CHAPTER ONE
Lila
“John, William, Eric, come quickly. Liliana is awake.”
There’s a beat of silence as Xavier’s words sink in before the room explodes into chaos. All three of my grandpas, who were fully focused on Vivian, turn their attention to Xavier.
“She’s awake?” Tears well in my eyes at the hopefulness I hear in John’s voice.
“Yes, come quickly. She’s asking for you and muttering about Vivian.” Xavier gestures in the direction of their wing. He looks completely frazzled and not like the put together warlock we all know and love.
“Should I chase after her?” Saxon asks, looking in the direction Vivian just went.
“No!” William shouts, running his hand through his hair. It’s grown out a bit over the last few months, and he is definitely in need of a new buzz cut. It’s sitting kind of funny from all the tugging he does. “No, definitely not. If Liliana wants to see her, then we can always send her another message. We don’t knowenough yet, not to mention Phillip and Fiona’s conversation that Connor overheard.”
“Come on.” Eric takes off using his enhanced speed. John and William follow quickly behind him, and I turn to look at Zeydan through the window. He’s watching the children, but his tails are bristling with agitation and his head is cocked like he’s listening to something.
He turns to look inside the window, and his eyes glow with power.
“I should tell him,” I say quietly, biting my lip.
I’m still a little unsure about where we stand. He mated me, and I can feel the small slice of his soul inside me, but it’s a one-sided bond. I haven’t sealed him to me yet, and despite his protests that Liliana is like a sister to him, there is no blood between them. What if there was something more once upon a time? They are as old as dirt, so it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility that they had a fling in the past.
Before I can make a move, though, he disappears, only to reappear directly in front of me. “She’s awake.” He doesn’t phrase it as a question, so I just nod. “I thought I could feel a remnant of god power.” His brows furrow in confusion. “But I could have sworn it was a remnant of death power I felt, not life. Now that I’m inside, though, I can feel the gentle wave of life.”
“Will you go to her?” I ask, and he shakes his head as Ghosie walks outside to round up the children. His fur will protect him from the cold better than any of the others. I hear them squealing and giggling as they refuse to come inside.
“No, not yet. Are your grandpas with her?”
“Yes, they went immediately,” I reply as the cats and Ghosie wrangle the children and herd them inside. They are starting to get whiny now, and all of them protest loudly.
“Then I think warm baths and bed are in order.” Nikos is quick to scoop Hali up as she ducks around Echo, trying to getoutside again. She starts to scream. I’m not sure where she gets her temper from—certainly not me.
“That sounds like a good idea.” Caspian gets Jack while Tirrian and Brannock grab the other two girls. Silac swoops in and lifts Typhoon, who is quick to snuggle into his chest. That baby is such a snuggle rabbit and has his daddies wrapped around his little finger. They all disappear in the direction of our wing, and the noise dies off.
The cats shake off their fur, flinging droplets of water everywhere, and I glare at them. They have the grace to look sheepish before slinking over to the fireplace, making themselves comfortable in front of the flames.
“Are you going to go up there, Lila?” Saxon asks as he starts to pack up the games. Ghosie and Zeydan join in, Zeydan putting away the deck of Go Fish cards, while Saxon stacks the blocks of Jenga together.
“Not yet. I don’t want to overwhelm her. It will be a big shock for her, and I’ll let the grandpas, Link, and Xavier explain everything to her before I join them,” I tell them as I grab the Twister mat and fold it, placing it and the customized spinner back in the box. I head over to the table with the Clue game and put away all the pieces as well as the cards and packs of Guess sheets. Once finished, I stack the boxes on top of each other, making a mental note to take them all back to the ship with us when we go.
I don’t meet any of the guys’ looks. I don’t want to see what they think. I’m not technically hiding, but I know once I go in and meet my grandma, everything is going to unravel. We will know the truth that I’m certain has been staring us in the face.
I’m not paying attention to what’s going on, caught in my thoughts, as I sit on the sofa in front of the fire. Echo puts his big head in my lap and gives my hand a lick. I absently stroke his mane, and he makes a weird, rumbling kind of purringsound that’s soothing, but I hear the others talking quietly in the background. I watch the flames as they lick over the logs, the sight combined with the warmth emanating from it slightly hypnotic.
I feel the sofa sag as someone sits next to me
“Talk to me, Lila.” Saxon puts his arm around my shoulders and tucks me against his side. I snuggle into his large body and sigh.
“What do you want me to say?” I ask, not really sure what the problem is. We were having an awesome family evening playing games before Vivian interrupted. There was no way I was going to let her through to sit with Liliana, even before she got spooked. I need the cousins to wake up so I can pump them for information as well.
“Why aren’t you racing to meet your grandma?”
I shrug as much as I can while trapped in his arms. “I don’t know. What if she’s disappointed? I don’t remember meeting her in any of my memories. I must have, right? She only went missing a few months before my parents were killed.”
“Lila, why would she be disappointed? From what I understand, they loved you and your parents very much.”
I shrug, having no idea why I feel this way. Meeting my grandpas was the best thing that ever happened to me, so why wouldn’t meeting my grandma be the same way? “Maybe because her identity is so up in the air. I don’t want to become attached and realize we got it wrong.”
