Chapter 7
Kiara
Gasping, I shook awake and immediately flung all the hands on me away. A chorus of shouts rose from the people surrounding me. Nausea made my stomach roll, and my gums were slick with saliva. Rolling onto my hands and knees, I bowed my head between my shoulders and breathed hard, sending death glares at anyone who dared try to meet my eyes. Given what I had just endured, the last thing I wanted was all this attention.
“Everybody get away from her,” Aislin demanded, taking people by the arms and pulling them aside.
As Mythguard retreated, Sebastian gestured for them to stay on guard. “Keep your rifles trained on her just in case.”
“What are you gonna do, shoot her if she tries to run? For fuck’s sake, you’re as bad as David,” scolded Aislin.
“We’re just taking precautions,” said Sebastian.
“Just shut up and back off,” Aislin replied.
Finally, I’d found kinship in one of the strangers here. As Aislin knelt beside me, I sat up and wiped the drool from my mouth with the back of my arm. It was like my entire body was rejecting the dream I had just experienced. Fear and disgust consumed me, but there was no way I’d let it show.
“What did you just see?” she asked, lowering her voice for me.
I bared my teeth, reluctant to answer.
Aislin clicked her tongue. “Come on. I know what happened to you. I recently experienced it myself.” She leaned a little closer, whispering, “You had a Moondream.”
Desperate to maintain distance between us, I withdrew. But I knew she was right. I glanced up at the people all around us, then focused back on Aislin. “I don’t want to talk about it here.”
“Okay. Let’s go back inside, then,” said Aislin.
I stalled, untrusting.
“I promise we’re not going to pull something shady on you. I mean, shit. You’re Muriel’s daughter. We love Muriel. We want the best for her—and for you.”
Narrowing my eyes, I gauged her sincerity. I didn’t really like the way she sounded. Aislin seemed to speak with a constant undertone of exasperation and impatience. But she held my stare, insisting, and I wondered if she was being honest about their intentions regarding my mother. If Mom had stayed here with these wolves for this long, she had to have liked them or at least had a reason to trust them, right?
I rose to my feet with Aislin waiting beside me. She led me back to the house while Everett stood nearby, his arms perpetually folded across his chest and looking unimpressed. I had to wonder how Everett put up with his mate’s audacious personality if he was so stoic all the time. She probably stressed him out beyond belief.
Back in the living room, I didn’t feel any reassurance; instead, it was claustrophobic. I trudged back to my spot on the couch, where my salad bowl and water glass were still on the coffee table, and sat down. My shoulders sank with a sigh. Aislin took a seat beside me, but not too close. “So…your Moondream?”
Only Everett had come back into the house with us. Thankfully, Sebastian had stayed outside. I was finding myself liking the Mythguard man less and less—not that I’d ever really liked him in the first place. Regardless, it was comforting that only Everett and Aislin would hear what I had to say.
“It must have happened due to the stress,” I guessed, clasping my hands together on my knees.
“It took place for me while I was sparring with a packmate,” said Aislin. “He choked me out, and I went unconscious.”
“Your friends should have just let me run,” I growled.
“It would have happened sooner or later, Kiara. You can’t outrun fate,” said Everett. “So, who is it?”
As much as I wished to prove him wrong, I suspected Everett had a point. If it hadn’t happened while I was safely surrounded by Mythguard and people who claimed to care for my wellbeing, then it might have happened while I was under attack from the Inkscales. That would have ended even worse. Sighing, I tightened my fists until my knuckles whitened. “The wolf who attacked me. Black fur, blue eyes. It was him.”
“Colt,” breathed Aislin, repeating his name for me. “Colt Hexen.”
“He attacked me in the dream, too.”
Aislin shook her head. “You just can’t catch a break. Of course it had to be him.” She looked at Everett. “What are we going to do?”
The Eastpeak Alpha stared pensively past us at the wall but hesitated to say anything.
“Why do you say his name like that? What did this Colt Hexen do?” I asked.
“Oh, what hasn’t he done?” Aislin replied angrily. “I’ll tell you everything he’s fucking done.”
“Ais, wait,” said Everett. “Perhaps this is a conversation best had with Billie.”
“Who’s Billie?” I interjected.
“Colt’s sister,” said Aislin. “Sort of. She was adopted.”
“So, she’s a Hexen, too?”
“No. Adopted, like I said.”
“But she’s on your side.”
“Our side,” corrected Aislin.
“Call her and tell her to come over here,” Everett said to Aislin.
“I don’t want any more people involved than there have to be,” I said.
“Trust us,” said Aislin, “you’ll want to meet Billie. She and Muriel were very close.”
I felt a pang in my heart, and I swore inwardly; it was out of jealousy. I missed my mother so badly. It had been months since I’d seen her, and these people had been blessed with her company for weeks before they’d lost her. I was inclined to believe they had taken her presence for granted. They didn’t need her as much as I did. The jealousy aroused some anger, but I pushed it down, listening as Aislin made the phone call to Billie.
We waited for twenty minutes. In that time, some of the Mythguard humans left, and others arrived to take their place, including two wolves, Carla and Brad. They all stayed outside, but Everett periodically went to speak with them. I stayed indoors with Aislin, staring emptily out the windows, hating being stuck in here. Wishing there were something I could be doing.
