29. Anna

29

Anna

Jenson took one look at us and growled disapprovingly, but he didn't say anything before we climbed into his truck. There was no time for a shower, obviously, and also no time for arguing. I wanted to go alone, but Jax wouldn't let me.

Irene wasn't surprised when the guard let us in. "Your second can wait outside," she said stiffly, avoiding Jenson's gaze.

Wasn't that interesting?

The cottage that looked so cute in the afternoon sun was just a little bit creepier at night.

All the lights were turned off, and there were candles lit on every surface and in every corner. I wanted to point out that it was a fire hazard, but then I noticed that the flames were dancing. Not even a little bit.

"Is that your magic doing that? Has it returned?"

"No," she said mournfully. "It has not, but this isn't my magic. It's the natural elements respecting my wishes. Magic is all around us. It affects us even if we can't wield it. Well, it affects most of us."

Misstep, I froze. "Shit. Is that going to stop because I'm here?"

"No. Even a null can't cancel natural magic. You really must learn more about your abilities," she scolded. "Although I can see you've been working on some unfinished business.

Good. That will help protect you."

Good god, she wasn't even a shifter and she knew we'd just had sex. My cheeks burned as I glanced at Jax.

His face was unreadable.

"You wanted to talk to me." I cleaned my throat. "In private?"

"No. The alpha is involved as well. Since I've been trying to heal myself with natural magic, it's converged on my cottage. I thought I might use it to try and scry, although I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is in the past, the future, or the present. Using natural magic doesn't give me the same kind of control, but it involves you, Anna."

"You could have called." Jax was obviously still a little cranky that we were interrupted.

"That's the thing about natural magic. It sometimes can cancel out modern amenities, like phones. My guard has been cranky all day that he hasn't been able to text."

At that, Jax stiffened. "He should be able to get in touch with me if there's a problem."

"He can use the pack bonds if need be. It's faster than a phone, anyway. I asked him to notify you when my guard changed. I should have known he'd go to Jenson instead," she sighed. "In any case, I'm hoping if I can access the vision again, I can get Anna to see it as well and let me know if it's from her past."

Didn't that sound just peachy?

"What does that entail?" Jax asked before I could.

"I'm going to be a conduit. All I need Anna to do is touch me. I have no intention of hurting her, Jax. Don't worry. Now come. The more time we waste, the less chance I have of accessing the same vision."

We followed her into the living room. All the furniture had been pushed against the wall, and there was a circle of lit candles that surrounded a small black bowl of water. "Is that a dog bowl?"

"Magical objects can be expensive," Irene said dryly. "Often times, substitutions work even better. And at the time, I thought I might get a dog. Sit on that side and hold my hand."

Feeling a little awkward, and still a little tingly which made me feel even more awkward, I sat crossed between the ring of candles and the water bowl. Irene sat on the other side, and she took my hands. "Do not be afraid. The vision shouldn't hurt. Being a null shouldn't block the magic since it's natural magic, but at the same time, you should try to relax as much as possible.

Let down your mental shielding."

"And how do I do that?"

"Try to access a happy memory. One in which you felt safe and secure. Relaxed. Absorb as much of those feelings as possible. Put yourself in that moment."

I just stared at her. "Irene, this is not going to work. I don't have any memories like that."

"Just try."

Fine. Closing my eyes, I searched my memories for anything that might come to mind.

Times when my father was gone and left me alone. After his death. It didn't matter. I was always on edge. Always wound up tight.

Except.

"Can I use a dream? Sometimes I have these dreams that feel so real."

Irene squeezed my hand. "Whatever you need to do."

Nodding, I kept my eyes closed and brought the dream to the forefront of my mind.

Jax was there, in the dark, and there was nothing else. No pack to judge us. No rising darkness to threaten us. Just him and his touch. His growls and moans as he explored me.

Learned what I liked.

Behind me, Jax grunted. My eyes flew open, and I whipped my head around. "What?

What is it?"

"Nothing. I'm fine. Just got a strange feeling. Continue."

With a shrug, I turned back around, closed my eyes, and conjured the dream again.

"I have you," Jax whispered. "I will protect you and cherish you. Side-by-side, Anna.

Together."

It was a shitty dream. One that was never going to happen, and usually, I tried to ignore it, but this time, I immersed myself in it completely.

And then I began to fall.

"Join us. Join us, witch, or everything you love will burn."

"No," Irene said sharply and broke contact. I jumped and opened my eyes. She was pale and trembling. "My apologies. That was a vision from my past, and it has nothing to do with you. Please, try again. For me."

