Wolves' Bane (The Order of the Wolf, #3)(55)

Cal rounded the corner that would take him to the den where the scholars spent their time decoding the texts. He knew he’d find his father there. The old man was constantly working, forever trying to find answers. Perhaps he was searching for some measure of forgiveness as well, Cal didn’t know. He tended to avoid speaking with the man at all costs. He had, after all, killed Cal’s mother—a mother Cal only dimly remembered, but certainly missed, like a hole in his soul that had never been repaired. At least until he’d bonded with Morgan.

Yeah, and you’re about to rip that hole right open again and stuff it full of self-loathing and anguish.

“Caleb!” A booming voice echoed behind him as a strong hand landed with a thump on his shoulder. “So nice of you to come down and visit.”

Cal turned. “Stephen, how are you?”

Stephen was the latest of the Hunters to lose his Huntress, which made him the youngest of the scholars at only twenty-seven. It was a blow to their ranks to have lost such a young Hunter, but fate had given him his Huntress, and Lazarus had taken her away only five years ago.

“Doing well.” Stephen adjusted his glasses and ran a hand through his long brown curls. “You know.” He waved his hand around him. “It is what it is.” His face brightened in the next instant as a wide smile broke on his face. “I’ve heard that you found your Huntress.”

Cal nodded as he darted his eyes around Stephen, searching the dimly lit depths of the den for his father. “Yep.”

“And you bonded with her?”

“Yep.”

“What’s she like?”

Cal swiveled his gaze back to Stephen and caught such a look of longing and curiosity in the man’s eyes that he had to look away again. “She’s great, more than great, but I really need to talk to Luther. Do you know where he is?”

Stephen pointed toward the other end of the room, his face scrunched into a frown. “Yeah, he’s over there, nose buried in the texts as usual.” He leaned in close and whispered, “What do you want to speak to him for?”

Cal met Stephen’s eyes once again. “I’ve just got some questions for him. Would you mind giving us a few minutes alone?”

Stephen shrugged. “Sure, of course.” He moved around Cal to the door and paused. “You should stop by the dining hall before you leave. Chat with some of the other men. They’d probably like that.”

Cal forced a smile. “I can’t stay too long tonight, but I’ll come back soon, okay?”

Stephen nodded. “Sure, sure, Cal. It was nice seeing you anyway.”

Cal nodded and moved toward the back of the den, barely making out a human form among the stacks of old leather books and various scatterings of paper.

“Luther?” Cal squinted in the limited light, not sure if the old man was bent over a text reading or if he was bent over and asleep. Or dead maybe? “Father?”

The old man’s head jerked up. Cal hadn’t actually seen him in a number of years and was surprised by how much he had aged in that time. Gnarled hands, bent and withered body, long yellowing beard—he looked ninety years old when really he wasn’t a day over fifty-five.

He stared at Cal with cold dark eyes but didn’t say anything. They’d never shared the loving bond one would expect between father and son. Cal had been raised by the other Hunters, many of the men acting as more of a father than he’d ever know from his actual dad.

“Father? How are you?”

Luther narrowed his eyes and nodded. “You’ve just bonded with your Huntress.”

It sounded more like an accusation than a fact. Cal merely nodded as he pulled a chair out from the table and seated himself across from Luther, not sure where to start or how to approach a topic that was so taboo among their kind.

“What is it you want, Caleb?” His tone was harsh, cold and hostile, his glare enough to tell Cal how unwanted he truly was.

Cal cleared his throat, suddenly wishing he had something to drink. “I came down here to ask you a few questions about your Huntress. About Mother.”

Luther flinched at the words. He raised a wrinkled hand, curling it into a fist to lie on the table. “I have nothing to say on the matter.”

Cal sucked in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. As much as he was loath to be there, this man was the only one Cal could speak to about Morgan, the only one who had the answers he needed. “Father, I know that it’s not the easiest subject for you to discuss. It isn’t exactly a conversation I covet, but I need some guidance.” He laid his hands on the table. “I’ve come down here to speak with you because I need your help.”

Luther’s bushy brows rose, which Cal took to be a positive sign. At least the old guy was listening to him.

“I have bonded with my Huntress, but we have a problem.”

“She’s his bride, isn’t she?” Luther’s words were hardly audible, a whisper escaping his lips.

A chill ran through Cal as he nodded. “We don’t know for sure but we have our suspicions.”

Hissing a long breath, Luther pushed himself back in his chair. “I’m sorry to hear that, Caleb. It is a terrible burden to carry.”

Cal nodded. “The Oracle has portended some tragic events to come.”

“She will die.” Tears sparkled in the old man’s dark eyes and Cal knew at that moment that he wasn’t the only one who had a hole in his heart where his Mother used to be. “You’ll have to kill her.”