Chapter Two Hundred Ninety
PAUL
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By the time Anastacia was finishing her story, all six of us were seated around her like children listening to the village shaman recite
stories. I’m on the couch next to her, Rainier is on the armchair near the double doors, Timmons is perched on the edge of the coffee table, Koda leans against the far wall next to the engine room hall, and Gryffin and Cane are seated along the bar. Oh yeah… and Jarl is literally swimming with the fishes.
In fact, being a wolf, I can literally hear him begging for mercy as he splashes around about half a mile away from the yacht.
Every pair of eyes and ears (aside from Jarl’s) are tuned into Anastacia and – to my ultimate delight – she is mainly focused on me. Her dainty little legs are curled in beneath her and my legs are wide open as I lean back in my seat, the bottom of one thigh happily resting atop her feet.
“So the shadow hounds feed on magical beings. Mystics,” Cane contemplates, his blue eyes darkening thoughtfully. “So this Draco must know more than you assume he does. Because he literally waited for your grandmother to die so that her powers would fall onto you.”
Anastacia’s brow furrows. “I–I don’t know. That never actually occurred to me.”
“Seems fair to assume that her death is what spurned him into revealing his pack.”
“Hmm. I guess so. Or he revealed them because I tried to leave.”
“Nah,” Cane says almost dismissively, snacking on a few grapes that he plucked from the fruit bowl on the counter. “He wants to suck out the most power he can from every Mystic he consumes. For whatever reason, he needs you Mystics to keep himself young, right? I’m willing to bet he’s been watching your family line for a while. He saw a chance in you, and he took it. He might even be planning to breed you, make another of you, then kill you, suck on her magic-”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Cane!” Gryffin snaps. “Easy.”
Koda snickers silently and Timmons flashes a wolfish grin.
Cane sighs, “What? It’s what I would do, if I were a nasty little scraggly mutt intent on living forever. Eliminate the hunt by controlling the source. It’s what humans have done for centuries.” Cane simply shrugs and continues snacking on his grapes.
“No will be breeding her except for me!” I growl, my muscles tensing. Except for me? Fucking really? Holy shit. I think my face is red. Like full on firetruck red. “I mean I-”
The words die on my lips when I feel Anastacia’s delicate little feet slide further beneath my thighs to stroke the bottom of my nutsack. My tongue flails, and I mean I damn near swallow it, but a fire heats my balls and drives molten heat straight up my shaft halting all movement in me for the foreseeable future. My eyes lock on hers and the sight of her biting her lip sends my blood pumping with a furious roar.
Little demon, little demon, what have you done?
She smiles at me innocently. “Go on. You were saying?”
Clenching my ass cheeks tightly, I covertly stroke myself over her foot, sucking my lips into my mouth to swallow back a groan. Luckily, no one else seems to notice the moment that passes between us and I’m left with nothing but a smirk on my face when I shake my head.
“Forget all that shadow hound shit for a moment,” Rainier begins, drawing Anastacia’s eyes away from mine. “I want to know more about this mysterious smoke you say you saw. Just to be sure I’ve got it straight, you’re saying that the moment you stepped on deck, we all disappeared and you were surrounded by fire? What was that? Like, some type of vision you were having, or what?”
Anastacia lowers her chin, her buoyant curls falling all around her face like a beaded curtain. “Yes. It was a vision. My Gran used to get
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Chapter Two Hundred Ninety
them a lot when she would confe in contact with certain people, places or things. Strong spirits can leave an emotional signature on objects. In places. Heartfelt events can do the same. So can tragedies. My Gran was one of the best seers… She didn’t leave the house much in the last years of her life, but every now and then certain locals would come through for a visit, bearing something of a loved one’s or an enemy’s that they wanted her to connect with and-”
“Wait a minute!” Gryffin interrupts. “Are you telling us that you can do that too? Like… see things? Connect with things?”
She nods, and like a current in on the ocean, every single back in the room straightens almost in a rush.
She can see things? Things from the past? Holy shit.
We all have questions we’ve needed answers to for a long time. All of us do.
Domonic will definitely want to hear about this.
Fuck. So will Draven.
“That’s a pretty fucking powerful gift,” Timmons comments, meeting my gaze.
Anastacia sighs, curling in a little closer to me when she tilts her head up to ask, “Who was Lily Mariela?”
A quiet falls over the room and aside from the heavy beating of my heart, all I hear is the yacht’s engine thrumming. For a moment, it’s as if no one wants to answer her, but of course, I do. “She was our Luna. Our Alpha’s mother.”
Anastacia sucks in a sharp breath then snaps her eyes shut so tightly she looks as if she’s in pain. Tears leak from her closed eyelids and the rest of us share a look. “She died in smoke and flames, didn’t she?”
None of speaks, but our non answer seems to be all that she needs for confirmation. With a solemn nod, she dries her tears and releases a shuddering breath.
“We should take her to the ruins,” Rainier says suddenly and anger flares right up my spine.
“No!” I snap, with shake of my head.
“What do you mean, no?” Rainier spits.
“Didn’t you see what happened to her a few minutes ago?” I growl. “She couldn’t fucking breathe, Rain. I thought she was suffocating. No!”
“It’s not up to you, brother,” Rainier snarls through clenched teeth.
My fangs flash, and lurch to my feet. “Want to bet?”
“She could be the one who tells us what went wrong that night! She could see it all!” Rainier snaps, his tone pleading.
“Oh? Yeah? Okay. Fine then. But while she’s out there, I get to put Felix in a smokehouse and suck all the goddamn oxygen out of it until she’s crisping up like a slab of bacon.”
“What the fuck did you say?” Rainier grumbles, snapping to his feet to shove me in the chest.
With a humorless smile, my fangs lash out and I remove my shirt. Anger is raging inside of me and I can feel a shift coming on. “You heard me asshole. If my girl has to choke on flames, then so does yours
“Your girl?” Rainier snaps. “Since when? I seem to remember you saying that you’d never even fuck a witch, let alone…
I don’t hear another word, and I suppose no one else does either, because the very next thing I know, I’m barreling into him with the full
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Chapter Two Hundred Ninety
weight of my wolf and the two of us are crashing through the double doors in a flurry of shattered glass and snapping jaws.
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