Page 3 of Unforgivable Fate

“Hear me out.” Zander hurried on. “You’ve been scrying for Leo for months on end now. You’re using your power every single day helping him look for other packs and more people like us. I think maybe you’re pushing yourself too hard, using too much magic, and you need to rest and let yourself recharge.”

Nova frowned because that idea had never occurred to her. Was it possible to use up all the magic inside of her? Did it need to be replenished? She wasn’t sure. She’d never given it much thought because the visions had always been with her, there to pick through or dismiss as needed. But she had been using her power a lot lately, reaching out past the Crescent Pack territory in search of others like them and more and more it had gotten harder to grab onto those visions. Was it possible she was using too much power and in a way she had never been truly trained for?

“Leo needs my help though. He and Darius are working so hard to bring the packs closer and form the alliance. We’ve made a lot of progress but there are still so many more packs out there, so many more lone wolves looking for safety. If I can help find them, I have to try.”

“I’m not saying you should stop scrying. I know Leo needs you and I know he would tell you himself to rest if he thought for even a second that what he had you doing was hurting you. But maybe you can just try it, for a little while, just give your powers a little time to rest and see what happens.” Zander’s eyes were soft and full of concern for her when he spoke again, “We’re all worried about you and we only want the best for you. You know that right?”

“I know.” She nodded.

“All the theories in the world could be wrong but…” Maya shrugged. “Zander’s is the easier to give a try. Give your powers a rest and just, see what happens.”

Nova chewed on the inside of her lip but nodded, “Yeah. Okay, I’ll try.”

“But you’re still going to Leo’s tonight.” Maya snorted.

“I already told him I’d come by.” Nova admitted with a nod. “And besides, he didn’t say anything about scrying. He just said there was something he wanted to talk to me about. I promise, just talking tonight.”

“Well so long as you promise.” Maya smirked, “Give me a hug before you run off.”

Nova complied, hugging her sister tight and thanking her for an afternoon of mindless fun. She’d needed to spend a few hours playing with her niece and teasing her sister and brother-in-law. If Zander thought she needed to replenish her powers by relaxing then he had certainly helped today by simply letting her hang out and do nothing but keep Carmen and Maya company while he trekked up and down the stairs with boxes.

“Love you.” She kissed Carmen’s forehead and then Zander’s cheek. “And I’ll see you guys soon.”

“Soon enough to help unpack some of these boxes at the new house?” Zander chuckled.

“Maybe not quite that soon.” She grinned back and waved as she headed for the door.

As she turned towards Crescent Pack territory , back towards home, walking towards the setting sun, Nova let herself get lost in the theories that her family kept supplying her with to explain her messed up powers. One of them had to be right, didn’t they? Or maybe none of them were. All she knew for sure was that she couldn’t be the one that was right because if her visions were going dark because she was going to lose her family, she would never survive it.

Her trust in fate had always been complete and total. She’d always believed that everything happened for a reason. But if fate screwed her over by taking away her powers, or worse, she would never forgive it, or herself.

CHAPTER TWO

This was the beginning of something good. It had to be. He had come too far and given up too much to turn back now. This was where he was meant to be. He could feel it in his bones, all the way down to his soul, and his wolf agreed. There was something special about this place, something that called to him, and he would do whatever it took to make things right so that he could call this little town in the bayous of southern Louisiana home.

Standing on the front porch step of the Crescent Pack Alpha’s house, Griffin Clary could feel eyes boring into his back and tried not to let it get to him.

The people of the Crescent Pack didn’t know him. Not yet. They only looked at him and saw the collection of features that he’d been told more than once were handsome but in this place marked him squarely as an enemy. He had never given much thought to whether or not he resembled the brother who had murdered most of their family and then disappeared from his life but if he had wondered, the stares of the Crescent Pack members more than confirmed that the resemblance was there.

That was okay, he reminded himself. That was the reason he was here. Maddox had brought him here. It had come to him on the whispers of traveling lone wolves moving the gossip from one pack to the next but as soon as it reached him, he had known. As soon as he had heard of the attempted coup that resulted in a massacre he had known even before the name was spoken aloud who had been responsible.

Maddox. His older brother. In blood and name if nothing else.

And he’d spent so long, spent so many years trying to come to terms with what Maddox had done to their own family that he’d felt a connection to the people Maddox had put through that same pain. He’d felt like it was his duty as the last living member of the Clary family, the only one to survive Maddox’s reign of terror, to at least try to make it right. So he’d packed up his meager belongings and begun the journey from out west to find the Crescent Pack and the beautiful little town of Noir that they called home.

He hadn’t dared set foot into Crescent territory without warning so he’d paid for a room in a hotel outside of town and sent word to the Pack Alpha of who he was and where he could be found. He had thought at first that the Alpha might ignore him completely but the knock on his door mere hours later had put that fear to rest. Opening that door had brought with it a whole slew of new fears though and even now, nearly a week later and with an invitation to come to the Alpha’s home, he could feel cold sweat prickling his neck.

Being here wasn’t going to be easy but he’d known that when he set out on this journey. It was all the things he hadn’t expected that were making him uneasy. He had expected hostility and instead received only careful wariness. He had expected to be sent away and instead he’d been invited in. And his welcome, while unexpected, wasn’t even the strangest part.

The door of the house opened and a big man with olive skin and the type of body that looked as if it had been carved from marble stood on the other side. His dark hair stood up in places, as if he’d been running his big hands through it, and his lips pursed when he took in Griffin standing on the porch. He frowned but moved aside, motioning for Griffin to come inside and so he did, stepping uneasily through the doorway before it was slammed shut behind him.

“He’ll be out in a second. Have a seat.”

Griffin did as he was told. He wasn’t about to disobey this man. Not in his own home.

And that was one of the things he was still trying to wrap his head around. This big, gruff, Alpha wolf wasn’t the Pack Alpha. He was the Pack Alpha’s mate. The Crescent Pack Alpha was mated with a male. Happily mated from the interactions Griffin had witnessed. Not only that but they seemed to function as equals and were open about their relationship, not hiding it the way Griffin would have expected a Pack Alpha to do.

It wasn’t as if sexuality wasn’t open and fluid in the shifter communities that Griffin had grown up in. It was. Everyone was free to enjoy their pleasure where they could find it.

---