Blake stood by the Vale Academy’s parking lot with Hadrien who had called his brother Joshua. Prince had vanished into whatever plane he come from along with a struggling Coney. He had claimed that Blake hadn’t needed them to stir up trouble among the wolf spirits who are territorial beings.

Joshua had told Hadrien that he would come to get them, and they continued to wait for him.

“Do you live with your brother, Hadrien?”

“Oui, we live on the Price lands along with the other wolves from their pack. They have built several houses for pack members to call home if they want.”

“Do you get homesick?”

“Parfois, but the landscapes are much the same here like in the Margeride Mountains. Fewer rivers and more meadows though.”

“Margeride Mountains. Is that where you grew up? Is your pack the same as the Price?”

“Non,” Hadrien shook his head before looking wistfully into a distance. “My clan is old and hold tradition close to heart. We call ourselves Lycans and believe that the first of the wolves were Lycaon of Arcadia hence the name. Though the biggest difference is our race. We are… They are cave wolves. Not Eurasian wolves like us.”

“Cave wolves? What is that?”

“An extinct wolf species. They lived in Europe during the stone age. In caves, if the name didn’t give it away. They are ancestors to the Eurasian wolves and a little bigger than them. My pack is more secluded but quite… infamous. I don’t know if you have heard about La Bête du Gévaudan, but my pack as quite a notorious history. A lot of people died. We have kept in the shadows since then.”

“And you weren’t chosen by a wolf in your clan… Pack?”

“Non, we only have around seven wolves and all of them were already in other relatives. So, we either had to wait until someone died, accept our lives as humans, or go to another pack. Living as a human was never an option in my family. The Du Mont pack isn't friendly towards humans as the Price pack.”

“Du Mont? But your name is Dufort.”

“Yes, I and my brother doesn’t belong to the main family. My brother was driven out when he came of age and he wouldn’t be chosen for a wolf spirit. He traveled to Wales to join the Price family. He got chosen by the Beta, Greyrunner, and I decided to go to him before I come of age and be driven out.”

Blake’s eyes followed Hadrien’s every move as he talked. To be exiled from his own home… “I’m sorry.”

Hadrien looked over at Blake with a somber smile. “Moi aussi.”

A blue car drove over and stopped in front of them and a young man exited. He is really tall and handsome with the same colored eyes as Hadrien but with fairer attributes. To be honest he looked like a model.

“Bonjour les enfants! Vous allez bien, héros?” Of course, he spoke in French. The man which Blake assumed was Joshua looked over at Hadrien.

“Ça va! Parle en Anglais, Salaud.”

”Charmant!” Joshua turned towards Blake with a flirty smile. “And who is this handsome young man?”

“Too young for you!” Hadrien said while rolling his eyes. Joshua just laughed at that. “Age is just a number, not to mention the elder has experience.”

Blake blushed when Joshua kissed his cheeks. He had noticed that this was something Hadrien does as well and has learned that it was their way of greeting. That along with being flirty, though Hadrien is more reserved.

“We would need help getting to the Price house. We need to speak to Elliott, and he wasn’t in his office. I assume you kept him busy,” Hadrien said with a meaningful look while Joshua laughed cheerily.

“Always. Get in, enfants!”

Blake frowned at their conversation, but he wasn’t sure what Joshua’s part was in the pack, so he wasn’t sure what the conversation was about. The drive was just a few minutes away and Blake soon looked out at Price beautiful farmhouse with at least twelve bedrooms. Joshua merrily showed them to Elliott’s office. He knocked on the door and opened it when Elliott answered. They entered a study filled with books and files with an enormous, mahogany desk in the middle in front of the window.

Elliott looked up only to frown at Blake who felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Hadrien went between them to divert his eyes and Blake felt himself breathe easy for a second before sticking his head out from Hadrien’s back

“Uhm… Excuse me, sir.”

“Ah, Mr. Oakley. I must apologize to you on my brother’s behalf. He told me about your promise during the festival and his… silly behavior. I do hope that he did not cause you too much pain.”

