Chapter Thirty-Two
We Couldn’t Possibly Catch a Break
IMOGEN GALLAGHER
The soft light of the purple dawn casts a golden hue over the Banfield Court. A magickal safe place hidden from the world. Liam and I stand side by side, the warmth of our intertwined fingers doing little to chase away the cold pit in my stomach.
Last night we found solace in each other’s arms. A love so intense, so consuming it makes any romance novel I’ve read pale in comparison. Our souls have joined. Every touch, every whisper means so much more.
Now, the world has come crashing back down around our shoulders, and our blissful cocoon shatters.
Witches dressed in flowing robes move gracefully around Jackson’s funeral pyre, their chants filling the air with an eerie melancholy. Their voices weave a haunting lullaby, meant to guide his spirit to the afterlife and into the arms of Fate.
It’s beautiful and sad and painful.
Beside Liam, Bast stands rigid, his face a mask of stoicism. Yet the trembling of his jaw betrays his anguish. The same pain that thrashes and writhes inside my mate’s heart.
Their mother stands, silently crying on Bast’s other shoulder. Eleanor and Aiden stand a few feet behind them. Another small group of men—wolves—stand in solidarity with them.
Liam squeezes my hand, pulling me closer. The bond we share pulses with comfort and strength. He shouldn’t be comforting me at his own brother’s funeral, but I admire the strength he possesses that gives him that ability.
We stand for hours honoring Jackson’s sacrifice. The mournful singing never stops and the wild flames leap into the sky, turning his body from flesh and blood to ash.
When the embers of the funeral pyre have been reduced to a soft glow and the sweet scent of burning herbs and incense fills the air instead of the smell of death, the song stops. Liam’s emotions intertwine with mine through our bond—a mix of sorrow, love, and an unyielding determination to protect those he holds dear.
Bast and their mother trail a few paces behind us. Before we get very far down the path back toward the village, Aiden approaches, his face etched with unease. The natural authority he usually carries seems to waver, replaced by an uncomfortable hesitance.
“Bast, Liam,” he begins, voice thick with emotion. He clears his throat, searching for words. “I wish I could give you both more time, truly. Grief is not something to be rushed.”
“Jackson wouldn’t want us to sit around where there are threats to our family,” Bast says, standing a little straighter. “What’s going on?”
Aiden nods in agreement and continues, “There’s been a message sent to Gen.”
Liam stops and fixes his gaze on Aiden, the raw pain in his eyes momentarily shifting to sharp alertness. “From?”
He looks at me this time. “Your brother Lucas wants to talk to you.”
A cold shiver runs down my spine at the mention of my oldest brother. I haven’t spoken to Lucas in over two years. Maybe three. And like Finn, he never seemed to care about me at all or even try to protect me from our father.
Liam tightens his grip on my hand and I can feel the protective and possessive surge in him, ready to shield me from any threat.
“What could my brother possibly want with me?”
Aiden frowns. “There’s been a lot of movement at your uncle’s place. We saw Lucas there yesterday. Also, no one’s been able to find your father’s body in the rubble or Meredith’s, and all of Oliver’s surviving enforcers seem to have dropped off the radar. None of them are talking. Moving. Nothing. But I have no idea what the message from Lucas is about.”
“My brothers don’t and haven’t ever cared about me.” Liam’s thumb rubs soothing circles over the top of my hand. The level of solitude I’ve felt in my family is overwhelming.
Bast speaks this time. “What about the strangers outside Oliver’s when we got out with Liam? Several of them looked like men. And they were casting spells. But I’ve never heard of a male witch. I saw a woman when they took Liam. She helped me. I could’ve sworn I saw her again when we came out of Oliver’s house, but it was so loud and chaotic—”
Aiden cracks his knuckles and shakes his head. “We don’t know who they are. The witches here don’t either, but Lila is being cagey. So I think they know something. But none of our scouts have seen the cloaked people again since the explosion.”
Cloaked people. I know who they are. I stare at the ground. I know more because I witnessed the conversation between Meredith and Talia. She came to warn Meredith. She came to help her and Emma and instead Meredith died saving us and Finn took Emma and ran.
Liam squeezes my hand. “If you know something, you can tell us, love. We’re on your side.”
I glance up at my mate, expecting judgment in his eyes, but there’s none. There’s not a single thread of it flowing through our bond either. Just patience and kindness and love. Reassurance. My side... I’ve never had one person on my side, much less a group.
Do I say anything? Do I share Meredith’s business? We’re all in this together now, though. We’re hiding from the ghost of my father inside the witches’ court.
