Page 60 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

I tried to get my mind around that. Mom was a bit… I didn’t know how to describe her. I think she had a Gift, but it was super spotty and difficult to pinpoint. It was often around the things that were bad, too, so people didn’t like to listen to her because she was nearly always the bearer of bad news.

“I believe you. Can you tell me?” I asked, feeling herneedto be heard and understood.

She finished replacing the new cloth and throwing the old into a basket before she turned to me with Fina on her hip. Fina stuck a finger up Mom’s nose, making her sputter. Fina giggled.

I tried not to grin.

Mom frowned down at the girl, but then she smiled and tickled her feet.

“Your sister was never the strongest, but she was never sickly. Not until she went through a period where we didn’t hear from her very much. We thought she was just enjoying her new life away from home and loving on her children. But then she came over one night, pregnant and pale, Jess in her arms. She said Rey had told her she was a lying”—Mom glanced down at sweet Fina in consideration—“you-know-what and sent her away. She always tried to smile when I asked her if Rey was treating her right, and she’d say yes, but I saw something different beneath her haunted eyes. I suspected the stress was getting to her. Then she almost lost this little one.” She snuggled Fina closer. “I suspected, but could never prove it.”

I felt a need then. It was odd—almost as if it were aneedlinked to two separate individuals. Two whoneededto be together. Whelp, that was a decently easy fix. “Then why don’t we bring her here?” I asked.

Mom stared at me. “That—is a wonderful idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”

I squeezed her arm. “Mom, we’re all running on empty. We originally couldn’t keep her here because of everything going on, but I’m here more now. I can help. Let’s bring Anna home.”

CHAPTER 20

Reckoning

SHEN

Mother was not happy.

“You let him leave? Do you need more assistance learning the meaning of an Alpha’s words?”

“No, Mother. He merely escaped.”

Her eyes grew golden. She stood. Beatrice settled back in her gold-tinted glass chair, her eyes showing a hint of glee.

“You know the rules around Alpha Command as well as anyone, my son. There can only be so much power exchanged within a month’s time. My last Command was completed a week past. But you understand there are other ways to enforce my words, do you not?”

I used a small tool behind my back to pinch the sensitive skin of a finger to prevent my heart rate from betraying me. She would be deposed soon if my contacts came through. I signed away my right as heir, but the pack would have an Alpha who would care for them. That was all that mattered.

“The little menagerie of those who were cast out. I wonder where they went?” Cold flushed through my bones at her words. It was a challenge to keep the growl in my chest. “The boy you took under your tutelage. Your dear cousin. He was with them, no? What a shame how hard it is for him to shift since he wasonce under the Red’scare. At least now he has a purpose in caring for the castoffs. Perhaps he won’t attempt to take his life once more.”

I maintained an emotionless mien even as Lycus edged forward. I worried he would be seen in my eyes, so I looked away and kept my gaze on the ground.

“Do not test me,” Mother said, her power washing over me.

I bowed my head and presented my neck. “Yes, Alpha.”

She waved her hand.

I strode out of the massive hall without a backward glance.

As soon as I escaped into the cool night air, the suppressed growl burst from my chest and ripped into the stillness of the night. A fox shot out from a burrow and a mass of crows cawed as they scattered from a tree.

When my feet touched the soft loam of the forest surrounding the huge city, Lycus exploded. I landed on four feet instead of two. We pounded through the trees, hoping we were not too late.

A light glowbrushed the dark sky as I topped the hill just outside Doc’s land. My heart pounded in time to my feet as Lycus pushed us faster, our feet flying over the loam into the swaying winter grasses which Doc had just planted for his animals.

My ears pricked up when a scream abruptly cut off. Doc’s massive barn cracked and shot sparks into the night sky as a fire devoured its insides, making it glow like a massive furnace.

It was close to toppling when Doc’s mate, Madame Vika, came running from within, a girl not older than four clinging to her skirts.

Her eyes saw me and they widened with hope. “There is another in the loft—I couldna?—”

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