“Not yet.”

  “That’s just as well. I need to get reacquainted with the world. Will you show me?”

  I nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Maybe between the two of us, we could figure out how to break the curse of the moon.

  Chapter 120

  Toby

  Tap stopped walking. “This is it.”

  A long row of caves loomed in front of us. The cliffs were to our left. Rushing water sounded from beyond them.

  “Which cave is it?” I asked.

  Tap held out the map. “That’s not clear. It could be any of them.”

  I counted them quickly. “Oh, only thirteen caves to explore. That’ll be easy.”

  He glared at me. “This isn't my fault. If I’d had my way, my half of the map would’ve stayed hidden for many more centuries.”

  “I’m not mad at you. How are we supposed to find her? Even splitting up, that could take all day.”

  “We’re not splitting up,” he snapped. “Not when Fenrisúlfr could be on the loose. We stick together.”

  My stomach twisted in knots. What would the world’s most vicious werewolf do to Victoria?

  “How are we going to find her, then?” Hale asked.

  I turned to the young vampire. “Maybe you should head back home or the castle.”

  She folded her arms. “Why?”

  “The oldest rumors say that one bite from Fenrisúlfr can kill an entire line of vampires.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  I swallowed. “There’s no gentle way of saying this. If you get bitten, your children, your parents, any siblings, and every other vampire in your line could die.”

  She swore. “I thought the stone was just going to let you guys shift at will.”

  Tap shook his head. “Magic always comes with a price.”

  “Now you’re telling me that my entire species is in danger?” Her eyes flashed red.

  “If the ancient rumors are true,” I said.

  Soleil put a hand on Hale’s shoulder. “I’ll try to take his essence from him, but I can’t make any guarantees. If I were you, I’d call the most powerful supernaturals you know. We have no idea what any of this means.”

  Hale shook, her eyes growing redder.

  I stepped closer. “Tell the queen that I’ll do everything in my power to keep vampires safe.”

  She nodded, handed me the spare clothes for Victoria, and then ran off, disappearing from sight.

  “What about Ziamara?” Soleil asked. “Is she safe at Moonhaven?”

  “She’s in labor at the castle.” I pulled out my phone and sent Jet a quick text, telling him to keep Ziamara there at all costs. Although, if Fenrisúlfr bit anyone from Zia’s line, she would die regardless of where she stayed.

  Jet sent me a text immediately.

  Y? Whats going on?

  I explained the situation as best I could over text. He replied with a string of profanities.

  Just tell the vampires so they can prepare.

  Fine. U kill that bastard.

  Killing him could wipe us all out.

  He swore again.

  I stuffed my phone into a pocket and stared at the caves. “I suppose we better get started. Maybe we can track her scent and figure out which one she’s in.”

  Tap held up the map. “I’ll keep the two pieces together just in case it gives us more specific results as we get closer.”

  Soleil put her hand on my arm. “I meant what I told Hale about draining that wolf’s essence.”

  “Won’t that kill him?” I asked.

  She smacked her forehead. “That’ll kill all you guys.”

  “Maybe,” Tap said. “That could just be an old wives’ tale.”

  Soleil stood taller. “There are other ways. I can leave in just enough so that he’s weak enough to subdue.”

  “Won’t his essence restore itself?” Tap asked.

  “Yeah, but you guys could lock him up and throw away the key. Then it won’t matter.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But then we’d always worry about him escaping.”

  “I wish Victoria had never heard of the stone,” Tap muttered.

  Guilt ravaged me. I’d been the one to tell the pack about it. I should’ve done my research before saying a word.

  “Well, there’s no sense in regret,” Soleil said. “We can’t change the past—only the future. Which cave are we going to start with?”

  I studied the thirteen entrances. It was anyone’s guess which one she was in. There wasn’t anything to give us a clue as to where we should begin. Frustration ran through me. I wanted to find that ancient wolf and punch a hole in his face.

  Instead, I picked up a stone and chucked it at the caves. It flew into one.

  “That seems like a good place to start,” Soleil said.

  Tap marched toward the cave. Sighing, I followed him. I sniffed the air, trying to track Victoria’s scent. I picked up a trace, but it wasn’t strong enough to give me any clues. The air was mixed with salty ocean air, mermaids, vampires, faeries, and a whole host of other nearby creatures.

  We stepped inside the dark, cold hole. Water dripped all around, some misted on us, giving me the chills. I reached for my phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it around. Puddles pooled all over the ground. Bats shrieked, jumped from their places on the roof, and flew down a tunnel.

  “Maybe that’s a sign,” Soleil said.

  “Or we just scared them,” Tap grumbled.

  “I don’t care. I’m following them.” I marched toward the cave, holding my phone out. Bats continued screaming and the sounds of their wings fluttering echoed all around. I sniffed the air again, not picking up even a trace of Victoria. It could have been because the bats’ odor was too strong, or because she had never been in there.

  The tunnel twisted and turned several times before coming to a dead end. Just as I’d figured.

  “Better turn around,” Soleil said.

  I shone the light on the map. “Has it changed?”

  Tap held his arm in front of his face. “No.”

