“What do we do now?” Giselle whispered.
“He needs time,” Jasmine spoke soothingly. “Your sacrifice has awoken him, but only he knows how much he’s endured for the last years.”
Giselle turned back to her father, who was still sitting like a guard dog watching them. “I can’t pretend to know what you’ve gone through. And I’m sorry.”
That triggered something. The wolf began to shift again, fur fading, arms and hands replacing paws. “Do not be sorry.” He choked the words out as he collapsed on the ground at her feet.
Giselle and Cassandra both reached out to him, but it was Cassandra who pulled the fallen man into her arms and gently stroked his hair.
He breathed weakly, as if any movement of his body was a struggle.
“I’m not sorry that you brought me into the world. I’m sorry for the twist of fate that punished your love,” Giselle said.
“I... would endure...” Orion took a labored breath. “Hell. Anything... for my family.”
“You have that now, love.” Cassandra continued to stroke his hair.
“We’re here,” Giselle said, elated to see him coming back from the void. He remained weak and limp in Cassandra’s arms, but life slowly returned to him.
Tears of joy streamed down Giselle’s face. All her wishes had come true: her father and her other mother. Both alive. Together. The small void in her soul was there too, present in her mind, but it was so worth it to have her family back. She sniffled and wiped away a tear as she looked at Jasmine. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I can’t say it enough. You’ve given me my family again.”
Where Giselle and even Cassandra were elated, Jasmine’s face held all the joy of a funeral. “I wouldn’t be so quick to thank me. You’ve offered up a cosmic debt to the universe. Gambled your own soul for the life of your father. One day that debt will have to be repaid. All magic comes at a price.”
Giselle sucked in a sobering breath. The hole was there. She felt it. Like a missing limb; only the part of her soul that had been taken was not visible. In her fervor she had not thought of any consequences beyond that evening. Her hand instinctively reached up for the pouch around her neck. Inside the stone she’d bound herself to rested like any other mundane object. She’d have to make sure to protect it with her life, as it could very well be her life she guarded. “I’ll keep the stone safe. I promise. And am I too to be held to silence for this magical contract, as they were in the past?”
“The magic that enabled this transaction resides around your neck, dear girl. Telling someone would be revealing your own weakness to them; and in your society, weakness is always exploited. Keep that in mind.”
“Understood,” Giselle said cautiously. Protecting an object for the rest of her life might be hard, but in the grand scheme of things, it was worth it to have her family back. “Well, for your part in enacting the magic, I say thank you.”
Jasmine nodded and cast her eyes to Damien. “We must leave now. Say your goodbyes and let the wolves have their peace.”
Damien pulled Giselle into a surprisingly tight hug. She missed the closeness with him and allowed herself to melt against his body, hearing the steady rhythm of his heart. Since their breakup, she’d hardly seen him. Her only real connection to him had been her phone and the businesslike text messages they’d sent each other. She held on to him tighter, afraid of the truth that it was just goodbye all over again.
When he pulled back, tears stained his cheeks, but deep within his eyes she found a cold wall blocking true emotional depth. “I hope you know what you got yourself into.”
“Do I ever?” Giselle joked, hoping to get him to crack that wall with a smile.
“I often wonder.” Damien sighed as he turned and followed his mother.
“Are we okay?” Giselle asked, speaking to Damien’s back.
He didn’t answer; just kept walking until he was through the door, ripping her heart in two all over again.
Another price to have paid. Damien had warned her not to do this. She did it anyway, of course, as she always did despite the detriment to this or any of her personal relationships. Perhaps that was her curse. The lone wolf wasn’t lonely out of desire, but because that was the only way they could be.
With that painful realization, she glanced over to Cassandra, who was still holding tightly to her father, bent over his prone form nuzzling his nose, while whispering apologies and confirmation of love.
