Chapter 8 - Reeyan
Wyn Lemay stands on my doorstep looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.
“This better be good,” he complains. “We had plans, but your text made it sound like it’s life or death.”
Raegan peers around him, curious. “You said you needed to talk to us about a situation?”
“I do. Come in.” I step aside to let them enter.
They walk into my living room, and Raegan’s gaze immediately sweeps the space, taking in the books scattered everywhere and the research materials spread across every surface. Her eyes land on the dining area where Sera is still frozen at the table, clearly not expecting visitors.
“Sera?” Raegan’s voice pitches up with shock. “What are you—” She rushes across the room before I can explain anything. “Oh gods, Sera. Your face.”
The bruises. I’d almost forgotten about them despite staring at her all morning. The purple marks along her jaw where one of the Thornridge operatives backhanding her. The rope burns on her wrists from the zip ties.
“It looks worse than it feels,” Sera lies, and I clench my fists at my sides, because that’s absolutely not true.
“What happened?” Raegan’s voice cracks. “Caelan texted asking if you were with me, and then she said you were in Grayhide working on some project, and I didn’t know what to tell her because I had no idea where you actually were—”
“I’m sorry.” Sera’s composure finally breaks, and a sob breaks loose. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know who else to trust, and the vision said not to tell anyone in Llewelyn, and then Thornridge grabbed me on the road, and—”
The rest dissolves into tears.
Wyn steps inside and closes the door behind him as Raegan takes Sera into the guest room, where she’s no doubt filling her friend in on everything that’s happened. Before they disappear, Wyn catches a good chunk of it, and he’s scowling right at me.
“Your ‘situation’ text made it sound like you’d found something in your research. Not that you were harboring a missing person. Oren’s going to lose his mind when he finds out you’ve been keeping Sera here without informing anyone.”
“I’m informing you,” I point out.
“Twelve hours after the fact doesn’t count as timely communication.”
He’s right, but I’m not about to admit that. “She’s not missing. She’s safe.”
“Does her matriarch know she’s safe? Does her family?” Wyn moves closer, and my wolf bristles at the perceived threat even though I know he’s not actually going to hurt me. “Or did you just decide on your own that keeping her location secret was the best course of action?”
“It was complicated.”
“It always is with you, historians.” He lets out a huff before he adds, “You get so focused on patterns and research that you forget about basic pack protocols. Like informing leadership when a member of an allied pack is seeking refuge in our territory.”
“She didn’t want me to tell anyone. The vision she had specifically warned her not to speak about it to anyone in Llewelyn.
I was trying to respect that. She’s working with me to investigate a potential supernatural threat affecting her pack.
Under the authority of the inter-regional agreement, which gives us legal grounds for collaborative research without requiring immediate notification of—”
“Don’t.” Wyn cuts me off with a look that could freeze fire. “Don’t hide behind treaty language when we both know what’s really going on here.”
I open my mouth to argue, then close it again. Because he’s right. The inter-regional agreement is a convenient justification, but it’s not the real reason I kept Sera here. Not the real reason I couldn’t stand the thought of her going back to Llewelyn where I couldn’t protect her.
“She’s your mate,” Wyn says it quietly, not a question but a statement of fact, so low the women can’t hear. “I can see it all over your panicked face.”
My silence is answer enough.
He nods in the direction of the hallway and asks, “Does she know?”
“No.” I drag a hand down my face. “Thornridge used a dampener on her yesterday. I’m assuming it’s having some residual effects, and that’s why she can’t feel it.
And I’m not planning to tell her until we figure out what’s happening with the curse and the Thornridge threat.
She’s dealing with enough without adding a mate bond she didn’t ask for to the list.”
“That’s not going to hold.” Wyn walks to the window and peers out at the desert landscape. “Mate bonds have a way of making themselves known whether we want them to or not. Trust me on that one.”
I think about the moment earlier, sitting at the dining table with Sera. How close we came to kissing before they came knocking. How her hand felt in mine, warm and perfect and right in ways I couldn’t explain.
“I know,” I concede. “But she’s already angry about being here. Already feels coerced and manipulated. Finding out I’m her mate on top of everything else?” I shake my head. “It would destroy any chance of her trusting me.”
