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Opening the door, I step inside to see Beba sitting up in bed between Miles and Miguel, giggling softly at something they said. Rushing over to the bed, I jump on it and crawl up to her, only realizing what I’ve done when I see her wincing in pain. “Fuck, I’m so sorry.”
She puts her hand over her mouth, gasping into it. “Shayna Harper, what foul language coming from your mouth. I’m fine,” she says, swatting me across my arm.
“I’m so sorry, Beba. If it wasn’t for who I was, he wouldn’t have taken you, or known about you.”
“Stop. I was right where I was supposed to be. It was the way it was always meant to happen. No matter what you did, he would’ve still taken me simply for what I am. I wouldn’t give him the power he was looking for to restore it to his family, but I’m still a great force to control.” She reaches out, taking my hands in hers as the tears roll from my eyes, dripping off my face onto our combined hands. “Shayna, he hasn't given up. He’s still coming for you. The biggest battle is yet to come.” Her focused eyes tell me everything I need to know: She’s seen what's to come.
“Beba…” I start, but she cuts me off before I can finish.
“No, I know what you’re going to ask, and as much as I want to, I can’t tell you anything. It has to play out the way it was meant to be.”
My frustration kicks in, and I know it’s not about what she said. I guess in a weird way I can understand that, but hell didn’t her family interfere with what they did with her?
“Beba, I get it, I do. But your family intervened when they shouldn’t have.” I try to reason with her. “Is it one of those ‘only when it’s convenient for you’ things?”
“You know that's not how it happened. You saw they didn’t help with my rescue. The only reason they did what they did, placing me into your life, is because it was supposed to have been that way. It was foretold. We cannot just change history because we’re oracles. It has to play out the way it’s supposed to be.”
Not wanting to say anything more, especially since I’m mad, I give her hand a squeeze and move off the bed. “I’ll leave the three of you alone. I’ll check on you later.” Standing from the bed I turn and leave the room, throwing up my hand when she calls my name. I know what she’s saying is right. I just need to process it and I’ll come back and apologize. Getting used to ‘oracle Beba’ over the ‘Beba who was my cutthroat best friend’ is going to be hard.
Back in the hallway, I take a deep breath. “Damien, are you hungry? Do you need to go back to bed?”
“I could eat. Shay. You know she can’t go against who she is.”
“I know, it’s just that before she had her awakening, so to say, she would have been the first to tell me if she knew something that could be beneficial.”
“But that's the thing. That’s who she was before she remembered everything. You have to accept this new her and remember deep down she is the same person. I’d bet an arm and a leg she’d tell you everything if she could. Now, help me downstairs so we can get some coffee, eat and talk with Ryder about getting Chelle back.” We link arms at his words, both supporting each other as we head for the stairs.
When we reach the bottom, we hear raised voices in the kitchen, three to be exact, and all familiar: Sebastian, Ryder, and Hunter.
“Why do you fuckers have to be so loud?” Damien calls out as we step into the kitchen. Sebastian quickly rushes over, sliding his arm around Damien, and pulling him from my grasp, helping him to the table to sit down.
“You could have stayed upstairs. We were getting breakfast ready to bring up to all of you,” Sebastian chastises him.
“Yeah, yeah. I was helping Shay make her rounds. Mav was still asleep and the M&M twins are keeping Beba entertained.” I turn my head to him in question.
“M&M twins?” I ask out loud.
“Yeah, Ryder started calling them that, and well, it kinda stuck. It’s easier when you’re referencing them both to say that, rather than their names. It just fits, they both start with M,” Hunter tells me as he makes his way to me from the kitchen counter with a cup of steaming coffee in hand.
“Shay, can you take a seat so we can talk please?” Ryder's voice is stern as he asks, his face serious and I’m immediately worried about what new disaster has befallen us.
“What’s wrong?” I ask as I stumble, almost spilling my coffee, and take a seat at the table.
“So after we returned, I sent a mage with a portal to retrieve my scout that’s been guarding your parents and bring them all back here. We have your mom and dad locked up in the holding cell at the packhouse, warded by magic. We knew they didn’t have any, but we wanted to make sure no one could find them if they happened to perform a spell to search for your parents.”
“M-m-my parents are here?” my words come out in a stutter.
“Yes. I did it for Chelle’s protection. I don’t know if he knows who her father is or not, and I couldn’t risk it leaking out. This way we can at least control a little of the equation. You don’t have to see them. I just didn’t want to keep any secrets from you.”
“Thank you for not doing that. Can we bring Chelle home?’
All the guys immediately shoot their eyes at me but it’s Hunter who speaks up. “You heard her call this place home. So we can move you and Chelle in here now?”
I look at them all sheepishly for a moment before frantically nodding my head and saying “Yes,” at the same time.
“Good, let’s eat and go get our girl,” Hunter announces loudly.
Chapter 15
