Chapter Six – Destined to Be Together

He would guard the runes that held the secret to the curse with his life if he needed to. But, after Jack’s intervention, the entire world seemed to be tilting, and Vince felt as if he was falling through the earth itself. Without the solidity of the boulder against his back, he didn’t sense any weight holding him down, not even that of his own body. Such strangeness was unnatural, and while he did expect some foul magic to be at play, it was a whole different thing to experience it on his own skin, so to speak.

His surroundings were pitch black. What could have happened? At least the silver threads cutting into his skin were gone. Which could very well mean that Cassandra was no more, but Vince wasn’t in the business of nurturing false hopes.

Nothing of what his parents had told him about his role as a guardian could’ve prepared him for this. Vince tried to move but quickly understood that—

There was nothing for him to move. Was he dead? But his consciousness was intact, and his knowledge of human biology, as limited as it was, told him that he couldn’t be dead. Was he in a coma? While that sounded like a valid theory, Vince had seen witchcraft while guarding the boulder and its runes earlier.

This could very well be a curse, and he needed to be smart about getting out of this state of nonexistence or whatever it was.

“Human guardian,” he heard a sonorous voice speaking.

“Pembroke?” he asked. “Are you here, as well?”

“Yes.”

“What is this place?”

A grunt followed. “If I knew, I’d tell you.”

“Good to know,” Vince replied. “For a moment there, I thought you’d be an asshole and keep it to yourself.”

“You don’t know me,” Theodore growled at him.

“That is true. However, you will have to let us get to know you,” Vince said. “According to Jack’s cards, you will only be able to find your pack’s lands if you agree to accepting our help.”

“I don’t need your help,” Theodore roared.

“I’m starting to understand why Jack is so afraid of kissing you,” Vince shot back.

Theodore fell silent, and it looked like he intended to stay that way.

“Do you think it was Cassandra who did this?” Vince asked.

“That is obvious. It was her.”

“You’re an alpha. Can’t you tell me a little more than what I already know?”

“You keep asking the wrong questions.”

If Jack were there, he’d be able to put Theodore in his place with a few choice words, no matter how wacky. Vince couldn’t say he had the same sort of witty comebacks in him. That didn’t mean that he found Theodore Pembroke any less infuriating.

“You must have at least an idea about what’s going on and how we can get out of here,” he continued as more silence followed.

“What is this thing that you keep mentioning about the future revealed by the cards as they have been laid by the clairvoyant?”

“Now you’re asking?”

“Yes, now I’m asking. You’d better answer,” Theodore threw at him, without hiding his annoyance for a moment.

“Fine. I suppose that you have to learn about it sooner or later. And since there’s not much for us to do here besides talk, I will tell you. Apparently, Jack, as human as he is, as clairvoyant as he is, must become your mate. However, I need to warn you that you will not be allowed to force anything on him without his approval. I may only be a human guardian, but I will fight you on that.”

“I have no interest in mating with the field mouse,” Theodore said with unconcealed disdain.

“Field mouse? I’ve been thinking of him more as a hedgehog.”

“Preposterous. He’s tiny.”

“That he is,” Vince agreed. “Ah, it looks like we finally agree on something. I suppose that’s progress.”

“Call it what you want. What is your role in all of this?”

“I have no idea. Jack appears convinced that I am also destined for you. And him. We are both destined for you. But that might just be his nerves talking. You’re a pretty imposing specimen, alpha,” Vince teased his partner in misery.

“I feel no attraction toward either him or you. He is lying.”

“Hey, Jack may strike everyone he meets as a little strange, but his heart is in the right place. It’s only because of his reading the cards right that we’re here at all, fighting Cassandra.”

“Oh yes,” Theodore said, his voice almost breathless with indignation. “We are here, trapped in a curse, without any possibility of moving, because of listening to that useless clairvoyant. Since you’re a mere human, you believe anything that comes out of a fortuneteller’s mouth. That’s absurd. I don’t have to fall prey to the same fallacies that you do. I was near enough to him to be able to tell that the knowledge is dim in him.”

