Forbidden Mate, Fated Sin

Chapter 17: Burned On One Side

"Where," I asked. I walked past Grier to the door. "Where did they find the fire."

"North ridge past the old marker stones," Grier said. He caught my arm before I stepped outside. "You cannot go out there Wren. Something is still on fire. Blackthorn scouts might still be in the trees."

"Kade is out there."

"I know." A raw look crossed his face. It was the first time I saw any break in Grier's calm. "I sent two more patrols after him as soon as I heard. I came here because I had nowhere else to go. You needed to know from me before someone mean told you about it."

Maribel put her hand on my shoulder. She stopped me from swaying. "Sit down Wren. Being scared will not bring him back faster."

"I cannot sit." My voice broke. "I have to do something."

"Just breathe," Grier said. His voice got stronger. "That is what you can do. Use the gift you have. Use what Odette taught you. Now is the time if it can tell us anything useful."

I closed my eyes. I reached for the cold place in my chest the way Odette showed me. I waited for fire and screams and blood. I only found static. It was gray and empty. Nothing clear.

"I cannot see him," I said. Fear rose in my throat. "I do not know if that means he is safe or if something worse happened."

"It could mean either," Grier said. "Odette would know better than me."

"Then get her," Vivian said. Her voice cut through the hall. It was sharper than I expected. She looked at Grier not at me. "If the girl's gift can find him then use it the right way. Stop standing here guessing."

I stared at her. The urgency in her voice surprised me. It almost sounded like real worry under her usual cold tone.

"You want me to help," I said slowly. "After everything you said this morning."

"I want my future son by law found alive," Vivian said hard. "Any small feelings I have about how you got into that bond can wait. We need to know if Ashwood still has an Alpha at the end of today."

Grier did not wait. He moved to the door. "I will bring Odette myself. Faster than sending a runner." He left before anyone could stop him. His steps faded down the path to the trees.

The next hour felt slow and strange like being under water. Every sound was muffled by my hard heartbeat. Maribel kept me at the kitchen table. A cup of tea sat cold in front of me. I never touched it. Edwin paced by the window. He stayed quiet. He looked outside every few seconds as if staring could make news come faster.

"You should eat something," Maribel said later. She did not bring food. She knew as well as I did that it would not help.

"I keep trying to see something," I said. "Anything. Odette says I should be able to reach for it now even without trying. But there is only static. Gray nothing."

"Maybe that is a kind of mercy," Maribel said quietly. "Not every moment needs to be clear while it is happening. Some things a person survives better by just waiting."

I did not feel much comfort from that. I also had no strength left to argue.

Celeste appeared at the top of the stairs during the wait. She still wore her night clothes. Her hair was loose and uncombed. She did not come down. She only stood and watched. Her face showed nothing in the dim morning light.

"Is it true," she asked at last. "About the fire."

"Yes," I said.

"And Kade."

"We do not know yet."

Something moved across her face and was gone too fast to name. She turned and went back down the hall without another word.

Odette arrived with Grier just after midday. She moved faster than I ever saw her frail body move. Her silver hair was blown by the wind.

"Show me your hand," she said. No greeting. I held it out. She gripped it hard. Her eyes went distant and unfocused right away.

The kitchen went silent. Every eye fixed on us. Odette's breathing got shallow. Her grip on my fingers tightened and hurt.

"He is alive," she said at last. Relief filled her voice. "Hurt. Burned along one arm. Too exhausted to stand on his own. But alive."

Relief flooded me so hard my knees almost gave way. "Where."

"Close. Closer than I expected." Odette's eyes snapped open. They were sharp again. "They are bringing him in now. I can feel the pack bond settling. That means the danger has passed for now."

Shouts rose outside right after her words. Voices called for a healer. Voices called for space. Voices called to clear the path to the house. I was moving before I decided. I went out the door into the yard. A small crowd had gathered around two warriors. They half carried and half dragged a third body between them.

Kade.

His shirt was gone. One whole side of him was scorched red and raw. Soot streaked his face and dark hair. His eyes were barely open. But they found mine the second I reached him. Something desperate and relieved flickered there even through the clear pain.

"Wren," he said in a rough voice.

"Do not talk. Save your strength." I fell to my knees as the warriors lowered him carefully onto the grass. My hands hovered over the burns. I did not know where I was allowed to touch him anymore. "What happened out there."

"Ambush," he whispered. "They were waiting for us. They knew exactly where to hit and when." His eyes found Grier over my shoulder. "Someone told them our patrol route."

Grier's jaw went tight. "That is not possible. Only a handful of us knew that route."

"I know." Kade's eyes slid shut for a moment. Exhaustion pulled at him hard. "That is what worries me most."

Odette pushed through the crowd. She knelt on his other side. Her hands already moved over the burns with a healer's skill. "He needs rest and salve and quiet. Not an interrogation in the middle of the yard."

"I need to know who talked," Kade said. He forced his eyes open against her protest. "Before whoever it was gets the chance to do it again."

"Later," I said. My hand finally found his uninjured shoulder. I held on like he might disappear if I let go. "You almost died today Kade. Whatever this is can wait until you are not bleeding on the grass."

Something in his gaze softened even with the pain still on his face. "You came out here. After everything."

"Of course I came out here."

"I rejected you in front of the whole pack three days ago." His voice cracked. I could not tell if it was from pain or something else. "I would not have blamed you for staying inside."

"I do not care what you said in that hall," I whispered low enough that only he could hear over the noise. "I care that you are alive."

The warriors lifted him again. They carried him carefully toward the house under Odette's direction. I followed close behind. I refused to let more than a few feet open between us. Grier stayed in the yard. He stared hard at the tree line where the smoke still hung faint against the sky. His expression darkened with every second.

"Grier." I stopped at the door and looked back. "You said only a handful of people knew that patrol route."

"I did."

"Who."

His eyes met mine. Grim and certain. "Myself. Kade. The two warriors who carried him in." He paused. His jaw tightened more. "And Celeste since she sat in on the border planning meeting two days ago as Edwin's representative while he was traveling."

The name landed heavy between us. Neither of us said what we were both thinking. I thought of her standing at the foot of my bed only hours ago. I thought of the strange rawness in her voice. I thought of the question she asked before she disappeared back down the hall. Was it about him. As if she already knew before Grier ever came pounding on our door that something involving Kade might be coming.

"That does not mean she is the one who talked," I said. The words felt thinner than I wanted.

"No," Grier agreed. "It does not mean that." His eyes stayed fixed on the smoke still curling faint above the tree line. "But it means I have to consider it whether either of us wants to or not."

He turned and walked back toward the barracks without another word. He left me standing alone in the doorway with the weight of what he just told me settling cold and heavy in my chest.