Filed to story: Mated to the Alpha and His Beta Novel Free >>???
“But she could see the spiders,” Stella said. “And so far, that’s been enough. If they manage to kill enough of them, they’ll be able to do whatever else they want.”
Lanie–
“Is there any way for us to close that third eye?” I asked Malachi and Stella at the same time.
Malachi frowned. “Without the one who cast the original spell? I have no idea. But then, I’m not a witch.”
“Can you ask someone? There are, witches here,” I said.
Stella frowned. “Only Braden and Charlotte know that the leadership council has no true power. If we go to any witch-kind for help with this, Malachi would have to reveal that everything he’s bragged about is nothing more than a farce. Besides, it would probably kill her.”
“If she has to die to protect Brightsky, then she has to die,” Malachi stated harshly.
Stella shook her head. “She doesn’t have to die, and I can’t allow you to even attempt her murder.”
I thought for sure my grandfather would fight her about this, or at least pop off with some nasty comment, but all he did was narrow his eyes at her.
I turned to Stella. “Can we block it, then? There must be shields or spells that would work without hurting her. She might not even have to be aware of it.”
“Mother, you of all people should know that casting a spell on someone to hide a part of their nature can only hurt them in the end.”
“It’s already been hidden from her, hasn’t it? You said she doesn’t know,” I reminded her.
“She means the harm would come in having her find out,” Malachi said. “So long as they can use her, Gabriela is a liability to the entire enclave.”
Stella got up from the couch and spun in a slow circle.
She wasn’t moving fast enough to bell the hem of her dress out around her ankles, but it did, and I laughed a little to myself. As a little girl she’d often done the same thing, “like a princess.” I enjoyed that glimpse of her childhood, but I didn’t cling to it. If there was one thing I’d learned, it was that holding onto the past was never going to lead to a better future.
“Actually, Malachi, she is our asset,” Stella said as she slowed, stopped, and faced him.
Again, his eyes narrowed. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingertips under his chin. His lips pursed as his brow furrowed.
“How so?” he asked.
“The High Council can only see what she sees in the moment. They can’t control her or make her go to look at things they want her to see. But we can. At least, we can control what and who she has access to.
It would be simple enough to make sure they only see a carefully curated view of what goes on here,”
she explained.
“If they have to watch through this third eye using a scrying tool, how do we know that they’d be watching at the right time?” I asked.
“They’ll have someone watching all the time,” Malachi said dismissively. “They would never leave their tool unmonitored, even when she’s sleeping.
it.”
“So they must have seen you, as you are now,” I said to Stella.
She nodded. “Yes. They know I’ve grown. They’ll know I’m a Celestial, too, since you’ve talked to her about “If they know so much, what are they waiting for?”
I asked her. “Why haven’t they launched an all-out attack on the enclave already?”
“Brightsky was not their priority until recently.” Stella paused and looked guilty. “When I was still a child, they didn’t care as much about me, either. Their concerns were the hybrid testing facility.” “But now you’ve grown up, and they’ve seen it. Which means they’ll be trying to get their hands on you.
Which puts all of us in danger,” Malachi snapped.
I thought of what Xander and Mason had told me when we were alone in bed after we first discovered our daughter was now an adult. They’d told me all about what they’d found out about the pictures of the newcomers to Brightsky’s portal town, and also about the missing records and purposefully bricked phone.
All of it made sense now.
“Did the High Council send Aldon to Standard to keep an eye on things, or to infiltrate us somehow?” I questioned.
at “It’s still cloudy,” Stella said. “Which means he has not yet decided for himself which path take.”
“Will feeding Gabriela this curated information help push him into a decision?” I asked her.
g to “Yes.”
Malachi’s laugh was harsh. “How can you be so sure?”
“Need I remind you,” Stella said, “exactly who I am?”
She rolled her eyes and looked so much like him that I wasn’t sure if she was flat-out imitating him of simply had inherited his mannerisms along with the color of his eyes.
“Daddy and Abba don’t need to bother going over any more security protocols with Charlotte. What we need to focus on now is making sure that Gabriela begins feeding the High Council exactly what we want them to find out.”
