22. Kye

Chapter 22

Kye

M y blood freezes in my veins at her words, and her tone has me stepping in front of my mate. I don't give a single fuck about what she thinks Apryle is going to do or what she saw in her… vision . I care even less about who she is or who she's related to because if this female tries to hurt my mate, I will tear her throat out with my bare hands. My wolf agrees. He likes this female even less than I do, which is saying something.

Luckily for her, she doesn't make any sudden movements, and so my homicidal urges are held back—for the moment, at least. I do bare my teeth, though, letting her know what will happen if she tries anything.

"What do you mean?" Apryle demands, trying to step around me, but I don't allow her.

Her frustration ripples through the bond as I grip her wrist tight. I know I'm being overbearing, and that my mate will push back, but protecting Apryle overrides her desires in this moment.

"I don't… I don't want to scare you, but Apryle, you need to leave."

"The compound?" This question comes from Halle, but I'm not focused on her. My gaze is zeroed in on the current threat to my family.

"The country. You have to run. Hide."

"Why?" Apryle demands. "What did you see, Hester?"

"It doesn't matter what she saw," I snarl out the words. "You're not leaving."

The suggestion pushes my wolf to almost feral levels. We're not losing our mate because of this woman.

But despite my threat, Hester's gaze remains locked on my mate. "You have to. If you don't, you're going to destroy everything."

"I like a good riddle," Sawyer says, "but get to the fucking point."

Hester's jaw becomes solid, and her eyes harden. She's not going to tell us anything, and I don't know why.

Apryle clearly recognizes the same when she says, "If this involves me, and if you care about me at all, you will give me the tools I need to protect myself."

Hester closes her eyes, and I can see the torment rippling across her face. She doesn't want to divulge whatever secrets she is holding close to her chest, and that pisses me off. Apryle has the right to know what is going on and why this female wants her to run.

I've seen magic do a lot of things. Being here at the compound, surrounded by tau wolves, I've seen more than most, so I don't doubt visions are real, but that doesn't mean we have to blindly listen.

"You're right. I do owe you this. And clearly, keeping secrets isn't doing anything other than allowing the wrong people to gain power." Hester closes her eyes, a ripple of pain working over her face. "I was born a really long time ago. Like, a really long time ago. My parents are Revna and Torsten."

The silence that spreads between us is suffocating. My gaze bounces around the room, trying to see if anyone else thinks this female is insane.

"You look pretty good for someone claiming to be over a thousand years old," Sawyer remarks. "You're going to have to share your skincare routine, because I can't even see one wrinkle on your face." He pats his neck under his chin. "I'm starting to get jowly."

Roux elbows him in the ribs, shooting a glare at him like he's a naughty pup, interrupting his elders.

"I know it sounds insane, and if I didn't know it to be the truth, I wouldn't believe me either, but it is true. My mother, Revna, was a Seidh—what our people thought of as witches. She was strong… Always so strong, until she met him ."

The derision with which she says that last part tells me Hester isn't the keenest fan of her father.

"I'm just not buying what you're selling," Sawyer tells her, and I have to agree with him. Just because she says something is true doesn't make it so. "I mean, nobody lives a thousand years or more. It's not biologically possible."

"No, it's not possible for humans, but I'm not human. I'm Seidh, at least partly. I also have Torsten's DNA." Again with the bitterness.

Do you believe her? Apryle asks through our bond.

I don't know. I hate to admit that to her, and I want to reassure her more than anything, but I won't lie to her.

If there is even the remotest possibility of any truth behind what she's saying, I have to take her claims seriously. This information could impact my mate.

"So witches live longer?" Dove asks.

"Seidh do, yes." Her eyebrows draw together in consternation. "It's complicated. Seidh draw their power from nature. They give up part of themselves to become one with elemental forces, and those magics are what extends the lifeblood of powerful Seidh. Over time, those powers have been smothered, reduced, watered down."

I think back to what Apryle said about Revna's magic when she woke up from her dreamwalking.

It came up from the ground itself.

My brain is overwhelmed with what she's saying, but I'm interested to know where we come from and why. Growing up, I always saw my shifting as a curse, something that made me different from everyone else, and I wanted to be normal—whatever that is.

