by K. C. Hamby
Bro definitely needs to be told his shirts are three sizes too small.
Angus is smiling at me in a way that makes the hackles of my wolf stand up straight. It’s a predator’s sneer, all his teeth showing. His eyes flash, but it’s different than a normal Lupi. This reminds me of lightning zapping across a sinister, storm-covered sky.
Something is off.
Ashy, get out of there! Now!
The demand puts me more on edge. Eddie can feel it too, then. Was Angus watching me watch Raven? And how did he see me? I’m damn good at blending, especially now that I’m Predestined. There is no way in hell…
“What are you doing following Raven?” Angus asks, but his voice is casual. Like we are friends. Like we are standing at a bar sharing drinks and talking about sports.
Ash. Please, Eddie begs.
“Seeing what the fuck she’s doing, dude. And it’s not good.”
He regards me cooly, shoving his hands in his pockets. A smirk touches his lips. “There is a lot of bad shit going on around here, it seems.”
Yeah, no shit, I grumble to myself.
“Yeah, man. Like I said, Raven is up to no good. You sure you want your girlfriend getting drugs by fucking Poachers?”
Angus laughs, but goddess, there is nothing but malice in the sound. “Girlfriend. Like I would want something like that as a girlfriend. She’s a piece of ass, only good for things I need. I’m not a fucking idiot and I don’t give a shit what she does.”
And I realize his accent…is not Scottish at all.
Ash. For fuck’s sake. Please get out of there. Come home.
“What I do care about is what you’re doing following her. You’re not exactly innocent in this, are you dog?”
I bristle. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t done shit except try to protect Lupi. And who the fuck are you calling a dog?”
His eyes flash bright blue and his fist moves so fast, I don’t have time to dodge.
I’m out like a light before I hit the ground.
Chapter 49
Edelina
“Goddammit!”
I’m thrown out of Ash’s mind and completely closed out.
Protect our Mate, my wolf screams, pushing me to act now.
I grab my machete and haul ass to the dock. I wish I could fucking fly. This is going to take too long, and I must get to Ash before Angus does something worse than knock him out.
I push at Ash’s mind, but it’s nothing but fog.
I jump the railing and land on the speed boat we use for emergency situations, opening my mouth to tell the ferry driver to get his ass over here and step on it before I hotwire the boat myself.
But I stop when I notice someone lying in the middle of the ferry deck from across the dock. It’s a large silhouette, barely moving.
“Ashy?” I ask, but my voice cracks.
I recognize the groan of pain and throw myself out of the boat and sprint to his side on the ferry. He’s on his stomach, cheek pressed to the floor. Blood stains the wood beneath him.
“Mo chridhe, are you okay? Talk to me, please,” I beg with shaking hands and roll him onto his back. His face is black and blue, and blood is running out of his nose.
I search the bond and find I can sense him again. My heart slows its rapid beating.
“What…goddess, my head,” he whines and places his head in my lap.
My breathing slows only a little. I want to go mad and tear across the world at the sight of my hurt Mannie.
Angus will fucking pay for this.
My hands rest on Ash’s bruised cheeks and I push my energy through him, healing every broken bone and bruise. There…are a lot.
Ribs, cheekbones, a shin, bones in his arms and fingers, the thin bones around his eyes…
How did Angus have enough time to hurt Ash this badly and get him to the ferry on Olympia almost immediately after I was kicked out of his mind?
“What happened?” I whisper and rub my thumbs over Ash’s cheeks, now without bruises thanks to the bond.
“I…” he furrows his brows and searches the night sky above us for answers. “I don’t know. I remember calling the Voίtheia about my target and then…I wake up right here hurting all over like I got fucking trampled by a pack of elephants.”
I blink and raise a brow. “You dinnae remember anythin’ between that?”
“No. Nothing at all.”
My body shakes, anger burning through me. Angus hurt my Mate and somehow took away his memories? That bastard will burn.
