Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,119
the bugs around it? That’s what saved you, isn’t it?”
“The loenai,” Todd corrected.
“How do you know all this stuff?” I rasped.
“It’s my duty to know,” he explained. Which explained nothing at all. Mother, I was starting to understand why my pack had been peeved at the reason we gave them for Jana’s attack.
“Okay, look. You said that Jana did what she did for another reason. What was it?”
“So Lara would accept me as her mate, which triggered her ascension.”
The simple reasoning made no sense to me, and my scowl evidently showed that.
“She would never have given me a chance were it not for the unique situation into which we fell. As a result, this is the start of a new beginning.” Todd turned to Sabina. “The shadows, Omega. Where did they come from?”
She gulped. “A boy.”
Lara nodded. “Seth.”
The sisters shared a look, and Sabina rasped, “I think it’s wise to send Seth to the other side of the country. We were planning on that before the attack.”
“If Seth is going to kill our son’s mate, then shouldn’t we strike preemptively?” I questioned, not liking what I was saying, but hadn’t I just told my pack this? Being a leader wasn’t always a party. Sometimes, you had to make the shittiest decisions imaginable.
“There is no point in trying to change the future. Seth and his sister were destined to fight. He cannot die. Neither can she. Putting distance between them is the wisest option.”
I glowered at Todd. “You say that like it’s easy. Sure, I can send him to our twin pack in Miami. They owe us a favor or two. But fuck, he’s evil. He’s a twisted little shit that gets off on making people cry.”
“Because he’s been possessed by the Father,” Todd explained. “It’s bound to flare out of him, and not always in a good way. With distance between him and his sister, things should calm down.”
“We never had any issues from Seth before Maribel got pregnant, did we? I mean, he was weird, and he creeped us all out,” Ethan stated, his tone calmer than I’d like, “but it was only once she was with child that things changed. When he started crossing a line.”
I couldn’t argue with that, because even though we’d seen Seth’s family rarely, I knew whispers would have reached my ears about his odd nature by now.
He had the ability to make grown women cry with his mean snipes now, so that wouldn’t have gone without notice before.
“He’ll get more freedom away from her, be able to live some life… Before she ends it,” Todd told us, as his hand slipped over Lara’s shoulder. She reached up to knot her fingers with his. Their bond was clear, and it ran a little differently to the bond I had with my mate. Not better, not stronger, just distinctly different—something my wolf told me, but that came to a halt when he disrupted any communication between my beast and me with his next words.
“The battle is important. Just as the hyena attack was. Sometimes, the end justifies the means.”
My nostrils flared at that. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”
Ethan
I heard their laughter and had to smile. Things had been a little darker than I’d liked of late, and my own mental state was to blame for that too.
The hyena attack had been brutal. More brutal than anything I’d seen in my time.
I’d killed before, I’d attacked before. I’d seen nasty deaths, handled shootings that had gone wrong, and I’d just dealt with it. All of it.
But that day was emblazoned onto my retinas with the fine detail of a laser printer. There was no escaping it. No getting away from it.
Just the memory was enough to make my grin disappear, until I heard her laugh again, and in that sweet, sweet laugh, there was salvation.
“Are you coming?”
Her soft voice made an appearance next in my psyche, and I sighed at the sound, grateful I’d taken a walk this afternoon, grateful it had taken me to the totem.
But then, she was a lighthouse on an island in the middle of a dark ocean. She’d always beckon me toward her, bringing me forth to be captured by her light.
I saw them next, naked and unashamed, and I crossed into the sacred circle, needing that. Needing to feel clean again.
I’d done nothing wrong.
I wouldn’t have hurt anyone without them hurting me first, but truthfully, the bloodshed was a recurring nightmare I couldn’t escape from.