by Abigail Owen
“Well, that’s one I haven’t seen before,” Selene muttered. “And thank you for the help. But my answer is still no.”
“The thing is… if anything… I think you would actually help bring our family closer together,” Adelaide said.
Lila and Ellie glanced at each other. Adelaide rarely shared what she saw. Her gift was the ability to see relationships between people - past, present, and future. But she usually kept her visions a secret so as not to unnaturally influence anyone.
Selene shook her head, unconvinced. “That sounds really nice. But even for that, I can’t risk it.”
“Well, the thing is, sweetie,” Ellie reached out and pulled Selene to her feet, “you don’t have a choice in the matter.”
“I don’t?” Selene could feel herself giving in. Friendship was such an elusive desire. Something she didn’t deserve. And a small spark of hope now burst through the barriers of both her natural reserve and of her fear of putting more lives in danger.
“Nope,” Ellie continued. “I’ve decided that we’re going to be friends. And that, as they say, is the end of it. We’re treating you to a girls’ night out. No dancing. I know I suggested that last time, but I was probably a little ahead of myself with that idea.” She waved her hand as though shooing that idea out of way. “We’ll start small, ease Griffin into it, so to speak. We’re going to take you out to dinner tonight.”
*****
“You did what?” Griffin’s voice was deceptively calm as he confronted his twin and her mischievous cohorts.
“We took Selene out to dinner,” Ellie repeated.
“That was nice of you, girls,” Lucy said. She was sitting in the armchair working on some intricate embroidery on Ellie’s wedding dress. Thanks to the Svatura’s slowed aging, she still looked fairly young, with her lovely blond hair and green eyes like those of her daughters.
Ellie smiled triumphantly at Griffin. He crossed his arms over his broad chest and pressed his lips into a thin line.
“No, Lucy, it was not nice of them,” he insisted. “It was dangerous.”
“You’ve got to let it go, Griff,” Ellie muttered.
“Her pack killed our family, Ellie,” Griffin said, as if she needed reminding.
Lucy glanced up. “That poor girl has been through heaven knows what, under the thumb of her insane twin brother. If Lila says she is telling the truth, that she did her best to help you and us, then we owe her our lives.”
Griffin shook his head. “Hugh? Alex?” He tried for male solidarity. “You see where I’m coming from, right?”
Alex and Hugh were on the couch watching a Broncos game and trying their darndest to stay out of it.
They glanced at each other. “Ah-hem…” Hugh coughed. “You see, Griffin, it’s…”
Griffin held up his hands. “No, I can see you don’t. So don’t even bother trying.” He grabbed his jacket and stormed to the door. “I’m going out.”
Adelaide laid a small hand on his arm, making him pause. “You have to figure out how to forgive Selene,” she whispered to him.
He jerked away from her touch and felt a momentary pang of regret as rejection darkened the young girl’s eyes. After years growing up with Ellie, he was still getting used to Adelaide’s gentler and more sensitive nature.
“Sorry,” he muttered and turned to the others. “And if you insist on being friends with Selene, I don’t want to hear about it.” With that he banged out of the house.
Everyone was quiet for a few moments.
“Ugh!” Ellie finally exclaimed, throwing up her arms. “Stubborn. Idiotic. Obstinate… Grrrrr… Darn brother!”
Lucy paused in her stitching. She reached over and patted Ellie’s hand soothingly. “Just give him time, sweetheart.”
“He has to get to know her to change his mind.” Ellie angrily hopped up from the couch and started pacing. “Time won’t help that if he’s avoiding her.”
“Don’t force him yet,” Adelaide said.
Alex got up and wrapped his arms around Ellie, pulling her close. His embrace calmed her in a way she so desperately needed right then.
“Listen to Adelaide,” Alex whispered in her ear.
With a big sigh, Ellie nodded her acquiescence. “Okay… I’ll try. He’s just so dang stubborn I could scream.”
