The Wolf Crown (The Wolf Kings #2) (MLM)

CHAPTER TEN.

                "Okay," Jack rubbed his eyes. "Someone explain something right now."

Ender, Violet, and Lavender all looked to Tiberius, but his jaw was clamped shut.

"Tiberius," Jack tried, "what's going on? Who's the Seer and what destiny are they talking about?"

Veins popped in Tiberius's muscled arms, his knuckles white, his fists clenched. Jack stood, turning him around so that they were facing each other. "Look at me," he commanded, and Tiberius's beautiful gold eyes shifted until Jack was holding his gaze. "No more going at it alone. You promised me."

"You can't keep him from the truth forever," Ender started.

"I'm trying to protect him," Tiberius growled, and Ender merely stared silently in response. Everett might've squeaked in alarm.

"Hey," Jack gripped his chin and turned him around, forcing him to focus. "Only look at me, okay?"

Tiberius swallowed thickly, and Jack cupped his jaw until he could feel it loosen. "Now," he spoke calmly, "talk to me."

He hesitated for the longest moment, then his eyes fluttered and he broke eye contact. Only for Jack would he lose. Only to Jack would he give in.

"The Seer is an ancient being," he finally said with a heavy air. "It calls to all leaders at one point in their long lives, just once, to give them their prophecy."

Jack frowned. "But I already had that," he said. "The prophecy about ending the war between . . ." he trailed off as Tiberius shook his head with a sad smile.

"The Seer called for me," Tiberius confessed like the very words ached him. "Before you came. I'd known about it for a while, remember?"

"Yeah," he said, cheeks heating at the memory. "You said you dreamed about me."

"She summoned me even before then," he said, thumb brushing across Jack's knuckles. "She said that my mate was finally coming, and that he would end the war between werewolves and witches."

"Which you did," Violet smiled faintly.

"So," Jack shut his eyes, "wait, so my whole coming here and—and being mated to you and everything that happened, that was all part of your prophecy, not mine?"

"I told you before, didn't I?" Tiberius said. "I'd been waiting for you for a long time."

"Tiberius . . ."

"Begs the question though, doesn't it?" Lavender said, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, her expression grim. "If ol' King Tiberius's destiny was finally finding his one true love and all—"

"Then what's mine?" Jack finished, brows pinched.

"Do you have any idea what it could be, Jack?" Graham asked.

"I mean," he considered it, "no, not really. I never waited for anybody like Tiberius did, but . . . Violet, what was yours? Tiberius said everyone gets summoned once."

Violet raised a brow, the barest traces of a smile, and she shrugged. "Not me," she said. "Not yet."

Lavender frowned, casting a quick glance at Violet, but in a blink the look was gone, and Jack asked her instead, "What about you, Lavender? If you're Violet's sister, then aren't you technically—"