Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Still in their suits but additionally wearing warm jackets and waterproof boots, Vars, Beast, and Laurent treaded through the snow with the dedication of ice breakers. Though to be fair, Laurent most often was a step behind Beast, using his husband’s tracks for easier walking. Tracking down a creature the size of Jake’s gargoyle form should have been easy, but snow started falling again, covering the footprints, and no one could be certain he hadn’t flown away, which would have been the most disastrous scenario.
The whistling of the wind made Vars feel more guilty about a wounded Jake, all alone somewhere in these woods, trapped in a form he detested and afraid to come home. Hound, whom Vars had given Jake’s dirty sock to smell, didn’t seem too interested in following the scent. He sank deep into the snow as far ahead as the extendable leash in Beast’s hands allowed him, wagging his tail as if this were a walk like any other.
“Do you know something more about this creature?” Beast barked out of nowhere after long minutes of moving in silence through the whispering woods but Vars was pretty sure at least half of his anger was fueled by the argument he’d lost to Laurent.
Vars shifted the high-beam flashlight in search of glinting eyes or a shape that didn’t belong in the landscape. “I told you everything I know. We broke into the museum only to get that collar. We thought it would be enough to keep him in check. I thought he could be stopped as long as he wore it,” Vars said in a tight voice. “I’m so sorry this happened, especially tonight.”
Beast’s glare burned like a red-hot iron pressed against Vars’s skin. “You’re meant to prove your loyalty to the club, not to another prospect.”
The cold wind hit Vars and pushed the hood off his head, whizzing in his ears. The sudden discomfort only agitated him more. “Maybe you should be the one to rethink whether you’re loyal to Jake! He’s worked for this club on hands and knees for three years, and he’s still not really a part of it, still kept in the dark. None of you noticed how miserable he was. Well, someone had to be on his side!”
Beast swallowed that sour pill in silence. Laurent made a few faster steps to catch up, and the way he put his gloved hand on Beast’s arm despite the tense situation between them made Vars long for Jake’s tender touch.
“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Baal in the first place,” Laurent said. “That should be our focus. We need to make untangling out of his clutches a priority.”
Vars clenched his teeth, speeding up as they climbed a hill. The naked trees were a sharp contrast to the snow, but even standing in an elevated position, he couldn’t spot anything out of the ordinary. His heart was trapped by fear, because no matter how much the others knew, what was the guarantee that they wouldn’t end up hurting Jake further? It was him who needed to find Jake and coax him back to his true self.
Laurent’s breath echoed in the silence around them when he joined Vars at the top. “Is there anything else? If we are to have a chance of breaking Baal’s curse, any information you might provide could change the course of this fight. And we cannot allow ourselves to meekly wait for his move when two of us are bound to him. Knight should be making good on his side of the bargain tonight, and yet instead he’s looking for a friend. What will happen if he can’t give Baal what he wants?” Laurent asked nervously.
Beast cleared his throat as he put his arm around Laurent and halted Hound, who’d gotten far too interested in a hole he’d made in the snow with his muzzle. “What is the connection between Magpie and Baal? Is it a pact? If so, would he be opposed to any moves against Baal if he knew of them?”
Vars let his hands drop, watching the deep snow ahead in the cool glow of the flashlight.
“Magpie is not under contract. I-I think he is the same kind of being Baal is.”
Magpie had never said this to Vars’s face, but it was obvious enough even if he had the appearance of a man and lived like one. If he could bring back a dead man and used the same stones as Baal to mark his territory, the answer was obvious, even if it had taken Vars a while to come to terms with what that meant.
Laurent was the first to speak after a long silence. “He wants you to be here, so that we can speak freely in Baal’s domain. Surely, they can’t be friends.”
Vars sighed and continued treading through the hardened shell of white. “He never spoke to me about this in detail, but it seems that whatever relationship they have, Magpie isn’t happy about it.”