I laughed. “Since when has it ever been the job of the Gamma to protect the Alpha of the pack? His entire life is dedicated to a Luna who isn’t here.” I watched their reactions. Beck’s face darkened with rage but stayed blank. But her face, her face tightened when I brought up the Luna. “And who are you to step in when I am questioning the Gamma?” I narrowed my eyes and stared the woman down. She looked oddly familiar.
“My name is Amara.” She straightened her shoulders. “Beck is my mate.”
“Beck’s mate…you never mentioned a mate, Beck.” I turned my head to Beck, who just nodded. I tilted my head. “Amara, you aren’t questioning why I get to question the Gamma or his mate…which means you know who I am.”
“You are the Alpha’s daughter.” But her answer was too quick.
Something wasn’t right. But it was her name that was bouncing around in my mind. Amara…Amara…where have I seen that name before? I turned back to look at her and the familiarity hit me again. I drew in a breath as the doctor got back to work and, over the scent of my blood and antiseptic, their scents hit me. She was a rogue.
I looked at my father, who was silently staring at the trio, but then something odd happened.
I heard a whisper in my ear.
“Clear your mind, girl. Take in a deeper breath. Use the power gifted to you by the Goddess.” My grandmother’s voice came to me, as did the feeling of her hand on my shoulder. She was guiding me to figure out something I was missing.
Chapter Forty-Three
I
closed my eyes and cleared my mind of everything, pain disappeared into the background, I could feel the doctor still working, the burn of the wolfsbane was still there, and I could hear everything around me, but the room faded away.
I drew in deeper breaths, clearing my nose of my blood and antiseptic and focusing solely on the people in front of me. I pushed my father’s scent to the side and Becks. I narrowed in on the two women.
The older women smelled ancient, powerful, and very cunning, using power to keep herself alive, dark power. But the younger wolf she was something else. She smelled as familiar as she looked. Nix and Megan sifted through the scents in the roomwith me. But it was Megan who found the answer.She smells like Aurora. They both do.
My eyes snapped open, and I stared at the two women in front of me. The older woman had the same eyes as the the one beside her, older sure, but the shape and color was exactly the same. But Amara, Amara had dark hair, yet she had the same eyes and nose as Aurora. They could have been twins.
They were. I remember going through Aurora’s paperwork in my mother’s office, and I remember she had a sister Amara listed. But anytime I wanted to remember the fact that Aurora had a sister, something was making my mind turn away from the fact. Like there was something that wanted me to forget it. My eyes settled on the older woman and I felt the squeeze on my shoulder.
Same eyes.
This woman was their grandmother.
Nix let out a growl, and Megan howled. What’s wrong? I called to them. But then I felt it, something biting along my insides. My eyes met the older woman, and I saw her eyes widen.
“It’s the cleaving.” My grandmother’s words came to me and my mind flashed to the page in the book with the spell. It’s a spell to sever the ties between human and wolf. The human feels nothing until her wolf is dead, and it is already too late. “Remember the counterspell.” Her soft voice called to me. “Before it’s too late.”
Nix and Megan both howled in pain as I tried to remember what it was. A page flashed in my mind and I opened my eyes to stare the old woman down. “Alta nim for cle de nagh.” The biting stopped in my mind and my wolves settled. But the woman paled. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
“I.” She stumbled back, but I slammed my power and aura out, causing everyone in the room to drop to their knees.
“Amy?” My father turned to me, as he was the only one left upright on his knees, then the rest were on the ground. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll ask again…did you think I wouldn’t notice?” I felt the lupine solution take enough of the wolfbane out of my system enough that I could heal, so I told Nix to heal me slowly as I stood. I walked closer to the three people by the door. The old woman turned paler as she watched as my wounds slowly healed.
“How?” Her jowls bobbed as she swallowed.
“How?” Amara and Beck asked at the same time. I saw Amara and Beck scenting the air, and the wolfsbane was still in the air, still in my blood.
“How are you still healing yourself?” Beck tried to stand, but I pounded my aura into him and his wolf whimpered.
I knelt in front of them all and pulled back my power enough so that they could sit back on their heels. “How am I healing myself because I have wolfsbane in my blood? Or how am I still healing myself when Amara’s grandmother was trying to cleave my wolf from me and kill it?”
My father rose to his feet with a snarl. “You tried the cleaving on my daughter?”
Beck’s eyes widened. “You knew?”
“Oh Beck, I’m surprised by you.” I smiled over at him. “If you want to stage a coup. Then you need to know the strength of all of your opponents.”
