Kenna
I knew something was up with Sydney several months ago when he sat in my sitting room looking so stern and withdrawn after our battle with Gabriel.
Now, I see why he was acting that way. Now, I finally understand.
He’s standing next to Sarah’s bedside holding his son. I almost can’t believe it, but I always knew the Goddess was going to bless Sydney with all the riches he tried to avoid.
A radiantly beautiful mate. A perfect, golden child. A boy. His heir. Healthy and strong.
The image of them together as I walk into the room is flawless. But there’s a crack in the perfect picture. I can see it in Sarah’s violet eyes–such a strange color. I can see it written all over Sydney’s face as he places a protective hand on Sarah’s shoulders.
They’re afraid of what comes next.
Sasha. I remind myself her name is Sasha. This woman is Atticus’s daughter. The niece of Petra. The cousin of Gabriel.
She’s the granddaughter of Kane.
My heart sinks as I come to a stop in the center of the room. Evander slides a chair in my direction, and I sit down, throwing a grateful smile at my mate. He knows I’m sore and tired, but I’m nearing the end of my pregnancy. Just another month or so to go, but I have a feeling our son is going to be late.
Sarah watches me with a predatory gleam in her eyes. I can almost taste her unusual power now that she’s awake. At first, when she was completely subdued by her lack of power, it was just a glimmer of magic on her skin. It was something I could feel but couldn’t make sense of.
Now, I can taste it. Her power radiates off her like nothing I’ve experienced before.
“You are not a witch,” I say by way of greeting.
To my surprise, one corner of her mouth ticks into what could be a smile. “No, I am not.”
I run my hands down the curve of my belly and rest them in what's left of my lap. I’ve been an Alpha for several months now. Watching my parents go from feral, ill-mannered renegades to powerful, respected rulers over the course of my life has taught me a thing or two about how to negotiate and break bad news.
But this is family. I’m not talking to some random pack member. I’m talking to the woman Sydney is falling in love with. His mate.
“Do you want to be called Sarah or Sasha?” I ask.
Sydney heaves a breath. She glances up at him, and he squeezes her shoulder. I wonder if they’ve discussed this, but based on their expression, I doubt it.
“Sarah.”
I nod, smiling softly at her. “Do you remember your father at all?”
“I have pieces of memories of him. We were separated long before he helped me leave Eastonia.”
Evander, standing at my side with his hand resting on the chair’s backrest, nods. “As was common in the Draven Coven. Children being separated from parents–”
“Yes.” Sarah cuts in but tilts her head to the side, “The girls, mostly. He wanted the boys strong and healthy, so they stayed with their mothers longer–to nurse. Girls were taken right away in most cases, to keep them small, easy to break.”
Codependent, submissive, scared. I can see the unsaid words on her tongue.
“My father hid us, but when I was five, Gabriel’s overseer, Morticus, found my mother and killed her. He took me back to Gabriel, and my father was forced to rejoin his ranks to keep me safe.”
“Is that what you know or what you were told?” Evander holds her gaze.
“It was what I was told,” she says, almost shyly.
I watch Sydney’s fingers tighten on her shoulder in support.
We can’t push her too far, not today. Coming out of a power induced coma is a serious thing. It could be days, maybe even weeks, before she’s at her full strength again, both mentally and physically.
I look at Sydney. He knows this. I told him to take things slow with her, to be gentle with not only his touch but his words. But he has to be holding some of the anger I know he has buried deep, deep down. Anger at Sarah, anger at the situation his mate is in, anger at how she was treated as a child, left alone in the world.
It’s a lot. I feel it as if it’s my own burden weighing heavy on my shoulders.
“You don’t have powers like Petra or Atticus,” I say after what feels like several minutes of silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
“No, I don’t.”
I meet her eyes, watching as they shift from a bright violet to a dark amethyst. Interesting.
“Do you know what you are?” I ask, and to my shock, she nods.
Even Sydney stiffens, taken by surprise.
“Are you a mystic?”
“Yes,” she whispers, and silence eats away at the room around us while I ponder what exactly this means. But she continues, “But there’s something about me that’s different. I’ve never understood it, and I’ve never had the chance to learn what my powers can do outside of what I deem necessary.” She winces; so does Sydney.
She wiped his memory of her. How is that possible?
I chew my lip and look at Evander, his green eyes fixed on Sarah as she slowly reaches up and finds Sydney’s fingers, covering his hand with her own.
“Gabriel has plans for me, plans he can’t enact until I turn twenty-one and come into my full powers as both a wolf and a mystic.”
“I didn’t know anyone could be both–”
“They can’t,” she says, and her eyes shift back to pale violet. “Like I said, I’m different. I knew about the mystics from when I was young because Gabriel’s cronies, his overlords who were preparing him to overthrow your parents when he came of age, were trying to trap one, but it was impossible. They share a mind, you know.”
