Chapter 22 AURORA

Ester Reed sat on the couch across from me, lazily smoking a cigarette. The smoke swirled above her hand in lazy spirals. Two of her biggest warriors stood on either side of me. Even though Trajan was injured, it took four wolves to hold him back.

Evander and Mrs. Melville, thank the goddess, had managed to get the children out of the house. They were hiding in the woods, their scents masked.

The Blue Ridge wolves stood on the other side of the room, watching. After the war between the packs that had ended—which was right before I’d left Dane five years ago—the Council had forbidden Broken Forest and Blue Mountain from spilling each other’s blood except in extreme self-defense.

That meant that unless the Reeds actually attacked and spilled blood, Dane’s wolves couldn’t fight them, not unless they wanted to bring the Council down on them both.

“What do you want, Esther?” I asked.

The woman I used to think was my mother didn’t smile. “You’ve been back for a while, Ann, but you still haven’t been to visit your family. Why is that?”

I pressed my lips together. “I’m no Reed.”

Esther tilted her head, like I’d confused her. “Of course, you are.”

I clenched my fists. I wanted to get up, to scream, but that wouldn’t work on Esther. Nothing ever did. When I was a child, if I talked back to her, she’d give me that blank-eyed stare.

Then she’d beat me until I bled.

I lifted my chin. “I know I’m a DeVere. I know my mother came to Georgia and disappeared. Why don’t you fill in the blanks for me, Esther? How did I end up believing I was a Reed?”

Esther smirked. “Oh, Ann. Don’t you remember who you are? Who you serve?”

Her words sent a cold, dark feeling echoing through me. Memories flashed through the back of my mind, memories I couldn’t bring myself to look at.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

But my words weren’t as steady as they were before.

The dark memories swirled, calling for my attention: dark nights running through the forest, pain and blood, dark ceremonies…dark powers, things I’d done… Blood on my hands…

No! I was their victim, not one of them…wasn’t I?

I shook myself, but I couldn’t stop my body from trembling.

I was reacting viscerally to her words, but my childhood had always been shrouded in fog. I wouldn’t let her take advantage of that.

A lazy smile crossed Esther’s face. She leaned forward. “You’re remembering, aren’t you, Ann?”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m not Ann, I’m—”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Someone pounded on the door.

Waylon Reed, the lanky, skinny, white-haired old man who’d pretended to be my father all my life, went and answered it.

“Alpha Reed,” Dane’s voice rumbled from the doorway. “I’m here to make sure you don’t violate the pact.”

At Dane’s voice, I nearly wilted with relief. Waylon Reed only grunted at him, then they walked into the room.

Dane’s eyes went right to me. They scoured my body, my face. Then his gaze swept across the rest of the room. He studied his pack mates, Trajan, then he looked at me again.

Even though we had no bond, I could guess what his unspoken question was: The children?

I flicked my eyes to the windows that looked out into the woods.

Only then did Dane look at the Reeds and their wolves. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned in the doorway, like he was at a slightly boring party. “The High Alpine wolves are here at the invitation of the Blue Ridge pack. This is the second time you’ve trespassed on their territory.”

Waylon Reed glared at Dane with watery blue eyes. Even though he was almost the same age as Dane’s grandfather, he had refused to turn control of his pack over to his son. “Ann Reed is part of Broken Forest. Your mating bond to her was severed. Our claim to her is greater than yours.”

“Ann Reed is a false name you gave to a child that isn’t yours,” Dane responded. “This woman is Aurora DeVere, a member of the High Alpine pack.”

The air in the room thickened, crackling with power as both Dane and Waylon’s Alpha magic swirled.

Esther’s lazy smile grew, and she tilted her head. She wore her hair short, in tight curls, like a farm wife from the 1950s.

“Her mama gave her to us,” Esther said. “Celeste never wanted a child, so she sold her to us. We made a blood oath that I’d raise her. Ann is ours, just as true as if I’d given birth to her myself.”

My blood ran cold. My mother had made a blood oath? She’d…sold me to the Reeds?

I pressed my hand to my mouth, devastated. “No. It’s not true!”

Dane shifted. I met his eyes. I couldn’t be the cool, calm woman I’d become. In that moment, I felt stripped bare, devastated.

I don’t know what he saw in my face, but he shifted, like he wanted to move between me and Esther but was holding himself back.

Slowly, he walked over to me. He let one of his fingers turn into a long claw and swiped it across his palm. Blood welled in the cut. He lifted his hand and let the drops fall on my clenched hands, warm and wet.

“Aurora DeVere and people in this home who are loyal to her are under the protection of Blue Ridge. Any blood spilled here will be considered the blood of one of my wolves. If you hurt any of them, I will bring the Council down on us all.”

His words echoed with Alpha power. The magic in the room rose in a wave and crashed over us all. My mouth dropped open in shock.

Dane had just bound my fate to his.

Again.