Chapter 16 #2
Blackthroat frowns. “No shit.” His aura pulses with power–reds and oranges burning like hot coals and rising into a fierce, fiery amber.
Madi rests her hand on the back of his neck and kneads the muscles there. Just her touch softens the anger in his aura a little.
“My grandmother isn’t sick.”
“I’m stunned.” Brick’s flat expression and voice drip sarcasm.
“I was born into the Adalwulf pack.”
This startles Blackthroat, not that he shows much emotion. But he does blink as he absorbs the information. His aura pulses bright, and his lips flatten into a thin, dangerous line.
“Have you heard of the Moonborn?”
Brick narrows his eyes. “The witchy cult where Odin bred his fanatics?”
“Yes. My mother is one of them. But Odin would’ve killed me because I am deaf, so she told everyone I died and gave me to her mother to raise.”
Some of Brick’s irritation seems to drain away as he listens.
“I came to Wall Street to work for Adalwulf Associates to infiltrate their pack. When they wouldn't hire me, I tried to come at it from another angle.”
“Working for me.”
“Yes.”
“What is your endgame?”
Noah looks down at me. Then stares at the desk for a moment, like he’s thinking. “It’s changed.”
“Because of her.” Blackthroat lifts his chin toward me.
“Aster is my mate.”
“I knew it.” This comment comes from one of the males against the wall.
Noah doesn’t see him because he’s focused on Brick, but when I look over, he follows my gaze.
The man signs and speaks to him. “I remember when you saw her outside Brick and Madi’s wedding.”
I look up at Noah. “You saw me?”
He nods, that hint of a smile playing around the edges of his mouth as he stares down like he’s drinking me in. “I recognized you from my dreams.”
Blackthroat clears his throat, so I lift my chin in his direction to shift Noah’s focus. My mate looks back at his boss. “I planned to destroy them. Now I just want to get my mother and sister out.”
Brick runs a hand over his beard, considering us. “The tiara heist was you?”
“Yes, sir. Just to fuck with them. Aiden wanted the tiara for a Moonborn ritual, so I took it. I ran into Aster there and put a tracker in her purse to locate her. I found her imprisoned in a tower. Starved.” His arm tightens around me.
I flinch. My pride detests that he’s outing Aiden’s treatment of me, but his indignation also makes my nose burn.
Seeing it through his eyes brings home just how mistreated and abused I was.
I spent my life excusing the mistreatment as necessary for me to achieve the role as Seeress, but none of that seems to matter anymore.
I don’t care so much about being Seeress. Or about the Adalwulf pack. Not the way I care about the male standing beside me.
The human, Madi, looks at me with a form of shocked sympathy. Brick also turns his penetrating gaze on me as he says to Noah, “So not only were you reckless, showing your wolf to humans, you also kidnapped the most powerful member of the Adalwulf pack and dumped her on my doorstep.”
“He didn’t kidnap me,” I say. My voice is a bit raspy, but it comes out strong. “He rescued me.”
Brick’s eyes narrow, and I feel the full weight of an Alpha stare. The pressure is so intense, I can’t draw a full breath. “I’m supposed to believe that?”
“We came here to warn your mate. I mean you no harm.”
“This vision. What did you see?”
I describe the lunch-time scene. Madi with an older woman, with Vera hovering nearby.
When I describe Vera’s narrow face and beady eyes, Madi sits up straight. Brick automatically turns and puts all his focus on his mate.
“Could she mean…” Madi taps on her phone and shows Brick something. Sully crowds close to see it and then leaves the room, signaling several other wolves to come with him.
“Is this who you saw?” Brick shows me Madi’s screen. There’s a picture of Madi and an older lady–the one from my vision. Beside the older lady is Vera.
“Yes. That’s Vera. And that’s the older woman I saw.”
“Eleanor,” Madi murmurs. “My grandmother. This is her new assistant.”
“Vera’s an Adalwulf. Her orders must have been to get close to you by any means possible. That’s how she was going to poison you.”
Madi sits back in her seat, looking pale.
“Until you conveniently showed up.” Brick’s eyes glitter amber, a sign that his wolf wants out. He’s not shaken like Madi, and he’s definitely not convinced. And he’s an Alpha, so when he’s under threat, his instincts make him attack. “What else did you think you’d gain by warning us?”
“Nothing else,” I say. I fight the urge to crumble under that Alpha stare. I feel so tired, drained. “Noah cares for Madi–as a friend,” I add quickly. “I…couldn’t let an innocent child die.”
“You think I should believe you, an Adalwulf?”
“Your mother is an Adalwulf,” I say without thinking. I’m channeling–I completely forgot about Catherine, but the Grandmothers prompted me to bring her up. Brick blinks, and his gaze flickers away.
Noah puts his arm around me, and I lean into him, grateful for his strength. It’s the only thing keeping me from slumping over in my seat. I draw energy from him and use it to sit up straight again.
“I intend no harm to you or any member of your pack, Alpha,” I say as formally as I can. “I swear it on the Grandmothers.”
Thunder booms in the distance, making Madi startle in her seat. All around us, the wolves growl, their eyes lighting.
The glowing lamps flicker and go out. It’s daytime, so it’s not so dark, but no one says anything. After a second the lights come back on as if nothing happened.
Even Brick looks stunned. He’s half out of his chair, blocking Madi with his body as if protecting her from a threat. What does he think–I’m going to leap across the table and savage her? She tugs him back down.
“Well,” says a wolf with a polished British accent, “that’s good enough for me.”
The wolves around him shake themselves. One of them checks the window and returns, muttering, “Doesn’t look like rain.”
I send a silent thank you to the Grandmothers for giving the Blackthroats such a clear sign. Brick seems to buy it although, now, he and everyone in the room are unsettled.
Noah rubs my back. I close my eyes for a moment and accept his kiss on my forehead. There’s cold sweat all over my body, but I feel less exhausted.
“What is your endgame, Aster?” Brick asks.
I hesitate. For some reason, the question makes tears spring to my eyes.
This is the moment.
I knew it would come, and I’ve been delaying its arrival. We both have.
But I have to decide which side I’m on. I have to declare an allegiance. Choose between the two packs. Actually, for me, the actual choice is between keeping my powers–my gift of Sight–or submitting to my mate’s claim on me.
Noah wraps both arms around me, as if to shield me from the pain of this moment. This decision.
“She’s helping me free my family,” he says.
“That’s not what I asked.”
A buzzing grows in my head. The Grandmothers are talking–all of them at once. I rub my forehead. The room starts to spin. My teeth chatter. Pain stabs at both my temples at once.
Noah pulls my face into his chest. Forget them, starshine. It’s just you and me here. You’re safe. His words lay across my mind.
“She hasn’t made her choice yet,” Noah’s spoken words cut through the noise.
I scrabble against the nausea and the distortion in my vision, trying to find my way back. “Yes, I have,” I hear myself say. My voice sounds clear and confident, even though my body’s overwhelmed with convulsions. “I’m leaving with Noah.”