“Come on, love…” Alex linked their fingers together and gave her hand a squeeze. “Let’s go home. Give Griffin some time to cool off.”
Ellie smiled up into Alex’s twinkling silver-blue eyes. “Okay… okay. ‘Night everyone.”
They received a chorus of goodnights as they headed out the door.
Chapter 10
Selene wandered through a wooded area. She was dreaming…. She knew this. But it was different than before. The soft snow blanketing the forest floor hushed the sound of her steps. She heard gurgling and realized that she was close to a river. She could almost feel the chilly mist that rose up as the water bubbled over stones rounded smooth by the passage of time and elements.
She felt as though she was looking through a dense, grey fog. Her vision cleared a little, but not much. Night blanketed the forest, almost swallowing it, but was pushed back by the brightness of a near-full moon dropping through the tree branches and casting silvery rays of light on the snowy ground.
Selene moved stealthily, silent as a shadow. She entered a small alcove where the water was still, not quite frozen. She leaned over to look and then recognized that it was not shadow that she resembled, but moonlight. She was in her wolf form, silver white.
She bent to lap from the mountain-fed waters. But something was wrong. There was some dark substance in the water as she drank. Looking down, Selene saw that her white fur was covered in something darker. As a wolf she was colorblind, and it was night, so she couldn’t see what it was. But she could smell… and she knew that she was covered in blood.
Tons of blood.
Horrific screams split the night air.
Selene shot up straight in bed, gasping for air. Frantically, she ripped the covers away and ran her hands over her body. There was no blood on her. Anywhere.
Another damn nightmare.
These were too real. As much as she tried to convince herself that it had just been a dream, Selene knew deep down that something was terribly, terribly wrong.
*****
Ellie jumped as something slapped the kitchen table, just barely missing her bowl of cereal.
“That,” Griffin pointed accusingly at the newspaper in front of her, “is why we can’t trust her.”
Alex, freshly showered from his and Ellie’s morning run, was toweling his black hair dry when he entered the kitchen and caught the offending headline.
“Oh, shit!”
Ellie picked up the paper and carefully read the entire article, while Griffin paced back and forth like a caged animal. “This doesn’t prove anything,” she insisted once she’d finished.
Griffin was incredulous. “A white wolf attacked and killed a group of campers in that motor home park at the bottom of Big Thompson canyon, and you think it doesn’t prove anything?”
“I’m with Griffin on this one, Elle,” Alex murmured, taking the seat beside her. “It’s too much to be a coincidence.”
Ellie glared at her fiancé and received an unapologetic shrug in return.
“Fine,” she said after a few moment’s contemplation.
“Fine?” Alex asked suspiciously, crossing his arms over his chest. “What does fine mean, exactly?”
Ellie fished her cell phone out of her purse. The two men watched as she searched for a number, dialed, and waited for it to connect.
“Hi! It’s Ellie,” she eventually said. “Have you seen this morning’s newspaper?” She listened for a moment as whoever was on the other end talked for a bit.
Griffin grimaced. “She’s blocking me from listening,” he muttered to Alex.
“Huh, well you’re right about that,” Ellie continued, disgusted. “I have an idea on h
ow to handle this. Can you meet me at Hugh and Lucy’s place?” There was another brief pause. “Trust me on this, okay?… Yeah… An hour? Sounds good. See you then.”
Ellie snapped her phone shut and turned to Alex and Griffin with a self-satisfied smile. “We’ve got an hour to get ready and get over to Hugh and Lucy’s.” Then she exited the kitchen.
Griffin sighed. “You’d better go after her, Alex. The mood I’m in, I’d probably say something I’d regret. Much as I love her, my sister can drive me nuts sometimes.”
“I’ll go see what I can find out, man.” Alex gave Griffin’s shoulder a pat on his way out the door.
*****
An hour later, everyone was gathered at Lucy and Hugh’s house. “Okay, Ellie,” Hugh prompted. “You’ve got all of us here, so I think it’s time for you to explain.”
