My eyes fill with tears. “She must’ve studied it on her own in hopes of meeting you.”
Noah’s eyes redden, and grief creases his face.
“She must have suffered being apart from you.”
Noah’s pain washes across me. I lay my cheek on his chest until I feel it pass.
“It must be hard to not know her.”
“I understand it. She wanted to save me. I just don’t understand why she stayed. Why would she stay?” His forehead screws up with fresh pain.
I hesitate.
Noah sees I’m holding something back and immediately jumps on it. “What? For power?”
I blink, surprised. “No. Not at all. Liora holds very limited power. She’s honored for being the most devout. But…” How do I explain? It’s the same thing that makes me reluctant to give up my role as Seeress although, if I’m honest, there may be some enjoyment of power mixed in there for me.
“The draw of the Moonborn is the magic. Not the Alpha Rites magic–that’s been twisted and corrupted. But the communing with the earth. Living in harmony with nature. Feeling her gifts and returning our reverence. Running naked with the moon and feeling the Moon Goddess’ answering pulse of power. And for me, it’s hearing the Grandmothers.”
Noah cocks his head. “Grandmothers?”
“Two hundred years ago, when the Adalwulfs first came to the New World to settle it, they bonded with a coven of witches. The wolves provided physical protection, allowing them to self-govern and avoid the Puritans who wished to burn them. The witches offered their command of nature and their gift of Sight. They made sacred vows that forever bound the pack to the witches. The rite that binds me to Aiden was developed by them. It’s a way of bolstering the witches’ power and benefitting the pack. I am a descendant of both witch and wolf. The Grandmothers are my foremothers. They provide me with constant guidance.”
“The Grandmothers led me to the tunnel to find you,” Noah says, and goosebumps race across my arms.
“They must have.” I nod. “And they led me to the tunnel to find you.”
But why? Because they wanted me to find my fated mate? It doesn’t make sense. I would forever lose my connection to them if I let him claim me.
Or do they want me to help Noah take his rightful throne? Do they want me to be bound to him as Alpha of the Adalwulfs–not Aiden?
It’s true that my visions and the chatter from the Grandmothers was blindingly loud the first few times I came in contact with Noah.
Even the visions in the museum might have been set off by his presence rather than the moonstone tiara.
The tiara!
“Did you steal the moonstone tiara from the museum?”
Noah gives me the fist-nodding sign for yes.
“Why?”
My heart pounds. Did the Grandmothers guide him to secure it for his own alpha bonding ritual to me?
The idea doesn’t frighten me the way being bound to Aiden does, but for some reason, I don’t like it.
He shrugs. “I figured if it was important to Aiden, I should keep it from him.”
Relief trickles in. It was only revenge motivated for him.
But why should I be relieved that he’s not aiming for the throne? If I truly cared about and served my pack, I would do everything in my power to help him win it.
But these last twenty-four hours have been the best of my life. I feel free here. Safe. Excited by the male I’m with. I don’t know if I want to go back to the pack.
Not yet anyway.
He studies me. “Is it important to you?”
