And There Were Wolves

(d) thirty-one

A few minutes later, both Ryker and Eros had arrived at the second floor of Blair's small flat. The boys brought and placed Blair's body on the floor of the hallway in front of the bedroom. I wished there was a more decent place to lay her down but this was our only choice considering the lack of furniture or sofa here.

Ryker seemed to have explained what was going on to Eros because I found my best friend looking at me worriedly. "Are you sure you're going to do this?" he asked once they'd laid Blair down, putting his hand on my shoulder and leaning down to level his eyes with mine. "You've never done it before, Xy. It could be dangerous. What if you won't be able to return and are stuck inside her body forever?"

I shook my head. "This is the fastest way, Er. If I had to break each of those runes, it would take ages. Furthermore, I had to break it in a reversed way as Blair put them and I had no idea in what order she'd placed them. It would take days for me to figure it out, to pry into her magic and find which spells she was using. We do not have the time. We need to get back home, find Alpha Sinclair, and get you fixed. Trust me, it would be easier for me to jump into her body and get inside there without causing any harm. I'll be quick. Once I find her soul, I'll get out and jump back."

"You made it sound so easy but I know it's not that simple," grumbled Ryker, disagreeing with this plan.

I gave Eros a look and then moved toward Ryker. "Hey, come on. You know I can do this."

Both of his hands cupped each side of my face and he planted a small kiss on my forehead. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he finally spoke, "I know you can do it. I have no doubt about your ability and power but what I'm saying is that Blair is smart. Your mum is terrifyingly smart and cunning. This might be a trap. What if there's something inside Blair's body? A rune or a hex or something. What if things go wrong, Xy?" His thumbs caressed my cheeks, his eyes were earnest. "I don't want you to get hurt and I don't want to lose you. So please, I am begging you, find another way. It doesn't matter if it's not the fastest way there is. As long as you don't have to jump into Blair's body, I'm fine with waiting. We don't really have to rush back home right this very moment. Not everything has to have an immediate solution. Please. Think about it. A rash decision might negatively impact our future."

I turned to look at my best friend. Eros heaved a sigh, nodding. "I have to agree with Ryker here, Xy. It's dangerous. You don't know what's in there and there's no guarantee that just because you're in Blair's meat then the runes won't work on you. It's best if we take our time and find a way to break each rune."

Since both of them were adamant about breaking each rune instead of me jumping into Blair's body, I finally caved in. "Okay." The soonest that word left my mouth, Ryker planted a mouthful kiss on my mouth that made Eros tell us to get a room.

"This might take days," I informed the boys once we ended our kiss to catch some breath. "And with my current energy, I am not sure if I could do it as quick as possible."

Both Ryker and Eros nodded. "Take all the time you need," said Ryker before planting a kiss on top of my head.

°°°°°°°

After literally a week of finding a pattern, figuring out each spell and each rune that my mother had used to protect her so-called lair, I had managed to break each rune until the room was no longer protected by anything.

"All the runes are broken, right?" I asked Eros and Ryker as we all scanned the room from where we'd stood. The broken runes would have a crack on them, rendering them useless.

"Yeah, the ones on the walls and on the ceiling have that white slash on them," said Eros, nodding.

"I have a question," said Ryker with a tone that worried me a little and tampered with my little victory here. "What about the rune on this side of the wall? We could only look at three sides of the walls from the door but what if there was another rune on the same side as the door?"