She took my hands, and I blew out my breath and closed my eyes. It took a little bit longer to relax, but when it did, I surfaced somewhere else.

"You have to be quiet," I whispered. "I know you're in pain, but you have to be quiet, because if you don't, he'll hear you. If he hears you, he'll remember you. Please."

A small dark room. There was a rough rug beneath my bare feet. It was made of rope, wound around and around again to protect my skin from the splinters of the wood, but sometimes, I thought the rough fiber of the rope was even worse.

It didn't matter. The rug was necessary. Camouflaged tool so I could one day make my mistake.

The whimper sounded again, and I crawled away from it to the small window. I was being punished. I'd spilled hot coffee on his guest. A mistake. Scared little hands that trembled too much, but it didn't matter. I was back in the room.

I knew what happened here.

Outside, I saw two figures. My father and his guest. A terrifying man.

"He's in place," the man said stiffly, "but the others are suspicious."

"I don't give a flying fuck," Dirk snapped. I couldn't see his face, but I recognized his voice. "It doesn't change the plan."

"It does. This plan is contingent on everything going exactly right. We wait."

Dirk growled. "How long? A month? Two?"

"Three or four. Years," the man said. "You need to be careful. Your little hobbies need to stop."

"What hobbies?"

"I know what you are doing, Dirk. I can smell the blood from here. We have found the void. There's no need to keep searching. Keep your head down and wait."

"Fine," Dirk said sullenly.

"Your patience will be rewarded. I promise." The man walked away, and Dirk turned to the small window. "How is she doing, Anna? Does she want to play some more?"

I turned to the poor woman, barely clinging to life. Of course she didn't want to play.

They never did.

"Kill me," the woman whispered. "Please. I can't take any more."

"I want to play, Anna. He thinks I'm going to stop just because he said to? I obey no one; I am the one obeyed," my father growled. The fury in his voice made me shudder, and I crawled back to the woman and placed a hand over her nose and mouth.

Tears poured down my cheeks as I stole what little life she had left.

He would be angry when he found out. He would be so angry.

"What the fuck," Jax roared. He pulled me from the memory, and I tried to scramble free, but Irene grabbed my hands and squeezed. "What the hell was that?"

"A vision," Irene murmured. "And not the one I saw. A memory, am I right? But one I suspect we were meant to see. Anna, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Forcing a smile, I slowly pulled my hands back. "I'm fine. I remembered some of that already, The woman, but not the conversation."

"It wasn't important to you at the time, but I suspect it's very important now. Your father was kidnapping women and children, yes?"

Numbly, I nodded. "He wanted his own pack. He wanted to breed the women, but apparently, I was the last child he could have. When that didn't work, he decided to take children."

"No." Irene shook her head. "According to that vision, I think your father was looking for something in those women. They found what they were looking for, and he was ordered to stop.

Think back about the victims he took. Did anything strange happen to them? Did he want to keep any of them alive?"

I shook my head. "No. None that I can think of, and he didn't have a particular type that he liked."

"So why was he ordered to stop?" Irene got up and paced. "Maybe it's tied in together. In the vision that I had, I was in the woods, but I was you. I was running, and someone was chasing me, and then I passed through this brilliant light show of purples and golds."

"Well that's a memory. It's one of the spell traps in Wisteria Woods."

"No, it wasn't a trap."

"But it is." When Irene looked at me blankly, I tried to explain further. "That's how I see them. Bright and beautiful colors. When I touch them, they sort of fill me. Like…" my voice trailed off.

"Like you're a void," Jax said flatly. "That's why your father was taking women. He was looking for a fucking null, and he had one right under his nose the whole time."

My skin chilled. "That conversation that we just saw happening? That was between my father and the red wolf. It was right after I ran to the Darkwyn coven. No more than a few weeks."

"Can you give me an exact date?" Jax asked.

I shook my head. "No. I didn't have a phone or anything, so it was hard to track dates. It was the first woman he'd taken after I returned. It was cold, so winter. We had another winter, and then he took Cora the next fall. So almost two years before you came. That's five years ago. Does that help?"

Jax's face hardened. "Five years ago, Emerson became an alpha."

"In place," I echoed.

"The alphas aren't meeting by chance," Irene said in a low voice. "He needed a way to get to you, and now he's about to waltz right onto your property."

"He'll never touch her," Jax growled.

Irene got a strange look in her eyes and glanced down at the water. "I was channeling the water and I was connected to her. So tell me, alpha, how is it that you saw the vision?"