by Abigail Owen
Selene gave him the sweetest smile he’d ever seen. “If we started over, we wouldn’t know each other at all.” She touched his mouth with her fingertips. “And I wouldn’t know how these lips feel against mine.”
“Hmmm … I guess I would be sad to forget that. So – not starting over?”
Selene shook her head. “Just… moving forward.”
“I like that. But only if it’s together.”
“Together…” Selene rolled the word around in her mouth, testing it out. She had been so alone for so long that together had become a strange concept to her.
Griffin captured her chin between his thumb and fingers. “I won’t ever leave you again. I promise you.”
Selene could sense the strength of his intent, his conviction, and felt some small part of her give way. Not a dam bursting inside her. More like a chunk of ice falling away from the glacier she’d buried her heart in so long ago.
“You’ll have to teach me how to trust.” She looked up at him with such faith in her eyes that Griffin pulled her into a tight embrace.
“You humble me,” he murmured gruffly into her hair. “Despite everything that has been done to you in your life, the fact that you can still look at me and ask that of me…”
Selene hid a small smile in his chest. “You do have a bit of a suspicious nature,” she teased.
Griffin chuckled. “As with everything else, I suspect we will learn to trust each other together.”
“Together,” Selene repeated. The thought filled her with a warmth that did even more to melt the ice block around her heart. I like that, she thought to herself.
Griffin twitched in her arms. “Hey! I heard that!”
“Heard what?” Selene looked at him puzzled.
“Your thoughts. You like the thought of together.”
“Well… yes?” Selene was slightly confused by his gleeful response.
Griffin smiled. “Usually I can’t hear anything you’re thinking. You block me out. And I know that most of the time you do it without thinking or trying. I’ve only ever heard you when you’ve consciously let down your mental walls, and I can almost feel you will them away. But this I heard despite those walls.” His eyes lit up in a way that still had a crazy effect on her heart rate.
“Oh!” She chuckled.
Griffin gathered her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. Both of them happily remained there, content to just be.
Chapter 45
Lila kept an eye on Ramsey, keeping her ability to sense and heal emotions focused toward him. The whole family was sitting outside the newly-repaired double doors to the chamber, where Selene was currently talking with the High Council.
Griffin used his telepathy to hear the conversations inside the closed room and repeated everything he heard to the others. While he could project his own thoughts into others’ minds, he needed Ellie to project all thoughts, and, unfortunately, she and Alex were away on their honeymoon.
Lila could feel Griffin’s increasing agitation as he paced like a caged lion, and her heart went out to him.
“Adelaide,” Griffin said. “She needs you in there.” He ran his hands through his hair. “This would be much easier with Ellie here.”
Adelaide gave him an apprehensive look but stood and let herself into the chamber.
*****
Selene turned and ushered Adelaide into the room with an offered hand.
“Adelaide, thank you for coming.” She gave the younger girl a reassuring smile. “Could you please explain to the Council how your gift works?”
Adelaide licked her lips. “I have the ability to see relationships – past, present, and future. When I concentrate, they appear to me as shimmering lines connecting souls. The relationship between those souls determines the color, thickness, and strength of the line between them.”
“That is fascinating, my dear.” Sara leaned forward, steepling her hands. “What relationship do you see between Oren and Selene?”
Adelaide glanced at Selene, who nodded. With a breath she focused, her eyes moving between them.
“I see several levels of relationship between them. The strongest is that of a father-daughter relationship, though not bound by blood.”
“Anyone could tell that who’s known them five minutes,” Xavier scoffed. He stood beside a window, arms crossed defensively.
Adelaide dipped her head, looking at the ground. “There’s more,” she said quietly.
“Please go on,” Selene prompted.
“There is friendship. There is that of a mentor or elder from him to her. Very faintly there is the wolf pack link, although that runs between all of you. And finally, even more faint but still there, is something hard to discern. I haven’t seen anything quite like it before.
“Has he saved your life before?” Adelaide asked Selene.
Selene shook her head slowly, her eyebrows knitting in a frown. “Not unless you count being there for me during Gideon’s reign.”
Adelaide concentrated harder. “It must be a future relationship then.”
Her eyes darkened, causing Selene concern. “Griffin,” she thought. “What did she see?”
“I don’t know,” was his response. “She stopped thinking about it before I could catch it. I wasn’t focusing on her thoughts, knowing how private she is about that.”
Selene kept her expression neutral. “Council, are you satisfied with the evidence of her ability?”
A murmuring rose through the room until Thomas said, “Yes, we are satisfied. Why have you shown us this?”
