my brain catches up.

Then it does.

Heat floods my face so fast it feels like I’ve been set on fire.

Scarlette’s laughter becomes even louder. She throws herself backwards into the water and vanishes beneath the surface. Ripples spread across the lake while a trail of bubbles rises from below, carrying the sound of her continued cackling.

I shake my head and look away.

Honestly.

Rolling my eyes, I point at Gillian.

“You could always stop complaining and find someone for the night. Humans have plenty of options. So do shifters and vampires. I even found a club online in one of the nearby cities. If you travel with your wolf, you could get there easily. It’s one of those paranormal clubs. You can get free sex, paid sex, or maybe even find your—”

“Aah!”

I jerk sideways just as a stone flies past my head.

My scream echoes across the waterfall.

The rock splashes into the water behind me.

My heart nearly launches itself out of my chest.

I slap a hand over it, staring at Gillian in disbelief.

“What was that for?”

“Shut up.”

His expression doesn’t change in the slightest.

I gape at him.

He rolls his emerald eyes and leans back against the rock.

“I’m going to be patient and wait for her. You’ll see.”

Absent-mindedly, he pushes several strands of bluish-white hair behind his ear before brushing the peach-yellow curls away from his forehead.

The movement is completely unconscious. Unfortunately, it also makes him look like somebody’s shy girlfriend.

With his absurdly delicate features, it’s even worse.

I quickly shake the thought out of my head.

The last thing I need is Hendrix somehow catching a glimpse of that through the bond. Zinnia certainly wouldn’t help. If anything, she’d happily let Alaric hear it just to watch him get jealous.

“Maybe my mate is dead,” Gillian says quietly.

The humour drains from his voice so suddenly that the words settle heavily between us.

His gaze drifts towards the rushing water, unfocused. For a moment, he looks genuinely sad.

Scarlette bursts out of the lake just as he says it, water cascading from her hair and shoulders. The timing is so perfect that it almost seems planned.

I wasn’t surprised by what Gillian said.

Kira once told me that a mate bond is easier to hijack when the original mate is dead. If that’s true, then there’s a real possibility Gillian’s mate died long before Astra’s spell ever reached him.

Gillian brushes his thumb over the head of the strange sculpture resting in his lap. Whatever it’s supposed to be remains a mystery. A sad smile tugs at his lips.

“But that doesn’t mean I can give up,” he says quietly. “Hendrix waited twenty-six years… well, twenty-two years for a mate he was told he’d never have. If he got his chance, I can get mine too. Even if it’s a second chance.”

“Second-chance mates are extremely rare,” Scarlette point out.

His gaze shifts to Scarlette, determination burning in his emerald eyes.

“But not impossible.”

Scarlette and I exchange a look.

Neither of us argues.

Neither of us has the right.

We both know what it feels like to lose someone important. We know what hopelessness feels like when it settles into your bones and refuses to leave. If optimism is what keeps Gillian moving forward, then neither of us is going to take that away from him.

A comfortable silence settles over us for a moment before Scarlette suddenly speaks.

“You know, I just had a thought.”

She gathers her wet blonde hair over one shoulder and studies her hands lazily, as though the thought isn’t important.

“I think I know who we should ask about Hiems Zales.”

Her gaze lifts beneath lowered lashes and lands on me.

At the same time, she sends me a very clear message.

Let’s change the topic.

“You’re only thinking of that now?” I snort.

I go along with the distraction without realising she’s completely serious.

“The mind works when it wants to,” she replies with a shrug. “It just came to me.”

She begins twisting her hair into a loose bun while staring up at the sky.

Then I realise she isn’t joking.

She’s serious.

The memory of Zinnia’s insistence on bringing Scarlette with us suddenly resurfaces.

A shiver crawls through me.

Lately, Zinnia’s knowledge has become increasingly unsettling. According to my father, she absorbed his wolf and much of what he carried within him. That explains a lot.

But not everything.

How did she know Scarlette would think of something?

My father certainly wasn’t clairvoyant.

“What’s your thought?” Gillian asks dismissively, completely missing the seriousness beneath her tone.

Scarlette lowers her gaze.

“What if I take you to meet the three fox deities?”