Page 18 of Shared With The Pack

My throat tightens. "I do. I want to stay, but..."

Ridge looks over at me, his eyes gentle but his face full of need. "Where were you going, Wren? What were you flying away from?"

"My family."

Once the truth is out, there's no taking it back. I tell them everything. About being ripped out of the academy and forced back home. My grandmother's cruelty. My mother's apathy. How little care and zero concern the rest of the family has for me. The illicit alliance with a vampire clan. The arranged marriage. The dark wedding they planned for me and how I ran away instead of walking down the aisle.

Heath puts his warm, furry head into my lap, and Griff isn't far behind him. He takes a knee in front of me and wipes away tears from my cheeks. I didn't realize I was crying.

"That's all over with, Wren. No fucking vampire will ever get his fangs in you and you ain't gotta worry about any Blackspell witches. You're part of the Darkwood pack now, you hear?"

I nod my head, breathing deeply and petting Heath's head while I look into Griff's eyes. That blue doesn't make me think of ice anymore. I think of water and all the hope it brings.

"And they ain't your only family. You know that, don't you? Somewhere in your family line is...something else."

I shake my head. I'm not sure what he's talking about. Ridge and Griff exchange a glance and nod to each other. With a thick swallow, Griff breaks a secret I never even realized I was hiding. "You got some wolf in you, Wren."

That must be what Heath meant when he said there was something wild in me. Is that why my family never loved me? Because part of me comes from a pack instead of another coven? Was my absent father a shifter, or was my mother ever really my mother at all? Dozens of questions swirl in my head, but ultimately I let them all go.

Because it doesn't matter.

There's no excuse for it. Nothing can justify what they've done to me. All those years of mistreatment and lying to me, some boys would be frothing at the mouth for revenge...not me.

"I don't want to go back there," I say, hugging my arms around myself and shaking my head. "I never want to see any of them ever again."

I'm earth through and through. Fire doesn't have much appeal to me. I want to heal. I want to live. Having my own happy life far away from my family is the best outcome. "I want to stay here. With all three of you. But I worry they'll come looking for me..."

"We won't let them take you. If anybody ever lays a hand on you again, they won't have hands anymore."

There's darkness in Griff's eyes. He really is water, capable of shifting from succor to storm in only a moment, but that's not what I want from him.

"I don't want to fight," I say, looking behind all three of them. My mates. My protectors. I don't want the woods to be a battleground. I want it to be our home. "And I don't want to run. I'd rather hide...and I know how to use magic to hide us all."

I pause, biting my lower lip.

Ridge reaches over, putting a hand on my arm. "What is it, darling?"

"I'll need help."

Heath lets out a sudden bark, signaling his willingness to do what needs to be done. I would never doubt that. Neither would I ever doubt Ridge and Griff, but it isn't their support I need.

"It isn't something any of you can help me with." I look between all three of them, but my gaze settles on Griff. This is a lot to ask, but there's no other way.

"Who can then?" Griff grunts.

"Sage."

We all stand upon that hill near the river, the sun all but gone over the horizon and the air turning chilly as night creeps up. With the moon slowly coming out, the power of Samhain grows. I feel it in my bones and on my breath. Magic is everywhere. In the sky and on the ground. Within every tree and fallen leaf.

Magic, both wild and tamed, is all around. I inhale and exhale it.

"This ain't gonna hurt her?" Griff clenches Sage's urn in both hands, holding it against his chest like a lifeline. He crafted that precious wooden resting place for her with his own hands. I imagine Griff used his loving hands to build the fire which cremated her as well.

"No, nothing can hurt her again. She's not here; her spirit is long gone. But you all loved Sage so much that her memory is still powerful...and there's magic in that."

Griff's mouth makes an unhappy shape. "Is this black magic?"

"No," I shake my head quickly. Black magic requires ill intent and sacrifices. But this won't be that. What I intend to do is abjuration. Protective barriers and magical wards. Besides potions, it's the only school of magic I've ever been any good at. "I'll use her ashes to cast a protection spell over the land. I wouldn't be able to do it on my own...but it's Samhain and with St. Salem's barrier down, I should be able to weave my spell under theirs before it goes back up."