âShe was⦠my motherâ¦,â I whisper painfully, that same heartache rising anytime I think of her, and I have to stop my tears from breaking free.
He clasps a hand to his mouth as though Iâve uttered something sinful. His eyes widen in alarm, and he begins to breathe heavily, backing away from me as something seems to click into place.
âI canât hear this because if this is what she said⦠Iâve let my friend suffer in sleep all these years alone; I failed her. I let him convince me she was mad, donât you see? I broke my oath.
âI broke my promise as her friend, and Iâm a terrible person. I need to go. I donât want to know about any of this!â
He pulls away, shaking visibly, crumbling, and avoids looking at me as panic grips him mercilessly. Heâs visibly distressed.
His words falter as he babbles them out, and heâs once again running from me mentally.
âWait⦠donât go⦠what about my mother? What do you know? How do you know her name? What did she say about her?!â
Iâm yelling after him, grasping for something I donât even know Iâm chasing, as panic rises with being left with nothing but her name.
My door slides quickly shut as he departs and traps me inside this chamber because I was too slow to lurch forward.
He isnât looking back but fleeing across the concrete floor until he gets midway between mine and hers on the way to the elevator.
âIâm sorry. I truly am,â he cries at me as I slam my hands on the glass, trying to get the door to open, pressing hard against it so I can see him as he runs off to my left.
âI need to know what she said about my mother!â I scream like a wild banshee, my emotions overwhelming me as so many racing thoughts rush through my head.
Iâm consumed with suspicion, pain, and heartbreak, all weighing down like a house falling on top of me.
My breathing is erratic, and I pound the glass aggressively in sheer need to follow him. It shudders and quakes but doesnât budge an inch.
I canât calm down. The craziness of that interaction has me all wired and panting as emotion racks me, and my thoughts spiral crazily with so many possibilities for such little information.
The mention of my mother and his reaction made me respond in ways I never have before. I start pacing, pulling at my hair as I try to self-calm and focus.
I upset him, so he ran off, but maybe heâll come back; perhaps he needs time to process and calm as I do. Maybe it was a shock that something she told him now appears to be coming true.
He said visions, but wolves, they donât have those, and maybe thatâs what triggered himâa fear that she could and did, and now Iâm here, and I came east, and Iâm linked.
Oh, God, itâs all so messy in my head, so I canât even imagine whatâs going on in his if this is something she told him over eight years ago.
I mean, to us, the Fates and coincidence are common, and we trust in the paths they lay for us with so little questioning of it, but humans have a more challenging time accepting or believing.
So many nowadays donât even believe in God, let alone some supernatural higher power that always has a plan.
Heâll calm down, rationalize, and come back to explain why he knew my motherâs name. I mean, thatâs what heâll do, right? Thatâs what Iâm praying for, anyway.
Something strikes a chord in everything I said, and now I need to know more. I have to learn more.
I need to find out what Sierra told him all those years ago that got her sent here and pushed into a coma. Juan keeps her quiet by convincing people sheâs crazy, so I want to know what that is.
Especially if my motherâs name is in there somewhere, and she knew I would come and be linked to her son.
How could she know that? Wolves canât see the future. Only witches and seers and⦠Oh, God!
This hybrid crap and Colton being a long-awaited child. None of that could be true because Juan would never value a mixed-breed child the way he does his son. Especially not a witch.
They are the sorcerers and demons of the supernatural world with a kind of voodoo you donât fuck with. Unless he doesnât know.
But that canât be if he knew about this place and the research and left her here. She wanted to know how she could be both witch and wolf and find others like her for whatever reason.
Maybe she wanted to know how to conceive a child without it dying. Juan had to have known she wasnât pure, which made even less sense given how he acted.
Witches and seers are more like humans but with insanely powerful gifts. Sierra surely couldnât be a half witch. Thatâs crazy.
She couldnât hide something like that from the pack all those years, and why doesnât Colton have any of those gifts?
You would know if he could conjure magic and catch visions. But then sheâs here. A witch has power, so why didnât she save herself?
Maybe he didnât know when he mated to her, and perhaps when he found out, thatâs why he banished her here, so the pack would never know and revolt against an alpha mated to an impure.
Iâve never heard of anything like this, and it explains his obsession with ensuring Colton has the right luna.
Maybe heâs afraid Colton isnât pure enough, and it will show in his offspring if he mates badly. Colton canât have any knowledge of it; I would have seen it in our joined memories.
None of this makes sense. Luna Sierra was in the pack for decades before she had Colton, so surely that canât be the reason Juan brought her here.
