by Cara Wylde
Liv watched her dumbfounded. She had just told her the secret which had caused her countless sleepless night, she had just trusted her with the knowledge about her son’s existence, and she was leaving.
“What? Why?” She was too confused to say anything more coherent.
Camille was already headed towards the door, typing Nathan’s number.
“I’ll be back in a second,” she threw over her shoulder. “I’ll be back and it’ll all be fine, okay? Trust me.”
“I… I do trust you. But, what’s happening?”
Camille closed the door behind her and stepped into the living room just as Nathan picked up the phone.
“I told you this would take time,” said Nathan instead of “hello”. “Believe me, I want this to be over just as much as you do, but we have to be patient. I told the Calimala I have important information and a serious lead, they called a meeting, it should begin any minute now…”
“Nathan, listen to me: we can’t go through with the plan. Get out of there if you can, if you can’t, then think of something else to say. You can’t tell them about Tristan Ward and his pride.”
“What are you talking about? What’s got into you?”
“It doesn’t matter, just do as I say.”
Nathan took in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. He tried to stay calm and control his voice.
“I can’t do as you say, Camille. You call me in the middle of the night, tell me you want to sell Tristan Ward to the Calimala, then change your mind in a couple of hours. That’s not how we do business, little witch. Not with the Guild.”
“Something unexpected came up. I had no idea…”
“I thought you wanted that woman gone,” Nathan pressed on. “I thought you wanted Ward and his pride dead so you could finally get your freedom.”
“I don’t… I don’t want that anymore. My freedom doesn’t matter.”
“Is that so? What made you change your mind? Whatever it is, it won’t make me change my mind. I told the Calimala I had something for them. If I don’t give them that something, I’m dead. I don’t know about you, Camille, but I rather fancy being alive.”
Camille started pacing the living room. She eyed the kitchen door and wondered how she could convince Nathan faster that they had to stop what they had set in motion. Olivia wouldn’t wait in the kitchen forever. She squeezed the vial in her pocket, suddenly grateful that it was there, safe, that it couldn’t hurt anyone.
“It’s a boy,” she eventually told him. “A child. Not even two years old.”
“What boy?” Nathan sounded more confused than ever.
“Olivia and Tristan have a son. I just found out.” She took a deep breath and kept whispering into the phone. “We can’t do this, Nathan. We can’t.”
“This changes nothing.”
“It changes everything! There’s a child involved!”
“A shifter child…”
“Yes. What does it matter? It could have well been a human child.”
Nathan sighed. “And you’re telling me you had no idea. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“A secret child,” Camille breathed into the phone. “Olivia hasn’t told Tristan yet.”
“She told you, though…”
“She trusts me.”
Nathan chuckled. “Horrible judge of character.”
Camille didn’t say anything. She closed her eyes and massaged her left temple. This conversation wasn’t going anywhere.
“So, Olivia Jensen has a son.” Nathan started thinking out loud. “She doesn’t know his father is a lion-shifter, which means she has no idea her boy is also one.”
“What are you trying to get at?”
“I’m just… reassessing the situation. She came back to the US to find Tristan and tell him the truth. She brought the boy with her.”
“Yes…” By this point, Camille was starting to feel uncomfortable talking to the attorney. There was something in his voice, something dangerous.
“Jensen. Jensen. She’s got family here.”
“Nathan, stop. Just stop.” She heard Olivia moving around in the kitchen. “I have to go. Promise me you won’t do anything. Promise me you’ll invent a story.”
“I can’t invent a story, Camille.”
“Our deal is off. You wouldn’t have known where Tristan’s pride is, if it weren’t for me. I’m a powerful witch, Nathan. I can make you suffer.”
Nathan couldn’t deny that. “I won’t tell them your location.”
Camille sighed in relief. “Good. Good.” They were both silent for a while. Just as she was getting ready to hang up, a quick, ambiguous thought crossed her mind, raising chills up her spine. “What will you tell them?”
