Northern Lands: Bound by fate

Chapter 22

ZANDER

"I have no time to explain right now," Ilaria bristled as she led the way across the square towards where we had parked our motorcycles. "Just follow my lead."

Conan ~ You already knew she was bossy...

Leander's brow lifted as he looked between the blonde mage and me questioningly, but I could only lift my shoulders in a shrug. I did not know what was happening right now.

Ilaria appeared at the most fortunate moment, as I was extremely close to a shift and almost went at Zena's jugular. Not like she didn't have it coming, but I needed to stay in focus, and I almost fucked up my most important role in the Aurora pack since we came here. Protect the community we built.

The quest we were on to find the one that took Calandra had been messing with my sanity and the one of my wolf. I saw enemies everywhere. The following occurrences had made the puzzle immensely more complicated, and Conan was holding on to a fine thread of his self-control. I felt as volatile as Leander's wolf spirit, as anguish and guilt played scenarios of Calandra's despair in my head, non-stop.

I knew that the way we had been poking around with the bear-shifters and now the vampires would come back to bite me in the butt as council representative. There was a nagging feeling in my gut that didn't sit right with me. Their reaction was expected, and while both had given me a straight answer, we had no clues to what had happened. Meaning that I still felt conflicted if they were completely innocent in this entire scheme.

I only wanted to get her back to me.

I picked up on Ilaria's fast pounding heart as she sauntered forward with her braid coming completely undone and blowing her hair in the wind. I reached out to grab her by her shoulder and stop her fast pace. She halted a couple of steps from the entrance to Calandra's flower shop. Her eyes whipped up to meet the inquisitorial stares of two ranking werewolves.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to calm her.

Her tormented blue eyes moved to mine, and I never expected the words that came out of her mouth. "King Priamos Asterin is waiting for us in Calandra's place."

Conan ~ I was expecting a lot, but not that.

Zander ~ She works fast.

Leander nodded at the notion, seemingly unphased by having Asterion royalty roaming the Northern Lands community. When a formal visit was made, the visiting realm had to make arrangements before their arrival. It looked like Priamos didn't want anyone knowing about this impromptu visit, as none of the formalities had been requested.

Ilaria opened the door with the spare keys and hurried us inside.

The first thing that hit me was Cal's scent all over the shop. Even with the potent smell of the cut flowers and plants, I could still pick out her unique floral perfume.

While normally vivid with colors and activity, the place now looked dreary and dark. I saw no pixies nor dragonflies roaming around, meaning she hadn't left them to tend to the shop, or as Calandra's magic moved to another location, so did the little creatures.

"Behave," Ilaria pointed sternly at me. The ears of Conan perked up at the order, more amused than angered. The mage was acting out of the normal for her, distraught by the visitor. "He will find out in a moment the role I had in smuggling Calithea Asterin out of Asterion and escaping here."

"You guys like to keep things interesting around here," Leander replied smugly from behind me. His eyes were still his normal honey brown, but I felt Novak's presence. The aura intensified around us because of the royal in the house. "We have been poking the bears and the vamps, now this." A dry chuckle left his lips, sounding a fair bit like a bark.