Chapter nine

Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I roll onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. Slowly, last night comes back to me. My heart cracks open all over again when I remember Mila's world and the truth I learned about Jules. The grief of knowing we aren't true family is enough to crush the breath from my lungs.

She is family,my wolf reminds me. Just as the pack is family, so is she. Blood doesn't mean anything. Loyalty and love are all that matter.

Knowing she's right, I push the thoughts away and work through the rest of my memories, remembering the dream, along with my own wolf's world and her training. A small smile tugs at the corners of my mouth—I have a new spell. One that could help us track Jules if I can get it just right.

"You're awake,"Kaylus says from the table beside me.

I look over at him, the orange rays of a new day peeking through the trees outside the window behind him. "I am." I shove myself up into a sitting position, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. "I slept all night? We've lost so much time. We have to—"

"Oh, good, you're awake."

Turning toward the door, I find Chloe standing there with her arms crossed over her stomach, a shy smile tugging at her lips.

"Can we… talk?" she asks.

I swing my legs back onto the bed, sitting cross-legged and patting the spot beside me. "Of course. Is everything okay?"

She tucks a strand of hair that fell out of her ponytail behind her ear, staring down at her lap after sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Chloe?" I nudge her shoulder with mine, remembering the fairly confident witch who worked in Monique's office just a few months ago.

"I… I'm sure Gideon will want to tell you himself, but I-I thought… well, I just wanted—"

Putting my hand on top of hers, I wait until she looks at me. "It's okay to tell me whatever you need to get off your chest. Gideon will be fine."

She inhales deeply and nods. "We have a way to get to the girls. Gideon doesn't love it, but it's the only way we have that'll work." She presses her lips into a firm line. "We need to track Aramin."

Lead weight drops into my stomach at the sound of her name. "Aramin?"

Chloe nods again. "She's the only lost soul we have ties to. Well, that the pack has ties to. Ruya saw her at the castle. It'll work, Addy."

I grimace. "I don't like it… She isn't to be trusted."

"She won't even know what we're doing, so we don't have to trust her. We're just using her as the beacon… sort of like bait."

Chewing on my lower lip, I think of all the ways this plan could work… or go wrong. "She has some magic now. Monique gave it to her."

Chloe shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. We're using the pack link, so magic won't interfere with the spell."

It'll work… but stay cautious.

"Okay…" I sigh, trying to muster up a smile. "I trust you."

"Oh… well, I'm glad because… um, I thought you should try to talk to the coven." She scrunches her face up, uncertainty written over her features.

"You want me to tell the coven what we're doing? For what? So they can come and murder all of us?" I pull my hand away from her, pushing myself off the edge of the bed and staring out the window. "I can't do that."

She stands, coming around the bed and stopping a few feet from me. "I think if you told them everything—everything that's happened with your mom and your sister and how Gideon helped you… I think they'll want to help too. Even if it's just to clean up Monique's mess."

"No." I shake my head. The thought that the coven could use it as a set up to murder my pack—my mate—is enough to make me want to scream. "I don't trust them, and I'm not going to put anyone else I love at risk."

"Even if—"

"Chloe," I snap, looking at her with my jaw set, "no. I appreciate everything you've done. You've helped us so much, and you've been so kind. I… I consider you one of my first true friends, but I can't put my entire pack at risk for a maybe they'll help us or maybe they'll kill us all." My voice softens when I see her face fall. "They'll hurt you too, Chloe. If they find out how much you've helped us, how you rescued Gideon from the wolf council… they'll kill you too."

Sniffling, she wipes one stray tear from her cheek with the heel of her hand. "Y-yeah, I didn't even think of that."

I wrap her in a tight hug. "You should go home so they have less of a chance finding out you were involved."

She hugs me back, then gives me a sad smile before she walks downstairs. Kaylus tilts his head to the side as he studies me. "What else are you worried about?"

I sigh, then catch him up on all the new information I learned last night. "I'm worried they'll learn the truth about Jules… What if she's a lycan witch too? She'll be the next target—for the coven or Monique."

"If she was a lycan witch, wouldn't she have had her first shift by now? Her wolf would've come out like yours did."

"Mine didn't come out until Gideon bit me. Jules hasn't been bitten. What if that's the catalyst? What if Monique suppressed it somehow?" I run a hand through my hair, the anxiety eating at me and making my stomach hurt. How did Monique even take her from Mila decades ago if she wasn't born until so recently?

