by A Lonergan
Mom sighed. “I don’t know, possibly. I love to travel but I’m not mad about being back at home with you. The house is a bit big for my liking now that you aren’t here.”
“Why don’t you sell it and buy something smaller?” Knox leaned against the counter as he snatched another cooling cookie.
Mom chuckled dismissively. “When Jade’s father was working full-time, he loved to have dinner parties. I’m sure now that he has some new clients and working more, he will be interested in entertaining.”
I barely remembered all the dinner parties they had. I always had a babysitter or a nanny taking care of me during them. Children were frowned upon in those circles. Not me, exactly, but other people’s children. They didn’t want to see children or hear of them while they were talking money and business. My father called it networking. I called it kissing ass. How could you kiss ass if there were kids running beneath your feet or screaming in the next room? That was exactly what would have happened too if their children had been permitted to go. They were loud and rambunctious. They didn’t listen and were too spoiled for their own good. Now, as I thought back on it, I was thankful that I had never been permitted to be friends with them. That was not a circle I wanted to get caught up in or looked down upon.
It was probably best that my father could entertain again. He didn’t have to worry about me and most of his clients didn’t have children younger than eighteen. I was almost certain that most of the children went to the dinner parties now, in the place of their parents anyway.
Knox waggled his eyebrows at my mom. “I love a good party.”
I was about to smack him when my mom did the one thing I never thought she would do. She gloated. “If you have a couple million to invest then you are more than welcome to come.”
My mouth fell open and a laugh burst from me. Knox cleared his throat. “Maybe in a few years.”
I had almost regretted bringing him here but now I was happy that I had. No one else could put him in his place besides Rafe and Rafe never went below the belt like my mom just did. She wasn’t afraid to bring someone to their knees when they got too cocky with her. I had seen her do it plenty of times when I had been growing up, but it had been years since I had seen that side of her. When you had money, you had to play ruthlessly. Though I never knew how much was at stake until that comment she made.
I decided changing the subject was best for all of us, especially Knox’s wounded pride. I couldn’t wait to tell Tracey. “You’ve been crafting still?”
Mom’s face beamed. “Oh yes! Would you like to come up and see what I’ve been up to?”
Knox held up his phone. “I need to make a call, you two have fun without me.”
Anything to get out of girly conversations now that my mom had put him in his place. Mom talked animatedly about all of her projects while we walked up the stairs. “We have been to all these beautiful places and done all these things for ourselves. I figure it’s time for us to do something for someone else.”
The craft room was on the opposite end of the hall as my former bedroom. The door was open already. Front and center was a sewing machine. On the floor beside her craft table was a stack of blankets. It took me a moment to realize they were baby blankets. I looked at my mother in question. Her grin only grew. “I’m going to convince your father to take me to a third-world country next. Not for a vacation but as a retreat to help others. I was reading online that this one country needs blankets and clothing for the children. I immediately got to work, dead-set on shipping blankets. But then I thought about it, why not bring them there myself?”
“That would be a vacation I would want to go on,” I ran my fingers over the materials draped over the crafting station.
“I also thought that maybe,” She paused to chew on the end of her thumbnail. “That you might have children someday and I wanted to make blankets for them.”
Panic flared up in my chest before it relaxed a bit. Years ago I would have bristled at that comment. Hell, not even a year ago. But now, things felt different. Especially knowing why Rafe had changed me. “Maybe one day, I think I want plenty of time with my future husband before we have children. But you never know. The universe does weird things.”
Mom patted my shoulder. “You’re right and I won’t be upset one bit if you have children and you aren’t married. I’m not naive.”
I snorted in surprise. “I would like to be mat- married first.”
Oh gosh, I hadn’t even thought that far. There was supposed to be a mating ceremony. I had heard that somewhere. Did that mean my parents would be allowed to come? I hadn’t thought to ask these questions before. But now that the pieces were coming together, it made sense for me to think about it.
“I want to be in love before I have children.” That was the best answer I could give her. I liked Rafe. I appreciated the time we spent together. He made me feel good and his kisses made my body feel like it was burning. But did I love him? I had only just found out why I was changed and I needed time to still process that. Thinking of love right now was just too much. Plus there was still Damian in the picture and there was absolutely no telling what would happen with that. We could all die for all I knew.
The wolf in my pocket wasn’t far from my mind. It weighed heavily there. I fished it out and handed it to my mom. “Tracey’s brother made this for our family. It’s supposed to protect us or something.” My mom had always been more superstitious than I had ever been. If I believed that it worked, my mother would really think I had grown two heads.
“With Dad working with new clients and being out of the house more, will you give it to him and tell him to keep it on him all the time?” I didn’t know what else to ask. How could I keep my father safe when he was leaving to go to the city every day? I was sure when Lucas made it, he imagined my parents being together all day. As long as my mother stayed in this town, she would be as fine as anyone else. Which didn’t give me much comfort but what else could I do? “Lucas said it would protect him against evil or something silly like that.”