Blake flinched at the thought of the dance during the festival and Elliott must have noticed as he changed the subject. “What can I do for you?”

“I need your permission to enter the Price sanctum, Sir.”

Elliott froze and he looked with suspicion at Blake. This did not go well. He had assumed that the other wolf-shifters on the rugby team had just overreacted, but it seems like his request is rather taboo.

“Why if I may ask do you want to enter the sanctum?”

“I want to try communicating with the wolf spirits. My guardian tells me I have an inborn gift for communicating with spirits in the Hereafter and that I need to train that ability so that I don’t get possessed by bad spirits.”

“Guardian?”

“Kind of like a mentor. I have signed a contract with a spirit who will protect and teach me magic.”

“Handsome looking guy. With a sexy aura but smells like ash and eyes with literal fire in them,” Hadrien explained with an indifferent shrug. “And a rabbit.”

“A what?” Elliott asked but was answered by Coney scratching his desk. He rose and looked down.

“I’m not a rabbit. I’m THE rabbit! And I’m Blake’s guardian. Not the other one!” Coney huffed and jumped over to Blake, who lifted him up. Joshua gushed over the rabbit.

“I did find it curious, but I didn’t want to ask why you had a rabbit with you.”

Elliott stared at the rabbit and for a moment he looked like he was about to squeal like a little girl before he collected himself. “Did your… Does the other guardian say that you have the ability to communicating with spirits? Can you also command them? Like you did with Ironmaw?”

“Ironmaw?”

“My wolf,” Hadrien answered Blake who was clearly lost before he turned towards Elliott. “He did not command Ironmaw. He summoned him and asked for his help. Ironmaw simply agreed.”

“He is right… Kind of. I didn’t know that I summoned Ironmaw. I just suddenly saw him watching me right in front of me and asked him to save Hadrien. I did not command him.”

Elliott looked at ease at that. “Can you communicate with spirits inside of people?”

Blake frowned at that. He had never tried. Blake turned to Hadrien and narrowed his eyes in concentration. Hadrien merely looked amused.

“Mignon!” Joshua exclaimed and Hadrien snorted at that. Blake sighed and gave up. He had a distinct feeling they were mocking him.

“I don’t think so. I’m not sure how it works. Which is why I would like to train but I cannot even sense a wolf inside of him. Besides Prince, my guardian mentioned that I can communicate with spirits in Hereafter, not spirits who possess people.”

“It still sounds interesting. If he can talk to the wolf-spirits then maybe he can help us get them suitable hosts. We have plenty of spirits who don’t seem interested in any of those coming here to be chosen. Maybe Blake here can help us with that,” Joshua said with a nonchalant shrug and Elliott seemed to agree.

“True, but I still don’t feel good about letting him into the sanctum alone. It’s a sacred place for my pack.”

“Then I will go with him. I planned on doing so anyway as I want to make sure that he will be fine,” Hadrien answered and Elliott nodded.

“Agreed. Make sure that he doesn’t hurt our wolf spirits. If they don’t want him there, then get him out.”

Hadrien walks off as Blake followed him after thanking Elliott and Joshua. They went down into the basement and into an old door who seemed to lead into catacombs.

“This was once a secret druid temple during a time when they were hunted by the Catholics,” Hadrien explained while he lit up the lamps.

The catacomb was made from grey stone and filled with bones from human remains. What seemed to be thousands of pelts laid on altars around the room. Blake took a step forward when a sudden rush of howling echoed in his head. It felt like his head was about to split open and Hadrien steadied him with a concerned expression. “Are you okay, Cheri?”

“Not really, there is a lot of wolves here and they all spoke at the same time. It overwhelmed me.”

Blake looked around quickly before touching his medallion. Prince manifested out of smoke coming from the medallion with a smile on his lips. The wolves growled but seemed relatively calm.

