I stopped my father as he turned to leave. “Wait, what did you have to tell me?”
He fixed me in his gaze again. “Right, sorry, I don’t have much time, but I can’t have you blindsided, your wolf will lose it.”
Great, that sounded promising.
“Your mother has returned,” he finished in a rush.
I stared at him blankly, before a burning hot flood of lava started in my chest and blew upwards to my brain. By the time the fury reached my mouth I was ready to explode.
Shouts and curses fell from my lips. “How could you let her come back here? She abandoned us! I don’t want to see that bitch ever again!”
She was a wolf, so bitch was literal. Jonathon met my gaze and more of his wolf peeked out. I was alpha enough to challenge him, but I never would. Reluctantly – my emotions screaming for further release – I lowered my gaze.
His hand left my arm and cupped my chin, lifting my face to meet his eyes. He was giving me equal status with him in this fight. “I needed her to return. There is much you don’t understand, but she’s always your mother.”
I was shaking my head violently.
“I have to go, Jess.” He dropped a kiss on my cheek and took off for the hall.
My hands were trembling as my wolf fought for control. Just thinking that that woman was close by had me wanting to shift and run far away. I didn’t care what Dad said, I had no mother.
“What happened?” Braxton dropped one of his large hands on the bare skin between my shoulder blades. The contact was comforting and my trembles lessened. But I still couldn’t answer straight away.
“Lienda has returned,” Maximus said. Strike one for vampire hearing.
“Fuck,” Braxton growled. “What’s Jonathon thinking letting that bitch back into Stratford?”
You needed council permission to enter or leave our town. There were many protections weaved around Stratford and the surrounding forest, mainly to stop humans from entering, but also to prevent any supes from trying to break out their criminal brethren from the prison.
“He said he had to allow her in for a reason.” My choked voice was low and growly. “If she’s inside, I think I’m going to need some help – don’t let me kill her.”
Jacob ran a hand through his hair. “Damn, you ruin all of our fun, Jessa babe. We haven’t killed anyone for ages.”
I punched him once for being a douchebucket. The five of us were relatively non-violent, supernaturals almost never died around us. The occasional rabbit on the other hand … well, that was fair game.
“Come on…” Tyson’s voice was relaxed. “We need to find some seats, I feel something of a serious nature is going down tonight.”
Wizards found power in nature and from the gods. Tyson heard pieces of information from the universe while he was casting spells. Well, either that or he had an oracle stashed somewhere, because he often produced little gems of inside information.
We elbowed and shoved each other, striving to be in front and dominant. In the end, Braxton sent Tyson and Jacob sprawling, and with growling laughter rumbling his chest scooped me up over his shoulder and charged through the crowd into the massive town hall. Faces turned toward us but quickly looked away again. When Braxton dropped me, I wiped a hand over my heated forehead. It was hot in this room. I was already sweating.
Tyson appeared right behind us. “You’re a dick, you know that, right?” His jab landed cleanly on Braxton’s biceps; the dragon shifter barely moved. “You better sleep with one eye open tonight.”
“I sleep with both eyes wide open. No one gets the drop on me.” Braxton was cocky. He called it confident. It was a bit of both.
The five of us found seats in the center of the room. We were some of the few that broke race grouping and sat together. Seated in a higher dais before us were the council leaders. Besides my father who led the shifters, and Kristoff of the magic users, there was also Julianna Medow, a six-feet-tall and stunning red-haired vampire; Galiani of the Greenlands – male fey – with long silky yellow hair, feline features, and a graceful stride that made me feel like an elephant shifter instead of a wolf; and the demi-fey leader, Torag of the Eastland trolls. He was four feet tall and the same width. His skin resembled a newly formed tree, a smattering of skin and hard ‘bark’. His nose was long and thin above beady eyes. He was a good troll. I’d grown up with him; he was a long-time friend of my father and had spent a lot of time in my home.
Wiggling to get comfortable in the padded chair, I kept my eyes locked on the leaders. They seemed to be discussing something serious amongst themselves. Jonathon caught my gaze and gave me a warm smile, but there was unease in his rigid posture. Was this just about my mother’s return? Why would that be influencing any of the other council members’ behavior? Unless they all hated her too. Wouldn’t surprise me.