Akira Stone's Arc

Chapter 8 of 10

They walked back through the wet woods without speaking. Jasper set a harder pace than the trip out. Akira kept up. The satchel bumped her hip, heavy with the wrapped root. She rehearsed the words in her head. There was no gentle way to say them. His sister would hear the truth once, and then decide what Akira was worth alive. The cabin came into view past the last stand of pines. Squat logs. Weathered roof. Smoke from the chimney. Jasper's sister sat on the porch step with a knife and a strip of leather in her lap. She looked up before they cleared the trees. She had the pup's eyes and none of the pup's softness. "You're back early," she said. "She has something to say," Jasper said. "Hear it inside." His sister stood. She did not sheath the knife. She held the door for them and let it fall shut behind. Akira set the satchel on the table. She untied the cloth and laid the root out in two piles, thick and thin. Her hands were steady. That part was easy. "The root won't heal the way I healed you," she said. "Or the pup. Not on its own." The sister's face did not move. "Explain." "The cut and the wrap help a little. The rest is elven magic. I channel it through the root. Without me, or another elf, you get a poultice. You don't get a closed wound in a day." "You could have said that before I put my name over yours." "I'm saying it now." The sister set the knife down on the table. That was worse than holding it. She looked at Jasper. Jasper said nothing. "Then you stay," the sister said. "Pack healer. That's the bargain now." "There's another way." The sister waited. Akira kept her eyes on her. Not on Jasper. "An elven healer bloodline can be carried into a pack by mating. Elf and pure alpha wolf. The children would be hybrid. They'd carry the magic. You wouldn't need me. You'd have your own." The room went quiet. The sister's mouth worked once before she spoke. "Mate one of ours." "A pure alpha. It has to be an alpha." The sister looked at her brother. Jasper's jaw was tight. He did not look at Akira. He looked at the floor between his boots, and his hand had closed on the edge of the table. "You knew," the sister said to him. "I knew the first part." "Not the second." "No." The sister picked the knife back up. She slid it into her belt. "You don't leave the territory," she said to Akira. "Not until this is decided. Both options stay on the table." She turned to Jasper. "You and I talk. Outside." She went to the door. Jasper followed. At the threshold he looked back once. Then he shut the door behind them, and Akira was alone with the root on the table and a choice she had put into someone else's hands.