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Grace just smiled.
“So, what we know...” Megan began. “We know that you were both taken from me right after I gave birth. We don’t know exactly how or who, but we know that Ari was drugged with Red Fang each time, which is how they got past him. I was not well with either birth, so I was pretty much out of it.”
“Can we backtrack a bit?” Charlotte asked. “How did you two get together in the first place? I can feel you’re mates, but why weren’t you bound back then?”
Megan and Ari tag-teamed the explanation of how they met and how they got together, filling in a few of the blanks surrounding Megan’s choice to leave him and bring Sophia to America.
“Why didn’t you look for her?” Pepper asked.
“I did,” Ari said. “I never stopped.”
“In his defense, I did everything I could to make sure he couldn’t find me,” Megan said. “I went back to my mother’s maiden name, which isn’t in any of my records. I changed Ása’s name to Sophia, and Cameron helped me with the rest.” She grimaced at Ari. “I felt you sometimes, and that was the toughest part... not reaching out to you.”
“Why did you leave?” Charlotte asked.
“I believed he was the threat.”
Connall shifted, and Pepper grabbed his arm. “Nope. Don’t, Con. Let her explain.”
Megan sighed. “Because I hadn’t reached mating year, and because I was still human, Ari was able to manipulate my memories. Because of this, I didn’t know what was true. Had he just let me keep my memories, I would have known he’d been a victim in all of this as well, but he had a misguided need to protect me, so I was easily confused.”
Charlotte wondered how that was possible, because Grace hadn’t been manipulated by Max when they first met. He’d tried to use his gift on her, and failed miserably.
What Max has is the gift of suggestion, love. Megan would have been able to resist that as well. However, Ari has the gift of manipulation and that’s something much more powerful. She may be able to resist it now that she is bound, but she would never have been able to as a human.
Charlotte nodded an “Ah” at Niall, and he gave her a gentle squeeze.
“How did you manage to find her?” Pepper asked.
“Kaspar actually did that,” Ari admitted. “A woman came to him when I was... well, when I was in Inverness... and she told him what she knew of Megan. She gave him a flash drive with information on it. We are still weeding through it to sort out everything.”
“What kind of information?” Charlotte asked.
“Much of it’s encrypted, so it’s taking some time. Whoever the threat is, they aren’t revealing themselves easily.”
“Do you know what they want?” Pepper asked.
“You,” Connall guessed.
“What?”
“He’s right,” Ari confirmed. “You girls are what we call the Trifecta. Charlotte, you have the gift of ice; Pepper, you have fire; and Ása... sorry, Sophia, has earth. Individually, you have the ability to change your surroundings, but together, you have a power that’s never been seen before.”
“What kinds of things can you do, Sophia?” Charlotte asked.
“I can heal pretty much anyone,” Sophia said. “I can also heal plants and animals. I didn’t know that was what I was doing, but Papa told me. When Mom and I got into our accident, I had major internal bleeding, but it didn’t last very long. Mom broke her leg, but I was able to touch her and heal her.”
“How do you know about the plants?” Charlotte asked.
“Oh, that was so cool,” Sophia said, her face brightening. “Grandpa had put one of Nana’s plants out with the yard waste, and I was helping to sort everything. As soon as I touched one of the plants, it turned green and the leaves kind of raised up. Right in front of me. It was so weird. I thought maybe it just hadn’t died and so did he, so we put it back in the house, and it still looks great.” She glanced at Ari and then back at Charlotte. “Papa said it’s part of my gift.”
“That really is cool,” Charlotte said.
“If this gets out,” Ari said, growing serious, “you could all be in danger.”
“It sounds like it’s already gotten out.”
“You have nothing to worry about,” Niall said. “You will be protected.”
