Leah served me a waffle and I chewed on it aimlessly, waiting for Brayden to speak.
“My brothers and I were all born sterile,” he said, and the chunk of waffle lodged in my throat. I coughed, loosening it, and then grabbed Leah’s glass of orange juice to chug it down.
“You can’t have children?” Leah asked, frowning.
Brayden sighed. “No… my mother was cursed when she was a child, that she would give birth to sterile men, and that curse fell on us. When my brothers and I finally die, our line will end.”
Wow, this guy’s story could not be any more tragic.
“Axel, Castiel, Gabe? All of you?” I asked, rattling off his brothers’ names.
He nodded. “It’s a great honor in my realm to birth a Greywolf. It happens at random between two werewolves. They say in my village that when soulmates marry, they give birth to Greywolves.”
Leah and I both smiled at that.
“But Maddy’s not one,” I thought out loud.
He nodded. “My mother remarried after my father died. She and my stepfather had two daughters, Maddy and Nora.”
Nora. The sister who was currently stuck in Silas’ pack with Maddy’s fiancé, August. I’d actually completely forgotten about them.
“Are your mom and stepdad still alive?” Leah asked.
He took a swig of his orange juice. “I hid them in the Glass Mountains with some other prominent members of Moon Valley before the Fae Lords attacked. There is a hidden tunnel system in the mountains there that houses a castle. They had Nora, and sent her to me and Maddy when she was six years old with a letter saying that it was no place to raise a child. My mother will not leave Moon Valley and the people stuck there.” There was some disdain in his voice, like maybe he wanted her to leave and be with him.
“And… our parents?” I wondered. I loved my mother. She was my mom obviously, but Lena and Wren had parents too, and I worried for them if there was some war going on back in Moon Valley.
Brayden reached out and grasped the top of my hand and then did the same to Leah. “They were both great warriors in my army and fell during the Fae Lord takeover.”
Geez, that was sad. I didn’t know them, so I shouldn’t feel so emotional, but tears pricked my eyes at the news of their death.
“No other siblings?” Leah said, her eyes misty as well.
Brayden pulled his hands away. “Just the four most beautiful girls in Moon Valley.”
Leah and I both smiled at that. It would be fun to one day meet Blake and Natalie. As an only child, I’d always wanted a sister. Now to find out I had three others, it felt awesome.
“How did you and Lena meet?” Leah asked, leaning forward to place her chin on her hand.
Brayden’s eyes went half lidded and Leah smiled. “At Greywolf Academy, the only school in Moon Valley that solely teaches those born with Greywolf power.”
Whoa. Greywolf Academy sounded badass. I immediately wanted an invite, and then remembered if I were Lena or Wren, I’d probably already gone.
Lame.
“You start the academy at age twelve and graduate at eighteen. Lena and I were both the eldest of our four siblings, and we bonded over that. By the time we were in our fourth year, I got the courage to ask her to the Moonlight Ball and the rest is history.”
A flash of memory slammed into me then.
Purple flowers. Wisteria draped all along a garden hedge and live music filtering out onto the patio.
Then the memory was gone.
“Wisteria,” I mumbled and Brayden froze. “I remember the wisteria.”
“The Moonlight Ball is always held in the ballroom of the academy which is surrounded by the wisteria gardens. Do you remember anything else?” Brayden said.
I shook my head, feeling defeated.