  We trudged out of the cave into the bright light. It was growing dark outside, but was still much brighter than it had been in the cave. “Only twelve more caves to go.”

  “There has to be a better way to go about this,” Tap muttered. He turned to Soleil. “Isn’t there anything you can do?”

  “Like what?” She flicked her head in my direction. “He’s the one who should be able to sniff out a wolf.”

  “Not with as many other odors that are in the air around here.” I narrowed my eyes at the cave openings, trying to come up with something. “Wait.”

  “What?” Soleil and Tap said in unison.

  I turned to the valkyrie. “Can you suck out essence from a distance—?”

  “Drink,” she corrected.

  “Can you?”

  “What, you want me to just face the caves and drink, seeing what I can pull?”

  Excitement ran through me. “Yeah, actually.”

  Soleil shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way.”

  I leaned against the entrance and sighed in defeat. It would take all night to explore a dozen more caves.

  Footsteps sounded nearby. They echoed, like coming from a cave. My heart leaped into my throat and I jumped into position, not knowing what to expect. The footsteps continued, coming from the left.

  Tap, Soleil, and I exchanged curious glances. I turned back in the direction of the sounds.

  Two figures—a man and a woman—stepped out of a cave about a hundred yards down. I narrowed my eyes, trying to focus my vision. The setting sun was directly behind them, making it impossible to make out any distinguishing features. The only thing I could tell was that the female was similar to Victoria and the guy was enormous.

  Fenrisúlfr?

  They both turned our way and froze.

  “Is that them?” Tap asked.

  “There’s only one way to find out.” Soleil walked toward them.

  Tap and I caught up with her. The closer we got, the more obvious it became that the woman was my beloved Victoria. My stomach twisted into tight knots seeing her so close to what could only be the original werewolf—the one who could kill us all if he died.

  Victoria turned to us. I couldn’t read anything good or bad from her expression.

  A glowing red and blue stone rested against her chest over an intricately decorated traditional robe.

  “Looks like we don’t need these extra clothes after all.” I dropped them on the ground.

  Chapter 121

  Victoria

  As my eyes adjusted to the light, I noticed three people standing off to the side, staring at Fen and me. Fen was too taken by the sights to notice them. He was gasping and exclaiming about the fresh air and the sunset.

  He put a hand on my shoulder. “Appreciate things like this. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen a real sunset?”

  “I thought you said the world you’ve been living in is a replica of this one.”

  “Exactly—a fake. Dull colors. Stale air. It was meant to be a prison, and it succeeded.”

  I studied the three figures, and finally I recognized them. My eyes lit up, shocked to see Soleil, Tap, and Toby in Iceland. “Those are my friends. Let me introduce you to them.”

  “Can they be trusted?” He sniffed the air. “Only one is werewolf.”

  “I would trust all of them with my life.”

  “Okay. I need all the allies I can get.”

  We walked over to them. It felt like I hadn’t seen them in so long—especially Soleil, who had disappeared. I wanted to break into a run, but the heavy, awkward robe prevented that.

  “Victoria!” Toby called. He ran over to me, and the others trailed after him. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me away from Fen. “What’s going on? How did you find the stone without the map?”

  My head spun. “Everything happened so fast. Where did you find Soleil?”

  “Egypt.”

  “Sounds like you two need to communicate more,” Fen said.

  “Who are you?” Toby demanded.

  “This is Fen.” I turned to him. “And this is Toby, my fiancé.”

  “Fen?” Toby asked.

  “You can call me Fenrisúlfr.” Fen folded his arms.

  Toby stumbled backward a step. “The original werewolf.”

  “How did you know?” I exclaimed.

  “Tap.” Toby didn’t take his eyes from Fen.

  “Were you in the stone the whole time?” Toby asked.

  “For centuries, maybe even thousands of years. It felt like five eternities. Now I have some business to take care of.”

  “What?” Tap asked.

  “I need to find out who’s still alive. There are scores to be settled.”

  “Do you need a pack?” I asked.

  My friends all looked at me like I was crazy.

  “A pack?” Fen asked. “I am the alpha of the world. Every werewolf is part of my pack.”

  Toby cleared his throat. “Things have changed, Fenrisúlfr.”

  Fen’s eyebrows came together. “You think I don’t know that? My prison was an exact replica of the outside world. Though I was banished to solitude in there—” He pointed to the stone resting on my chest. “—I was able to see how the world was changing without me. Especially with the inventions of the various talking boxes—radio and television, I believe they’re called. And don’t get me started on the world wide web.”

  “We call it the Internet,” Toby said.

  “At any rate, if I need you, I’ll find you. Just keep that stone away from me, and be careful yourselves.”

  “Why?” Toby exclaimed.

  “You think a witch can’t trap you inside, too? I’m the most powerful werewolf in existence—impossible to kill. It’ll be easier to stick you two inside.” Fen turned to me. “I can’t thank you enough for freeing me, but I need to get going.”

  “If you need anything, find us.”

  He nodded, turned away from the caves, and rushed away.

  Toby turned to me and held the stone in his hand, studying it. “So, this is the wolf essence stone that so many have lost their lives over.”

