by Lola Gabriel
“Not at all. Learning about your family can be terrifying, and depressing, but it can also be empowering. You’ll never know until you open the file. Who knows, maybe it’s not all bad,” he said with a shrug.
“But what if it is? What if my family killed thousands of innocent people? What if they were bad people? What if they were—?”
“A bunch of power-hungry dragons who were out for everyone’s blood?” Dax raised his eyebrows.
“Dax, that’s not what I meant.”
“I know, I was just trying to make a point. Just because your family could have possibly been psychopathic killers doesn’t mean that you’re one as well. You’re too good of a person to be like that. I mean, look at what you’re doing with these kids! It’s amazing, and I admire you for that.”
“Thank you, Dax.”
“How did you get all the information on your family? It must have been pretty hard to get.”
“Lucinda has a knack for finding things, and she tracked down everything for me. It took her months to find it. It was locked up in some kind of archive in the country that I was from.”
“Which country?”
Becca shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea. I asked Lucinda, and she told me to read it. She didn’t want to tell me anything.”
“Lucinda’s a witch, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“How long have you known her?”
“Ever since I moved to Vancouver, almost ten years ago. I was looking for an apartment, and we met in a parking lot. She liked my coat.”
“She liked your coat?”
“Yeah.” Becca shrugged. “It was a pretty dope coat.”
Dax chuckled and shook his head. “I bet. And you became instant friends?”
“We just clicked for some strange reason. She’s been the one I tell everything to, the only one who understands me, and she gives really good advice,” Becca told him.
Dax was quiet and the silence gave Becca the chills.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing. It just seemed odd that she approached you like that, and that you just became friends.”
“Why is that odd?” Becca questioned.
“It just is. Where is Lucinda from?”
“From Massachusetts.”
“And her family?”
“What’s with all the questions, Dax?”
“There’s just something uneasy about her.”
“Because she’s a witch? Is that it? You’re suspicious of her because she’s a witch?”
“No, I—”
“That’s low,” Becca snarled. “Lucinda has been there for me every time I felt like I wasn’t good enough. She was a friend to me when I needed one, and she has stuck by me all these years. She has never lifted a finger towards me. How dare you think that she’s a conniving witch?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s just that she has physical traits are similar to Rhaena’s. I don’t remember what Rhaena looked like, so I am simply basing that on my mother’s descriptions. It’s just… I am wondering if it’s possible she could be a descendant from Rhaena. There are just too many coincidences. After 5,000 years, I finally meet my True Mate. My mate happens to be best friends with a witch. That witch happens to look like Rhaena.”
Becca’s eyes widened and brightened suddenly. “Do you really think that’s possible?”
“The chances of her being a descendant of Rhaena are slim,” Dax reassured her as he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. The urge to hold her for as long as possible was overwhelming, and he had been fighting it for too long. Now, as he stood holding her, her body pressed up against him, her breath in his neck, he finally felt whole. Terrified, but whole.
A sense of calm suddenly washed over Dax, and his fears seemed to evaporate with every second that passed.
Becca was right; he had his suspicions about Lucinda, just because he had only known witches to be sly and filled with ulterior motives.
It was unfair of him to suspect Lucinda wasn’t good for Becca, but he had no evidence to back it up. According to Becca, she was a good friend to her, and she had even spent months finding information about Becca’s family. Yet there was something in the back of his mind that led him to believe that Lucinda knew more than she let on, and he was going to find out exactly what it was. Of course, he didn’t want Becca to know about this, but it seemed wrong to lie to her.
A lie of omission is still a lie, Dax, he reminded himself.
His brow furrowed, confused that he had grown a conscience. He had never had any regard for anyone else’s feelings but his own, and it was terrifying to think that Becca had the power to change him the way she had without even realizing it.
“You should really stop doing that. It’s kind of creepy,” she whispered.
“I know. It’s weird for me, too. I should learn to just switch it off.”
“You can do that?”
“I guess I can try. Anything for you.”
At that moment, Becca raised her head and stared up at him, her blue-lavender eyes clearer and brighter than he had ever seen them, filled with hope and a sparkle that he had never seen before. It was like he could clearly see the future, with her in it, and it took his breath away. The feelings of intensity were so overwhelming that he had to loosen his grip and step away.
“Did you feel that, too?” Becca asked, breathless.
“I did.”
“Does it ever stop being this overwhelming?” Her voice lowered down to a whisper.
“I have no idea,” Dax confessed. “I think that it’s time to talk to my mother about this. I’ve never really been interested in this kind of thing.”
“Me neither. I mean, I often thought about having a family of my own one day, but I never actually thought that I’d feel this way about another person. Love wasn’t something on my agenda for at least another thousand years or so.”
Dax smiled slightly and nodded. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he took it out. It was Oryn. “I have to take this. Do you mind?”
