Alina sat down in the chair next to Vasile. “Isn’t he one of the alphas working with Perizada?”
“I have no clue,” Wadim said with a growl. “I’m the pack historian, and I know nothing.”
Vasile watched as Zara placed a hand on Wadim’s shoulder. She leaned into him, and he saw the younger wolf relax a bit. “You are doing what you can, just like the rest of us,” Vasile told him. “I will call the Italy pack and see if the historian can find anything. They are an old pack. They might have something.”
Vasile pulled out his cell phone. He didn’t bother to consider what time it was in Spain. He tuned out the group around him as he heard a voice answer his call.
“This is Vasile Lupei,” he said, speaking quickly. He spoke flawless Italian; it was easy to become fluent in many languages when you lived a very long time.
“How can I help you, Alpha?” the man on the other end asked. “Our alpha is indisposed at the moment.”
“I’m aware of Ciro’s situation,” Vasile assured him, though he didn’t mention it was only because his amazing mate had her head on straight and remembered what he hadn’t. “I need to speak with your pack historian. We need whatever information she might have on the Order of the Burning Claw.”
There was silence and then a cough that sounded strained. “O-of course, Alpha. Let me get her.”
A moment later, a female voice came through the line. “Alpha Vasile,” the woman said. “This is Selena. I’m the pack historian here. What can I do for you?”
Vasile gave a quick rundown of the situation. “I would ask that you be discrete about this until Ciro returns, please. We do not need other packs reacting to this information out of fear or some need to prove themselves capable of removing a threat.”
“Of course. I will keep this between us. I will search our archives immediately.
“Wadim is our historian. Please relay the information to him.” Vasile gave her the historian’s personal phone number. “Thank you, Selena. I appreciate your help and discretion.”
“Absolutely,” the she-wolf said and then hung up. Vasile appreciated that she didn’t ask a million questions. His patience was running thin, and he didn’t want to bark at someone who didn’t deserve it.
“What do we do now?” Drake asked as he pulled his mate closer to him.
Vasile was about to answer, but his phone rang. He saw the name on the screen and knew they were out of time. “Andora,” he spoke the sprite queen’s name into the phone without preamble.
“The seers have informed me that you have trouble headed your way,” she replied, also without wasting time on small talk. As she was speaking, fae began flashing into the room, ferrying other supernatural beings. In a matter of minutes, their Arizona army was standing in the gathering room of the Keep.
“I see you sent assistance,” Vasile said.
“You know we are only allowed to intervene so much, and we’ve likely already exceeded what is allowable,” the sprite queen said. “There are consequences for wielding our power, and they will be dire.”
He paused as he considered what she was saying. “I am aware, and I am in your debt.”
“We cannot join you in this battle, Vasile,” Andora said solemnly. “That is part of the payment for sharing the future with you. You have a battle coming. You must hurry. You need to fight with a brutality of which I’m not sure all of your people are capable. You must not lose this fight.”
“What are you keeping from me, Andora?” Vasile heard his phone crack under the pressure of his grip.
“I’ve already said too much. May the Great Luna be with you.” The line went dead.
Vasile took several deep breaths. His wolf was growing quiet, which was not a good sign.
“We will get through this,” Alina’s voice came from beside him a moment before her hand slid into his. “We have an army ready to fight with us. Lead them, my love, as you have led many others to victory.”
He turned to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Then he lifted his eyes to the room that had moments ago only held a handful of people. He saw Cypher and Lilly, along with around twenty warlock warriors. Chris Morgan was also back. Jeff Stone, the Coldspring alpha, and at least ten of his pack members were present. Jareth the djinn was there, which was the