Knowing there's a reason I'm the way I am would go a long way to healing some of those old wounds.

"Because of hybrids," Halle fills in.

"In part. Seidh are not meant to exist. They are rare because of the things they have to do to become entwined with the earth."

"Like what?" This question comes from Jackson.

"Too much to explain. My mother was one of the greatest of her kind to ever exist, but she was also a very difficult person. She loved Torsten deeply, but those feelings were not reciprocated. She was a young woman, in love with a man who could not care less about her. Torsten was already one of the most powerful men in our society, but he always wanted more, and he thought that my mother could give him something that would enable him to be stronger than any other Jarl out there. He used her to get what he wanted."

"Her magic," Halle surmises.

Hester nods. "The story about the pelt isn't a story. It's what really happened. Times back then were turbulent, wars were fought over next to nothing, and men were ambitious. My father was no different from any other male at the time. He wanted the biggest armies and to be the most powerful, and he saw my mother could do that for him. So she created the pelt. It was infused with magic that would allow him to change into a wolf when he was wearing it. He defeated many armies, became feared among his enemies, and he used my mother to ensure he would continue to have access to stronger magic."

"This is crazy," Halle mutters.

"Crazier than us being able to turn into wolves at will?" Wyatt comments, shrugging his shoulders. "Let's face it—everything about our lives is crazy."

"I know it sounds far-fetched, but I promise you I'm not lying." Hester blows out a breath. "Revna discovered she was pregnant, and she was so happy about it."

Apryle flinches next to me, and through our bond, I feel her apprehension.

"My father was meant to marry for alliances, to have children who would become his heirs. He no longer needed Revna's magic. His constant use of the pelt was already corrupting him. He started to think more like a wolf, started to exhibit certain personality traits of the beast he turned into when he was wearing the pelt. I think part of him was scared of what he was turning into. He couldn't control the beast taking over his mind, whether he was wearing the pelt or not. He tried to draw the evil out of it, to stop himself from becoming a monster, but it was too late. Magic, power, it has its own force, and that can't always be controlled."

"I saw it…" Apryle's words are soft, so soft I barely hear them, but Hester's gaze bounces in her direction. "I dreamwalked. I didn't understand anything that was being said, but I saw Revna being tied to a post and her back torn open by a whip. She was pregnant, but she turned to look at me, and I swear she could see me. I thought she was going to hurt me, but then I woke up."

She didn't wake up. I dragged her out of that state by force.

Apryle squeezes my hand.

"That explains my vision. She shouldn't have been able to see you. Dreamwalking is an imprint of a memory, a snapshot into someone's unconscious mind. The fact that she was conscious enough to see you not only shows her strength, but that she is awake."

"So you're one of these Seidh?" Cade asks, massaging Halle's nape.

"You smell like tau," Jackson adds, "but it always seemed a little different.

"My sister and I both had attributes of my mother's witch side, but also my father's growing wolf powers."

"You were the first hybrids," Apryle says, and I place my hands on her shoulders, gently squeezing. I never expected we would learn any of this. The origin story of our kind seems difficult to believe, and yet I believe Hester's version. It is the only thing that makes any logical sense.

"Every tau wolf can trace themselves back to me and my sister."

"So, you're like our great-grandmother times a lot of greats?"

She gives Apryle a small smile. "In the loosest sense of the term. Things kind of spiraled the further the generations went on. The more children were born, the further the line got watered down. You guys can do less than the first generation of tau to be born."

"What about us? Where did vargr wolves come from?" Jackson asks.

"From my brother. Our father tried everything to get rid of me and my sister, but our mother was fiercely protective. She refused to let him hurt us, and although he continued to hunt for us, he also went on to have his own children. Our half-brother, the white-haired man, looked human when he was born, but he began to display wolf tendencies from a very young age. He was strong, could fight, and he could change into the wolf. Every generation after him was either full wolf, vargr, or a kind of melting pot of human-wolf, like Abel."

"What happened to make your brother hate us?" Roux asks the question that sits on the tip of my tongue.

Hester folds her hands together in her lap, a ripple of pain spreading over her face. "The magic that turned our father was already destroying him, and he grew bitter about what he perceived as a curse placed on him by my mother. He hated everything about our mother and what she had done to him, and by proxy, he hated me and my sister. We were like her, we had the same magic, the same evil abilities."

