“Fine.” I opened my eyes and dragged a hand over my face. “Just... tired.”
“Yes, connecting with your magic can be draining. We should stop for the day.”
“Are you sure?” Dedication and exhaustion waged a war inside me. “I don’t want to give up so easily.”
“Resting is important, too,” he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “You’ve made incredible progress today, and I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you.” His unwavering support meant a lot to me.
“Come on.” Liam helped me up and ushered me toward a nearby bench. “Let’s get you something to eat.”
The sun dipped low in the sky as we walked back to the house. Exhaustion seeped into my bones, but it was accompanied by a surge of accomplishment that had been absent from my life for far too long.
“You should be proud of yourself, Liza,” Liam said. “Today was just the beginning, and you found the seat of your magic so much faster than I expected. You’ve already come so far.”
“Thanks.” A small smile tugged at my lips. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Our camaraderie comforted me, like being wrapped in a warm blanket made of love and security. I glanced over at Liam and decided to broach the subject Rosalie had brought up.
“Hey,” I said tentatively. “So, uhm, Rosalie, my sous chef, mentioned the craziest thing to me this afternoon. About... Sabrina. That you two might be fated. I mean, it shouldn’t be possible for a shifter to be fated to a human, right?”
Liam’s eyebrows shot to his hairline, then he sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair as he pondered my question. “To be honest, I’m not sure what to make of it. To my knowledge, it’s never happened before. Sabrina’s human, and humans aren’t supposed to be fated to shifters.”
“Are you just going to ignore it, then?”
“Even if I wanted to,” he said, running a hand through his hair, “my wolf wouldn’t let me. This is something we’ll have to deal with head-on.”
I sighed, knowing he was right. Our wolves were a part of us. Their instincts and desires often guided our actions. I did not like the thought of Sabrina being pulled into this world, but we couldn’t simply sweep it under the rug when it involved one of our own.
“Let’s just take it one step at a time, okay, Liam?”
Before he could respond, the front door creaked open, and Ty stepped out onto the porch, his face drawn.
“Hey, you two.” He walked down the steps to meet us. “I’ve got something to report, and I’m not too happy about it.”
110
TY
Istood in my office, the recent discovery a heavy weight bearing down on my shoulders. Liza’s theory that there might be another mole in the pack had haunted me all night long. Despite having already dealt with one traitor in the pack and another on my security detail, there was still something nagging at the back of my mind, urging me to dig deeper into the people around us.
“Everyone checked out, even Isaiah,” I said, more to reassure myself than Liam and Isaiah, who were in the room with me, as well as Liza. The unease lingered, though, like an itch I couldn’t quite reach.
Isaiah spoke up from where he stood in the corner of my office. “I did a thorough background check on every staff member. I was up all night trying to find anyone who could have any connection to Castro. No one on your team had any links to him.” Though he spoke with conviction, the bags under his eyes belied his exhaustion.
The tension in the air was palpable as Liam’s narrowed focus bore into Isaiah and me. “What did you find out?”
I hesitated. This was going to hurt Liza more than anything else we’d faced so far, and it killed me that I had to be the one to break the news.
“Ty?” Liza said, frowning. She hadn’t caught on yet, and every second that passed made it harder for me to speak up.
“Isaiah.” I motioned to the man standing behind me. “Give her the papers.”
As Isaiah handed over the documents to Liza, I tried to brace myself for the inevitable fallout. The scent of her confusion and fear mingled with the lingering traces of coffee and ink in the air, creating a dissonant symphony that set my nerves on edge.
Liza’s fingers shook as she flipped through the papers and scanned the contents quickly, then went back over them with more detail. Her heart raced so loudly I could hear it, each beat pounding like a drum in my ears.
“No.” She closed the papers and slapped the top sheet. “This can’t be true.”
