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That doesn’t mean anything now.
Even if that monster took this one, single step before he turned back into the forest, he proved that he could do something that shouldn’t be possible.
That’s all it takes to remove the sense of safety our Alpha has spent his life building up in all of us.
Nightshade is our home, and our people work tirelessly to keep the creatures inside The Abyss appeased, to prevent them from coming out of the forest and stepping into our world.
The Luna who led our pack several generations ago made a deal with those monsters.
We’ve done everything within in our power to uphold that deal.
Something must have happened to break it.
The thought turns my stomach.
The hard truth is, if one of those creatures were able to break the barrier that supposedly exists for them between the forest and our town, all bets are off.
I hold my hand out to Adam, and he takes it reluctantly.
If he doesn’t have the words to tell me what’s on his mind, then he needs to go back to the nursery where he belongs. His afternoon schedule will already have started. The teacher will wonder where he is, and the headmistress will be angry that he wasn’t brought back in time.
I stop outside the nursery gates and let go of Adam’s hand.
I sign to tell him he needs to go inside and stay there.
I’m not sure he understands the full implications of what he showed me.
It’s not safe for a little kid to be running around while there’s evidence that a monster was in town.
He should be afraid, not excited.
He starts shaking his head.
He doesn’t want to go back inside.
I crouch down and tell him it’s safe in there.
I’m not sure he knows what I’m telling him.
I spell out the letters for “safe,” and point to the nursery.
He frowns at me.
He understands now, I think, but something is still wrong.
Looking down, he slowly runs through the first few letters of the alphabet with his hands. I realize that he’s trying to work out how to spell out what he wants to tell me, but whatever he wants to say, he doesn’t get the chance to attempt it.
I catch the faint scent of another shifter on the air when I take in a breath. Looking up, my gaze fixes on the path that leads into the building where the children of Nightshade are taken care of.
The sight of Maria storming down the path makes my stomach churn.
The woman who’s in charge of the nursery may be mother to the Alpha’s first child, with stunningly beautiful bone structure, but she was my worst nightmare as a child. Alina didn’t allow this woman to raise me with the other kids, and for that I’m eternally grateful. Of course, it didn’t stop Maria from showing up on our doorstep time and time again, insisting that I needed to be taught the ways of our pack along with the other children.
Given her relationship with him, I was always terrified that one day she would come with explicit orders from the Alpha, and there would be nothing Alina could do to stop her from dragging me away.
Goddess, it’s been more than a decade since she put that fear into me, and her presence drags me right back to a place where I feel helpless. I have no right to demand Adam stay with me, but I don’t want to force him to go back into that building with her.
She stops at the gate and her icy stare cuts right through me.
