Page 60 of Ruined Wolf
“It looks like pictographs, and a weird line that kind of curves...”
“It’s the outline of a quarter of the island. The different parts all match up, and there are symbols on each end so you can work out how they go together,” I murmured, laying my head back down on his chest.
“So that’s it? That’s what you came down here to find?”
“Yes. It should reveal the location of the actual treasure. The final piece of the puzzle.”
Lucas switched off the torch. “You don’t seem very excited. Was it all about the money?”
I shrugged. “In a way. Sometimes, it made me feel less alone, like I was working with Jaxon and carrying on his quest. Now, I realise we never would have been able to keep the treasure anyway, even part of it, and I’m still alone and have nothing.”
“You have me,” Lucas replied. “And I’m not exactly begging for pennies here.”
“That’s not—”
“And you have a job and a place where you belong now. If you don’t want to live with me, we can find you a place, one you could afford with your salary. Naturally, as Jaxon’s family, we would want to help financially, but only as much as you feel comfortable with.”
“Ethan’s going to kill me as soon as we get out of here,” I told him. “You’re just dreaming, Lucas.”
“Says the girl who came to an island with a map looking for buried treasure. Anything is possible, Nova. Please don’t lose hope. Not now.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. My body and mind were done. I was just so tired, and that revelation about the treasure had hit me hard. I should have known. Jaxon knew, so why had he gone after it anyway? I didn’t know, I couldn’t understand it or him, and I felt more and more like the man I knew was just a shadow.
Lucas didn’t say anything more. Perhaps he’d realised that there was nothing he could say right now. I had my own darkness to deal with. He held me close, stroking his hand over my hair, and I tried to clear my mind, ignoring the swirl of thoughts that battered at me over and over until, finally, I fell into a restless slumber.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ASHER
I didn’t know how long I drove, or to be honest, even which roads I travelled down. My mind shut down completely, keeping the fury and gutting agony of her betrayal at bay, as well as the searing grief at the news of Jaxon’s death. I shut it all out, closed down, and just drove. The wheels crunched over gravel, and I pulled the truck to a stop in a small car park some way off a main road. I turned off the engine and stared ahead of me as silence fell. I was completely numb, and somewhere, a faint voice told me it was more than likely I was in shock. In a weirdly detached way, I began to remember what to do if someone was in shock—keep them warm and safe, and find some way of bringing them back to reality. What if I didn’t want to come back? Our family had already been fractured. Nova’s arrival had seemed to bring us all closer for a while, but now she had ripped us apart, shattering our unit in a way I never could have predicted.
I looked down at my hands in my lap. They were shaking. Back to reality. Slowly, like I was moving through a dream, I began to remove my clothing, folding each item and leaving them on the passenger seat of the truck. Once naked, I pushed the door open, then turned and locked the truck, stashing the keys under the rear wheel arch. I leaned back against the door, ignoring the cold sensation of the metal against my spine, and gazed off into the trees.
I shifted without thinking, my human consciousness rolling back in my head to allow my wolf to take the reins. He wasn’t detached, and I felt his emotions flow over me—hurt, confusion, anger, and disbelief. In surprise, I realised he wasn’t ready to write Nova off just yet. He could sense that there was more to this, but right now, we both needed to clear our head. We walked down the path that led into the trees, increasing our speed to a gentle trot, and then careening off the path and into the forest. He sped up, and I relinquished any control, letting him run where he wanted. I didn’t want to be here, I didn’t want to think or feel, and giving myself up to my more primal side took the pain away.
There was always a slight risk with this though. The temptation for the wolf to permanently take control was strongly frowned upon. A shifter could get lost in his most primal nature without that spark of humanity to bring him back. Right now, I didn’t care. I had spent so much time trying to be a good, caring, decent human being, and what had it brought me? My parents died when I was too young to really remember them, my brother abandoned me and then died, and Nova pretended she had feelings for me only to choose every single brother over me then rip us all apart. No. I was done.
