Chapter 8
The western border of our property was dense with pines.
Their branches were heavy with the first real snow of the season.
My breath misted in the frigid air as I moved through the trees, Aidon silent at my side.
Ahead, Layla's massive wolf form stood motionless, her head low as she examined the ground.
Murtagh prowled to her right in wolf form, his dark fur standing out against the snow. Tseki had remained human because he couldn't maneuver easily through the trees in his massive dragon form. He looked over when he saw us coming.
"Six sets of tracks," Tseki informed us. "They split up here. Three went north toward the house. Three continued west along the property line."
I knelt beside the prints, my hand hovering over the disturbed snow. They were fresh. Maybe two hours old. The tracks were human—or at least humanoid—but the spacing was too far apart. Whatever made these, had been moving fast.
"They were scouting," Aidon said from behind me. I hadn't heard him approach, but his presence washed over me through our bond. "Mapping our defenses. Looking for weak points."
Through our bond, Tarja showed me five different locations where the magical barrier had been prodded, pressed, and analyzed. "They're learning," she said. "Studying the structure of our protections. Looking for a way through."
My chest tightened. "How long until they find a way through?" Before Lyra had proven it was possible, I'd believed no one could reach us in the house.
"Depends on how good they are," Tseki said, scanning the tree line. "The work is solid. But, as you know, every ward has a weakness if you know where to look."
The image of strangers standing in the darkness, staring at the windows where my children slept, made my teal fire flare hot beneath my skin. I forced it down. Burning the forest wouldn't help anyone.
A twig snapped somewhere to the east, making everyone freeze.
Layla's hackles rose, and her lips pulled back from teeth that could tear through steel.
Murtagh went absolutely still with his ears pricked forward.
Tseki moved closer to his mate and partially shifted so his skin was covered in green scales.
"There are three of them," Aidon whispered as his shadows began spreading across the snow. "Coming back for another look."
"Good," I said, teal flames igniting in my palms. "I'm tired of playing defense."
The first one emerged from the trees thirty yards out.
It was a man in dark tactical gear. His movements were sure and smooth.
Behind him, two more materialized from the shadows.
One was clearly Fae. Her pointed ears were visible even from this distance.
The third was harder to place, but the way magic crackled around his fingers marked him as a practitioner of some kind.
They saw us at the same moment we saw them. For a heartbeat, nobody moved. We stood there staring dumbly at one another. Then the Fae woman raised her hand, and the temperature dropped a second before ice shot toward us in jagged spears.
Instinctively, I threw up a wall of teal fire that vaporized the ice before it could reach us.
Steam hissed into the air, creating a temporary fog bank between them and us.
Aidon's shadows exploded outward, covering the distance in a second.
The man in tactical gear didn't see them coming until they wrapped around his throat, cutting off his air supply.
The practitioner began chanting and pulling up his powers.
Whatever spell he was building felt like Dark magic.
It made my skin crawl, but I didn't give him time to finish it.
My fire roared across the clearing, forcing him to abandon his spell and dive for cover.
He rolled behind a tree, forcing me to extinguish my witch fire or burn down the forest.
I gathered my power and sent a concentrated blast of power that wrapped around the trunk and slammed into him. He stumbled backward, right into Murtagh's path. The wolf hit him like a freight train, taking him to the ground. The man screamed—once—before going silent.
The Fae woman was backing away as ice crystallized in the air around her. She was good, I'd give her that. Her shields were solid, layered, and probably capable of stopping most magical attacks. Too bad I wasn't an average witch. And I wasn’t alone.
Tseki moved fast, getting behind her while she focused on me. His clawed hand closed around her shoulder. She cried out as his claws cut through flesh and disrupted her shields.
I hit her with a binding spell while she was vulnerable.
Teal flames wrapped around her wrists and ankles, solidifying into manacles that would hold until I released them.
Aidon dropped the man in tactical gear to the snow.
He was unconscious but breathing. Murtagh shifted back to human form, standing over the practitioner's body.
That one wasn't moving. The whole fight had taken maybe ninety seconds.
"Dead?" I asked.
Murtagh shook his head. "Unconscious. Though he's going to have a hell of a headache when he wakes up."
The Fae woman glared at me with undisguised hatred. "You have no idea what you're interfering with."
"Actually," I said, walking closer, "I have a pretty good idea. You work for the Thessmark. You've been scouting my property, testing my wards, and planning to steal my children. It’s you who has no idea what you’re dealing with."
Her expression didn't change, but fear flickered in her eyes as Aidon closed the distance to her. "Who sent you?" Aidon demanded, his shadows coiling around his arms.
She pressed her lips together. I let my fire burn a little hotter, making the manacles around her wrists heat up. Not enough to burn—yet—but enough to make my point. "I'm a mother protecting her children. How far do you think I'll go?"
"You wouldn't dare," she said, but her voice shook.
"Try me." I narrowed my gaze and resisted the urge to fry her. We had to try to get information.
Tarja's mental voice brushed my mind. "She's terrified. Not of us. Of whoever sent her. She fears her employers more than she fears you."
