“I think you’re right. There are still a lot of pieces missing from our puzzle. But we can focus on the pentagram and the elements that are powering it. We need to know how to blow out the flame and get rid of the plants making the pentagram and I’m sure it’s not as easy as throwing some dirt on the fire to snuff it out and dig up the plants.”
“You’re probably right. Let’s see if Mateo and Jena have surfaced and then fill everyone in. Someone might have an idea of what to do before we bother Gentry.” Sierra says, and I feel a little better having some knowledge even if we don’t have anything to put into action yet. We talk a little more about the plants and what they look like so everyone in the room is aware and on the lookout for them, because Sierra is convinced there are probably protection spells around the patches of plants to keep people from accidentally destroying them and harming the spell when Lil walks in.
“Hey, I heard there’s a team meeting. What did you find out?”
“Who told you there was a team meeting?” Nathaniel asked, laughing. “The three of us are here, Wyatt is running, and Jena is practicing procreation.” The three of us laugh at his joke. He doesn’t talk a lot and jokes really aren’t his thing, but when he does it’s usually hilarious and at the expense of one of us and he will never let us live it down. Everyone else in the room looks at us like we are stupid, but we don’t care. We passed a lot of boring, uncomfortable nights like this.
“If you must know, Lenny told me Sierra came into the school raving like a banshee, and it was important.”
I let Nathaniel fill her in on the Cliff’s notes version of the details.
“Instead of killing the flame and all of that stuff, which sound like a sh*t ton of work to me. Can we repurpose the thing into something that could protect the pack? Has anyone asked Elena or Gentry about that?”
We all just stare at her. It didn’t even cross my mind to make the thing work in our favor. That was one of the first things Elena taught me. Magic isn’t good or bad, it’s the caster and the intention behind the magic that is good or bad.
“You are brilliant! I could kiss you! We absolutely read something about harnessing power used against us for our own purposes, but it looked complicated as hell.” Oliver looks from me to her with his full blown, panty dropping smile and eyes brighter than I have ever seen them before.
“Well, if I get the same reaction Sky did, I’m all in, cause we can’t feel a thing. Bring it on ‘Big Guy.” She uses my nickname for him, sticks her arms out and puckers up. I don’t find that it makes me jealous though, like I have been when other girls throw themselves at him. I am actually comforted that all of my friends seem to be really getting along and gelling together.
He scoops her into a hug and they are both laughing as he gives her a kiss on the cheek. “We have to talk to Elena tonight. She is going to be the make or break if we can do any of this.” He says setting her down.
“Problem is, I don’t know if we will get a chance to talk about it tonight. Mom wants to see us all and we really need to be there for her. I don’t know how she is dealing with losing her mate, she hasn’t really spoken to anyone but Brett and Lenny.” Dakota sighs.
My stomach drops, I have to tell the twins that it was me. They need to know what happened to their dad and that he chose to go his own way. Then I feel irritated with myself because I still care how they feel. If I am being honest I never stopped. Even if they were under a spell, they didn’t or couldn’t fight hard enough to just choose me when their backs were against the wall and this is what hurts the most. Oliver will always choose me, I never have any doubts. Even Sam was able to side with me at that moment. If they are supposed to be my mates, like their parents think, shouldn’t that connection or pull or whatever be enough to override anything? Shouldn’t I have zero doubts in them? Ugh! I really don’t like all of these emotions.
“Well, we celebrate the passing of the Alpha tomorrow, then we celebrate my ascension into adulthood the next day.” Sam beats his chest and just like that my negative thoughts vanish into other problems for other days.
We all contribute thoughts to a notebook that Nathaniel has, with every question we could all come up with for Elena and hopefully Gentry, whenever we get the chance to ask. Once we are done we decide we need to have as much information as we can for the witches to work with. We divided up the task of documenting the plants that make up the pentagram tips making sure to note anything unusual along the way. As we are leaving, Mateo and Jena walk down the stairs. I can’t read her face, but my brother’s tells me I have a new sister and I could not be more excited.
I run up to her and wrap her in a hug. We don’t need words right now. I know that she is scared out of her mind and is so unsure of the future that she doesn’t want to risk anyone else’s. But she is making my brother so happy and I know he will do everything in his power to erase the memory of her time with Mike. I hope she feels that in my arms. She is home, for good.
“I’m so excited to have a sister.” I whisper to her. Then I let her go and move to hug my brother.
“Congrats, big brother. You are one lucky man.”
“Don’t congratulate me yet. I still have to convince her to let me make it permanent, but for now she isn’t rejecting me, so it’s a start.” He smiles at me.
“What fun would it be if she didn’t make you work for it?” I wink at him and move back to my friend. “We have been busy while you have been…well, busy.” I fill her in on the day’s events and what we are up to now.
Jena doesn’t disappoint. She jumps right in. Like me she likes to have something productive to do to take her mind off of the hard, emotional stuff for a little while. It helps to process if we can step away for a bit. She volunteers to help us with the documentation, and it makes me ecstatic when she chooses my brother as her partner. Lil grabs Oliver, who is reluctant to leave me until both twins tell him to pull his head out of his ass and they are actually capable of watching over me.
To which he replies it only takes one of him. Sam and Sierra take the fourth point and Nathaniel sends coordinates for the fifth point to Wyatt and tells him what we are up to and then heads back to his surveillance center acting as go between for all of us.
