Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
When we finally return to the omegas, they tease me about my extra-long heat, though their eyes are hollow; they know the truth about the attack, about the affinitied alpha.
I’m sure they got it out of an exhausted Graeme or a stressed Jack.
Still, it feels good to be teased, even if we all know better.
We’re even more cautious when approaching the castle now, sticking to back roads and watching for tails, but it seems no one else knows about the omegas in the castle on the cliff.
We take supplies Gerard provides, more clothes and rations, clean bottled water.
I’m teased again when I watch my men haul in all the heavy goods while sitting on a low wall around the castle garden, enjoying the show.
It’s not my fault my alphas are all so strong, wearing tee shirts that show off the muscles in their arms. Saints, but they’re nice to look at.
Cora sits beside me on the wall, a little closer than she would have a few weeks ago. “Are you still mad at me?”
I turn to her. “Cora, I was never mad at you. I was scared for you. You’re my friend, and I didn’t want to see you get hurt or worse.”
“But the information helped, right?”
“You have no idea how much. We’ve been able to piece together that my father is giving alphas affinities.”
She shudders. “That’s what Graeme thought. Can I show you what I’ve been working on with him, or are you too busy watching the muscle show out here?”
I color. “I’m, ah, done.”
“Uh huh,” she teases. “Come on. I’ve been waiting for you to return. I’m glad you waited until the danger died down a bit. Jack told me it was mayhem out there while they were searching for that alpha. They didn’t find him, did they?”
I shake my head. “They did not.”
Cora grumbles at that as we approach the small room where we’ve been practicing her magic. She doesn’t even bother stepping into the safety cage as she whips up a shield. “Test me on it.”
“I don’t know, Cora.”
“It’s the fancy one your mate came up with.
Jack taught it to all of us. Even the omegas who don’t speak English have learned it.
Someone got hold of a Mandarin-to-English textbook, and they’ve been learning English.
Aimee’s teaching them all the naughty words. They definitely understand ‘knot’ now.”
My first instinct is to groan, but I’ll never regret the omegas getting closer—and Cora getting close to them too. I sigh. “All right, I’m firing sparks at you, but remember, you asked.”
“I know, I know,” she says impatiently. “Get on with it. I’ve got this spell down.”
I grab my scribe and take on an attack stance, let my magic flow, and shoot off a small spark. It bounces harmlessly off Cora’s shield. At her insistence, I bombard her with more, until she finally tires and drops her shield.
“Your spellwork is progressing so quickly!”
“I’m thinking of joining Ian’s classes, if you don’t mind?”
“Mind? Cora, I’m thrilled. Come on, we’ll sneak you in in the middle of his lesson.”
“You like watching him teach.”
I smile. “I do. It comes so naturally to him.”
“And to you. You should see how deep the omegas can go with their affinities now. All thanks to you training with them.”
I’m sure that’s not all true. After all, the omegas have been practicing plenty on their own, but my chest still fills with a warm pride.
We’re giving them a fighting chance. All of them.
When I’m not working with the omegas that summer, I’m working on training of my own.
We’ve finally moved back into the pack house for now, but I know Cassian will make us retreat to his family’s estate at the first sign of danger.
In truth, I appreciate it. I feel safe there and enjoy being surrounded by the family Cassian gave me when he mated me.
My future sight is improving, much to my pack’s amusement.
When I’m working on vision work in my nest, I often catch future sights of them coming upstairs to me—almost like mini visions.
I race down to the kitchen and crash into their arms, showering them with kisses.
I’m starting to think they make up excuses to come upstairs just for the hugs and kisses.
I’m working on calling larger visions, Cassian at my side, when I succeed and get my next vision. Pain spikes in my head, and I murmur to Cassian that I’m falling into the vision just as I do. I feel his arms go around me, and then I’m gone.
It’s another peculiar vision, like I’m watching through my own eyes. I feel my hands curl into my fists at my side as my father speaks.
“You have no idea how easy it is to set up a clandestine facility like the one in New Jersey. Of course, I had plenty of practice when I was locking your magic.”