“No, not at all. You’re an important guy, right?”
“Just to you,” he said with a wink and stepped away from Becca. “Hey.”
“Is this a bad time?” Oryn asked.
“No, I was just talking to Becca.”
“Is that the One?”
“Yeah. We were just—”
“I really don’t want to hear about what you were doing with her, little brother.”
“It’s not like that. We were just talking about a few issues.”
“Issues? Is everything okay?”
“Well, I can hear her thoughts, which is a new development.”
“What? You can hear everything that goes on in her mind?” Oryn sounded alarmed, but intrigued.
“Yeah. She keeps me on my toes. She thinks a lot.”
Oryn burst out laughing, and Dax pursed his lips in disapproval.
“Women, right?” his brother laughed.
“So, anyway. Is there a reason for your call? Did you find out anything?” Dax wanted to know and looked at Becca over his shoulder. She stood quietly at the other end of the room, biting her bottom lip. She seemed to have a few things on her mind, but Dax couldn’t pinpoint what she was thinking about. Her thoughts were one big blur of whispers.
“I am not sure whether this is relevant, but I found something in the old book Father used to have in his study,” Oryn said.
“How do you even have that?”
“That’s kind of irrelevant right now, don’t you think, Dax?”
“Right,” Dax grumbled. “What did you find?”
“Well, it mentions a coven which Father didn’t completely take out. They fled to the Americas in the sixteenth century. It was said that those who escaped went into hiding until the last war. They sided with the vampires who came from Transylvania, sort of like a coalition of sorts.”
“Witches and vampires hate each other,” Dax recalled.
“Not these o
nes. They interbred and formed a new species, which is equally unsettling.”
“A vampire witch,” Dax muttered.
“Most of them didn’t survive, with the whole witch hysteria which took over America during that time, but a small group of witches remained and moved west. The Franklins, and the Willows.”
“Okay. Are they still alive?”
“Only a few, but there’s no indication about where they are. There’s a map tucked in-between the pages. It looks like Father was tracking them, but I could be wrong. Their trail runs cold in the north of Texas.”
“Wow, they got pretty far.”
“I’ll say. I didn’t even know Father was in Texas.”
Dax’s brow furrowed, and his eyes sparkled. “It wasn’t Father.”
“Then who?”
“I have to go.”
“Wait. What’s going on?”
“There’s something I have to do. I’ll call you back once I find it.”
“Okay. Just be careful, okay?”
“I will,” Dax agreed and disconnected the call. He approached Becca, who looked a bit worried.
“Is everything okay?”
“That was my brother, Oryn. He found something in an old book of my dad’s. I’m not sure if it means something. It could be nothing.”
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure, but I feel unsettled somehow,” he admitted.
Becca placed her hand on his shoulder and said, “I can see that.”
“Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”
“What was your brother looking for?”
“I told him about you,” Dax said, looking at her. “I told him about our connection, and he’s happy for me. He’s also worried about the curse and that something might happen…”
“To me? He’s worried about something happening to me? He doesn’t even know me,” Becca said with a frown.
“It doesn’t matter. Once we find our True Mates, it’s not about knowing each other. It’s about the respect we have for each other’s mates. You are a part of me and have been a part of this family from the moment I laid eyes on you, and the same goes for me,” he said, and he took her hand.
“That is so sweet,” Becca smiled.
“There was something else Oryn told me, and it could be nothing, or it could be something. Do you know anyone with the last name Willow or Franklin?”
“It doesn’t ring a bell. Why?”
“Oryn just found it in the book. I just thought it meant something to you.”
“Not at all. I’m sorry.”
“Can I just ask, without you getting upset with me again,” he cringed, and Becca nodded, “how did Lucinda find the information about your family?”
Becca cleared her throat briefly. “She works with other Giften beings who work for Child Protective Services. She has a lot of contacts around the world, and she’s the one who brings the Gifted children to us. She’s one of the very few people who can do that.”
“And where did she get her authority from?”
“I don’t know. Her family? Some big-shot Gifted billionaire…” Becca’s voice trailed off, and she gasped. “You don’t think that it’s your father she’s taking orders from, do you?”
“No.” Dax shook his head. “That’s impossible. He would never employ a witch.”
What a dick, Becca thought.
“Remember, Becca, they’re not all good. Witches are—”
“Yes, okay. I get it,” she muttered. “You hate the witches as much as your father does. I understand that, but that doesn’t mean that Lucinda is evil.”
“I agree. We have no proof, so it’d be wrong to place judgement.”
Becca narrowed her eyes at him and scowled. “You’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re thinking of doing, are you?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He feigned innocence.
“Don’t you dare,” Becca warned him. “She is my friend, and she would never betray me.”
She is my only friend. Please don’t take her away from me.
Dax brought his hand up to her cheek and nodded. “I won’t.”