Gabriela–
I’d been happy enough when Lenora rang me to see if I’d have lunch with her, but I’d been waiting during the entire meal for her to question me about what had happened with Stella. So far, she hadn’t said a word. Finally, I decided I couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Sometimes, wolf pups have a double doubling.” The words shot out of me without me fully knowing why I said them. It wasn’t true, and I couldn’t be sure Lenora knew that.
I’d just lied to her face. It felt terrible, but also like the only choice I could make.
Lenora’s eyebrows rose, and her teacup stopped halfway to her lips. She put the cup down without drinking. “Oh, my. That sounds like quite the surprise.”
“You heard about it, didn’t you? What happened at the school. I’m sure the rumors are flying.” My laugh. rasped in my throat without much humor. Heat blazed in my cheeks.
My friend leaned forward with a look of concern. “I wasn’t going to ask you about it. But if you want to talk about it…”
Oh, I did, didn’t I? I needed to unburden myself to someone about my worries, but I didn’t dare.
I couldn’t reveal that my granddaughter was a Celestial, not without also having to explain what that meant. It would have to be enough just to start a rumor of my own.
“It’s very rare, but as I’m sure you also know,Stella is a hybrid.”“I’d heard. I don’t know much about hybrids,”
Lenora admitted with a gentle smile. “But here in Brightsky, we welcome everyone as equals.”
A burst of relief flooded me. I hadn’t really been afraid my friend would somehow reject my granddaughter, but it was still good to be assured of it. Lenora and I had experienced a lot together all those years past. It was good to feel like I could trust her.
She’s a Celestial.
The words fought to come out, and I held them back by gritting my teeth.
“Gab? You look upset.” Lenora reached to pat my hand. “Is this double doubling, this rare thing…
harmful?”
“No, nothing like that. Shocking, that’s all. One minute she was a little girl, and now she’s a lovely young woman. Time flies the older we get,” I said with a rueful laugh. “But this is too fast.”
“What’s done can’t be undone. She has her family around her to support her. I’m sure she’ll be able to weather this change without too much trouble. As will you.” Lenora tilted her head to give me a curious look.
“And I hope you know, I’m here for you. Whatever you need.”For the next hour, we chatted about other Brightsky gossip. Lenora relieved my mind that the news about Stella had spread, but nobody was saying anything unkind. In an enclave open to anyone, a child who grew into an adult within hours wasn’t even close to being the most scandalous event.
We parted ways with a hug, and for me, a much lighter heart. On the way back to our quarters,I thought I’d stop off and pick up a few things for Stella. Her mother had bought her an entire new wardrobe, but I had some ideas about other things she might need.
A birthday cake, for one. How many had she missed? I wasn’t even sure she could count them, or if she’d really be able to ever name her accurate age again. Would she continue to age, or would she stay forever locked into the appearance of a young woman, never going gray or getting wrinkles?
all.”
“Moon Goddess,” I murmured to myself as I looked over the bakery case at the cakes for sale. “Guide us For a moment, my vision swam. Doubled.
Quadrupled. I closed my eyes tight and pressed my fingers to the spot between my eyes. The small flare of pain there faded under the pressure, and when I opened my eyes, my vision was fine.
I’d been meaning to check in with an enclave eye doctor for the past few weeks but had been putting offthe appointment. I knew my vanity wasn’t going to help me, but I hated even the thought of needing cheater glasses for reading.
So far, I’d been able to ignore the small issues with my sight, but I had to admit they were getting more frequent.
“That one,” I said to the clerk, pointing at the tall chocolate cake festooned with pastel flowers. “Please write, ‘Happy Birthday, Little Star’ on it.”
I paid for the cake and carried the box with me toward home. Wanting to avoid crowds so I could get it back as fast as possible, I decided to take a different route home. Just as I turned the corner to a new hallway I’d never used, the lights got so bright it was like a flash of lightning. Then, the hallway plunged into darkness.
At home, I put the cake on the table and cursed myself for dropping it. It could be salvaged, but the icing was smeared along the inside of the lid. I definitely needed to make that appointment with the eye doctor. The flash of light and dark hadn’t been the lamps along the way, but my own eyes.
Zane–
“We’ll be gone for hours,” Stella said as she led her twin siblings by the hand toward the front door.
“Stella’s going to take us to see the pearl farms!
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?