3. RIVER

3

RIVER

I wander down the stairs, scratching my bare stomach not at all surprised to find Remi slaving away in the kitchen. He's humming a tune I don't recognize as I come up behind him to press a kiss to his shoulder. Remi leans into my hold as he flips pancakes on the griddle before twisting around to look at me. He wiggles his eyebrows playfully before gesturing to the living room. "Sunshine is going to make Maverick one of her Alphas yet."

His grin is infectious even if it's some ungodly hour. I'll never understand where he gets his energy but I'd never want our dynamic to change. Kissing his cheek, I make my way to the living room, chuckling when I find Maverick cuddling Nepheline's wolf. His fingers move through her fur ever so gently with a calmness that I don't think the rest of us possess. He sees her in a way we don't, able to read her in ways we could only hope to.

She doesn't think we see but I've caught her more than once seeking out Maverick for a conversation. He's easy to talk to and always puts logic before matters of the heart. I wasn't sure how this dynamic would work a week ago but I can see it now.

Even more so with all the shit we're going to have to wade through. I plop onto the floor beside Nepheline, catching Maverick's attention. "Nightmare?" I ask.

He doesn't even look up at me, continuing to stroke her fur. "Something like that. A memory that she can't quite grasp." His brows furrow for a moment before his expression moves back to the stoic one I'm used to.

With Maverick, I don't ever find the need to speak. The silent moments are never awkward like they were when Remi first started sharing a bed with Asani. Having that man in the room was both terrifying and made my dick hard, which is how I fell in love with him and now we're all sharing the same space. Maverick enjoys his room down the hall but it doesn't feel like he's pulling away.

It just is.

I'm sure he'll find the right dynamic or Nepheline will drag him into a nest for a cuddle right alongside one of us. He won't admit it but I've seen him more than once get a little rosy-cheeked around Asani. I'd pay to see that.

"Will she be alright?"

Maverick finally looks up at me, pain lingering in his expression. I'm familiar with the look of losing someone and I can't imagine it's all that easy finding where he belongs in a new family. Hell, I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that Nepheline is alive and she's our Omega. My Omega. I can't fucking wait for her to accept my bite.

"She will be. I told her that maybe her wolf could tell her what she's missing and I think she found it." A smile tugs on his lips as Nepheline suddenly shifts and sits up.

She's gloriously naked, hair in disarray as she frantically looks around. Those deep green eyes aren't seeing anything in this room as her chest heaves, skin flushed from whatever chaos is rolling around in her head.

"Sweetie?"

Nepheline ignores me as she pushes to her feet and takes off down the hall, easily intercepted by two half-asleep grumbly Alphas. They both have very gorgeous ‘just fucked' looks from last night as they tag-teamed our Omega into oblivion. Of course, Remi and I were right there with them, trying to tire her out. It didn't work.

"Where do you think you're going, princess?" Mateo chuckles, the sound rumbling through the room. His power is evident, the magic slowly sifting into the pack lands. I've noticed a difference over the last few days, even mostly cooped up in the house. Everything feels different. Heavier.

Nepheline lets out an adorable ‘oof' after running into Asani's chest. She struggles to get around him as Maverick and I slowly approach, Remi there a second later. I've never seen her this disoriented, not even during her heat but there's a first time for everything. Her fingers dig into Asani's chest until he grunts, Nepheline immediately stepping back.

"Is this an after-effect of the serum?" Mateo asks, worried.

Asani shakes his head, holding out his arms for Nepheline to step into. She stares at him for several seconds before giving in. "It's not. I… it wasn't Flynn."

I frown, trying to understand what she's saying. Flynn was a little thorn in our side and apparently connected to everything wrong with our pack. There's been some word that he worked with not only Silas but Kylan and Mateo's mother, Calista. The fucking Beta was an annoying piece of shit and I'm ecstatic that he's dead. Even more ecstatic that I got to watch Nepheline tear him apart.

Maverick pulls back, leaning against the wall as if he already knows what she is going to say. He's been doing that recently but they don't always share words. He just knows.