“A different story.” Nathan hang up.
Camille stared at her phone for a long moment, her eyes growing bigger and bigger with panic.
“No. No no no.”
She re-dialed his number, but his phone was closed.
“Shit.”
“Is everything okay?”
Olivia stepped out of the kitchen, carrying a cup of fresh coffee for Camille. Camille looked up, and her pale blue eyes started welling up with tears.
“Oh my God, what happened?” asked Olivia.
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Camille whispered, tears running freely down her cheeks. “I’ll fix it. I can fix it, I promise.”
“What? What’s there to fix?”
Camille couldn’t look into Olivia’s confused eyes anymore. She couldn’t be in the same room as her. She didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her. She had just put her son, Tristan’s cub, in danger, and there was only one person who could help her make it all better: Tristan himself. She turned around and ran out the door, leaving Olivia in the middle of the small, cozy living room.
***
It happened faster than anyone would have expected. When Miranda called Olivia, Olivia was at Tristan’s, waiting for him to come back from wherever he had gone. Camille had left in a hurry, Tristan wasn’t home, and Liv had no idea what was happening, or what she was supposed to do. She was already upset and confused, so it took her a couple of minutes to process what her sister was screaming into the phone.
“He’s gone! One second, he was there, playing with the other children, the next, he just wasn’t there anymore. I swear, Liv, I turned around for a second. One second.”
“I don’t… slow down…” Olivia ran her hand through her hair. “Slow down…”
Miranda took a deep breath. “Liam. Is. Gone.”
“No. That can’t be. Have you looked around the park? Asked the other mothers? The children?”
“I did everything I could.”
“No. No no no. Miranda, I lost him a couple of times myself. He was never far. He can’t be gone.”
Miranda started crying. She knew what Liv was talking about. It was something that happened to every parent at least once in their life, but this time was different. She had, indeed, looked everywhere, asked everyone. Logan had helped.
“All I managed to find out is that there might have been this guy… this man…”
“What man?”
“I… I’m not sure. Only two people saw him. They both said he was young, tall, brown hair… dressed like a businessman or something. No one thought he looked suspicious, so they didn’t react.”
Then, Miranda started crying so loudly that Olivia couldn’t understand a word she was saying. Tears started streaming down Liv’s face, too, but she wiped them away. There was no time for that.
“What you’re saying is that my son was kidnapped,” she deadpanned.
“I’m so sorry, so sorry…” her sister wailed into the phone. “I don’t know… It was one second, Liv. One second.”
Olivia took a deep breath and held it in for as long as she could. She felt a panic attack starting to get a hold of her, and fought it. She fought it with all her might.
“We’ll find him,” she said. “We’ll find him.”
“P
lease come home.”
“I will. I am.”
She didn’t have the strength to say more. She knew Miranda was feeling guilty for not having paid more attention to Liam, but she didn’t have the time or disposition to reassure her. She herself was fighting the guilt for not having been there, with her son. She should have been there, not having fun with Tristan on a two-day getaway. But there would be enough time for guilt and forgiveness later. She ended the call and ran out of the house. The first person she saw, she asked about Tristan. Eventually, she found him at one of his neighbors’ house.
Olivia knew Gideon, although they hadn’t interacted much. He was tall, handsome and bulky, just like all the men living there. This had been one of the greatest curiosities about Tristan’s community in Andes: why did all the men and women look so incredibly good? Long black hair, dark eyes, and a smile to die for; that was Gideon. What she didn’t know, of course, was that Gideon was Tristan’s Beta, and that was why Tristan spent more time with him than with anyone else.
When Liv burst into the house, she found them in the living room. Tristan was pacing the floor frantically, his arms crossed over his chest, his brows furrowed. Gideon was on the sofa, his head in his hands, as if he was thinking about an unsolvable puzzle. But what truly scared Olivia and made her all the more suspicious was seeing Camille in an armchair, crying loudly, as if someone had just died. The girl’s shoulders shook, her whole face was red, her eyes swollen, and a pile of used paper tissues was growing and growing on the floor, next to her.
