Chapter 46

(Santiago’s POV)

We have gone through every book in the library and found nothing on the Healing Gem. Our private investigator, Mr. Singer, is still looking into it as well. No one seems to know anything about it. I slam another book closed.

“Have you spoken to Ariana’s parents about this Healing Gem?” I ask Bella. “As the pack Betas, surely they would know about this so-called powerful entity.”

Just then her phone dings and she reads me a text from Ariana that her parents want to meet with us in secret. We are supposed to meet them in the old mines beneath the Caladrius Moon Pack territory.

“Why don’t we pack some clothes and shift to travel there?” I suggest. “It’ll be faster.”

“I think that’s a great idea. My wolf would love to stretch her legs,” she says.

“Great. Yeah, mine too. Lets meet out front in ten minutes.”

“Okay.”

She shifts first by gracefully leaning forward like a ballerina. The sound of bone breaking and rearranging crackles in my ears.

I’ve never seen a more beautiful wolf. Her fur is plush and burnt red with tufts of white around her ears. She’s half the size of my wolf, but solid muscle.

We take off at the same time from the same spot. What she lacks in size, she makes up for in speed. We make it to the mines far too quickly for my wolf.

I thought he was fond of Bella before, but after seeing him interact directly with hers, I can tell he doesn’t want to shift back…not yet.

Before we shift, Bella’s wolf prances over to us. She bows her head and upper body in respect with a sense of flirtatious play. She licks my wolf’s face and nuzzles her head into our neck.

Taking a few steps back, she stretches the front of her body forward and presses her paws into the ground. My wolf sits, watching her with his head cocked to the side, panting, letting his tongue hang out.

“Excuse me,” I say to him. “You are being creepy staring at her like that.”

“Don’t fucking care,” he returns. “She’s beautiful…in both forms.”

“Behave.”

“I am behaving. If I wasn’t I’d be behind her having a far better time.”

I roll my eyes at him.

Bella shifts as she pushes her body upward. I do the same, and we dress quickly.

She leads the way into the mine.

I catch up to her and snake my arms around her waist. “My wolf loved spending the time with yours,” I whisper in her ear, letting my lips graze her earlobes.

She leans back into me. “Mine did too, she didn’t want to shift back either.”

“We should give them more time together after we get stuff figured out,” I say.

She agrees as we approach Ariana’s parents. I find it odd that Ariana didn’t come too, but choose to keep that to myself.

“Megyn, Charlie,” Bella says as she hugs them both. “Where is Ariana?”

“Hi sweet, Alpha, Megyn” says while holding on to Bella for an additional heartbeat. “We feel like it is safest to keep her in the dark just a little while longer.”

She looks to me next, bows her head. “Thank you, Alpha Santiago for leaving your Beta out of this equation for just a little while longer.”

I nod my head, encouraging them to go on.

Megyn gives Bella a rolled-up scroll, and Charlie hands me three huge dusty textbooks.

“These are the historical documents you have been looking for that address our pack’s Healing Gem,” Megyn says.

Charlie places his hands on Isabella’s shoulders. “We were sworn to secrecy, child. There is much that we simply cannot say to you out loud…and things that you can’t know about just yet.”

Bella shakes her head. Her brows furrow, and the skin across her forehead scrunches as she processes what Charlie is saying.

“Beta Charlie, with all due respect,” I say. “The information you hold are secrets maintained by the previous Alpha. As reigning leader of the pack, Isabella has every right to know this so-called secret. Plus, her life is in danger. She’s been attacked repeatedly because of something she herself knows nothing about.”

Megyn looks at Bella in the eye and cups her cheek. Then she looks me deadpan in the eye. “We understand the dangers. This is why we are so thankful, our sweet girl has found a worthy Alpha mate. Protect each other.”

She gives Charlie a knowing look, squeezes Bella’s hand, and turns to go.

Charlie follows her, turning his head over his shoulder to tell us, “Read those materials here and leave them hidden in the vault. Good luck kids. Come to us when you’re ready.

“When we’re ready for what?” Bella whispers. “Come on. Let’s take our reading material into the vault. We can lock ourselves in there.”

I nod and follow her. We look at the scroll first.

The Healing Gem origins appear to be Wiccan. Why would werewolves have any connection to witch covens?

The text refers to it repeatedly as the gift. It dates back several centuries. It has the capability of healing the human and wolf physical halves as well as the “whole soul.”

“Your family Betas were cryptic, but so is all this.” I say to Bella.

She doesn’t look up from her book, “Yeah, tell me about it. This here talks about silver being a counteractive measure.”

She looks up and locks eyes with me. “What does that even mean?” she asks.

I feel my own brows furrow as I process the concept. “Are witches sensitive to the effects of silver as well? Would that mean that whatever magic this gem is imbued with is potentially weakened similarly?”

She hops up and starts pacing. She turns to me. “I don’t know. Does your pack have any relationships with solitary witch practitioners, someone we could go to research this?” Bella asks.

I shake my head. “No.” I pull out my phone and text Mr. Singer. “But Singer might.”

She plops back down next to me and opens a different book. I see her trace the pages softly with her fingertips. One solitary tear trickles down her cheek.

“What is it?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”

She slides the book over, using our combined lap as a table. It’s my family tree and our pack's death records.

I can’t help but notice the date listed for Bella’s accession to pack leadership. Even as a legacy-born Alpha, I have never seen one listed as the Alpha as a prepubescent.

“Bella,” I whisper. “You weren’t even a teenager yet?”

She swallows hard. “It was the witching hour, and everyone was long asleep for the night. Rogues attacked the pack. Mother and Megyn brought Ariana and me down here and locked us in the vault. They told us to stay hidden until an adult came to get us.”

My eyes widen at the realization that, stupidly, should have occurred to me well before now. I reach for her hand. “I’m so sorry, Bella. What happened?”

“Daddy and half the Gamma warriors died. Megyn was badly beaten. Charlie was mortally wounded. Mother dragged them both back down here by herself somehow.” She looks up at me with eyes full of tears. “See, Mother was our pack’s medic. The pack always raved about her…said she had a magic touch. Anyways, we took care of the Betas, but no one noticed in all the confusion that she was wounded too.”

“So, she nursed Charlie and Megyn back to health, while she herself was dying?” I ask.

“Yes, she was stabbed, and it punctured a lung. She got Charlie and Megyn healed up and then collapsed. They called me over so I could tell her goodbye.”

“What did she say to you?” I ask, thinking of my own mother and fighting showing weakness by shedding tears.

“She said ‘Bella, you are our precious gemstone. You will lead the pack. Love them. Protect them. You’ll never be…” She can’t finish her sentence due to her tears.

I scoop her up into my lap and hold her. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re not alone, you’ll never be alone. I’ve got you.”

She sits up and locks her gaze on mine. “That’s what she said. That I’d never be alone. The Beta family raised Ariana and I as sisters. They didn’t want me to marry Jesse, they never trusted him. Santiago, we still don’t know what this Healing Gen is or where to find it!”

I nod and pull her close again. “No, Megyn and Charlie have protected you and given what little we know, they still are. Look, they’ve given us the source material and expect you to come to them for the final pieces. We will. This is a start.”