Eclipse Sector (V-Clan #3)

33. Ivana

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

IVANA

Stacks of journals littered the floor as Grey organized them by date.

Or that was what he’d said when Kyra had asked what the piles represented.

“These are from the last three years,” he’d told us, gesturing to a tower of a dozen or so notebooks. I had one in my lap now, the insides filled with incoherent musings and bizarre illustrations.

I scanned the pages, searching for anything familiar.

She described various scenes, wrote cryptic phrases, and drew random bubbles all over her pages. Sometimes those bubbles had arrows. Other times they were just circles upon circles, reminding me a bit of a delirious black hole.

“Do these mean anything to you?” I asked Grey, showing him all the doodles.

He glanced at the page I held up for him and shook his head. “No, not yet.” Then he returned his attention to the item in his hand. His jaw ticked at whatever he read there.

I put up a block before I could hear it in his mind, my head already overwhelmed from all the thoughts whirling around in the room.

Hell, it wasn’t even the room.

It was the entire sector.

I had no idea how Cillian lived with this every day.

Well, that wasn’t true. I had some idea because I’d adopted this mental blocking trick from his mind. But it was taking serious focus to hold it up against the various musings floating around Blood Sector.

Closing my eyes, I stole a deep breath and calmed my own thoughts. Silencing everything and everyone around me.

Then I slowly returned to the task of trying to find hints within Ashlyn’s chaotic writing.

There had to be at least three hundred passages in this journal, some of them sharing the same page, others scrawled across two papers.

I kept reading.

And reading.

Until I could swear hours had passed. Everyone else in the room had fallen silent, all of us engrossed in Ashlyn’s cryptic words.

I rubbed my temples but kept pushing.

Dear Oracle,

We’re close.

I miss my dreams.

Ashlyn

I glanced at the doodle beneath it, counting the circles. Seventeen. Okay.

The next page had twenty-seven circles.

And the one after had two.

Is it a pattern? I wondered, writing the numbers down on a blank sheet beside me.

The next page had seven.

Seventeen. Twenty-seven. Two. Seven.

Frowning, I flipped to the next entry and started counting, only to blink at the first line.

Dear Oracle of the Stars.

Stars had a circle around it.

But that wasn’t why it caught my eye.

Shuffling a few papers back, I started reading the headings of everything leading up to this.

Dear Oracle.

Dear Oracle.

Dear Oracle.

I grabbed another notebook to glance through several entries. All of them started with Dear Oracle . Never Dear Oracle of the Stars .

My frown deepened.

I wrote Dear Stars in my journals, something Ashlyn knew because she had a problem understanding personal space and had watched me pen one of my entries on the plane.

A coincidence or something else entirely? I wondered, returning to her entry.

Dear Oracle of the Stars, I read again. If you’re reading this, then it’s time to understand some of my choices. Some of my visions. Some of my… No. Don’t react. Don’t let them know what you’ve found. Do you understand?

I blinked and glanced around, my brow furrowing. She couldn’t possibly be talking to me. That… This…

I cleared my throat.

This is Ashlyn. Anything’s possible.

I ran my gaze over her last sentence about understanding her, only to be distracted by a loud sigh across the room. “No,” Prince Cael said, his finger pressing a button at his ear. “Everything’s fine. I’ll ring you if that changes.”

Cillian and Lorcan were both staring at Prince Cael. Grey, too.

I couldn’t hear who he was talking to, just a low hum of sound, and Prince Cael’s responding grunt. “Okay, fine. If you’re going to pout, then come over here and be useless for all I care.” His hand dropped, telling me he’d just ended whatever call he’d been on.

“Dixon?” Grey asked.

“No. Granger,” Cael growled. “He’s insisting that I need an Elite present.”

Kieran snorted. “Sounds familiar.”

Cillian and Lorcan both arched brows his way. “You get lonely without us,” Cillian drawled.

“Sure I do,” Kieran drawled right back.

The air shimmered as Granger appeared in the office, his stoic expression taking in the scene before him. “What the bloody hell are you even doing?” he asked.

“Reading,” Grey told him, then returned to the item in his hand.

“Reading what?” Granger asked.

Prince Cael sighed and started explaining about Ashlyn’s journals, causing me to look down again at the entry I’d been reading before his conversation had distracted me.

Right, as I was saying was the next line, causing my eyebrow to arch upward. It’s time. So I need you to listen closely, Stars.

Okay, now I was… about eighty percent sure she’d written this to me. Maybe.

If I’m right, your power is changing. You can feel things, yes?

I blinked. This can’t be real, I whispered to myself.

