The two only hesitated for a moment before walking closer. I watched as they drew near. The wolf began to shimmer and become almost ghostlike before it stepped close to Gabriella and vanished into her body. My mother finally stood in front of me, and the wonder in her eyes almost made me cry.
She reached out and touched my cheek. “My baby. My beautiful girl. You don’t know how much I missed you. You are so perfect. I always knew you would be.”
“Come home with me?” I asked.
Gabriella glanced around, confused. “Isn’t this home? Isn’t this where I live now?”
I shook my head, grabbed her by her arms, and pulled her close, pressing my forehead to hers. As soon as our heads touched, we were ripped out of the memory world. I gasped, and Gabriella shouted in surprise. The world went white and so bright that it was like we were on the surface of the sun. Then it all went black.
The next thing I knew, I was half out of my chair, gasping for breath as Nico held me up. The wind in the room was dying, leaving the house a mess. Sinthy looked exhausted and was slowly sliding down to the floor.
Nico was trying to get me to lie down on the floor, but I pushed him away. “I’m fine. I’m all right. Christ, that was intense.”
“Maddy?”
I looked up to see Gabriella looking at me, confusion and happiness warring on her tired face. My jaw fell open, and words stuck in my throat. Sinthy shook her head to clear it, then stood back up. She stepped over to us, looking woozy. Once she was between Gabriella and me, a smile spread across her pretty face. She nodded to me, then looked at Gabriella. “Welcome back.”
103
NICO
For the next couple of days, Maddy spent every moment, night and day, next to Gabriella. She couldn’t pull herself away. She took her food and drinks, extra pillows, and blankets. Gabriella kept trying to tell her she was fine, but Maddy wouldn’t hear of it. It was like a mother with a sick child. The roles had been reversed.
Maddy’s parents were also a constant presence at Gabriella’s side. It seemed like they were doing their best to forget all the lies Gabriella had told in the past. They helped make food for the recovering woman and even went into town for a few things Maddy said that Gabriella needed. They were some of the only people in the pack lands who could venture into town. Anti-shifter sentiment had fully permeated Clearidge, and we were not welcome in any stores or businesses.
I was sure Maddy’s parents had a lot they wanted to talk about with her and Gabriella both. It was good that they were keeping that on the back burner, though. Gabriella had been through a lot. So had Maddy. It said a lot about them that they were able to suppress all the questions they had and help their daughter and the woman who’d carried her in her womb.I was still a little worried about what might happen if Maddy accidentally started calling Gabriella ‘Mom.’ There was no sign of something like that happening, but I could see that she and her birth mother were growing closer as she recovered. It was probably a silly thing to be worried about, but it was a nagging fear. I didn’t think I could handle family drama along with everything else going on.
“Nico, can you make some coffee? I’m going to change those sheets on the futon for Gabriella,” Maddy said.
It was the afternoon of the second day since Sinthy had managed to bring Gabriella’s mind and wolf back. “Sure. What does she like in it?”
Maddy gave me a guilty look and shrugged. “No idea. I can ask.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll give her the whole butler treatment. A selection of sweeteners and cream and stuff.”
“You’re the best. Thanks.”
I was in the kitchen watching a pot of coffee brew when my phone chirped that I had a text. It was from Donatello.
Bait has been laid.
I staredat the screen for several seconds. What the hell did that mean? What bait? A moment later, a second text came through. This one didn’t have any messages. Instead, it was a link to a website. My finger hovered over the screen for a second, unsure of what I was about to see. Finally, hitting the link took me to a social media page.
It was a video, but not of shifters or royals or anything like that. Instead, it was a beautiful woman who looked somewhat familiar. It took a second for me to realize who I was looking at. Her name was Reese Lloyd. She was probably one of the topfive most famous actresses in the world. She was a well-known shifter’s rights activist. I vaguely recalled that she was married to a shifter who worked in the film industry. I could see the likes and shares for the video growing even as I watched. I clicked the volume buttons on the side of my phone to hear what she was saying.
“...the government isn’t telling us everything. This is inhumane and unwarranted. My heart is breaking for those who have been killed and injured in these attacks but locking up an entire population is not the way to go about this. Have we really forgotten how awful it was when we forced Japanese Americans into concentration camps during World War Two? This is the same thing. A knee-jerk reaction to an existential fear.”
She held up a finger to make her next point. “Also, isn’t it strange that we can’t find any research or viral information on this so-called disease? They keep saying the shifters will be tested at the collection facilities. Tested for what? When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we had reams and reams of reports, we had the virus isolated for study, and we could even find microscopic images of the virus online. Now? Nothing. We still don’t even know if this is a virus. How can the entire world, with all the money being pumped into this, not have foundanythingyet? If we don’t know what’s causing this, then what the hell are they supposed to be testing for? This all seems a little strange. I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy, but we do need to ask questions. Before we lock up millions of women, children, and men, we need to ask questions. We, the people, demand to know what the government knows. If they are so concerned with our safety, then they should tell us what they are hiding.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered.
I did a quick search for Reese Lloyd. Her post was blowing up all over the internet. It had already been shared thousands of times. The coffee sat on the counter, going cold, as I scannedthrough more and more posts of people coming out in support of the shifter cause. Lots of people were starting to question what was going on. Many were coming to the same conclusion we’d already known. Everything seemed a little too strange, and people wanted answers.
“Hey, space case? Did you forget the coffee?” Maddy asked.
I jerked my head up from my phone. “Look at this. I think Donatello started it somehow.”
I showed her the first video and then all the subsequent posts and articles. Maddy’s eyes widened in surprise as she watched it all going down. “This is getting huge. How did he do it?”