“Griffin,” she thought, “Please come in.”
Immediately the doors to the Council chamber opened. He moved swiftly to her side but refrained from making physical contact.
“Adelaide, what relationship do you see between myself and Griffin?” Selene asked.
Adelaide frowned, but centered her focus on them. After a second she gasped, as Selene dropped her barriers, allowing Adelaide’s power to work on them.
A full-blown grin broke out across Adelaide’s face. “I knew it! I just knew it!”
“Knew what, peanut?” Griffin asked her affectionately.
“You’re te’sorthene!”
A shocked gasp ran through the room, cutting off what Adelaide would’ve said next.
“No!” Xavier declared, springing to his feet. “Absolutely not.”
Adelaide closed her mount with a snap, glancing uncertainly at Griffin and Selene.
“Go on outside, Delia… we’ll handle this from here.” Selene reached out and squeezed her hand. “Thanks.”
“The Vyusher will never accept a non-wolf as their king,” Thomas stated quietly.
“They don’t have a choice. Te’sorthene cannot be separated,” Selene declared.
“They set this up,” Xavier accused wildly. “She’s just trying to get out of marrying my son.”
“Father, I will not marry someone who has found her te’sorthene,” Dez’s voice sounded from the back of the room, although he was nowhere to be seen.
All the heads in the room whipped in his direction as Dez dropped his invisibility and instantly appeared. He leaned against one of the tables, feet crossed, and appeared completely at ease.
“This is a closed Council, young man,” Thomas chided him.
“I am aware of that, Councilman. But this matter very much involves me. I will not stand idly outside those doors to be handed my future. Especially one that is forced.”
Dez gave his father a hard look as he moved next to Selene and Griffin. The casually indifferent attitude that had appeared to be so much a part of Dez had disappeared and instead there stood a man who was serious and confident.
“And I will also not accept the throne should it ever be offered to me. I stand behind Selene as my true and rightful Queen, as well as the leader who will take our people into a future full of opportunity and promise.”
“But our people will never accept her te’sorthene. He is not a wolf,�
�� Mireilla pointed out. “What if you must?”
Dez grinned insolently, resuming his carefree mantle. “That is up to Selene and the High Council to solve. Just know that you will not see me as King through any means.”
With a jaunty wave, Dez sauntered out of the room, leaving a stark silence in his wake. Xavier was almost purple with frustration. Selene feared the man would drop dead of a heart attack any moment.
“My Lady?” Oren claimed Selene’s attention. “Might I suggest that we give the Council time to digest this stunning news? Together we will devise a way to handle the announcement to the Vyusher people.”
Selene nodded, her hand tightening on Griffin’s.
“I would suggest that we keep this situation a secret until such a time that we’ve determined an appropriate course,” Thomas added.
Selene considered his request. It went against the grain to have to hide the most important relationship in her life. She was proud of her te’sorthene, and she wanted to shout her wonderful news to the world.
A light tug on her hand had her looking toward Griffin. “It’s the right thing to do for your people,” he assured her mentally.
Warmth made her eyes glow bright silver. “I don’t like hiding.”
“Neither do I, but it’s okay.”
With a nod, she turned back to the Council. “We agree. We will keep silent about our true relationship until the right course presents itself.”
Chapter 46
“Something’s wrong with Lila.” Ramsey burst into Adelaide’s room, barely bothering to knock.
“What?” Adelaide sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Why do you—?”
“I can feel it.”
Adelaide raised her eyebrows. “How—?”
“I don’t know,” Ramsey cut her off again. “But it’s not important right now. I think she’s hurt.”
Adelaide closed her eyes. She remembered back nine months earlier, just days after Ellie and Alex’s wedding. The last time she’d seen her sister face to face…
*****
“Are you sure about this?” Adelaide had asked.
Lila glanced at where her little sister was perched on her bed, knees drawn up with her arms wrapped around them.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Lila answered. She continued packing clothes into the suitcase. Her hands and voice remained steady.
“Is it that hard for you?” Adelaide’s voice trembled. The thought of not having her sister close by was far too painful to imagine.
“Ramsey’s emotions are overwhelming me, Delia. And my own are far too closely tied to him for me to be reasonable. I need…” Lila paused in her packing as she searched for the words.
“An emotional break?” Adelaide supplied for her.
Lila bit her lip. “Yeah.”
“So let me and Nate come with you,” Adelaide insisted.