Vana? Cillian asked as I read the next line from Ivana’s journal, which said, Shh.

Holy stars, I thought.

No reacting was what came next. I mean it, Stars. Just focus and block out everything else.

The word block had been written over several times, giving it a bold-like appearance. Seeing it and thinking about it had me putting up walls all over my mind on instinct, but not with Cillian.

Instead, I left my thoughts open to him and whispered, I think I found something, but we can’t tell anyone. Not yet. Not until I understand what this means.

In my peripheral vision, I saw him take a step toward me. No, you can’t react. Just let me… let me see what Ashlyn might be trying to tell me.

He continued toward me anyway, causing me to grit my teeth. But all he did was clasp my chin and pull me up for a kiss.

They already saw me looking at you, he whispered into my mind as his tongue slid into my mouth. Now I’m just distracting them from wondering what caught my attention.

He deepened the embrace by sliding his palm to my neck and squeezing my throat.

For a split second, I forgot what I was doing. Hell, I was pretty sure I forgot my own name.

Because Cillian was kissing me.

In front of his friends.

In front of their mates.

I’ll kiss you in front of the entire fucking world, Vana, he told me softly. Whatever it takes to prove you’re mine.

All you have to do is bite me for that to be true, I reminded him.

He growled low in his chest, the sound vibrating through me in a wave of possession.

I would do it right fucking now, macushla, but I don’t think you want me to rut you in front of an audience. And I’m not quite sure I want to share you in that way, either. He nipped at my lower lip before pulling away. Go back to reading. I’ll be listening. And keep your walls up.

His jarring change in topic left me winded and a little flustered as I glanced around the room.

Everyone was gaping at Cillian.

Well, not everyone.

Prince Cael was grinning. “Trying to convey a point?”

Cillian abruptly turned around and kissed me again, startling me even more. Get back to work, he demanded into my mind. I want to know what else that passage says.

I almost asked him, What passage?

But then I remembered what I’d been doing before his erratic behavior had begun, and I jolted against him in response.

Easy, love, he murmured. No reactions, remember?

His teeth skimmed my lower lip again, his dark eyes burning into mine. “How’s that for a message, Prince?” he asked, still looking at me.

“I would have added more tongue” was Prince Cael’s succulent reply.

A fire lit in Cillian’s gaze, one I felt searing me to my very soul.

“If you two are going to fight, take it outside,” King Kieran interjected. “My office is too crowded for this shit.”

“But this is what you wanted, wasn’t it?” Prince Cael said, his silky tone causing both Cillian and me to look at him. “You asked me to join the mating pool to prod your Elite into action, yes?”

King Kieran stared at him, one dark eyebrow arching. “Did I say that?”

Prince Cael smiled again. “No, but we both know that was your intention. And it looks like it worked.”

Go back to Ashlyn’s passage , Cillian whispered into my mind. And ignore the conversation we’re about to have.

What?

Take advantage of the distraction, Vana, he told me, then released me to join the two men as King Kieran asked, “Would I do that?”

“You would absolutely do that,” Cillian muttered. “Just like you would fuck with sleeping arrangements to ensure Ivana and I shared an igloo. Oh, wait, you did do that.”

King Kieran snorted, but I caught the amusement dancing in his thoughts.

He was playing a game.

One Cillian must have asked him to play.

As a distraction , I realized, recalling what Cillian had just said. They’re distracting everyone so I can focus on what I’ve found.

Glancing down, I reread a few of Ashlyn’s lines.

I mean it, Stars. Just focus and block out everything else.

Swallowing, I did what she asked once more and continued scanning downward.

And focus on your talent.

Okay, I thought at her.

Does anything feel strange? was the next line. Weird vibes? Potential puzzles to solve… or disassemble?

My brow crinkled as I reviewed her riddles. The only weird vibes in the room were coming from Cillian and Prince Cael as they appeared to be squaring off with one another.

Which had Granger and Lorcan both tensing in the periphery.

But not Grey.

Grey was fully immersed in something else.

That strange power still emanated from him, the one I couldn’t decipher before. Only it wasn’t his ability that grabbed my attention as I scanned the room, but Granger’s. His mind… his mind was like…

A puzzle , I realized, blinking back down to the diary and catching that word on the page once more.

This is one of those moments where you have to choose your allies wisely, she continued . Consider all potential paths. And watch your step…

Okay… Was she talking about solving the puzzle? Being careful with how I unwove it? Potential puzzles to solve or to disassemble was basically what she’d said. So it would make sense that she was providing caution over how I disassembled it.

There are land mines afoot, Stars, Ashlyn had written next. Land mines that will alert our enemy that we’re coming. Be careful. Tread softly. And remember… Don’t. Make. A. Sound.

