Page 30 of Killian
Yours faithfully,
Albert DeSandre.”
There was silence, and Moira tried to wrap her head around what she had just heard. Werewolves were necessary for the survival of the species. Shit. How much trouble were wolves in? How could she have forgotten that? Not only was she her grandfather’s heir, but she was also out here trying to save wolf-kind? Who would trust her with that? How could she possibly be qualified? Moira tried to calm herself. She and Killian had made it this far. The letter was right and proper—even sour-faced Augusta had agreed. All they had to do was get the elves to give them their memories back, get whatever special spell-book there was, and they could go home. And then she would yell at her grandfather. Moira took a deep breath. She could do this.Memory, magic book, home. One step at a time.
“Well,” said Augusta after a moment, “I think we can safely say that the answer is no.”
“What?” gasped Moira.
“The wolves had a chance to retrieve the information when the Fae left Earth,” said Augusta. “They did not. Obviously, they are very careless with records and cannot be trusted with important documents, and I find their judgment regarding humans to be suspect. Those records are now part of the library collection, and they will remain that way.”
Episode 13
An Evening In
Moira
Moira felt like a fritzing robot. She kept pacing back and forth across their one-bedroom guest bungalow. Her bare feet rubbing along the carpeting even managed to gin up little bursts of static electricity. The little house wasn’t a jail cell because there were no bars, but she couldn’t ignore that there were just guards outside.
The Head Librarian had shut down all of her arguments and with the same damn argument—the records belonged to the library and they wouldn’t be shared. Never mind that the entire point of a library was toshareinformation. Moira had to admit that while she was annoyed at the Librarian her real concerns were more personal.
Killian was sitting on the bed, being quiet. Not just keeping his mouth shut but quiet like she couldn’t tell what he was feeling or thinking. That was making her almost as fritzy as the contents of her grandfather’s letter. She kept trying to find something to say to Killian so that he would be forced into talking, but everything she’d thought of sounded… stupid.
Large windows faced out toward the lake where the sun was setting, but the shadows were oddly omnidirectional, and she couldn’t tell what direction the sun was. She then realized that there was no sun. The light was fading as the pillar crystals darkened. On the lake, twinkling little lights ignited as boats slowly paddled home.
Killian reached out and turned down the lamp next to the bed, casting the room into semi-darkness.
“Rafe?” asked Moira, looking at her uncle’s back as he stared out intothe evergreen forest that was quickly fading to inky black.
“When I was a pup, that line of trees continued as far as the eye could see.” He glanced over his shoulder, and Moira saw the similarity to her grandfather in his profile.
“Are you and Azure going to move back here?” Moira hesitated and then decided to tell the truth. “A lot of the pack want to know.”
“They’re worried, aren’t they?” he asked.
“Some. They’re all glad to see you back, but there’s some worry too.”
They said that Rafe had been a wild one. Disruptive. Non-traditional. A rebel all the way through. And they remembered that he had pushed the pack in ways they couldn’t move.
Rafe nodded.
“And they asked you to talk to me?” Once again, he looked over his shoulder at her, and his sly expression was so much like her grandfather’s that she snorted in irritation. Grandpa was always up to something. She didn’t need two of them. No wonder the pack was concerned.
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Tell them not to worry,” he said, grinning. “I like visiting. I’ve missed everyone, but I don’t fit here anymore.”
“You could fit if you stayed. You’re an alpha, just like Grandpa. Some people would be relieved because…” She trailed off, not wanting to say that everyone knew Albert was getting up there. He was still strong, but there was a difference between strong andstillstrong. His son was the natural heir. And maybe Rafe had mellowed.
“Nah, kiddo. I’m too much like Dad and not enough, and that’s the truth. But they’ll get a good alpha when the time comes. No need for them to worry.”
Moira breathed out in shock. “Azure has seen that?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Relieved? Sad? And who was this alpha? Moira was irritated that she hadn’t spotted who it was already.
Rafe laughed. “Yeah, kiddo, I’ve seen it too. Don’t worry. When the time comes, we’ll be here when you need us.”
The memory faded, and Moira was left feeling stupid. Her bastard uncle had totally known. He’d known Grandpa would pick her, and he hadn’t said a word. She wished someone had said something. She wasn’t prepared. Where was the manual forbeing an alpha? Alpha’s got special powers. How did that work? People followed alphas naturally. She didn’t have that, did she?
“So. Werewolves,” said Moira. “That really seems like something we should have remembered?”
