I knew he hadn’t actually gone anywhere, I opened my eyes and stared at him.
“You see them?”
The voice came from nowhere, but from everywhere too.
I peered around, staring at the world about me, but as I did, I noticed that nothing was the same.
No one was moving.
Not even my mates.
It was like time had been sped up or slowed down, I wasn’t sure which.
It wasn’t frozen, because I could see Austin’s eyelashes gently quivering like they were in the process of moving.
“Does it make sense for me to speed up time?”
My throat was more choked now than it was before. “Who are you?”
“I am the spirit of the Mother.”
My brow puckered. “The spirit?”
“I am the totem. My name is Lidai.”
I froze.
A stick of wood was talking to me.
I reached up and rubbed my temple, pretty sure I was either having delusions or, I don’t know, I needed to go to the hospital or something.
A wind whispered out of nowhere, brushing over me, cosseting me in its warmth.
Like a hug.
From a gust of wind.
Kali Sara, what was happening to me?
“This is normal,” the totem murmured. “I speak only to my children twice in their lives, and you are hearing my voice at a moment that is slightly earlier than should be, but your power was a little—” The wind danced around me again. “You needed help seeking control before you had all my children collapsing with distress.”
My eyes widened. “I meant them no harm.”
“You didn’t mean to do anything, I know this, but it wouldn’t have stopped you from doing it. You are ignorant of your strength, but I am not. You are needed in this pack. My child, Eli, has done his best to carry on in his father’s image, but Paul wasn’t the alpha Eli is.
“I see all, I take note of all, and neither the previous omega nor alpha did right by their people. You will help Eli to right those wrongs.”
My throat tightened. “Why?”
“Because of the children you will carry.”
“I’m important because of my womb?”
Well, if that wasn’t disappointing to hear!
The wind danced around me again, and I sensed that was the ‘spirit of the Mother’s’ way of showing me she was amused because the temperature was perfect.
Neither too cold, nor too hot like those winds that could whip off the desert, making you feel even sweatier than you felt before the gust hit you in the face.
“You are more important than your womb, but you bring change. Quite naturally. Each person to roam the Earth does this, and each human who is tied to this life has more power than usual.”
Warily, I questioned, “What power?”
“The men who are your mates. All brothers. Do you know how rare that is?”
“I know it’s strange to be in a relationship with three—”
“No, not with a female of your power. I speak of their kinship. One child per mated pair. This was so for a reason. The Mother, for I am only her voice, not her mind or will, decided that we were too strong to populate the Earth as the humans do.
“She controlled the numbers—”
And I understood.
“To the point of extinction?”
The wind whispered around my hair, making it twist and writhe like it had a life of its own. “Indeed, child. Indeed. The second the child is born from your womb, you and your mates will be the pack’s future.”
I scowled. “What does that mean? I can’t have children—” My mouth worked. “I was in an accident.”
Heat surged inside me out of nowhere. It burned in my veins, but it centered itself in my belly. The energy was incredible as it rattled around inside me. Explosive and excruciating. I screamed with the agony of it, and my body felt like I was torn in two as I was ripped apart and knitted together again.
The second it was over, I dropped to my knees, panting as I tried to catch my breath.
“The Mother can fix all ails, child, even the one she herself created long ago.
“Your child is not the means with which the Mother will bring change, for no one child can bear such a divine burden, but they will be the catalyst.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No.”
And that was all the answer I received because, just as swiftly as I’d been dragged into this tornado, I was wrenched from it.
In seconds, my men were around me, and I didn’t blame them. As far as they knew, I’d been standing at their sides, and now I was on my knees,