“Thank you.”
He lowered her hand, and he cleared his throat. “You need to read your file.”
“What?”
“You have to know what’s in there. Did Lucinda really not say anything about it?”
“No, she didn’t. She just gave it to me and said that I needed to read it.”
“She obviously knows what’s in it.”
“She said she didn’t open it.”
But you don’t believe that, Dax heard her think.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t. She knows something.”
“Or maybe she doesn’t.”
“Then why is she so insistent that you open it?”
“I don’t know! She seemed spooked, though,” Becca sighed.
“So she knows something.”
“Not necessarily. Maybe it was something else.”
“Or maybe you should stop being so naïve!” Dax exclaimed. Becca’s eyes filled with tears. Dax sighed and looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just that I learned the hard way that people aren’t always what they appear to be. I’m just being cautious. I really didn’t mean to be hurtful,” he apologized. “But you really need to open that file. We can read it together, if you want.”
“While I appreciate that sweet gesture, I think it’s something that I need to do alone. The uneasiness I feel when I look at it… it’s just so intense. But I need to just bite the bullet and do it. Right?”
“Right.” Dax nodded. “And that was why you didn’t want to open it?”
“Yeah, that, and I’m afraid of what I’ll find.”
“What is the worst thing that file could contain? Honestly.”
Becca took a deep breath and her gaze shifted over Dax’s shoulder. “That my father didn’t love my mother, that he beat her, that he beat me. That he didn’t want me. I don’t know, but whatever is in that file makes me feel like a dark cloud is hanging over me. I am filled with this suffocating dread every time I see it.”
“You need to know the secrets to your past. What if that file holds the key to your future?”
“I’m not ready, Dax. I think you should go,” she mumbled.
“Okay,” Dax said quietly. “I certainly never want to feel like I am pressuring you to do something you don’t want to do.”
Although he was reluctant to leave Becca there, he forced himself to. It seemed like she really needed her space at the moment. As he left the shelter, he realized that maybe it was better for him to stay away from her after all. At least for the time being.
6
Becca stared blankly at herself in the bathroom mirror. Despite her reflection seeming calm and collected, there was a quick-growing turmoil rising up inside her. It was paired with a nauseated feeling, mixed with a little bit of dread as well.
She had not considered her overly emotional and edgy state as being out of character or strange for her. A lot had happened the past few weeks, and it was enough to send any normal person into a state of emotional disarray.
Becca took a deep breath and counted in her head. It had been over two minutes, and she scraped her courage together and glanced down.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she noticed the two blue lines appear before her eyes, and she gasped loudly. Never in her life had she thought she would feel as terrified as she did in that very moment.
She was pregnant. And Dax was the father.
A million questions suddenly popped up inside her mind. Would she be able to do this? What would Dax have to say about this? Would he be happy? What if he wouldn’t be? What if he left? Or worse? What if he was not ready to have a baby? Was she ready to have a baby? Should she tell him? He did have a right to know.
Worry started to fill up inside her, and Becca wasn’t so sure whether she wanted Dax to know about
the baby. She didn’t want her child—their child—to grow up the way he had, thinking that he was indestructible and untouchable. She wanted her child to be raised in kindness and love, not the materialistic world Dax was used to. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted Dax to be in the child’s life, because Dax wasn’t exactly the kind of man who would know how to raise one.
Fuck, I don’t even know how to raise a child, she thought. All she knew was that she had to tell someone; someone she could trust completely, and there was only one person who fit that description.
Still, she could not stop thinking about Dax, and whether or not she should tell him. He had every right to know—it was his child, after all—but Becca was not convinced. It took much more than being a child’s biological father to be a dad, and between Dax’s reckless behavior and the fact that there was a chance that he might hurt her, albeit unintentionally, she couldn’t tell him.
The only thing she could do was disappear. Leave Vancouver, change her name, and start over. For her child.
For her.
It wouldn’t be easy, as merely thinking about it caused her heart to ache in her narrow chest, but she had to do it. She wanted Dax, with all her heart and all her being, but she couldn’t just think of herself any longer. She had to do what was best for her unborn child.
Becca left the bathroom, the pregnancy test still laying in the bathroom sink, and grabbed her phone from the coffee table in the living area. She dialed Lucinda’s number and waited for her to answer.
“Hey, Becca.”
Becca hesitated before saying, “Hey,” in a hoarse voice.
Lucinda immediately picked up that something was amiss. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just freaking out a little bit, and I really need to talk to you. Are you busy right now?” Becca stammered.
“No, I can come right over. Are you at home?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a bit.”
“Thank you, Luce.”
The call disconnected, and Becca lowered her phone. There were two texts from Dax. He apologized for the way their conversation ended at the shelter, and he wanted to see her. She didn’t have the mental strength to talk to him right now. First, she had to talk to Lucinda.