Once I said that, the look on my mom’s face transformed. Going to other countries and getting to experience their differences in cultures had changed her. She had a different outlook on the world and what was out there beyond ours.
Chapter 34
Rafe
Valentina watched me from across the room. Neither one of us broke eye contact. We simply stared at each other. I didn’t feel the urge to look away and based on how easily she was getting through this, she didn’t feel the need either. One corner of her lip curled up.
“You think you’re tough, don’t you?”
Both of my eyebrows shot up on my head. “Have you been watching old westerns with Granny?”
The small smirk that had been curling along her lips went flat. She crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her chin forward. “I don’t understand the pack rules around here. Why are you in charge? You don’t feel powerful.”
Carden took that moment to walk through the front door. He choked in response to her words. “He is very powerful, little witch. You would do better to respect your elders.”
She sneered. “He doesn’t look like an elder. My mother was well over one hundred years old.”
Carden whistled. “How do you think she stayed alive for so long?”
Valentina still didn’t take her eyes off of mine. She shrugged.
Carden shook his head. “She had the right mind to not piss off people more powerful than her.”
That did it. Her eyes blazed white and left mine completely. I blinked in surprise. She hopped up from her chair and charged the healer. “How dare you say that to me. You have no idea what I am capable of.”
“That may be so, but if you keep it up, the only places you’ll be going are to timeout.” Granny’s voice crackled through the room. “Stop disrespecting the Alpha. Stop disrespecting yourself. Never turn your magic against one of your family. You are a powerful young woman but you will not mistreat
others.”
The glowing white in Valentina’s eyes dimmed until they were back to their normal blue shade. “I didn’t mean it.”
Granny shook her head once. “You need to go think about your actions. If it wasn’t for this Alpha, you would have been killed. The man who kidnapped you isn’t one to trifle with. Do you understand me?”
Valentina’s eyes shot to her feet. “Yes, Granny.”
“Go to your room,” Granny’s command blasted through my chest. I almost stood up and walked home. She turned to me with a sigh. “What can I do for you, my boy?”
“I want to have something made for Jade, though I’m not sure what. I feel like we are moving closer to a claiming or even a mating ceremony but so much has happened that I don’t know if it would be appropriate.”
“Have you spoken to Tracey about this? Or even Lucas?” Granny shuffled through the bottles on her shelf.
I shook my head. “No, I went to go speak to her but she threw something at me and screamed something about Knox.”
Granny’s chest deflated. “Tracey will have to change packs eventually.”
I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was true. I didn’t want to see her go but the animosity they held toward each other was simply too much especially with a war on our hands.
Granny picked up a bottle but concealed it in the center of her hands. “I will speak to Tracey and Lucas. I’ll see what they think. They know her almost better than anyone else.”
Chapter 35
Jade
The world was on fire. At least, that was what it seemed like as we drove back to the Pack Lands. There was absolutely no way we could get back in. Fire surrounded the woods that led to the manor. My fingers tightened around the steering wheel. Knox leaned forward then he reached for the door handle.
“No,” I held my hand up. “we have to go somewhere else. We can’t try to get through. Damian’s witches are around. Either they know we left and are searching for us, or they don’t know. We have to be careful about this.”
Knox nodded his head then dug into his pocket. That same velvet pouch that kept his scent from the air. “This will keep them from our scent but we will need to be careful.”
“We could go back to my parent’s home?” I didn’t think it was a good idea, but I had to try.
Knox shook his head. “Go to the library.”
I turned my car around and headed toward the only library I knew. It was only a few minutes away. “Do you think everyone is okay?”
Knox worried his bottom lip. “I honestly don’t know, Jade. I hope so. It could be just a distraction.”
“Is there another way in?”
I parked at the back of the library and Knox wrapped his hand around my wrist. We were being completely covert now. Or what I imagined that to be. It was getting late and the library would be closing any minute. I had never been or seen the backside of the building before. I couldn’t recall a time I had even stepped foot inside of it. But I did know there were two sleeping wolf statues perched out front. I should have known this would be somewhere safe to go. I had all the documentation at my fingertips in the office too. I could have figured this out on my own, but I didn’t. I had been preoccupied with everything else going on.
“Can you communicate with Rafe?” I whispered.
Knox held his finger up to his lips and shook his head. This wasn’t good. The back door was unlocked. It led us to a little reading area that had some magazines in between two large couches. Knox locked the door behind us and leaned behind the closest couch. He grabbed something and the entire couch flipped forward to reveal a door underneath.
I blinked in surprise. He grabbed my hand and hauled me forward. The trap door didn’t make a noise as he yanked it up and out of our way. From what I could see there was a ladder built into the side of the tunnel. A very dark tunnel. Knox motioned me forward and my heart skittered inside of my chest. This was the last thing I wanted to be doing. I shimmied across the little space and put my feet on the rungs. The metal was cold beneath my hands as I descended into the darkness.
