by G. K. DeRosa
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and dragged her to a quiet corner, away from the clatter of the marketplace. Huddled in a small nook outside the town library, I urged her to continue. “What happened?”
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and drew in a breath. “Wolves came for him. Four or five of them. I only saw them running away. I found your dad at the edge of the forest, only a few yards from our backyard. I tried to call for help, but it was too late.”
Hot tears pricked at my eyes. I blinked quickly to keep them at bay, steeling my emotions. I needed to hear this.
Another tremor shook Mom’s shoulders, her petite frame suddenly frail in my arms. “At least I was with him in the end. He made me swear to keep you out of this. You were so little, not even three years old, and I had to protect you.” Her eyes scanned the empty passageway, the sounds of the busy marketplace garbled in the distance. “I panicked when you told me you’d shifted. I wanted to come and take you away, far, far away from here. But when you told me how happy you were in Moon Valley, I couldn’t. I’d kept you from this your entire life, and I thought maybe we’d been wrong.”
Or maybe they’d been right. Did my attack have something to do with my dad?
“But then when those wolves came for me, I knew we’d been right to keep you hidden. Which is why I’m here, Sierra. I’m getting you out of here.”
Chapter Thirty
Mom sipped on a glass of water, her eyes gone to that faraway place. I watched her from the kitchen as her words ran on a loop in my head. My dad wasn’t just dead. He’d been murdered. Had it been wolves from his own pack intent on revenge or someone else? And why were they after Mom and me now?
None of this made sense. Hunter’s note, still hung on the fridge, caught my eye. Why had I kept it there? Because I was hopeless. Even now, I considered telling him everything my mom had just confessed. If not him, maybe Vander. There was only one thing I had to find out first.
I crept toward my mom, trying not to startle her. She hadn’t stopped crying since we’d returned to my apartment. As we walked through town, her eyes would light up at the hills, the towering evergreens, even the university had her face twisting with emotion. Then the inevitable sadness would come, as if she remembered where—no, when—she was.
Folding onto the couch, I squeezed her shoulder. “I’m sorry for making you relive this pain, Mom, but I needed to know the truth.”
“I’m so sorry, Sierra. I know I should’ve told you long ago. I just couldn’t.” She leaned back and rested her head on my shoulder.
“It’s okay, I finally get it.” I lay my head against hers and again her familiar scent was missing. I inhaled deeply and even with my enhanced wolfish senses, I smelled nothing. Except… an unmistakable charred, smoky odor. Magic.
I jerked up, and Mom’s head lolled back. “Geez, Sierra,” she grumbled.
“Mom, I thought you didn’t have magic.”
“Huh?” She straightened and dragged a hand through her hair. “I don’t.”
I sniffed the air again. I’d learned a thing or two after four years at the academy. “There’s a cloak on you. I can sense it. Why?”
She fidgeted in her seat, her eyes focusing anywhere but on mine.
“Mom!”
“Fine. I went to see Gram before I came. She wrapped me in a cloaking spell so no one would be able to track me.”
“Why? Because of Dad?”
She nodded. “I told her what happened with the wolves and that I was coming to get you. It was for our protection.” She grabbed her purse and pulled out a small vial filled with a dark amber liquid. “I have some for you too. Once we leave Moon Valley, no one will ever find us.”
Steel bands laced around my chest, stealing my breath. I couldn’t leave. It was ridiculous and I knew it. Someone was obviously coming after me and my family, and yet, the idea of leaving this place tore me up inside. I told myself it wasn’t only because of Hunter. Maybe it was a lie, maybe it wasn’t. In my short time here, I’d felt at home. Like nowhere I had before.
“Mom, I can’t go. Not without finding out the truth. I have a friend in the SIA, Vander. He’s been trying to track down the wolves that attacked me. And Hunter—”
My mom’s eyes widened. “Hunter from the academy?”
“Yes, and no. It’s a long story, but as it turns out Aristaeus, the son of the supreme alpha of the Shifter Pack is my Hunter.”
