CHAPTER 8: Marked

Kalev’s POV

I was gone for a total of twenty-eight minutes. As I sat back down in my seat, the feed came back up. Viktor was at my side before I’d even taken a full breath.

"Terrain anomaly," he said, clicking his chin. He leaned against the back of my chair with his arms folded. "Is that's what we're calling it?" Her tone was sardonic, mocking.

"There's a briar formation on the western ridge that wasn't there an hour ago. I'd call that anomalous." I didn't look up from the console. The duty log was open in front of me. I was backfilling it with steady, boring lies. Ground survey. Structural assessment. No participant contact. "I needed to confirm it wasn't a hazard system misfire before we put it back on broadcast. Which it wasn't. Which is now logged." I motioned towards the log system.

“So the briars were a system glitch?” he asked.

“Yes, of course. What else would they be?”

"Mm." He stood up and sauntered over to the edge of the desk. He perched on the side of it, like he'd done since we were fifteen and this was my father's office.  "And the girl?" He raised his eyebrow, a sly smile on his face.

"She’s stable. Her wolf presented under combat stress. It happens."

"It happens," Viktor agreed. "Flora wolves, though?” He paused dramatically. “I’m afraid those don't ‘happen’. In fact, they haven't happened in sixty years." He tilted his head. “You know as well as I do that she’s a flora wolf. You can convince everyone else that those briars were just a system glitch. But you and I know the truth. So what do you think of that?”

Orrin stirred, a low warning. I kept my hands flat on the desk.

"I know what the signature reads as. I also know the archive says that bloodline's extinct. Which means either the archive's wrong or the sensors are. I'd like to find out which before the Council does." I finally looked up at him. "Wouldn't you?"

He held my eyes. Viktor's eyes were very pale.  They always had been.  Gray and washed out to almost nothing.

He smiled, the smile I’d known my entire life. It was an easy smile, fond, and real.

"You would tell me though,” he said. “If there was something else. Anything else. Wouldn’t you? You and don’t keep secrets.”

“Of course I would,” I lied. It was only a matter of time before everyone saw Senna’s mark on her throat. But there was something I needed to know before that happened. I didn’t have time to sit there and talk to Viktor. “I have something to attend to. Keep watch? On the stream?”

He nodded.

“Happy to,” he replied. “But I’d prefer to watch with the others. In the main room.”

“Of course,” I said. “Suit yourself. I’ll join you soon.”

I left my office and went straight to find Endrick. He was in the archives, where he always was, since it was his job to keep the archives in pristine condition.

The room that smelled of dust and old binding glue. House Solenne had been archivists for nine generations. Endrick was born to be the tenth and had spent most of his life trying to be anything else, which is how we ended up friends.

He took one look at my face and set down the ledger he was holding. "What is it."

"Close the door."

He did and then he waited. Vesper, his wolf, watched me from behind Endrick’s eyes, alert and silent.

"I found her," I said, my tone flat.

It took him a second. Then his whole face changed. "You mean…your mate? You're sure?"

"Orrin nearly tore me in half getting to her. I'm sure."

"Goddess." He sat down, hard. A grin was starting to spread across his face, the helpless kind. "Who is it? Which House? Does Petra know yet, she's going to be insufferable…"

"She's a participant. In the Slave Games"

The grin fell from his face.

"She's on the Island," I said. "Right now. She’s from Sector 6. Our family acquired her. Her wolf woke an hour ago and Endrick, it's a flora wolf. I…went to see her. I marked her. I shouldn't have, but Orrin was…" I dragged a hand down my face. "I called a blackout to do it. Viktor knows something's wrong. He doesn't know what yet. He will soon."

Enrick was very quiet. Outside, far above us, the ceiling gave a long low roar. People were cheering. Something worth watching just happened. My mind flashed to Senna. What happened? Was she hurt?

"Flora," he said finally. "You're certain?"

"I walked through a wall of thorns that opened for me because her wolf recognized mine. So yeah, I'm certain."

"Then she's not just your mate." He was already moving toward the back of the archive, toward the locked stacks and the records. "She's a problem, Kalev. The kind of problem the Council put in a box sixty years ago and nailed shut. And you've just…" He stopped and turned around. "Does she know? What she is?"

"She knows she woke with a wolf that grows briars. So yes. I assume she knows she had a flora wolf.”

“But does she know what that means?” he asked.

I shrugged and shook my head. “I talked to her for five minutes total. I have no idea what she knows and what she doesn’t.”

Enrick looked at me for a long moment. Then he pulled a key from around his neck. It was an old iron key, the archive master’s. He turned toward the locked stacks.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“These are sealed records. They were put here sixty years ago when the flora wolves went extinct. I’ve never seen them before. No one has. There’s never been a reason to.”

“Until now?” I asked.

“Until now,” he nodded. “We'd better find out what's in these records," he said. “I have a feeling your new mate is going to need some help. And the more we know, the better.”