I bite my tongue despite wanting to lash out at him.
“But now you’ll see what we’ve built here. What you’ve been so curious about. You flew all the way to New Jersey just to find out what I’m up to. Honestly, I’m flattered.”
The monster. Was he tracking us or watching us the whole time? We’re lucky we weren’t attacked.
Two Soldiers of Saint Aldous come up to my side and take my arms in theirs, shouldering me forward into an operating theater. “Now to show you what I’ve been doing. I’ve achieved a fifty percent success rate. You should know what my work entails, and you will, now that you’ll be helping me…”
Cassian holds me tightly as I emerge from the vision. The moment I stir, his purr kicks up in his chest, creaky at first, then a low rumbling sound I feel down to my bones. It soothes all the rough edges left by my vision, but I can’t help but dread what I know now.
“My father won’t stop. He’s going to find a new laboratory. A new facility.”
Cassian carries me down the stairs to the couch, where my pack and Marcus have already gathered.
They surround me, holding me close, my alpha mates all purring for me.
As Marcus approaches, they part so he can come to me.
I look up at him through teary eyes, and he crouches before me to wipe my tears away.
“It’s all right now, Juniper. Remember, you can change the future. You’re strong and a brilliant mage,” he says in a low rumble.
Can I? How could such a grim vision come true? My father suggested I’d be helping him in his experiments, but I would never. Can I truly change this future? Can I change any future?
I shake my head to clear it. “I want to train. I need to move.” I can’t let this vision weigh on my mind as I have all the others. I need to be stronger if I’m going to change anything, let alone the dark future I’ve seen.
“That’s my strong mate,” Cassian murmurs in my ear. “Combat training?”
I can think of no better way to get moving. Combat training is both a physical and mental game, the stances so much more active than those of regular casting.
Luca, Simon, Cassian and I tromp down to the basement practice room. Though Luca and Simon both know some rudimentary combat magic, Cassian far surpasses them. I’ve only learned what Cassian has taught me so far, and I’m looking to strike back against the Soldiers with more than just my affinity.
Cassian stalks in front of us, pacing before the magical wall that will absorb our spells. “What I’m about to teach you, Junes, is illegal magic for omegas.”
“All combat magic is illegal for omegas to learn and use,” I point out.
“Some of these spells were recently called out in the new legislation. I’m teaching you the agonia hex today.”
I hide my gasp. That’s powerful magic. I can see myself using this spell in only the most extreme of situations.
Could I truly cast such a horrific hex after seeing what it’s done to Marcus and Ian?
I’ll have to, I realize. When I confront Baphomet’s Prince, and I will confront him, I’ll need every possible tool at my disposal.
I’ll have my affinity, the ability to spike pain in his mind, but I’ll need this too.
I nod. I can do this. I can at least practice the dark hex.
Cassian gently corrects my stance. “You’ll have to put a lot of intention behind this spell. You can only cast it if you truly wish to hurt the person you’re casting it on.”
I press my lips together and nod my understanding.
I’ve seen this hex enough times to know how it’s cast, but Cassian runs me through it all the same.
It’s just three sigils, a spell that relies entirely on intention, just as Cassian said.
I’m the first to try casting it, Simon and Luca wisely standing behind me, protected by Cassian’s new shielding spell in case the powerful spell goes wild.
“Agonia!” I shout, putting all my intention behind the word. It strikes the practice wall in a shower of dark sparks.
“Good,” Cassian praises. “Again.”
We practice the spell until we’re exhausted.
Even Simon, who struggled with his intention in his first few times trying the spell, learns to cast it with his full power behind it.
Luca never once hesitated, and I know why—he’ll hex anyone who’s remotely a threat to me.
Already brutal with his fists, he’s now armed with the magic he’ll need to protect me from greater threats.
We practice another banned spell the next day, a paralyzing spell stronger than any other stunning spell I’ve learned before. Cassian makes us practice it on him, and my first few spells go wild. How can my mate expect me to hit him with such a hex? It’s no agonia spell, but it’s brutal on its own.
I whip through the three sigils on the third time I cast it, aiming my intention at my mate.
