I love her more than anything, and I always will.
But she’s growing fast, and her magic is growing even faster to the point of stretching my already weak abilities thin. I can try to suppress it all I want, but I know it won’t be enough for long. I won’t be able to hide it forever.
Glancing out the window, that paranoia nips at my heels, making me question every shadow and shape I see out there.
That man, likely from Wraith Peak, saw us, and he saw Astrid. He didn’t have to say anything for me to know that much. It was in the way he watched us, and how he vanished right after. Even thinking about it makes my skin prickle.
The ghost of his presence is like a cold hand against my neck, and I know this is all spiraling out of control.
I tried so hard to keep my daughter away from all the others. To safeguard her from scrutiny and pack politics that hurt me so deeply growing up, but now, it feels like it’s falling apart. The cabin doesn’t seem like the safe haven it had been.
As much as I want to pretend like we’re fine out here, I can’t risk another surge from Astrid, and I can’t risk anyone else detecting her magic. My pack would lose their minds if they knew she carried these abilities, and the Wraith Peak wolves would do far worse.
Without their support, or that of Caleb, there’s only one person left who might be able to help.
After spending most of the day deliberating with myself, I’ve had enough of it. I have to do something.
“Sweetheart,” I say softly as I crouch next to Astrid, lightly brushing back her dark hair. “We’re going to see Nana.”
She brightens up immediately. “Now?”
I nod and smile, regardless of how the edges of it falter only slightly. “Yes. But we can’t use any magic this time, okay? I need you to stay close.”
Undeterred by the conditions, she nods and stands. “No magic. Promise.”
With a quick kiss to her forehead, I help her up, and we both head for the door.
My mom is the only other person in our pack I’ve stayed in contact with, and luckily, her house is close enough to reach on foot without drawing attention from anyone else. I would call, but I don’t want any possible records of what I have to discuss with her. This kind of thing is so delicate that it has to be said in person.
She’s the only one I trust with it, and she’s the only one who doesn’t judge.
We head out together, and I guide Astrid down the usual path through the woods. My heart thuds in my ears all the while, despite trying to stay calm, even while warm sunlight pours inbetween the branches to ease the bitterness of the cool evening air.
After my dad disappeared when I was younger, Mom moved us both deeper into the woods, given how the others started to suspect she was using magic. They weren’t wrong, but given her human status, they left her alone. Ever since, her abilities have lingered like a warning, quiet but ancient. Even if my dad was the shifter, the other wolves respect her—fear her, even.
Mom was the only one I told about my pregnancy, and she’s the only other person in Astrid’s life.
It’s an isolated existence, but important for her safety.
Astrid holds my hand, skipping in an uneven pattern as we go. With the light bird chatter overhead, the world feels normal for a short while. But it still isn’t enough to shake away the dread in my system.
“Mama, you’re squeezing my hand.”
Blinking through my stupor, I loosen my grip immediately. “Sorry, honey. I’m just… thinking.”
“About the man in the trees?”
Even hearing her mention it, acknowledging what we both saw, makes everything inside me tense up.
As much as I want to try and convince her it isn’t real, I have to be honest. I can’t lie to her, not when I’m one of the only people she has.
I swallow and nod. “Yes. The man.”
“He scared me,” she murmurs, almost like a quiet confession as she kicks a pebble off the path. “He felt cold.”
She has been perceptive since day one, and I know that won’t change anytime soon.
A chill moves through me, but I pause and crouch in front of her until we’re eye-level. “Astrid… if you ever see someone like that again, I want you to hide or find me immediately. Understand?”
