Chapter 5
Effie Harlow
“You’re awake!” Aanya jumped to her feet, her chair screeching against the stone floor as she nearly rushed me. I let out a surprised laugh as her long elegant arms wrapped around me in a tight hug.
I hadn’t realized just how much I’d not only missed her, but how much I’d been worried about both of them, until I felt the relief at seeing both her and Ruby completely unharmed.
I also hadn’t recognized how close I’d grown to them until this very moment.
I’d never had female friends before, and I couldn’t explain just how valuable their friendship had become.
As I pulled back, I could read their expressions with far more clarity than when I first met them—from Aanya’s determined gaze and obvious relief to Ruby looking over me as if inspecting me for injury, undoubtedly because of how she’d found me in the caves.
“I’m just shocked they let you leave that room,” Ruby said with a mischievous smirk.
She motioned for me and Aanya to join her at a small black iron table for four, already set with coffee mugs and some light breakfast snacks.
“Although after what you went through, I wouldn’t blame them—especially after you slept for so long. ”
I had no doubt that the entire time I’d been sleeping, my mates had been insanely protective—something I absolutely loved.
“We were getting worried,” Aanya agreed. “Not only because you literally fell into Lake Michigan”—her voice quieted as if someone could be listening—”but because you healed all of them, even the students who attacked you.”
“I did. Still getting used to that, to be honest.” I wasn’t quite ready to talk about it, so I inhaled and looked around, changing the subject. “Also…this is stunning.”
There really wasn’t any other way to describe it.
The snowy frigid skies soared above the greenhouse’s glass ceiling, but the room itself was warm and humid, like we were in the tropics rather than a Wisconsin winter.
The sound of trickling water told me that there was a fountain nearby, and there were several stone paths leading through the garden, weaving between plants and trees that stretched towards the roof.
The space breathed lush luxury and vibrancy, the air more pure and clean than I’d experienced so far.
Maybe we could do something similar in London…
“By far one of my favorites of his properties,” Aanya said, Ruby nodding in agreement as she lifted a mug of coffee to her lips.
Looking back at both of them, I offered a soft smile. “I’m so glad both of you are here. With everything going on, I really didn’t like the idea of anyone staying on campus. I know I’ve explained a lot of what’s going on to Ruby—”
“I updated her on everything I know,” Ruby said before I could finish, and my chest relaxed. I really didn’t have the energy to do a full rundown right now, so I was thankful for her help. “Including how you almost fucking died.”
Aanya’s gaze lit with anger. “That bastard has to go. Hastain has always given me the creeps.”
I looked down at the table in thought. “He even floated the idea of us mating.”
Bile filled my throat as both of my friends made sounds of disgust. “I want him gone too, but we have to handle this gate into the god realm first. I may not like how we got to this point, but I believe Mona. This shifter trafficking scheme is too large a problem for us to handle on our own—we need help, and they can give it. Though I’m not sure why they would want to… ”
“Because they used to be the ones to handle it,” Aanya said, her gaze going distant for a moment.
“At least from what I can remember in the mythos I read back home. Before the gate was closed, there was a council of gods who would hold anyone disrupting the balance of power accountable and administer justice. They ruled as a governing body and overall—well, at least according to written history, which could be biased—were considered to be ‘just.’”
One group serving as judge and jury didn’t sound ‘just’ to me, but maybe there was something I was missing.
“Hastain should be the very first on trial,” Ruby bit out. “Although he hardly deserves that fair of treatment.”
I nibbled my lip. “And I have a feeling that what he’s doing is so much worse than we even realize.”
“Well, if the entire drugging thing is anything to go by, I would have to agree,” Aanya hissed.
“Drugging?” I looked at both of them in panic as Ruby’s gaze darkened.
“We found out that he was the one who sent the order for me to be drugged and left on the side of the road. That night, someone came up behind me while I was parking my car on campus, and the next thing I felt was a sharp prick, and everything went dark. He used enough to kill me—or so he thought. The asshole didn’t realize just how much magic I have.
Not even including the protective wards I have on myself… ”
My thoughts filled with rage, my hearing going static at the concept of Hastain trying to kill one of my friends.
Of course it didn’t surprise me that he would try something like that, but we’d thought we were going to lose Ruby that night, and to know that he was responsible…
somehow it hit differently than when he was after me.
He kept going after people that meant the world to me, and I wouldn’t allow it.
I couldn’t allow it anymore. My wolf offered a rumble of agreement, stalking back and forth in our subconscious like she was ready to attack.
“And all because he’s angry that you’re the mate for his son’s BBP,” Aanya spit out.