I gave myself up to it, no longer aware of anything save the damp, rich scent of the forest around us, the sound of the birds, the chill in the air, and the growing wind that ruffled our fur. I felt our feet hitting the ground over and over as we raced through the trees, claws sinking into moss and bark as we leaped and climbed over dense roots. Our heart raced and chest heaved with the physical exertion, and even my wolf thought of nothing but the primal sensation of physical impressions and just being alive.
The terrain changed under our feet, becoming hard, solid rock, and we climbed higher among the trees until we stood on a crest of rock over a clearing, the trees like some towering columns in an ancient and long forgotten cathedral.
My wolf sucked in the cold air, filling his lungs, and then with a sudden release that shook my core, he howled his grief and anguish to the sky. Emotion crashed through me. Every memory of Jaxon and Nova tore through me like knives, slashing at my soul, and inside my wolf’s mind, I howled with him, screaming to the island until I had nothing left within me. We collapsed, staring into the shadows between the trees. If I had been in human form, I believe I would have wept as rage became grief and utter heartbreak.
I have no idea how long we lay here. The sky darkened overhead with ominous clouds rolling in from the sea, and we watched, detached, as droplets of rain hit the rock just in front of our nose. When the rain became heavy enough that I could feel it seeping through our fur, I finally dragged myself up. My wolf had retreated inside, his own grief spent, and I regained control. Sense and awareness returned. I needed to get back and see if Maverick needed anything or just... so I didn’t stay out here forever.
My limbs felt heavy as I made my way back down the cluster of rocks we’d raced up, and with a sinking heart, I realised where I was. Somehow, I’d driven across the island, and now I stood before Standing Bear Rock. I padded forward and slipped underneath, taking shelter from the worsening precipitation. I breathed in, as though I’d still be able to scent her here, and memories flashed through my mind of her soft skin and golden eyes, and the way she whispered my name.
Pain reverberated through me once more. I had been such a fool. At least I had already started to accept she would never be mine before her betrayal had been discovered. I couldn’t imagine what Maverick and Lucas were going through. I needed to get back. My brothers would need me, even if they didn’t realise or accept that they did. They shouldn’t have to be alone in this. Nova had never been my mate, and Jaxon had abandoned us months ago, but Maverick and Lucas were still there, still family, and we needed to stick together now more than ever, or I was afraid we would lose each other for good.
I turned away from my memories and began to trot through the trees. I didn’t have the energy or the motivation to race back, just placing one foot in front of the other. The heavens seemed to open, and the rain began to cascade down in sheets, soaking me despite the canopy of the trees. Spring was in full bloom, and the leaves were back, but they didn’t provide the thick cover they would in a few months, so I was drenched when I got to the truck. I shifted back but hesitated instead of climbing into the truck. I stood there, my bare feet pinched by sharp gravel, and tipped my head back, letting the rain shower down onto my skin. Each droplet hit me like a needle, and a thousand of them stung my skin as I let the cold water stream over my body as though I could simply wash the pain away.
I blinked as the water dripped into my eyes and shook my head, trying to shake some of the water from my hair. Enough was enough. I needed to go home.
The rain lashed against the windscreen, and I had the wipers on full blast, but I could still see the tops of the trees swaying like crazy as I pulled into the driveway leading to our cabin. It could almost be night, though normally it wouldn’t have been this dark until much later, but the storm clouds were black, and very little light was getting through. I slammed the truck door, locked it, and then made my way up the cabin steps, squinting against the torrential rain and wind. There was something on the air, something ominous, and my wolf felt it strongly. He snarled and whimpered in my head as I pushed through the front door and stood dripping in the entrance hall.
The house felt strangely quiet. I pulled off my soaked jacket, hanging it on a peg by the door.
“Maverick?” I called. “Lucas?” Nothing. I quickly stuck my head into the sitting room and the kitchen, but the lights were off, and the place was empty. It felt chilly and weirdly echoey. I kicked off my boots and jogged upstairs. My brothers weren’t in their rooms either. I sighed. Clearly they had left after me, and it struck me that they might be looking for me.