“...steal from us…good faith?” The Warden shows his teeth at her.
I don’t know what he says, but Aiden blasts him with Alpha Command, and the Warden shuts his mouth.
“What coven?” Aiden demands.
“The Montaigus.”
Aiden stares at her a moment longer then reaches for the leather handle of my leash. “Give him to me.”
I dig my paws into the dirt and make him drag me, like I don’t want to be taken to their dungeon. Like I’m not hoping to be brought right to my mate.
Like this wasn’t my plan all along.
Aster
My cell door clangs open, and Hugh leaps to his feet, snarling.
I take my sweet time opening my eyes.
“Get up,” the Warden rasps. He’s in white ceremonial robes. His raccoon face paint is fresh, with the added emphasis of lines and dots on his forehead and cheeks. “It’s time.”
I don’t make any move to rise. “What about the acolytes?”
“They have been found unworthy. They will be punished and kept in confinement until the next Alpha Rite.”
Phew. At least I saved them, for now.
I told Aiden nothing about where I’ve been and why. Only that I’ve been following the guidance of the Grandmothers, which I know unnerved him. It’s one thing to believe one of your key pack members has gone rogue. A rogue member can be tortured. Punished. Starved and forced into submission.
It’s another thing to believe the Grandmothers are working against you, the supposed alpha of the pack.
I’ve been meditating, cultivating stillness. I’ve made it clear to the Grandmothers I won’t be doing anything that puts my mate in danger, but I am open to their advice and help. I can feel them considering this. They haven’t said anything yet, but I feel the rumbling of psychic thunder, the heaviness to the spring air. Tonight’s lunar eclipse will be a massive portal for power.
I only wish I knew what to do with it.
I stand, keeping my face serene.
Come, I sign to Hugh.
The ghost wolf stands at my heel.
Talk to me, Grandmothers, I demand. They owe me their guidance.
Perhaps they were demanding only my sacrifice to pack. For me to get up on the altar and be alpha bonded to Aiden. Or worse, bred by the alphas of the pack. Maybe that was the reason they warned me what would happen if I left with Noah. To ensure my compliance. Now that they have it, they have no need to guide me anymore.
But it doesn’t matter what happens to me. All that matters is that Noah and his family are safe.
But why guide Noah to rescue me from the tower? Was it just for me to help him get his mother and sister out?
It seems so cruel to bring my mate to me only to rip both our hearts out when I leave him.
I gasp.
What if they brought us together so that Noah–the true alpha born of the Alpha Rites–would be the one to breed me?
That thought brings tears to my eyes.
Could there be life growing inside me already? I put a hand to my belly, but of course I don’t feel anything there. It’s too early. And I might not be pregnant at all.
