The council etings were usually uneventful. Unless a kingdom was in crisis or a border skirmish demanded intervention, most gatherings consisted of routine discussions and reports. Normally, Jack attended every one of them.
But at the last eting, he hadn’t turned up.
He couldn’t. Not with everything happening to Lilly. Not with the furnace, the secrecy, and the constant fear that soone, anyone, might discover her condition. So instead, he had sent Galdark in his place. As long as Jack trusted anyone to represent him, it was Galdark, but even then, the worry gnawed at him.
What would he say if soone found Lilly during the day?
How could he even begin to explain what she had beco?
What excuse existed for sothing so unexplainable?
Tonight, however, the summons wasn’t for a regular council session. It was issued at night, outside of any scheduled eting ti, highly unusual. And not only unusual, but specific.
They wanted Jack. No substitutes. No delays.
Jack knew they would only do that if sothing serious had happened... or if one of the other council mbers had personally insisted he co.
“Just go,” Lilly encouraged him softly. She looked tired, but her smile held steady. “I’ve been alright for a long ti. And I think the city needs you.”
Her words steadied him. Despite his reluctance, he nodded.
Jack left quickly, slipping through the streets at a near-run as he headed toward the castle. Shadows stretched across the paving stones under the moonlight, and his mind churned with every worst-case scenario. Behind him, not far away, three pairs of eyes watched him disappear from sight.
“Rember what I said,” Kai whispered to Gary and Lupus. “We shouldn’t get too involved. As real as this all feels, everything here has already happened. We can’t change the past.”
When Jack arrived at the castle, he expected to see the council waiting.
Instead, one of the Knight Captains stood alone.
“There was an ergency ssage sent by Gary Bluebird,” the Knight Captain announced. “It ca with his personal seal. We’ve confird it.”
Jack’s breath froze mid-inhale.
“As you know,” the Captain continued, “Bluebird was sent to the Furlow region. At his speed on horseback, it takes several hours to reach the location. He has requested imdiate assistance. He specifically asked for you.”
Bluebird requesting him? That ant the situation was worse than serious.
It was dire.
Jack’s mind imdiately jumped to practicalities. In his transford state, he was far faster than any knight or ssenger. If he pushed himself, he could reach the Furlow in an hour. Maybe less.
But then ca the heavier thought, the one in the back of his mind that never stopped whispering.
Lilly.
Leaving her, even at night, filled him with unease. During past nights, he stayed close enough that he could return within seconds if anything happened. Tonight would be different. Tonight he would be far. Too far.
Galdark had said he was busy investigating sothing. If Jack asked the other pack mbers to keep an eye on Lilly...
They might notice sothing.
Even if they didn’t recognize exactly what she was, they would feel the agitation around her. They might beco uneasy. They might lash out... or she might.
And then everything would fall apart.
Jack clenched his jaw. He weighed the risks. Lilly had been stable for several days now. The Red Wing Kingdom was safe, safer than almost anywhere else in Bornzeland. And after what happened last ti, even Lilly would be cautious of strange figures approaching her.
I won’t be gone long, Jack decided. I’ll return before dayti. And if I don’t go, and sothing happens to Bluebird... I’ll never forgive myself.
“I’ll leave imdiately,” Jack announced. “Inform my group and have them stay alert. If this is a trap against the Red Wing Kingdom, if soone ans to lure two heroes out of the city, sothing far worse may be happening.”
With that, Jack took off.
The second he passed beyond the outer walls of the city, he leapt forward and transford. His body stretched, cracked, and reshaped as fur coursed down his limbs. In monts the Alpha Werewolf was tearing across the plains at breathtaking speed, covering miles with each bound.
He would reach Bluebird soon.
A short while after Jack left, the city had settled into its usual quiet nightti rhythm. Lanterns flickered along the roads, illuminating groups of Werewolves chatting or returning from their shifts.
Lilly walked among them.
It was her routine now. At night, she forced herself to appear normal, greeting others, offering small smiles, trying to act like nothing was wrong. But in truth, she was struggling. Every minute she spent near the other Werewolves made her body react. A twisting discomfort churned inside her chest. An instinctive repulsion leaked through her bones, as though their presence made her physically ill.
So she kept her distance. She drifted through the outer roads, exchanging only the briefest interactions before slipping away again.
Tonight she couldn’t even find Lupus. Part of her wanted to apologize to him and others for being absent, for not participating in the pack duties. But she knew if she stayed too long around any of them, her face would pale and her legs would weaken. Her senses scread at her to run.
Eventually, she sighed and made a decision.
It’s better if I head ho. The house must be a ss... I should clean up before Jack returns.
She turned down a quieter street, one less traveled at this hour. The cool night breeze brushed against her skin, calming the agitation she carried.
Then, without warning, a hand shot out.
A man stepped from the shadows faster than her eyes could track and grabbed her by the arm. The grip was cold, unyielding, impossibly strong. Lilly gasped and tried to pull back instinctively, but the man didn’t budge.
She lifted her gaze. The only thing she truly rembered in that instant,
Were the glowing red eyes staring back at her.
****
*****
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