Page 5 of Cruel Alpha Beast
“Mommy?”
A young girl with long chestnut brown hair steps into view, peering at me over Danielle’s shoulder. Her head cocks to the side, hazel eyes watching me with fear in them. It breaks my heart. As a mother, all I want to do is shield my daughter from fear and danger, and here I am, scaring her with my visions of a terrifying future.
“Mommy’s okay,” I say quickly. “Everything’s fine, baby.”
I catch Monroe on Danielle’s other side, watching with her arms folded across her chest. I meet her twin’s eyes once again and heave a deep sigh.
“It’s happening again, isn’t it?” Danielle says quietly.
I nod as subtly as I can. “Bad one, too.”
Danielle purses her lips tightly, if only to stop herself from making a big deal out of this and scaring Shea even more.
“I’ll tell you later,” I promise.
Danielle nods back. She exchanges glances with Monroe for a second, then reaches forward to grab my hand and help me back to my feet.
***
I sit on the porch of the twins’ house, drinking a cool glass of water as I enjoy the summer night air. I gaze out at the coven’s compound out here in the woods, watching the fireflies illuminate the surrounding bushes and trees.
The screen door closes with a loud snap as Danielle joins me. She plops down in the wicker chair at my side and takes a deep breath. I can feel her eyes as she turns to look at me. I know we need to talk about all of the things I saw, but I just want to enjoy this summer night a little bit longer.
As if sensing this, Danielle gives me a moment to take in the smell of the fragrant flowers and the sound of buzzing wings, and bullfrogs croaking in the distance. One last taste of normalcy before reality hits and life changes forever.
“Monroe is watching Shea,” Danielle finally reports. “Now, we’ll have enough time to talk.”
I nod my head in response. “I had a vision earlier.”
Danielle watches me carefully as I explain every gruesome image that had floated through my mind earlier. Having spent every day with her for the last five years, I can read her face as easily as I can read a book. She’s trying to stay calm, but her eyes widen with every word I say.
“Wow,” she sighs after I finish.
“I know,” I murmur back.
Danielle sits up straighter in the wicker chair. “I mean, it could all be symbolic. Remember when you had that vision ofMonroe getting caught in the maze, but it was really just about her feeling stuck in her magical studies?”
“I do,” I admit. “But there was something about this that was so… It was so visceral. Nothing about it felt symbolic. It wasreal.”
Danielle sucks her bottom lip in as she considers the implications of my vision. “You don’t think… You don’t think it could be a blight on the valley, do you?”
“It’s all I’ve been thinking,” I admit in a wobbly voice. I look down at my knees, my breath hitching in my throat. “I hope we’re wrong, but I don’t know what else it could be.”
Shaking her head, Danielle eventually throws her hands up. “Me either.”
“Greg is still there,” I continue. “Shea’s father is still there. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to either of them.”
Danielle cocks her head with a wistful smile. “Sometimes I forget that Shea wasn’t just manifested from all the good in the world…”
“She might as well have been,” I say.
“In all the years I’ve known you, I don’t think we’ve ever really talked about her father,” Danielle points out.
My gut twists at the thought of Sawyer. “There’s not much to talk about,” I tell her. “He’s a fucking asshole, and he hurt me more than anyone ever has before.”
Danielle looks at me expectantly, but has enough grace not to ask me for more information. She merely reaches over and pats my arm. “I’m sorry, Lace.”
“No matter how I feel about him, he’s still Shea’s father. Without him, I wouldn’t have her, and I don’t even want to think about life without that sweet little girl.” I shrug my shoulders and take a deep breath. “I’ve always hoped that one day I could introduce her to him, too. You know she’s asked about meeting him bef—”
