“It’s true,” Ian murmurs, closing his bright blue eyes. He drags a deep breath into his lungs and exhales sharply. “Sometimes, I overhear them when I’m going around and helping them. They learned what they did under threat of torture. They learned under duress, collared and commanded to.”
I swallow hard around the lump in my throat and nod. All the more reason I need to keep them safe. Luca flips us around until his back is against the wall of my nest and I’m curled up in his lap. Ian comes into my nest, crouching down in front of me.
“There are many of your abilities that we’ve yet to train. Your ability to command, for instance. You’ve only done it a few times before. You’ve learned to read minds and predict the near future. I have no doubt you have untapped talents, but what were you trying to practice on your own?”
“I was trying to recapture the vision to see if I could find out more details.”
“The vision that has you so scared?”
I nod.
“Simon is right,” Luca says quietly, nuzzling my temple, still trying to soothe me. “You don’t have to carry those horrors alone. I know recounting it will be difficult, but you should unburden yourself. Let us carry some of that weight for you.”
I turn into his chest, nuzzling him back, before I finally sigh and acquiesce.
The moment Cassian and Simon return home from their study session, I sit all my men and Marcus down around our dining table, gulping in deep breaths to try to calm my racing heart. Cassian slides across the bench seat and tucks me under his arm, pulling me close and enveloping me in his sea-salt scent.
“I saw a lot of things,” I begin. “It was the most detailed vision I’ve ever had, and the most disturbing.” Slowly, my voice stuttering and thin, I tell them about what I saw. About alphas casting fire and ice magic without scribes. Of the horde before Baphomet’s Prince, roaring out their victory. About the truck that took the omegas to the desolate internment camp. Of the war that breaks out where packs are slain before their omegas.
“And then it happened to me, just like it did in the images Kel forced on me in class,” I say quietly. “It was Luca, and then you, Cass, in my vision. I see all your deaths in my nightmares, and they all play out the same way.”
Cassian lets out a heavy breath and holds me tighter. “We aren’t going anywhere, love, not without a fight.”
“You can’t promise that,” I let out, my voice hoarse with tears. “None of you can.”
“But Iampromising you that,” Cassian insists.
“Damn the vision,” Simon says suddenly. “It’s only one possible future, right? The future can still be changed, can’t it?”
I look around, my eyes finally settling on Ian. He shakes his head. Like me, he doesn’t know the answers to Simon’s questions.
“A question for Sienna, perhaps. And something we can research. I agree with Cassian. None of us are going down without a fight. We’re fightingforyou, Juniper, but we’re fighting your fight with you too. So let us help you. Let us in, my darling.”
“You didn’t tell them what you said to Kel,” Marcus cuts in, his voice quiet, but a faint smile graces his full lips.
At that, I smile. I showed Kelvin Montrose my thorns, and I don’t regret it. No matter what my mouthing off may bring. “I told him to ask Rad how I got out of an omega trap and then reminded him he couldn’t because Rad’s fucking dead.”
Simon lets out a bark of laughter. “There’s the vicious kit-kat I am so very, very fond of.”
“A rose of great beauty and deadly thorns,” Luca muses.
“Come now, my darling,” Ian insists. “If you’re not too tired from trying to force visions on your own, we can train. Who wants to do the terrible work of firing sparks at our omega with me?”
CHAPTER TEN
Cassian, Ian and I work on my command late into the night. Their objective is to fire sparks at me, and mine is to command them to stop before they can cast the spell. It’s grueling work. I don’twantto command my mates like I accidentally commanded Simon once.
After a dozen tries and a dozen spark burns that Ian heals immediately, I nearly collapse to the ground in frustration.
“You have tomeanit, Juniper,” Ian chides as he heals another minuscule burn.
“I do mean it,” I grouse.
Cassian rolls his dark eyes. “Ian is right. You’re holding back. Why?”
“I don’t want to steal your free will!”
“You’ve been commanded by alphas your whole life,” Ian says, a bite to his tone. “And now you have the chance to do the same, to take back some of the will that was taken from you.”
