Aniketos Chapter 26 Beasts and Barriers 325 #2
She blinks her mercurial grey eyes, a slow, easy smile spreading across her face.
"Holy god balls," she breaths, her voice full of genuine, awestruck wonder.
"Who knew carrying around all that extra magic would be so heavy?
I feel like I could float away." She pats herself as if making sure she’s still in a physical body.
The sheer casualness of it, after the cataclysm we just witnessed, leaves me speechless. My claws— when did they extend? —sink into my palms. The familiar, clarifying sting of pain grounds me.
Then her gaze, bright and impossibly alive, slides past me and Emerson to Kieran. "So," she says, as if asking for the salt at dinner. "Know where a girl can try out skydiving?"
Kieran, the easy-going flirt, sputters a laugh. Forrest pinches the bridge of his nose. Emerson starts muttering about "energy transference" and "living capacitors."
But I just stare.
The terror is still there. The need to shield her is a weight in my chest, solid and absolute. But underneath it, something else is taking root.
Awe.
She's chaos wrapped in a fragile shell. She just shed enough power to level an entire city. And she did it like it was nothing.
She's ours to protect.
The Beast doesn't roar this time. He purrs. A low, possessive rumble that vibrates through me.
Ours.
The rightness of it sits with me for the rest of the drive home as she chats animatedly with Kieran about jumping out of planes. For everyone’s sake, I block the discussion out and focus on the road.
The SUV rolls to a stop on the quiet, tree-lined street in front of the house. It's under my mother's name. Safer that way. We both changed ours years ago so no one knows we're related. No one can use them against me. They are the only family I have left, the only family any of us has left.
I used my first clean SI paycheck to buy this place and build an entire identity for both of them before I even found them.
It took months of searching through Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia.
I finally tracked them to northern Peru, just over the border, living behind the tiny bakery my mother had built from the ground up.
I almost spent another few months hunting the elders from our old Shadow. The ones who thought my mother and sister could be sold off to wealthy packs for breeding.
Alphas are rare. Omegas are even rarer. Without a strong alpha, a pack is a target.
Because of this, women were commonly used as bargaining chips between packs.
That practice only got worse after my father died and I was taken.
My father ruled with an iron fist, but he was compassionate.
He saw women as equals. He was the first in our village to let them fight, divorce, and marry for love.
I've always suspected that's why the traffickers "just happened to stumble" across our hidden village. In the middle of nowhere. Deep in the forests of Paraguay.
When my mother told me what happened after they declared us dead, I assumed it was the elders. They wanted to lure new alphas with the promise of my mother's hand—or my sister's. My sister was eight.
I still can't think about it without wanting to burn something down.
If they hadn't told us about the raid that destroyed the village after they fled, Forrest and I would have burned it down ourselves.
The house flashes in my vision, grounding me in the present. A shock of color that cuts through the rage. This place—these colors—they mean home. In the Pits, home was the only thing that kept the animal from taking over. It's still the only thing that can.
The Victorian is painted in my mother's language. Deep violet clapboards, the color of my shadows at dusk. Trimmed in rich teal, with creamy off-white on the gingerbread and mustard yellow on the doors and windows. It doesn't try to blend in. It refuses to. A slap of color against all that green.
I cut the engine. My brothers unbuckle, grabbing their things. Raven sits motionless among them, staring up at the house, eyes wide, fingers curled tight in her lap.
She's nervous.
This place is my sanctuary. To her, it's just another intimidating new world.
Fix it.
I get out and stand between her and the house.
If I can't take her nerves away, I can at least block the view.
I open the door. She takes a breath that sounds too small, then steps out.
Her shoulder brushes mine, and another jolt goes through me.
My shadows slip out from my cuffs, reaching for her before I can stop them. She relaxes into them.
Then the front door swings open, and my mother fills the space. Not with size—with presence. She's in a flour-dusted apron, a bandana holding her hair back. Her eyes land on Raven immediately.
We kept things vague. Phone lines aren't secure. If she knew we were bringing a woman, she'd have interrogated us for hours. Selena knows a little more because Kieran can't keep his mouth shut, but we kept my mother in the dark. She doesn't need her heart broken if this goes south.
I can feel Raven tensing under my mother's gaze. I shift, putting myself slightly in front of her.
"Syju." I nod, giving her a look I hope says tread carefully . "This is Raven. She's assisting with our case."
My mother meets us halfway up the walk. "Welcome, child." Her voice is warm. I force myself to relax.
Raven offers a hesitant smile. I study her—anything to focus on something other than my mother and her meeting. She looks pale. Small against the house. The need to provide roars through me. That magic must have drained her. She needs fuel. Rest.
"She needs to eat," I say. "Protein, vegetables, no more chocolate."
My mother's eyes narrow, then a massive smile breaks across her face.
And I’ve already fucked up. She knows. She's going to say something before I've even had a chance to talk to Raven about it.
Before either of us can speak, a whirlwind in a knitted cardigan bursts onto the porch. Selena. Her eyes lock on Raven with open curiosity.
"Oh, you have to be the one these males have been all tangled up about!" She hugs Raven without preamble. "Come in, I have so many questions. You look like you could use a real friend and some tea that isn't just leaves boiled in testosterone."
Raven's tension shatters into a surprised laugh. She lets Selena pull her toward the front door. "Gods, yes. Please. Save me from myself."
The moment Raven crosses the threshold, a low growl vibrates in my chest. She's being taken. It's inside my territory, but away from my side. Illogical. Animalistic. I don't care.
The growl is soft, but it carries. My mother's gaze cuts into me, a silent warning. My sister freezes for half a second, eyes wide.
Raven glances back over her shoulder. Her gray eyes meet mine. No fear. Just acknowledgement. Like she's saying, I hear you. I'm not scared anymore.
Then she's gone, swallowed by the house, Selena's chatter trailing behind her.
I'm left standing at the base of the porch steps with my mother and brothers. They all just watched my control fracture. The bold colors of the house seem to mock more than comfort.
My mother raises an eyebrow. "Well, Jaguari," she says softly, using the name only she gets to use. "Care to tell me why I wasn't updated before you showed up with your mate ?" Her tone is sharp, but the excitement in her eyes says something else.
"Och, dinnae blame him, Mami. Gramps was the one harpin' on about information being intercepted. Made it impossible to say a word." Kieran holds out his arm, and she loops hers through his, ignoring that Selena somehow knew. "Besides, we're here now."
Forrest's voice cuts through as we make our way up the walk. "We'll be having a separate discussion regarding need-to-know information, trust, and what constitutes a critical breach of it." His gaze isn't on Kieran. It's on me.
They file past me into the house. I don't move.
I realize something as I stand here. The hardest fight was never in the Pits. It's right here. On this porch. And I'm already losing ground.
From inside, I hear Raven's laugh, bright and unburdened, mixing with my sister's chatter. The protector in me needs to be in there. The Beast needs to be at her side. The man is stuck here, terrified of ruining the first good thing in his wreckage of a life.
Control , I think again. But the word has no edge left. It's just a sound. It means nothing.
Her laughter floats out again. Bright. Terrifying.
I take a step. Then another. Following it in.