"Because you're family?" Theo couldn't help the laugh that sprung from his mouth. "Little brother, it was our patriarch--the man who sired us--who put us in this position to begin with. The reason Tristan trusts mated men is because unless they're sick and deranged, they won't do anything to harm their mate and therefore are less likely to betray the pack."
"I've had enough of this crap."
Theo shook his head. "What?"
"I don't have to stay here and put up with this anymore." Rex turned on his heel and walked in the opposite direction of the group. A screech from Tristan's area caught Theo's attention and he swung around to look.
Summer had hit the ground and was crouched on her knees. "Theo don't let him leave. He's blank now. I can't see, I can't see any of his future."
Theo was confused. Summer saw their futures that clearly?
"Rex, wait a second." Theo called out to him but Rex wouldn't turn around. "Tristan, do you want me to recover Rex?" He really hoped Tristan would take care of it himself. After all, it had been their Alpha who had attacked him.
Tristan shook his head, casting a sympathetic look at Summer. "It's a good thing you can't see it anymore, little sister. Rex's future needed a shake up. He's never left here. He should have known better than to do what he did today. He needs to go--as we all went--to spend time off-island and decide if this is where his future is or if it's time for him to live elsewhere."
Ashlee sucked in her breath. "Tristan, are you sure?"
"He's my brother. He'll always be welcome back home but if he feels he must leave, let him go." Tristan's eyes fell to the man on the ground. "We have a pressing matter to deal with here."
Theo strode forward. "Who is he?"
"Take a look." Cullen still stroked Summer's back as she gripped her pregnant belly but his eyes turned wolf and Theo didn't imagine the bloodthirsty look he saw appear when their father's former advisor stared down at the now restrained traitor on the ground.
Staring down at the scene below him, Theo sucked in his breath. He'd know the traitor anywhere. Hell, they'd been raised together, were practically the same age. Blonde hair, an easy smile, and almost zero need for advancement, Nicholas Rice was the last person he would have suspected of treason. He'd lost both his parents and two brothers to their father's deception. What the hell was he doing and how had he not recognized him immediately?
As if reading his mind, Cullen answered. "We're going to have to figure out how he deceived us for so long and why. My wolf declared this magic and I believe he is right. This is going to fall to you, Ashlee, to decipher."
"You'll never beat him. He is our true leader and where Tristan, the usurper, leads us is down a path to hell." Before looking up, Theo briefly noted the strain in Nicholas' voice made by the presence of Cullen's foot on his neck.
"Before you take him into interrogation, Cullen, you might want to ask him where he was going in that canoe. My best guess is that he has one of Kendrick's henchmen on the mainland who he feeds information to." He glanced up at the sky and lifted his hand. "Faith, come down, you need to be part of these discussions."
A sad glimmer in her eye, Faith shook her head. "I'm sorry, my love, I cannot."
What did that mean? "I don't understand."
"It calls to me now like I can only imagine your wolf called to you for so many months. I need to answer it and find my brethren."
"Your what? Faith this is insanity." Theo's pulse sped up. He reached for her telepathically and still found nothing. "It's the demon. It's messing with your head. In no way is what is inside of us our kin. Come down and we'll work out a plan to get the book and then we'll be free of it."
"No, Theo." Faith's voice was resolute. "Don't you understand? You were never meant to be a demon, but clearly I was."
"No." Just out of his jumping range, Theo couldn't reach her. In the long years of his life, he'd never felt so ineffectual and he wanted to roar.
"I grew wings without an ounce of pain, you never did. Don't you see what that means? The power was never at home in your body but it is in mine. I like it."
Tristan grabbed his arm. "This doesn't sound good."
Shrugging off his brother, who didn't say anything he wasn't already aware of, he faced Faith once again. "Please Faith, I can't lose you. Don't disappear into something that we are not meant to be."
"In truth, Theo, I cannot resist." In front of his eyes, she seemed to be changing. Even the contour of her voice and the sound of her diction altered. This couldn't be happening, he wouldn't allow it. "I'm not as strong as you."
Feeling his eyes turn wolf, he stared up at his mate, the woman fate had chosen for him. He would not lose her. "Faith, get down here this instant."
"I cannot obey."
Without a look down again, Faith took off in the sky, flying faster than he'd dreamed imaginable and disappearing from view.
Instantly, Theo changed into his wolf form. Howling once and plowing by his brother and family, he took off at a run. He'd lost Faith, there was nothing left. Pushing his four legs to move faster than they ever had before, he sprinted towards the cliffs unsure of where he went or what he would do when he got there.
Vaguely, he was aware of the fact that the growling and howling he heard in the background was Summer and Cullen following him. They wanted him to stop, afraid he would hurt himself.
But he knew better. In no way was he suicidal. Not while he still carried Faith protectively in his own soul. There was still work to be done, and he could save her. They needed that book and then the demons would pull their influence from Faith. She would return to her wolf-shifter self.
He would not fail. Reaching the cliffs that overlooked the Atlantic with no view of mainland Maine but rather the vast nothingness that was the blue sea, he whirled around and howled once more but not in pain or agony. No, this was a battle cry, and he would not lose.
Chapter Twelve
Faith pushed herself harder to reach the tops of the clouds. It was so damn cold on this plane of existence, so green, and so wet. Why couldn't she be home where it was warm? Where three red suns kept their body temperatures at a reasonable 103 degrees all the time? Sighing she moved more quickly. The second she crossed into the top atmosphere, she'd be closer to the Earth's measly one yellow sun and it would do for heating her body. Once she was warm, she would concentrate on either finding the others or finding another way to get home.
Flapping her wings, she made one more surge towards her destination.
"What are you doing, Faith?"
Stunned, Faith fell a few feet down before catching herself. Her heart pumped wildly and she whirled around looking for the person who belonged to that voice.
"Over here."
In front of her stood a dark woman. Stood was actually the wrong description. Floating, that was what the stranger was doing. Arms crossed with small glasses covering prominent cheekbones, the raven-haired new arrival held a vague aura of familiarity to Faith, as if she'd seen her somewhere before but couldn't place quite her, as if they'd once sat next to each other an airplane or passed on the street.
"How are you floating like that?" That seemed to be the most relevant question to Faith. It wasn't every day you saw a regular human floating above the earth.
"I'm not--well, not really. Don't you recognize me?"
Faiths gave the woman a long, hard stare confirming in her mind that she wasn't crazy, somehow she did know this person.
"If you've forgotten me, then that is your own doing. You were certainly old enough to remember."
Something about the woman's tone irked Faith and caused a tightness in her stomach. Why was she bothering with this? There were tasks to perform, members of her kind to find, and a home to return to and yet even as she floated above the ground she felt frozen to her spot as if she couldn't move even if she attempted to. It was like someone had attached dumbbells to her feet making it impossible for her to anything other than just what she did.