“Ah, he said something to me about that, and I have to say, Pembroke, for all the expensive education you must have received throughout your life, you’re a callous bastard and a moron.”

When Theodore said nothing, Vince felt almost vindicated. Almost. Because the next thing he knew, Theodore growled so loudly that if he’d still had a body to be aware of, he’d have felt all his hair stand on end.

“You will not insult me, guardian. I will rip out your throat and--”

“Yeah, sure. The only problem is that, currently, you have no fangs, and I don’t have a throat. Also, while I don’t have Jack’s penchant for coming up with witty retorts, threatening to bite me might give me the wrong idea. You’re looking forward to mating with us, aren’t you, Pembroke?”

“In your dreams,” Theodore snorted.

Vince sighed. “Look, Pembroke, it’s not my intention to rile you up, but you truly come across as a standoffish asshole. Think about the situation you’re in. Why is it happening? As an alpha, you must know more about what’s going on than what you’re let on.”

Theodore didn’t appear keen on parting with his knowledge, whatever it was. “The boulder,” he finally said. “You started reading the symbols on it. I believe you are the one who must share his knowledge.”

“I can’t explain it. The moment I saw it, I knew that those symbols were important.”

“What did they say?” Theodore asked, each word weighted heavier than the last.

“If I only knew. But they must be the key. To undoing the curse Cassandra put on Ryder’s pack. And yours.”

“If you didn’t understand them, how can you make such claims?”

“Let’s say I felt it in my bones.”

Theodore snorted. “That sounds hardly credible.”

“Hey, we’re both trapped in here. We have our voices, but we don’t have our bodies. How’s that for credible?”

“You make a good point, human.”

“Thank you,” Vince replied primly.

“You’re welcome.”

Were they truly acting politely toward each other or were they simply competing in trading sarcastic lines back and forth?

“Cassandra wanted to pull you off that rock,” Theodore continued after several moments. “She was hungry for the knowledge you were covering with your body.”

“Yeah, it felt like that to me, as well.”

“We must retrieve the symbols and decipher their meaning. It is essential,” Theodore said.

“I agree with you. Do you know what I’m thinking?” Vince asked as a wild thought crossed his mind.

“I can’t possibly see how I could read your mind.”

“Okay, Mr. Smartass. You’re right about that. The thing is that Jack’s cards show the three of us having to be together to undo the curse on your pack.”

“I believe you are mistaken about an important aspect here, human. My pack was destroyed. Completely. There is no longer a curse meant to destroy it, because it has already happened. However, the symbols in question might show me the way to get to those behind it. I must have my revenge.”

“I’m not big on revenge, usually, but I can see why you feel that way,” Vince said.

“Are you mocking me, guardian?”

“Far from me to be so bold. That’s Jack’s area of expertise. What I’m thinking is this – we need Jack so we can read the runes. We must look at them, the three of us together. Then their meaning might be revealed to us.”

“This is all mere speculation and nothing else,” Theodore warned him.

“At this point, it may feel like that, but think for a moment. While it may not be about us mating with all that entails, you need us to make sense of what happened to your pack. And that’s not something you can deny. Without me, you wouldn’t even have known that there is a message trapped in that stone.”

“I admit this to be evident, but the field mouse--”

“It’s funny how you’ve already come up with a cute nickname for him,” Vince teased.

“It’s an insult, not a nickname.”

“Nah, you like Jack, but you just don’t know how to show it,” Vince continued. “By the way, there’s no need to throw those poisoned daggers at me with your eyes even if I can’t see them. I have no intention of disheveling your little field mouse. Unless you need my help, of course.”

Theodore’s growls were the stuff of legend. But Vince wasn’t impressed. Hope had to take root in the alpha’s heart so he could finally pull his head out of his ass. And if riling him up helped, he was willing to push his luck.

Especially since, given the state they were in, Theodore couldn’t actually hurt him.

***