Mom paled, her mouth curving into a capital O. “No…”
“What do you mean no?”
“The Dragos Pack slaughtered your father’s pack—your pack, Sierra. Under the unrelenting fist of Tyrien Silverstalker.”
My heart jackhammered against my chest, beads of sweat snaking down my spine. “What are you talking about?”
“Mystic Pack is extinct because of your supreme alpha.”
A rock plummeted to the bottom of my gut, and my thoughts spun back to my lesson about the Lunar Packs. Mystic wolves were gifted with magical powers. Hunter said they’d been extinct for years.
Only they weren’t. Because I was the last surviving member.
Had Hunter known all along? Was that really why he’d sent Vander to protect me?
Two thundering knocks at the door sent the hair at the back of my neck rising. My body hummed, and goose bumps prickled my skin. I didn’t need to open the door to know who was on the other side of it. Only one person made my body react like that.
I turned to my mom and pressed a finger to my lips. She nodded, and we sat perfectly still. More knocks.
“Sierra, I know you’re in there,” Hunter shouted. “You can’t hide from me any more than I can hide from you.”
My mom cocked her head at me. Oh right, I hadn’t dropped the fated mates bomb yet.
“Go away,” I called back. “I don’t want to see you.”
“I just heard back from Bea. You’re going to want to hear this.”
Oh, hell, he knows.
“Who’s Bea?” my mom mouthed.
“The witch Hunter hired to figure out in which pack I belonged,” I whispered.
Mom muttered a curse. “No one was supposed to be able to find out. Gram assured me.” Her brows knitted, and she drummed her fingers on the couch. “Maybe we should let him in to find out what he knows.”
“Please, let me in, Sierra.” Hunter’s beta powers pressed against me, and my she-wolf flared to life. Invisible bands wrapped around my torso until I could barely suck in a breath. “Let me in,” he growled.
My she-wolf pushed against him, her claws grating against my insides. A feral growl vibrated my throat and the overwhelming tightness around my chest relented. Take that, alpha dick.
“Please, Sierra, we need to talk. It’s important.” The jagged edge to his voice stirred something inside me. I sprung up before I could stop myself, my legs carrying me to the door.
“Sierra!” my mom hissed, but it was too late, I was already turning the knob.
Hunter barreled inside and nearly knocked me off my feet. I hit the kitchen counter and stared up at him. His hands cradled my cheeks, and those golden eyes locked on mine. “Thank the gods you’re okay,” he whispered. “I felt something…” The rough pad of his thumb grazed my skin, and tiny shocks of electricity lit up my flesh.
“Of course I’m okay,” I forced out between ragged spurts and attempted to wriggle free of his hold, but it only tightened. Dammit, I hated how much his touch affected me. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Bea confirmed you’re Mystic Pack.”
“Yeah, Mom just let the wolf out of the bag.” I hitched my thumb toward the couch.
He finally released me and spun toward her. I hadn’t even noticed she’d moved from the living room.
“Oh, my goddess, Sierra, please don’t tell me it’s true.” Her panicked eyes bounced from me to Hunter and back. “You’re mated to Tyrien’s son?” she squealed.
I folded my arms across my chest and squeezed. I didn’t need to relive this righ
t now. “Not for long,” I muttered.
She staggered back, hitting the refrigerator and Hunter’s note slid to the floor. “This cannot be happening.”
“No kidding. Fate really is a bitch.” I turned to my future ex-mate and scowled. Now that his hands were off me, I could think more clearly. “Did you know about me all along?”
He shook his head. “No, I had no idea.”
“Then why send Vander?”
Hunter’s lips pursed, his dark brows slamming together and jaw turning to stone. The big beta really was scary AF when he wasn’t making googly eyes at me.
“Don’t you dare get mad at him for telling me the truth. Someone had to.”