“So, you succeeded to gain access. You don’t even look hurt,” Prince said and circled Blake who frowned at him.

“You expected me to get hurt?”

“Well, the wolves protect their den and you are an outsider. Normally, they would have beaten you silly.”

“What?” Blake exclaimed frightened and looked over at Hadrien who now looked suspiciously at Prince.

“I would never have let them do it.”

“Neither would I, of course,” Prince was hardly convincing, but Blake let it go. It was already done. Now he needed to focus.

“What am I going to do here? How do I begin?”

“There is to many wolves. Focus on one. Call on it. Let it come to you.”

Blake closed his eyes and tried to focus on one of the wolves. A task that is not easy as they all eagerly snarled and howled at him. Then he felt something, calm curiosity. He focused on that and opened his eyes when he felt something sniff his hand. A red wolf with green eyes whined at him and he scratched the wolf’s ears.

Coney had hidden behind an altar while Hadrien stared at the wolf.

“Wait, can you guys see him?” Blake said, confused by it all. Prince laughed at his question.

“That tends to happen when you summon a spirit. Though, I would recommend you don’t speak of it to others.”

“Why?” Blake asked and Prince perused him for a second before answering him.

“Because summoning a spirit into physical form is powerful and dangerous magic. It’s considered dark magic.”

Hadrien reacted to that.” Dangerous? Will it hurt Blake?”

“Sure, and anyone around him. He is summoning them into a physical form by creating a portal from the Hereafter. As you can imagine that could be disastrous if the portal isn’t closed.”

Blake felt panic rise as he listened to Prince. “Close it? I don’t even know I opened a portal. How did I do it? Did I close it?”

“It’s an inborn ability. It’s related to your ability to communicate with spirits. You must have heard of mediums summoning spirits. It’s similar to that, though they only summons them in astral form. You summon them into a physical form using your own magic.”

“How is that possible? Mr. MacGreine mentioned that I had a lot of magic but that just-“

“Your teacher was correct when he said you had a lot of magic, but he underestimates your ability. You are maintaining two spirits in physical form while created and closing a portal and summoning a third spirit. All are advanced magic. I doubt that any witch or druid can be your equal.”

Blake just shook his head in denial. ”That is ridiculous! I am a boy born out of two farmers in the middle of nowhere. How could I have gotten such power?”

“There are a million answers to that, my protégé. You merely lack the imagination to understand them so focus on the wolf.”

Blake petted the wolf who whined and went over to an altar with a pelt on it. It had a similar color to the wolf. Blake walked over and touched the pelt. He could hear the wolf yip happily. The sensation from the pelt went through Blake and he could feel its connection to the wolf.

“This pelt… It’s is the wolf,” he said with awe in his voice. Prince nodded and looked out at all the pelts in the catacomb.

“It is one of the greatest secrets of all the shapeshifters. Their animal spirits need a foothold in this realm. So magical items were created in ancient times from animals’ part. The spirits follow these items no matter if they are pelts, fangs or bones. Destroy the items, in this case, the pelts, and you will destroy the thing that binds them to this place. They would drift away to the afterlife. To be reincarnated into a new form.”

“So, they are prisoners?”

“No, they are here voluntarily as they love their partners. The ancient humans and the animals have a closer bond with each other than humans know. They stayed behind to guard the humans they love so much.”

Blake got in his knees in front of the wolf who looked him straight in the eyes. Blake could feel the wolf’s joy and eagerness even a bit of pride in being chosen to be talked to. The wolf wanted to show him something. Blake could feel it and followed the wolf as it went deeper into the sanctum.

The wolf stopped in front of an altar with a claw mark on it. It whined and scratched the altar as Blake walk towards it. On the altar lays a black pelt. He reached for it but froze as he could feel something. Darkness, rage, and fear. It called for help. Blake looked down at the wolf who growled at the pelt.

“Oh, God!” Blake exclaimed when he realized what the wolf meant to say.

“Hadrien! Call for Elliott. I have something to tell him!”