“She told me of the prophecy and that she was hoping for a way to keep it from coming true.”
“What did she come up with?”Shawn asked.
Herb regarded Shawn for a moment before answering.
“At first she really wanted to just run away with the child and her mate.She thought if they lived somewhere remote in another country, that the odds of her daughter finding her mates and the prophecy coming to pass would be slim.You know as well as I do, that there are shifters on every corner of this globe, and the prophecy never said that the shifters were American.Then she decided that she would simply just not raise her daughter as a shifter.There are lots of shifters parents who are blended with human parents that do that, but word was getting out.Too many people were hearing the whispers of the prophecy, and she knew that wouldn’t work either.”
“Who told the prophecy to everyone in the first place?”Trip asked.
“That’s a good question.I’m not entirely sure how word was getting out.To be honest, I never knew how your mate’s mother knew of it either.I just assumed the Mother had spoken to her.”
“I would think if that were the case, she would have mentioned it.I mean, if the Mother ever spoke to me, I would definitely reiterate that in my storytelling,” Marcus commented.
“This is true,” Herb said, rubbing the stubble on his chin as he thought.
“I guess it doesn’t matter, word got out, so how did she decide to leave her daughter with her mate and run off?”Shawn asked.
“One day while we were discussing various resources, I made a comment, mostly as a joke, that if only there was a way we could make everyone just forget who her daughter was all together.That seemed to spark a thought in her.”
“How did nobody know who her mate was already?Did she never bring him to the pride to have their mate bond ceremony?”Trip asked.
“She didn’t.I knew who he was simply because she told me.With him being who he was and already married, she wasn’t parading him around by any means.I honestly don’t know who else knew other than me,” Herb responded.
“Apparently the guardians knew since they watched over her?”Shawn thought out loud.
“I can only assume, but I don’t know who the guardians are.”
“So, you’re not a guardian?”Marcus asked.
“No, I wasn’t given that honor.”
Shawn felt the rush of disappointment flow between them.A guardian had a better shot at knowing more about the prophecy, but Herb may still be able to tell them more about El’s mother.
“Herb, do you still practice any healing?”Shawn asked, remembering that he needed to get his mother better first.
“I was never a healer, I just simply dabbled in herbs.I was sufficient at helping heal certain things with my herbs, but I’m afraid it’s been years.”
“Well, we’re going to need you to dust off your skills.The guardians have bound my mother, and she is barely living thanks to them.I’ve had multiple healers try to release her, and none of them were successful,” Shawn told him.
“Have you not asked the guardian that lives with the pride?”Herb asked.
“We don’t know who they are.Who is the guardian in the pride?”Trip asked, his frustration becoming evident.
“Leilani, your mother-in-law,” Herb responded, looking confused and a bit shocked that they didn’t know that already.
“Leilani is a guardian?”Marcus muttered in disbelief.
“Yes.”
Shawn, Marcus, and Trip all shared a look.They were getting more and more info, but none of it has yet to make sense.If Leilani was a guardian, she hadn’t acted like it in the least, but it made sense that she had taken off, and they hadn’t been able to find her.There was a good chance that she was with El, now.Not that that piece of information would excite El, there was definitely no lost love between the two women, but it gave them more options as far as searching for the women.
“Do we know of places that Leilani liked to go that might be a good hideout?”Shawn asked Trip and Marcus.
“We can certainly expand our search to include her.Herb, pack up whatever you think you may need to help Shawn’s mother, we’re leaving,” Trip told the elderly man.
For a brief moment, Herb looked like he might argue with them, but then he pulled himself out of his chair and headed down a hall.Shawn motioned for Trip to go with him and make sure he wasn’t going to alert anyone about their presence.
“If only we could get to Ryan,” Marcus said.
