Chapter 20 #3
“Our mother wasn’t with us that day. It was only Kelly, Virginia, and me.
Kelly grabbed our hands and began chanting a spell, using our energy to enhance hers.
Virginia’s voice joined hers, realizing what she was doing.
I moved my lips but refused to help them.
You don’t understand how ill-prepared you are until you’re in the moment and in the middle of a battle that requires you to think quickly and be ready.
My mind was blank. I was trying to think of something to counteract her incantation.
Goddess, I was at a loss, unable to come up with anything.
But it turns out, I didn’t have to. Max, who had been climbing all over his father’s shoulders, looked toward us and smiled.
Suddenly, there was a surge of energy, and it knocked your mother off her feet and threw Virginia into the tree a couple of feet away.
It was the day your mother went into labor.
That surge came from you. When Max focused on us, he said, ‘Mine.’ A split second later, all hell broke loose.
We got your mother home, and she delivered within the hour. ”
“Me?”
“I suspected what happened, but after you fried all of the circuits in the house, I knew.”
I laughed. “How is that even possible? You probably weren’t standing anywhere near them, and I was in the womb. There was no way I heard him or knew he was there.”
“That’s the funny thing about mates, though, there is this pull, something that transcends space, time, and everything else. In a crowded building, they will find each other, their eyes seeking until they do.”
“M-Mate?” I choked. Sure, I’d fallen for the man, but mate? I wasn’t a shifter, and their shifts were not natural. They were the result of a spell that had been cast.
“It’s been over a thousand years; their animals and shifting are as much a part of them as a wolf, bear, or dragon.
Besides, how do you think shifters came to be?
There has always been magic involved. Either from the earth, a creator, or something else.
It’s been written into their DNA and cannot be changed.
What began as a curse, has become their legacy.
And the pull is felt on both sides regardless of whether you are a shifter or not. You were claimed at birth.”
“Not possible,” I whispered, unable to speak louder than that. My mind was racing, trying to comprehend and wrap my head around everything she said.
“Well, they say real magic isn’t possible either, but…
” Pat snapped and unfurled her fingers to display a tiny flame dancing in the middle of her palm.
“People often try to explain away what they don’t understand.
” Staring into the fire, she asked, “You’ve heard of the saying ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’? ”
“Yes.”
“It’s true. Your grandmother, your mother, your Aunt Virginia, they all wanted more power, believing if they had it, they could avenge the past. They were left unsupervised and unchallenged because they ruled over this family without anyone questioning them—not even me.
Power mixed with this unquenchable desire for revenge turns your soul black, it festers and slowly eats away at you from the inside.
There is more to the story than anyone knows, more that I ought to probably tell you, but I can save it for another day. ”
“You have power,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but I don’t rule over anyone. One of the things in the letter from my father was his reminder that my power could be used to help others.
So, I watched over Max for you, I volunteer here and there, and do what I can to better the people around me.
Trying to change the whole world will take more energy than I have, but I can start with my small circle. And it grows and spreads from there.”
“I still don’t get the whole being born for this.”
She narrowed her eyes and sighed as if thinking about how to explain everything.
“When the surge happened, the spell she was casting blew back onto her. You’d put a protective shell around him that still exists today.
Yes, bad things can still happen to him, but those are normal everyday things like a papercut.
A spell intended to do his person harm, won’t do anything to him.
When he rescued you from the grave and Christoph brought you home, she couldn’t get within five feet of Max’s father without feeling a blinding pain in her head.
Virginia too. They assumed I felt the same, but I didn’t.
In other words, they couldn’t touch him.
The blowback from the spell only affected those whose intent was to harm the child. ”
“So, it was Max that day.”
Nodding, a smile appeared on her lips. “It was.”
“I don’t remember much except being terrified I wouldn’t be able to get out, and the gravediggers would find my lifeless body. Then his face appeared, and I knew everything would be all right.”
“Your mother raised you so you wouldn’t know your true potential because she was afraid of what would happen.
I know it’s hard to trust anyone right now.
You’re confused and maybe a little hurt.
You feel things for Max you shouldn’t because you were sent here to get rid of him.
After being taught for so long that this is the truth,” she held out her left hand and shook it, “only to find out there might be more to the story,” she lifted her right and shook it, “is confusing.” Using her hands to hold my face, she forced me to look into her eyes.
“Your mother was right about something. Max is your destiny. Be like the sand. Change, yet stay the same. Figure out what you want, find the magic deep within you, take charge of your life. In the end, it will draw them in and allow you to take control of your life. It’s the only way if you choose Max.
Being with him will also make you stronger. ”
“I love him,” I admitted.
“Then what are you still doing here? He’s going to have questions after I called him by his name.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her all that much.
“Some loon forced me to stay and listen to her ramblings.”
She moved her torso this way and that, her eyes squinted, her lips pressed together. “Funny, I don’t see any shackles.”
“Thanks, Aunt Pat.” I kissed her cheek and left her sitting in the sand.