“Luca’s right, my darling. Whatever it is, we’ll face it.”
If only their words could comfort me. I force a smile. Like Bethany said, we’re here to celebrate Cassian.
As we sit around the table, Douglas and Gerard, both alumni of Saint Galen’s, regale us with tales of their time at the school. Already friends, already deeply in love with Beth, their stories paint a picture of an easier time, a time less fraught with insidious evil.
“You streaked across the entire campus,” Bethany giggles.
“In our defense, you asked us to,” Douglas says.
“You didn’t even have to dare us,” Gerard adds ruefully.
At that moment, Marcus comes into the dining room after sweeping the grounds with Pack Leclerc’s securityteam. He takes an empty seat at the table a few seats away from me but catches my eye as he does. I turn away quickly, unsure of how to face him after what I said Wednesday night.
“You’re lucky to have such a devoted bodyguard, Juniper,” Bethany says. “It gladdens me that you’re under his protection.”
A bodyguard. No, Marcus is so much more to me than that. So many things left unsaid between us. I’ve let his lies curdle in my belly and let myself withdraw from him. I miss what we had, that easy intimacy. More than honor guard and omega, more than friends. What could have been between us if he hadn’t lied? I press my lips shut against the wave of emotion and lean into Ian, who takes my hand under the table.
He must sense my discomfort through the bond, because he quickly jumps into the conversation. “Our own Doctor Huong was a student at the consortium. She trained for both her board certification as a doctor and as a healer there. The consortium takes only the best. You’ve done well to earn your seat at such a prestigious institute, Cassian. You deserve it.”
Bethany raises her glass at that. “To Cassian.”
My mate blushes a bit at her toast but smiles when I take his hand under the table with my free one, noting that Simon has done the same. That’s enough to make me smile. Cassian is among the best. Smart as a whip, caring, and so brave. I’m lucky to have him as my mate, our love growing with every day that passes. After meeting him again at Fairhaven Academy after our doomed summer romance, I never thought I’d be here, celebrating his accomplishments with his family—my family now, too—but here I am, and I couldn’t be prouder.
“I would say we’ve raised a damn good alpha,” Bethany continues. “Wouldn’t you, my mates?”
They all voice their agreement, commending Cassian on his achievement. I know Cassian intends to follow in Gerard’s footsteps, learning law before going into government service, and Beth is right. He’s a damn good alpha.
My alpha.
I’m watchingIan from the back of the great hall where he’s teaching the omegas how to cast shields, when I notice Cora sitting on the floor down the wall from me. Of all the omegas we freed, she’s been the most reluctant to engage with the other omegas—or anyone else, including Ian.
I walk down the wall toward her and sit beside her, not touching her. I’ve learned well enough from Cassian, Jack and Graeme that touching her packs a wallop of pain, but I don’t think that’s her affinity. Her affinity is speed. So, whatisthe strange zap of pain everyone who touches her gets? Unless she’s a rare omega with two affinities, the agonia-like magic must be coming from somewhere else, yet I’ve never seen her with a scribe in her hand.
As far as I am from her, she still scoots away just to be safe, flinching away from me just as she does from the other omegas. The last omega we freed from Rad’s facility, she’d told me in her mind that she’s faced retaliation for hurting others. I’m determined to get to the bottom of her strange magic.
“You’re not joining the lessons?”
She shakes her head, her short brown bob swinging.
She still doesn’t talk much yet. She speaks a little with Jack and Graeme, and sometimes with me, but otherwise she listens intently.
Of all the omegas who speak English, she’s the only one who sits out Ian’s lessons. Many of the omegas from non-English-speaking countries are still trying and helping each other as they stumble through his class, too. Ian has even been learning Mandarin to help the omegas from mainland China, relying heavily on the flashcards I made him.
“You’re safe, Cora. Ian’s a good alpha. He unlocked my magic. I’m sure he can help you.”
She shoots me a suspicious glance, her brown eyes narrowing. “Your magic was locked? How? What did you do to deserve it?” There’s an edge to her voice that makes me duck my head in shame. Nothing. I did nothing to deserve it except come into magic my father deemed too dangerous for me to possess.
“When my magic came in, it was powerful. Too powerful. And I had the beginnings of my affinity, even though I didn’t understand it then. My father locked my magic away so I could never use it. It was… it was a horrific experience.”
“That’s terrible,” she says quietly, her voice hoarse.
I nod, ducking my head again. “When I first came to Fairhaven Academy, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to cast, but Ian gave me my magic back. My freedom. Cora, magicisfreedom for us. Let us help you. I know we can.”
She looks away from me, biting her lower lip, but finally she nods.
Ian spins up a magical, shielded safety chamber for her that afternoon, a safe place where she can focus on calling her magic with the spare scribe Ian provides.
She stands in the safety chamber, her body tense like she’s ready to bolt.
