17. Cherry
Cherry
“So what’s the deal with Erica’s grandmother?” Chase asks from the seat behind me. I glance out the window at the passing trees as I shake my head.
“I’m not sure, really. Erica said she’s powerful and a bit of a clairvoyant.”
“And an omega,” Gage adds.
“Right, and there’s that.”
“What do you think you’ll learn from her?” Hunter asks. “Or what are you hoping to learn?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe more about my phoenix side. Erica didn’t mention anything specific. She just thought it would be a good idea.”
“There it is,” Maddox says from the driver’s seat as a small Victorian-style home appears between the trees in front of us.
“I wonder why she lives all the way out here?” Hunter asks.
I had been surprised to find out that Starfall Haven was actually much larger than what we’d seen so far. Apparently, most of the population didn’t live within ten minutes of downtown like we did. Since we backed onto a forest, I just assumed we were at the edge.
But apparently, many citizens, including Erica’s Grandmother, prefer a more isolated location. On the way here, I’d seen dozens of roads snaking off into the trees. Who knew how many people lived at the end of each of those?
Maddox pulls to a stop, and we climb out of our SUV as the front door opens, and Erica steps onto the front porch, waving at me. “Hey, you found it!”
I nod as we approach, and she surprises me by pulling me into a friendly hug, something I’m still getting used to.
“Yeah, I actually had no idea how big this town is.”
She laughs, linking her hand in mine as she pulls me toward the front door. “You have no idea.”
“Wait,” Bain says, suddenly appearing in front of us. “I need to make sure it’s safe.”
“Bain, I’m sure Erica wouldn’t be taking me anywhere dangerous,” I tell him before I quickly glance at her, only the tiniest bit of worry sprouting in my mind.
“It’s okay, let the wolf shifter check for himself.” I lean to the side as he turns, finding an older woman standing there with her hands on her hips, cocking an eyebrow at Bain in amusement.
She’s not what I expected. I thought she’d be like the grandmothers you see on TV, short grey hair, a shawl over her shoulders, large glasses, and a walking cane.
Although the age lines on her face tell me she has lived a long while, she’s dressed not too dissimilar from Erica, in a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Her hair is blonde and in a modern-styled bob that sits just past her shoulders.
“Well,” she asks, gesturing inside. “Are you going to come in and check it or what?”
Bain only hesitates a moment before he steps into the entry, his nose twitching as he scents the house, his eyes roaming everywhere.
“I thought we’d sit in the parlor,” she tells him, gesturing to a room on our left.
“Actually,” I say, stepping away from Erica to Bain’s side as I grip his arm. “I’d like to talk to you alone, if that’s okay?”
“No,” Bain says sternly. I sigh, glancing up at him and giving him my best puppy dog eyes.
“She can stay in sight,” Erica’s grandmother says. “We’ll cast a silence spell around us.” She raises an eyebrow at Bain as she asks, “Will that satisfy your protective urges?”
He grunts, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the parlor with him as the others follow.
“Where are your mates?” Gage asks as he enters last, glancing around.
“I sent them out on errands. They don’t need to be here for this.”
“They left you alone knowing five alpha wolves were coming over?” Hunter asks in disbelief.
“There are enough protection spells on this house and me that if you meant me harm, you wouldn’t have gotten within twenty feet of my front door.
” She gestures to the couches as she tells the guys, “Please sit.” She looks at me as she points to a couple of armchairs on the other side of the room. “Why don’t we take a seat there?”
I glance at Erica, and she gives me a thumbs up then walks out of the room. I don’t really mind her hearing this conversation, but I appreciate her giving me privacy.
Once we were both sitting, she does the same hand movements Erica had done in her apartment then looks at me and smiles.
“There! Now that we have some privacy, let me introduce myself. My name is Lillian, and, like you, I am an omega.”
“Thank you for letting us come here to talk to you, Lillian. I’m Cherry.”
“Yes, I know, dear,” she says with a small smile. “And you’ve come to ask me some questions. Erica didn’t tell me exactly what it is, but I assume it’s something about your missing bonds?”
I gasp, as my eyes widen. “How did you know?”
“I can see it, dear.”
“Our bonds?”
She purses her lips before she explains. “Not exactly, but I can see that you are incomplete, even though your mates sit right over there.” She gestures to my guys, who are all watching with varying degrees of worry.
