Her Truth
Jayce
My eyes flash as lightning crackles around my hands when suddenly there’s a small puff behind us. I sense Ahren’s presence as his hand grips my shoulder, then we’re being sucked away. Another puff, and we land at the edge of the Blood Moon Pack territory.
“What the-” I begin, but Ahren pushes us both towards the barrier, looking over his shoulder. He’s in a right state, breathing hard as he keeps looking over his shoulder, an urgency in his eyes.
We cross the threshold of the barrier, and only then does he exhale, allowing himself a moment to slow down.
My mind is still reeling from what went down with Sienna not long ago. For once, I’m grateful for the fucking distraction, although for a fleeting moment, I felt as if history was about to repeat itself. Only this time I refused to lose.
“What happened?” I ask sharply, turning to Ahren as Sienna supports him.
“They came for him, so I ported him to Leo’s pack instead. He’ll be safe there until we can find a way for him to get to Alaska… I then went into the past. Fuck…”
He pulls away from Sienna and drops to the ground, flinching as he clutches his side.
“You’re hurt!” Sienna says as she begins whispering a spell, pressing her hands to his side. “Gods, there’s a blade.”
“I know… Just listen. I got caught up with whoever was after that information in Italy, and I think he was the one outside the takeaway shop just now. I had to get you both out of there, just in case.”
“Care to share how exactly he renders shifters useless?” I ask as I bend down, grab his arm and drag him to his feet. “Let’s get you inside.”
“Through open wounds. If we have even a scratch on us, it’s all he needs.
An open cut exposing even a speck of our blood,” Ahren mutters.
“It was Tomaso Andretti who destroyed his own papers, knowing someone was after them. That’s the father of Saul – the man we met up with earlier.
He said the man looking for the research was the one with primordial energy.
Well, when I tried to remain there longer to witness it… I…”
He turns to look at me, and I arch a brow, moving my head away and shoving him towards Sienna. “Way too close, man.”
But he doesn’t look amused at all as he stares ahead. He then looks at Sienna, and I can tell they’re mind-linking.
Sienna looks at me; her eyes filled with that same open vulnerability she wore earlier when she pushed for answers, and then I feel her trying to enter my mind.
I don’t know how to say this, Jayce, but the block I felt trying to go to that specific moment in time, to remain there to see the enemy...
I felt that very same energy when I tried to teleport back in time to the moment your mother was killed, but couldn’t.
It felt exactly the same – the same kind of energy, the same block that was stopping me. Ahren’s voice enters my mind.
I freeze, my entire body stiffening as his words sink in, and I look at him sharply. Sienna’s heart is racing, too, as she stares at Ahren.
Are you saying you think a primordial killed Aunty Raven? she asks, clearly as shaken as I am.
I don’t think; I’m fairly certain, Ahren responds.
The same primordial, or do you think there are two? Sienna asks the question that has just crossed my mind, too.
I have no idea, but I think it’s time we call a Council meeting and get everyone up to date, Ahren says quietly.
I remain silent, the news that there is another force at play…
And Theo, who was so certain it was one of our own.
There’s no way it could be one of our own.
Maybe he’s wrong. I need to talk to him.
I miss talking to my brothers as one. Since he left, since I left, since his accusation – things haven’t been the same.
Right now, I wish he were here; I wish we were all together so we could discuss this.
We pass through security at the gates, heading towards the Westwood Mansion, when I speak through the link again.
How do we find out who is a primordial?
There’s silence before Ahren responds, I don’t know.
I am certain we witches should be able to find a way, Sienna adds, looking at me; the tension between us pulls tight, and we both look away at the same time. Right now, I wish I could reverse time to the moment before I lost my temper and said way more than I should have.
Or even demons; you are connected to Nyx, too, I say quietly.
Ahren sighs. “I need a break.”
“Don’t we all…”
I have one request: I don’t want anything we discovered mentioned to anyone as of yet – especially regarding the primordial who can take a person’s wolf, and if they do happen to be the one who killed Mom, then that’s two fucking birds with one stone. Let’s set a trap, I say quietly.
That’s risky, Ahren says, now glancing at me.
I shake my head. I don’t know… The fewer of us who know, I think the better… If the enemy is connected to us, for example, if he’s somehow using Katara… My train of thought dies as something Theo said ages ago returns to me. The enemy knew where to look for the tomes…
Jayce? Sienna’s voice draws me from my thoughts, and I frown.
If he’s using anyone as a spy, then we don’t know who we can trust. So, for now, let’s keep it between us. Where is Dante? I ask Ahren.
Probably paying his dues. He shrugs, then winces but doesn’t explain what he means, and I don’t really fucking care.
Let’s at least ask Heaven and Allie for help. Sienna says softly.
Allie? There’s nothing she can do, so what’s the point?
We are the Trinity Witches; together we work well. I know they can both be trusted. Maybe more minds can help?
Bit rich coming from you, I say quietly through the mind-link.
She frowns slightly, looking away. A lesson learned.
Ahren frowns at me. “Stop bullying my sister; she’s still a Rossi Princess and has an army behind her if you dare upset her.”
“You’re fucking annoying, you know that?” I shoot back.
“I’m told so often enough, not that I agree,” he says as we reach the door to the mansion. I reach to open it, but it’s pulled open by Dad. He’s only in a pair of sweatpants, and he seems to have been in bed.
“I was just told by patrol that you three were returning. Where were you?” he asks.
“My bike. Fuck,” I mutter.
Ahren cocks a brow as I feel an ache in my chest. Not the best time to think about it, but I fear what might have happened to it.
