Sarah eyed him to shut him up. Aislinn was only sort of in the main group. Cullen didn’t appear to have any reservations about talking in front of her. But her rank still wasn’t established yet. She wasn’t an elder and she wasn’t even technically a beta. As of yet the Terrick info was still need to know. Keith rolled his eyes at her and their unspoken conversation ended.
Aislinn glanced back and forth between them. “Okay?”
“Yeah Ais,” Keith said. “What’s up?”
“Another vision,” she said despondently as she sat down in the chair next to Keith.
Both of them groaned. “Just what we needed,” Sarah said. “What’s going to explode now?”
“Well that’s the problem. I still don’t know. I was given a message to give to a druid named Nora. I can tell you that it’s important that it be dealt with as soon as possible. But I personally don’t know how to contact the Circle. The thing is that Cullen said there would be druids at that meeting he went to didn’t he?”
Sarah considered the suggestion. “You want to call Cullen with the message.”
“I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me if it was a bad idea.”
Keith shook his head. “Pack Council meetings aren’t something that should be interrupted unless you’re willing to risk your throat over the information. Do you think it’s that important?”
“I feel like it is. But he didn’t seem to think the last few visions were important. I just have a terrible feeling that we’re going to be too late,” Aislinn said.
“Too late for what?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know. Just too late. The message was that I was to tell Nora Senach that they were using the bone dust of a dire wolf. The implication is that Nora will know what that means or be able to figure it out. But I can’t help imagining what a fight with a lycan who changes into a dire lycan would be like,” she said softly and looked at Sarah. “I don’t know what Jenna is doing with those men or the books. But it’s going to be too late to stop. Would you all rather take books and prisoners from her or get into a fight with an army of lycans three times your size?”
Keith and Sarah exchanged uncertain, concerned looks. “So let’s call Cullen,” Keith said.
Sarah nodded her agreement.
Keith grinned. “I say we have Aislinn do it. He might not yell first if her name’s on the caller ID.”
***
Maon leaned on the end of the table the druids were working at. He growled menacingly and smiled broadly at the same time. “Are you sure this will work?”
Jacob shrugged. “It’s never been done. We believe it will do what your Mistress asked for. But we won’t know until someone tries it. That’s why Rafe experimented so much before he used his formulas on himself.”
Maon grinned. “I guess then we try it on someone.” He stepped over to the door and looked out into the hall. He spotted a relatively puny omega carrying a try of food somewhere. He stepped up to the young man and knocked the tray out of his hand onto the floor. The blonde lycan dropped to his knees to start cleaning up the mess, apologizing for being clumsy.
Maon grabbed the kid by the collar of his shirt. “You’ll work perfectly,” he said with a chuckle and dragged him into the room with the druids.
Jacob eyed the young man sympathetically. But there was nothing he could do about it. At least it shouldn’t kill him.
Maon looked at the druids. “The whole thing?” He held up the bottle of foul smelling brown liquid that they had given him.
Jacob stepped up to Maon. “Acutally I need to make some marking on him first. Then yes he’ll need to drink the whole thing if you want it to happen all at once. But that’s painful and dangerous. If you want to do it right-”
“We don’t have time for right,” Maon said. “Just do it.” He shoved Jacob toward the cowering boy on the floor.
Jacob walked past the boy and to one of the other tables in the room. He picked up a jar of blue woad and then walked to the boy kneeling on the floor. “You’ll need to take your shirt off,” he said sadly.
The boy was trembling but did as he was told. Maon was more than enough incentive for complete cooperation. Jacob knelt next to him and began writing in gaelic script along the boy’s back and chest.
***
Cadifor sent Cullen a death glare when his ringing cell interrupted the meeting. Cullen silenced the ring as he pulled it out. He’d never had that problem before. Sarah and Keith knew better. Cadifor was staring at him as he looked at the caller ID. Cullen hesitated. He thought Aislinn should know better than to make this call. If he didn’t answer it and there was something wrong he’d be pissed. If he did answer it and it was nothing then he’d be pissed.
The entire room was silent. Cadifor’s glare turned sarcastic. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Cullen Arnauk look so indecisive. You’d better answer it then.” Cadifor leaned on the table expectantly. Cullen knew that he was about to be made an example of.
Aislinn felt a growl that shook her and she shot Sarah an uncertain look as the phone continued to ring. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” she said with a wide eyed look.
Cullen flipped his phone open. Everyone in the room was staring at him. I’m gonna kill you when I get back, he thought forcefully. “What?”
“You know, I think I caught the threat,” Aislinn said softly.
He closed his eyes and breathed out, trying to gather his patience. “What is it? I’m in the middle of the meeting.”
“Cullen I’m sorry. But you need to find a druid named Nora Senach and tell her that they’re using dire wolf bone dust. The vision was blatant and urgent. And you’re the only one in a position to find a druid at the moment, so it has to be for you.” Aislinn held her breath. She was praying that he’d find it important enough to not kill her when he got back. His silence felt like an eternity.
“Alright, calm down,” he said gently. “Was there anything else?”
“No,” Aislinn was relieved that he sounded less angry. “I got the impression that it took a great deal of effort to tell me that much. Like I said before, my visions usually don’t interact with me. I think the men Jenna’s holding prisoner must be druids.”
Cullen stared at Cadifor with a meaningful look that had Cadifor standing straight again and looking less annoyed by the interruption. “Actually I know they are. Alright. Just wait for me to get back. We’ll deal with it when I have the rest of the information.”