Chapter 1
Effie Harlow
I’d never looked into my past—never tried to discover what awaited me there.
At least not to the extent that I could have. Of course I’d tried to ask Gerald or Theresa once or twice, but each inquiry had always been met with a negative response, to say the least. Although now that I knew more, I understood why they’d been so defensive.
It appeared that picking up children off the streets and selling them to the highest bidder was a habit of the Whitepaw pack.
At least I had to assume that was the case since the way they had talked about it was so normalized.
As if it was no big deal that the president of a university had purchased me for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Goddess. My stomach rolled at the thought.
There had been other times as well when I’d searched as far back as possible within my memories to find any clue as to where I’d come from, usually late at night in an attempt to ignore the crude comments coming from Gerald’s friends on the other side of the door.
But each time I’d been met with an impenetrable wall, impossible to break through.
Then again, my old bedroom wasn’t exactly the best place to focus, the underlying fear for my safety always making my present take priority over my past. I had been far too focused on hiding from those intent on hurting me as well as those who had successfully hurt me.
Unfortunately, it now seemed my lack of effort was going to be the cause of far more chaos and confusion than I could have ever imagined.
Mona, the blue-haired woman from my dreams, was claiming that I was her daughter.
The room had frozen at her declaration, with the exception of President Hastain who hung suspended against the wall by some type of invisible force.
One that appeared to be suffocating him as he clawed at his throat, turning blue in the face.
I could hardly focus on that, though, when Mona was continuing to stare at me with a soft affectionate smile that followed words that were so incredibly foreign.
A mating bond is sacred and should be celebrated, honored, far grander than this…especially for my daughter.
Her daughter. Mona was my mom. I couldn’t begin to process that. Not only that I’d found my mother, but that she was someone like Mona—the woman looked like a true goddess.
The ceiling of the room had turned transparent upon her arrival, the moon shining down and casting her in a silver glow—a moonbeam personified.
A dress of silver stars and clouds surrounded her, flowing out and spreading throughout the room, casting it in a surreal, dream-like aura.
Rather than making the room feel peaceful, though, the darkness fueled the rising tension as a nervous energy bubbled through the dining room behind me.
While I may have been stunned by the beauty of it, and it seemed like others were in a similar state, I could practically feel the bubble that would soon burst, causing the stupefaction to disappear.
That was when chaos would erupt.
Then again, maybe it would last. What did I know about true magic? All I recognized for sure was that this was what my mates had meant when they’d mentioned it before. Although, even if Hastain did have true magic, it wasn’t comparable to this.
A nervous panic began to crawl up my throat, feeling extremely overwhelmed as any bravery I had when I’d announced to everyone that Tore marked me disappeared and was replaced with caution and worry. I felt off-balance and had no idea what to say in the face of someone looking at me so expectantly.
A worried noise left my throat as my wolf whimpered and curled up inside me, staring at the woman claiming to be our mother in both anger and distrust. I understood why my wolf felt that way, especially if this was the woman who had abandoned us to the Whitepaw pack, but I couldn’t entertain those emotions. Not yet.
The noise that left me snapped my mates into action.
They immediately turned and looked back at me in concern, from where I stood between Ryder and Caedmon.
Confused murmurs filled the space as people began to pull from their shocked states, causing me to feel even more uneasy as the heavy weight of their gazes fell on me.
“You’re Effie’s mother?” Dakota’s voice pulled the attention from me, his commanding presence and demanding tone making me feel a sense of security and gratefulness for my mate, because he at least seemed to know the right questions to ask.
“Yes,” Mona said, far more casually than I thought was warranted in this situation.
Luckily she didn’t appear to be bothered by his tone, but instead rather amused.
It was clear she was powerful though, considering how she was holding Hastain hostage, making me feel that much more on edge. We needed to be more cautious with her.
Her gaze moved to Hastain, offering him a menacing glare. “I would have preferred a private meeting to tell Effie exactly that, but I had to step in before things grew more dire.”
Dire was a fantastic word for Hastain’s suggestion of forcibly breaking my mating bonds with my men along with the ties they held to each other as members of a blood-bonded pack.
The thought made me feel almost dizzy, and thankfulness overshadowed all my questions, that this powerful woman—no matter who she was—seemed bent on stopping him from moving forward with it.
Not that my mates would let him.
“Who are you?” asked a deep, accented voice that vibrated with power.
Ryder’s grandfather. His dark eyes were narrowed in distrust, and despite his youthful appearance, from the half-shaved hairstyle to the tattoos covering his neck and arms, his power and the painfully intense aura that surrounded him revealed his nearly ancient nature.
It didn’t help that he was seemingly livid. Something that stood out in comparison to the shock and fear that filled the rest of the room.
“Ojiisan, don’t.” Ryder’s soothing voice that always made me feel settled echoed through the space in warning.
I wasn’t positive if that was his grandfather’s name or title, but it caused the older man to look at Ryder with anger before directing his attention back to Mona.
Ryder didn’t like that, and I could feel the tension through his frame increase as I tried to move my body into action, wanting to comfort him.
My fingers slid against his arm, wrapping around his forearm. Ryder looked down at me, his gaze filled with concern and a tiny bit of fear. I didn’t know if it was because of his grandfather or Mona, though.
“Emiko,” Mona offered in greeting, making me think that was the man’s name. Then she smirked. “You know exactly who I am.”
It was clear he didn’t like her answer because immediately his eyes went wide and he spit out, “Impossible.” He broke into another language while looking down at his son, Ryder’s uncle, who stared down at the floor in contemplation…or maybe it was fear.