Their love was pure; their emotions were written in bold across their features. Every touch, each connection of skin confirmed it. Orion, as weak as he looked at that moment, reached his shaking hands up to hold the tearstained cheek of his wife as he whispered, “I love you.”
In that moment, though their daughter sat only a few feet away, Cassandra and Orion were the only two people in the universe.
Theirs was the kind of love that transcended all. To call them soulmates seemed a feeble understatement. Theirs was a love that had all the tragedy of star-crossed lovers, only death had not been the release to allow them to meet in the afterlife. Through the years they had endured their separation, their penance for daring to defy the universe with their union. Love was supposed to conquer all, but it had nearly destroyed them.
Yet that same destructive force had produced the one person able to bring them back together.
Things had come full circle now, and Giselle would sit and watch their love story unfold forever if not for the jarring command of Jasmine.
“Come, Cassandra.” the witch said, from behind her back.
Cassandra looked up, hurt. “Must I?”
“The wolves need their time.” Jasmine’s voice held no emotion. “Giselle sacrificed her soul to see her father, not to watch you two make love under the moonlight.” She continued to walk away, as if knowing Cassandra would follow as instructed.
A slap in the face might have been kinder. Cassandra looked as if she’d been hit hard by Jasmine’s bluntness. She glanced from Giselle to Orion and back as if hoping one or both of them might tell her to stay. “I―”
“You can take your time―” Giselle started to say, but Jasmine cut her off.
“You’ll have plenty of time later. I need you to help me pack the car now.”
“But. I only just found him,” Cassandra whimpered.
“Cassandra? You’re bound to me as punishment for your own wrongdoing. You will do as you are ordered.” Jasmine’s voice turned dark.
“Maybe a few minutes would be good.” Giselle tried not to sound too excited about it. She needed some time to soak in the fact she had a father. A real, live, and awake father. And one on one was best. “I’ll make sure he’s okay, and we’ll get you two back together as soon as possible.”
Cassandra looked as if she would not let her prize go. She tightened her grip and then kissed his forehead gently. “I’ll be back.”
“Yes. You will. Now go, before Jasmine gets too mad,” Giselle said. She reached out a hand and squeezed Cassandra’s shoulder.
“Take care of him tonight,” Cassandra pleaded as sadness turned her trickle of tears into a flood of emotion. Her face swelled with anger as she stood and took a step toward Jasmine.
Giselle could only imagine the heartache. She’d only just met her father; Cassandra had been carrying the torch for so long. If it had been up to her, she’d have let Cassandra stay all night and they could bask in the glow of their newly healed family. But Cassandra’s angry cries, though heartbreaking, were nothing compared to the threatening look on Jasmine’s face. She had to go. Now before the wicked witch surfaced, and that was something no one wanted to see.
Giselle exchanged places with Cassandra supporting the near-unconscious Orion in her lap.
“I will not ask again.” Jasmine’s voice trailed down the hall.
“Go!” Giselle shouted to Cassandra.
Cassandra wiped the tears from her face and sucked in a stuttering breath as if those might help her put on a convincing mask of neutralit
y. They wouldn’t, but at least the effort had been made. Shoulders squared to the world, Cassandra turned to leave the room without looking back at Giselle or Orion.
Chapter 36
Moments went by in silence as Giselle sat staring down at her father. Her mind was abuzz with questions she wanted to ask, things she needed to tell him, and general awe of the fact that he was here. She’d spent so long dreaming of a family, feeling unwanted. And in so short a time she had been given the world and more.
He too looked up at her as if not truly believing what he was seeing.
Giselle had imagined this moment, dreamed of it even, but now the she was with him, words failed her. She wanted to tell him of her life, and learn every last detail of his, but where to begin?
Orion groaned, pushing his straining muscles in a sorry attempt to sit up.
Giselle too felt the echoes of unwilling muscles that had been pushed past their limits. They’d both been through a lot this evening, and with untested magic, there was no telling how injured they both had been in the process.