“So you’re planning to, what? Keep it secret indefinitely? Hope she doesn’t notice the bond pulling at her? That worked out really well for Raegan and me. No complications there at all.”
The sarcasm is thick enough to cut. Wyn rejected Raegan for years to keep her safe, then kidnapped and forced her into marriage when Thornridge threatened her life.
Their mate bond was a mess of secrets until they finally worked through it.
He knows exactly what kind of disaster I’m walking into by keeping this to myself.
“I don’t have a better plan.” I slump against the wall.
“All I know is that Thornridge targeted her. They knew where she’d be and when.
They had suppressors ready to cut her off from her wolf.
Someone fed them information about her movements, and until we figure out who and why, sending her back to Llewelyn feels like handing her over to whoever wants her captured. ”
“Tell me about the attack.” Wyn’s tone becomes more businesslike. “Everything. Start from when you first saw them.”
So I do. I walk him through spotting the black vehicle hidden behind the rocks, seeing Sera fighting off three trained operatives, watching them deploy the suppressor. Shifting and engaging them before they could get her into their vehicle. Killing all of them to keep her safe.
“Three Thornridge operatives.” Wyn gives me a nod of respect before he continues, “Working in coordinated teams to kidnap specific targets. That’s a deviation from their previous tactics.”
“Their suppressors were more advanced than the models we’ve seen before. This one cut Sera off from her wolf within seconds of activation. Previous versions took several minutes to reach full effect.”
He studies the images, tilting his head to the side. “We need to get this technology analyzed. If Thornridge can manufacture suppressors that work this quickly, they have an advantage that changes the battlefield completely.”
I put the phone away and reply, “First, they infiltrated Llewelyn through Bastian, gathered intelligence about pack structures and vulnerabilities. Now they’re targeting high-value wolves who might have information or abilities they want to exploit.”
“What makes Sera high-value? She’s an archivist. No special combat training or leadership role.”
“Her aunt is the matriarch. And…she has visions.” The words feel like a betrayal of Sera’s trust, but Wyn needs to know.
“Started experiencing them a few days ago. Saw something about Llewelyn women being bound by dark magic, suppressed somehow. The vision warned her not to tell anyone in her pack, said someone there would stop her from finding the truth.”
Wyn goes very still. “Psychic abilities manifesting in a pack known for not having psychics. Targeting by an enemy force that specializes in supernatural exploitation. You think Thornridge knows about her visions?”
“I think they know something we don’t. About Llewelyn, about whatever curse or binding affects that pack, and about why Sera is important to their plans.
” I move to the dining table and gesture at the books spread across its surface.
“I’ve been researching all night. Found references to a magical working commissioned three hundred years ago that changed Llewelyn fundamentally.
Emotional suppression on a massive scale, executed by the Hysopp Coven. ”
“A curse affecting an entire pack and their descendants.” Wyn follows me to the table and scans the open volumes. “That’s dark magic. The kind that requires significant power and resources to maintain across generations.”
“Exactly. And if Thornridge has figured out how to exploit that curse, how to use it against Llewelyn or break it for their own purposes, then Sera becomes extremely valuable. She’s the first one in centuries to see what’s really happening. To recognize the binding for what it is.”
From the dining room, I hear Raegan’s voice murmuring comfort to Sera. My wolf wants to go to her, wants to verify she’s okay, but I force myself to stay here with Wyn and finish this conversation.
“You need to tell Oren,” Wyn declares. “About the attack, about the suppressors, about all of it. Keeping this secret makes you complicit if something goes wrong.”
“I know, but Sera’s terrified that telling Llewelyn leadership will trigger exactly what the vision warned against. Someone stopping her from finding the truth.”
Wyn pulls out his own phone. “I get that, but we have to do this through proper channels. With authorization and oversight. Not you playing lone wolf historian while keeping a scared omega in your house.”
He’s right. I hate it, but he’s right.
“Today,” Wyn insists. “We brief Oren today about the Thornridge attack and the suppressor technology at a minimum. The curse research can come after, but the immediate security threat needs to be addressed now.”
“Agreed. What about Matriarch Lydia? She needs to know one of her pack members was attacked.”
“I have a feeling Oren is going to want to have a council meeting. I’m sure she’ll be involved.”