We’d moved back into the hideout, trying to think of our next move. All roads led back to Wyatt unfortunately.
“Are you sure you’re ready to talk to him again? It’s been a nice—” Guy checked the watch on his wrist, “10 hours with no condescending assholes around.”
“Silence isn’t the answer here but taking some time apart is always good when tempers come around. That said, we absolutely need his help. So yeah, let’s wake him up.”
That and I don’t need to be around you any longer, Guy, or I might do something my heart regrets.
I tapped Wyatt's gem twice, nothing. It didn’t heat up or shake, it just sat there lifeless and cold—two things I never wanted to hear about my husband, no matter what he’d done.
“Wyatt, don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Come out already.” I tapped his gem again, aggressively this time.
“Is it me? Do I need to leave?” Guy asked, annoyed, scratching his head.
“I don’t think that’s the problem here.” I whispered, my blood ran cold as I took the choker off and examined it. I held it close like the crystal edges would give me a window to see him. Nothing. Just glass.
“I’m sorry. For fucks sake, Wyatt I’m sorry I brought it up, okay? You can stop playing and come out now, I’ve learned my lesson!” Was I whining? Oh hell, this is bad. Wyatt hated it when I whined so maybe it would work in my favor.
“Sapph…hey, what about this thing?” Guy picked up the slightly buried file with Wyatt's name on it, the one with the claw pattern ripping through the paper inside in the top corner.
“He was pretty pissed about you having it last time, maybe it’ll work again.”
I nodded, taking the file. Finally, the gem started to shake and burn against my skin, like he was fighting.
Gotcha.
Smirking, I tapped the gem and held it up in front of it.
“If you don’t come out, I’ll figure out your precious secret. God, Wyatt whatever it is, it must not be that bad if you left it out for us to find. Then again, maybe it’s the worst thing you’ve ever done or the most embarrassing. Only one way to find out.”
As dramatically slow as I could stand it, my fingers gently pulled apart the folder file.
“NO!” Wyatt cried out. His image appeared next to me, fingers grasping for the file but unlike before, his hand went right through them. He tried again and again but his form wasn’t solid enough to stop me.
“Good job, Guy.”
“Anytime. Ya know, I used to hunt rats as a kid. I’m pretty good at flushing em’ out.” I didn’t need to turn to Guy to feel the smug grin he gave Wyatt. But Wyatt wasn’t paying him any mind, his eyes were glued to the file in my hands.
“Please, Sapph, don’t open that.” His voice was tired, strained. Had something changed?
“Tell me why and I won’t. And why do you sound so tired?”
His eyes danced from the file to my face then back to the file.
“Tick tock, Wyatt. This file is getting pretty hard to hold. I wonder what’ll happen if I just lay it out–” to torture him further, I moved towards the table and pretended to lay down the file. His eyes widened and he stepped in front of me, hips phasing through the table.
“Stop! Damn it, Guy, tell her to–”
Guy held up a hand, shaking his head. “Not my wife, not my secret.”
“What’s it gonna be, Professor Wayback?” My lips curled into a smile as his hands trembled into fists. He caved.
“The gem on your neck holding my mind, it doesn’t have infinite energy. Eventually it’ll go out.”
That's not what I wanted to hear—it was so much worse.
My mouth turned drier than sandpaper, the file dropped from my hands but Guy caught it.
“What?” His silence was my only confirmation of my horrible conclusion: Wyatt was dying. This wasn’t like before with his body gone or dead somewhere.
“When were you going to tell me we were on a timer?” I whispered, clenching my hands into fists.
His eyes were on the damn file. If I’d blinked, I would have missed his form blinking out of existence. Twice.
“If this thing is so damn important that you’d rather blink out of my life than tell me what it is then fuck it. I’m reading it!” I grabbed it, damn near ripping it open. Pictures spilled out across the table. Each one held a different version of a wolf with certain features circled with red ink. Ears, tails, paws, eyes—circled with question marks in red.
“What the hell am I looking at?” I whispered.
I moved one of the photos out of the way, beneath it sat something that made my heart ache for simpler times. It was a picture of Wyatt and his family when he was younger. He must have been 14 or 15 in this picture, standing next to his brother Dante and his younger adopted sister Finn. They stood in front of the family mansion on a bright sunny day, smiling but those smiles never reached their eyes.
One more picture. When I picked it up, a blast from the past hit me. A man in a dark costume, a black hoodie with wolf ears on top, a mask in the shape of a wolf muzzle with two gold eyes. He wore a spandex suit with tactical gear covering him.
My thumb rubs across the family photo, right over Wyatt's face. He never introduced me to his parents, they’d been murdered while I was away with my own family drama. His brother Dante was just a kinder version of Wyatt. Dante was the best man at our wedding.
“Dire Wolf?”
“What? Who’s that?” Guy asked, peeking over my shoulder.
“Dire Wolf. He was a vigilante back in 2026. He’s Wyatt’s older brother, Dante.”
“I’m sorry,” Guy snorted out a chuckle, “this guy looks cool as hell, ain’t no way those two are related.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Wyatt growled, placing his head in his hands as he took a seat.
I sighed,closing the file. I shoved it back into the pile with the others.
“Why would you hide that? I know he’s your brother. That’s not a big secret.”
Wyatt’s form blinked out of my sight for a breath. It came back, steady for the moment. He turned to me, eyes pleading with me.
“I didn’t tell you because there's something I never told you about my family.”
How many more secrets does he fucking have?He’s like a fucking onion, the layers just don’t stop. I’m starting to think I married a government agent.
I bark out a laugh, “why does that not fucking surprise me! Look, keep your secrets. Right now I just need to know where the Dragonsbane is. We can talk about it afterwards.”
“Sapph…” he paused. His tone was softer and his gaze pulled me in, melting me. I wanted to stay pissed at him—should be fucking furious and for the most part I was. But it sucks kicking a man while he’s down.
Our gaze locked and I furrowed my brows, telegraphing how important this information is.
“You want it so bad, it's at our compound.” Wyatt whispered, leaning back against the wall. He coughed, blinking out again.
Squinting, I motioned for him to continue.
“Where?”
“Take me there and I’ll show you. You need my voice recognition to get to it anyway, especially after the last time you used it.”
“What exactly happened last time?” Guy asked, mouth curling up just enough to annoy me. He’s getting awfully comfortable and I hate that I like that even a tiny bit.
“Not your wife, not your secret.” Wyatt rebutted, laughing softly. He went back into my gem then, hopefully to rest.
“Asshole.” Guy smiled ruefully. I rolled my eyes.
“You two are gonna be the death of me. Let's go. And Wyatt–” I spoke down into the gem, “there had better be a way to charge this thing when we get home or swear to God I’m gonna kill you myself!”
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