"Hash ajjin Eleanor, Alpha?" (How is Eleanor, Alpha) Lark asks, soon as he comes to stand beside me.
I'm at a point where I don't know how my mate feels, how is she doing? I can feel whatever she feels but lately, I'm getting nothing and I don't know if I should be concerned or... relieved.
"Mae tikh tikh davra, yer jif tikh mra ma mithri."(She will be fine, you should be out with the rest) I say looking at him bored then back to the reports I'm reading.
Being back in the Order, surrounded by those with a similar mindset, it sets mine at ease even though I feel anything but at ease, I'm fucking pissed off.
The pain Eleanor felt... it was like I was going through it with her, and I was in a way, I will always be there to hold her and help her through anything but in reality, there's nothing I can say that can help her with this pain, all I could do was hold her until she stopped crying.
I'm pathetic, I should have answers by now, but I don't.
Eleanor is as good as non-existent in this world, there are paper trails back in her world but that's all it is paper trails.
She mentioned her mother 'June' was strict and never let her out much, but apart from the essentials to make her a person in her world, there's nothing else... nothing that I have a lead to work on, June was private, kept to herself she had no friends and no known family, she was a ghost living in that house.
"Anha zala tat rhellaya, Adan ast me ki davra." (I want to help, Adan said it was fine)
What's worse is only those I trust now know about Eleanor, and now so do the Order. I managed to keep it quiet amongst those I trust but I need to prepare for the worst, if the Kings guards show up now, my pack will suffer the most.
I need to go to the gate Eleanor mentioned, it's the only lead I have right now to figure out any of this.
I snap my eyes to Lark who is standing next to me looking at Eleanor's 'driver's license' a vehicle you operate in the human realm to travel around. "Ajjin jin ei hazze ajjin?) (Is this all there is)
Lark nods and sighs. "Sek." (Yes)
The sudden urge to rip every single piece of paper apart overwhelms me, but before I get to, I hear the doors slam against the wall making me turn my head and glared at whoever entered in such a way.
Adan.
"Alpha, Kisha ez me." (Alpha, we found it)
This is all I have. This is the only thing I can go on, I know Eleanor should be part of this since it's to do with her, but right now something like this depending on what it is could possibly break her, she's still coming to terms with her situation.
Until I know what this gate is, I'm keeping Eleanor far away from it.
"Anha zala tat tihat me. "(I want to see it)
The woods behind Eleanor's house
"Kijinosi alpha kisha hash chir hazze." (This way Alpha, we are almost there)
I glance around and sense nobody in the woods close to us, it's quiet yet I still feel uneasy about being here, especially without Eleanor, I know how much she wanted to come home, being here makes me feel like I betrayed her in some way.
I know she said she wanted to stay, and accepted our bond, yet there will always be a voice in my head wondering.. 'are you enough to keep her happy'.
The thought of not being enough makes me angry.
I sniff the air and something feels... off. "Here!" Adan calls out up ahead.
Myself and Lark run forward to where Adan stands, which is near a large thick tree much like the ones around us, but the smell, it's familiar yet makes my stomach churn at the scent.
There's no mistake, I spent enough time around this smell during the war, it's the scent of magic, and not just any normal trick, it's shadow magic.
I reach the tree and Adan reaches forward but his hand pauses mid-air then I see him turn to face me and I nod my approval to go ahead, so he does and touches the tree.
The tree's leaves begin to fall around us almost in slow motion, then as quick as blinking the tree trunk begins to widen and change into a blurry image, yet it's unmoving, a clear view of a forest with a tower but it doesn't look like anything I recognize from this world.
Could it be a passage? Why would this be here and why did June want Eleanor to find this?
"There is no mistake, it's an emrakh." (Gate) Adan says.
I see Lark reach out his hand and touch the blurry image of the trunk. "Stop!" I rush out but it's too late.
Lark's hand that he tried to put through the trunk's gateway is being burned with black fire, the same black fire that only a shadow wolf and a very powerful one can conjure up.
Lark's face twists in agony as he falls to the floor, then he screams out in pain, alerting the birds in the trees and making them flee in all directions.
Adan goes to help but I stop him and then kneel down beside Lark, I snap my fingers in front of his face loudly, gaining his attention also causing him a distraction from the fiery pain.
The more he struggles, the worse it gets, magic is a cruel mistress and doesn't stop unless you surrender. "Stop moving, it will go once you quieten!"
His eyes widen, with tears falling down his face he nods, and like so the flames get smaller, and smaller, until they disappear, leaving nothing but the reminder that he had been touched- warned, a simple trick yet it works.
He's lucky this is a defensive spell, or else Lark would be missing an arm, or dead.
I reach out hold his arm and inspect it. The bone is untouched yet his flesh is severely damaged, it's melted away with the flames, but this much should be fine, he should heal within a month and by the look of Larks face, he knows he's lucky to be alive.
"Fuck, what does this mean?" Adan grips his hair while he processes the situation.
There's no doubt, whatever is in that tower that the gate leads to, is protecting something, and it has to do with Eleanor, meaning only she could enter.
If any of us tried, we'd die.
"Orson, have you ever seen something like this before?" Adan asks, curiously inspecting around the tree for anything else we might've missed.
I stand up, then help Lark up off the ground as he holds onto his burnt arm, he's seconds from passing out as his eyes keep rolling back from the pain he is no doubt fighting back.
"Yes, and it's useless, it's linked to one person and one person only, we aren't getting in there."
He looks up and I know he is thinking exactly what I am.
"What should we do in the meantime?" He asks, exhaling harshly.
There's no way Eleanor is going through there until every single inch of this has been inspected by the Order, I need to call Imogen and have her do it, there's no one else I would trust more to do this, she's a specialist with shadow magic, and the only one I know who can use it.
"Get Silas and Mark on this, I want the perimeter closed off, nobody comes in or out of here without my knowledge."
"And the humans?"
I look at him then back to the gate. "We can't risk it, kill anyone who gets within a mile of the gate."
He nods his head once then walks towards me to grab hold of Lark who I am not fully holding up straight as he passed out a few minutes ago. "I got him Alpha, Silas, and Mark and a trusted few are on their way." He holds Lark steady then looks up to me.
"Do you want me to call her?" Hinting at Imogen.
I shake my head walk towards the tree and stand in front of the gate, staring deeply into the gateway image, with the tower surrounded by trees in the unknown forest. "No."
Glancing over my shower I stare at Lark then Adan. "Take him back, I'm staying until she gets here." I say and he nods warily, then turns around with Lark, heading straight back in the direction we came.
Once I know I'm alone, I let out an irritated growl as I stare at the gate, then I send a mindlink for Imogen to get here as soon as possible, no questions asked.
The question remains.
Who the fuck is Eleanor?