“Do you need to speak to someone else first, Gen?” Aiden asks, his tone even and calm.
I glance at Aiden and then back to Liam. And then into Bast’s anxious face, then shake my head. “A woman...she said her name was Talia Windham...approached Meredith, Rachel, and me in Denver. She was from somewhere else. Another court or coven, from what it sounded like. Somewhere Meredith’s husband was living. She was wearing a lot of leather, a hooded cloak. Very much pulling off an Assassin’s Creed vibe.”
“Meredith has a husband?” Liam’s eyes widen in surprise. “Why didn’t—”
“Wait, the woman’s name was Talia?” Bast says, interrupting his brother.
I look at Bast and nod. “Yes. And she wasn’t just a witch. She was a wolf too. I could smell her beast. And she said she was both—a hybrid.”
“I’ve never heard of a hybrid.” Aiden’s voice is deep and hushed. Then his whole stance shifts, and he gets fidgety. “We need to speak to Lila and the others. This coven is ours to protect and I don’t want them thinking we’re not on their side. They’re family.”
Bast looks around the slightly shocked group. “A woman like Gen is describing saved my life in the alley when Oliver’s men took Liam back. I would’ve been dead along with Jackson otherwise. Noah was about to shoot me. She definitely smelled like a wolf but acted like a witch. Threw him against the building with a flick of her wrist.”
“Let’s go have a talk with Lila, Rachel, and the others. Then we decide on how to answer Lucas.” Aiden looks at me for a second, waiting to see if I’m okay with that plan. Like I’m part of the family too. Part of the pack.
I am. I squeeze Liam’s hand. “Yes.”
Aiden leads our group down the path back to the village, Bast and Liam flanking me on either side. Their mother and Aiden’s mother break off and head into a small cottage while we forge ahead to the meetinghouse in the center of the village.
Voices carry on the still night air.
“Why would she just die for them? She was more powerful than any other witch here. She didn’t have to die. She chose to. Why?”
“The O’Connor wolf was like a son to her. I feel the same about most of the pack, Aiden included. My daughter grew up with all of them.”
“We’re missing something. Meredith could’ve taken down Oliver’s entire pack by herself. And Lawrence being here complicates everything! We’ll have witches from the New England court crawling all over this mountain looking for him if they aren’t already.”
“Yes, and finding us instead of him.”
We stand in silence outside the meetinghouse staring at each other. I don’t know what the others are thinking, but if Meredith could’ve single-handedly taken out my father...what was it about Emma and Finn that kept her from doing so?
“We can’t give up our home. None of us know how to construct a new court. And only a Mathair can cast such a complicated spell.”
“I don’t want to leave either, but I also don’t want to die.”
Aiden pushes the door open. “And we’re going to figure out how to save your home together. And you’re certainly not going to die. My pack will protect every last one of you to their dying breath. You’re family.”
The room is silent. They all stare at Aiden. Then at each of us.
Lila stands near the center of the room. Rachel and Alice are standing next to her. “You don’t understand the full extent of the danger, Aiden.”
“We need to share information. We need to know what’s going on. Bits and pieces won’t work. Trust goes both ways.” He steps closer to Lila. “Let us help you, please. There are so many things going on right now. We’re not seeing the bigger picture.”
A hushed murmur ripples through the witches, their attention now fully on us. I glance at Rachel, her eyes meeting mine briefly before flickering away.
Aiden’s right. The secrets need to be unraveled.
Lila nods and motions to an empty bench. “Come join us. There’s a lot that needs to be discussed. I’ll start, then you fill in if you know something else.”
We follow her directions, the four of us sitting quietly at the front near Lila.
“Meredith was very powerful, you know that, but you probably don’t understand exactly what kind of scale she was on compared to the rest of us. She was what we call a Mathair —a mother witch. Her lineage traces back centuries. Powerful blood. Powerful magick. The ability to do spells and create beyond what most of us here can do. She chose to die in that house and we don’t know why. She turned herself over to Oliver when Emma bonded to Finn. But beyond that, we don’t know much about that relationship. She communicated with Rachel from time to time and got messages back to us. But she had to hold Oliver at bay.”
“Yes. They had a degree of mutual assured destruction between them,” I say. “My father didn’t hurt or bother with Emma as long as Meredith helped his business thrive.”
Lila frowns. “Yes. It gave him a significant advantage over his brother, and Dave Gallagher has gotten much more vicious over the last several months. He’s managed to quietly assume control of several small outlier packs around the area, strengthening his pack numbers by almost double what they were six months ago.”
Holy shit! “Did my father know Uncle Dave was doing this?”