Lila suppressed a deep sigh and raised a hand to her head. This was an argument the sisters had been having for weeks. Ever since Selene had allowed Adelaide to see that she and Griffin were te’sorthene and had shared that fact with the family. The emotions spilling off Ramsey had been slamming into Lila as if she were hitting a brick wall.
“What if Ramsey needs you?” Adelaide tried a different tack.
Lila lowered her hand and resuming her packing. “His emotions are all over the place right now, and I’m not trying to help him calm down. He can handle it. He doesn’t need me anymore.”
“So you’re going to leave. Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“What if I told you that the emotions you’re sensing aren’t final in terms of the relationships in the future?”
“What are you saying?”
Adelaide sighed. “I don’t know, honestly. The relationships I see are being clouded by something.”
“Then don’t tell me,” Lila advised. Adelaide felt a pulse of comfort come from her sister, soothing the near panic that was clouding her thinking.
“Listen. I need to go. Selene is so grateful for the Louisiana tribe’s help. They’re going to try to convince any Svatura out there that Maddox and not the Vyusher is the danger. Maybe they can get the other tribes to call off their attacks,” Lila began. “They need one of us to help them. Those tribes will never believe a Vyusher. And Marcus believes that my gift in particular can help. Especially since he has a telepath in his group. I can help.”
“But if you can help, then so can I. And so can Nate,” Adelaide insisted.
Lila moved around the end of the bed to sit beside her sister. “I know. But I really need some time on my own. And helping Marcus, by myself… it’s exactly what I need to get some perspective.” She leaned forward and gave her a hug.
Adelaide gripped her tighter and then gave a shuddering sigh, relenting. “Okay. If it’s what you need, I understand. I’ll miss you. But I guess I get it.”
Lila gave her a squeeze and resumed packing. “I’ll miss you, too. But remember that between Griffin, Ellie, Oren, and Selene, not to mention those newfangled contraptions like cell phones and the Internet, I’ll constantly be in touch.”
Lila placed the last items in her suitcase and took one final look around the room she’d shared with Adelaide. She closed the lid and zipped up the suitcase. “Okay. That’s it.”
The sisters regarded each other for a minute, unspoken support and grief and love and worry passing between them.
“Okay.” Lila nodded as she said, “Time to go then.”
*****
Adelaide opened her eyes, pushing the memory of that day away and focusing on the present. On Ramsey.
“Do you know where she is?” he asked.
“I just talked to her yesterday. She was in Brazil.” Adelaide jumped out of bed and grabbed a robe. Together they headed for Selene’s room.
“Again?”
“She and Marcus were meeting with the Svatura there. Still trying to convince them not to attack the Vyusher.”
“Then something went wrong.” Ramsey’s jaw clenched.
“We don’t know that yet,” Adelaide insisted.
“Meet us in Selene’s room,” Griffin’s voice sounded in both their minds.
“Damn!” Ramsey swore.
Adelaide felt fear clawing at her stomach. Together they burst into Selene’s bedroom just as Charlotte popped in with Hugh and Lucy.
Griffin didn’t waste time. “Something’s happened to Lila.”
“Oh God. What?” Lucy asked.
“We don’t know, yet. The whole damn Louisiana clan is missing. Sheila can’t locate them anywhere.”
“Is she alive?” Adelaide whispered.
“Yes,” Ramsey muttered.
They all turned questioning eyes on him. “How do you know?” Griffin asked.
Ramsey shook his head. “I don’t know. I just feel it. She’s alive.” He looked at Hugh and Lucy. “I’ll find her.”
Lucy left Hugh’s side to stand in front of Ramsey. She looked deep into his eyes. “I don’t know why you think you can, but if you really can feel my little girl, you bring her home. Do you hear me? Bring her home to me.”
Ramsey pulled Lucy into a big hug.
“I promise,” he whispered. “I’ll bring her home.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for trying out a self-published author. My readers in 2012 absolutely made my year. I would not be able to do this without readers like Kelli Tullis who won the “Name a Character” contest, naming Desmond in Hyacinth. My readers’ encouragement and interest inspired me to keep writing the Svatura series. I would also not be able to do this without my editor - Wendy Schirmer, my cover artist - Jason Vines, and a host of helpers including Elayne Arterburn, Cindy Webster, and Mom. A huge THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU to my amazing husband and children who support this obsession of mine.
I loved every second of writing and publishing this book. I hope you enjoyed exploring this little world I created that has been floating around in my he
ad for years. If you enjoyed this book, please look for the next installment of this series out in summer 2013.
If you would like to contact me, feel free to go to any of my author sites. Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Abigail Owen, Author
Author Sites:
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