“What the hell is going on?!”
“Olivia…” Tristan turned to her, but his stance didn’t change much. He could see she had been crying, but apparently everyone was crying today.
Liv was slightly taken aback by his rigid posture, then she remembered why she was there, and that she didn’t care what was going on with them.
“You have to help me,” she blurted out.
“You lied to me.”
“What?”
“You lied to me. Camille just told me.”
“Told you what?” She threw Camille a glance.
The girl looked away immediately. “I had to,” she whispered.
Olivia started shaking her head, as if the gesture alone would undo whatever harm had been done. To all of them. To her Liam, mostly.
Tristan took a few steps towards her, but didn’t reach out in any way.
“How could you come here, twice, and not tell me that I have a son? How could you hide that from me for two years? What kind of person are you?”
Olivia straightened her back. She had imagined many ways in which Tristan could have found out about Liam, but this was certainly not one of them. She was mad Camille had run to him the moment she had opened up to her, but her rage would have to wait. Many things would have to wait.
“I wanted to tell you,” she said. “Believe me, I did. The first day I got here. But then… then I wanted to know you first. I wanted to see if you could be the father Liam needs.”
“Liam?”
Tristan’s eyes widened in surprise and something akin to relief. His son’s name was Liam.
“Yes, Liam. And now Liam is gone.”
Tristan’s lion thrashed and growled under his skin.
“What do you mean gone?”
“My sister called. Someone kidnapped him.”
Camille jumped off the armchair. Gideon lifted his head from his hands and looked at Olivia, then at Tristan.
“This is all my fault,” wailed Camille. “All my fault. Oh my God! I didn’t mean this to happen, I swear.”
Olivia stared at Camille. “How is it your fault?”
Tristan finally closed the space between him and Liv. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes.
“Are you sure he was kidnapped? Who took him?”
“I… My sister was sure. She said it was a tall man. Brown hair, dressed in a smart suit. Looked like a businessman.”
“Young?”
“Y-yes…”
Tristan turned back to Camille and pointed a finger at her. “After all this is over, you’re dead.”
The blonde girl looked as if he had just punched her in the stomach.
“I don’t get it,” said Olivia. “What does this have to do with her? She didn’t know about Liam until an hour ago.”
Tristan let go of Liv’s shoulders when he realized he had left bruises on her white skin.
“I’ll let Camille tell you. Gideon, come on. We have to come up with a plan.”
The man rose from the sofa and headed towards the door. When Tristan wanted to follow him, Liv latched herself onto his arm.
“What plan? Where are you going?”
“Everything will be fine, Olivia. Trust me.”
“No. No.” She shook her head vigorously and refused to let go. “I need to know. Now.” She looked at Camille. “You, tell me what you’ve done. Make it short.”
Camille sighed and fell back into her armchair. “Please don’t make me do this, Tristan.”
“Oh, do you expect me to tell her?” he yelled at the girl. “Do you expect me to tell her you were planning to poison her and sell us all to the Calimala?”
“The… what?” This whole story was getting much too complicated for Olivia. “You were… what? Trying to poison me?” She lunged at Camille, and this time Tristan had to hold her tightly. “Why would you do something like that? What have I ever done to you? I trusted you! I told you about my son!”
“And that was your mistake,” growled Tristan.
His rage was directed at Camille, but Olivia felt it so strongly that she flinched. Suddenly, being in his arms didn’t feel as comfortable. Tristan realized he was scaring her, and tried to tame his beast. If he wasn’t careful, he risked shifting right in front of her eyes. He let her go, and to his surprise, Olivia was able to control herself and not strangle Camille right on the spot.
“Why?”
The blonde girl shrunk into the armchair. Unfortunately, making herself as small as possible could not help her in any way.
