Wolves' Bane (The Order of the Wolf, #3)(77)

“I would have shown her,” he growled as he turned his hard look on me.

I folded my arms, staring back at him unflinchingly. “You can be mad at me if you want, Cal, but I think I have a right to see where this battle is going to happen. Considering that I’m the one who’s going to be used as bait and all, it’s only right that I at least know where it will be.”

Cal frowned as he looked over at Lance who had such a cocky smirk on his face that I was worried Cal might rev up and pound the crap out of him again.

“She has a point.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Cal growled as he turned his gaze back to me. “You’re not bait.”

I rolled my eyes and snorted. “Yeah, okay. So what do you call dragging me out to the middle of the forest and then removing my cloak to let the wolves get a whiff of me? I think that sounds like bait. Here, wolfie, wolfie, wolfie, lunch is served.”

Cal shook his head. “It’s not like that.”

I pointed a sai at him like it was an extension of my finger. “You know, Cal, I’m starting to realize that you and your Hunters are just a bunch of chauvinistic pricks who undervalue your Huntress’s role. You take us for granted, lie to us, mislead us, and then use us as bait before killing us…if it all suits your plan. And if all goes well”—I shrugged—“well, then you just f*ck us to your heart’s content.”

Cal flinched at my crass words. “It’s not like that, Morgan.”

I shrugged again before turning away from him. “Whatever. So what, did you follow us out here? Are there security cameras in the trees or something?”

Cal blew out a hard breath. “No, I didn’t follow you. I was already out here.”

I turned to face him again, my eyebrows raised.

“Were you etching out here?” Lance asked as he sheathed his sword.

Cal nodded. “Just making some last marks around the battleground.”

I stepped closer to them. “What?”

Cal motioned over my shoulder. “The battleground isn’t far from here. We might as well go there since you’re out this far anyway.”

I started off in the direction he pointed, ignoring the gnawing fear of what lurked in the shadows.

“You should have brought her out here sooner,” Lance mumbled from behind me as we weaved around the trees toward the large clearing.

We broke free from the tree line, and I gasped as the magic Cal had etched washed over me. He’d laid it on thick, obviously intent on giving me as much protection as he could.

I turned toward him, my eyes wide. “What have you done here?”

Cal shrugged as he nodded toward the center of the clearing. “They’ll come and they won’t be able to leave. The battle contains them here. Including Lazarus. He won’t be able to escape—it’ll give us a better chance to stop him if…”

“If I betray the Order,” I mumbled, shifting my eyes away.

Lance stepped to Cal’s side. “Hey, I’m going to take a run around the perimeter just to make sure there isn’t a wolf lurking. Don’t want them figuring it all out before tomorrow.”

Cal nodded as he shifted his gaze to trail along the tree line. “Good idea.”

I followed Lance’s form, watching until he disappeared into the trees, but I didn’t turn to face Cal once Lance had left. Instead, I stared straight ahead, my eyes riveted to the center of the clearing. “So this is it?”

Cal stepped to my side.

“This is where I’m going to die?”

Cal moved to drape his arm across my shoulders, but I flinched away, shifting a few steps to put some distance between us. “Morgan, you’re not going to die.” I could hear the desperation creeping into his voice, wanting me to believe him, needing me to believe that I would win this battle.

“Won’t he detect your magic?” I waved my hand around. “Won’t he feel it?”

Cal sighed and shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. At least I hope he doesn’t.”

“So you’ve never done this before?”

“We usually don’t have advance notice, no. The battle over Lazarus’s bride has historically happened very differently depending on who gets to his Huntress first. The last time, thirty years ago, it was here.”

My heart clenched for him. What he was telling me was that the ground we were standing on was where his mother died. I wanted to reach out and hug him, but then I remembered the ground we were standing on was also where I would possibly die. I crossed my arms over my chest instead.

“But we’ve never had the advantage like we do this time,” he continued.

“Oh?” I cocked my eyebrow again. “And what’s the advantage?”

“Me,” Cal said. “I’m the advantage. I’m the first magic etcher born in two centuries. I’m the strongest on record. You must feel it too, because in you, it’s even stronger.”

He motioned to the lanterns that hung from tree trunks every hundred feet or so. “I’ll use my magic to make those burn tomorrow night, since there won’t be any light with the moon’s eclipse. We’ll have the advantage.”

“And what else? What else have you done? How can you be so sure that you’ll succeed?” My words sounded more like an accusation than a request for information. I couldn’t help but feel betrayed.