We left Atlantis that very hour and didn’t look back. If Alpha Dayton, the man I used to think of as a father—albeit a horrible, evil father—had been found, Mateo and I both knew we needed to be back at the pack house to confront him.
After all, he and Royce had tried to murder every single Alpha there is! Including my mate. Justice was called for.
But what kind of justice, I wondered? From the murderous rage in Mateo’s black eyes, more wolf than man right now, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be pretty.
I took a deep breath and let Marissa’s black hair cascade down from my roots. My witch was taking over, so she could transport us back to Vistas territory.
We both went silent and allowed Marissa a moment to cast the spell that would transport us. I grabbed Mateo’s hand as our eyes locked.
And then I remembered. He still didn’t know.
I still hadn’t been able to tell him the truth. That only two days from now, he would forget me and, much like our honeymoon, our lives together would be cut short.
The thought alone made we want to collapse upon myself and cry hysterically. Mateo squeezed my hand.
“What is it, June?” Mateo asked, sensing my pain.
I started to open my mouth when the world around us began to shudder and break apart. Moments later, we were flung into a swirling void as time, space, and everything in between ceased to exist.
We emerged on the edge of the pack house, both coughing up water, choking, soaked to the bone.
Clearly, teleporting from beneath the sea wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Especially when I was an emotional wreck.
Mateo helped me to stand up. Looking at him, his hair slicked back, water droplets sliding down his rugged cheeks to his neck, his biceps bulging, I could almost forget for a moment why we’d come here. Goddess, was my mate gorgeous.
He seemed to be thinking the same thing because he licked his lips, eyeing my white T-shirt, now completely see-through.
“We should teleport more often,” he growled lightly.
I laughed, taking his hand and squeezing it tight. I was going to miss this beautiful man. Every bulging, dripping inch of him.
Mateo’s eyes flicked from me to the pack house and the darkness bled into those eyes again.
“Let’s go,” Mateo growled, his soft, warm tone giving way to a low, threatening sound—the kind nobody on Earth would want to hear.
Holding his hand as tight as I could, I walked with Mateo toward the pack house, where I knew Royce and Dayton waited within. I braced myself for the worst.
It was time to look evil in the eye.
Starlet.
Marissa.
Juniper.
Three beings, all powerful, wrapped up into one. A force to be reckoned with. The ancestor of Odessa who banished the witch back to the Land of Lost Souls and saved every Alpha in the world.
The question was: could I save Mateo from himself?
“WHERE IS HE?!?!” I bellowed, kicking open the front door of the pack house and stalking inside, my eyes seeing red.
Juniper was right behind me. I hated losing my temper in front of her, but I couldn’t help myself. Knowing that Dayton and Royce were under my roof right now made me insane with rage.
Max ran up, hands full of foreign-looking books. My lieutenant had been spending a lot of time with Mama Deo lately. I didn’t know why.
I didn’t have time to question him. I needed my Beta right now.
“ORION!!!!!!!” I shouted.
A moment later, he flew up the stairs to greet me, looking pale. “They’re in the dungeon, Alpha,” he said. “But Domitius insists you talk to him first.”
Domitius? The vampire? What could he possibly want?
As if reading my mind, Orion gave me a small smile. “He and Anastasia are to thank for finding them. Your secret spies.”
I’d been so distracted, I hadn’t given those two hunting Dayton down a second thought. My heart swelled with gratitude, knowing that they had succeeded. Two of my most trusted friends and maybe the best of the whole vampire and witch species.
“Where’s Domitius?” I asked. If he insisted we speak first, I would wait to kill Dayton. For now.
“Follow me,” Orion said, then with a nod to Juniper. “My Luna.”
I turned to her, ready to explain why I needed to be alone, but she was ahead of me. “Go, Mateo,” she said. “I’ll be alright.”
Goddess, did I love this woman.
I kissed her quickly, then followed Orion toward our meeting room. I was looking forward to some answers right now.
I was grateful that Orion had intercepted Mateo in time. Who knows what he would have done to Dayton if he’d been allowed to burst into the dungeons in that state.
I was about to head toward our bedroom to change my wet clothes when a familiar, unpleasant voice reached out to me from nearby.
I had never liked my mother much. She had always done exactly what Dayton ordered, barely even flinching when he put a bullet through my grandfather’s head.
