Delilah opens her bag and pulls out a fishing tackle box and a glass vial. The vial is already half full with a light pink liquid in it. “What’s that?” I tip my chin toward her.“Juice of cranberry and spring water from my coven’s realm. I’m going to add several herbs to it. None of them will harm Beta Lenora or her baby.” She explains as she pops open sections of the tackle box and pulls out pinches of dried leaves, adding them to the vial. “The combination of the ingredients and the will of my spirit… well, the will of my spirit and the blessings of the Goddess Hecate are what give the potion its power.”“Fascinating.” Doctor Nolan cocks his head. “Is this something we can discuss another time, Miss Delilah?”“Oui, Doctor.” She smiles, then murmurs under her breath as she swirls the vial around. There is a shift of the ambient energy in the room. Everything feels lighter and more crisp. It’s the literal opposite of what I have felt when dark witches would fire spells at us in the
I look back to see Kas looking around at us. I need to protect my Luna, but I need to protect my mate too. Kas’s face is deep red where Bronx hit her. She looks embarrassed about the situation. Why would she feel that way? He’s the one who should be ashamed.“Let’s get her into the apartment.” Lenora struggles out of my arms and picks up Kas’s keys to unlock the door. She switches to a mindlink. “Milo, I’m going to deal with Bronx. Wait for us out here.”Before I can reply, she shuts down the mindlink and leads Kas into the apartment. Shit. “I think that’s what they call a no-win situation, Beta.” Tyree frowns, looking at the door.“Yeah.” Reggie puts his hands on his hips and stands next to me. “I think you did the right thing, though. There were enough of us here to help her. I think we were all just too much in shock to act as quick as Lenora.” “Beta, Gamma, they said there’s a problem with Kas.” Delilah rushes up, holding her old doctor bag with James and Ashley in tow.“Yeah.”
“Go ahead, Sister Marguerite.” Leni pulls out a pad of paper and a pen. I can’t tell if she thinks this woman has something legitimate to say, but when my mate turns on her ‘business mode’, no one is dumb enough to stand in her way. “Alpha Regent Bronx Andreas Mason is going to travel with Gamma Regent Reginald Adam Slater. Iokaste remains behind. Beta Regent Milo Emory Stone and Luna Regent Lenora Jane Mason-Stone are absent. I see… there’s a baby girl. She’s very special… Oh! Her spirit is ancient. A very stable thread. I-I think Iokaste will heal her? Or… Iokaste will heal Luna Regent Lenora Jane Mason-Stone’s spirit? Hmm… this thread is unique. The threads of mother and child are woven tightly to the goddess’s.”“Sister Marguerite, you can use our informal titles. Please.” Leni smiles at the bubble, then frowns in concentration. “Kas healed me before I was pregnant. Before we knew she was a goddess. Is that what you see… err… feel? Can you provide more information about this heal
Lenora’s POVI stand up and lean over the table as my temper flares. “Delilah, you told me-”“Beta, can I see you in the hall for a moment?” Milo pinches me by the armpit and drags me into the hall, slamming the door closed behind him. “What do you think you’re doing, Leni?!”“Milo, Delilah gave Kas some goopy neon green shit to drink, then like… sucked out part of her fucking brain! I watched her!” I hiss at him. “It turned her into a hag! She knew exactly what she was doing, too!”“What the fuck are you talking about, Leni?” He looks at me like I’m crazy. “Delilah is a white witch. She can’t be a hag.”“The other night after Kas’s vision. She wanted to remove Kas’s fear. She called it gray magic. I didn’t know what that was. I told her to go for it.” I throw my arms out to the sides in frustration. “How was I supposed to know it was dangerous?!”“Is that why Delilah got sick?”“She stole one of Kas’s emotions, Milo!” I snap at him. “Why can’t you focus on what’s important here?”“We
“Milo, I thought we weren’t going to exchange gifts.” I hold the box in my hand and tilt my head to the side. “I haven’t had time to go shopping for you.”“Well, technically, it’s not for you. It’s for you to hold on to. It’s for Codi for when she gets older.” He squeezes my knee and gives me that lopsided smile that makes me melt. There’s a mischief in his eyes I haven’t seen in a long time.“Okay?” I pull the ribbon off the box and open it. The contents make me gasp. It’s a pair of diamond studs and a matching solitaire necklace. It looks suspiciously similar to my engagement ring. “Oh my Goddess, Milo! This is too much.”“No.” He kisses my cheek. “It’s not. I’ve been holding onto them for years. I’ve been keeping them in the safe with my gun because I know you would never look in there, but you never really seemed that interested in jewelry. I figured whenever we started a family, we could leave them with your engagement ring as part of an inheritance or something. Besides, do you
“Elder Randall, sorry for the delay. Alpha Mike and Luna Sandy are here for the holiday. We were having a private luncheon when you arrived.” Milo holds my elbow and stands half a step in front of me to put space between me and Randall. “Oh! Who is this?”A petite girl stands behind Randall, making herself as small as possible. She looks uncomfortable, tugging on her raspberry colored skirt suit as if she’s not used to wearing something so formal. She pulled her hair into a modest French braid. When she looks up, I can see pure fear in her wide set blue eyes. Her movements remind me of a bird.Carly was right. If she’s of age, she sure doesn’t look like it. I would call you a liar if you told me she was older than fifteen. There’s a sickly smell to her, as if her scent is too concentrated, like overripe bananas. My heart constricts. She has to be a girl he’s selling.“Answer the Beta Regent, my dear.” Randall turns and dotes over the girl. “Remember what you’ve been practicing with ma
Shifting to wolf form reminds me of when I first learned how. It's something you can only do for the first couple of months of pregnancy. Justice keeps up with Ghost to lead the run, but it’s a strain for her, which is a change from her usual effortless pace she kept before we were pregnant.I shift back to human form and snuggle with Ghost near the edge of the woods so he can sniff my belly and connect with Codi. He wraps himself around me while I stroke his head and let his thick coat comfort me. Ghost lays his snout against my belly and huffs. His gray eyes look up at me with surprise and love when Codi reacts to him. There is sadness there, too. I’m not sure why. Outside the enclosure he has created with his body, nothing matters.“She knows you, my brave wolf.” I kiss his nose. “You’re her daddy just as much as Milo. I bet her wolf is going to be gray like you.”Ghost licks my face and before unraveling himself from around me. I curl up into a little ball to stave off the chill
I crawl under the covers and lay on my side. For a while, I listen to Milo snoring. The sound melts into white noise, and I’m able to focus on my body. Codi isn’t jumping around in my belly, but her heartbeat sounds like it’s racing. The doctor said it’s normal for an unborn pup’s heart rate to be close to two hundred beats per minute even when they are sleeping. I try to count the beats, but they are too fast. If her heart is that fast now, how fast is she going to have Milo and me running in circles after she is born? I chuckle at the thought. Justice is already resting in the back of my mind. I can tell the run and the shift wore out. My bones and joints still ache from shifting. I take a cleansing breath and let myself sink further into the mattress. I finally let myself think of Ghost. My handsome wolf mate. I can’t help but smile. Watching him lead the pack through Justice’s eyes for the midnight run filled me with pride. I feel a pang in my heart when I think about the sadness