Chapter 149

“Watch him,” I snapped to my warriors. Archer was there, hovering. I said, “She’s somewhere across the ocean. East. Get me access to a private jet that can fly to France tonight. When we land there, Holden might have a better idea of where we need to go.” Then I followed Trajan.

I couldn’t get Aurora and that drowning darkness out of my mind. But as much as I wanted to tear out of the pack house looking for her, I had felt how far she was. It would take at least an hour or two to arrange everything for travel. Before rescuing her, she would want me to make sure our children were okay.

The pack house felt colder than the rain-soaked outdoors as I stalked along, Trajan a respectful few steps behind me. “How are they?” I asked.

“Besides that they’ve been imprisoned in the dark for weeks and just watched you killed and their mother kidnapped by the embodiment of darkness? Fine.”

I might have snarled at the tone, but instead, the sarcasm grounded me. It brought me down from the daze of rage I was in. My children. They needed me calm. They didn’t need me like this.

I pushed open the door to Aurora’s room, then the bedroom the twins shared. There were two twin beds lit by the glow of a nightlight. Celia, our healer, rose from sitting on one of the beds.

“Where’s—?” My gaze caught the other bed. Both of the twins were huddled in it together, hugging each other. Their wide eyes reflected lingering terror.

I hadn’t seen them in so long, I had to put a hand on the doorframe to steady myself. My children were finally here. Safe. Home. It was like getting half of my heart back. But with Aurora gone, it had happened just as the other half of my heart was ripped away.

Tristan’s lip quivered, and Seraphina clung tightly to his hand. “Daddy?” she said in a thin, tired voice that still held tears.

Not many things in this world can bring me to my knees, but that did. I went to the side of their bed and knelt beside it, gathering them both in my arms. Seraphina came easily, clinging to me tightly. Tristan was hesitant, but as soon as I touched him he flung himself into my arms as well. “Mommy’s gone!” he cried. “I tried to be so brave but now Mommy is gone!”

I pressed them close. In the short time they’d been here, someone had bathed them and put them in clean clothes. I would make sure the clothes they’d been stuck in for weeks in Bro Forest got burned.

“I know.” I rose, holding them both in my arms, and settled back on the bed with them both in my lap. I hadn’t understood how much I’d missed them and how much fear I had been refusing to feel until right now.

I shuddered, speechless for a long moment. Celia had left, but Trajan slipped into the room and leaned against the wall near the door. He folded his arms across his chest, watchful but silent.

“You’re going to get her back, right?” Seraphina sniffled through tears. “I know you can get her back!”

“Yeah, and I have to come with you to rescue her,” Tristan said, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

“We both need to come with you. Mommy needs us!” Seraphina agreed.

Shit. What do you say to kids this brave? They deserved everything. But obviously there was no way they were coming with me.

“It’s late,” Trajan rumbled from near the door. “You two have been through too much. You need to sleep.”

“We can’t sleep until we rescue Mom!” Tristan practically wailed.

Maybe others would have been impatient, or thought he was spoiled, but given the amount of fear and exhaustion he felt, it was a miracle he wasn’t completely broken and screaming.

I pulled back and looked at them seriously. I wasn’t used to children. I didn’t know any way to speak to them except how I’d speak to an adult. So I did, albeit in a softer, gentler tone.

“Listen, you two. You’ve been through something terrible. I’m not going to disrespect that by lying to you. You can always trust me to always be honest with you. As honest as I can.”

They were silent and wide-eyed. Seraphina’s lilac eyes were so much like Aurora’s it hurt to look into them, but I refused to look away. “Your mom has been taken by a thing I don’t understand. She was taken far away, across the world. I’m going to go and get her back.”

“And us!” Tristan said.

I gave him an even more serious look. “You two are my heirs. What I need from you more than anything is to stay here, in Blue Ridge. I need you to look out for the pack.”

Tears welled up in Seraphina’s eyes, and Tristan buried his face in my chest. Despite the lingering awkwardness I felt, a surge of protectiveness welled inside me. These were my children. I would do whatever it took to make them feel safe. To make sure they were safe.

Tristan’s eyes shone. “I… I can look out for the pack.”

“And you’re going to bring Mommy back?” Seraphina asked. “Promise?”

Seraphina’s lower lip trembled, and I gently wiped away her tears with the pad of my thumb. “We’re a family, and we stick together, no matter what. I promise, your mother is coming back.”

Alpha, Archer said into my mind, Your plane is ready. Alpha Coleridge is… contained. It’s time to go.

I mentally confirmed I’d heard him, but there was one person I needed to talk to before I could leave.