Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Tyler's POV

The moon turned into an hour slowly. I stayed in my room, cooped up and poring over a list of books. Trying to look for a solution was rare, that I would entertain the thought of finding them within brown pages.

I was reaching my limit, and I needed to search far and wide, trying to get the answers from anywhere they might be in. I let out a sigh. There was a single cup of coffee by the side of the table next to the stack of books that I got from the Royal Archive.

It was going to take a while. I was at test, for I could already feel it in my face. Was I going to get a good solution at the end of the day? That was the main question, and I wasn't certain of it. Heck, I wasn't certain of anything.

Again, I took a sip of the coffee and resumed scrolling through the pages, my eyes scanning through the long ancient words and deciphering them where necessary. However, I seemed to be missing something, like the very urge that I needed to succeed.

It kept on slipping from my grasp over and over, and I felt that it was within reach. Who was gone again in the way just like that? Very frustrating, but what could I do about it? The black-haired protector was used to frenzied scrolling through pages like his life depended on it—well, it did in a way, depending on how I wanted to put it.

I, for one thing, was currently in a fix, and I needed all the help I could get. There were two things that I could do concerning the matters that were slowly getting out of hand.

One, I could rally my soldiers, take things the way they came, and hope for the best. And then there were other options.

I could also try to find a way to regain my powers back. Yes, I know it sounds like a long shot, but the truth was that I had been working on it for months now. Another dark secret that no one knew about.

I know that to get my powers back, I need a blood sacrifice. Powers like mine don't just get handed around from person to person. These are about deep things that no one would tell you about, but I needed them back because I got to see what I was left with, and I felt like I was finally ready to do these sacrifices regardless of the cost.

I highlighted a few lines that stood out from the rest and leaned back on the chair, letting out a sigh. My answers all reached a dead end. Everything pointed back to the one fact that I knew a long time ago: if I wanted my power back, then I had to get the moon goddess reincarnation.

I massaged my temples, seeing as things went from bad to worse. Tell me my day could not possibly get worse. Surely I was at the bottom of the ladder. Things could only get better from here, right?

Once again, I had to go. Standing up from the chair, I paced around the room and ended up leaning beside the balcony. The cold breeze of the Indian air did little to soothe my nerves.

Gazing down below, I couldn't help but see how everything seemed to be on its time still, almost like everything was at peace. But I knew better.

Everyone was totally subject to darkness making because it was not something I didn't want to do. It was a myth—I recall it being told to me. It had been the same story told to every werewolf from birth.

I grew up hearing that the moon goddess was reincarnated in every generation. Someone given the power to hold the worlds together in peace and harmony. Someone sent from the gods to maintain balance here forever.

That was what it was just in me. Since I had been growing up, I never once saw anyone who held such power. "Until recently," a voice in my head commented.

I let out a deep sigh. No more splashing through my eyes. "Let's go," I muttered to myself. Maybe I should let go of this concept before it overshadowed me.

I backed off from the rails and walked back into the room, making a beeline for the ensuite bathroom. My reflection in the mirror looked slightly unkempt with the stress showing on my face.

Well, I had been up looking for answers. Who would have thought that it would get so bad now? I turned on the sink. The cold water splashed on my face. The wind barriers did calm me down, but it was something all the same.

I felt for my phone in my pocket and brought it out as ringing filled my ears while I dialed a number that I seemed to have already memorized. It was like she picked up even before it started ringing.

"Marcella," I said into the phone. There was a lot of music and laughter from her end of the line, which made me quirk up a brow in wonder, questioning where she was at the moment.

We didn't have anything between us—let's just say that we were strictly professional, but we did have an understanding following what happened and the circumstances behind our first meeting.

"Tyler," she said, her tone guarded.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what I was about to say. "I need an audience with you," I said, deciding to bring the question to the forefront as straightforward as possible so that she would stop being down on me, maybe even let herself loose for a while around me. That could be all I needed to get the lead that would change everything.

"How soon?" she asked.

"Maybe right now," I found myself answering. I knew it was sudden, but I had no choice about it. I could only think of a way to get to her immediately. "It's urgent," I pressed, knowing that I couldn't give out the details over the phone.

"Come to the mansion. Send me your location, and I will get a driver to pick you up," I offered.

"No thanks, I'm good," she politely declined. "I'll be there in just half an hour's time."

Half an hour was too much, but I would take what I could get at the moment. "Fine, I'll be expecting you," I said, ending the call and leaving the phone there on the sink.

I stepped out, wishing there was a way to get out of my body. Oh, actually, there was, I thought as I left the bathroom. Unfortunately, I didn't have the powers to do that. Ever since I lost my powers, I also lost the ability to shift into my wolf, and trust me, that had been troublesome.

If I was going out now to a meeting with a couple of rogues where I didn't even know which way the tides would turn, I wanted to actually have that here as a bit of backup that I'd be able to fight for myself when the time did come. But without my lycanthrope powers, I was unable to do the most basic of things that a wolf could do.

In terms of brute strength, I still remained unbeatable, but should it be a fight between wolves, I would fail miserably. That was a problem here, and no one needed to know that I couldn't shift into my wolf any longer. That would spark more panic than problems that it could solve.

I spent the next half an hour pacing around the room, waiting impatiently for Marcella to arrive. Okay, I might have left the room for a couple of minutes and gotten a hamburger sandwich to chew on. But that was literally the gist of it.

So yeah, after what seemed like forever, a knock finally sounded on the door. A guard stepped in with a bow, ever so formal about it. "Master, Miss Willows is here to see you," he said, breaking the good news.

I let out a sigh of relief, standing up from the chair. "Well, about time," I said hastily. Not a single minute could be wasted now.

"Right, sir," the guard bowed and left. Seconds later, Marcella walked into the room.

I took in her casual outfit—pink on pink. I nearly gagged on her choice of color. "Well, you seem to have been awfully busy," I noted. It seemed to me rather that she was out on a very casual basis. "You went to the town, I suppose?" I asked, putting my detective skills to practice.

"What do you need me for, Tyler?" she asked plainly, cutting off the formalities.

Right. I settled with a nod, knowing that things were still very rocky between us. "Why don't you have a seat? I need you for something, and you might prove to be much help to me."

"No promises," she said beforehand before taking a seat opposite from me. She eyed the stack of books everywhere on the table. I might have forgotten to clean that up an hour ago.

"What are you up to?" she asked.

I wished that somehow I could take away the careful edge in her voice, the guarded tone that she always spoke to me with, but I'd already ruined things and I was about to ruin them even further.

"I know I made a promise to you," I began, "but desperate times call for desperate measures, and this time the peace of the packs is at hand, so I need your help for something," I began.