AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I didn’t know what to feel about that. One of my birth relatives had kept watch over me – but it was an ancient vampiric one. I changed the topic. ‘If I’m a fire elemental, how come I can’t do anything with fire?’
Greg frowned. ‘If I had to guess, I’d say you were extinguished.’ He spoke the word in a hushed whisper.
‘Someone ripped my magic out of me,’ I said flatly.
Jess nodded. ‘That was Emory’s guess, too.’
‘But why?’
‘To protect you from whoever killed your parents,’ Jess said. ‘Hence the death certificate being filed for you, and you being shuffled off for adoption. If James hadn’t nearly killed you, you would never have been turned into a wolf and you’d have lived the rest of your life in the Common.’
‘If I were Common, I could never have found my family.’
‘No. Alessandro went to great lengths to obscure your adoption papers.’
‘Shit. Maxwell, Roscoe, Jason and his mum are all staying here,’ I started to panic. ‘I’m not ready for a family reunion.’
‘You have to face them sooner or later.’
‘I need some time to let this sink in. Maxwell is my cousin!’ I’d been on quite the rollercoaster and I needed some time to come down to earth.
‘Alyssa,’ Jess said.
‘What?’
‘Jason’s mum’s name is Alyssa. I did some digging. She seems to have gotten pregnant out of wedlock. There’s no father on the scene – Maxwell’s father, Niccolo, does a lot to help raise the child.’
All these names were a bit overwhelming. My mum and dad might be gone but they had a family.Ihad a family. ‘I’m not ready for this,’ I repeated.
Greg hugged me. ‘That’s not surprising, Peaches. It’s a lot to take in. I’ll go and make some excuses for you and see them out.’
‘Make the excuse a good one.’
‘I’m on it.’ He left me with Jess and Gato.
‘I’m not dealing with this very well,’ I said unhappily. ‘You’d be so much better at this than me. You take everything in your stride.’
Jess smiled. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, Luce, but you’re a bit of a control freak sometimes. You like being in charge, and this is out of your control – and it’s overwhelming. Give yourself a few days to let it settle.’
I stuck out my tongue at her and she laughed. As she sat next to me on the sofa, my tummy growled. ‘We’d better feed the beast,’ Jess suggested. ‘You get cranky when you’re hungry.’
‘Doesn’t everyone?’
Jess tracked down Mrs Dawes and requested some food. I’m a girl who can always manage brunch, even after a good breakfast. There were definite perks to being an alpha; half an hour later we were chowing down on a full cooked breakfast.
‘You’re not going to like this,’ Jess said, as she pushed back her plate, ‘but I have to go home later today. I’ve got some appointments I can’t get out of, but I really wanted to tell you the news in person.’
‘Thanks, love. I really appreciate you coming all this way.’
‘How could I not? Besides, I wanted to see you. Ithasbeen too long.’
‘Even for you, Little Miss Lone Wolf.’
She grinned. ‘It’s ironic that, out of the two of us, you’re the actual wolf.’
‘It’s ironic that people use the phrase “lone wolf”. I’ve never been busier with the pack.’ I was grumbling a little, but in truth I was happy with my alpha status.
‘You love it,’ Jess laughed. ‘You’re never happier than when you’re the centre of attention.’
