Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,13
it over.”
I knew he’d called on outstanding favors and set the enforcers of other packs onto the case of finding her family, even though it went against my own wishes.
In my opinion, I should have been the one to go and find her people myself, and I guessed he saw my disapproval because he rumbled, “Now’s not the time to start arguing, Austin.”
I shrugged. “Not going to argue, nothing to argue about anymore. I just think it’s dumb as fuck that you’d send some stranger down there to contact someone who’s a member of our den when I could easily go visit—”
“I asked him not to,” Sabina said huskily, her face tipped toward the breakfast table.
Her statement had my brows arching. “Huh?”
She bit her lip, but kept her gaze almost defiantly focused on anything other than me. Which was fucking annoying, considering I was the one she should be looking at.
“Why?” I asked calmly, even though I wasn’t feeling calm.
“Because I have a bad feeling about what’s going to happen, and I didn’t want you anywhere but here.”
I stiffened at that. “You don’t trust me to keep my head attached to my shoulders?”
“Don’t take it like that, Austin,” Ethan rumbled, his tone sharper than usual, but nothing that I wasn’t accustomed to hearing.
“Don’t take it like what? Like a hit to the pride? That my mate doesn’t think I can run a simple errand without fucking shit up and getting myself killed?”
Her eyes flashed at that, and finally, she looked at me. “That’s just it,” she ground out. “It isn’t a simple errand.”
“Of course it is. Where your mom is concerned, I’d just go visit and talk to her, get an address or some info on your sister, that’s it, for fuck’s sake.”
Knight grumbled at that, his hands waving as he twisted around to glare at me.
Well, the little dude could glare at me all he fucking wanted. I was wicked pissed, and I wasn’t afraid to show it. For years, I’d had to hide my feelings, had to shelter them because no one gave a fuck. Now I had two brothers, a kid, and a mate. Someone in that tribe of four had to give a shit, otherwise what was the point of my being here?
“I’d say don’t be ridiculous, Austin, because you know what you mean to me. You’re the one who’s taking umbrage here, you’re the one who’s offended, but the truth is, I’m the one who should be. You’re taking this out of context—”
“Because I was never put into the context,” I ground out.
“Yeah, because she knew you’d react like a chump,” Eli said, his tone bored.
She scowled at him. “You aren’t making this easier, Eli,” she snapped. “There’s no need for that. I don’t think Austin is being a chump, and I kept it from him for the same reason I kept things from you—”
Eli’s mouth rounded at that. “Are you shitting me? You kept what from me?”
“Most of it,” Ethan said dryly.
“From everyone apart from you?”
“I had to ask him. He’s very knowledgeable, but even he didn’t have the answers I was seeking.” She rubbed her forehead, letting her fingers smooth up the center of her brow and over to the sides, where she massaged the temples slightly. “I didn’t want you to think I was crazy or that my word couldn’t be valued. If anything, that’s why I stayed quiet. Not because I don’t trust you. It’s because I don’t trust myself.”
Of course, because I loved her, because I’d fucking die for her, that had guilt settling into me so sharply that it was like I was being bashed in the head with it.
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek, fighting the urge to tell her I was sorry, but when she caught my eye, a rueful gleam in hers, I knew she heard my pathetic attempts at fighting the apology.
In a rush of breath, I exhaled, and muttered, “What’s going on, mate?”
“I wish I knew. But those dreams are more than just dreams. They’re a—” She shook her head, but her gaze had shifted from knowing to troubled. “The first time I had one, it was after the council attack. I thought it made sense for it to happen then. But when they started reocurring, it was clear it was more than just an aberration.
“I want to say they’re a portent, but I never had those talents before. Never had the sight. Could never read dreams or analyze them.