Page 262 of Shifting Hearts 1
What she said when she saw them. That spark of recognition, that flicker of intrigue. Something inside her was awakening. The parts of her that still remembered.
I shook my head, closed my eyes, and drew a deep, steadying breath. When I opened them again, I met her gaze.
“It’s too late, Morgan. It’s too late.”
I triedto shut myself off from Alex and Leigh, but they drew Morgan closer, unrelenting. Leigh reminded me so much of Mel that I couldn’t help but remember the one time the two sistershad teased the idea of a threesome. Back then, I had pined over Morgan, my obsession blinding me to everything else. That night had left Mel insecure about my attention, and the memory gnawed at me now.
Time dragged, sluggish and cruel, as I watched them introduce animal blood to Morgan. She accepted it with a strange curiosity, easing herself back into life, and I hated that it took me, my past, my presence, to make her want to try again. Even so, Alex seemed just as intrigued by her, captivated in ways I wasn’t.
Then came the grand ball. I wandered the edges of the estate until Julian’s voice cut through the night, a second encounter with him now. Morgan wasn’t a guest; she was security. The fear she inspired had softened, but she was still vigilant, scanning, listening, absorbing. I would have given anything to know what she heard.
Alex and Leigh had been rallying covens for the Great War, and Julian had joined their ranks. He would stand with us. I knew that much. Morgan lingered on the rooftops the entire night, eyes never leaving the event below. Many sought her attention, but Cassandra shielded her with excuses until the meeting ended. I watched Julian leave and cursed myself for never asking whether he had known Blaze. All the questions I’d wanted answered had gone unasked.
I forced myself to follow Natasha in a daze, trailing her through corridors of memory and time. We were preparing to migrate from the U.S. to Russia after four years in America following our stint in Europe. Leigh and Alex were expected to return soon; Bobby and Isaac were likely still on their way from an Alaskan coven.
A moan drew my gaze upward. Claire. Alex. The windows wide open. Morgan’s eyes were glued to them. I didn’t care, couldn’t care. Alex was supposed to secure alliances, not playthis. The favor was returned in turn, prolonging the spectacle, and Morgan watched, eyes alight with desire. I couldn’t bear it and turned away, back to the wall, ears blocked.
They finally left the bed together, and over the following days, something shifted between them. The tension dissolved, replaced by a bond Morgan didn’t fully understand. I tried not to care, I no longer felt what I had once felt for her. It wasn’t jealousy; it wasn’t even longing. I didn’t know what it was.
Then the day came when they were meant to leave. The timing was off, and Morgan sought him out. In Alex’s room, he took her, claimed her for the first time. Her cries forced my eyes shut and my ears closed, and yet it wasn’t love that ached, it was something darker, more complicated.
Morning came. She tried to slip away, but Alex caught her. His words mirrored Sonia’s: wolves didn’t leave that mark. Confusion and doubt shadowed her face. She didn’t know who to trust anymore.
Her bond with Alex grew stronger as the rift with Cassandra widened. Their time together became habitual, intimate, constant. They even spoke of me, and it didn’t matter. She was with him when he phoned me and my own voice sounded foreign to her. He reminded her I had been lost, a lock pass severed, yet it had taken her seven years to find me.
By then, it didn’t matter. I was done.
The day they left arrived as she had predicted. Wolves had killed Alex and Leigh. Morgan was forced to kill Vladimire, and Francine fell to the wolves when they ambushed Blaze. They locked her in a shed, venom coursing through her veins, while a wolf taunted her, the UV shackles weakening her further.
She was barely conscious, her breaths shallow and uneven.
“I’m sorry, okay?” I finally said, my voice rough. “I didn’t know you’d follow through with the plan. I didn’t know you’d become this. If I had, Morgan, I swear it would’ve been different.But now now it’s too late. One thing I promise you, when I wake, I will track them down. I will kill them. Both of them, for what they did to you.”
I spoke for a while, my words hanging in the air, and she stirred slightly.
“Who are you?”
I frowned, startled. Did she hear me? “Excuse me?” I asked.
“Who are you?” Her voice was faint, almost a whisper.
“Can you hear me?” I stepped closer, studying her face. Even in this state, she radiated power. “Still so powerful,” I murmured, a heavy sigh escaping me. “I promise you, when we meet again, don’t try to stop me. Don’t stand in my way.” I shook my head. “You deserved better than this. I’m sorry you got this.”
Silence. She didn’t answer.
“Morgan,” I said softly, a note of desperation in my voice. Nothing. “Natasha,” I tried again, pressing closer.
How was any of this possible? Even if she truly was Mother Nature, this shouldn’t be. And yet here we were. And I knew, somehow, she had heard me.
THIRTEEN
JASON
To think we were so close to crossing paths again, it still didn’t make sense. Alex had told her over and over that I was a lockpass lost. Did she forget? Was it too hard to process Alex and Leigh’s involvement? What?
I sighed. The plan had always been stupid. They didn’t have the resources, and she would struggle to find me. But never in a million years did I think she could end up in two places at once. When I had her abilities, it never happened. Why her?
I didn’t want to kill her, not as much as I wanted to, but I would let her go. Alex was right; she deserved a second chance.