“I’ll get the first aid box,” Dad says as he motions for me to take Ahren to the lounge.
“I’ll go grab some of my herbs,” Sienna says as she hurries upstairs.
Ahren groans as I help him to the sofa. Once he’s sitting down, he pulls off his shirt, and I look at what looks like a broken blade embedded in his ribs.
“Why the fuck didn’t you pull that out?” I ask.
“I can’t grab it; it’s spelled.” He gives me a scathing glare as if that’s obvious.
“Let me,” Sienna says.
She’s back, but she’s no longer wearing her jacket; the corset top she’s wearing accentuates her tiny waist and ample breasts. Power move.
I walk over to the window, itching to reach for a cigarette, but the disappointment in her eyes when she saw me smoking… that fucking returns. Plus, Grandma would fucking kill me if I smoked inside. Even though I know Theo still did.
“Want me to yank it out?” Dad asks.
“Go right ahead. If you can, I couldn’t,” Ahren says, his voice strained.
I watch as Sienna hovers over him; she crushes some herbs in her hand as Dad’s aura swirls around him as he reaches for the blade. I watch from beside the window as Dad gets a grip on the blade and yanks it out.
Sienna grimaces as Ahren groans, but I see the broken piece in Dad’s hand as he puts it down on the bandage he had taken out. Sienna moves forward, placing the herbs where blood is dripping out of him.
“Don’t get it on Grandma’s couch; she will kill you,” I remark, leaning against the wall.
“You’re annoying as hell,” Ahren groans, and I notice Sienna hiding a smile.
I fucking told her what I feared. Fuck.
“It’s healing,” she says softly as she crouches beside Dad, her hands glowing.
“That’s pretty impressive,” Dad says to her with a gentle smile.
“Healing isn’t my strong suit,” she admits, a strand of her hair falling in front of her face.
As if realising I’m watching, she looks up, and I step away from the wall.
“Well, it’s been a long night; I’m going to head to bed,” I state, walking towards the hallway.
She’s watching me, but I refuse to make eye contact as Dad gives a curt nod.
“Goodnight,” she says softly.
I don’t respond and head upstairs. Entering the bathroom, I grab my toothbrush, staring at my reflection as I begin brushing my teeth.
A primordial may have killed Mom… But why? What did killing Mom achieve?
I look down, the ache in my chest intensifying. I let her die; I fucking failed her. I splash my face before switching the tap off and heading out of my room and down the hall to my bedroom. Entering, I pull off my jacket and top. I drop onto the bed and stare at the ceiling, a frown on my face.
Tonight was fucking unexpected. From the shit that went down with Sienna and me, learning Enzo’s full name, learning about the primordial, how our wolves are being taken from us.
Every single thing holds a lot of fucking weight, and yet it’s her that keeps crossing my mind, her face that lingers in my mind.
The look in her eyes as she spoke those words.
“It makes you anything but a coward.” She’s delusional… and yet she spoke so earnestly. “You gave me a reason to breathe when it felt like I was suffocating. You made me smile when it hurt just to exist. You loved me at my lowest.”
I still fucking love you, and I hate it.
I close my eyes, massaging my temples when the door opens. I smell her before she even speaks. “You should knock before entering someone’s room,” I say without opening my eyes.
I hear the door shut quietly, and I open my eyes, cocking a brow as I sit up, watching her walk over to me, her hips swaying ever so slightly as they always do when she walks. It isn’t on purpose, but she fucking demands attention without even realising.
She stops a couple of feet away.
Then, to my surprise, she drops to her knees.
My breath catches.
She looks up at me just as she did the night she shifted, and for a moment it’s like I’m dragged straight back into it, into that memory, into her – and my heart betrays me all over again as her glamour fades, leaving nothing but those striking red eyes staring into mine, filled with too much, too many emotions I don’t want to name.
“What the hell are you doing?” I ask quietly, though the edge in my voice doesn’t quite land the way it should.
“Speaking my truth,” she says softly. “I owe you that much.”
Before I can stop her, before I can shut this down, she lowers her gaze, drawing in a steadying breath, and when she looks back up at me, there’s nothing guarded left in her expression.
“I was happiest when you were by my side,” she begins, her voice steady despite the emotion threaded through it. “I would choose a single month with you over an eternity without you. I would choose death if it meant I could hear those three words from your lips just one more time.”
Each word lands heavier than the last.
“I know I destroyed you when I rejected you,” she continues, her voice trembling slightly. “But every day since, those same words have cut through me deeper than any blade ever could.”
My jaw tightens, but I don’t interrupt.
I can’t.
“You were the moonlight that guided me through my darkest nights,” she says, softer now, her gaze never leaving mine. “The hope that gave me something to hold on to when I was ready to let go.”
Her voice drops to a gentler tone.
“In you, I see something more than strength, more than power,” she whispers. “I see something that rivals a god, because you carry a love so fierce and relentless that there is nothing that compares. And you gave that honour to me – to be loved by you.”
Her breath trembles, but she doesn’t look away.
“And I threw it back at you.”
The words hang between us.
A painful reminder of a life that felt like it was a lifetime ago.
“But if there is even the smallest part of you that still feels what we had,” she adds, her voice barely above a whisper, yet still filled with sincerity as she continues. “Then let me fight for it this time… Let me be the one who refuses to walk away.”
Silence follows, the tension fucking intense.
She stands up gracefully, backing away towards the door without turning away from me.
“Let me fight for you.”
And for the first time since she walked back into my life, I don’t know what to say.