Page 63 of Luna Rising

I shook my head. “He died protecting Kiernan, who I brought through the portal with me.”

“Don’t do this to yourself, Zara. Please. It won’t change anything.”

“My father died because of my actions, Ewan, my choices.” My voice broke and dissolved into sorrowful sobs.

He cradled my head against his chest and pressed his lips to the crown of my head. “Trust me. I know I haven’t been alpha long, but I promise you that your father made a conscious choice. Our instinct is to protect our packs, yes. But Kiernan is a Taurus wolf. Your father owed him nothing. If your family agrees, our packs will honor him together.”

Somewhere Only We Know

I slept through most of the day, wallowing in my grief and guilt. My dreams were of my past, as Zara, and centered on my father. He had been the comforting parent, the one I ran to when I scraped my leg or fell out of a tree and broke my arm. Dad was open with his love, which wasn’t exactly common among alphas. He didn’t keep me in a glass cage until my marriage, giving me leeway to make my own mistakes and learn some very hard lessons.

In hindsight, I wished someone had caught me with Liam early on in our dalliance. Meeting him had set off a chain reaction that no one could control. Of course, without Liam, I wouldn’t have Ewan. Well, I mean, we probably would have met eventually since he was friends with Winter. Still, it wouldn’t have been the same as crossing paths in a coffee shop.

Every time I woke, he was there to comfort me. There were probably a dozen things that needed his immediate attention. A lot had happened, and the ramifications needed to be discussed so we could move forward. Yet he stayed in bed and held me while I cried and slept and slept and cried.

He was all mine.

I would have stayed in bed for days, weeks even, but we were officially at war with the Zodiac Councils, and it was partly my fault. Besides, my mother’s voice, even now that I outranked her in the hierarchy of life, had a way of dragging me out from beneath the covers. It grated on my nerves and sent a ripple of irritation down my spine, and I loved hearing in my martial bedroom. Seriously. I had missed her nagging.

“Zara Ann Snyder, pull it together.”

Ewan still had his arms around me, neither of us wearing much clothing, and his entire body was tense. I almost laughed at his wide-eyed expression, like we were teenagers caught canoodling rather than a bonded pair of eternals. I peered at my mother over his shoulder and gave a snort of laughter. Someone had provided her with Arcane University sweats to wear, which looked all sorts of wrong on my stern mother.

“I’m grieving,” I told her, sounding very snotty.

“I lost my true mate. Now that you have met yours, I’m sure you can appreciate a small part of what I’m feeling. But your father didn’t die so you could act like a bratty cub. We knew both of us weren’t walking away from that meeting. Not after I told him that I knew what you were from the day you first shifted. I knew about my bloodline. So when your white wolf emerged, I knew you would become Zosia.”

I sat up, unsure if I was mad. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth? Why didn’t you back me up when I said I saw a vampire shift?” Okay, yes. I was definitely mad.

“I meant to protect you. I was terrified of what would happen when your father learned of your white wolf. But the Geminis broke with a lot of the old ways decades ago. He didn’t know the curse of the white wolf. He didn’t know the prophecy. So I said nothing and encouraged his disregard for the myth of the eternals. All so he would never know that the daughter we both love was marked for death.”

It was way too much information so soon after waking. I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands, surprised to find them wet. “Did you come up here for an actual reason or just to tell me a nightmare-inducing bedtime story?” Yes, I was being a brat because that was the part of my personality that chose to shine around my mother.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I came up here to remind you of your responsibilities to your pack.”

Her words instantly transported me back to my teenage years, when she and my father had shoved duty down my throat. I scoffed. “I know, Mom.”

“Obviously not. You will get out of that bed right this second, pull on your big girl panties and a black dress and come downstairs. Then, you will go comfort the grieving Geminis. They are scared and in mourning, and it would go along way to smooth pack relations if you visited with them. Which you will do. Do you understand me?”

To see my mother like this, so feisty and commanding, I realized we weren’t all that different. I didn’t get my quick temper and sarcastic nature from my father. No, that was all Mom.

“Yes, mother,” I said obediently, though I was still confused about one part of this equation. “Um, where exactly am I going for this visit?”

Ewan cleared his throat. “The lodge in town. Gemini pack lands aren’t as defensible as the Taurus Mountains. And given recent events, including our bonding, an alliance is natural.”

Great. So I had to console the same council members who had sold me to the Leo Fae. Only recently had I appreciated how messed up it was to raise a daughter only to give her away to the highest bidder.

Mom started to leave and because I couldn’t help myself, I called after her. “Wait. Aren’t you going to chastise Ewan? I mean, he’s been shirking his responsibilities all day, too.”

“No, dear. He’s been tending to his number one responsibility.” Her stern gaze settled on him. “I do hope we can have a proper introduction over tea or a meal in the near future.”

“Yes, of course, Mrs. Snyder,” Ewan said in a very formal, very young sounding voice.

Her attention flicked back to me. “I’m very proud of you, Zara.”

“Because I finally gave you an alliance?”

She gave me a tight smile. “No. Because you are everything I hoped for you when they first placed you in my arms.”

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