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“Hmm… must be because you were only just starting to share that gift with me. This one was clear?” When he nodded, I continued, “I wonder if we’ll always have the same visions or if I can have different ones. Do we need to be touching for them to be shared?”
“Not sure how we test that. You can’t control when they come, can you?” he asked, and I shook my head. “We will just have to wait and see, I guess.” He mentioned, looking excited at the prospect of sharing my gift. A tiny, petty part of me wondered if he would have been this excited when it was followed by a migraine. Kara sneezed with humor and shook her head at my thought.
I nodded in agreement to Markus' question and added the dress to the take pile. There were two unopened boxes left. I opened one of them and gasped.
“I remember this dress. I used to see it in her closet all the time. She promised me it would be mine when I grew up,” I said as I gently touched the shimmery beaded fabric. I didn’t need to take it out. I knew what it looked like. The dress was something I thought was long lost. I grinned at Markus. “Looks like I don’t have to go shopping tomorrow after all.” He laughed at me and shook his head. I took the dress out of the box and passed it over. As he took it, a letter fell from the folded cloth. It just said “Celeste” on the outside of it. I picked it up with shaky hands and held it in my hands, caressing the handwriting with one finger.
“Are you going to open it?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“I don’t think this is the time. I will open it the day of the ceremony,” I said and put it on top of the dress, swallowing the knot in my throat.
One box left. I opened it and saw a really old-looking parchment document. On top of it was a pendant made of beautiful solid obsidian stone. It was round, with a lot of symbols carved on the surface. Rose gold filigree was attached to the top, bottom, left and right sides of the round pendant, like a tiny claw cradling the stone. A single fire opal in the middle shone brightly. It was beautiful and I could feel it was ancient as I held it in my hands.
“That looks like the Aztec calendar,” Markus said, coming over and taking it from my hands to inspect it more closely. The amulet responded to him, the fire opal shining brightly under his touch.
“It looks like it’s chosen its new owner,” I said. He looked confused but added it to the take pile.
I pulled out the parchment paper and unrolled it.
“It’s a family tree.” I determined. Markus took a good look at it and his eyes widened.
“That’s your mother’s family tree. Look at this… it follows the matriarchs. All the females. Celeste, I think this is the tree that documents all the females with the goddess’ bloodline. All the gifts. Look! The males are noted, but not followed. There’s only a name to them. But see, the women all have dates of birth and death as there are little symbols underneath them.”
I looked at it more closely. “Half of these women died so young. Not even past twenty for some. Many didn’t even find their mate before they died,” I whispered, my stomach sinking. Markus took the tree and put it on the take pile before wrapping his arms around me.
“That won’t be you. We will never let anything happen to you,” he said, holding me tight to his chest. I sighed and let him hold me in silence, uncertainty over the future suddenly feeling like a very real fear. After a few minutes, he pulled back, chuckling when my stomach growled. “I’ll go get us a box for the take pile. Why don’t you start putting the rest of the stuff back and we can go drop off the documents to the attorney? I’m taking you to lunch after.”
I nodded as he left the deposit box room, and I took all the boxes with the items we weren’t taking with us and placed them back in the locker. I was locking it when Markus came in, and we went on our way. Mr. Ronin gushing after us the entire time.
After we dropped the documents at the attorney’s office, we headed toward a restaurant called Bailey’s Diner. The phone rang through the truck’s speakers as Markus parked.
“Hey Gillian what’s up?” Markus answered.
“Alpha, someone took her. I’m sorry. I don’t know where the security measures failed. I am getting the camera’s video to see. You need to come home.”
“Who Gillian? Who did they take?” Markus’ sharp tone cut through his panic.
“Ruby. Someone took Ruby. Her bedroom window is shattered. Two kids heard a scream and saw two people dragging her toward the forest. We couldn’t catch them. They had too much of a head start,” he explained in a defeated tone.
“How did they get past the gates?” I cried. “Who took her?! We have to get her back.”
“I’m trying to find out, Luna. I’m so sorry. I’m trying to figure out how something like this could happen. We should have been able to sense anyone coming past the borders uninvited.”
“We’ll be home soon, Gillian. Have all the cameras pulled during the time window by the time I get back. No one takes my pack members and lives.” Atlas’ voice and Markus’ were mixed and pissed as Markus pulled out of the parking spot.
“Maya? Has anyone checked on Maya? Did they get her too?” I asked, panic filling me.
“Maya is fine. Danny and a few guards are with her. She was with Mrs. Quinn and Kelly hashing out some details for the ceremony when they took Ruby. They were supposed to me—fuck. Okay. Just get home, please. I think I know how they got in.” Gillian hung up. I looked at Markus and he grabbed my hand, the truck speeding up as we barrelled out of town
“We’ll get her back, Celeste,” Markus said with determination, but I had a terrible sinking feeling we were going to be too late.
Chapter twenty-seven
Markus
Howthefuckdopeople get on my property and take someone from my fucking pack house? Someone fucked up, and I intend to find them and make them pay. What if Celeste had been there?
I drove so fast back to the pack house I almost flipped over at a bend in the road. Celeste was silent the whole ride home, silently crying and wringing her hands, although it could be argued that the hand wringing was due to my speed.
