She was so adamant that he couldn’t dismiss her yet again. “Okay, Baby girl. I believe you.” He really did. He took a few deep breaths and forced himself to center. His mate knew things. He had to trust that if she sensed everything was going to be fine, it was.
“We need to go,” she said as if she was suddenly the voice of reason. “They’ll be waiting on us.” Was she saying that flippantly, or did she know it from some weird sixth sense? It didn’t matter. Either way, she was right.
Jayce stood and set his precious mate on her feet. He guided her to the nursery and toward the closet to pull out a red dress and matching leggings. He figured if anything happened that caused her to shift in the middle of their travels, he would easily be able to spot her.
Hurrying, they were outside minutes later, ready to go. He was concerned. His new mate had very little experience shifting, and she had never gone for a run. This was so far out of the ordinary that he wanted to tip his head back and howl loud enough to shake the mountain.
That wouldn’t help at all, though, so he took a deep breath and nodded toward Sienna. “Go ahead and shift, Little one.”
She closed her eyes and let the shimmer take over. Moments later, she stood next to him, her gorgeous black wolf taking his breath away.
There was no time to waste, so he shifted next to her and took off, keeping his pace slow enough for her to keep up while she got her bearings. As soon as she could pick up the pace, he trotted faster.
It didn’t take long to reach Elias’s house. Jayce came to a stop just outside the clearing and shifted back into his human skin. Sienna did the same seconds later, and then he swooped her off her feet and kissed all over her face. “So proud of you.”
She giggled. “Daddy…” Every time she used that endearment, his heart raced. The single word was music to his ears. He’d waited twenty-eight years for his Little mate to join him and call him Daddy. She was here. She was his. He prayed nothing happened to destroy his happiness.
Hoisting her up on his hip, he headed toward the front of the house. Everyone was arriving from different directions and gathering outside in the clearing. All the recently mated couples were joining the group, plus a few of the elders—Talon and Owen.
The two older Alphas approached.
Talon nodded stoically toward Sienna. “Welcome, Little one. I’m sorry you’ve been forced to assimilate so quickly.”
“Thank you, Sir,” she murmured, her body stiffening.
Owen patted Jayce on the back. “Talon and I are only here so we’ll be informed. We’ll report back to the other elders.”
Jayce nodded. “Thank you.”
A loud voice made them both turn to find Arion in the center of the gathering. “Thank you all for coming. As you know, we have zero idea why we’re all gathered here today. It’s disconcerting to say the least. It would seem all of our recent mates have been gifted with abilities none of us could have predicted. There has to be a reason. I feel the sizzle of electricity in the air. I’m sure all of you do.”
“Thank you for calling this gathering,” Brock stated. “As many of you know, my mate Suzette has recently come into her own power. The power of touch. She can set her hand on any object and see who else has also touched that object. It’s unnerving. We stopped several times on the way here for her toexperiment, and I’m frustrated to say that she has discovered holes in her knowledge. Sometimes she touches an object and isn’t granted a view of whoever came before her. I’ll let her elaborate.”
Suzette stepped in front of Brock and cleared her throat. “I was curious why we all felt compelled to gather here specifically, so I touched everything in the vicinity. Sometimes I could see specific people having been in that spot before—any of us or several of the bears. But other times, all I got was a blurry shimmer of a person perhaps almost in human form but in the process of shifting.”
Jayce gasped. Everyone did.
“Leah has something to add,” Elias stated as he picked her up and held her higher.
Leah glanced around, fiddling with the hem of her dress. “This morning, I dreamed of all of us standing right here. I know we were meant to gather.”
“I do, too,” Khloe added as Felix pulled her into his arms. “I watched each of you preparing to head this way.”
The air was thick with impending…something. Jayce couldn’t put his finger on it. None of them could. “Where are the bears?” he asked, knowing several of the women could answer the question.
Molly, Rylee, and Amber stepped into the center of the clearing and faced the direction the bears were known to live. They each looked like they were in a trance as they stared into the distance—hearing, scenting, and seeing things no one else could.
Sienna squirmed in Jayce’s arms. “I have to join them, Daddy.”
He held her tighter. “No, Little one. You’ll stay with me.”
She grabbed his face and twisted to look him in the eye. “I have to join them,” she repeated.
He stared at her. He couldn’t let her go. It went against his common sense.
“Daddy,” she urged, “you have to trust me. It’s my calling. They need me. I’m here for a reason.”
“What reason, Baby girl?” he whispered, shaking from head to toe.