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I cradle my head in my hands, the questions swirling through my mind now that I've had time to accept it. Jules is Mila's daughter—Mila's and Moren's. My stomach turns, remembering the fear in Mila's eyes when she told me about him. How could my sweet little sister come from such a monster?

Are you not the same?my wolf asks. A pure heart born from a wickedness. Mila is your friend, who is kind, loving, and selfless. Are those not the traits that Jules also carries?

A hand slides across my shoulders, and I lift my head as cedarwood and smoke invades my space, finding Gideon's stormy eyes looking at me, creased with concern. "Is everything alright, mia fiamma?"

A lump forms in my throat, worried for what he'll think of her. "What… what if Jules is Moren's?"

He brushes his knuckles over my cheek, cupping the side of my face in his palm. "Would that make her any different from the sister you know?"

"He's a monster…" I say, my voice breaking. "How could I ever tell her that's where she came from?"

"But Mila isn't," he says softly, echoing the words of my wolf. "She's your best friend, and she's worried that you hate her."

"I don't hate her." I glance toward the door. "I just needed some… time."

"You know, you were raised by a monster, just like Jules was," Kaylus says, ruffling his feathers as he stands. "Doesn't seem to affect who you've become as a person in a bad way. I don't see why that'd be different for her. She's strong. You should know that better than anyone."

His sleek black form soars through the open window, and I stare after him for a second, wishing his words didn't sting so bad when they were coated in the same truth as everyone else's.

They're all right. No matter where Jules came from, she's still Jules.

"I heard Chloe tell you about the plan." He pauses, waiting for me to look back toward him. "I think you should stay here."

My brows cinch together. "What? Absolutely not, Gideon. I'm coming with you."

Pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers, he closes his eyes. "Staying here would be safer."

"Am I not safest when I'm with you?" I smirk when he looks up at me with a huff. "You're not allowed to leave me behind again." I lean in to kiss his cheek, feeling his hesitation linger. "Wouldn't you feel better being able to see me beside you and know for a fact I'm alright?"

He grabs the back of my neck, keeping me in place, then turns his face so his mouth is against my ear. "I'd like to feel better now, little witch," he whispers, his voice husky, "but we have things to do, so we'd better leave this bed before I change my mind."

My breath hitches in my throat, and I let him pull me to my feet, following him down the hall to the stairs. Just before we reach the first step, he spins, his hand pinning mine above my head as his hips press me back against the wall. His eyes locked on my mouth. His lip quirks up at one side.

"Gods, how I want you. Right now." He dips his head down, his mouth a breath away from mine before he gently presses a kiss to my lips. "When this is over," he whispers, kissing me lightly again, "you are not to leave that bedroom," another kiss, then he sucks on my lower lip, nipping it with his teeth as he lets go, "for at least a week." Crushing his mouth against mine, his free hand grazes my side from my thigh, up my hip to my side, trailing the curve of my breast. He grips the back of my neck, erasing all space left between us.

Then, he suddenly steps away, leaving me breathless and flushed.

He smirks. "I love it when your cheeks turn that little shade of pink."

I shove his shoulder before he turns back to the stairs, unable to form words when part of me wants to go downstairs and start our way to the castle and the other half of me wants to drag him back into bed to finish what he's started.

The minute I reach the bottom step after him, Ruya appears, and I jump back with a squeal. "Ruya, I—"

"I need to go back to the academy now." Her cloudy opal eyes stare just above my head, and Gideon slips away, not wanting to deal with the strange red haired oracle. "I feel I've done all I can here, but if you need me…" She holds out her hand, palm up, and after a moment, I place my palm in hers. Using her other hand, she drags one finger down the line on my palm from my middle finger to my pinky finger and back—once, twice, three times. "There, now you reach me always."

"Um…" I stare down at my palm, not feeling any difference. "How do I use that?"

She laughs, the sound like wind chimes. "Why, you call my name, of course."

Embarrassment flames my cheeks. "Oh, right." Curling my fingers, I pull my fist to my chest. "I… Chloe mentioned you saw Aramin at the castle."

"I did."

I nod, a lump forming in my throat. "Did you… see Wren?"

A frown tugs at the corners of her mouth. "I did not. I did see Jules, however. She seems… strong-willed."

A breath of laughter escapes me as my eyes well with tears. "Yeah," I whisper, "she's definitely that."

Reaching forward, she sets her hand on my shoulder and squeezes. "Call for me if you need anything, and be careful. Not everything is as it seems."

Apprehension coils in my stomach at her last words, but before I can ask her what that's even supposed to mean, she shimmers like sunshine on rippling water, and is gone.