Shifting Destiny

Chapter Eleven

Levi POV

The sanctuary worker unlocks the service door to the yard and locks it behind us. She keeps the radio and the ward keys. Alis expects an update before we try to move Kael. The yard has a locked inner gate to the patient wing and an outer fence with a narrow holding run. The ground is damp, and I can smell disinfectant from the ward drain. Kael stands beyond the fence, nose close to the wire. He takes weight off his injured hind leg when he turns.

Ryker waits with a Crescent Moon wolf handler, both well back from the fence. She keeps the loop of a long lead lowered. Ryker's hands are free in case he needs to pull her away.

"Has he tried the gate?" I ask as I join them. I keep my attention on the wire while I speak.

"Twice," the handler says. She points to a stretch of mud outside the holding run. "He walked the fence first, then came back here. I haven't opened anything."

Kael lifts his head at my voice, then looks toward the ward windows. The latch is undamaged, but his pawprints are deep at the base of the fence. He's been leaning against it.

"Good," I tell the handler. "Alis wants to know before we try the run. I'll call her now."

Ryker glances at Kael's hind leg. "If we leave him out there, he'll keep walking on that until it gives way."

"I see it." I take the worker's radio and report his position, the leg, and the unopened gate to Alis. Ward staff will need this corridor today.

Alis comes to the yard instead of answering from inside. She stops at the inner gate and looks toward Kael. "I want him somewhere I can examine that leg," she says, one hand resting on the locked gate. "Can he enter the outside run without anyone going near him?"

"We can open the far gate from here," the handler answers. She indicates the rope running back along the fence to a protected post. "The inner gate stays locked. Once he's inside, I close the far one behind him."

Kael has entered treatment runs before, but he has also broken restraints. If this fails, we can let him back toward the trees without opening a route to the ward.

"One attempt," I tell Alis. "If he starts throwing himself at the fence, we release the far gate. I won't keep him in there just to prove we can."

"Agreed," Alis says. She turns to her handler. "No loop unless he comes close enough to endanger someone. I want him walking in on his own."

The handler coils the lead out of sight and takes the rope. Ryker watches the far gate without blocking her retreat. I stay near the inner gate.

Feyre's voice carries through a ward window open a hand's width. She asks a staff member whether the wolf is hurt. I cannot make out the reply. Kael's ears turn toward the window. He follows her voice along the fence, pauses when she speaks again, and puts his nose to the wire below the wall.

Ryker watches him. "That's her," he says quietly. His hand settles against the fence post, ready to move if Kael charges.

"I know." Feyre asks whether Alis will come back. Kael's injured leg trembles, but he keeps watching the ward.

Alis speaks into her radio and asks the staff member inside to close the window. She doesn't ask Feyre to call again or come where Kael can see her. As the window shuts, Kael turns back toward the holding run. He takes two slow steps to the far gate and stops.

"Open it," Alis tells the handler. She keeps her own place behind the locked inner gate. The handler pulls the rope, swinging the far gate inward. Kael sniffs the opening and walks into the run, keeping his eyes on the wall where he last heard Feyre. He is almost clear of the gate.

The handler eases the rope, and the far gate swings toward its latch. Metal scrapes against metal, and Kael twists around. His head snaps toward the closing gap, then toward the handler's hand on the rope. He throws his weight at the gate hard enough to make the post shudder. His bad leg folds when he lands, but he pushes up and hits the wire again.

"Release it," I tell the handler, keeping my voice low. I raise one hand toward Ryker before he can go nearer. "Give him the outside path."

The handler pulls the rope to swing the far gate open again. Kael backs away from the post. He doesn't run. He stands just outside the run, teeth showing, while we keep the inner gate closed and give him room to leave.

"Kael." I speak his name once from where I stand. His eyes come to me. For an instant he stops showing his teeth, and his ears lift as they used to when I called him across a room. Then the gate creaks in the wind, and he snaps his head toward it. He is too close to the fence for anyone to mistake that pause for safety.

Ryker lets his hand fall from the post. "He knew it was you," he says. His attention stays on Kael rather than on me.

"Maybe." I want Ryker to be right. For a moment Kael looked at me the way he used to, but he has recognized voices before and still bitten people who came within reach. "It doesn't change what he did to that gate."

The handler checks the latch. Its bracket is bent but holds. Kael favors his injured leg as he moves away, then turns back toward the ward before reaching the trees.

Alis comes through the inner gate after her handler confirms the run is empty. The sanctuary worker locks it behind her. Alis looks at the bent bracket, then at Kael. "I'm responsible for both of them here," she says. "I need Blackridge's help with him. If we have to move Feyre, she hears why from me and gets a say before we do it."

"Agreed." I don't want another conversation with Feyre where she has to ask who decided what happens to her. "What can we do for Kael today?"

"Water and food at the tree line first," Alis answers, tracing his path with her eyes. "He'll have the choice to stay there. I'll assess the leg from a distance and prepare sedation if he starts injuring himself or threatens the ward. I won't use it simply because a run would be more convenient."

Ryker points toward the bent bracket. "I'll bring Blackridge equipment and a pair of trained people for the outside watch. Your staff keep the keys and the inside gate."

The handler gives him a brief nod. "I'll put someone at each end of this fence while the bracket is replaced. No one opens the service route alone."

I look back at Alis. "Can you close the ward windows facing this yard for now? Kael followed Feyre's voice from the corridor. I'd like to know before she leaves the secure wing so I can have the outside watch ready."

"I'll tell Feyre why we're changing the window rule," Alis says. "She gets to know where he is. I'll move her through the interior hall until we understand how close he'll keep coming."

Sanctuary staff control the ward; Ryker's people watch beyond the fence. I will be the contact between them. The damaged gate is enough reason to have both teams here.

The handler takes the radio to call for repairs. Ryker heads for the outer path to arrange food and water where Kael can reach them without coming back to the gate. I stay with Alis until she has confirmed that the ward windows are closed and the inner service door is staffed.

Kael turns away from the tree line while Ryker carries out the water. He walks the length of the fence again, nose low, and stops below a section of wall farther down the wing. Alis checks the radio as a staff member reports that Feyre has been taken back to her recovery room by the interior hall. No one outside could have seen her make that trip.

I know which room is hers. Kael has stopped along the fence opposite it.

"Alis," I say, keeping my eyes on him. "We need to change more than the window rule."