Chapter 186

Zane POV

In my years of visiting the Luna Temple, I had never been invited to explore the grounds. When Sarah and I presented ourselves at the gate, however, an Oracle was waiting along with the two priests. She nodded to us and gestured for her to follow us not to the temple itself, but to a path that wound through the trees and along an artificial pond.

“You will be joined shortly,” she said before leaving us there.

Sarah looked at me, and I shrugged. “I suppose we’re to walk around the pond and contemplate our issues?”

“Maybe they have laundry out and are stalling,” she replied, and I smothered a laugh.

We both looked out over the path. The lawns were as meticulous as ever, a green carpet free of a single weed, and it was a lovely day, sunny and warm with a cool breeze. Silently, we began to walk the path.

It was incredibly quiet, though not without noise. The wind in the branches of the tall trees we passed through, the occasional honk of a black or white swan on the pond, and the sound of our own footsteps kept everything real, but the city was far from us.

My hand found Sarah’s as though magnetized, and we curled our fingers around each other’s palms in perfect rhythm with our steps. A few trees were ahead of us, and when we walked around the bend in the path, we came upon a labyrinth perhaps fifty feet in diameter laid out in intricate stone swirls.

An Oracle stood there in her pure white, hooded robes, her instructions clear in her mere stance. I gestured for Sarah to go first then followed about ten feet behind her. We walked up through the middle, then turned, and then turned again, back and forth, taking our time.

We met up again in the middle, smiled at each other, and then turned, turned, and then turned again to walk out.

When we were done, the Oracle nodded to us and gestured at us to continue on the path. Almost immediately, we were holding hands again.

“I wish we could stay here,” Sarah murmured, and though it was quiet I heard her clearly, both the words and the longing behind them.

“It’s a sanctuary from the world,” I said back almost idly. In truth, my shoulders hadn’t been so loose in weeks, and the idea of returning to the real world held no appeal at that moment.

We came across a broad section of the path that overlooked the pond, and from this angle the water was calm and almost perfectly reflective of the blue sky above. We stood in the shade of a tall live oak tree and gazed out over the water. Sarah tucked herself under my arm, and we stood as one, pressed together.

I could not help but turn to kiss her. As always, she accepted my kiss and returned it with interest. Her hands went to my shoulders and mine to her trim waist. We parted an inch, then came together again, her sweet lips soft and almost playful on mine.

Then, remembering ourselves, we stepped apart and turned back to the path, only to see an Oracle standing there. The hooded head nodded, and she turned away, leading us further up the path to, somehow unsurprisingly, a small table and chairs set out with tea for three.

We sat in silence, and the Oracle poured out the tea, which was thankfully just tea, pekoe, I thought, with a little honey. We all took a sip, and then she spoke.

“You have dreamed, Sarah Astor.”

Sarah glanced at me with widened eyes, but she answered calmly enough. “Yes.”

“Please, tell me about your dream.”

Sarah took a breath, held it, and then recited the dream just as she had done to me days before. There were the parts with the statue and the graves and the girls and finally the moon. I was, oddly enough, getting a little tired of trying to figure the thing out.

The Oracle poured another round of tea. “The statue spoke with your voice and mine?”

“Yes. It’s very hard to explain it.”

She shrugged. “Sometimes dreams aren’t meant to be explained, only experienced.”

Sarah snorted just slightly. I agreed with her, but I just sipped more tea.

“Scott told me he’s dreaming as well,” Sarah said, and I almost spat out my drink.

“Oh?” she asked.

“He told me it’s a sign of fated mates to share dreams, but his dreams are only similar to mine, from what I can tell, not really shared. Zane’s spirit walk was much closer.”

“Does this convince you of anything?”

“Zane told me about his spirit walk, and then I dreamed it. It could just be my subconscious copying his story.”

“And could the same be true of the half-brother?”

“I have no idea what Scott knows or is capable of doing,” Sarah said, and I nodded to myself.

“The darkness has marked him,” the Oracle said, then sipped more of the damn tea.

Sarah and I looked at each other.

“That isn’t helpful,” she said.

The Oracle, of all things, laughed gently. “I mean only that you should leave him to his true fated mate.”

“The . . . darkness?”

“Indeed.”

“You’re saying Scott’s in danger?” I asked in alarm. That wasn’t what I had been expecting to hear.

“Yes.”

“How do I help him?”

“Do you wish to?”

“He’s many things, but he’s also the son of my father, my little brother, and a beta.”

“And as Pack Alpha and head of your household, you feel the need to protect him?”

“Of course.”

“But is he a part of your household?” the Oracle asked. Then she raised a hand. “You must not confuse blood and spirit.”

I was going to object, but then I saw the point she was making.

The Oracle turned her head toward Sarah again. “Do you wish to walk with us?”

Sarah looked non-plussed. “A spirit walk? Can humans do that?”

“Humans have spirits, do they not?”

“Yes, but, I heard they can be dangerous.”

“The search for truth is always dangerous. The issue concerns what you feel like you can risk.”

“But—”

The Oracle stood up from the table, said, “Return to us when you have made up your mind,” and turned to return down the path. We were silenct until she was presumably out of earshot.

“A spirit walk?” Sarah now looked dazed. “Is she, I mean, she must be, but, seriously?”

“I advise against it,” I said, feeling instinctively wary.

“Why?”

I spread my hands before laying my right hand over her left. “You have enough to consider with the fallout from my spirit walk. Do you really want to see more graveyards and statues in the moonlight? What sort of clarity can you get from that?”

Sarah bit her lip and looked back over the pond and its graceful, oblivious swans.

“I don’t know, but I’m worried I may have to see for myself.”