Don’t forget about me. I’m still here. There is nothing to be afraid of. As far as I can tell, there isn’t anyone down there. Nalia spoke reassurances inside of my head. It gave me the emotional strength to continue down into the unknown. Knox closed the latch above us and I heard a slight thud as the couch went back into place above it.
Having night vision was an incredible perk of being a wolf, but it did nothing down here. I was completely blind. I had been traveling down for a little bit when my foot couldn’t find the next rung. My heart stopped as it swung lifelessly there looking for the rest of the ladder. My breath hitched as I slowly lowered myself to find another rung below the one that was missing. Instead of the ladder, my foot connected with the floor. Relief coursed through me in a thick current. I moved out of the way, knowing that Knox would be right behind me. A few seconds later, there was a scraping noise nearby and light illuminated Knox’s face. He held a match up in front of him and I was able to see some of the little cave we had crawled down into. I squinted at the walls of the kitchen we had landed in.
“The darkness is reinforced with magic. No being can see through it, not even a mermaid. They can see through the darkest waters too.” He fumbled along the wall for a bit before lights illuminated above our heads.
We were standing in an outdated kitchen that had two doors on either side of the countertops. Knox immediately went to the one closest to us. The door swung open easily and soundlessly again. There were two twin beds shoved against the wall and a side table in between them. Knox then went to the other door. There was a little bathroom complete with pink tiles from the seventies or eighties. I wrapped my arms around myself.
“So this is where we will be staying?” I had to ask.
Knox nodded. “Yes, we will be down here for a while. I can’t get in touch with Rafe through our bond or the other Guardians. I think it has something to do with the magic being used around the Pack Lands perimeter.”
“Do you think they’re trying to draw him out again?”
Knox sat down at the circular table in the middle of the kitchen. He raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Yes, but I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about Tracey.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh?”
“I shouldn’t have pushed her the way I did but I need her to tell me what she’s thinking. I thought if I could taunt her she would come speak to me, not throw a hissy fit from hell.”
I screwed my lips closed and shook my head. “I think you caught her on the worst week ever too.”
Knox’s face fell. “Oh, no. Please don’t tell me she’s on her period.”
I shrugged and he almost fell out of his chair.
Chapter 36
Rafe
Jade. Where the hell was Jade?
I searched every single face that passed me. Not one of them belonged to Jade. My Guardians were leading everyone away from the spreading fire. It burned nothing tangible. But I knew as soon as it touched a member of the pack they would be incinerated. Granny held Valentina in her arms as she ran toward me. Her hair was stuck to her face and Valentina was crying. Sure enough, there was a big scorch mark along the child’s leg.
“Where’s Carden?” I grabbed ahold of the both of them. We were sitting ducks here. Where was Jade?
Granny shook her head. “His magic won’t work to heal her. He’s trying to get the children to safety with Mav.”
I nodded my head. “Get to the Manor. That’s where everyone is.” It was in the middle of the Pack Lands. It had the most powerful magic protecting it. Before Vivian had been claimed and turned into a wolf, she had used her magic with Granny to put wards around the Manor. It was the most powerful magic my father said he had ever witnessed.
Granny touched my arm. “I will fight this with my grandchildren and Carden. I don’t think the children would know how to combat something like this.”
; I scooped up two of the witch kids as I ran toward the Manor. Just as I was about to deposit the children on the front step, an explosion rocked the ground. I flew forward and the porch knocked the wind from my lungs. I struggled to get a breath back in but was able to roll over and see that the children were untouched. My mother was looking them over for wounds and asking if they needed anything. All these children would need therapy. Hell, everyone needed therapy even if they didn’t have trauma. Tracey had a few kids under her arms as she jogged up.
Alice counted each one and sighed with relief. “That’s all of them.”
I wrapped my hands around Tracey’s arms and shook her gently. “Where is Jade?”
Tracey’s brows knit in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t find her anywhere.”
“Wasn’t Knox supposed to be with her today?” Tracey asked.
I nodded. “Yes, but I can’t get through our link.”
“Can you communicate with the rest of your Guardians?”
I closed my eyes and pictured each one of them. Y’all good?
Yes. They all piped up together. All of them except Knox.
“No, I can’t get through to Knox.”
Tracey brushed her damp hair away from her forehead. “Good, that means they’re on the other side of the fire.”
“How would you know?” The fire was getting closer now but Granny was speaking with Lucas on the other side of the porch. She looked like she had a plan. I hoped she had a plan.
“She was going to visit her mother this morning. She’s been there all day with Knox. He sent me some stupid text message about how hot Jade’s mom was.” Tracey held up her phone and showed the texts between them. It wasn’t a time to laugh but I couldn’t help it. She had sent him middle finger emojis to every single message he sent her.
“He hasn’t had much chill lately, has he?” I pushed her phone away. I had seen enough.