“We bound you with magic when you were small. All of you young that were there during the Blood Moon Days.”
My blood turns to ice, the bond in my chest feels like it’s gone tight. “What the fuck are you talking about? What did you do to us?”
He looks away from the ceiling to me. “We made you forget.”
I take a step towards him. “Forget? Forget what?”
“What you saw that day. For you…for you, it was her.”
“Explain yourself right fucking now, Alpha or I’m going to challenge you and I’ll win.”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “I’m going to let that slide since it has to do with your fated mate, but watch yourself.”
Ronan is right. I’m treading on dangerous ground right now but I don’t give a shit. “What do you meanyou made me forget her?”
“Those days, that night especially, was painful enough for the adults that survived. The trauma of it on our young was unthinkable. You were all inconsolable. Some of you weren’t speaking. Clover…she was catatonic by what she saw. Didn’t speak a word for weeks.”
“That doesn’t sound like Clover.”
“Of course it doesn’t but that’s because of the spell. There was a witch living with us then. Maud was her name.”
The name sparks recognition in me. I know that name.
“Cordelia’s teacher?”
“Yes.” He nods and gives me a sad smile. “She was a valued member of our pack and fought hard to save as many of our young as she could. She almost died. For weeks we thought she might but she pulled through, and when she did she offered us a solution to the pain so many of us carried. She offered us a memory spell. One to mute the memories and trauma, enoughthat you would have a chance at living without the ghosts of that day ruining you.”
“But I remembered, I remember…”
“What did you remember exactly? The fire? That’s the memory she gave you.”
“No,” I shake my head. “There’s more than the fire. I remember a girl. I remember hiding from one of the Frostclaw Enforcers and then a girl, she saved me. I remember her.”
Ronan’s face goes sad. “That was Cordelia. She saved you. I was the one that found you after they took her.”
I shake my head. “No, it can’t be. I would have known it was her.”
“Can you see her face in your memory?” he asks.
“No…no, I can’t. I never can, it’s a blur. I thought…I thought it was because I was too scared to remember her.”
“It was the spell. Enough of the memory made it through, most likely because of your Soul Tie to her. I’d wager it’s why Cordelia didn’t understand that it was you she was looking for. You have to understand, we did this to protect you all. The pain of losing someone, someone you loved is enough to kill a survivor. I never wanted that for any of you.”
I know Ronan believes what he’s saying. He understands it. He did lose the love of his life to that night.
“Why would that affect her?”
“Because Maud didn’t just cast her spell on the survivors, she also cast it on the ones we lost. She volunteered to go to Frostclaw, to live there and spell them all so they had a fair chance at life too. We never imagined it would slow or halt a bond. But the moon goddess’s will always prevails and your Soul Tie overpowered the spell.”
I stagger a few steps. For a second, my knees almost give out but I catch myself. “Holy hells.”
Ronan sighs. “Holy hells,” he agrees. “It didn’t feel right not telling you the truth of it all.”
“I have to find her. I have to, I don’t know what. I have to find her.Now.”
Cordelia was the reason for everything. My life. The reason why I grew up in Red River and she was stolen to Frostclaw. I pushed myself to become strong enough to protect the pack, my family, but she’d always been that strong.
If she hadn’t saved me, sacrificed herself for me, it would be me that grew up among the enemy. Who would I be then? Would I be cruel? Would I have turned into my captors? Or would I have been as strong as Cordelia and stayed true to who I was meant to be?