He would have known. You canât hide anything from your mate. Her memories in transference when he marked her would have made sure he knew. Which means ~he~ hid what she was.
But after decades of living that lie, why would he then suddenly banish her to the back of beyond? And what the hell has my mother got to do with any of this?
My head spins with all of this, a pulse hitting my brainâs center with overload and aching so badly I feel like my skull might explode.
I end up pacing back to the bed and falling face down on top of it with an âarghhâ noise that is so loud it reverberates through my entire body.
All the doc has done is give me more questions than answers, and I roll on my side to see her across the gap. The lights have shut down out there, so sheâs illuminated in the light from her cell.
âWhat are you not telling me, Sierra? Why am I here? What are you, and what the hell am I?â I call to her as though somehow it will give me an answer, but she remains still and silent in her cocooned state.
I exhale heavily. My body is trembling with adrenaline as I begin to calm down, but tears fill my eyes.
Itâs not sadness, really, but confusion, frustration, and a gnawing pit of unease that there are things I know nothing of, which have everything to do with why I was guided here in the first place.
Iâve lost my appetite, no longer interested in the food he left while my head is going crazy with all of this, and I know one thing for sureâI just lost my ally.
I chased him away, and I only have two days before Juan shows up to deal with me.
I would have zero chance of romancing Deacon in that time, even if I wanted to try. Not that I could.
He physically makes my skin crawl, and I donât think I have it in me to be nice to the asshole that darted me in the back like a white lily-livered coward.
I cross my arms over my head and face to smother out the light and noise and sigh at the situation I find myself in.
I will my brain to stop spinning around, turning inside out, and give me a few seconds of peace to get my bearings.
For the love of the Fates! It feels like itâs been the longest day in history, and, according to the doc, itâs not even lunchtime yet.
What I wouldnât give to be anywhere but here right now.
Maybe reverse the clock, go back to my awakening ceremony, and run before I turn to save myself from all the bullshit that has happened since.
It was the worst turning point of my life, and I can blame all of it on the bloodline of Santo. I curse that name forevermore. I should have left a long time ago and never waited to turn.
No Colton, no imprinting, no running to the mountains, and no attacks by vampires playing on my mind.
Just the sheer ignorance of a girl running free and turning alone, knowing none of these people or caring. I should have found the courage to go long before I did and saved myself the heartache.
âAlora?â
I nearly jump out of my skin at the sudden closeness of the docâs voice and almost topple entirely off the bed as I realize heâs right beside me.
My lack of wolf sense let him creep right up to me with zero warning. My heart misses a beat and almost kills me in the process.
âYou scared the shit out of me!â I snap impulsively, taking in the bloodshot eyes, the pale pallor, and the strong hint of alcohol on his breath that Iâm sure he knocked back hastily to level himself out.
He looks a little chaotic and shell-shocked, to say the least, and thereâs no sign of his female companion.
âQuite,â he replies tartly, and I can tell by his manner that he isnât okay. Or itâs his weird British response to what I shouted at him.
I pull myself up to sit and eye him warily as he stands stock-still in the center of my room, staring at me as though I have two heads.
He twists his hands, wringing his fingers, and I give him a moment to pull himself together.
âThere are no cameras down here. They like to pretend she isnât here, you see⦠the wolves upstairs.
âThey donât venture down very often, so they donât have to acknowledge their shameless purpose of guarding this place.
âLord knows we didnât need chaperones when Luna Sierra was in charge. Just me and my staff to take care of her, mostly from upstairs.
âThey werenât here before she was put to sleep, so they think sheâs in a coma and on life support of her own accord, and her rich husband benefactor is paying to keep her comfortable.â
He walks around in a circle, and I watch him quietly, feeling the anxious waves and deep emotions coming from him intensely.
Iâm wary about sending him running once more, but he came back, and I have one question I need him to answer before we go any further.
âWhy did you ask me about my mother⦠Marina?â I say it solemnly, heart hitching at the use of her name, breathing in slowly and deeply to stop the spiraling emotions that run through me,
I note that my hands are trembling.
Iâm nervous, reacting in a subtle wave of anxious anticipation like Iâm perched on the edge of a cliff, and one tiny breeze will knock me off and change everything I have ever known about my life.
I donât know why, but I can just feel it weighing down on this moment like I should stop, turn, and run far away.
He stops his frantic pacing and turns to me completely. Eyes wide, face serious, he implores me with a wide spread of his palms as though apologizing as the words come out clearly.
âSheâs the reason Sierra is here. Juan executed every one of your bloodline so they would never return to your mountain, and she tried to stop him.â