Chapter 22 - Cyrus

Amelie reaches out and takes Lena's hand, allowing her to pull her up off the ground with a begrudging nod. I am stunned. I have never seen someone actually get my sister to stow her attitude without being an Alpha and commanding it, not since my mother had been alive.

"Good," Lena offers with a small smile, "I'd like a chance to actually get to know you. Glad you didn't choose the other option."

"This doesn't mean we're best friends," Amelie sighs as she drops Lena's hand.

"Oh, I have no doubts there, don't worry. But it's a start to finding a way to coexist, and I"ll take it."

Amelie stalks off in the direction of the ax throwing that the guys have started up in the back, leaving me staring at Lena in sheer appreciation.

"That was amazing. No one's ever handled her that well."

"What can I say? The moody teen girl up there has trained me well."

"Clearly. So, the sigil, you don't think it worked?"

"I don't, actually. That felt like just my normal weirdo abilities, only stronger in the moment because I was actually scared of her."

"Darn, that would have been really handy in being able to prevent any more attacks."

"I mean, in theory, if the magic actually works like you say it does, it should be possible. But I wonder if I'm just broken and have the wrong kind of magic or something."

"Maybe we just need to dig deeper into all the books that your Gram had up there. I'm betting there has to be some answers somewhere along the way."

Lena nods, picks up some of the supplies, and follows me back into the house. After a few short trips to and from the attic, we settle in around the coffee table in the living room. Evander and Milo have joined us in pouring over the books. All of us make notes as we flip through the pages. Lena explains some pieces as she finds them.

"This is interesting," I interrupt the silence and point to the book on my lap that's propped up on Lena's legs, which are stretched across me, "Apparently, the copper in this mine is different from some of the other copper that was found in the surrounding area. It's not even the copper itself. It's a stone, cuprite, that she said was more important."

Lena looks up with a confused look and leans up to try and see what I'm reading.

"I haven't heard of that before."

"Apparently, it's a big secret. No one knew about the deposit of cuprite here outside of a few families who helped protect it. She said it formed because it was exposed to a particular relic that was brought here to be buried deep in the mine. But she said this cuprite is part of how her great-grandmother was able to get her sigil strong enough to cast protection over the entire town."

"I mean, Greyson Ridge has always somehow had really good luck. All the way back to the silver boom, even. When everyone else's towns were up and turning into ghost towns, we were able to maintain ours," Lena explained with a nod, confirming this idea that the town was offered some kind of mystical protection.

"Do you think it's really possible to make a spell this strong?"

"Maybe," Lena considers as she pulls her eyebrows together in confusion, "But we'd likely need to get our hands on some of that cuprite, and I'd need to figure out how to actually do the casting properly."

The day is getting late, and I can't help but feel like we're at least getting closer to some sort of solution for how to keep this relic safe, and finally finding a way to stop Eclipse. I finish setting up patrol groups and getting the Candara spread out between here and the Miller house for protection. No one is to be solo; everyone will be in pairs.

I leave two outside the Miller house and keep to outdoor patrols here. I also send the rest of the patients back to the Miller house for the night since they've all recovered from their wounds enough to be back to some sense of normal. There's no need for constant monitoring of patients tonight.

I tell Milo and Evander to patrol the mine tonight and see what they can learn about this cuprite and check if they can find any of it in the less frequented area of the mine.

We finish up a quiet dinner and I'm fully prepared to collapse into Rose's bed and let the girls retire to Lena's room as we have been doing for so long, but Lena stops in the hall and pulls Rose to the side. I'm too tired to want to listen in as I make my way up the stairs behind them. I stop at the top of the stairs and see Rose bouncing into her room.

"Goodnight, you two," she laughs as she shuts the door behind her.

I look down the hall at Lena and she just shrugs and walks into her room, leaving the door open behind her. I slowly make my way down the hall, unsure if this is another momentary, hormonal trap that's going to turn into her running away all over again. I get to the door of her room and lean against the doorframe.

