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“I think I told you guys my godfather healed my foot once, right?” she asked with a tremor in her voice. When we both nodded, she continued. “Well, I didn’t give you the full story. I usually don’t talk about it at all, but…anyway, when I was six, my mom lost her job, so she sent me to stay with my godfather for the summer while she tried to get a new gig. I was too young to be worried about it, and once I stopped feeling homesick, I had agreattime.
“My godfather owned a lot of land, and I’d go play in the yard or the words all the time. One day, while I was picking wildflowers, a bear cub wandered out of the woods. At first, I was frightened, but then she magically transformed into a girl about my age. She said her name was Alyssa. After that, I met her every day after lunch, and we’d explore the woods and the nearby creek. I tried to get her to come into the house, but she never would. If my godfather came outside to call me in for dinner, she’d always run away. She was so much faster than me, it was like she’d never been there at all.
“My godfather never seemed that surprised when I told him about Alyssa, but my mother never believed me. She startedreferring to her as my ‘imaginary friend,’ and the more I insisted she was real, the angrier my mother got. I’d ask to go back to my godfather’s to see Alyssa, but she never let me. I guess she got scared about the ‘imaginary friend’ thing at some point because she started taking me to doctors and specialists and stuff.” Liana paused, her expression growing wistful as she looked down at her hands. “I made friends at school, but when I told them about Alyssa, they made fun of me. Eventually, I learned not to talk about it. I wondered as I got older if I’d just had an active imagination as a kid. But it always seemed sorealto me. It made me doubt myself, you know? Whenever anything out of the ordinary happened to me, I’d start wondering if I was overreacting or making it up.” She offered us a shaky smile.
Overcome with the urge to comfort her, I leaned over and pulled Liana into a hug. “I’m sorry we didn’t take you seriously when you told us about your godfather,” I said, giving her a squeeze. “Even if we were drunk, I’m sure that didn’t help matters.”
Liana looked at me. “I’m sure the only reason I brought it up was because I was drunk,” she said. “It wasn’t something I thought aboutthatmuch, and I didn’t talk about it. I do wonder what happened to him, though. If he’s still alive. How he is. My mother cut off all contact after that summer. I’m sure she blamed him for my ‘imaginary friend’ troubles.”
I took a breath, deeply relieved Liana was accepting this with far more grace than I had. “You know, I did meet a bear shifter recently,” I told her, thinking of the grizzly shifter who’d offered us his home in Alaska. “He was rather kind.”
“Did you show her your own big sexy immortal shifter? Nottoomuch, right?” Abi asked me, a wicked gleam in her eye.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “I’m not going to send her running for the hills, Abi. Besides, Liana probably wants to get some rest after the trip here.”
“I didn’t see anything likethat,” Liana said, giving Abi a stern look. “But…I did see him. Whoishe, exactly? Beyond what Abi said earlier…” She paused, looking at me. “It’s not like I’m about to fall asleep after learning that vampires and witches and shifters are real, so don’t use that as an excuse.”
“Well…” I frowned.How do I explain this? I tapped my finger against my lips. “Fenris is currently the Lunar Lord, but he wasn’t always. Other wolf shifters in the Celestial Pack fought for the title, too. His brother was the Lunar Lord before him, and his father was the Lunar Lord before him, but that didn’t stop others from grasping for the title. His brother, Lyka, is still alive—the wolves of the Celestial Pack all have an immortal lifespan—but he’s…feral, for lack of a better word.” I paused, waiting to see how Liana took all of this.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “He was that one guy in one of your memories? In a jungle or a rain forest? He looked a lot like Fenris, but…more weathered, somehow.”
“Yes, that was Lyka.”
“Okay,” Liana said again, studying my face. “So, I understand why Fenris is so important to you, but what does Lyka have to do with this story?”
“Well, you did want to know why you were on this island…” I said. Liana raised her eyebrows as I sighed. “Remember Abi mentioning how Fenris was my fated mate, though just consider him a ‘partner’ for now. Anyway, Lyka has a fated mate, too. We thought for a long time he didn’t, and that’s why his wolf went mad, but…he does.”
“And…?”
“And that’s you,” I said.
Liana’s eyes could’ve jumped right out of their sockets. “Me?” she squeaked.
“We won’t force you to marry him or anything,” I said quickly. “In fact, if you want to, we’ll take you home right now—you never even have to meet him. The reason we asked you to come was because the presence of a wolf shifter’s fated mate provides them with some peace and, after everything Lyka’s been through, we thought that’d help him heal. But you aren’t under any obligation,” I repeated. “I want to make sure you know that.”
“How do you know this?” Liana asked, frowning. “I mean, that it’s me. How can you be sure?”
“I cast a spell that allowed me to…scry, I guess. That’s the only way I can describe it.” I paused. “When I saw it was you,Icould hardly believe it, either. But there’s been so much going on, and I figured this could be the only chance I got to tell you about it, even if you don’t want to do anything with Lyka. I…well, they already targeted one of my friends, and I didn’t want that to happen to you, too, if I could help prevent that.”
Liana blinked, looking shocked before she glanced at Abi, who gave a brief nod in confirmation.
“I…wow…okay,” Liana said after a moment, clearly taken aback. “This…this is a lot to digest,” she said, chewing on her lip. After a moment, she gave a nod, then met my gaze. “I can’t promise anything, but if it’s true that if just my presence would help soothe him, I can at least do that.”
My heart soared, and I squeezed Liana’s hand. Where Abi was always the friend with the fun ideas, I was the “mom” friend, making sure we didn’t get intotoomuch trouble. Liana had always been the gentlest of the trio. I should’ve known she’d agree if she thought it’d help someone. After all, she'd flown all the way to Kansas to break up with a guy who hadn’t given her the time of day.
“So, is he here on the island? Lyka?” she asked.
“He is.” I tried not to appear too relieved. “You could meet him tonight, if you’d like, but he’s been through alotand hemay…well, he may not notice you at all. I don’t know. These days, he’s been extremely despondent.”
“That’s okay,” Liana said. “If it helps, it helps. It can’t hurt to try. Would it be okay if I had a few minutes to just, you know, clean up? And then we can head down?”
“Of course!” I stood, grabbing Abi’s arm to pull her off the bed. “Take all the time you need.”
After Liana had the chance to catch her breath, clean up, and have a quick meal, we reconvened in Abi’s bedroom. We’d need to find Fenris first, and I suspected he was in his office. The three of us were about to head down the stairs when a dark blur sped past.
Liana gave a jolt when she felt the cold breeze, turning with wide eyes as Abi giggled, wrapping her arms around Gilbert as he scooped her up off the ground, then spun her around like a heroine straight out of the sappiest romance. “Hello to you, too,” she said, cupping his face in her hands before giving him another kiss.
Liana shrank behind me as she stared at the happy couple. “How did he move so quickly?” she whispered, biting her lip. “I barely saw him!”
