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She shook me off with her hand and sighed. “They won’t be healing anytime soon. I’m not even sure if they ever will.”
“What is it?” I asked. “How could my father scar you like this? The wounds look so shallow.”
“The witch used some kind of magic. She was trying to spread her dark magic to anyone with magic. She was never after the pack like your father was. Her target was the witches. I can’t imagine why she would want to infect others. It doesn’t make any sense.”
I looked back to the packhouse. “Maybe your mom or some of the elders know how to heal it.” The thought of my mate becoming infected with dark magic terrified me, especially with my pup growing inside her. Would it affect my child? Would I lose both my mate and unborn pup to my father’s quest for vengeance, after all?
Liberty grabbed my face and turned my gaze back to her. “The both of us will be fine. There isn’t enough to infect me or the baby. I will only have to live with the scar.” She smiled at me, then took my hand in hers. “Let’s get back to our pack. They’re all waiting for us.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Xander
Liberty took my hand as we made our way back to the packhouse. From the forest edge, we could see the destruction that my father’s attack had left on the property, and my heart fell. Some of the metal fencing around the yards had been bent or ripped from the ground, destroying the once beautiful barrier.
The gardens, once filled with countless flowers, had been disturbed; some even had their flowers uprooted. The trees showcased broken branches, barely hanging on. Nothing, however, was permanent. It would simply take some time to be fixed and with our care, they would regrow.
Diana spotted us before any of the others. Her eyes widened, then softened as we approached. She ran up to us; and for a moment, I thought maybe she would rip her daughter from my arms. I thought for sure she would blame me for what my father had done; instead, she threw her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug.
“We were so worried about you, Xander. I’m so sorry about what you had to do,” she said.
I looked over at Liberty, who simply stepped out of her mother’s way and watched as the Witch Luna pulled me into a hug and patted my back. It was in such a motherly way that I wasn’t sure what to do.
“I’m okay,” I finally said and hugged her back.
Diana pulled back and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You don’t have to pretend to be okay, Xander. We’re a family. Maybe not by blood, but The Fates have bound us through Liberty. Family is there for one another, no matter what.”
I felt my chest tighten at her words, and new tears threatened my eyes. Quickly, I nodded and turned away from my mate’s mother, only to find her brother standing at my side with a wide grin on his face.
“Those Fates, huh,” he whispered. “They really give you a migraine, don’t they?”
His prophecy came once more to mind as he said it. I looked around the gathered crowd. I saw the friends I had grown up with mixed in with the pack. They were hugging each other, tears of joy and sorrow falling from their eyes. When I looked over at Brady, his eyes were distant again, but his voice was still his own.
“In lessons learned, in choices well made.
Through covenant’s strength, in bonds displayed.
His path discerned the right choice embraced.
The prophecy fulfilled a destiny traced.
Yet shadows loom, a darkened plight.
Evil whispers a worldwide blight.
The lesson’s essence, a warning conveyed.
In the calm aftermath, a storm is laid.”
We all looked at him with concern and confusion as his eyes cleared, and he let out a sigh of relief.
“What is coming, Son?” Orion asked.
Brady shook his head. “I couldn’t see it, but I got the feeling that it’s not our battle. Whatever it is, it will affect us all, one way or another. But we aren’t the ones who will be at the forefront of the storm coming.”
Orion looked around with a nod. “All right. We will all meet in my office tonight and take a closer look. We can discuss plausible theories as to what it could mean. For now, we have some work to do.” He turned to me and gestured to the pack and rogues, now watching us with interest. “It’s not quite the coronation we had planned for the two of you, but today seems like the right time to have them all swear their allegiance to the future alphas.”
Liberty and I exchanged glances; and after a moment, we both smiled and nodded to her father. Together, we stepped ahead of her family and addressed the entire pack. I could see at the back a couple of the witches, who had come to help to guide the confused humans away from the house. The woman and older man both stood by and watched our gathering with interest of their own.
