Rex Pov
I was asleep when Yolande's voice woke me up. It slithered into my dreams and pulled me out of the darkness. My eyes opened, but I could not move my body. I was paralyzed, and she was in control.
"Time to work, little wolf," Yolande whispered in my head. "We have an important task tonight."
"No," I tried to say, but my mouth would not move.
My body sat up in bed without my permission. My legs swung over the side, and my feet touched the cold floor. I tried to fight back, but it was like being trapped inside my own skin, watching someone else drive.
"Where are we going?" I asked in my mind since I could not speak out loud.
"The armory," Yolande said. "There is something there that belongs to me. Something I need you to have."
She walked me out of my room and down the dark hallway. It was the middle of the night, and the pack house was silent. Every step felt wrong, and I kept hoping someone would see me and ask what I was doing. But nobody came.
The armory door was locked, but Yolande knew where the key was hidden. She made my hand reach up above the doorframe and pull down a small key. The lock clicked open, and we went inside.
Weapons covered every wall. Swords and axes and spears and bows. Some of them were new and shiny. Others were old and covered in rust. Yolande walked me to the back corner where the oldest weapons were stored.
"There," she said, and my hand reached out.
I grabbed a silver dagger that was sitting on a dusty shelf. The handle was wrapped in old, cracked leather, and the blade had scratches all over it. It looked like it had been used in battle a long time ago and never properly cleaned.
"Do you know what this is?" Yolande asked.
"A dagger," I thought back at her.
"This is the blade they used in my banishment trial," Yolande said, and her voice got colder. "They used this exact dagger to cut my bond to the pack before they sent me into the forest to die. I felt every inch of this blade as it severed my connection to my family and my home. Now you will use it to cut their Alpha."
"I will not," I said.
"You will," Yolande said. "And you will enjoy it."
She finally released control of my body, and I stumbled forward, catching myself on the shelf. The dagger was heavy in my hand. I tried to drop it, but my fingers would not let go.
"Let me put this back," I said out loud.
"No," Yolande said. "You are going to take it back to your room and hide it. When the time comes, you will know exactly what to do with it."
I walked back to my room in a daze. Part of me wanted to throw the dagger out a window or bury it in the ground where nobody would find it. But every time I tried, my hand refused to let go.
When I got to my room, I shoved the dagger under my mattress and climbed back into bed. Maybe if I just left it there and forgot about it, nothing would happen. Maybe Yolande was bluffing about making me use it.
But then the dagger started heating up.
At first, it was just warm. I could feel the heat through the mattress. Then it got hotter and hotter until it felt like there was a fire burning under my bed. I reached under to touch it, and the blade burned my palm so bad I yanked my hand back with a curse.
"Stop it," I hissed.
The blade got even hotter. I could smell the mattress starting to burn. If I did not move the dagger soon, my whole bed would catch fire, and the entire pack house would know something was wrong.
I grabbed a thick blanket and wrapped it around my hand. Then I reached under and pulled the dagger out. Even through the blanket, it burned hot enough to make me grit my teeth.
I looked around my room, trying to figure out where to put it. I tried the desk drawer, but the dagger burned through the wood. I tried wrapping it in more blankets, but it just burned through those, too. Everywhere I put it, the heat intensified until whatever was touching it started to smoke.
By the time the sun came up, my hands were covered in blisters and burn marks. I had not slept at all. The dagger was sitting on my desk, wrapped in a wet towel that was already starting to steam.
I heard the pack waking up outside my window. Voices and footsteps and the normal sounds of morning. I looked out and saw Urdon in the training yard with a group of young wolves. He was showing them fighting stances and correcting their form.
Something pulled at my chest. A strong urge that made my whole body tense. My hand reached out and grabbed the dagger without me telling it to. I walked to the window and opened it.
The urge got stronger. It felt like a rope was tied around my heart, pulling me toward Urdon. My arm raised up on its own, holding the dagger. Urdon's back was to me, and he had no idea I was there.
"Throw it," Yolande whispered. "End him now. Why wait for the ceremony when you can finish this today?"
My arm pulled back, ready to throw. I could see exactly where the dagger would land. Right between Urdon's shoulder blades, he would be dead before he hit the ground.
"No," I said through clenched teeth.
I used every bit of strength I had to force my arm down. My muscles screamed at me, and sweat poured down my face. Finally, I got control back, and I ran. I did not close the window or grab a jacket. I just ran out of my room, still holding the dagger.
I made it to the creek at the edge of the pack lands. The water was moving fast and looked deep. If I threw the dagger in there, it would sink to the bottom, and nobody would ever find it.
I threw it as hard as I could into the middle of the creek. It made a splash and disappeared under the water.
"Thank god," I said and sat down hard on the bank.