Page 89 of The Alpha’s Heir

“Let me meet him!” The door swung open with a crash and my family piled into the small cabin, forcing Roman and I apart.

“This is the human?” Trish asked. “He’s bigger than I thought.” Her teal hair blocked the view of my mate. I couldn’t see her either once Jaxon’s large frame ducked into the cabin, forcing us further apart.

Then Mom’s arms were around me. “I’m sorry it took so long. We had to give everyone a ride.”

“Everyone?” I glanced over the top of Mom’s head.

Calla, the wolf witch from Amarock, sniffed as she stepped into our small family cabin. Her cloudy eyes glanced past me, to Roman, and I had the unreal urge to stop the seer from seeing him.

“Like I said.” Her gaze found mine again. “We’re already too late.”

“Too late for what?” I asked.

“Someone needs to explain what is going on.” Alpha Kera came inside next, forcing all of us deeper into the house.

It reminded me how crowded the cabin had been while my sisters and I were growing up. There was a reason we held family dinners outside now.

Mom squeezed my arm, leaving a wave of soothing magic she couldn’t help but give, and turned to Kera.

“I drove up to the archives in Amarock to get Trish,” she explained. “We didn’t have any more time to wait for them to find an answer. But I guess we’re still too late.”

Dad grumbled something about rushed mating. Mom patted his arm to soothe him.

Everyone in the room looked at me.

I shrugged. “Nature is unpredictable.”

They’re wolves. They understand.

Alpha Kera couldn’t even argue that since it’s what she’d always taught me. “So the wedding is off?” she asked.

“No.” Justus yawned. He looked so small compared to everyone in the cabin as he sat at the table with his chin propped on his hand. “We’re both getting married to Meg.”

“You’re what?” Dad growled.

“Don’t mind him.” I waved my hand in his direction. “He can’t handle his whisky.”

Mom nodded sympathetically. “Then what do we do now?”

“That’s why I was trying to—” My poor mate got cut off again as Trish pulled Calla into the middle of the room.

“She had a vision,” Trish said, glancing at me. “It’s not good.”

Calla and Trish held hands as the seer took a deep breath. Then her eyes turned white and her voice echoed. “The warrior goddess only buys time. The gods are already awake.”

“What does that mean?” Kera asked.

“For science’s sake,” Roman barked, causing all of us to look at him as his deep voice commanded attention. “This is what I’ve been trying to tell everyone from the beginning. The gods don’t play by human or shifter rules. They do what they want, when they want. And they don’t care about the sanctity of a human marriage. Hell, gods will be the first to knock up someone else’s wife. A sacrifice of the heart might appease one, but it wouldn’t work for all of them at once. The gods desire suffering and prayers and respect and adoration. They want to be alive and awake. The amount of sacrifice you’d need to make hundreds of them happy enough to give up the power of walking among us again would be on a scale so massive we’d never be able to do it ourselves. Morrigan has been lying to you.”

I felt his relief at finally being heard mix with my own at knowing I wasn’t crazy.

“She is lying,” I said. “I couldn’t figure out about what, but I know she is.”

Kera looked at me and nodded. As alphas, we could tell these things. “The question is, what do we do about it?”

“If what you say is true, and I’m not doubting you,” Mom hurried to add, “then how do we not anger the gods any more than they already are?”

Roman shrugged. “You pray to stay out of their path.”