There was a deafening silence that followed Rayne's idea to keep Jarrah in her house while she stayed with her parents. She knew if she didn't explain that very quickly then she would be in a lot of trouble with her parents. Not to mention he'd probably be put back in his iron chains and rotting away in the dungeon room again. But, as soon as she opened her mouth to explain herself, the Fae King himself stepped in.

"No," he said, his voice deep and drawing their attention to him before Alpha Vance's head exploded. "I won't be staying anywhere—"

"SEE—" Nashoba went to shout, but then Jarrah came back to interrupt him again.

"Because the sooner I tell you what we need to do about Ambrosius, the sooner I can leave," Jarrah finished, crossing his arms. "I don't trust mutts, so don't think for one minute that I'm staying here longer than I have to without getting my people ready."

"What the fuck did you call me, fairy?" Ezra growled in the back of the room, taking a threatening step forward. Rayne gritted her jaw but threw out an arm to stop her brother. The tenseness in the room only increased after the usage of the word's 'fairy' and 'mutts', but she knew she had to calm things down if they were going to get anywhere.

"What do you know?" Rayne demanded, capturing Jarrah's attention.

He rolled his shoulders back, a challenge gleaming in his eye. "There's a myth among the Fae of something that could get rid of Ambrosius for good."

"We're putting our trust in you over a myth?" Ezra scoffed. "How the hell is something that isn't real going to help us? I guess I shouldn't be surprised; it is coming from a damn fairy."

Jarrah hastily stood to his feet, his gaze blazing brighter at the blatant disrespect. His eyes were glowing with frost again, his face glossing with translucent glitter along the sharp edges of his features the angrier he got. "Got a better idea, dog? By all means go ahead and lift your leg on Ambrosius and see if that's more helpful. Maybe you can fetch him a bone while you're at it."

A snarl ripped free from Ezra's lips. Body shuddering with rage, he snapped his teeth warningly at Jarrah.

"Ezra," Nashoba snapped, glaring at him. "Knock it off."

Rayne kept her arm out in front of Ezra just in case he wanted to charge forward, but she didn't need to. Nevaeh was already there cooing to her son and running her fingers over his shoulder soothingly, warning him to relax if he wanted the meeting to go successfully. Though he relaxed a smidgen and stopped his shaking under his mother's plea, he never took his eyes off their collective foe.

Nashoba turned back to Jarrah. "What myth?" he demanded; his voice icy.

Jarrah's eyes turned back to their signature woodsy brown, and Rayne tried hard not to focus on how much more she preferred their natural color over the milky white. She rolled her jaw as a reminder to concentrate and when he spoke again, his gaze lingered briefly on her. He only looked at Nashoba when she looked away.

"We've been told of stories about a lost elixir that was stolen years ago from a man known as Utnapishtim. The elixir's told to both grant immortality and take it away if it's swallowed or injected into one's body," he explained. "It's the only known relic that can destroy someone as powerful as Ambrosius. He's been around since time itself and if we have any hopes of defeating him for good, we have to get it."

The shock wave of possibility drifted over the room and into the hopeful hearts of six desperate wolves who were willing to believe whatever he said. Ronan, however, was the first to recover from his words of enchantment and voiced out his hesitancy.

"Wait, man—didn't you say it was lost? And that it could be a myth?" Ronan asked, confused.

"Well, it might not really be lost," Jarrah admitted. "We don't know. We were only told of the riddle it takes to find it. If the elixir is still around, we all know that it can only be in one place."

Any sensible person would have shuddered at the thought; and most of them did. Everyone but Nashoba and Jarrah.

"You never tried to go and see if such an elixir existed?" Nashoba questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Jarrah snorted. "And risk our lives? Crimson Peak is flooded with vampires and the few we sent have never returned, which makes me believe Ambrosius is hiding the elixir in the heart of vampire city. It's a suicide mission that's never been done successfully."

Nevaeh swallowed thickly. She looked over at Nashoba with her eyebrows forced together, worriedly. "What do we do?"

He looked at her too, his expression grim. "We're dead if we don't try, Vae. You know that."

"Vance, we don't even know if this thing exists," Declan argued. "It sounds like a death trap to me. Who would we even send? We need our best fighters here in case Ambrosius comes while whoever searches for a miracle cure. We need every warrior here, and I don't even know who would be trained enough to go on this—this fool's mission!"

"We don't have a choice! We die if we don't get that elixir, Declan. At least with the Fae King we have a fair shot. And if we send an alpha—"

"No!" Declan protested. "That's a foolish plan. You really think we can be without our alpha in a time like this? What if Ambrosius comes for moonshine if one of his scouts tells him you're gone? We'll be as good as dead!"

"Well, you got any better ideas?" Nashoba shouted, bringing his arms up. "Let's fucking hear it!"