Swallowing down my nerves, I went to say something, knowing I needed to speak up—
The doors slammed shut.
I wasn’t sure when they’d been opened, but the shockingly loud noise had me looking towards the door. Caedmon’s father still faced them, the doors having closed right in his face as he’d tried to flee. He spun sharply to face Mona, his gaze darting to Hastain before moving back to her.
“Let me out of here. Now.” Caedmon froze beside me at his father’s harsh tone, but despite the hardness of his voice, there was something else there. Something stronger and far more overpowering.
Fear. He was scared of Mona. While I shouldn’t have enjoyed someone else’s suffering, I felt like Caedmon’s father wasn’t just ‘someone else.’ No, this someone had hurt my mate horribly, severely scarring his psyche, and it filled me with a need for vengeance that I’d never experienced before, even when I’d been wronged by others.
Mona’s face blanked of any emotion, and she nodded back towards the tables. “Sit, boy. You were not dismissed.”
The room went deathly silent, everyone petrified by the woman holding the room captive.
Caedmon’s warm, rough hand squeezed mine right at that moment, and when I looked up, he was watching his father with confusion…but also relief. Or maybe not relief, but something else for sure, because the tension he was holding in his frame seemed to be slowly seeping out.
When his father leaned against the doors, not moving but also not arguing with her, I thought I saw a flash of victory in Caedmon’s emerald eyes.
I understood that completely—I imagined it felt good to see someone who had caused him so much pain be put into his place.
I had felt a tiny surge of the same when my mates had stood up for me in front of Gerald and Theresa.
Although that flash was gone when his father shot him a malice-filled glare from across the room. A growl nearly left my throat in defense of my mate, but his gentle squeeze of my hand had me relaxing and looking up into his affection-filled gaze.
“Now, Effie,” Mona began again, returning her focus to me.
“You’re my mom?” I asked. The mistrust and confusion openly expressed in my voice and caused her expression to turn sad as she nodded. I didn’t enjoy seeing that look on her face, but I also couldn’t ignore my own hurt and misgivings.
Namely—why hadn’t she ever reached out to me before? Why hadn’t she come to rescue me from the Whitepaw pack?
“Yes, I am,” she said softly. Hastain made a choking noise that caused her to turn towards him. “Something we will talk about in just a moment—I need to fix this particular problem first.”
Mona’s magic released Hastain, and he dropped to the floor, gasping for breath after having the wind knocked from his chest. He eventually scrambled to standing, looking furious and scared, jabbing an accusatory finger at her. “You can’t come in here and—”
“Take over the room? Remove everyone’s memory of the heinous suggestion you brought up and replace it with one of celebration that ends with you threatening to attack them because you’ve lost your mind, resulting in your possible removal from the school for being feral?
” Mona mused, tilting her head in an almost predatory movement.
“That is exactly what I will do, and if anyone”—she turned her gaze towards the crowd—“with true magic breathes a word of the truth, I will ensure that you don’t see another rise of the sun. ”
Holy Goddess.
Despite her terrifying words, the crowd was captivated by her voice, and while there was still confusion, I could feel her magic saturating the room and infecting everyone with a false sense of calm, sedating any possible panic. Well, except for Ryder’s uncle and grandfather.
“I’m confused,” I breathed out to Ryder, not understanding her magic or what she was capable of, if she could deliver on her threat. It was loud enough, though, that her gaze moved to mine, a softness and understanding invading her features.
“My magic allows me to remove memories, but it only works for those without true magic, so unfortunately Emiko and his son will remember all of this, along with Hastain. All three are hopefully smart enough to realize the threat to their life is absolute if they don’t follow my directions…
and if not, their deaths certainly won’t have me losing any sleep. ”
Emiko grunted in anger but didn’t disagree, sitting down next to his son and shaking his head, livid with the way all of this was going. He wasn’t the only one.
“You can’t remove our memories.” Tore’s father spoke up. My fenrir mate rumbled in frustration at his father’s demand, but Mona didn’t seem surprised nor did she seem hostile towards him—at least not to the degree she’d been with Caedmon’s father.
Although the latter did look enraged, nearly purple in the face.
“Unfortunately I have to, although I understand why you’re upset, Alpha Hansen,” Mona said patiently.
“I want to remember what that bastard suggested,” he argued, angrily throwing his arm in the direction of Hastain. “If we don’t remember, we can’t guarantee he won’t try it again.”
“As much as I agree with you, I think you would find most of those present—including the board members that traveled here for the weekend—would have been willing to agree with him.”
I knew at that moment she wasn’t wrong, because most people in the room were now avoiding her gaze, looking guilty and uncomfortable.
My wolf made a defensive noise that I swallowed down, feeling betrayed by a group of people I didn’t know. I mean, with the exception of my mates’ family members, I had never heard of, let alone seen any of these people before.
Who were these people to decide if I should be with my mates or not?
“Still, I will leave you all with the distinct impression that he was going to attack your loved ones so that you won’t trust him,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Now, I don’t have much time with my daughter, so while I would love to soothe all your concerns, I’m going to make this much easier on all of us. ”
Before I could question what she meant, she snapped her elegant fingers and a blue and silver sonic wave spread through the room, shaking the windows and then snapping back towards her.
In response to her magic, the air around me glowed pink, and I felt a breathless sense of wonder at how beautiful it was… before it disappeared.
I looked up to find all my mates staring at me in surprise and awe. A reaction that had my cheeks flushing.
“Much better!” Mona declared happily.
Except for the six of us and her, the entire room was frozen in time.