“Open your mind. I’ll show you what happened, mo chridhe.”
I replay everything I saw through Ash’s eyes. Every word, every scene…everything. He stiffens in my lap at the fist flying at him in the memory. He pulls out quickly and watches me with wide eyes.
Ash jiggles his phone from his pants pocket, but the screen is cracked. It still turns on, though, so he thumbs through the pictures…
“Goddammit. They aren’t here. My proof is fucking gone.” He yells his frustration to the sky and a small tear slips down the side of his face. “How is this possible? How could Angus have…?”
I don’t understand it either, but horrible foreboding dances in my stomach.
“I dinnae ken, but I have a feelin’ the answer isnae gonnae be good.”
Chapter 50
Nina
I wrestle with the blankets and reach my hand over to grab Fal.
I hit nothing but cold, empty sheets.
She’s gone.
I sit up quickly, eyes searching the room for her, but she’s not here. She must have had to go get someone’s soul.
A chill runs down my spine.
I squint at the digital clock on my nightstand and groan. It’s three in the dang morning. And I’m wide awake.
But there is a gnawing in the back of my head, telling me I need to do something. Maybe the feeling is what woke me.
But what does it mean?
Prophetess, is whispered in my head.
I freeze, biting the inside of my cheek.
……Yes?
Come to the clearing behind your father’s house. I have something to show you.
Hecate. Of course.
I throw on a unicorn pajama shirt, pants, and fluffy slippers, stumbling out of the back-porch door with the grace of a brand-new giraffe baby. The sleep is barely out of my eyes and I’m surprised I haven’t fallen right on my butt as I clump down the stairs and onto the grass. I push through bushes while braiding my hair down my back and weave away from thorns.
“It would be nice if she could call in advance or something,” I grumble under my breath and hear the goddess chuckle in my head.
I push into the clearing. Naturally, it’s empty. She must make a grand entrance.
“Now, Nina,” I hear from behind me and twirl around. “Of course, I must make a grand entrance. I am a goddess, after all.”
“Oh, hi Hecate,” I mumble, looking at the ground while kicking at the rocks.
Her light gray eyes hauntingly fall on my face when I look up at her. She’s radiant, as usual, crown of horns rising from her raven hair and triple moon mark across her forehead. She walks over to me and places a cold hand on my cheek, lips of mauve smiling lovingly.
“Thank you for coming to meet me.”
“Is this about the vision?” I ask, stepping a little closer. “Did you figure it out?”
Hecate’s pouty lips turn down in a frown and she drops her hand. “Not quite yet. Concealment magick is tricky. I must unravel it carefully as if it is a woven tapestry.” She moves her fingers as if she is tugging on a piece of string. “If I am too fast or too rough, part of it may snap. It could forever alter the vision and I will never be able to unveil the secrets hidden within.”
I sigh dramatically. That’s not the answer I wanted.
“Then why are you needing me?” I groan, hoping to all hell this isn’t something else going wrong in the world.
“There is someone I wa
nt you to meet, dear Nina.”
What? She wants to introduce me to someone in the middle of the night?
Why can’t this wait?
“Um, okay…?” I gesture for her to get on with it when she deigns to say nothing else.
“Have you ever wondered how you came to be a part of the Lupi world without being Lupi yourself?”
“I mean, yeah, I guess.” As if this couldn’t get more confusing. “Like why me?”
“Because of your mother.”
I choke on my breath and take a step back from Hecate. This is the third time my mother has come up today. There is only so much of the idea of her I can handle. “What of her? As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a mother.”
Hecate’s gaze is full of deep sorrow and she nods at me. “I would love to have you understand, but it is not my place. Instead, I would like for her to tell you,” she says and turns around to look behind her.
“Excuse me?” I snap. “Her, who?”
I’m about to demand more information other than this cryptic mess, but a bright white light flashes behind Hecate and a woman steps out.
