“We will find out soon enough,” Shadow told her. “The world appears to be giving us a small break at the moment. No life-or-death situat—”
“Whoa!” Mera all but shouted. “You can’t just put that out into the universe. Holy shit, Shadow. You’re going to bring the damn apocalypse down on our heads.”
This time he did laugh, a low husky sound that sent tingles down my spine. “The universe belongs to me. I’m not worried about what comes next.”
Mera didn’t look so convinced. “I’ll be sure to sayI told you sowhen the time arises,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
Shadow’s expression lightened, but he didn’t speak again, spending the next few minutes probing into the stationary alpha’s mind. “Okay, Tabitha is easy enough to find,” he said, “but the only reference to her health is a bunch of stones that he appears to put under her bedding at night. They’re recharging her energy from what I can tell.”
That was it? Stones were keeping her alive.
Questions spilled from me. “What sort of stones? Can we just take the ones he has? What is it that stops her from aging and being healthy? The alpha told me that if he didn’t administer his cure, she’d start to weaken and lose life force. I assumed it was some sort of potion or elixir.”
I’d had years to go over every possibility. Stones hadn’t even made the list.
Had it been that simple all along? Once again, I’d screwed up and lost time with my precious daughter. Time I could never get back, but I could change it from today.
Today we would be free.
7
SAMANTHA
Shadow released his hold on the alpha’s head but didn’t allow him to move again. The stasis energy remained strong. “The stones are unknown to me,” he said. He didn’t sound happy about it. “I won’t be able to deduce anything until we see them. They feel powerful through his memories. Apparently, they appeared when the child was born, underneath you as you gave birth, and he’s used them ever since to keep her healthy.”
Healthy was an overstatement, considering she was still a baby ten years after birth, but at least she was alive. Alive I could work with. “It frustrates me to no end that I can’t remember,” I bit out.
Shadow’s concern grew as he examined me. “The alpha should not have been able to manipulate your mind like that. What happened to you is beyond a shifter’s capabilities.”
I’d also long suspected that, but without my memories it was impossible to know what truly happened to me.
“Let’s go find her,” Mera said impatiently. “I think Sam has waited long enough to have her daughter safely in her possession. We can deal with the other shit later, including the mind manipulations.”
I straightened and wiped my hands against the tattered remains of my wedding dress. Was this really the moment I was going to have Tabitha in my life permanently?
Would my heart actually explode at the emotion of it.
“It’s fucked up,” I whispered through a ragged throat. “But part of me is grateful that I’ve only known about Tabby for the past few years. I would have lost what remains of my sanity if I’d had to keep handing her back to that bastard for any longer than that.” A selfish thought, since my child had existed without her mother for years. Even the small time I had with her now had allowed a bond to develop. A bond that should have happened years earlier, but I had to be honest—more years of this would have broken me completely.
Shadow, oddly, was the one to move closer, reaching out as if to touch my mind. By instinct, I shied away, aware of what his touch could do.
“I could search your memories,” he told me. “Ensure that what you’ve been told is what happened at the time of her birth.” He jerked his head toward the alpha, disgust marring his perfect features. “I’m struggling to see the truth through the confusion in this one’s mind.”
“Not yet,” I said with sharp jerk of my head. “The past isn’t as important to me as the future. Not after almost losing my freedom today.”
“Of course,” Shadow said simply, before he turned away. In typical godlike fashion, he didn’t wait for any of us before he strolled along the path toward the main shifter camp. Mera and I followed silently, and even though her arm was no longer tucked through mine, there was comfort in our closeness.
Some of the hurt feelings had faded. Mera finally understood why I’d acted the way I did, and it seemed that she was letting go of her anger over it. Personally, I still had a lot of growing up and repenting for my actions, but everything could wait until I had Tabby with me.
Tabby, and the stones that were apparently keeping her energy flowing.
Alpha Lorenze had allowed me to see what happened when he refused her “health elixir” as he called it, and the sight of her grey skin and listless body had terrified me to the point that I’d never questioned that bastard again. Risking my daughter was an absolute hard limit for me, and I never stepped close to the line after that day.
The alpha knew my weakness and he’d leveraged it just like any good dictator would. With my uber-independence and refusal to ask for help, I’d been prime pickings for his plan for the perfect heir—
“Stop blaming yourself,” Mera said shortly as we continued along the path.
Turning my head, I shot her a wry grin. “Can you read minds too?” I asked with a humorless laugh.
