I knew Kade wouldn’t have the same issue, but it still made me nervous.
I joined him, both of us crossing to the side of the most powerful stone in existence. It was still a challenge, like wading through very deep sand, each step more effort than the last, but we were able to make it to stand right before the pulsing rock.
“I never knew this existed until the Summit,” I said. “You have to prove your strength with the mecca. When I touched this, there were images, flashes of purple. The council had never seen that happen before, and many of them were here for the last Summit of the Red Queen. My entire body glowed, almost as if I was more mecca than shifter … for a second.”
On occasion I still had nightmares, pulled from sleep with memories of this stone. The power should be feared, even though the shifters had been controlling the mecca for half a millennium. That was how long it had been since fae had ruled this energy, over five hundred years, so why the hell were they coming back now? Why was the mecca energy so out of control?
“So, does it seem as if the energy is still filtering from the Otherworld to ours?” I asked Kade. It felt like it had slowed a little to me, but there was still a massive imbalance.
“Yes and no. The filtering is still there, but much slower. Before it was like the mecca was growing in great rushes, but now it’s subtle. I notice it every few days, just a slight increase in power.”
So the fae had either figured out how to slow the exodus of power from their world, or whatever had manipulated the mecca in the first place was still in control and had slowed the imbalance.
“Do you think we could use this as a weapon somehow?” I asked, reaching out and gliding my hand above the stone. I wanted to touch it, badly, to see what might happen this time now that I was queen, but it was so much stronger than it was at the Summit and I was worried it’d try to kill me again. It was hard to forget the suffocation of power during my coronation, that moment I thought I was going to die, and Kade had saved me.
“Anything this powerful could certainly become a weapon if controlled.” He answered my question after a slight pause, as if he had thought it over first. “We need to start planning for war, gathering our weapons, pooling our magical knowledge so our magic borns might have a chance against the fae spellcasters.”
The magic born were able to touch the mecca in a way no other could, not even me and Kade. Both of us were starting to sway now; it was time to get out of this room. I started to move away, and Kade followed my lead.
“Has your council made a decision yet about the Island?” he asked as we both shuffled our way backward.
With each step, the pressure on my chest decreased until I felt I could finally breathe again. When we reached the secret door, I said, “They still won’t give me an answer. They want to deal with the meeting of the alphas first. We all decided it was too risky to tell all wolf shifters about the fae yet, but we will have a meeting to speak to the alpha of each borough, and also the other leaders of individual packs. I’ll tell them about the fae, and they can make sure the packs are secure without causing a major panic.”
Kade nodded, not seeming surprised at all by this information. We knew it was going to be hard to convince others that a myth was now all too real and was gunning for our world. Even harder: convincing them that working with the bears was our best chance of survival. Kade and his people wanted to start preparing for battle. We were going to use the Island – shifter neutral territory – during the summer festival to work out the logistics, but the council wasn’t agreeing to anything of that nature yet. I understood: one step at a time. But it was still frustrating.
“My council and bear leaders know of the threat, but we too have not spread the word to the general shifter community,” Kade said, dropping a hand onto my shoulder. “I have to return to my boroughs now. Never a good idea to leave bears alone for long without their king.”
We were nearing the door of the library and I could hear our guards softly talking on the other side, Chelle’s short, blunt answers a clear sign that she was not warming up to my people. I would have thought for sure Blaine would have won her over; my friend was a real charmer when he wanted to be. Not to mention he was gorgeous. And very, very dominant. Chelle was a tough cookie to crack, though, which is probably why she was one of Kade’s guards.
“Send Nix with word when you want to train again,” I said to Kade. No matter how difficult controlling the mecca was for me, his training was helping immensely. My control was stronger; the amount of energy I could funnel through my body was increasing. Even the headaches were less frequent and intense – still terrible – but I was taking any improvement.
He gave a slight head bow. “I have to go away for a few days, but I’ll be in touch. Good luck with your alpha meeting.”
Then those eyes locked me down and I couldn’t move. Mecca energy oozed from him, and wrapped around me with a strength that would have had my knees buckling, but I was used to it now.
“Stay safe, Ari,” he said, and then with a dispelling of the energy, he was gone.
I must have been standing like that for some time, because suddenly my dominants were around me. Blaine, one of my oldest friends, with his rich, auburn hair and green eyes, blinked at me in concern.
“Your Highness … are you okay, Ari?” He was one of the worst with protocol, always forgetting to address me as the queen.
I didn’t care. It was just a title. He would die for me. A title was hardly important compared to that.
“Do you think that bear did something to her?” Monica, the more cautious of the two females who were part of my inner five, said to the others.
A chuckle escaped me. “I’m standing right here, and my brain is not defective. Kade didn’t do anything to me. It’s just the mecca. The energy is strong and sometimes it takes a few minutes for me to get everything back into place. Mentally speaking.”
This wasn’t even a lie, and they all relaxed at the clear truth in my words. Still … Kade had something to do with it all. Kade and the mecca energy equally destroyed and rebuilt me. Almost like I couldn’t survive now without both of them, and yet I knew I had to. Neither were mine to keep forever.
Chapter Three
Burning bridges. Scarred feet.