Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Noah
We pile out of Sully’s SUV in front of the Blackthroat mansion. The three she-wolves with me are wearing my shirts as dresses, with no footwear or even pants to cover up. They vibrate with tension. The stench of their fear fills my nostrils.
The war between the Blackthroats and Adalwulfs has been so bad that wolves are afraid to step on the opposing pack’s land, even when brought by invitation of a pack member.
Brick and Madi come outside to meet us. Brick wears a snarl, but before he can say anything, Madi speaks.
“Come in,” she welcomes us, throwing open the door and gesturing.
To me, she signs, Aster, where?
I shake my head, and her eyes round in dismay.
I give her an abbreviated hug while keeping my gaze on Brick, whose air is dangerous.
“Alpha,” I say, attempting to show respect, even though I’ve done nothing but disrespect him and his pack all along.
Guilt weighs against the gratitude I feel that showing up here is even still an option.
“Not your alpha.” He bares his teeth.
“We beg sanctuary. This is my mother, Liora, and my sister, Oriana. And Sophie, another acolyte set to be bred.”
Horror registers on Madi’s face, and she beckons them in.
“Liz, please find clothing for our guests,” Madi says to the servant I recognize from the meal we had.
Liz’s eyes flash amber, like she wants to fight them, and her lips close in a thin line, but she inclines her head. “Of course, Luna.”
She leads the females away, and Sully and I follow Brick and Madi to Brick’s office.
Brick turns on Sully. “You helped them.”
Sully averts his gaze and shows his throat, but his words surprise me. “You knew I would.”
Brick gives him a frown, but that seems to be the end of his rebuke because he looks at me. “What happened to your mate?”
The word mate momentarily rocks me on my feet. My breath knocks out of me. The cage threatens to open and let loose the violent storm of emotion I’ve compressed inside.
“She chose the Adalwulfs,” I say.
Madi’s eyes widen. “What do you mean? What happened?”
I don’t want to remember it. If I remember it, everything will come out of the cage.
I don’t want to think about Aster ever again.
It’s too hard for me to speak right now. The grief soaks me. I sign without words, not caring if they understand it all. We were being chased through the woods. Liora wanted to get all of the acolytes out, but we lost some of them. The rest of them shifted to run.
I stop. The rest is too painful.
Brick and Madi stare at me.
What? Madi opens her palms, shrugging.
I suck in a ragged breath.
Fuck, it hurts.
Aster had a vision.
The vision was important. That’s what changed everything.
She thought she’d lost her Sight mating me. I force a swallow. She believed she had to remain a virgin.
Madi makes the barfing sign, and I realize the misogyny tied up with that notion. It was probably all a lie to keep her devoted to an alpha who wasn’t going to mate her. Sort of how Catholic nuns wear wedding rings as “brides of Christ.”
A wave of sickness washes over me, and the floor seems to shift beneath my feet.
My poor mate. Manipulated…
No. I can’t think of that. She made her choice.
My hands clench into fists at my sides. She had a vision, and then she said she had to stay.
I need to get through this conversation, so we can move on to practicalities.
Getting safely out of New York. Figuring out what will happen to Sophie, the other girl we rescued.
Maybe the Blackthroats will take her in if she doesn’t want to come with us.
“What was the vision?” Brick asks.
Fuck! Can we not drop this?
I shake my head. I don’t know.
Her visions are usually warnings? Madi signs. Like the one with me and Vera?
“Vera is dead,” I speak out loud to tell Brick, hoping we can shift topics. “Madi is safe.”
Brick’s eyes glow amber, and he flashes his teeth. “Good.”
“But are they warnings, Noah?” Madi persists. “Did she get a warning that she needed to stay back, so you could get out?”
That thought makes me want to tear the office apart with my claws.
Liora suggested something similar.
I shake my head in frustration. She said she couldn’t be my mate.
“But was that to make you leave her?” Madi just keeps poking at my wound. The cage is rattling now. Vibrating from the intensity of holding everything down on lock.
I want to storm out of the office. Leave this fucking conversation. But the insult to Brick and his mate would be too great. I’d never make it out the door.
I can’t speak or sign.
“Maybe she knew she had to stay back to buy you time to get your mom and sister out,” Madi suggests.
I feel like I’m bleeding from every pore.
Brick walks over to me, a look of sympathy in his gaze. I must not be masking my instability as well as I’d hoped. He drops a hand on my shoulder. “Would you do anything to save your mate if she were under threat?”
It’s like my gut has been punched so hard my stomach is stuck under my ribs. I manage a nod.
“Even hurt her to make her leave and get to safety?”
My vision flickers. Suddenly, I hear the chatter of a thousand voices in my head. Whispers twining in and over each other–too many for me to understand any of them.
Goosebumps stand up on my arms and crawl across the back of my neck.
Is this…who Aster called the Grandmothers? Are they speaking to me now?
Excruciating pain lances through my head. This must be how Aster feels. Maybe now that we’re mated, there’s a thread to connect the magic between us.
Like the alpha bond.
The one she’s supposed to complete with Aiden.
“My mate,” I croak, dropping to my knees. I clutch my head, trying to make the blinding pain stop.
I suddenly see Aster, my beautiful starlight. She’s in a filthy prison cell. Aiden is screaming something at her, but she seems unperturbed.
Then, just like the dreams I used to have with her, she looks right at me. Like she sees me, seeing her.
I love you, she signs.
Suddenly the clamoring stops. The pain lifts. My eyes fly open as it all becomes clear.
My mate needs me, and I’ve been acting like a fucking man-child with my head stuck up my ass.
I look up at Brick and do the one thing I’ve resisted my entire life.
“Alpha,” I say. “I need your help.”