Our original plan was to raid her compound during next month's full moon, but after Mona's prophetic dreams—and finding out she's been suppressed by magic her entire life—Kendrick pushed up the timeline. This month's full moon is in three days.
We are dangerously unprepared.
Now that I know The Ghost confirmed wolves are on her property, it's all I can think about.
For years, I've been furious with my brother. But I swallowed my frustration and anger and searched for him alongside my pack, all the while assuming he'd done what he always did—fucked off on a selfish whim until the mood struck him to wander back. Not with his tail between his legs—no, Silas was incapable of shame.
I didn't have to clean up his messes, he'd say. He was perfectly capable of doing so himself. I hated him for that dismissiveness. That fucking arrogance.
I never said those words aloud, but he knew, and it led to years of resentment.
And when he vanished, I'm ashamed to admit I felt… relief. I didn't have to deal with his bullshit anymore. I didn't have to clean up after him, deal with missed expectations.
As the years passed, that relief transformed into worry. Even for Silas, his absence stretched too long.
And then along came Mona. A strange, mysterious omega with a story, and the first sighting of my brother in nearly five years.
I need to pull this thread, to know if my brother is out there. If he's working with the witches, or if he really was one of the stolen, like Doc and Orion always believed.
I need my brother back.
"You should go to bed, firefly." Orion bravely nudges our mate.
Her head snaps up. "I'm awake!"
He chuckles and climbs out of the leather chair. Mona sits in the one I usually claim, curled with her knees up, toes tuckedunder like a cat. Orion kneels before her, gently caressing her leg with his thumb.
"Come. Let me take you to bed. You need sleep."
Mona groans and stretches out, then rubs her eyes. "I guess you're right. If we're going to raid the coven, I should probably stockpile sleep now."
Orion freezes, his eyes meeting mine.
She misses nothing. "What?"
"You're not coming with us," I tell her definitively.
She's certainly more awake now. Mona sits up and pushes Orion away, though he doesn't go far.
"What do you mean I'm not going?"
I let out a groan, and I don't even feel bad about it. "There's no fucking way you're going with us, Mona. You can't fight. You can barely shift."
Orion sighs, mumbling something under his breath about how I'm an idiot.
"In case you forgot, I'm the one who was poisoned her whole life, asshole. Me," she thumps her palm against her sternum. "I have just as much against these witches as you do. Besides, I'm the one with the dreams. And if Silas is there—"
"Exactly—if—we don't even know if Silas is on the property. You heard Kendrick. His man on the inside only said he scented wolves, has no idea who it is."
"What do you expect me to do, Grayson? Just sit here and wait?"
"I expect you to do as you're told. Same as every other wolf in this clan."
"I don't work for you, dummy. I'm not an employee, or your enforcer. I'm supposed to be your mate. You can't just tell me what to do and expect me to fall in line."
"That's exactly what I expect. Not because you're my mate but because you are a part of this clan—this pack—and yoursafety means more to me than anything. I'm the boss here. I'm the one with the responsibility. I have to shoulder the burden of all this shit weighing down on us—not you. Besides, we don't even know what we're walking into."
"So, you two are going, and you're leaving me here?" She looks incredulously between me and Orion, who's still kneeling by her feet, though he's leaning back on his heel now. It's unlikely she'll allow him to lift and carry her to bed like he'd intended. I'd feel bad for the guy if I wasn't in worse shape with her.