When I’d confronted her before the Red Moon about her affair, asking her who my real father was, she had appeared slightly more human. But she was still so cold. So numb. As if under a spell.
It was sometimes hard to believe that I was related to the former Luna of the Litmus Pack. But here she was, calling me down to the dungeon, where she had been held ever since the night of the Red Moon.
I’d visited her once to make sure the cell wasn’t too unpleasant. To Mateo’s credit, he had given her the nicest cell they had. With a proper bed and toilet.
She was being treated like a proper lady. Even if she was a prisoner.
But when I stepped downstairs into the dungeons, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Her cell door was wide open! And she was standing beside Balthazar, speaking in hushed tones…
“What’s going on?!” I shouted, stalking toward them. “What is she doing out of her cell?”
“Juniper,” Balthazar said, taking a deep breath. “There’s so much we need to tell you. If you’d just–”
“My wretched daughter arrives at last!” a voice called out from the shadows. “Did you bring the mutt along with you?”
I looked past my mother and Balthazar. At the very end of the hall, in the darkest dreariest dungeon there was, stood Alpha Dayton. With a new bloody scar from his ear to his neck.
In the cell beside him lay what looked like Royce, the boy I’d once considered a friend. He seemed a shadow of his former self now. In the fetal position, not speaking a word.
But Dayton was making up for Royce’s silence, mocking and beckoning for me to come nearer.
“Tell me, does your mate know what’s coming?” he asked. “None of your spells could stop Odessa in the end, could they?”
So he knew. He laughed maniacally.
I felt my hands curling into fists as rage coursed through me, making me want to use all the black magic in the world on the wretched man in that cell.
“ENOUGH!” Balthazar shouted, throwing a hand up, sending Dayton flying against the wall. His lips suddenly glued together, trapping his words.
“Not another word out of you, silver tongue,” Balthazar spat.
I was grateful for my old mentor’s presence. But I still needed to know what the hell was going on.
“What is all this about?” I asked, nodding toward my mother, free of her shackles.
“There’s so much you don’t know, June,” my mother said, surprising me. “So much I wish I could’ve told you sooner.”
Her voice was so warm now, her eyes so full of life...it was hard to believe I was looking at the same woman. Was this really my mother before me?
“First,” Balthazar said, “allow me to introduce you to the man who helped catch Dayton and Royce. He led Domitius directly to them.”
I frowned as a man came around the corner. A tall, lean young man with flowing blonde hair and eyes the color of the ocean.
“This is Mark,” my mother said. “Mark Evigan. Your brother.”
My what?
My mouth dropped an inch as I stared in disbelief at the man smiling in my direction. It was a kind, familiar smile. Almost like looking in a mirror or old family photographs.
“It’s good to finally meet you, sister,” he said. “I always knew we wouldn’t look alike.”
“How…” I stammered. “Where...what’s going on?!”
Balthazar nodded to Dayton in the faraway cell, lips still sealed. “You know that Dayton is not your real father. That he tried to have you killed from the day you were born.”
I nodded and Balthazar continued.
“Mark was his true heir, his son. But, because his mother wasn’t Gail, I had to hide him away. The spelled version of Gail that Odessa had created, the cruel uncaring woman, she would have wanted Mark dead. When the day came that Dayton no longer had any power and Gail was herself again...only then could Mark emerge. A day like today.”
“There’s more,” my mother said. “You may have wondered, all these years, why I never fought for you, Juniper. I wanted to. I was screaming inside my own body. You have to believe me. But—”
She stopped, choking up, looking ashamed. That’s when it clicked.
Dayton and Odessa had kept my mother trapped in an obedient zombie-like state. All these years, it wasn’t really her.
Now that the curse was broken, I was looking at my real mother for the first time. It was too much to take in all at once.
I took a step back. Then another.
“I feared this might happen,” Balthazar said, taking my mother’s hand. “I feared this would be too much for her, my love.”
It was then I saw the look in Balthazar’s eyes as he stared at my mother. The affection, the care. The way Mateo looked at me.
It hit me.
My mother had said she’d loved a great wizard years ago. But could it really be true?
“June,” he said, taking my hand, my mind still scrambling for meaning. “That is why I walked you down the aisle. Why I helped you unleash your magic. You’ve always been my blood. Juniper. You’re my daughter.”
I stared, unable to say a word, my world spinning around me.
Could I really have found my true family at last?
