Page 49 of Fated Alpha Baby

Clarissa giggles and blushes as she shakes Annika’s hand. “Thank you.”

I place my hands on Clarissa’s shoulders, and she turns her face to me.

“Annika is joining us for breakfast, Bug. But I see you’re done eating. Do you want to wash up and dress for the day in the meantime?”

“Sure, Mommy,” Clarissa says as she slips off the chair and looks up at Annika. “You are very pretty, too. I like your hair.”

Annika smiles and crouches in front of her, and while the two of them chat and Annika allows Clarissa to touch her hair, I prepare another plate. By the time I’m done, Clarissa has wandered off to get ready for the day, leaving Annika and me alone in the kitchen.

“So, what was this vision all about?” I ask when we’re both seated.

“I’m sure Conan told you about us. Sophie and me, I mean.”

I nod tersely. Conan and I have barely spoken about anything, always at each other’s throats instead of discussing the important things. But Dorothy told me more about what’s been going on in the valley for the past three years, so I’m not completely out of the loop.

“I know about you and Sophie,” I concede. “I’m just curious about your vision. I guess since you saw me, it’s why I feel like we’ve met before.”

Annika nods. “I suppose that makes sense. I knew I’d recognize you. I just didn’t know you were part of this pack before. But in my vision, I saw you leading the Iron Breath wolves to the demon portal. It was near an old sawmill tower.”

“Milford…?” I say thoughtfully. “Is that where the demons are entering from?”

Annika shrugs. “That’s what we suspect. But Conan spoke to Alpha William from the Blood Mill Pack. Currently, there haven’t been any strange sightings or anomalies in Milford. Unless the demons are doing well at hiding it. They have been adapting, getting stronger. Getting smarter.”

“Perhaps your vision foretells the future,” I suggest. “Maybe the portal is elsewhere, and the demons are planning on moving it to Milford. It would explain why we’ve been experiencing attacks up in Helena Valley.”

“That’s the theory we’re running on for now. The coven is still trying to interrogate Marcus Hale. If the demons were using humans and cut a deal with Hale, then they must have a leader. A mediator between both worlds. We just need to figure out who it is, so we can stop this before it gets out of hand. The last thing we need is for the threat to get out of control and bleed into the human world.”

I nod thoughtfully. “Humans don’t know about our existence. It needs to stay that way.”

Annika sighs. “I sure hope so. I have a sister out there, and I worry about her safety. I can only imagine how stressed you are. You have a daughter.”

Gulping hard, I take a sip of my orange juice, noticing the way Annika stares at me curiously.

“She’s not just a witch like you, is she?”

“What do you mean?” I frown.

“She’s a wolf, too. But not just any wolf,” Annika sets her fork down, shifting the mood in the room. “She’s an alpha’s child.”

“How do you know this?”

“I can smell it on her. I’ve been around Conan long enough. Does he know?”

“He just found out…” I grimace, and Annika nods.

“So, you two have history?”

I nod slowly, finding it easier than I expected to tell Annika the truth about what happened eight years ago.

“...I woke up the next morning to find a note on my fridge. He said he couldn’t go through with it—making me his luna. That his grandfather would never accept it because I was a shiftless omega. Next thing I knew, Elder Bernard barged in, blaming me for the missing gemstone and then banishing me from the pack. I had no reason to fight it. So I yielded my place in the pack, my home, and accepted being kicked out. When Sister Amalia found me, that’s when I learned I was pregnant with his child.”

Annika gasps, brows raised with surprise. “And he only found out about Clarissa once he found you in Augusta…”

“No,” I shake my head solemnly. “He found out about her only when we got here.” I continue to explain the potion I’d been using to keep Clarissa’s wolf hidden. “And if you figured out she was Conan’s child so easily, then it’s a good thing I’ve been using the potion to keep her hidden. It would have caused too many complications, anyway.”

“So, Conan found out accidentally?”

“Yes,” I sigh, hanging my head. “You can imagine how upset he was.”