“Easy now.” Giselle helped support his weight as he came up off the ground. “Take it slow,” she cautioned.
Orion pressed his hands to the ground to stabilize himself, and with Giselle giving a little push, he came up on his knees. “Moving seems a bit harder than I remember,” he joked in his raspy voice. Inch by inch he pushed up to his knees and then used the bed sheets to help pull himself up further.
“We have all the time in the world. And you’ve been a vegetable for the last seventeen years. Remember that,” Giselle answered back.
“Lesson one, my little wolf, never let them see you weak. I’ll get myself up to standing now, or it will never happen,” Orion responded. His voice regaining some strength and depth. “And as soon as I do, I’m getting myself that glass of water on the side table.”
“I can get it.” Giselle tried to push herself off the ground and found her muscles completely unwilling; like jello, they maintained their shape, but when pressed held no form.
“You just sit right there and let me do this.” Orion’s strength of will was a reason he’d been Alpha, and already Giselle saw the stubbornness that drove everyone mad. She’d have laughed if it didn’t hurt to do so. There was no doubt whose daughter she was.
Good as his word, Orion stood by his own power and took two very slow and wobbly steps to the side table to retrieve his water. The glass shook in his hand as he moved it, and Giselle could swear she was experiencing the same tremors in her own limbs.
He drank deeply once the cup touched his lips and then allowed himself to sit on the edge of the bed as reward for all his hard work.
That was how an Alpha handled business, and after seeing his struggle despite his destroyed muscles, Giselle could not complain about her own tired ones. She’d scrape herself off the ground and sit in a chair like a lady if only to prove it.
“You say you are my child?” His voice had gained some strength, but his words were still breathy and labored.
“I am. I was lost for many years.” Mimicking his show of determination, she dug deep to pull herself up and into the chair she’d been strapped to earlier. “My name is Giselle.”
“That’s a good name.”
“Well, I’m glad you like it,” she chuckled nervously, not really knowing what else to say.
Orion scrutinized her face. His eyes moved back and forth across her features like the fingers of a blind person reading braille, slowly deciphering the meaning of each dot. “I am sorry for not being a father.” His voice uncertain, as if he were still coming to grips with it all.
As weird as it all was for her, Giselle could only imagine how surreal it must be for him – to wake up one day and find your baby had grown up. “What do you remember?” Giselle hoped she hadn’t been too blunt with the question.
“We had a baby. A beautiful girl. And then she was gone...” Pain etched across Orion’s face. He attempted to hide by taking a sip of his water, but she saw past the ruse. “I was trapped; unable to save her. It’s hard to explain.”
That part she knew. His loss was hers, too. “Have you been awake all this time?” Giselle asked, desperate for more information.
“I wouldn’t say I was fully awake.” Orion’s eyes left her face briefly for a quick look around the room, but they were back before he could get in a full breath. “Aware of the passage of time, yes, but not fully invested in this world. This place, for instance. I knew we moved from the other home, but the memory of it all is like a dream that leaves you wondering if it really happened.”
It sounded more like a nightmare to Giselle. “Do you remember David and his wife taking care of you?”
“Are they here?” His eyes lit up eagerly.
“No. David... is gone.” Giselle sighed. That was a conversation she’d not wanted to bring up right at the start. Better that they talk of happier things; but now that they’d traveled down the dark path, there was no coming back.
Orion’s initial excitement crashed into despair upon hearing his own brother had died. “How?”
“It all happened so quickly.” Bluntness would not serve well here, but Giselle didn’t have the tact needed to deliver such a painful explanation. “He was executed by Richard for breaking supernatural law.”
The great Alpha hung his head, catching himself in his hands. “Why?” His voice cracked.
Giselle gulped down a knot in her throat. The first thing her father heard when he woke from eternal slumber was that his brother was gone. And the reason it all happened would be a knife in the back. She couldn’t hide the truth from him, but she wished someone else could be the bearer of this bad news. Anyone but her. If Cassandra had not left, she’d have called her mother back in and made her do it.
