Chapter 47 DANE

I didn’t. I was a bastard, but even I wouldn’t ruin a child’s love for their mother.

“That’s not true,” Seraphina piped up. She tentatively came over to me. She patted my knee, then, to my shock, she climbed into my lap. She took my face in her tiny hands and stared me down with a serious look in her lilac eyes. “You have us. We’re your family.”

“Sera…” Tristan hissed.

Seraphina glared at him. “He does. We’re his family, as long as he’s nice to Mommy.”

I swallowed, entirely captured by this moment. By this little girl and her firm look and her tiny hands. My restraint broke, and I pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”

I let her go, and she hopped off my lap. Just then, the door opened. A harried-looking woman entered the room. She looked young at first glance. Then I realized she was older but had aged well. There was something about her face…something familiar I couldn’t place.

“There you two are!” she said. “Oh, no! Are you bothering the Alpha? I’m so sorry, Alpha Montague. These two are quite a bit more trouble than their mother used to be. Then again, there are two.”

“It’s fine.” I rose. Then her words hit me. “Did you say…you knew Aurora as a child?”

She smiled. “Yes, I was her nanny, too. Though I was barely more than a girl myself. I still think of her as Ann, even though I’m not supposed to.”

I stepped toward her, and her eyes went wide. “I have questions for you. Questions about Aurora, and about the Reeds.”

Her face went pale. “Oh, sir. Please. There are things I swore I’d never tell. Not anyone. Not even Ann.”

AURORA

I stormed away. It wasn’t until later that I realized I’d walked away from Dane without telling him a single one of my revelations from the back of the book, and without asking him my question.

It was more important now than ever that I go to the old Reed pack house. More important that I find the last two pages that had been torn out of the book.

Because if what I’d found was right, there wasn’t just one chosen of the moon goddess. There were three.

I might still have a chance to be one of them. Maybe, if I was, the goddess would have mercy on me and give me my wolf back.

I had to find Dane again. I wasn’t about to ask his permission, but it would be good to have his support. Last time I’d tried to go, we’d been ambushed by the Reeds. I’d prefer to have a few wolves with me in addition to Trajan if I didn’t want that to happen again.

There was also Evander, but now more than ever I wanted him to protect the twins.

“What are you doing wandering the halls?”

I looked up sharply. Evelyn stood in front of me, an irritated frown on her face.

I straightened and lifted my chin. “Walking, Evelyn.”

“Why are you walking toward my fiancé’s room?”

“You mean why am I trying to find my business partner?” I gave her a sharp smile. “For business. If he wanted you to know about it, you would.”

“Don’t you think that business is mine, now, too? After all, aside from the fact that I’m the mother of his child, I’m the chosen of the goddess. Everyone who matters will want me to be involved in what we’re doing. If you don’t, I doubt anyone will care.”

I suppressed the desire to push her off her three-inch heels. “You will certainly have your role to play,” I said with a smile. “But whether that role involves anything beyond your wheelhouse—like thinking—remains to be seen. If we’re lucky, you can play to your strengths and stand around and look pretty.”

“You bitch!” Evelyn snarled. “I should—”

I didn’t stay to listen to what she thought she should do. I turned and walked away. I wondered if she’d follow me, but thankfully, she didn’t.

I was glad. My mind was filled with other things. First and foremost, worry over Dane and the twins. But there was also what I’d seen in the book.

It looked like there was more to what Dane and I were doing than just unearthing something powerful. The translation was painstakingly slow, but I’d made out something about a prison or a cage, and something about shadows.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that shadows were attacking Dane’s family. But why hadn’t they gone after Dane or me or my family?

It seemed that the shadows might be some kind of…security measure. Some kind of guardian put in place to protect the relic.

If that was so, the fact that they were coming after us meant that we were getting close. But the danger was growing. People we loved were getting hurt.

I wasn’t certain if we should keep pushing or call everything off.

When I had the last two pages, I would know. I had to.

“Evelyn, wait!”

I paused. The voice came from behind me, around a corner I’d just turned. Evelyn must have been following me, after all.

“Not now,” she hissed.

“This can’t wait. I need…damn it, Evelyn…”

There was the unmistakable sound of two people kissing.

My heart pounded in my chest.

Was Dane’s beloved, the bane of my existence, the woman he had cheated on me with…cheating on him?

I eased up to the corner. I had to know.

Holding my breath, I peered around the edge.