I snarled, carrying my mate back to the witch, ready to tear her apart, but the soft whimper of my mate soothed me. “Grim, I’m okay,” she whispered. “I’m here.”
I sat down on the couch away from the crystal ball table and cradled Journey in my arms.
“She’ll be fine,” Tajah stated. “Journey is with someone I am sure we would all like to speak with.” She pursed her lips. “Beretta, will you help me to my bed? I’m feeling a bit weak.”
Beretta ran to Tajah, who stood but immediately was scooped up by Beretta. The black panther glared at all of us and took Tajah behind a beaded drape to the back of the shop.
“Now what?” Sizzle asked.
Bones got down on one knee. I growled at him when he put the stethoscope on her chest, away from the salve. As much as I wanted to rip him to pieces for touching her, I needed him. I was helpless at this moment, and I didn’t want to be.
“She’s fine, Grim.” Bones sighed. “I can’t believe we missed that she was a wolf. Our noses have really failed us. I just can’t believe a human can be changed.” He ran his hand through his hair. “How is that even possible?”
“It is possible.” Beretta stepped from the back room. “It’s a legend. My pride spoke of it, while the wolves tried to forget.”
“What happened? Why haven’t we heard about it?” Locke asked.
“Because the outcome was not a happy one,” Beretta said solemnly.
Chapter Thirty Four
Grim
“Whatdoyoumean,it ended badly? Why didn’t we know about this?” Locke yelled before I could.
Journey whimpered in my arms and buried her head in my chest. I purred, keeping her calm. But my rage continued to build.
Why the hell did she take the salve? Right when she looked at me for permission? Did Tajah force her to move her hand and put it on her own chest?
“Tajah betrayed us,” I hissed. “She forced Journey to take the salve.”
The room had gone silent, and Beretta backed up to the beaded barrier. Her stance turned rigid, her hand on one of her guns.
“Is that true?” Locke demanded. “Is that why she nearly fainted, because she was forcing movement on Grim and Journey?”
Beretta laid her hand on the handle of her gun, her tongue wetting her lips. “She did what she had to do, Pres. She was ordered to do it by a higher power.”
“Damnit, Beretta! I’m throwing you in the cells where you helped killed those men last night. You will sit in the same cages like the animal you are becoming!”
Sizzle lunged forward and grabbed her by the arms, pinning them behind her back. Beretta let him, and Locke pulled all the weapons from her belt.
“You will see, Locke. It was for all of us. Journey and Grim are the key, and a lot of us have little time left. The Goddess is just moving it along.”
Tajah’s cough echoed through the shop again. The ringing of wind chimes sang a song that sounded all too familiar to me, to all of us.
It was an old lullaby that had been handed down to the supernaturals from the beginning of time. No one knew its origin, no one knew why it had been with us for thousands of years. But it was there, playing an ominous ting, ting and echoing through the pipes of the chimes.
“If that isn’t a clue for you, then I don’t know what is,” Beretta said. “Men think with anger. You don’t listen to the hints from the gods that an atonement is coming. Journey and Grim are the doors to a new beginning for us.”
“And how is there redemption coming when you just said that the last human that transitioned to a wolf died?” I yelled. “I just got my mate, my mate that I don’t deserve. She deserves everything after what she’s been through, and you’re telling me I’m going to lose her? She’s mine! I won’t let her die!”
Could the goddess be that cruel and take yet another gift away from me? Dangle her in front of me like a starved animal looking for meat? I had trusted again, believed in life again because of Journey. We had come so far in such a short time; I couldn’t have my soul broken again.
Sizzle loosened his hold on Beretta and nodded at her to sit in the chair.
“I’ll tell you the legend, but first let me clarify—the goddess has tried to do this once before to save us. To save the souls of broken bonds. But I don’t believe it will end the same way.”
Locke snarled, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair. “She’s still a bitch. Don’t care how you want to paint her, Beretta. I thought we were all on the same page.”