That told me everything I needed to know about the people we were dealing with. They had ties to the Underworld. She assumed they were more ruthless than Aidon would be.
"Fine," I said. "Don't talk. But you're going to deliver a message for me." Her eyes widened, and she tried backing away from us.
"Tell your employers that I know what they're doing. I know about the medical collective, the Scythe, and the children they've murdered. And I'm coming for them." I leaned in close. "Soon."
I released the binding spell. She stumbled, catching herself before she fell.
For a moment, I thought she might attack.
I tossed a magical bomb at the practitioner when she looked at the two unconscious men.
He didn’t even scream as he went up in flames.
It was when Aidon turned the second guy to ash that she ran.
My hand shot out when Aidon started after her. “Let her go.”
"Bold move," Aidon said as we watched her disappear into the trees. "Letting her warn them."
"They already know we're onto them," I said. "Dr. Reeves gave us that flash drive. They'll have figured out we know by now. All I did was make sure they know we're not waiting around to be victims."
"And pissed them off," Tseki added with something that might have been approval.
"Good," I said. "Angry people make mistakes. Keep looking for the other three. Call us if you find them."
Tseki nodded and took off with Layla and Murtagh.
Aidon and I headed back to the house. By the time we made it, the eastern sky was starting to lighten.
Inside, Mom stood at the stove making breakfast while Nina sat at the table with her laptop open.
The screen displayed what appeared to be medical records. Pages and pages of data scrolled past.
"You're up early," I said, moving to check the baby monitor. All three babies were still sleeping, thank the gods.
"Couldn't sleep," Nina admitted. "Stella sent over the research Clio, Jean-Marc, and Lilith compiled."
I pulled out a chair and sat. Exhaustion was starting to catch up with me now that the adrenaline was fading. "What did they find?"
Nina turned the laptop so I could see. "They went through supernatural archives, old coven journals, and news articles from magical communities. Going back over fifty years, they tracked powerful infants who died under suspicious circumstances."
My stomach dropped. "How many were killed?"
"Confirmed? Eighty-three." Nina's voice cracked. "But Clio thinks there are more. These are just the ones with solid documentation."
Mom set a coffee mug in front of me with shaking hands. "So many babies."
"Death clusters," Nina continued, pulling up a graph, "happen every few years. Lilith says it corresponds with specific lunar cycles."
Nana entered wearing her bathrobe, her hair in rollers. "I heard voices. Please tell me there's coffee."
I gestured to the coffee maker where a pot sat. "The Thessmark have been doing this for at least fifty years."
Nana sat down heavily and pulled the laptop toward her. She read in silence, her expression growing harder with each line. "Son of a bitch."
"People tried to investigate," Nina said quietly. "Families asking questions. Parents demanding answers. But the deaths were ruled natural causes. Genetic disorders. Tragic accidents."
"Because the people investigating were part of it," I said. "The medical collective controlled the narrative."
The front door opened, and Stella walked in without knocking, her usual grin in place. "My network's mobilized. Forty-three families are ready to fight."
"Good," I said. "Because we're breaking into that place soon. Tonight, preferably."
Stella's eyebrows rose. "That's fast."
"They were here last night. Six of them. Scouting our defenses." I took a sip of coffee. "We caught three of them about an hour ago."
"You what?" Nina's eyes went wide.
"They came back for another look," Aidon explained. "Bad timing on their part."
"What did you do with them?" Stella asked.
"Sent one back with a message. The other two won’t be bothering us anymore." I shrugged. "Tseki, Layla, and Murtagh are looking for the other three."
Nana cackled. "That's my girl."
The baby monitor crackled to life. Melaina's distinctive pre-cry whimper, followed immediately by Thaniel and Nyssa joining the chorus. "I'll get them," Mom said, already moving toward the stairs.
“I’ll help,” Nina offered.
"What's the plan?" Stella asked, pulling out her phone.
"We find the hidden room. I think they’re hiding the Scythe there," I said. "If we can’t destroy it, I can have Nylah take it. And we make sure every supernatural family knows what the Corvus Medical Group has been doing."
"Exposure," Nana said. "You want to burn them publicly. But what about a medical group for the families?"
"We will make sure another is created. One that is not corrupted. I want to make sure they can never do this again," I replied as I accepted a cup of coffee from Aidon. "Destroying the Scythe would only stop them temporarily. Exposing them would stop them permanently."
Mom came back downstairs carrying Melaina, with Nina carrying Thaniel and Nyssa. "These three need breakfast. And some cuddles."
I took Nyssa from Nina, pressing my face against my daughter's soft hair. She smelled like a baby. Everything worth protecting. "We've always got time for cuddles," I said. "Even if we're planning a war."
Nana stood and stretched. "These assholes won’t know what hit ‘em."
I looked down at Melaina in Mom’s arms. Her tiny face was perfect. Thaniel's sparks danced across his skin. Nyssa's shadows pooled contentedly around her. I would do anything to protect them.
Eighty-three babies had died so that monsters could steal their power. So many families had been destroyed by people hiding behind legitimacy and medical authority. My children would not be numbers eighty-four, eighty-five, and eighty-six.