Chapter 42
Valens
When we got back to the house, I was glad to see that Savannah’s car was in the driveway. I wanted to show her what we’d found, see what she thought about the second sword.
Elodie seemed aloof since I’d woken up branded, and it bothered me. I wanted us to be in this together, on the same page. And I knew that was hard for her, knew she didn’t trust easily.
But I could feel the rightness of it all in my bones. Feel that the second sword was hers, same as I knew she was my mate, my other half, the one who held the missing piece of my soul.
I would just have to keep on knowing for both of us, until she was ready.
I opened Elodie’s door, pressing her back up against it to steal a kiss.
I poured all my hopes for our future into that kiss, everything I couldn’t tell her with my words for fear of spooking her.
She gave as good as she got, running her hands up my arms to twine them behind my neck and drag me deeper.
I relished her passion, savored every second of her kiss.
Still, eventually, we had to break apart, and when we did, I buried my nose in her hair.
I wanted to tell her I loved her. But it was too much, I could tell. It could wait.
I grabbed the trunk from the back of the car and carried it inside.
Savvy was sprawled out on the couch, wearing mismatched pajamas and a face mask, watching some chick flick on the TV.
But when she saw what I was carrying, she sat bolt upright.
“What did you do?” She shot to her feet, eyes wide with worry as she scanned me from head to toe, her gaze snagging on the hole in my shirt, the brand on my chest.
I lowered the trunk, standing tall so she could see me unimpeded.
“Holy shit. It was true?” She recognized it immediately, the same way I had.
“It’s all true.”
She reeled backward, sitting heavily as if her knees had failed her, finally sparing a glance at Elodie. “Did he explain this to you? You know what this means?”
“Some.”
Savannah nodded, peeling off her face mask and flicking it onto the coffee table so she could drop her chin into her hands and stare at me.
“How… how did it happen?” she asked, curiosity finally starting to break through her shock.
“I’ll show you.” I opened the trunk, carefully stacking all the leather-bound journals on the coffee table as she peered inside. Elodie kept her distance, standing off to the side with her arms crossed and her lips pressed tight, the picture of wary concern.
When I lifted the false bottom, Savannah gasped.
“Did you know those were down there?”
I shook my head. “I never looked.”
“Well, yeah, because that chest is creepy as fuck. It gives me the ick.”
“What?” My head snapped up to look at her.
“It’s making my skin crawl right now. I really, really want you to close it back up and get it out of here.” She rubbed her arms as if she could will away the goose bumps that had sprung up.
“You’re not drawn to it? You don’t feel a pull?” I held my breath as she considered.
“No, honestly. I can see that it’s just a chest, but it’s repulsive somehow. Please, close it up. Put it all back.” She jumped off the couch and paced away, putting as much distance as she could between herself and the chest in our modest living room.
I did as she asked, shooting Elodie a weighty glance as I restacked the journals and sealed the lid. The second it was closed, Savvy exhaled hard, relief visibly flooding through her. “You can’t keep that here.”
“I’m sorry, I had no idea it would affect you like that. I had the opposite experience.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you did. Didn’t you pay attention to the stories when we were kids? The male heir is the one who’s called. The daughters don’t get the gene.”
“I… no. I don’t remember Mom or Dad ever telling me that.”
She shrugged. “Maybe Mom only told me. But I’m never going to feel the pull.
It’s all you.” Her eyes swung to Elodie.
“Well, and maybe you. We were little. Mom didn’t go into the whole mate thing, so I don’t know what will happen to you, but you didn’t seem creeped out by it like I was, so draw your own conclusions.
” Savannah waved her hand idly toward the chest, then picked up her discarded face mask and went to toss it.
Elodie just blinked after her as if unsure what to do with Savvy. I made a mental note to ask her about her adopted sister one of these days when our lives weren’t insane.
That day may never come.
The realization made my heart clench like a fist. Fuck no. I was not having a future without Elodie in it.