Declan was silent. Nevaeh looked at her husband then; torn between not wanting him to go and doing what was right for their pack.

"You've never wanted to go before," Ezra chimed in, eyeing Jarrah with mistrust. "Why now?"

"Because my people's lives depend on it," Jarrah said, firmly. "And my own life is on the line now. None of you will be able to find the elixir without me, and that's the only way to satisfy the bond. So, one of you needs to decide who's going and we'll leave as soon as possible."

Rayne had an idea. An idea that her family would never agree to in a hundred years, but she had to try. She wasn't eighteen anymore, and being the future alpha, she was entitled to making certain decisions if she wanted to. It wouldn't go over well, but she had to try. Ezra wanted nothing to do with alpha politics, Nevaeh was needed to help the pack, and Nashoba can't leave moonshine vulnerable.

Which only left one person that was trained better than anyone else in the rest of the pack who was strong enough for the mission. Even if Ronan had outsmarted her a few times during training recently, she was still stronger through her alpha bloodline. It was her duty to go, not anyone else's.

"I'll go," Rayne said, gaining six pairs of eyes on her. She looked straight at her parents then and didn't waver under their disapproving stare.

"Absolutely not!" Nevaeh exclaimed first.

"Mom, you know it like I know it. Someone has to go," she pleaded. "You and dad have to help the pack right now. All of you can stay and get the pack ready, which is much more important. We'll be gone a few weeks at most on foot if we leave now."

Though running in wolf form was less than ideal, and slower than taking a car, it would be suicide to drive across the country for the elixir. The vampires were known to bomb the road and swarm cars as they guarded bridges and ports sometimes. But seeing as how it would just be two people, they wouldn't be able to fight off a whole hoard.

No matter who went to retrieve the elixir.

"She's lost it," Ronan muttered to Declan, who shushed him with a harsh 'shut up'.

"No," Nashoba said, his voice dark. He shook his head. "I would never willingly hand my children over to death—"

"But you'd send someone else's? Just because they aren't yours?" Rayne interrupted. "Dad, you know I'm more trained than anyone else in this pack, aside from you and mom."

"I don't care how trained you are!" he shouted. "You aren't going with him!"

"I'm twenty-one years old! You don't have a say in what I do for our pack anymore," she argued, taking a step forward. "This is what's best for moonshine! I'm putting my feelings aside to think logically about what's best for our people as a future alpha, dad. If I can do this for them, then so can the rest of our family."

Nashoba swallowed thickly at her words, his rage still boiling in his eyes at the thought. Nevaeh only shook her head and said she doesn't care how old Rayne is; that she was still her daughter, and she'll never let her risk her life. Declan stayed silent except to shut Ronan up when he offered to go in his best friend's place. It wasn't their burden to bear, especially as Beta's. It was the alpha's responsibility.

"She's right," Ezra spoke up, quietly. Everyone looked over at him then, but his gaze was stuck on his sister. He nodded his support and offered her a small smile. "If anyone can do this, it's Rayne."

Her smile to her brother was one full of triumph and relief.

"I can't agree to this," Nashoba said, his voice strained. "Even if you being my daughter isn't enough to stop you, I can't let you go for the sake of moonshine's future if anything were to happen to me. You're next in line to be alpha—"

"Which is why I have to go," she interrupted, taking a step towards him. He regarded her closely. "There won't be a future for moonshine if we don't get that elixir. It's no one else's burden to bear—no one's burden but the alphas."

Nashoba looked away from her to gaze at his wife. She frantically shook her head, her eyes wide with a million emotions shooting across her features. Rayne couldn't spend too much time looking at her. She would never agree to let her go, but her father could. If he saw reason, he would do whatever was necessary for the pack.

Just like Rayne would. They were too much alike; and right then, she needed him to see it. To see that she was just like him and if the situation was reversed, he would go too. And by the way his eyes wavered, he knew it too.

"Dad, I can do this," she said. Reaching out towards him, she grabbed his calloused hand in hers. "If anyone can help save this pack, I want it to be me. And it should be me."

Nashoba looked at her long and hard, his eyes trying to figure out complicated equations in her features. The features that mirrored his and Nevaeh's. Her fiery spirit radiated in her gaze and when he finally softened under her hopeful stare, she breathed out. His smile was half-hearted, eyes dim.

"I know you can do this," he said, wrapping his free hand around her cheek. Though he spoke directly to her, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself just as much. "You can save the packs, Rayne. I know you can. Even if it kills me to send you off with someone from Silver Peak."

It didn't take a genius to know Jarrah rolled his eyes.

"A tek, you'll return to me." Nashoba's voice was firm. "And if you're gone any longer than the month, I'm coming to search for you."

Rayne's smile was watery as she dove straight into his tight embrace. "Thank you. I won't let you guys down."

A heavy promise, but one she knew she had to keep at all costs.

♡ a tek - my daughter