Mateo moves around to her back, casing her in between himself and Asani. With the power rumbling between those two Alpha wolves, Nepheline settles completely. "Princess, what wasn't Flynn?" A few weeks ago, I'm not sure he would have the strength to calm his wolf enough to have a discussion. Just bringing up that traitorous bastard would have sent him in need of a run. Between the medicine Asani gives him and Nepheline's presence, I haven't seen his wolf lash out.

Silence spreads through the room before she finally speaks. "The Beta I loved." I expect to feel some pang of jealousy but there isn't any. Asani and Mateo are bonded to her and neither one of them reacts to those words. As if this Beta has always been a part of us. Just like Maverick has. It's an odd notion that there's another mate but Nepheline's heart is bigger than any of us give her credit for.

Nepheline lets out a pitiful sigh before slipping from between them. Remi drags his shirt over his head and helps her into it. Her eyes heat as she glances at each of us, her lip pulling between her teeth. Nepheline knows that she can't look at us like that without one of us pouncing but she merely holds up a hand while she clears her throat. "I always thought Flynn was that Beta. The one I played with. The one I thought was going to always be by my side. He's not. Why is there another one?" Her brows furrow as she tries to push past her Alphas and fails miserably.

Remi catches her this time, shaking his head. "You took off on Mave, Sunshine."

I never thought I'd have a problem with someone leaving a discussion unfinished but Nepheline has a bad habit of it. Whether walking down the hall into Maverick's room or trying to waltz out of the house to free her mind of her chaotic thoughts. Having my Omega leave the safety I'm offering makes my Alpha feel like I'm not enough. It's an awful feeling of inadequacy that's as stupid as it sounds.

I can't imagine how it makes Maverick feel.

Nepheline sends a silent apology to Maverick, his smile widening slightly before Remi steals her into the kitchen. The moment she's out of earshot, I focus on our newest Alpha. "Share with the class, Maverick."

His eyes darken as he folds his arms across his chest. "I'm going to preface this by saying that I have no fucking idea what this is or how it happens. I just know that it did. Nepheline's been trying to figure out this memory for a while and I finally coaxed her to shift. Maybe her wolf would give it to her. Somehow, I saw it with her. I don't know how it works and I'm not sure I could replicate it but they were young and playing in the heart of her pack lands. Flynn was there but that wasn't the little boy she was playing with. The one that made her laugh. You think her laugh is sweet now? It sounded like fucking honey from a goddess." His eyes lock on the entrance to the kitchen but I can tell that there's more.

So can Asani and Mateo.

Mateo clears his throat, drawing our attention to him. It feels like an unspoken command, a tendril of energy pouring through me that I now equate to the magic returning to the pack lands. "Maverick, things are changing. With us, the Redstone and Nightshade pack, with the shifters, and with you. Don't think I haven't noticed that you have information that's never been shared with you. I don't understand it either. There's something else, isn't there?"

Maverick pushes off the wall and moves closer so that only the three of us will hear. "Her Beta is a silver wolf. I've seen things of my own and it has to be the same."

I frown. That's impossible. Over the last week, I've immersed myself in every piece of literature I could find about the missing magic of these lands and whatever was salvageable from the House of Crystal. I've even gone so far as to try and find a contact for the Sapphire pack that will help us out of this mess with the council and super wolves no doubt plaguing our species. However, there is one thing I've figured out.

"Are you sure his wolf is silver?"

"He even had a stripe in his hair."

"Maverick, Sapphire wolves are silver. If that's the case, her Beta friend was from an entirely different pack." I don't believe for a second that Nepheline's friend was stolen from the Sapphire wolves. However, I do think he was stolen from her and I don't think the Sapphire pack has any fucking clue about this.

Until we reach out to them, they might still believe that Nepheline and her entire family are dead including the Beta.

I'm about to ask another question when a terrifying howl rips through the forest behind the pack Alpha's house, rattling the windows and shaking the ground we're standing on.

Asani growls, the Alpha shifting immediately into his wolf as he responds. It takes me two seconds to realize why he is the only wolf affected.

That isn't just anyone calling us out into the darkness.

It's someone from the pack of the Forbidden.

And with the thundering sounds falling from my Alpha's mouth, it can't be anyone other than Silas.