“Not according to Meredith. Not for quite a while. But she did think it triggered him looking for a weak point in the O’Connor pack. That was when he found and bought your father’s gambling debt, Aiden.” Lila turns to me. “He had to have leverage so Aiden would agree to marry you, Gen. And then he would’ve had the O’Connor pack on his side against his brother.”
Aiden’s nodding, a thoughtful expression of agreement on his face. “Dave had already approached me several times about an arranged marriage to someone in his pack. We thought we’d kept the debt a secret, but Oliver has really good resources. Apparently better than Dave’s.”
“My father is a cruel bastard, but my uncle isn’t a good man either. Still, he feels he has a righteous cause because Oliver stole what was his. Dave is the eldest brother and should rightfully be the single Gallagher alpha. He’s always maintained that his goal was to unite the pack and fix what Oliver broke.”
Lila glances at Rachel. “It’s probably worth meeting with Lucas to see what he wants. We have no idea what he could want with you, Gen. I’m sorry. We can send Rachel with you if she’s willing.”
“Yes. Absolutely, I’ll go,” Rachel answers quickly.
“Very good. Be careful. If Oliver’s still alive, Lawrence is hunting him and probably also looking for Emma, which means he’ll be looking for us, likely thinking she’s gone into hiding here in the court. Coming in and out of the court will be very dangerous and needs to be done with the utmost caution. Do you understand?”
“Yes, but who exactly is Lawrence? What should we be prepared for?” Aiden’s eyes snap to Lila. “We can’t be careful of a danger we don’t understand.”
Lila releases a heavy sigh. “Lawrence is a warlock—a male witch. They’re forbidden and typically eliminated at birth by witches loyal to the Mathairs .”
The silence and disgust in the room is deafening.
Aiden’s face is blank. “Go on.”
“The most important parts are that his mother didn’t agree with the law, like many of us, and was able to hide Lawrence from her coven. He and Meredith fell in love and planned to run away together. The New England Mathair found out and sentenced them both to death—Lawrence merely because he existed and Meredith for being a traitor to her lineage. The coven managed to mark Lawrence unbeknownst to Meredith before they fled together . The mark allows him to be magickally tracked if he steps outside of a court...like a homing beacon.”
“Fuck,” the three men growl almost at the same moment.
“Yes. Exactly.” Lila continues, “He left Meredith for her own good even though it nearly broke her. By doing so, he saved her life and the life of their unborn child. The Mathairs focused on him more than Meredith and she was able to slip away and build this court to protect herself and Emma.”
My mouth drops open. “The Mathairs didn’t know Meredith was pregnant, did they?”
“Correct. And Emma is the product of a warlock and a witch, making her more powerful than her mother or father. The Mathairs will want her desperately when they realize she exists. Most wolves don’t know this, but bloodlines matter for power. The more pure generations in a row, the more powerful you are. Because witch law doesn’t allow male witches to live, the Mathairs created a loophole for collecting more power. We harvest magick when witches pass away.”
The room spins around me. I squeeze Liam’s hand and he pulls me into his side. “You want Meredith’s body so you can harvest her magick?”
Lila’s eyes narrow. “Meredith would want us to have her magick to protect the coven.”
Aiden stares in silence, his face still unreadable.
Bast raises his hand. “You said bloodlines matter for witches, but what about wolves? And what about the witch wolf—Talia?”
Lila doesn’t miss a beat. It’s like she’s just been waiting for the right moment to open a Pandora’s box. And we’re in that moment. Right. Now.
“It is the same for wolves. When a wolf mates a wolf, you get more powerful wolves. When a wolf mates a human, the power dilutes. And when you start mixing wolf and witch lines...the magick starts to mix and grow differently. But the same principle applies. Magick grows more magick.”
“And if the Mathairs realize there are hybrids—”
A tightness grows in my chest waiting for Lila’s answer to Bast’s question.
Lila pauses, her face going semi-green. “We’ll have more than just the New England Mathair to deal with.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Aiden’s face is like a storm cloud before a tornado drops out of it—dark, unpredictable, and so very lethal.
“It means the European Mathairs will come for us all. And even the New England court will do most anything to avoid that. Which means eliminating all traces of Lawrence and Talia.”
I squeeze Liam’s hand harder.
He pulls me into his lap and wraps his big arms around me, making me feel safe and protected. He buries his face in my neck and places a kiss on the side of my neck. “We’re gonna figure this out together, love. But you’re safe with me. With your family.”
My family.
I snuggle into his chest deeper, reveling in this man’s overwhelming love and protection and respect. I can feel it all, but his words of reassurance mean everything. And I believe him.