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“Show me what else you found. I want to know about the toys you had growing up,” she asked, sitting up. I pointed to the toys I’d displayed around the room, including the pride of my collection growing up, the full set of the lion king figurines you got with a Happy Meal, and my view master, accompanied by a box of slides.
Chapter fifty
Celeste
Itwasalmosttwomonths since we came back from Mexico. We were only a few days from December now, and I was as big as a whale. Dr. West estimated I was the equivalent of twenty-eight weeks of human gestation. The pups were large, and I could officially not bend over anymore.
Markus and I started training my pyro ability when we came back, but as my belly grew, our training became more training for him to access my ability without pulling so much of my energy and using his instead. We wouldn’t be able to resume my physical training until after the pups were born.
I sighed as I waddled back to our office after yet another trip to the bathroom. I stopped when I felt anger bubbling in my chest. I grunted, taken aback by the sudden feeling, when I realized it wasn’t coming from me. I wobbled faster into the office to see what was wrong with Markus. Everyone was gathered around Evergreen, who had a laptop set on my desk.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Evergreen got a hit,” Gillian answered. There was a knock on the door behind me, and six warriors walked in. Gabriel, Brenda, Zack, George, Brent and Mateo were looking serious and at attention, waiting for instructions. I turned back to look at Markus.
“I take it by the fact that you’ve called all of our guards in, it means he’s not in Paris?” I joked dryly. When I got no response, I sighed. “Tough crowd,” I mumbled as I waddled over to my desk to see what they were looking at.
It was a picture of Huitzilopochtli at an airport, and I was surprised to see him looking so normal. He was wearing black slacks and a red button-down shirt. He was a handsome man, to be honest.
“So your software thingy worked? You can find someone based on an old drawing?” I asked, impressed.
“I’m offended you doubted me, Luna, but I will accept your apology in the form of one of your lasagnas to take home. Valeria and I keep missing your cooking nights,” Evergreen compromised, and I grinned. Valeria was working in the pack hospital as a nurse and was studying to finish her medical degree and was often in the pack hospital on night shifts so she could make her classes during the day. She and Evergreen were living in a small house close to the pack house, but they only joined us for dinner when I cooked, and Valeria wasn’t on shift.
Unless we needed him, Evergreen was keeping the same hours as his mate so they could still spend time together. He was delegating new clients out to his apprentices unless they were important ones that required his unique brand of genius, and the remainder of his work was comprised of solo projects that didn’t require him to spend time with anyone. Markus agreed on his somewhat unconventional work schedule when Evergreen showed up with a PowerPoint presentation at the ready. It wasn’t a hard sell. Evergreen was more productive while working at night, as he could work without interruptions. My only concern was his eating habits. Evergreen was notorious for hyper-focusing, so I occasionally made some Tupperware dishes for the mated couple to ensure everyone was still eating.
Cooking was one of the few things Dr. West still allowed me to do, but I had to promise to make meals that didn’t require me to be moving around too fast. Now that I was getting so big, he was worried about something called placenta abruption, where the placenta would detach, and I would be forced to deliver early. I was essentially cooking while sitting down, prepping with Melissa moving about stirring, and doing the lifting for me after school. The entire pack house turned into snitches whenever I tried doing anything other than chopping in my seat and shouting instructions.
“Which airport is this?” I asked.
“Sky Harbor.” I sighed at Danny’s words.
“So he’s near. Any chance he could just be here to catch the Suns play?” Still, not a single chuckle. “Is this thing on?” I wondered, tapping an imaginary mic.
“That’s not all Celeste,” Markus growled.
“What else is there?” I asked.
“Sit,” he ordered, and I raised an eyebrow at his tone. He sighed and, in a much gentler tone, said, “Please, Tuli. I don’t want your body to get overwhelmed.”
I sat and waited for someone to speak.
“Huitzilapochtli is the man that bought all the girls from Blood Moon,” he told me, and I blanched at his words. “Danny recognized him as the buyer. He thought at the time that it was a middleman for the black market, but given who he is…”
“Well, I don’t think that’s the reason anymore,” Danny said. “I think—”
“That he was still looking for me,” I said numbly, and he nodded.
So, I was the reason all the girls were sold. I wondered if he made them suffer like he made my bloodline suffer. I hoped not. I hoped the lie that saved my life all those years ago hadn’t caused the senseless suffering of my friends.
“I don’t remember any of the videos and pictures having a face of the buyer,” I finally replied.
“The time we rescued Ruby, I had to act fast, and we attacked him to save Ruby. I clocked the man in the jaw, trying to knock him out. It didn’t, but he was stunned by the surprise ambush enough for us to get away. I saw his face. It’s him,” Danny explained, and I nodded, looking back at the screen.
It was hard to associate his handsome features with someone who had hunted my family and been responsible for my parent’s deaths and everyone in my pack. I kept thinking of the words Selene used when she told me her story and what I saw in the memory. His mother lied to him, and Huitzilopochtli still didn’t know the truth. This was all a misguided quest for revenge on the wrong party.
Could he be saved? I sometimes wondered while I watched Markus sleep at night. Was there anything good left in the heart of a god that had killed for a thousand years? When he attacked Diego’s pack, he didn’t want to kill everyone. He just wanted me and requested I be handed over instead of killing his way to me. Was he always merciful to those he believed innocent, or was this a façade? An attempt to get what he wanted without having to put in extra effort?
“Tuli?” Markus called for me. I could sense his concern for me through the bond. He expected me to have a panic attack, and I knew he was feeling anything but fear or panic. I looked at the picture again.
