Chapter 7
Trish
“I didn’t volunteer anyone for anything,” I growled for what must’ve been the hundredth time.
Meg and Alec were royally pissed that they’d been assigned to travel with me to Ossory border and camp out there while I….
I honestly still wasn’t sure what I’d signed up for. Alpha Kera said I was only there to observe and to keep a low profile. That I should stick close to the others from our region. And I shouldn’t try to do magic unless I had help.
Or don’t do any, to be on the safe side.
You’re just as bad as they are!
Maybe this whole thing was a little reckless of me, but I was getting sick and tired of everyone treating me with kid gloves. I was a full-grown female wolf-witch. Darn it.
“This will be good,” Mom said, standing on the porch beside me. The worry creasing the lines by her eyes made this seem like it’d be anything but good.
But that was Mom.
“Mom’s right. Let’s hurry up and pack so we don’t keep Alpha Kera waiting,” Meg said.
“Kiss-ass,” I called her over our mental pack link so Mom wouldn’t hear.
Meg glared at me, but turned to our other sister instead. “Where are you going?”
“To pack. Like you said.” Alec put her middle finger in the air.
“Language… or… gesture!” Mom scolded.
I let the screen door close behind me and rushed to the safety of my room. As if seeing Jaxon and the rest of the wolf-witches I’d grown up with wasn’t enough, I’d gone and thrown myself right into some fray—dragging my sisters with me. Because, of course, I wasn’t trusted to go by myself.
I really didn’t mean for any of this to happen.
It was all Jaxon’s fault.
What?
Seriously. If he hadn’t shown up with his stupidly muscular body and his macho warlock powers and the dumb alpha hero complex, then Alpha Kera wouldn’t have asked him to go—in my place—and I wouldn’t be in this situation right now.
I threw my travel bag onto the bed and yanked two dresses off the hangers from the closet. Neither was appropriate to spend a week camping at some festival where I’d no doubt be ridiculed and made fun of, and that was if I didn’t burn the whole place down.
But I’d be spending the time in human form since most witches and warlocks weren’t wolf shifters. Even if they were, telepathic communications between wolves were limited to familial packs and fated mate pairs. That meant I needed clothes.
And Jaxon would be there to see them.
Go with the black dress.
I didn’t care what dress Jaxon would prefer anyway. I’d be avoiding him like the plague. But maybe, just maybe, this would be good for me.
A small hope took root.
It was about time I left this pack for a bit and saw what else was out there.
My sisters and I had traveled a little after Gram died, searching for our fated mates, but none of us found them.
Would this be another opportunity to meet our matches?
I didn’t know. As wolf shifters, we’d grown up with the knowledge that there was one match out there in this whole wide world for us.
My wolf whined softly as I shook my head, ignoring that ache in my chest.
It didn’t matter.
At this point, my sisters and I were practically old maids. Mom hadn’t matched with Dad until she was almost thirty. She thought we might be late bloomers too, but I thought we were proving her wrong.
Still, I did want to meet someone, someday.
You have Jaxon.
I rolled my eyes. She’d been hung up on that little crush since we were kids. Obviously, we weren’t mates, or something would’ve happened by now.
My wolf started to growl.
“I like the white dress.” Dad’s deep voice pulled me from my thoughts.
I whipped around, holding both dresses up. Dad had built this cabin with his own two hands for Aunt Kera and Coral when they were still young. He stood hunched over in it now, not quite entering my room, but filling the doorway with his massive size.
I lifted the white dress higher and studied it. Ruffles lined the bottom, coming just above my knee. “You hated this dress the last time I wore it.”
“Of the two, I like the white.” Dad scratched his beard, looking away.
I glanced down at the tight black little number. “Oh.”
“Now, ask me if I think you should be packing either dress for what I’m hearing is a recon mission into what might be enemy territory,” Dad said. I blinked.
He shrugged. “No.”
“And there he is.” I struggled to hold back my smile. My dad was all grizzly-wolf shifter—more beast than man most of the time, unless Mom was around. He’d taught us three girls how to hunt and fish and encouraged us to train with Alpha Kera on the days he didn’t run us himself.
But he was still a girl dad through and through.
“I’m not telling you how to dress your body or what to wear.” He spoke slowly, motioning with his eyes to the dresser. “But might I suggest a good, sturdy pair of pants for this mission?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m not an idiot. I’m packing real clothes. The dress is just… extra.”
Dad visibly relaxed. “Good. Now I want you to go over the plan.”
I was sure Alpha Kera had already told him, but Dad worried like Mom did. The difference was that he’d always trusted me.
“Meg and Alec will travel with me to the Anubis-Ossory border, where they’ll set up camp on Uncle Jareth’s lands and stay close by in case I need help.
If anything goes wrong or we get a bad feeling, the three of us are to abort mission and come running home,” I recited like a good little wolf-soldier, only slightly annoyed that my sisters were being dragged into this mess with me.
I doubted I’d ever hear the end of it.
But I wasn’t challenging the plan, despite how much it hurt that they didn’t trust me to do this alone. I wasn’t stupid. I had no clue what I was getting into and no idea how my magic would react. If something bad happened, I trusted my sisters to help.
And Jaxon will be there.
I’m not his problem, I shushed my wolf.
“What’s wrong?” Dad frowned.
“Nothing.” I shoved both dresses into the bag so I had options, hoping my dad didn’t scent the lie.
No such luck.
“You can talk to me, kiddo,” Dad said. “I know you’re worried about dragging your sisters into this, but trust me, they’d be lying around complaining you were off on an adventure the whole time you were gone.”
“That’s not…” I shook my head. Of course, he knew what was bothering me. Maddock may have been the Sigma wolf enforcer of our pack, but he was still my dad.
“You know what?” He stopped, then started again, “Your grandmother would be proud of you.”
He never talked about Gram, and hearing him speak of his mother now, even all these years later, made tears burn behind my eyes.
If only it were the truth.
Gram was a powerful wolf-witch. I was a broken genetic offshoot.
“I’m serious,” Dad growled as if he could hear my inner thoughts. “I know how much you’ve given up to keep the peace between your sisters. She valued loyalty like that.”
He’s going to make me cry.
I shrugged. “Just fulfilling my oath.”
Dad sighed. “It’s more than that. You’re a Cerberus wolf and your mother’s daughter, but you have something the rest of us don’t.”
“And what’s that?” I sniffed.
“If you don’t know yet, you’re going to have to figure it out.” He shook his head sadly. “Your mom says this trip will be good for you. In case you forget, she didn’t come into her powers until she was almost thirty, and then she needed some help to figure it all out.”
Dad got that gleam in his eyes that he always did when talking about Mom. The same look that made me want to plug my ears and sing, no matter what age I was.
“You’ve still got time,” he said. “And you need to remember they wouldn’t have requested you if someone out there didn’t know as well as I do that you’re meant for greatness.”
“Gee, thanks, Dad.” I rolled my eyes and hugged him quick so he wouldn’t see the worry on my face. That was the burning question, wasn’t it?
Why in the world did they want me there?
“Are you ready yet?” Meg stormed into the hall, carrying her almost empty travel bag.
Of course she was already packed.
“One second.” I released Dad and went to grab some “real” clothes.
“Hurry,” Meg growled. “It’s going to take us forever to get Alec out of her place and we’re already running behind schedule.”