Bain looks like he wants to grab me and storm out of this place.
Gage looks like he’s trying to read our lips to gather any info he can.
Maddox, at first glance, is relaxed, but I know him enough now to know he’s hiding his worry behind that facade.
And the twins, well, I can feel them. They’re both a mix of hope and worry.
I look back at Lillian to find her frowning at me. Then her brows rise a bit as if she’s realized something, and she hums softly, studying me in a way that makes it feel like she’s seeing straight through skin and bone. “You think you’ve lost them.”
My stomach drops. “I—” I glance at the guys again, then back at her. “The bond. With Maddox, Bain, and Gage. It’s gone. I can’t feel it anymore.”
She tilts her head, looking slightly confused. “Gone? No, dear. Not gone.”
The hope those words bring has my body tightening.
“It’s there,” she says, tapping a finger lightly against her own chest. “Just quiet. Buried under your shock, grief, and fear.”
My throat tightens. “I don’t understand,” I say, trying to hold myself together instead of sobbing like my body aches to do every time I think about our missing bond. “I can’t feel anything.”
“Because you’re waiting for it to come back on its own,” she replies before tilting her head again. “Or you’re scared.” Then she shakes her head. “That’s not how it works.”
I blink, forcing the tears back, my voice filled with hope as I lean forward and ask, “Then how does it work?”
Her lips smile with amusement before she tells me, “The same way it did the first time.”
Understanding flickers, and my cheeks start to heat.
“We just have to… mate?” I say, whispering the last word. My heart starts to pound. It can’t be that simple, can it?
She nods, once. “Just claim each other the same way you did the first time.”
“A-are you sure?” I ask, hope filling every part of me as my skin starts to prickle. “How do you know it will come back?”
“Because it’s not gone,” she says simply. “It was… interrupted. You just need to reconnect it.”
A breath I didn’t realize I was holding slips out. Relief crashes into me so suddenly it almost hurts.
“If you want it back,” she continues, “then stop being afraid of failing and start doing something about it.”
A new determination fills me, and as I glance at my mates, I’m determined that by the end of the day, we will fix our broken bond. I already spent so much of our time together stuck as a wolf; I refuse to wait any longer.
Glancing at Lillian, another question comes to mind, and before I can stop myself, the next question slips out.
“There’s something else,” I say, moving to the edge of my seat as I look at her. “About shifting.”
She nods, telling me to go on.
“I couldn’t shift for over five years,” I explain. “I was stuck in my wolf form, and when I finally did… it only worked when all five of them were touching me.”
Her brows lift slightly at that. “And now?” she asks.
“I can do it on my own now,” I tell her. “But for a while, they all had to touch me, then slowly, I did it with only a few of them at a time until I could fully control it again. But I still don’t understand it.”
Silence stretches for a beat as she studies me again, deeper this time. “I believe you repressed yourself,” she says plainly.
I frown and she continues. “You chose one form and buried the rest,” she continues. “For survival, I assume.”
I hesitate, then nod. “That kind of choice doesn’t just disappear when it’s no longer needed,” she says. “It lingers. Becomes habit. Then instinct.”
“So why couldn’t I shift back?” I press.
“Because you weren’t just shifting,” she says. “You were forcing open something you’d kept sealed for years.”
My chest tightens remembering all the time I spent trapped at the facility.
“And when it finally opened, and your human side came out,” she adds, her gaze flicking briefly toward the guys, “You needed the power from all five of your alphas to keep you tethered."
I swallow. “That’s why I needed all of them?”
“Yes. Five bonds. Five sources of power. More than enough to tear through what you’d built.”
A chill runs down my spine.
“It was too much,” she continues. “Your body didn’t know how to regulate it yet. That’s why it only worked when they were all there holding it steady.”
“And now?” I ask quietly.
“Your power level is balanced now.” She smiles at me as she adds, “You don’t need them to force it open anymore,” she says. “Because there’s nothing left holding it shut.”
Something settles in my chest. Sometimes I had wondered if my shifting problems would be explained by some strange curse or something Dr. J had done, but the truth was, I did it to myself.
I had forced myself to stay shifted for so long that my power level was thrown off balance, and only my mates could stabilize me.
But considering what might have happened if I shifted at the facility, and that being in my wolf form led me to my mates, I don’t regret anything.