I’m still shaken from the hike. I wish I could sag back in my seat and sleep forever.
But I can’t. The scent of Liora’s fear clings to me, along with the older, heavier energy from the ritual site. The visions clawed at me, blinding me, but I held onto Noah and refused to let them in. They weren’t visions so much as memories of the terrible past, all the psychic shock of the females and males sacrificed to the greater good. Ritual rape and murder.
I want to puke.
Touching me seems to subdue his violence. His eyes change back to blue, and he recovers that steadiness that makes me feel safe. He has incredible self-control for an alpha.
“He wants to claim you?”
I shake my head. “Not claim. I must remain a virgin to keep my power. It’s a ritual to bind me as the Seeress, to him as the alpha of the pack. I will share in his alpha power, and it will enable me to receive visions for the highest good of the pack. Seeress is a sacred position.” I repeat to him the words that have been drilled into my head by Oma.
“You want this?” Noah is careful, like he’s holding back all the ferocity of his power to hear my answer.
What if I said yes? Would he let me go?
That’s when I’m sure: I will have a choice. Noah may have kidnapped me, but he respects my will. He’s not a tyrant like Aiden and Odin.
Do I want to be bound to Aiden? The need to retch wells again. “No,” I admit, wondering if the Grandmothers will strike me down for the blasphemy.
I want to be Seeress, but I don’t want to serve Aiden. I don’t want to go back. That’s when I realize that I already made my choice. I made my choice the moment I snuck Noah into sacred Moonborn land.
I’d made the choice without a second of deliberation. Mate first. Over all else.
“Then I won’t let him touch you. None of them. I’ll kill them before I let that happen.”
I believe him, but I feel so weak right now.
“The Alpha Rites are only a week away. Aiden and the Warden will do everything to make sure both rites happen, no matter the cost.”
“I won’t let them have you. And we’ll get Liora and Oriana out. Both of them. Got it?”
“Got it,” I say and make the fist nodding sign yes. And I do sag back and rest while Noah turns on the car and gets us the hell away from Adalwulf land.
Noah is silent on the ride back to the cabin. I’m sure he has a lot to process about seeing his mom. Learning his sister is scheduled to be bred.
When we arrive, I get out, but Noah walks around and sweeps me up to carry me inside. “You’re weary,” he says.
I tuck my face into his neck. I’ve grown stronger these past few days, but the trip took everything out of me.
He carries me into the bedroom and lays me gently in the center of the bed, pulling off my moccasins, then kicks his shoes off and stretches out on his back beside me. I roll into him, resting my hand on his chest. He covers it with his.
“Was it hard to see your mother?” I ask then realize he didn’t hear me. I push up on my elbow to show him my face and repeat the question.
That wooden expression takes over his face again, and I sense his chaotic thoughts. Feel his struggle to contain them.
I send love through my palm on his chest, trying to soothe him the way only a mate can. “Do you hate her for giving you away?”
I see a flash of grief before he hides it again. He scrubs a hand over his face.
“You didn’t tell me I had a sister.”
“Oh! I’m sorry! I thought you knew. I should have.”
“Is she deaf?”
“No.”
“How does Liora know ASL?”