“Then I’m sure he explained I sent him to protect my future mate. In case you hadn’t noticed, competition is pretty fierce amongst the packs. If anyone had discovered who you were to me, they could have used you, or worse.”
A flash went off in my muddled mind. “That was why you never came except for once a year. You were worried someone would figure out who I was to you?”
His lips pressed into a grim line.
I didn’t think I’d ever understand Aristaeus. Hunter I knew, but the protective, surly beta was a mystery to me. If he cared about me that much, how could he want to break the bond?
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” my mom interjected. “I’m taking Sierra away from here.” She turned to Hunter, her soft blue eyes hardened to steel. “And if you care about your mate like you claim to, you’ll keep her secret.”
“You can’t—” The words popped out of his mouth before he gritted his jaw shut.
“Why can’t she, Aristaeus?” I glared up at him, at my mate, the man who I’d been in love with for years and who’d repeatedly broken my heart.
His gaze cast down to the floor before he muttered, “I have to sever the bond first.”
I buckled forward, my fingers clenching the kitchen counter to keep from collapsing. How could he look at me like I was everything one moment and then insist on breaking our mate bond the next?
“I’m sorry, Sierra, but nothing has changed. We still cannot be together. Even more so now that your pack has been confirmed. I wanted you to hear the truth from me in person, but I must still—do what I planned.”
I waited for the pain, for the anger to consume me. Instead, I felt nothing. I was numb. With the revelation of my father and our extinct pack and now Hunter, I just couldn’t. Ice coated my veins, robbing me of all sensations. Spinning toward my room, I staggered toward it. With a sharp slam of the door, I closed myself off from Hunter forever.
Chapter Thirty-One
“I’m not going with you, Mom. I don’t know how many more times I can say it.” I jerked the comforter over my head as she tugged on the opposite end. “Let go!”
“Sierra, I am not leaving you here unprotected. Your dad gave up his life for you, to keep you safe. You are the last Mystic wolf in the entire supernatural world.”
“So? What does that mean anyway? Why were we hunted to extinction?” I drew the comforter back and glared at her. “There are still so many unanswered questions and if I leave now, I’ll never discover the truth.”
“It’s not unanswered. I’ll tell you exactly why. Mystic wolves are too powerful. The instincts of an apex predator coupled with strong, dark magic incited fear and distrust. From what your father told me, a few of his packmates went crazy with the power. The other Lunar packs believed they were doing what was right for all shifters by eliminating them.”
I gulped.
“But they weren’t all bad. It was a few rotten ones in the bunch and the others didn’t deserve to be slaughtered. Your father did not deserve it.”
After a day of numbness, anger unfurled filling the empty void inside. The rage surged through my veins, replacing the grief, the feeling of helplessness. I was a wolf without a pack, a pack I’d been robbed of and desperately needed. A lost soul as Vander had put it. No pack, no mate. Nothing. “Then I’m staying to avenge his death. I’ll make Tyrien Silverstalker pay for what he did to Dad, to the Mystics.” It was the only thing I had left.
“Sierra, you can’t.” Her head whipped back and forth. “You have no idea what that man is capable of. I only met your grandfather once, and he was the most terrifying male I’d ever encountered. Your dad told me that Tyrien made him look like a kitten.”
I didn’t care. The rage felt good, it gave me a sense of purpose after floundering for weeks. We can take him. My she-wolf’s voice echoed through my mind. It was the first time she’d spoken to me. I’d always felt her presence, but her thoughts had never been so clear. I took it as a sign. “I can take care of myself, Mom. I have been for years.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and she folded onto the mattress and gripped my hands. “Honey, they murdered your father, a grown man with access to his full powers. He was strong, second to only his father. You wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“So I’ll stay hidden until my powers kick in.”
Mom arched a skeptical brow. “But Hunter—”
“Hunter won’t tell anyone.”
“How can you be sure?”
Because in his effed up way I knew he cared about me. But what if that changed when he succeeded in breaking the mate bond? I shook off the depressing thought as my chest began to cave. I’d figure that out when the time came. “I just am, Mom. I trust him.” My mind swam back to our few conversations about his father. He was clearly not a fan.