“I… I was jealous of you.”
Olivia’s hands turned into fists at her sides. “I understand jealousy. Believe me, I do. But you don’t plan to murder someone when you’re jealous. You wanted to poison me. With what?”
Camille stole a glance at Tristan. Things had gone too far, anyway. There was no point in telling more lies.
“Shifter venom,” she whispered.
Olivia blinked. She was silent for a few seconds. She tried to give her brain time to rearrange the words Camille had just uttered and come up with something valid, something that actually existed in the real world.
“Venom… snake venom?”
“Shifter. Shape-shifter venom,” said Camille more clearly. “A strong combination of bear-shifter venom, wolf-shifter venom, and lion-shifter venom.”
Olivia blinked again. No, her brain couldn’t possibly process that. She turned to Tristan.
“Is she fucking with me?”
He shook his head slowly. “Olivia, you’re not the only one who has secrets.”
Liv ran her hands through her hair and breathed in and out a couple of times.
“You know what? I don’t care. Liam is gone and we need to find him. I don’t care about anyone’s secrets now.”
“He’s gone because of me,” said Tristan.
Liv’s eyes grew wide with incredulity. “What the hell is wrong with you, people? A minute ago, it was Camille’s fault. Now it’s yours? None of you even knew about his existence until today!”
“The Guild kidnapped him because of what he is,” continued Tristan. “Because of what I am.”
“The Guild? What Guild?”
“The Assassins’ Guild.”
Olivia opened her mouth to say something, but changed her mind. There was nothing she could say to that.
Tristan stepped closer to her and looked deep into her eyes.
“I’m not who you think I am, and
because of that your son is not who you think he is, either.” He brushed her heated cheek with the tips of his fingers, then his hand traveled to her collarbone, her shoulder, then down her arm. He took her hand and squeezed it lightly. “Come. I’ll show you.”
***
Olivia followed Tristan outside. A thousand thoughts and questions were going through her head, but she was too tired to focus on one at a time. He guided her to Gideon’s backyard, and she let him. Gideon and Camille were right behind them. She felt as if she was a novice who was about to be initiated in some kind of odd ritual. Everyone knew what Tristan was talking about, except her. Whatever it was, she hoped it wouldn’t take long, because her boy was missing. Oh God, her Liam was missing! He had been kidnapped, and everyone around her seemed to take responsibility for it. And, oh God, Camille had wanted to poison her! With snake venom. Or… was it really snake venom?
Tristan stopped in the middle of the backyard and let go of her hand.
“Wait here.”
Olivia complied. She watched him walk a couple of steps farther. He turned to face her and smiled. She wanted to smile back, but her lips refused to move that way. She couldn’t smile when her Liam was missing. Oh God, her baby boy was missing! Tristan removed his T-shirt, and his gesture made her focus back on him. For the life of her, she could not understand what he was doing. Everything was strange and confusing, and it wasn’t even noon. His mountain boots were next, then his jeans and underwear. Olivia gasped when she saw he was actually naked. Tristan Ward was standing in front of them, naked as the day he was born. She turned to look at Gideon and Camille, but there was no shock or surprise on their faces. Was this normal? This couldn’t be normal.
“What… are you doing?” she muttered.
Tristan didn’t answer. He closed his eyes. He looked as if he was focusing on something that was inside him, something that he wanted to bring up to the surface.
Olivia gasped when she noticed the muscles in his body starting to move. Then, the first snap of bone reached her ears, and she felt like she was having a déjà vu. That noise… she had heard it before. An image of Liam breaking his tiny ankle and then snapping it back into place crossed her vision, and she wondered if Tristan would do the same. What was this? Some kind of rare disability? A gift? Another snap, and then another, but Tristan’s bones didn’t heal as she had expected. Instead, his body was starting to mold into a different shape. When he fell to his knees and his face started elongating, Olivia covered her mouth with both hands and thought she had just lost the ability to speak.