A knock on the door finally brought an end to my waiting. Aislin leaped up to greet the newcomer and led her into the living room. The new woman was petite, around my age, with brown hair and soft green eyes. Her pleasant smile immediately explained why my mother had taken a liking to her. Kindness was evident on her face and in the way she carried herself. “Hello,” she greeted me. “I’m Billie. You must be Kiara?”
I prickled, not wanting to like her. “Yes.”
She and Aislin sat together on the other end of the couch, their female camaraderie displayed in their proximity to one another.
“So, Colt is your fated mate?” Billie’s smile withered a little, morphing into worry.
I nodded.
The other two women exchanged a look. “I haven’t told her anything other than that he’s your adoptive brother,” Aislin said to Billie.
“Okay, well…There’s a lot to unpack about Colt,” said Billie, furrowing her brow.
“Considering he attacks me every time he sees me, I suspect he isn’t easy to get along with,” I said.
“He used to be nice,” said Billie. “We grew up together, and throughout our entire childhood, he treated me better than anyone else in my family. He cared for me. Spent time with me. Protected me. He wanted to take me away from the cruelty of my family since my sister and father only cared about locking me up in the Manor and forcing me to work. Colt and I were very close. When he had a crush on Aislin, I supported him. I thought they’d make a cute couple.”
Aislin rolled her eyes. “You never saw the way he acted around me. When you weren’t around, he was an insufferable prick.”
“I knew him better than you did,” said Billie. “He really did care about you.”
Aislin frowned, disbelieving.
I wasn’t sure how I felt knowing that my fated mate had had such strong feelings for the redhead. Clearly, those feelings weren’t reciprocated, and if I were interested in Colt, I didn’t think I’d be in danger of Aislin encroaching on my territory. But I wasn’t interested in Colt.
“Anyway,” continued Billie, “everything changed when Gavin turned out to be my fated mate. His pack, Grandbay, was supposed to merge with Dalesbloom. He was dating Colt’s and my sister, Catrina, and they were supposed to become the Alphas of our merged pack. But when Gavin and I had our Moondream, he broke up with Catrina. She wasn’t good for him, and he realized that. The relationship between Grandbay and Dalesbloom fell apart after they broke up. David ended up allying with the Inkscale dragons, and then he revealed that he had arranged with the Inkscales to kill Gavin’s parents three years ago. You already know that both David and the Inkscales’ leader, Lothair, are trying to perform a Lycan ritual, right? Originally, Catrina was supposed to undergo the ritual, but during a battle about a month ago, Gavin accidentally killed her. And that drove a wedge between Colt and me for good.”
So, not only were Eastpeak and Grandbay struggling with the kidnapping of my mother by Dalesbloom and the Inkscales, but there was also a whole drama unfolding that involved them all. I hadn’t realized how closely entwined these wolves were with one another.
“He changed,” Billie continued. “It was like he became somebody I didn’t even know. Catrina’s death, me leaving, Aislin becoming fated mates with Everett…Colt must feel like everything has been taken away from him. All he has left is his father. But David is an evil man. And I’m sure he’s just using Colt, twisting him to follow in his footsteps. I think if the circumstances were different, Colt could have fought alongside us, but instead, he has tried to kill us, too.”
“Pretty sure he’ll kill me if given the chance,” I suggested.
While Aislin nodded, Billie seemed unconvinced. “I don’t want to believe he would do that. But at this point, I really don’t know. He might be too far gone. But maybe if someone, anyone, were to give him a chance…get him away from David…”
Aislin scoffed. “What are you saying? You actually want Kiara to consider this Moondream bullshit?”
“I’m not trying to defend Colt or anything. I’m just saying, he’s my brother, and I love him. I don’t want him to die.”
“You told Mythguard they could exterminate him.”
“I know.” Billie sighed, rubbing her face. “But that was before somebody became his fated mate.”
“I’m rejecting him,” I said firmly.
Sorrow flashed across Billie’s face. “You aren’t obligated to give him a chance. I know that. But I can’t help wanting the best for my brother.”
I had no sympathy for Billie, at least on the outside. I didn’t want anybody to think that I’d actually consider romancing this Colt asshole. Especially not if he had anything to do with capturing and tormenting my mother.
“Are you going to stay here, with us, at least?” asked Billie.
“No,” I said. “I’m going to keep trying to find my mom. With or without you.”
Billie’s lips parted in protest, but Aislin was quick to grab her arm. “There’s no point arguing. Trust me,” she muttered to Billie, then turned her eyes to me. “I know, the moment you have a chance, you’re going to run off. I would do the same thing. But if you’re going to do that, just know that Colt and everyone he’s associated with won’t show you any mercy. If you think, for some reason, that you can trust him…you’re wrong. Don’t fall into his trap just because he’s your fated mate. Stay as far away from him as possible. If you’re going to try to rescue Muriel, you’re going to have to do it without his help.”
Her advice was…surprising but appreciated.
“And if you ever need anyone to fall back on, we’ll be here. Okay?”
I snorted. “Sure.” I had gleaned all the information I needed from these two women. I stood up and once again made my way to the front door.
But then, behind me, I heard Aislin speak with reassurance to Billie. “If she doesn’t get killed, she’ll appreciate our offer more than if we force her to stay. Besides, we’re trying to rescue Muriel. If Kiara gets caught, we’ll rescue her, too. It’ll be okay, Billie.”
Maybe Aislin was right. But if I did get captured, and if they cared about Muriel as much as they claimed, then maybe I wouldn’t be totally doomed. Not that I was counting on these wolves to succeed.
Time would tell whether they would be of any use to me.