  I nodded. “Now that we’ve found it, can we shift at will?”

  “Why don’t we get that off you before we try?”

  “No.” I stepped back.

  Toby stared at me. “No?”

  “That’s right. I found it. It was calling my name. It wants me to wear it.”

  “It called your name?” Tap exclaimed.

  I covered the stone with my hand. “It did.”

  “Let me see that.” Tap stepped closer. They all did.

  The world seemed to spin around me. I clutched the necklace and backed up. “You’re not taking it away from me.”

  “We just want to help,” Soleil insisted. “It might be safest with me. I’m the essence expert.”

  I shook my head. “You can look at it, but I’m not taking it off.”

  “We don’t even know what it will do,” Toby said.

  “It can free us of the moon’s curse, but it can also trap us like it did Fen. I’m not giving it to anyone. Besides, look how pretty it is. Imagine how it’ll look with my wedding dress.”

  “You want to wear it when you get married?” Soleil asked.

  “Yes.” I took another step back.

  “Then afterward, you’ll consider letting someone else take care of it?”

  My throat closed up.

  “Someone you can trust?” she asked.

  I held the stone so tightly that it dug into my flesh.

  “It might take some magic for it to break the moon’s curse.”

  “Magic?” I exclaimed. “I’m not letting any witch near the stone. They could trap us inside.”

  “Gessilyn’s coven never would.” Toby stepped closer. “You know them well enough to trust them.”

  Soleil stepped closer. “And I know more about essence than anyone you know.”

  I was too tired to keep fighting. “Let’s just go home. I’m tired.”

  “How are we going to get back?” Toby asked.

  “Don’t look at me,” Soleil said. “I can’t teleport anymore today. Not even with Tap’s essence. I’m already stretched.”

  “We wouldn’t ask you to,” Toby replied.

  “What about the stone?” Tap asked.

  I stepped back again. “Nobody’s touching this! The essence is for us wolves to be able to shift at will. Nothing else.”

  “We can take a plane,” Toby said. “The vampires have their own field at the Fyrsturae mansion. We’ll land at the castle, and at least be closer to home.”

  A plane sounded great. I just wanted to sit and chill. “My car is parked near there. Wait, how’s Zia? Did she ever have the baby?”

  Toby looked at his phone’s screen. “Jet hasn’t gotten back to me yet.”

  I felt the robe. “I’m not sure what I did with my phone. Maybe Hale has it.”

  “Wait a minute.” Toby jogged over near one of the cave entrances and picked something up. “Here it is!”

  The three of us went over to him. Toby handed me my phone and a pile of clothes. “In case you want to wear something a little more modern.”

  “Thanks.” I grabbed them. “The robe is fine for now, though.” Aside from a slightly musty odor, it was thick and comfortable, made of a super-soft material I wasn’t familiar with. “How far is the mansion?”

  “Not terribly far. We should probably catch a cab, though. And I’m going to call ahead to let the vampires know we’re on our way.” Toby slid his finger around his phone’s screen.

  We walked toward town, finally coming to a road. There were no cabs, though.

  Toby stuffed his phone into his jacket. “They’re getting a plane ready for us and sending a limo.”

  “A limo?” Soleil asked. “I think I need to make friends with more vampires.”

  “Being friends with the queen does have its perks.” Toby wrapped an arm around me and kissed my cheek. “If you’re going to keep the stone on, maybe you should tuck it under the robe. I’m not sure how others are going to react to a glowing stone.”

  I turned to him, surprised. “You’re not going to try and talk me out of wearing it?”

  He shook his head. “You’re right. You found it, so you can decide what you want to do with it. However, I do think it’s best to keep it hidden for the time being.”

  I thought back to the way some of the vampires had glared at me back at the castle and tucked the necklace under the robe. It chilled my skin at first, but then warmed quickly, sending waves of heat through my body. I leaned my head against Toby, enjoying both the stone and his presence. It was a heavenly combination—euphoric, really.

  A few minutes later, a limousine came into view.

  “Our ride is here,” Soleil announced.

  The long, black car pulled up next to us. The driver stepped out and gave a slight bow before opening the back door for us. We entered and sat on the leather seats. The driver stuck his head in and spoke with a thick Icelandic accent. “Food and drinks are in the fridge. Help yourself to anything you desire. Courtesy of the king and queen.” He closed the door, and just a moment later, the car pulled into traffic.

  Soleil opened the tiny fridge and gasped. “Look at all this!” She pulled out a plate of caviar.

  The others dug in, but I leaned against the soft seat and closed my eyes. The sweet waves of warmth pulsated through me starting at the stone. It washed away all exhaustion, and I felt no need for food, though it had to have been hours since Hale and I had eaten at the deli.

  “Victoria,” Toby whispered in my ear. His breath tickled my skin, giving me the chills.

  I opened my eyes. He held a champagne flute for me.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “The sushi’s all mine,” Soleil said with a mouthful of food.

  I took the champagne and sipped it. More relaxation washed through me as the bubbly drink made its way down. I closed my eyes again and held the flute close to me.

  “Do you want something to eat?” Toby whispered, again tickling my ear.