Ellie stood up and addressed her extended family. “Everyone’s seen the newspaper article?” She motioned to Ramsey who was studying the pages. He, Nate, Charlotte, and Dexter had come over from the house next door when Ellie’d called.
Several yeses were mumbled as everyone nodded.
“How many of you think that Selene is the most likely suspect?” Ellie continued.
Alex covered his laugh with a cough. His adorable fiancée never pulled her punches. It was one of the many things about her that he loved so much.
Ellie, Lucy, Adelaide, and Lila kept their hands down, but all the others raised theirs.
“Okay.” Ellie nodded again. “Would you be willing to give her the same chance that you gave Griffin and me?”
“You mean the night of the first wolf attack?” Dexter asked.
When they’d first met, the Jenners and Pierces hadn’t known that Ellie was anything more than a normal human until the night a small band of Vyusher wolves had tried to attack their house and Ellie had intervened, saving their lives. That was the night they’d discovered the truth… Ellie and Griffin were Svatura, like them.
Ellie studied each face in the room, and everyone appeared willing to hear her out. Except Griffin, of course. No real surprise there.
Hugh stepped forward. “If even a fraction of what Lucy tells me about that young woman is true, it’s worth giving her a shot.”
“We’ll do better than give her a hearing,” Ellie said, smiling.
“What are you up to?” Alex asked.
“I say we use the same strategy that allowed me to show all of you the Svatura history.”
Everyone was silent for a second, and then Griffin rose to his feet. “Ellie, we don’t know all her powers. What if she manipulates this?”
Ellie gave her brother a sad look. “You really need to learn to trust people, Griffin, or you will end up leading a very lonely life.” She let out a disappointed sigh and continued. “I know all her skills, because she’s already let me touch her. None of the powers she possesses would allow her to manipulate this situation, even in the future. And especially not against the collection of powers we have in this room. She won’t be able to get past a combination of Lila’s ability to see the truth or sense emotions, Lucy’s ability to see her intent, my ability to control her powers when I’m touching her, Griffin’s ability to read minds, or Adelaide’s ability to see relationships. Between all of us, there’s no way for her to deceive us in any way. And if we’re all touching, I can show you rather than just tell you, which clearly isn’t working.”
“But she can block our powers,” Griffin murmured.
“How do you know?” Dexter asked.
Griffin threw him a cautious glance. Dexter was a quiet force to be reckoned with—the epitome of the strong, silent type, with a stocky build and serious, dark eyes. “Because she blocks my mind reading,” Griffin answered.
“She won’t block any of our powers,” Ellie added quickly.
It was Ellie’s turn to come under Dexter’s scrutinizing gaze. “Same question to you then, Ellie.”
“Because she’s agreed to that. And she’ll be here in a few minutes to put herself through the hell of reliving her life, just so that we can all trust her.”
Chapter 11
Last night Selene had finally forced herself to sleep after waking from that nightmare and then had been woken again at some ungodly hour by the ringing of the telephone. It had been Ellie, alerting her of the night’s events.
Selene didn’t get the newspaper, so she’d flipped open her laptop and went to a site that had local news. There it was, in black and white… two campers had been killed by a wolf. A white wolf. A third camper had survived.
And then Selene realized why Ellie had called. “It’s wasn’t me, Ellie! At least, I don’t think. I mean. Well… it might be. I’ve been having these nightmares.”
“Well, we’ll have to deal with that. I have an idea on how to handle this. Can you meet me at Hugh and Lucy’s place?”
“Sure… but I don’t see how that will help, unless you’re planning on killing me when I get there.” She frowned and briefly wondered if that wouldn’t be for the best.
After Ellie had hung up, Selene sat for minutes, paralyzed. All she could think over and over again was, What if I did this? She didn’t want to believe it. She’d never directly killed anyone before. It didn’t make sense that she’d start now.