His legs and arms immediately lock up and he drops to the practice mats, where he stays for an entire five minutes.
I crouch beside him and take his pulse. It remains just as strong as ever.
The hex hasn’t hurt him, but it has paralyzed him.
When he finally stirs, I take his stiff body in my arms. The first thing he does when the paralysis wears off is kiss me.
“Very good, Junes. I’m so proud of you.”
I’m working on my future sight with Ian, worn to the bone from training and working with the omegas, when Simon tramps down the stairs to the basement.
“All right,” he says. “Enough training.” He rubs his hands together, a twinkle of glee in his hazel eyes. “It’s blanket fort time.”
Ian arches a brow.
“Oh, you’re helping,” Simon assures him. “And if you’ve never done it before, you’re learning.”
“Can’t say I have,” Ian says, a note of humor in his voice. “All right, what do you need from me?”
“Go strip your bed. We need sheets and blankets.”
“Understood,” Ian says with a wry smile.
Simon and I trample up the stairs behind him, and I dash to my nest, grabbing all my nesting materials with Simon’s help.
Simon has already gathered the blanket and sheets off of his and Cassian’s bed, and for a moment, all I want is to drive straight into them.
Luca emerges from his room with his bedding, grinning. “It’s been way too long since our last blanket fort!”
Simon and Luca get to work, running Ian through the finer points of fort building as they go, until our living room is transformed. There’s more than a little magic holding the blankets up, but it’s perfect.
I crawl into the fort, beckoning for my men to follow. It’s a tight squeeze, but isn’t that the point when you’re an omega and your men have built you a blanket fort? Snuggling super close and basking in their scents?
Cassian and Marcus emerge from the basement where they’d been sparring, and I stare at them through the open flap of the fort, my mouth going dry.
Sweat plasters their shirts to their hard bodies, and I see Simon noticing the very same about Cassian.
All the sparring has turned Cassian’s already muscular physique into something even hotter.
He has muscles enough to match Marcus’, and the sight of them makes me perfume.
“No sex in the blanket fort,” Simon says with a roll of his eyes, though his words lack conviction.
“Join us?” I ask.
“Showers first,” Cassian says, and Marcus nods, eyes intent on me. His nostrils twitch as he draws the scent of my perfume into his nose, and he lets out a long sigh, a glint in his gray-green eyes. A very promising glint.
Saints, I could get used to that look in his eyes.
Cassian and Marcus disappear upstairs, emerging a few moments later, their hair wet from their showers.
They crawl into the cramped blanket fort, settling on either side of me, surrounding me with their scents.
Marcus’ wintery wind and pine is so at odds with Cassian’s salty summer sea air scent, but somehow, they’re perfect together.
My eyes flutter shut as I draw the scents of my other men into my nose: Simon’s clean beta scent, Luca’s red wine and juicy cherries, Ian’s citrus and cedar.
Saints, it smells like pack, especially with Marcus in here. He holds me so sweetly, gently stroking my cheek with the backs of his fingers, scent marking me in front of my whole pack, staking his claim. It makes me shiver, and I shiver once more when Cassian drags his knuckles down my spine.
I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, surrounded by my men. Soft music plays from the stereo outside the fort, and it’s perfectly cozy as I cuddle down among them.
My whole pack, a voice in my head whispers.
Saints, do I want Marcus as my mate, for him to bite me and mark me, to make everything official between us.
But I’ll take our sweet, heated exploration as we slowly come back together for as long as it takes.
Already, he knows just how to wind me up, and I revel in it.
Surrounded by my men, I feel safe, safer than I’ve felt since the gruesome attack on Annette Claude.
Cassian’s purr stirs up, followed by Ian’s and Luca’s, and I reach out for their hands, lacing their fingers with mine, needing to touch them. Simon holds my head in his lap, gently combing through my hair with his fingers, and I sigh in utter contentment.
Surrounded by these men, after my summer of training, I feel ready for the next school year, ready for whatever my father and the Soldiers of Saint Aldous can throw at us.
I feel brave. Like I’ve rediscovered my thorns.