“Oh, Sierra, I don’t know.” She pulled me into a hug and squeezed. Warm tears dripped down my shoulder. “If anything happened to you…”
“Nothing is going to happen. I’ll be fine. Cass will be here to keep an eye on me too; she’s arriving tonight. Not to mention the Alpha Trials are coming up and all of Moon Valley will be too caught up in that to think about anything else.” The town had been buzzing in preparation for the big event. I had yet to see the arena where most of the competitions took place because it lay on the opposite side of Irontooth Hills, just outside the valley. Ransom had offered to take me, but I’d declined. The whole thing sounded barbaric. But it would provide the perfect distraction while I honed my wolfish abilities and tried to pry out my magical ones. I swallowed down the seed of doubt growing in my gut. I’d attended magic school for four years without a tiny bit of power flaring. Why would things be any different now?
Mom sighed, and her lips pulled into a rueful smile. “Stubborn just like your dad. How about a compromise then? You check in with me every day and if you haven’t discovered who came after us by the time Hunter figures out how to break the mate bond, you’re coming home.”
“Fine.” That seemed fair enough, and she was right. The only hopes I had of discovering more meant getting Hunter’s help. As much as I hated the thought, he was my only chance. And if he succeeded in severing our connection, all hope would be lost. Plus, I was assuming Vander would no longer be on Sierra guard duty once that happened either. “Now you’re the one that needs to be careful, Mom. Why don’t you stay with Grams for a while?”
Mom’s lips puckered, and she folded her arms across her chest. “Maybe…”
I had vague memories of my grandma performing all kinds of fun party tricks when I was little. She’d make cute fuzzy animals appear in her palm, create amazing light shows, and conjure up my favorite sweets. Then when I was about ten or eleven, she stopped coming around as often and my mom barely talked about her. Whenever I brought it up, she’d refused to tell me what happened, only that there had been an argument that they couldn’t get past.
“What really happened between you and Grams?”
“I told you, honey, it was a disagreement. One that is not worth mentioning.”
“It must’ve been a hell of a fight to keep her away from us for all this time. And yet, you went to her for the cloaking potion.”
“Because I was desperate. There’s only one thing your Grams and I agree on and that’s protecting you. We simply have different ways o
f accomplishing that.”
“Well, I won’t be able to focus on my safety if I’m worried about you. Can’t you at least go see her for a little bit? You don’t have to stay forever. It’s like a compromise, you know?”
She smirked. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” She dug her elbow into my side, and I buckled over. Ticklishness was my weakness, and she knew how to exploit it ruthlessly.
When the fit of giggles finally passed, I pushed myself out of bed and walked Mom to the living room. “Thanks for coming, despite all the bad news you brought.”
She grabbed her bags from beside the couch and left them at the door. She turned to me with a sad smile and squeezed my shoulders. “I regretted keeping the truth from you every single day, but I only did it to keep you safe.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
“Your dad would be so proud of the strong woman you’ve become. And despite everything, he’d be thrilled you turned out like him. I only wish he were here to guide you.”
“Me too,” I whispered, emotion clogging my throat. With another tight hug, she released me and I went for her overnight bag. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the station. I have an early class today so I can’t be late.”
A smile lit up her blue eyes, a whirlwind of emotions lingering within the deep azure. “You really like it here, don’t you?”
“I do. In spite of everything.” I’d caught her up on all the Hunter drama last night and as much as I disliked admitting, there’d been a ton of crying. I hated how much he affected me. Maybe he was right and breaking the bond would be for the best. I detested the idea of being a slave to my emotions, and when Hunter was involved, all rational thought went right out the window.
“I’m assuming everything means Hunter in this case.”
I shrugged, and my eyes cast down to the floor. I didn’t want to start crying again, and I knew I would if I saw the pity in my mom’s face.