Griffin will never, ever believe me, she thought as she forced herself to get dressed. He already has reason to hate me. Doesn’t remotely trust me.
The anger in his eyes when he’d looked at her had broken Selene’s heart. The connection she’d felt with Griffin was undeniable—she’d felt it from the first time she’d seen him. She’d visited him in his dreams for years. But he hadn’t known she was real. And now he hated her.
As Selene pulled up outside Hugh and Lucy’s house, her heart was pounding so hard that she thought it was trying to beat its way out of her chest. After so many years of living, she knew that moments like this—life-altering, road-less-travelled type moments—were preciously rare. She’d never felt so petrified.
She raised a shaky hand to the door and knocked loudly. Ellie answered, and Selene smiled at the friendly face.
“Hi,” Ellie said quietly. “Thanks for coming over.”
“Hi… sure,” Selene mumbled.
“We’ve got a little work ahead of us, and I’ll need your complete trust and cooperation.”
Selene nodded. “You have a plan?”
“Yes, but it depends on you.”
“Anything,” Selene vowed softly. “Anything it takes.”
Ellie stepped aside and invited Selene in. They stood in the hallway, and Ellie proceeded to explain her plan in detail. Particularly Selene’s part in it. As she spoke, Selene’s heart became heavier and heavier, turning into a rock in the pit of her stomach. But she kept nodding. She’d meant what she said—she would do anything.
No matter how painful it would be.
Chapter 12
When Selene and Ellie entered the room, Griffin carefully hid his mixed emotions. Selene’s grey eyes looked almost silver, and she held herself with a regal poise. She looked as beautiful in broad daylight as she did in his dreams, and Griffin had to remind himself that he was looking at a killer—not an angel.
Selene’s heart couldn’t decide where it wanted to be, in her stomach or in her throat. Somehow it was managing to be both places at once. Or, at the very least, it was not in her chest, beating steadily as it was supposed to. She still managed to keep her cool mask in place and nod as Ellie introduced her to everyone. She noticed Griffin from the corner of her eye, but didn’t need to look his way to feel the waves of his hostility as he stared at the floor.
Selene sighed. That bridge had clearly been burned a long time ago.
Ellie turned to the others and started explaining her plan. “This will be a little different from last time,” she began. “Selene has agreed not to block any of our powers. I’ll be able to add Lucy’s and Lila’s into the mix. So you’ll all be able to feel for yourselves if what Selene shows us is the
truth and what her intentions are. You’ll also be able to feel her emotions.”
“Ummmmm,” Selena interrupted. “I should warn you about a few things. First, I’ve been blocking others from knowing all of my powers for a very, very long time. It’s sort of an ingrained habit now. I’ll do my best to drop all my defenses, but I might need occasional reminders if you feel like something isn’t working right.”
Selene looked from face to face, trying to gauge their reactions. She relaxed a little bit. As far as she could tell, Griffin was the only person completely closed to her.
“Also,” she continued more softly, “Ellie tells me that she’ll be sharing my memories with you and the emotions associated with them.” Selene cleared her throat, trying to decide how to express her concern. “I’m afraid that they are very… um… painful, for lack of a better word. I’ll do my best to remember things accurately, and if I can lessen the discomfort for you, I will. But please just be prepared.”
Selene had no idea how she was going to survive what she was about to endure, let alone be able to protect anyone else. She’d never allowed herself to think about her past, and for very good reasons.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Lucy asked with a sympathetic smile. “I can sense that your intentions are in the right place, but I don’t have to use a power to know you’re afraid.” Selene nodded, grateful for the simple act of motherly concern.
“I want to do this,” Selene confirmed. “But let’s get started before I chicken out.”
The others gave a nervous chuckle, but all moved into a place where they could link hands with one another. Selene placed her hand in Ellie’s, who was sitting to her right, and then coughed as Griffin took her other hand, taking the seat to her left. She’d assumed he would sit as far away from her as possible, if he participated at all.
