The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 20

CAULDER

\tBefore I could say anything, my mother began glowing from her rage. "This is not a discussion we are having right now. I suggest you go."

\tWinslow chuckled and shook his head. "Think about it, Caulder. You can come back to the city of magic, and I can teach you to reach your full potential."

\t"Go. Now." My mother glowed even brighter as she prepared magic weapons for an attack.

\tWinslow raised his hands in the air. "I'm leaving, Adira. No need to get violent." With that, he shifted away, disappearing from my room.

\tl looked at my mother, who was still glowing and ready to attack. I didn't understand why she was so angry with Winslow. He was the one who she agreed to work with to protect Remy, but there was something off about him. Something I couldn't place my finger on, but surely she knew more about this man than I did. I must have been missing something.

\tShe took a few deep breaths before returning to her normal state. My father rushed into the room and enveloped her in his arms. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Did he do anything to either of you?"

\tShe shook her head, and the room calmed down even more. "No, he didn't touch anyone. He wanted to make a deal with Caulder."

\t"What kind of deal?" he asked.

\t"He wants me to go train with him and help the Council of Magic contain that creature," I said, stepping up.

\t"Absolutely not," my father instantly said. "We are not making any more deals with them."

\t"But if I can help protect Remy, isn't it worth it? If you agreed to work with Winslow before, then he must not be that bad, right?" My instincts were telling me that wasn't true, but I knew if I trained and improved my magic, I could protect Remy better. We wouldn't need the council's help, and then we could tell Remy everything that was going on.

\t"Protect me from what?" Remy asked, standing in the doorway. Her body was tense, and I had no idea how long she had been standing there.

\t"We are not making any deals with the Council of Magic," my mother said, ignoring Remy's question. "While they are not our direct enemies, they only care about what benefits them. They don't care about this family. Caulder, you will not be working with the Council of Magic, and that's final." She stormed out of the room without another word.

\tMy father turned to me with a frown on his face. "Before either of you were born, the Council of Magic decided they wanted your mother dead because they thought she was dangerous. It was only after she proved how strong she was that they agreed to back off. We can't trust Winslow or anyone else from the council. It's why your mother is so defensive about the subject. I don't recommend pushing it."

\tThe council had wanted my mother dead because if she was dead, there was no way she could bring that prophecy to fruition. I glanced at Remy, and my heart raced. Could she be in that same danger? My mother had only said that there were those out there that would attack Remy to either stop the prophecy or start it, but she didn't mention who those people were. If the council was a part of that, then I needed to get even stronger to protect Remy.

\tAs I met my father's eyes, I knew he was thinking the same thing. The fear in his eyes told me everything. They had only agreed to work with the council out of fear of what they would do to Remy if they didn't. This pack alone was not strong enough to face the Council of Magic if they turned against us. They were only willing to work with us because they wanted something. They knew there was strong magic here, and they wanted to control it-to control us.

\tFirst, it was my mother's magic, and now it was mine. It made sense now. That was why they had even agreed to that deal in the first place.

\t"I'm going to go check on your mother. If he comes back, tell us immediately," my father said.

\t"Sure."

\tl watched my father leave, and then I saw Remy still lingering in the hallway. She was watching me closely, but she wasn't saying anything.

\t"Did you have a nice walk?" I already knew the answer to the question, but I didn't want her to know that I followed her, and I didn't know what else to say.

\tShe shrugged her shoulders. "I guess." She wanted to say more, but she was holding back.

\tl had no idea how much of that conversation she heard, but she heard enough to be frustrated when everyone ignored her question. She was being kept in the dark, and she knew something was amiss. I kept expecting her to say something or ask me to tell her what was going on, but she just continued staring at me.

\t"The Council of Magic thinks I have potential with my sorcerer abilities," I said, trying to break the growing tension. I couldn't tell Remy everything, but I needed to give her something.

\t"I'm not surprised. You've always been a natural at magic. I can barely do anything." Her voice was even, but that almost worried me more. She was missing her normal excitement.

\t"Winslow wants me to train with him." I shifted my weight, unsure of what else to do or say. Conversations with Remy had never felt this forced before.

\t"Do you want to train with him?" Her breathing was even and her emotions were stable on the surface, but I could feel that she was hiding how she truly felt.

\tl shrugged my shoulders. "Mom doesn't want me to."

\t"I gathered that much, but do you want to?"

\tl hadn't had the time to even consider what that meant. I had done plenty of magic training here over the years, but Ginger was slowing down, and my mother was always busy with her luna abilities, so I trained less and less over the years. I hadn't minded, since it meant just one less thing to worry about, but now I wished I had trained more. I wanted to be stronger-I needed to be stronger.

\t"It would be beneficial, but you heard them. The council can't be trusted. They put a target on Mom's back." And they could put a target on Remy. The thought made my stomach churn, but if I knew more about the council and more about magic, I would understand their ways better. Maybe training with Winslow wouldn't be such a bad thing.

\t"I say do what you want. You don't really know who you could trust these days." The way Remy spoke just didn't sound like her, which worried me. She was normally so happy and positive, but there was a shell building around her, suppressing her normal self. \t"I guess." A moment of silence filled the air, and I couldn't help but feel the distance between Remy and myself growing, and I felt desperate to close that gap. "Do you want to do something tonight? Maybe we could go for a run and stretch our wolf legs?" I hoped if we spent some one on one time with each other, we could stop whatever this tension was.

\t"Nah, that's okay. I'm tired, so I'm just going to go to bed early. I'll see you later." Remy waved as she walked away, and a bad feeling filled my soul. Something told me that if I didn't do something soon, I would end up losing Remy, and that thought made my throat tighten.

\tl knew Remy couldn't replace out the truth, but there had to be a way to get the information to her without breaking the deal my mother had made. This secret was starting to push a wedge between Remy and me, and I wouldn't stand idly by as she pulled away.

\t- \tREMY

\tl couldn't sit still in my room. There were too many questions floating around my head. Winslow wanted to have Caulder train with him so he could save me and the world, but I didn't know what from. Was that creature that powerful? I had expected Caulder to tell me everything the moment everyone was gone, but he was specifically leaving out details. I thought he of all people was on my side, but he kept his mouth shut just like the others.

\tThere was a threat to the pack and to me, but no one was being honest about it. There were too many strange occurrences going on, especially with that vampire lingering about the pack. Were vampires threatening us, too? I didn't get a bad vibe from Blade, and vampires had never been a concern before, so maybe it was just weird timing that Blade showed up around the time that all of these secrets started to emerge.

\tl couldn't help but get the feeling that the vampire knew something about what was going on, and even if he was unrelated, I could make sure there wasn't another threat to the pack that was being missed because everyone else was too busy keeping their secrets. I could be useful in some way, even if no one wanted my help.

\tl grabbed my bag and packed a couple of different things in it, including mace and an extra dagger. Blade wanted me to meet him tomorrow night, but I didn't want to wait that long. I decided I would try to replace him tonight and demand some answers, even if it took a little force.

\tl listened for movement outside of my room, but it was calm since most people were already in bed. I moved through the house with bare feet, and I was careful to avoid all of the creaking floorboards. I went straight to the window Caulder and I snuck out of the night before our party.

\tAs I climbed through the window, my heart pounded from excitement and fear. I had never snuck out of the house on my own, but I felt like I was finally taking charge of my life as my feet landed on the grass outside. I kept my shoes off until I made it to the forest, easily avoiding the guards on patrol by listening to where they were.

\tl went to the area where I first met up with Blade, but his scent had faded. Instead, I decided I would look for him at the lake and see if I could replace him there.