I swallowed, her warnings feeling ominous. But as I prodded Granger’s thoughts, and noted the layers of his mind, it… it made sense.

He was masking behind a thick veneer of power, one that allowed only his surface-level musings to escape. But I could sense the darkness beneath.

My eyes nearly widened. Be careful of Prince Cael, she’d written to me on that plane. He’s surrounded by darkness.

Darkness being Granger? I wondered now.

He wasn’t who Prince Cael and Grey had accused of taking Ashlyn, but maybe… maybe they had it wrong?

Swallowing, I kept reading.

I hope… I hope that’s enough. I can’t provide any more. We’re at a crossroads, Stars. I… I see two ways this could end. Maybe you’ll find a third route. Goodbye for now, Ashlyn.

Beneath her name were two postscripts, the first of them giving me chills. But it definitely felt like it was for me.

PS: Congratulations on the little one. I send my blessing from the grave.

The second, I wasn’t sure about.

PPS: Our pasts make us stronger, not weaker. Remember that. Remember where you came from. And understand once and for all— you are not him . But sometimes you have to think like him to find the truth. To find… me.

Maybe that part would make more sense once I solved the puzzle in Granger’s mind.

Unless it’s Grey I should be deciphering, I thought, considering the other male.

This is one of those moments where you have to choose your allies wisely, Ashlyn had written . Consider all potential paths. And watch your step…

I… I wasn’t sure which path she wanted me to take.

Glancing back down, I reread the line that said, I see two ways this could end.

But then she mentioned a third route.

What’s the third route? I wondered.

I don’t think it’s Grey, Cillian told me. Yet aloud, he was in the process of lecturing King Kieran about his meddling .

“What the hell has gotten into the two of you?” Quinnlynn demanded.

“Your mate keeps concerning himself in my affairs,” Cillian told her. “And don’t chuckle, Cael. You’re just as bad.”

Stop listening to me, he added mentally. See if you can poke around Granger’s mind. I’m about to really distract him.

By doing ? —

My eyes widened as his fist connected with Prince Cael’s jaw. “ Cillian ,” I hissed out loud.

See what he’s hiding, he demanded in my head. Now .

Prince Cael lunged forward on a growl, the two men crashing to the floor in a heap of testosterone and snarls.

I jumped up from my chair, the journal clutched in my hand, and darted backward to brace against a wall while King Kieran ushered Quinnlynn out of the room.

Kyra just shook her head.

As did Lorcan.

And Grey… Grey was too engrossed with his reading material to care about the chaos behind him.

I frowned, my curiosity piquing as I considered his mind for a moment.

That power he was exuding had waned, his focus intent on Ashlyn’s words. Did you find something? I wanted to ask him.

But movement out of the corner of my eye drew my gaze back to the brawl happening next to Kieran’s desk. Granger had pulled a knife, his gaze intent on Cillian.

My lips parted, a warning ready to leave my mouth, when Granger’s murderous thoughts yanked me in. No, it wasn’t just his thoughts, but his… his power .

It was pulsing.

Swirling.

Regenerating with every second to create a new layer to swim through.

What a unique ability , I marveled, losing myself within his mental process. He was constantly masking, and not just his musings but everything else, too.

Everything that made him a wolf.

Like his voice.

His growl.

His scent , I realized, finding that strand whirling around him.

He was literally a puzzle, one where he rearranged pieces around himself to create a new version for every situation.

All while hiding beneath a series of iron-clad protections. They reminded me of steel ribbons, flexible to an extent, but mostly unbreakable.

I wove beneath them carefully, longing to go deeper, to hear his inner confessions. Because he was definitely hiding something.

Everyone around me fell silent as I focused intently on my target, my fingers clutching the journal to my chest.

What are you holding back? I wondered. Who are you really?

Because everything about him was a lie. A mask. An alter ego.

He’d spent decades perfecting this identity, living in this voice, this growl, this scent . But another version lurked beneath all these barriers.

I kept pushing, gently moving strands out of the way, and searching for the true identity underneath all his mental barricades.

Show me, I demanded, swimming through the mental minefield. This is what Ashlyn meant about watching my step, to tread carefully, to not alert ? —

The air whooshed out of my lungs as a concrete boulder slammed into me, cutting off my ability to breathe.

Everything spun.

Throbbed .

The world… the world… was too dark. Too black. Too?—

Ivana! Cillian shouted. Was that in my mind? Out loud? I… I couldn’t tell.

I… I don’t know where I am…

I waited for his reply.

Nothing came.

Just silence.

Darkness.

Nothingness.

Death .