Page 60 of Shifting Fate
Arias
As the pack meeting came to an end, the tension in the air seemed to diffuse, taking the stench of stale nerves and anxiety with it.Thank god.Everyone got up to stretch their legs, and I could’ve sworn a collective sigh could be heard.
Merrick announced that Westwind would be hosting breakfast, if we wanted to stick around. Unfortunately, the eggs and sausage I’d eaten before the meeting had turned into a lump of cement in my stomach. I didn’t want to put anything else on top of it.
I found myself engaged in a conversation with Merrick, Espen and Tegan. Sometime during the night, a herd of deer-shifters had been ripped to shreds, leaving only two survivors among nearly a hundred. The Dreadhunters had descended in the pitch black night and razed their compound, destroying so many lives.
That compound was only a forty-mile drive west of here. Too close.
We were running out of time.
Espen began explaining the situation, what he’d pieced together from what few news articles there were, floating around on the web. Colby joined us without so much as a glance in my direction. He simply acted as if I didn’t exist, which was fair.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and glanced up in time to see our father stride out of the sitting room. The double doors clapped shut in his wake. I frowned, but knowing Dad’s tendency to get twitchy around people he didn’t know, I passed it off. Maybe he needed some fresh air. I knew I did.
“These shifters, the ones that made it out. Did they say anything about their herd being marked?” Tegan asked, absentmindedly touching his collarbone—or rather, the spot where his own Dreadhunter mark was burned into his skin.
My frown only deepened. This had to be terrifying for him, and for Ezra. Both of them had suffered at the hands of the Dreads. Tegan’s pack had been slaughtered when he was just a boy, and Ezra? He’d faced Liora herself.
It was hard enough of a pill to swallow, knowing our mother didn’t want us, but to see that hatred in her eyes? To feel her furious magic on my skin? I shuddered at the thought.
“It wasn’t mentioned, no,” Merrick said quietly. He looked at Tegan with compassion. “But Harper himself said that Liora’s magic was wild and erratic. There might not be a method to her madness anymore. She might simply be attacking just for the sake of it.”
“Speaking of Harper, have you seen him?” Rhine and Bastien strolled up behind the couch we were sitting on. Rhine scanned the room, then combed a hand through his sandy blond hair. “I wanted to offer him a ride back to the pack-house, but I can’t find him anywhere.”
For a split-second, the blood stilled in my veins. My head snapped up. Espen’s gaze met mine, an equally-concerned look on his face. He wrinkled his nose, like he could smell something rotten and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.
Dad.
“Shit, you don’t think—” I began, but Espen was already out of his seat, making tracks for the door. I cursed under my breath and sprinted after him. The sparks of molten magic in my soul stirred to life at the same time I felt my twin’s wintry chill. I caught his elbow. “Espen, wait.”
His blue eyes were sharp. “We don’t have time to wait. You know as well as I do that Father’s gone to stir shit. It’s what he does best.” His lip curled in a sneer. “Harper is an asset we can’t afford to lose, and I refuse to let him fuck this up.”
Ice nipped at my skin where my hand touched his arm, but I funneled warmth down my fingers to thaw him back out. I squeezed gently. “Breathe. Harper isn’t the kind of person to turn on us, no matter what Dad might say to him. Besides, he already knows.”
Espen’s eyes widened. “About Liora? About what he did?”
“I told him everything. How could I not? Think about it. His twin sister disappeared and he was left wondering what happened to her. Of course I told him. Wouldn’t you want to know, if it was me?”
He grimaced. “Damn it. I don’t like this. You know how he is.”
I did know. I knew better than anyone, what kind of furious temper our father possessed. I’d seen it many, many times, and I’d faced that wrath the one and only time I reached out to him with my mind.
All I’d wanted was answers. Why did he love Findlay and not us? What had we done so horribly wrong for him to treat us the way he did? The very moment my fledgling magic breached his mind, he’d attacked me. I was fourteen. Physically, I’d healed, but mentally? Emotionally? Let’s just say those scars never truly scabbed over.
I shook my head slowly. I wouldn’t put it past our father to corner Harper, but there was a little voice at the back of my mind reassuring me that everything would be alright.
“Just…trust me, okay?” Espen growled, but didn’t argue further. I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose. I sensed the light tingle of Harper’s magic coming from the west corridor. I nodded in that direction. “Follow me.”
There was a small alcove off to the left, at the very end of the hallway. A cozy reading nook with ornate wooden bookshelves built into the walls. Sunlight streamed in through the spacious bay window and over the cushioned window seat. I could easily picture Merrick tucked away back here with a cup of coffee and a good book, but Merrick wasn’t the one sitting there.
Harper was, and our father stood in the tapered doorway, blocking his escape with his fists clenched at his sides. The witch sat at a slight angle, so he wasn’t directly facing Dad and, therefore, minimizing the chance of aggression. His hands rested in his lap and his posture was pliant, though his tone was crisp and confident. It was clear he wouldn’t take any of Dad’s bullshit.
Espen gritted his teeth and started forwards, but I thrust my arm out in front of his chest to stop him. When his gaze snapped to mine, I mouthed the word,wait.
Because as they spoke, it wasn’t anger in our father’s voice.
It was sorrow.