She's got her back to me and has slipped off her pants and shirt, so she is standing there in nothing but her underwear. She pulls the shirt she stole from me on the porch the other day over her head.

"That's one of my favorite shirts I'll have you know," I comment as she turns to look back over her shoulder.

"Mine too, coincidentally," she laughs, "But I would wager a bet you like it better on me than yourself."

"Mmm, no. I think I'd like it better on the floor than on you, but I'm so tired I don't think I can do anything about it."

The weight of the day and the loss is finally catching up with me in the form of crushing exhaustion. My eyes hurt from it, and I feel like everything that involves moving is taking twice as much effort as usual.

"I can see you're exhausted," she whispers as she crosses to the bed and folds the thick comforter down before sliding in. "I thought you may just need a good night"s sleep. I know the couch and Rosie's bed aren't the most comfortable for adults, especially freakishly tall ones."

The sight of her sitting there with her hair up in a messy bun on top of her head with little rings of curls escaping pulls deep at my heart. It's even worse knowing that she was doing this to try and care for me.

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure there was a specific rule against this."

"Come on," Lena sighs, patting the bed beside her, "Just sleep. That's all."

I nod, unable to put up much of an argument either way, and start making my way toward the bed. I lean down and lay on top of the covers, intending to leave my jeans on and leave her with some barriers between us to keep it "just sleep" no matter what. She smacks my arm lightly and gestures at the jeans.

"Pants off, Boss. You can't sleep well in jeans. Come on, get comfortable, and just… hold me, would you? I don't want to have to beg here, but I just want you to hold me and sleep. Please?"

I push myself back up off the bed with a bit of effort. I step out of my boots and look down at her as I pull my jeans off. I strip off the shirt, too, for good measure, and discard both on the little chair she has on this side of the bed. I'm down to my boxers, and that seems to be acceptable to her now as she opens the blankets with a nod.

"I was just respecting your rules, Boss," I grumble as I slip under the blankets and stretch out next to her. She promptly rolls on her side and pulls my arm around her. I relax as I curl my body against the curve of her. So much better than the couch.

My head is barely on the pillow long enough to register just how relaxed I am for the first time in so long, despite all the drama going on. Sleep steals over me quickly, and it's a pretty unwelcome interruption when my brother is tugging at my arm to wake me far too soon.

"Milo?" I grumble as my eyes search the dark room. "What are you doing here? It's… what time is it?"

"I don't know. It's like one in the morning. It's not important," Milo sighs, "I need to tell you about this vision now. I think that"s why things have been so weird."

Lena groans and sleepily smacks at Milo's hand that's shaking her shoulder. She mumbles something and tries to roll over and ignore him some more.

"What do you mean? Out with it, Milo."

"I had a vision. I fell asleep down in the mines while Ev and I were looking for the cuprite, which we found. But that's not the important thing. Lena, I know why the spell didn't work. That electricity isn't coming from her family. It's coming from ours."

My mind is not working on all cylinders, and I'm trying to piece together what he's saying. He looks at me, then gives Lena a final shake.

"I'm telling you that she's pregnant," Milo groans in frustration, "Or trying to, if the two of you would wake the heck up."

I shoot up at the word pregnant, looking him in the eye as clearly as I can manage through the sleep.

"Pregnant?"

Lena yawns and rolls over, searching for my upper body with her hand and frowns when she finds the space empty. Her eyes open partially to see me sitting up and Milo sitting on the edge of the bed.

"This is a weird dream. I don't want to dream about your brother in my bed," she mumbles as she starts to roll over again.

"Pregnant? You can't be serious?" I ask again, thinking he's got to be crazy.

"I'm absolutely sure, Cy," Milo exhales, "Even more, it was clear. She definitely has some serious magical chops. That's what's drawn so many people here, but there's even more to it. I think the old prophecy was wrong. I think it was broken from the first time you and her met. This child is what's currently suppressing her normal magical ability. But also, your child will be the key to how we restore our clan and survive all this as soon as we find all the keys."

"What keys?"

"That part I'm not as sure on, but the rest is crystal clear. She'll be the way we save everyone and this town."