Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,9

him,’ even though that was a technical impossibility, Maribel Yardley had been living with us, as well as her son. Seth.

Seth the freak.

I knew it was mean to call him that, but the little shit was weird as hell.

I’d never actually caught him doing this, but he was just the sort of sicko who’d pull off the wings of butterflies, or get an almost dead fly and place it under a magnifying glass, just so that he could watch the sun burn it.

Yeah, he was a serial killer in the making, and he was living with us in the packhouse… Who said leaders didn’t have it easy?

“He needs help,” Sabina repeated.

“What kind of help?” I retorted, like I’d been retorting ever since she’d started this conversation over breakfast.

“Someone like Lara.”

The words were measured, but I narrowed my eyes on her because they were too measured.

We’d been looking for her sisters for a while, ever since we’d found out that her brother, the fucker who’d transformed her by accident, was alpha type. When a wolf child—those who were born humans and were transformed by an alpha’s bite—was made, the resulting shifter was always weaker than one who was born.

It was natural selection. Made sense.

That was why Sabina and her brother, Cyrilo, made zero sense.

They were supposed to be weaker than us, they weren’t supposed to have the powers they had. Which meant her lineage was special for some reason. That meant her sister, Lara, was likely just as special as her siblings.

All we’d found thus far was that her other sister, Jana, had died in tragic circumstances at a lake near her parents’ caravan when she was sixteen. The authorities believed it was suicide. We’d also learned that her mother was alive, but her father had passed away.

We’d sent people around, trying to discern the whereabouts of Lara, the remaining sibling, but so far, no joy. I had a feeling the mother knew something she wasn’t willing to share, but what were we supposed to do?

Have our mother-in-law tortured?

“What can she do?” Ethan queried, warily. “What makes you think she could help?”

“She’s an empath. Maybe she’d be able to untangle whatever the hell is wrong with him. He certainly needs more help than a regular shrink could provide.” She shivered. “At least, I have to hope he isn’t un-fixable.”

“I’m just glad you admit he’s a freak.”

She sniffed. “There’s no avoiding that, is there? He even looks weird.” She pulled a face. “And I hate saying that, I really do. I was always picked on and bullied, so I’d never want him to think we were ostracizing him, but he’s just…” Her words waned, and she winced. “Well, he’s just Seth, isn’t he?”

“Adjective, adverb, and noun. All in one,” Ethan confirmed, but though he was teasing, there was no matching smirk. He spoke the truth, and nothing but the truth.

Broodingly, I tapped my chin. “You really think she’d be able to help?”

“I don’t see why not. I figure it’s funny how Cyrilo and I were both granted certain abilities…she must be the same, surely. Maybe what we always just thought was the Roma blood was something more. Something extra.”

I knew Sabina saw auras, and that helped her in her role as omega. From what Eli had told me about his mother’s powers—Merinda was the omega before Sabina—she’d never seen the pack’s energy in colors. Not like Sabina.

According to her, all three of her mates, and now Knight, were represented with bold hues in her mind.

As a whole, the pack was a blur of light, but when she focused on them, on the individual, she could pick up things from them that were related to her ability.

I was, I’d admit, curious about what her sister could bring to the table, not just for Seth, but for the pack as a whole if we brought her to the community and she stuck around to be near her sister.

“Need to double up efforts to find her,” I muttered to Ethan, who merely nodded as he picked up a piece of toast and began to gnaw on it.

“What are your plans for today?” I asked her brightly, deciding it was best to change the subject.

When we’d come downstairs and had found Seth making one of the maids cry, well, that had prompted a whole other kind of conversation to the one I wanted to have.

Seth was only nine, and he was nowhere close to being ready to shift. Daniel, on the other hand, the neighboring pack’s