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“It worked. That’s good. But how did it feel? Can you shift into your wolf?” Madden asked as Kalani grabbed the spare clothes she left here and redressed.
Once fully clothed, the three of us took our previous seats, Madden sliding closer to me on the couch.
“It feels different. Usually, when I shift into my wolf, I have full control. But now, it feels as if I’m working with someone else. I didn’t choose to shift when I did, it was as if I had to.” Kalani whispered, clearly affected by the change.
“I felt it too. Even when I was speaking with you, there was something else there. Something that was listening to me.”
Madden took us both in, mulling over our statements before speaking again.
“We don’t know what you are. It’s as simple as that. What we do know is that you’re not a creature from the human realm. Which means it’s from Agrum Di Vinum. And it very well may mean that this new creature has its own mind. Connected to yours.”
Kalani gulped, fear taking over her excitement from the shift, and I moved towards her, squeezing her hand, letting her know I was there. I would always be there.
“How do we figure out what the creature is? That would help.” I asked but it seemed no one had the answers to any of the questions we asked.
“We research. Find the oldest books on Shifters and figure out if the creature was on Agrum Di Vinum. Until then, I’ll tell Josephine you can’t shift due to injuries sustained during the attack.” Madden stated and Kalani sighed, obviously not happy with the lack of answers, but for now it was the best we had.
It seemed the lack of answers was a common theme currently and I couldn’t deny that I hated every second of it. My whole life was one big mystery, question after question, and I thought coming to Willow Grove would finally give me some closure. Unfortunately, it seemed the problems were only piling on, brick by brick. I just hoped we wouldn’t crumble beneath the pressure.
Chapter Nineteen
Halley
The next few weeks passed by in a blur. Classes resumed to normal and yet not a single student did the same. Grief and fear blanketed Willow Grove, infecting everyone. It felt as though everyone was simply going through the motions, their minds somewhere far off. And some students even left, their parents refusing to allow them to stay once the news spread that some students would be chosen to fight against the Hunters yet again. Personally, I didn’t blame then. Although I now had a reason to stay, several actually, running far away sounded better each and every day. But I had done enough running. As I learned more about Mom’s past, I wondered if things could have been different if we had stayed and fought. If she would still be here today. I’d never know, but I was going to find out what happened when I fought back.
“What did youseelast night Knox?” Eli asked and I tuned back into the table.
My table once filled with only one person was now full. Kalani sat across from me, her usual spot, Maeve on her right. The two sat close together, their relationship continuing to grow stronger each day. Knox sat on her left, his perpetual serious expression present. I often wondered if that’s how Knox and Eli were able to be so close. They were yin and yang, the bright and the somber, two sides of a coin working together.
Madden and Eli sat on both my sides, sitting as close as possible. Although no actual conversation had been had about my relationship with both men, I’m sure it was obvious to everyone. Not only the nearness, but the looks of heat were a dead giveaway. Thankfully, neither man seemed to mind the other, except for the occasional glare here and there. Although, that was often Madden’s default expression. I knew the conversation would come at some point, but for now, I was happy between the two men, safety encompassing me.
“It’s hard with the visions of Lenora, since I have no control over them. I get taken wherever my power wants to go.” Knox responded and I thought about yesterday’s session with him.
My tutoring sessions were still in full affect, and we took advantage of the privacy to do more digging. Each session with Knox, I would pull up a memory of Mom for Knox toseeinto and then he would get another vision of her past. So far, we hadn’t learned much more. We knew that I was born not much longer after my grandfather found the prophecy and that Mom had taken off with me after the first wave of Enchanter deaths hit the news. Other than that, it felt like trying to find a needle in a haystack, dead end after dead end.
As for my sessions with Eli, those continued similar to before the Hunter’s attack. We both practiced improving on our powers. Eli was currently working on expanding his power to make someone feel something so strongly, he could impact their actions. I continued working on offensive enchantments. I was pretty sure I had my entire book memorized by now. Unfortunately, neither of us were making much headway. Eli said he was struggling with control on his power, only accessing it several months ago, and it seemed my power only surged when my emotions were out of control. I knew that anger created the shadows, but according to Eli, before Kalani’s death, I was glowing. Neither of those had happened again and therefore neither did an increase in my power. However, I had an idea that part of the reason we weren’t making much headway was because of the distractions we gave into during our time together. Whenever we were alone, we both seemed to lose our minds, wanting to get lost in each other. I didn’t mind at all.
That distraction seemed to be similar in my sessions with Madden as well. Half our sessions often involved our naked bodies and Madden fucking me on whatever surface he deemed worthy that day. I didn’t think I’d had this many orgasms in my entire life. The other half of our sessions were our noses stuffed inside books, trying to search for some answers on what the creature inhabiting Kalani was. So far, we had no luck. Most books seemed to detail the history of Divines on the human realm and the ones from Agrum Di Vinum were so vague they didn’t give us even a hint. I desperately wished for a book similar to mine, but it seemed that one was not from Willow Grove.
As for my sessions with Wilder, those hadn’t changed much either. I thought maybe he would have warmed up to me after everything, we both did save each other’s lives. However, it seemed to be the opposite, the anger coming off him in waves whenever we met up. I had no clue what was going on with him, but I was always happy when the hour ended. I knew Gunther was making Wilder show up or else I’m sure he would have ditched them altogether.
“We didn’t learn much more. It was another vision of Lenora and her father, discussing plans for taking Halley away once she was born. So far, I’ve only seen the two of them in the visions, no one else.” Knox continued and my stomach twisted.
Knox hadn’t outright said it, but I knew he was also searching the past for who my father was. If my mother had all this knowledge, there was a chance he did as well. Unfortunately, he hadn’t made an appearance in any of the visions. I wondered if my father was an Enchanter as well, knowing it was common for a child to have their parents’ powers. If that was the case, more than likely, he was dead as well. I wasn’t sure which hurt more, the idea that both my parents were dead or that I had a father out there who apparently had no interest in being a part of my life, or else he would have gone with Mom when she left.
“And what about you guys? Have you learned anything about Kalani?” Maeve asked in a whisper, squeezing Kalani’s hand in comfort.
I didn’t know what kind of pull Madden had as the Alpha, but Kalani had been allowed to sit out of Shifter class for the past few weeks. Which meant, the secret of her new creature was still that - a secret. However, I worried our time was running out. She couldn’t not shift for the rest of her life; questions would start to arise.
“No luck. We’ll keep looking.” Madden responded before going back to his ginormous pile of food.
Both my friends sighed, and I couldn’t help but feel bad we weren’t having more success. I knew this was affecting Kalani more than she let on, but it wasn’t like we could go to a professor and tell them about the situation. We already knew that the Council was corrupt, and we didn’t know which professors were in on it. The less information that got outside of our little group, the better.
“Maybe we can go look –“ Kalani began but was interrupted by a loud bang.
Turning towards the entrance to the cafeteria, my eyes widened as Wilder barged into the room, his eyes frantic as they landed on me. I was used to the anger rolling off him, but even then, the man was always well put together. Right now, though, I didn’t recognize the man flashing towards us. His white hair was disheveled, dark rings matching his eyes prominent against his pale skin, and his entire body looked exhausted and gaunt. Suddenly, Wilder was standing right in front of me, looking more out of control than I’d ever seen him.
“Wilder? What’s wrong? Did something happen?” I asked, because I had no idea what could transform him so excessively.
