Page 291 of His Sunshine Baby

“Nephera, enough!”

“Keep yelling and screaming all you want, Sylviana. I’ve been waiting for this for way too long, little sister. If you’re going to hinder me again, I’ll kill you too.”

“Mom didn’t want this, Nephera. She–”

But the Water Witch clicks her tongue before Sylviana finishes her sentence. She’s obviously angrier now.

“Oh, I bet she was a great mother to you, wasn’t she? Danica was so obsessed with protecting Diane and her children, what did she care about me!”

Danica? That name sounds familiar. I’m sure I’ve heard it before. Where have I heard about Danica…? I try to remember a witch named Danica… Oh, Moon Goddess!

“Danica,” I repeat. “I know about Danica, the Fire Witch. Reagan told me about her; she was a friend of Queen Diane, the witch that was protecting the Blue Moon pack… Don’t tell me you are Danica’s… daughters?”

“That’s right,” says Nephera with that scary smile of hers on. “It all comes around, doesn’t it? Diane’s granddaughters, Danica’s daughters, and… Judah’s little bastards.”

Judah, like Judah Black? Not only my birth father, but now theirs too? What the heck is going on? How does she know us all? The brothers start growling around me.

“Why is she mentioning our father? Do we know her?”

“No idea.”

Nephera sighs.

“Oh, well, since Sylviana didn’t even bother to tell you the full story, I guess it’s my chore? At least you’ll know why you must die.”

I don’t care much about how she wants to kill me or why, but I am curious to how the fuck she knows both my dad and Nate’s father, and also be Sylviana’s sister. I feel like something’s ringing like crazy in my head. Moreover, we could use a break, and buy some more time for Nora too.

“Let’s go back many, many years ago,” says Nephera. “You’re a big girl now, you at least know who your grandmother was, Selena, don’t you? The mighty, holy Queen Diane. The Alpha of your pack of Blue Moon wolves. I was born one year after her twins, Lilyan and Gabriel. Of course, the birth of a little Water Witch was nothing compared to the Moon Goddess’ reincarnation giving birth to twins. Even my own mother, Danica, didn’t care much. Most witches don’t have much of a maternal side, do they, Sylviana? So, when the younger sister of Diane left with some of the pack, to find a better location, she dumped me in with them!”

I remember that. Nora said that’s how Cynthia, William’s grandmother and our great-aunt, came to live and settle in Silver City with a part of the Blue Moon clan, about fifty years ago. Tragically, once she got here, Cynthia never could contact her older sister Diane again after that, and the Blue Moon clan became the Sapphire Moon here.

Damian and I exchange a look, agreeing silently to let her finish her little speech. He’s probably mind-linking Nora to let her hear this too; I can feel her presence with us. I open my link to her, feeling her snow-white wolf. She’s enduring the pain, for now, but her baby isn’t born yet. We need more time…

“Imagine, the little witch I was, so young, suddenly coming to a big city like this one!” says Nephera. “My mother, Danica, had sent me so there would already be a witch at the destination, ready to protect Diane’s precious children… I was supposed to help Cynthia establish communication with them too, but we knew that would take a few years before I was strong enough to do that.”

Moon Goddess, so…

“That’s why they lost contact,”suddenly says Nora’s voice in my mind, echoing my own thoughts.

“Yeah. She was probably the one who didn’t do her part of the job, and why Cynthia could never reach Diane again.”

“I wasn’t really that interested in being Cynthia’s little puppet. She was too busy taking care of the pack in Silver City, establishing themselves among the other clans, and so on. She was truly a workaholic. But me? I had all the time to grow up though, so I would wander around, learn about my power, and make some friends, both humans and werewolves. I made one friend, one werewolf boy I grew fond of, with my weak little girl’s heart. Can you guess who that boy was?”

“Judah Black,” I gasp.

The pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit into place slowly. Nora and I knew there was one part of the story that was missing, but I never would have imagined it was Nephera’s, or that Sylviana had anything to do with our birth pack.

“Yes! The strong, fierce Judah Black. Of course, I knew him when he was only a young wolf, fighting to find his place in his pack. He was an alpha, but he wasn’t that strong. So, little by little, I helped him… in my own way.”

“You used your magic on him?” I ask, stunned.

Nephera gives me a little wink.

“I did. I mean, I was young, I thought it was innocent, a friend helping a friend. We grew up together, both getting stronger. I knew I was going to be this city’s witch, and I was grooming my own Alpha to lead the werewolves!”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“Damian, you knew?”

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