“I’m aware.” I’m feeling suddenly nervous. I try not to fidget while Sarah straightens up a bit, and Sydney lowers Blake into her waiting arms.
“Do you know what he wants you for?”
I shouldn’t have asked. I can sense it the moment the words leave my lips. Sarah pales, her eyes going glossy as she clutches her sleeping son to her chest.
Sydney’s expression twists into something cold and dangerous. “That’s enough. We’re done for now.”
“I have nothing else I can tell you,” Sarah says tearfully. “I’m sorry. I was ten when I was brought here.”
Evander helps me rise. “I understand. We’re just trying to help, to figure out a way to… to make this possible.” I wave a hand between Sydney and Sarah.
Cosette enters the room in a hurry, huffing as she says, “Alpha Sydney, Alpha Ryan called again. His packmate is desperate for news about Sarah.”
I turn to Sydney, confused. “Did you tell Ryan yet?”
“No,” Sydney says as he ushers us out of the room, leaving Cosette with Sarah and the baby. He shuts the door to the bedroom, and I follow him and Evander downstairs, to the formal sitting room. “Ryan doesn’t know, but I told him she’s been sick, and it might be contagious because I’ve also been ill. It’s a lie, but it was all I could say until I knew for sure what we’re dealing with. But her friend, Hadley, has been calling the house incessantly.”
Evander sits in one of the armchairs near the hearth while I take the couch. Sydney, however, paces back and forth, his hands tucked behind his back. “What does this mean?”
“Sarah being a mystic? Nothing, likely. We won’t know until we know what kind of relic Gabriel has, and it’s obvious to me she was young enough when she escaped him that the details are lost on her.”
“Then none of this matters,” Sydney says with finality. “Her powers don’t matter.”
“As long as she stays out of Gabriel’s hands.” Evander leans his head back against the chair. “The Ghosts are still operational and looking for Gabriel. It’s only a matter of time until he’s found.”
“And then what? He’ll be held accountable for his crimes against the Allied Kingdoms?”
“Of course,” I tell Sydney, but he looks angry. Exhausted. Worn thin.
“What about my mate?” he growls. “What justice does she get?”
I understand now.
I rise, my back cracking. I wince, blowing out my breath, but fix Sydney with a look. “I’m going to give you a piece of advice, and you’re going to hate it, but I need you to listen to me carefully. Tell our family about Sarah. The whole truth.”
“I can’t do that.”
He’s going to hate what I’m going to say next even worse, but I press on. “She belongs in Eastonia, Sydney. She doesn’t know her powers. She had no one to train her. She’s lucky she didn’t scramble your brain–”
“I’m not separating her from Blake.”
“Blake can come, and it wouldn’t have to be forever–”
“Your father will treat her like a prisoner–”
“You don’t know that. You can’t know for sure how our parents will react. Sarah was a child. She’s not involved in his schemes. She’s just a piece of the puzzle, Sydney. But she deserves to understand what she is. She needs to be with the other mystics.”
“No,” Sydney says flatly and attempts to leave the room, but Evander stands.
“I agree with Sydney,” he tells me quietly.
I frown at him. “What? Why?”
“She can’t go back to Eastonia. Her life is here. She should remain Sarah, not Sasha. She seems to have enough control over her powers to keep them at bay unless she needs them. Training them would only make her more useful to Gabriel if he were to get his hands on her.”
Okay, that is a good point. But–
“Do you know this Hadley woman you mentioned?” he asks Sydney.
“Barely. She’s part of Ryan’s pack. I’ve wondered if he….Never mind.”
“Well, I recommend Sarah stays here for the time being. No guests. No visitors. No friends. Not until we know more about Gabriel’s plans.”
Sydney nods, but I’m seeing red. “You want her to stay locked up here?”
Evander meets my gaze, loving and gentle, but his words ring through the air to remind me how dangerous of a position Sarah is in. “The Draven Coven was highly skilled in the art of manipulation and espionage. I don’t believe the coven is totally disbanded. I believe they’re still here, in Crescent Falls, and I’m not convinced someone as valuable to them as Sarah could slip through the cracks.”
“What are you saying?” Sydney asks, narrowing his eyes at Evander.
My mate steps forward. “Don’t trust anyone right now, Sydney.”
He watches us leave the sitting room. We’ve recently started staying at the castle because Brie is on her way from Maatua with Grandma Isla for Aunt Maddy’s upcoming dinner.
I get in the car, Evander sliding into the driver’s seat.
The manor fades into the distance as the sun begins to set. I send a prayer to the Goddess to watch over them and to give Sydney the guidance he needs to move forward.
“Do you think Gabriel knows where she is right now?” I ask my mate.
I catch his eyes in the reflection of the rear view mirror.
“Yes. I think he knows exactly where she is.”