When my vision clears, I see she’s…gorgeous. Pale skin and white hair, eyes of frost blue. There is a golden crescent in the middle of her forehead and braids in her hair. She walks slowly, with the grace of a goddess, and stops when she is by Hecate.
“Who…?” I try, but I choke on my words at the familiarity in the woman’s eyes; the longing there is painfully like what I have felt my whole life.
“Nina, this is my sister, Selene. She is the goddess of the moon,” Hecate announces.
“Yeah, I got the goddess part all right,” I grumble, still majorly confused as I cross my arms over my chest.
“She is the goddess of the moon,” Hecate pauses, “And your mother.”
Chapter 51
Nina
The beautiful woman smiles prettily at me while I struggle to breathe.
There is no way in hell…no way in hell this woman is my mother.
“I…I...” I stutter on my words. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. My hands flex at my sides; they don’t know what to do either.
Dammit, I wish Fal were here. She’d say something for sure.
This is all too much. It was sprung on me without my permission. In the middle of the night.
…I…but…why…my mother?
“Nina, I know you must have questions for me,” Selene murmurs, and her voice is soft like the moonlight as she takes a step in my direction.
This brings me back to life.
“Yeah, I do!” I stomp toward her, anger sparking through me. I’m so pissed I could…I could spit. Like a freaking cat. “Why the hell did you leave me and Daddy? He loved you! I bet he still does because I know damn well he still has a box full of love notes and faded pictures of you.”
She flinches and retreats a step, her hands held up in submission in front of her. “I can explain everything, Nina. Just…” she starts, but a dark cloud appears between us, cutting her from my view.
Fal steps out, dragging thick shadows behind her. The ground shakes beneath her feet.
Death has arrived.
“Who are you and why are you upsetting my Mate?” she growls low and menacing. Her fingers are claws at her sides and she takes a warning step toward Selene. Darkness pulses around her like it’s a living entity, voluntary slaves of the Death goddess.
Selene’s face flashes with fear and she takes a stumbled step backward.
“Fal,” I whisper, and she turns to me, right eye instantly cloudy and blood dotting and dripping down her face. “This….is my mother.”
She jerks her head back to Selene and back to me after she gives a soul-shattering once-over. Her brows raise in a question when her eyes fall to me.
Are you okay? She asks in my mind when she makes the connection.
Yeah. No. I don’t know.
Her body relaxes and she walks over, wrapping me in her arms. The shadows that were dark and scary a second ago embrace me warmly like a blanket of dark clouds. I want to relax into Fal’s chest, but…I mean…this isn’t exactly a relaxing situation even when her healing touch pumps through my body.
“You should explain why you decided not to have a goddamn thing to do with Nina and you should do it right now,” Fal demands, voice smooth as rocks and packed with divine power as she gives Selene her famous glare.
Selene’s eyes widen and they shift to Hecate. Hecate has a sly smile on her lips, an unspoken answer, I guess, because Selene nods and gazes back to me.
“When I was young and pulling the moon across the sky, I found a man. He was a shepherd, lying in the grass with his sheep. He was sleeping and he was…so beautiful.” She swallows, eyes glazed as if she’s in the memory, reliving it. “I would visit him every night, tell him of my travels and he would whisper sweet nothings in my ear. I fell in love with him. His name was Endymion.”
“I know this story,” I interrupt with a groan and roll of my eyes. I learned about the Greek mythology and all the gods and goddesses along with their origin stories in college.
Didn’t realize the class would come in so handy now.
“Then you know I became pregnant, and Zeus found out. He killed my baby in the womb and sentenced Endymion to a life of slumber.”
I nod.
“Well, thousands of years passed, and I never loved again. Until your father.” She smiles, looking at the ground like it makes her happy or something to talk about my daddy. “Charlie was an amazing man. I saw him at the farmer’s market in a small town not far from where you were born. The produce there was so rich, I came as much as I could to snag some for myself. Charlie and I started talking about the different types of tomatoes…”
“He does have a strong opinion about which ones are best for certain dishes,” I grumble, shuffling my feet.