She was mine, and I was hers, and we would come through this war together. There was no other acceptable option. My wolf snarled his agreement in my chest, the sound more forceful than usual.
Elodie lifted one eyebrow my direction, and I realized I’d growled out loud. “You okay, Brute? You don’t usually snarl at women.”
“Sorry, my wolf just didn’t like my train of thought.”
She chuckled. “Fair enough. So, you mentioned seeing what you could do. What do you expect to be able to do, beyond seeing the enchantments on magical objects?”
I drummed my fingertips on my thigh, considering. “I don’t really know. I woke up feeling like—”
“You could climb a mountain,” she finished my sentence drily. “Yes, I remember.”
“We’re always strong, though, so that could be nothing.”
Elodie shook her head as Savannah walked back in, eyeing us both curiously. “He’s probably stronger now. The stories Mom used to tell me made her parents sound like supershifters. Freaky stuff.”
“Like what?” I asked, curious about her own different memories of our parents. She so rarely shared them on her own, I tried not to pry.
Savvy shrugged. “I don’t know, some of it might have been fanciful. She told me her dad took out an entire battalion of fighters in the omega wars, all by himself.”
“That would be difficult, but with enough time and back up… it’s possible he took out a battalion’s worth of fighters.” Elodie was trying to be gracious, I could tell, even though she was having a hard time believing it.
“No, you don’t understand. Completely alone. One man, a hundred attackers between him and his mate. All dead.” Savvy ominously dragged her thumb across her throat. “But again, it could have been a story. We’ll never know unless this one goes all he-man and proves her right.”
“That doesn’t freak you out?” Elodie asked, surprising me.
“What?”
“That your brother is different, that he might be… not a normal shifter anymore.”
Is it bothering you that I might not be a normal shifter anymore? I thought the question silently, wishing I could read her thoughts to know the answer.
Savvy laughed, head back and all. “Oh, you sweet innocent thing. He’s never been normal. This doesn’t surprise me at all because he’s always had a hero complex. Remember that time you tried to save me when I was stuck in the tree?”
“Savannah,” I growled, narrowing my eyes at her.
“Don’t worry, Sav, I’ll get you down!” She mimicked a younger, masculine voice. “The idiot thought I was stuck, and—”
“Not another word! You promised.” I took a menacing step her way, which only made her laugh harder and duck behind Elodie.
“He treed himself, and my dad had to get him down. After I climbed down myself and went for help. V didn’t like heights when we were kids.”
I wanted to be mad at her for spilling our childhood secrets to the woman I wanted so desperately to impress, but the way both of their eyes sparkled with mirth, I couldn’t be too angry.
Not that I’d tell her that.
I charged them both, relishing the squeals as Savannah ran from the threat of getting tickled. She was too easy. “I’m telling your next boyfriend about the time you dyed your eyebrows green,” I hollered after her retreating form, even as I caught Elodie in my arms, grinning down at her.
“So, that’s your sister when she’s not trying to run me off, huh?”
“Yeah, that’s her. She’s an imp, but she’s my imp.”
Elodie hummed happily, reaching up to tuck a stray hair behind my ear as if she’d been doing it all her life. Like she wanted to do it for the rest of her life.
“She’s nice. Supportive, when not all sisters might be.”
“She is. It’s hard when there were only the two of us for so long. But I know she’s going to love you once you get to know each other. And I hope you might love her too one day. She’s all I’ve got left.”
Elodie glanced away guiltily, but I drew her face back up to mine with my fingertips. “You don’t have to hide from me. It’s going to be okay.”
“Of course.” Her smile was hollow, though she put on a convincing show as she backed out of my arms. “What do you want to try, Mr. Super Shifter?”
I shrugged, suddenly unsure. Although, I was curious if I could replicate seeing enchantments again.
“We could go to the pack armory. I don’t own any magical weapons, ahh, except, I guess, the sword.
But I didn’t notice any sigils on it before I passed out.
I know Petró had some crazy shit in the armory, though.
He was paranoid and prepared there, before the end. ”
“Armory? Lead the way.”