In the silence between them, Orion lifted his head back out of his hands and locked eyes with Giselle. “Why?” he asked again.
“He tried to have Cassandra killed after she was deemed innocent of your affliction,” she blurted out, ripping the bandage off of this revelation as quickly as she could, hoping it might avoid further pain for her father.
Orion’s jaw clenched. His eyes grew dark, the irises nearly enveloping the color of his eyes. “He would dare?”
“He seemed mad with grief over you, if that helps.”
“My brother was a good man,” Orion said through gritted teeth. “What of his wife?”
“She doesn’t like me very much,” Giselle said, with a snort.
“What has she done?” Orion asked in no mood for levity. His wolf peeked out from behind his green eyes: deadly, dangerous, and ready for a fight.
Giselle nearly choked on her words, feeling the power of her father’s anger. “With David dead, the position of Alpha is up for grabs.”
“And she wants it?” Orion asked. “She was always a bit power hungry.”
“I thought so, but it seems she’s vying for her sons to get it.”
“She has children?” Confusion stole his anger for a fraction of a second before Orion regained it. “Yes. Of course. The twin boys.”
“Ace and Jay. I met them all when I was sent up to Washington to go before the Council.”
“Why did they bring you up?” Orion asked.
“Because as your child, I was considered in line.”
Orion’s eyebrow lifted with curiosity. “And are you?”
“No.” Giselle shook her head. Another conversation she would rather not have. “I am not worthy. The Council called for trial by combat to pick a new Alpha.”
“You are more than worthy!” Orion sounded hurt more than angry that his own daughter had been passed over.
“I appreciate that, but I don’t need the title. I’m happy having my family back.” She hoped to guide the conversation back to more cheerful things. Having her father and mother together and alive was more than she’d ever wanted in her entire life. They deserved to enjoy it and be happy. Let the wolves fight for leaders; she couldn’t care less.
“You were deemed unworthy?” Orion remained stuck on that point. “In the five minutes I have known you, I can see you are more than capable of the task.”
Giselle smile beamed from ear to ear. “Thank you, Father.”
“I wish to know more. My memory is sparse. The time I spent in this state has left me with great holes in time and place. Where are we?”
“Vegas.”
“Why so far south? Our territory is to the north.”
“I was sent south because the foster system had a hard time placing me with a family who could handle a wolf―”
“You mean you were not raised in the pack?” He cut her off. “But Vivian knew about you. Why did she not come to your aid?”
“She knew about me? I’d have never guessed that when we met in Washington. She seemed annoyed to be in the same room as me.” Giselle thought on that for a moment, wondering if her anger had been misplaced. Vivian could have been angry that Giselle had been found, hoping that if she’d been lost this long, she wouldn’t ever resurface. Or she could have been angry that the reason for Orion’s affliction was standing in front of her. Mind reading would be a handy superpower. Why hadn’t Giselle been graced with that? She had been born through magic, after all.
Orion’s face wrinkled with confusion. He spent moments in silence, as if trying to reach through the memories one by one to find what he needed. “Vivian was part of our magical pact. She was one of the few to know our secret. She had personally arranged for the wolf to be our surrogate.”
That sounded nothing like the Vivian Giselle had come to know, the conniving power-hungry wolf who’d do anything to discredit her. She’d helped arrange for her birth? No way in hell!
“Did David know?” Giselle asked.
“No.” Orion dropped his head shamefully. “He was against it. He knew I’d have to abdicate my position, and he didn’t want to take over. His wife, however, helped arrange it and was held to the code of secrecy.”
None of it made sense to her. But then, magic was such an odd subject, with more rules than it was worth, in Giselle’s opinion. “But even after you were taken in as a... well, a vegetable, she didn’t say anything. I met David. He never let on he knew the situation. He was so angry at Cassandra, blaming her for what happened.”
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