She was right; the entire situation was absolutely ridiculous.
I was ready to do whatever was needed to make sure he was held accountable for his actions, but I knew that trying to do anything about him right now would be pointless.
While Hastain was a large part of ‘our’ problem, he wasn’t the only element in the big picture.
After unlocking the pendant, I was acutely aware that there was a massive network of people just like him.
People who exploited those they considered weak, who would do absolutely anything to ensure the final outcome was the one they wanted.
“Ruby may have already told you, but when I was searching for the Homura and Fengari stones,” I said, wrapping my hand around the pendant, “I was given visions of how bad the situation was in the past and how intensely it could escalate. We have to intervene before people like him become the majority rather than the minority.”
“And we want to help one hundred percent, any way that we can,” Aanya said with absolute conviction.
“No matter what we need to do,” Ruby agreed.
I couldn’t put into words my gratitude for their support, but before I could even try to express that, Tore’s large shoulder pushed through the french doors, his hands full with a large tray of food.
My stomach rumbled right on cue, causing a panicked look to flash over his face.
Ruby made an amused noise, but my cheeks were so pink that I kept focused on my mate, refusing to own the embarrassing sound that left my stomach.
“Eat,” Tore rumbled, setting everything out before pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Morning,” he said to Ruby and Aanya, the word almost a question, as if he had forgotten they were here—or maybe he hadn’t known. “I’ll be right back, lil bit.”
I watched him disappear before turning back to my friends, who were both watching the interaction with different levels of surprise and confusion. I figured I should explain since Tore was acting a bit more gruff than usual.
“He’s worried that I haven’t eaten since the night of Hastain kidnapping us, so he wants me to eat all of this.” I motioned to the enormous breakfast tray with a small giggle.
“We can help with that.” Aanya flashed a smile. “That way he won’t worry.”
Thank goodness, because it was the perfect amount of food split between the three of us. I had no idea how he expected me to eat all the food on that tray on my own. Maybe he could’ve eaten all the pastries, fruit, eggs, and assortment of other dishes, but me? Not so much.
For the next hour or so, the three of us caught up as we ate, talking about everything else that had been going on—which included finally getting some information about Reaper and how he was with them almost all the time now.
I explained the process of unlocking the pendant and told Aanya about seeing her parents, and I honestly found myself wishing I’d spent more time with them because her focused gaze, absorbing every word I said about them, told me she missed them a lot.
Which was how we got on the topic of why she was avoiding her grandfather.
Of course I’d heard the story from Ryder, but hearing it from Aanya and how oppressive his traditional viewpoint tended to be made me feel that much more relieved that her parents and Ryder had fought for her to be raised here instead of with him.
It wasn’t until my mates as well as theirs slowly began to join us in varying states of wakefulness that we talked about our plan moving forward, and I was relieved to find out we only had to wait hours until evening and the new moon.
Life had been crazy recently, but I couldn’t fight the feeling that we needed to act fast, that we didn’t have a lot of time before Hastain started something that couldn’t be stopped.
As we talked, I noted the way Aanya’s mates sat nearby, their posture relaxed even as they watched her like a hawk.
Ruby’s mates talked to mine, going over the plan for tonight with Reaper…
and it suddenly hit me that everyone was aware of how big this was and on the same page as us that we had to stop Hastain.
They were truly invested as well. There was far too much to lose, and everyone knew it.
In that moment, a feeling washed over me that I wouldn’t soon forget.
The familiarity, the comfort of our large group and how it felt like a true family.
The way it gave me a sense of true belonging.
With that sensation, though, came a memory that I’d repressed, a simple thing that stung in a way that Theresa probably hadn’t even realized.
“What are you watching?” Theresa asked, her voice steeped in boredom and annoyance as she walked out of the bedroom.
I didn’t know where Gerald was, but I had to assume he was still in there.
They had both slept in fairly late after their fight last night…
something that I didn’t want to think about.
“It’s a movie about a small Christmas town, and right now she’s out with her friends telling them about her family plans for the holiday. Apparently they’re doing a friends Christmas party as well.”
I loved the concept of ‘friends-mas,’ although I doubted I would ever have enough friends to celebrate something like that.
“Ridiculous.” Theresa shook her head while pouring a cup of coffee from the pot I’d made for her. “Family is the only true family you have—friends don’t count. Friends will always leave you. Friends only want things from you.”
And at the time I’d believed that. Now her words didn’t make sense because the people in this room felt far more like family than the two of them ever had—even with how they interacted with one another. And they were literally family.
No, Theresa was wrong.
I had found my family, and I was going to protect them.