She giggles beneath her breath. “We chatted and agreed to meet once more. It turned into many more until we barely spent time apart. He is an amazing man, Nina.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” I snap. “I was here with him.”
She blows out a quaking breath, like she’s irritated with me but knows she has no right to be.
“Right, well. Your father and I fell in love and soon, I was pregnant, belly swollen, with you.” She wrings her fingers together, picking at her fingernails before locking her eyes back on me. “I was terrified of Zeus finding you and Charlie. I did not want the same thing to happen as it did before. I loved you both very much even though I hadn’t yet met you.”
“So, I,” Hecate speaks up, pale hand gesturing to herself, “created a glamour for the pregnancy that would hide her from Zeus throughout the nine-month term. And once you were born, I changed your hair and your eyes. I didn’t want you looking like the spitting image of your mother, for Zeus would surely find you.”
“And that’s why I left, Nina,” Selene murmurs. “I was trying to protect you. If I had stayed, he would have found you and Charlie. He would have killed you both.” She shutters, swallowing a cry. “He would have taken you both away from me.”
Fal’s arm tightens around my waist and I breathe hard.
“It is also why you have a Mate,” Hecate adds. “As your aunt, I wanted to protect you as well and wove your souls together. Falen was going to be that protection, that love for you. I knew she would be powerful and mighty, halting Death in its path if it ever came for you.”
My blood heats at these words. I won’t even get started on the betrayal I feel toward Hecate for knowing this and never telling me.
But protection? Oh, I needed protection far before I met Fal. I needed love. I needed a mother. I push out of Fal’s arms and march to Selene, wagging my finger the whole way.
“Where were you?” I scream. “Where were you when Daniel was doing those horrible things to me? Did you even care? Did it hurt you as much as it hurt me when I would call for my mama and no one came?” My sorrow pours down my cheeks in an angry
flood. “I called out for you and you didn’t come hold me like a mother should. You didn’t protect me. You didn’t help me. I wanted to die. I tried to die!” I shove the scars forever marked down my wrists toward her and she flinches backwards, genuine shock covering her face. “I didn’t even know you and I needed you to be there and help me through the worst part of my life. And you. Weren’t. There!” I’m sobbing now, rage making me shake with energy wildly popping all around us.
“Oh, Nina,” she cries and lowers herself to the ground to lock those crystalline eyes with mine. The same eyes I now have.
I didn’t even realize I had fallen to my knees.
“I’m so sorry. I have no excuse. None. I thought I was protecting you by staying away. I had no idea of the horrors you endured.”
“Would you have even come if you did?” I whisper, dropping my face into my hands so I don’t have to see the answer that would be clearly written across her face.
“Nina, I would have moved the entire Earth to help you.” Her warm, soft hands pull mine from my cheeks. “If I had known of this trauma you speak of, I would have been there, Zeus be damned. But I was terrified to even check up on you for fear Zeus would somehow notice my attention on you.”
Her breaths are soft on my face like the light of the moon. She smells like lavender and starlight somehow. As if the stars are ground up and embedded in her skin.
“I had no idea, my love. I promise you.” One of her hands brushes across my forehead, pushing loose hairs away from my eyes.
Hair that looks exactly like hers.
“I would have given up my life for you. I was just terrified you would have to give yours up for me. I couldn’t bear the thought of a world without my daughter in it. I’m so sorry, Nina.”
I’m at least calm enough not to have extremely snotty tears, but Fal hands me a tissue anyway. I dab at my damp eyes and blow my nose, buying a little time before I have to acknowledge Selene’s apology.
“You’re going to have to do a hell of a lot better than an apology to even start making it up to me,” I sniffle and Fal’s strong arms hug me from behind. It comforts me as it always has. “If you even can. If I even let you.”