Chapter 149


    Chapter 149: Lock & Key


    Edrick


    I couldn’t sleep at all that night after the pic. It was for a variety of reasons: first of all, I was still


    admittedly upset over what Moana had told me earlier that day. I knew that I shouldn’t have been


    jealous or hurt over it, as Moana was my mate and what happened between us was only fate striking at


    just the right time, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.


    I just wished that she told me sooner that she broke up with her ex not even an hour before we met,


    and I had to admit that the way she pitied him made my mood darken. However, that feeling was


    quickly overshadowed by the way that she suddenly blurted something out.


    It was only one word: “No.”


    Somehow, I knew that she was talking to her wolf, and not to me. But what were they talking about?


    Was there something that she wasn’t telling me?


    Either way, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before Moana’s wolf fully emerged. If she


    identally shifted, and if she was in fact the Golden Wolf, she would be putting herself in grave


    danger. I needed to get to the bottom of this before it was toote. If she was the Golden Wolf, I would


    have to find some way to keep her from shifting for the first time until the baby was born. People would


    instantly know about her existence the second she shifted, and they would no doubt be hunting her.


    With a baby in her belly, it only made it more dangerous… Not that I wouldn’t also be terribly worried


    about her anyway even if she wasn’t pregnant.


    That night, I kept tossing and turning. I would fall asleep for a few minutes, only to wake up again from


    my nerves. Finally, I decided that I simply wouldn’t sleep at all.


    My mind kept wandering back to the forum thread that I found about the book on the Golden Wolf. It


    was supposedly extremely rare, and possibly didn’t even exist. But I had a feeling that I could find it.


    There was a private library in the city that was only open to the highest ss of werewolves. I had


    never been there before myself, but it wasmon knowledge that the librarian lived there, and she


    had an enormous collection of rare and banned books. It waste, but I didn’t care; I needed to see her


    now.


    I quietly got dressed while Moana slept, taking onest nce at her before I slipped out of the room


    and headed outside. And soon, I was driving my car across the quiet city, and pulling up to the curb


    outside the library.


    It was a massive stone building that had been a part of this city since the city was built. The librarians


    here were always from the same family, and the library would be passed down to each generation.


    There was something almost ominous about the building, but I swallowed my nerves and walked up the


    front steps to the big, ornate wooden door and pressed the doorbell.


    There was a long wait. I pressed the doorbell a couple more times, and by the third time, I began to


    think that no one was going to answer.


    However, just as I was about to walk away, the door finally cracked open.


    “What do you want?” a gruff, old woman’s voice said through the crack. “It’s three o’clock in the


    morning. Can’t you read? The hours are posted right in front of your face.”


    I felt my face flush with embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I know you’re not open. But I have urgent


    research to do. Can you please let me in?”


    The door cracked open a little wider, and now I could see an old woman’s face staring up at me. Her


    face was covered with wrinkles, but she had piercing blue eyes. “I recognize you,” she said, her voice


    low and gravelly. “You’re Edrick Morgan. What are you doing here?”


    I swallowed. “Like I said, I have urgent research I need to do,” I replied. “It’s really important, but


    unfortunately I can’t tell anyone what it’s about.”


    The woman didn’t say anything for a few long moments. Finally, she pulled the door open the rest of


    the way and gestured for me toe in. “Do you want tea?”


    I shook my head. “No, thanks. I just need to see your rare books. The rarest of the rare.”


    The woman grumbled something to herself, butplied anyway and led me through the narrow


    walkways between bookshelves that towered all the way to the high ceiling. There must have been


    thousands of books in there — no, millions — and each of them looked even older than thest. Unlike


    any regr library that would normally be spacious with lots of seating, this library was nothing but


    shelves. Books were even piled on the floor, along with paper scrolls and half-melted candles. The


    whole ce reminded me of some sort of demented wizard’s tower from a fairy tale.


    “The rarest of the rare, huh?” the old woman asked, her appearance shing beneath therge skylight


    that let the light of the moon in, revealing a hunched over posture and gray, frazzled hair. “How rare,


    exactly?”


    “Rare as in… It might not even exist,” I replied.


    The old woman stopped and stared at me for a moment over her shoulder, pursing her thin lips as she


    looked me up and down. I stared back, and eventually she nodded and led me over to a narrow


    wooden door that was nestled in between two bookshelves. If she hadn’t led me there, I never would


    have seen it.


    “I don’t normally let people in here,” she said, extracting a ring of keys from the pocket on her robe, “but


    since you’re… well, you, I’ll allow it. It’s where I keep my most prized books.”This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    “Thank you,” I replied. The old woman didn’t respond as she rifled through the keyring. She finally


    found the key she was looking for and unlocked the door. When she pushed the door open, it creaked


    loudly and exposed a set of narrow stone steps that led downward.


    “Go ahead,” she said, gesturing for me to enter. “Be careful on those steps. And try not to get your


    fingers all over everything. The oils from your skin will ruin my books.”


    I nodded. “I’ll be careful,” I replied. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and switched on the shlight,


    then descended down the stairs.


    With each step, the air became colder. By the time I got to the bottom, it was almost frigid. I found


    myself in a surprisingly small room, but it was still packed with books. The walls were made of


    bookshelves, and there were a few ss cases that housed extremely decrepit old tomes. Unlike


    upstairs, everything seemed to be neatly organized.


    I began to scour the bookshelves, searching for anything that would even remotely resemble the book


    that I heard about. If it was going to be anywhere, it would be here… I was sure of it. I had a good


    feeling about this ce.


    At first, my search was fruitless. There were plenty of rare books, but none of them seemed to contain


    any information on the Golden Wolf. I even went through each bookshelf twice, but found nothing. I


    must have been in there for a few hours at that point; the sun was probably rising and I had no way of


    knowing since it was so dark down there.


    I was about to give up after my third time looking through all of the bookshelves. Obviously the book


    simply didn’t exist, because if this library didn’t have it, then it couldn’t possibly be anywhere else. If it


    did exist at one point, then it probably didn’t exist now.


    But then, something caught my eye.


    I only noticed it because there were three books that protruded from the shelf slightly more than the


    rest. At first, I thought that they were just shaped differently, but on closer inspection I realized that


    something was behind them. With a furrowed brow, I carefully pulled the books out.


    A cloud of dust sprung up as something flopped down onto the shelf. My eyes widened; it had been


    pinned behind the books.


    And as I pulled it out, I realized that it was exactly the book I was looking for.


    My heart practically leaped out of my chest as I snatched the book off of the shelf. The pages were


    yellow and brittle, but it was still fully intact. I thumbed through it as carefully as I could, straining my


    eyes to read the faded text.


    “The Prophecy of the Golden Wolf,” I whispered to myself, reading the text on one of the pages. “The


    Golden Wolf will return in the form of a human at first… But they will possess strange abilities unlike


    any human, with only a single physical indicator of their existence… A single Alpha tooth that glows in


    the light of the full moon.”


    My eyes widened even more as I read the text. I snapped the book shut, my breath catching in my


    throat.


    There was no doubt about it; Moana had the tooth. She came in the form of a human at first, but she


    possessed strange abilities. She had to be the Golden Wolf.


    But I still needed more proof. Not only that, but I needed guidance, and there was only one person in


    the world who could possibly help us now: the Mother Witch. The wisest, oldest, and most powerful of


    all witches.


    First, however, I would need a lock of Moana’s hair to bring to the Mother Witch.