Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
He took care of me last night, tapping into his magic, instinctually ripping the knife out of Wyatt’s grip and sending it into the ceiling to get danger away from me.
He helped me find Luke and welcomed him into his home for the night, feeding and clothing him, making him safe.
Grey saved the members of his own family the night before at that magic circle – and he only just met them. He’s here today, with me, facing whatever we have to face with the state of things in my village. My village, not his.
While traveling, he had his cousins Erica and Vivica on speaker and he asked if they can help with some magic tools to help him combat the most likely leftover magic things Wyatt has and might come at us with. They’re putting something together for him.
When he’s about to let them go, I pipe up.
“Erica, Vivica? Do you have a way to reach out to the Starling coven for me?”
“Yes,” Vivica says. “Can I ask why?”
“I told Erica Aphra Starling was the witch my brother kidnapped and that she ran off, but her four-year-old daughter Halla… she’s in the village.”
I feel Grey’s body go tense. Or tenser.
“Wyatt used Halla to get Aphra to cooperate. I promised her I’d look after Halla for her.”
“We’ll contact them,” Erica agrees.
“Aphra trusted me. And I did my best to take good care of Halla after she was gone, but then Wyatt sent me off and so she’s with my aunt and my cousin. Or, she was when I left…”
“She was still with Addy and Aunt Shea until I had to go into training,” Luke says from the back seat.
I flash him a look of gratitude.
“We’ll make some calls,” Vivica says.
“Keep us posted on how we can help,” Erica adds. “We’ll put together that kit for you, Grey.”
“Good,” Grey says, “When I get back, I want as much face time with you all as you can spare. I need to be up to speed as soon as possible. Everything in my body and mind tell me this.”
“Got it. Whatever you need,” Vivica says.
“However we can help,” Erica echoes.
The call ends and we’re almost to Silver Hills. Even if I didn’t see where we are, I think I’d feel it, sense it in the air – the echoes of my life here. The pain. The abuse. The hunger, fear, and longing.
I’ve always felt like I’m mostly alone in the world, the people closest to me relying on me even if I don’t know how to fix things for them. I’ve always felt like I’ve got nothing but hard, uphill battles to look forward to.
Dealing with the business. Trying to pay all the bills with limited means or begging for extensions from bill collectors. Ordering supplies in a way that will give us enough without my brother blowing a gasket that I’ve spent too much. Helping people in the pack with whatever their problems are. Coping with Wyatt’s moods and demands. Coping with all he doles out. Dealing with all the punishments, the demands.
I never had the capacity to imagine this much more for myself, just how vastly different the life I had could be from the life Grey had laid out for the future.
But this feels like another hill to climb first. Climb the hill, look at my life and my roots, and find a way to help my people find their own way forward before I get to move on with Greyson.
***
We turn off onto a dead-end road only half a mile from where my people are. In the clearing by a pond, there’s a truck, two cars, and a van alongside a shiny mid-size silver Airstream camper attached to a black pickup truck. Several pack members watch us get out of Grey’s car.
I recognize all of them other than one, from either last night at the party or because they’ve been at Grey’s house.
Tyson’s mom Catrina is standing with Dr. Blakely from The Collective. There’s also Lincoln, Jase, six other men, two of which I recognize because they’ve taken turns with surveillance outside Grey’s house. I’m pretty sure the other four are pack betas I met or at least saw yesterday, plus the one I don’t know, a large chiseled blond guy I surmise must be Jared. But something about him strikes me as unusual, though I can’t pinpoint what it is.
All eyes are on me as greetings are exchanged, and it feels like the overall vibe is all warmth and concern.
A green SUV pulls in just as we get out of the car and the guy who gets out is like a combination of Riley and Tyson Savage. He’s tall. Built. 100% alpha. This must be Brody. He’s got hair longer than Riley’s, shorter than Tyson’s. And he has warm chocolate brown eyes and thick, well-groomed dark facial hair.