"But he didn't share that animosity toward your brother?" Dove asks.

She shakes her head. "Erik was his heir, and he needed him to continue his legacy. So my brother became a symbol of his power, of his heritage. How many other Jarls had family who could turn into fierce beasts? But he still hated our mother. He saw Freya and me as abominations. We weren't wolves. We were a mix that he just could not see as anything else but a corruption. And his hate for our mother made him twisted. He wanted to punish her, and so he and my brother dedicated all their time to hunting down anyone associated with her. That included my sister and me, plus our children."

I'm not sure why, but it makes me feel better to know that we're caught up in this through no fault of our own. It doesn't change anything, but it is good to finally have answers.

As I look around the faces of the people who have become friends to me, I find myself wondering if all of this could have been prevented. All this suffering, and for what?

"So everything that is happening is because of your little family spat?" Sawyer asks, taking his usual relaxed demeanor. "Tau wolves die every day. They are tortured in horrendous ways, their babies ripped from them, because you, your siblings, and your parents had a little domestic issue thirteen hundred years ago?"

When he puts it like that, it seems ridiculous, but history shows wars have been fought over less.

"Erik is the problem here, not me or Freya," she says.

"If you're powerful, why are you scared of your brother?" This question comes from Dove. "You have your mother's genes, her gifts."

A shudder works through Hester. "Because my brother has no conscience, Dove. The things he has done to me over the years, to Freya as well, terrify me. So I did what I could. I tried to protect hybrids when he found them, when I saw them in danger in my visions. You are, after all, descendants of me and my twin. I felt obliged to help."

"I'm not calling you Grandma," Sawyer mutters, earning a glare from Hester.

"Where is your sister now?" Callum asks.

"I don't know. Freya isn't like me. She was soft, gentle, and she could not stand constantly fighting for survival. She was tired, and she asked me to wipe her mind clear so she could start again somewhere away from him. So that's what I did. I bound her powers, and I sent her out into the world to live normally. Even if I met her in the street, she wouldn't know me."

"I don't understand what any of this has to do with Apryle," I grumble, getting frustrated.

We don't need all the background information. It doesn't help us understand whatever vision Hester had.

"My brother was a very accomplished hunter. He killed many tau over the years. As each generation grew, so did his desperation. He could see the writing on the wall. My mother's offspring were going to populate every corner of the globe. He couldn't have that. So he created the Order of the Crescent Moon. It was made up of his sons and daughters, their sons and daughters, and their only job was to hunt down hybrids. My mother saw her family die day after day, her bloodline diminishing." She takes a deep breath before continuing.

"We were fighting so hard for our survival, but ultimately our father drove her to insanity, and even after he died, that madness grew. But my mother was a good person. She gave herself up in exchange for Erik, allowing her children to exist. He agreed, but when she got to the meeting point, he double-crossed her. His Seidh witches trapped her in a space that exists between time and nothing."

She drags her fingers through her hair, her distress evident. It helps lend credence to her story. "Those witches had their own children and at some point crossed paths with wolves, and another tau line was created. There are a handful of that Seidh's descendants still alive today."

"I'm one of them, aren't I?" Apryle whispers. "Savannah too."

My throat tightens as new fear mixes with my existing worry. I don't care who she is, I will not allow anyone to harm my mate. I will die for her.

"I believe so." Hester's expression is a little sad as she adds, "Your ancestors' blood was used to trap Revna using blood magic. It's a horrible, terrible spell, and only the blood of the witch who created it can undo it. Revna's supporters think they can use the Seidh's descendants' blood instead."

"That's what you saw, wasn't it? You saw my blood being used to free her."

Fuck no.

No one is using Apryle's blood for anything. My wolf growls, and I snarl at this female, ready to defend my mate.

Easy, big guy, Apryle murmurs in my head.

I will kill her before I let her near you, I warn, meaning every word of it.

I'm so distracted by our conversation that I almost miss Hester saying, "I'm sorry, Apryle, but you're going to kill us all."

And then she launches at my mate, and the last thing I see is a glint of metal coming toward Apryle's heart.