Chapter 7

Selene looked up from her computer to listen to the project team gathered around her kitchen table. Remnants of pizza and sodas were scattered between books and computers. It was mid-November and the five of them—Selene, Josh, Elayne, Cindy, and Gordon—were working on the simulation project that would comprise the bulk of their grade for the class. In their assignment, they were the owners of a car company and had to compete against the other groups in the class in having a more successful car company simulation.

Selene was thoroughly enjoying herself. Not only did she like the class and think the material interesting, but she’d come to like her group. They were the first people in her entire life to treat her normally. Even before Gideon’s reign, the Vyusher had treated her as a princess, held apart to be cosseted and petted.

But beyond treating her as just an ordinary woman, the people in her group were genuinely nice and could also be hilarious. They got their work done and made smart observations, but they did so while still keeping things on the light and funny side. Maybe she found them easier to be with because they were the first regular humans she’d ever known.

“I disagree,” Josh was saying.

“You would!” Elayne joked as she reached for another slice of pizza.

“Yeah,” Josh insisted. “There’s no way we’re going to dig our way out of this mountain of debt. We should do what we can to maintain our market share lead without looking like we gave up on revenue. I think we do that by launching another car now. It’ll be too late after this round.”

A collective groan arose from the group. They’d been arguing this point for the last hour and were no further along.

“Do you need me to explain again the concept of making money?” Gordon, the finance whiz of the team, asked.

“Okay, okay!” Josh threw both his hands in the air. “No new car. But I’m telling you now that if we don’t end up cash positive this round, it’s all on you.”

“Finally he gives in!” Cindy cheered.

“On that note…” Selene stood up and started gathering up trash to throw away. “Anyone want to take home some pizza?”

“You paid, so you keep it,” Elayne said, looking at the slices of pepperoni with longing in her eyes.

Unlike Selene, they were all typical broke college kids, which meant food was low on the priority list of expenses. She pulled a face. “I don’t like reheated pizza. It’s going in the trash if I keep it. Seriously, someone take it off my hands.”

“In that case, I’ll take some,” Josh said. The other four quickly followed his lead. Selene pulled some foil out of the pantry and wrapped up their slices while they all shut down their computers and packed up their bags.

She walked her friends out. “See you in class tomorrow, guys.” She waved goodbye and headed back inside.

Smiling to herself, she went to close the blinds and spotted a falcon perched in a nearby pine tree. Without hesitation, she snapped the blinds shut, then started pacing the confines of her living room. Anger bubbled up inside her until she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. That golden-colored falcon had a glow inside him.

“Griffin,” she muttered. He was keeping tabs on her. Deep inside, her wolf gave an irritated growl.

If she’d been thinking rationally—which she wasn’t at the moment—she’d have realized that she shouldn’t be surprised by Griffin’s stalker-like behavior and that he might even be entitled to keep an eye on her. She wasn’t even sure she was safe to be left alone. Her nightmares had only escalated, and maybe someone needed to stop her.

She was tempted to turn off his power and watch him fall out of that damn tree. She held in a chuckle at the mental image. Or maybe she should drop her mental blocks and tell him to go away. Eventually, Selene calmed down and did neither of those things, as she finished cleaning up the apartment and got ready for bed.

Several hours later, as she still lay in bed wide awake, tossing and turning, something occurred to her. If Griffin was watching, and she ended up dream-walking in her wolf form, then he’d see, follow, and maybe even stop her. If the dreams were real and she was the one killing those people...

Strangely, knowing that Griffin was keeping an eye on her suddenly brought her a modicum of peace.

Released of her tension, her body and mind relaxed, and sleep claimed her at last.

* * *

Selene was back on her bench on campus a few days later, despite the unseasonable chill in the air. After Canada, the cold here didn’t bother her much. She was studying for an upcoming econ exam when Ellie plopped down beside her.

“Hi, Selene.” Ellie gave her an impish grin.

Selene shook her head. “Griffin is going to be mad at you.”

“So what?” Ellie shrugged nonchalantly and pulled a protein bar from her backpack. “We’re staging a rebellion.”

“We?”

“Yeah, we,” said another female voice behind them. Selene turned and was stunned to see Lila and another blonde, who she assumed was Adelaide, standing there. Other than her brief exchange with Lila when she’d first arrived, she’d had no contact with the two girls. Now that she saw them together, she realized how alike they were in appearance. They definitely got their coloring from their mother, also a honey blonde. Adelaide kept her hair shorter than Lila’s though. Now two pairs of green eyes twinkled at her.

Selene narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Okay. What’s going on here?”

“Well, we’ve discussed it,” Ellie began. “Lila knows you’re being truthful, and Adelaide, well, she never shares what she can see, but she does say it’s not bad. And you led me to Alex and to my new family. You helped us.”

Selene raised her eyebrows. She already knew all this. “Okay?”

“So we’re staging a minor rebellion,” Adelaide repeated. “We’re going to be friends.”

“Excuse me?” Selene ignored the small spark of hope those words inspired. She glanced at Ellie. “And what does Alex say to this plan?”

Ellie gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “The guys are staying out of it, but they side with us in spirit.”

Selene shook her head. “I won’t be the cause of conflict in your family. I refuse to play a part in causing any family pain ever again.”

Lila rested a comforting hand on Selene’s shoulder, and a feeling of peace slowly washed through her. Surprised, she peered closer and could detect a small glow coming from Lila, which slowly faded, taking Selene’s mental anguish with it. She studied the light inside Lila as it went out.

“You can heal emotions? Is that new?” She met Lila’s gaze.

Lila gave a small grin. “I’ve only started figuring it out. I can only do it if I can touch the person, but Ellie says eventually I’ll be able to do it without touching. And I don’t always sense the emotion. It…um…” Lila seemed a tad unsure of how to word it. “It has to be a very…intense emotion for me to see it. Apparently, I’ll get better at that as well.”

“Well, that’s one I haven’t seen before,” Selene muttered. “Thank you for the help, but my answer is still no.”

“The thing is…if anything, I think you would actually help bring our family closer together,” Adelaide said.

Lila and Ellie exchanged a glance. They’d already said Adelaide—who could see relationships—rarely shared what she saw. Selene was under the impression that the other young woman usually kept her visions a secret so as not to unnaturally influence anyone, which meant her saying something now was worth listening to.

But Selene shook her head, unconvinced. “Helping your family sounds really nice, but even for that, I can’t risk it.”

“Well, the thing is, sweetie,”—Ellie reached out and tugged Selene to her feet—“you don’t have a choice in the matter.”

“I don’t?” Selene could feel herself giving in. Friendship was such seductive idea. Elusive. Something she didn’t deserve. A small spark of hope now burst through the barriers of both her natural reserve and of her fear of putting more lives in danger.

“Nope,” Ellie continued. “I’ve decided that we’re going to be friends. And that, as they say, is the end of it. We’re treating you to a girls’ night out. No dancing. I know I suggested that last time, but I was probably a little ahead of myself with that idea.” She waved her hand as though shooing that idea out of way. “We’ll start small, ease Griffin into it, so to speak. We’re going to take you out to dinner tonight.”

* * *

“You did what?” Griffin’s voice was deceptively calm as he confronted his twin and her mischievous cohorts.

“We took Selene out to dinner,” Ellie repeated, enunciating very clearly as if his hearing, and not her decision-making, were the issue.

“That was nice of you, girls,” Lucy murmured. She was sitting in the armchair in the Jenners’ living room, working on Ellie’s wedding dress. Griffin wasn’t sure what Lucy was doing exactly, other than that it involved a needle.

Ellie smiled triumphantly at her brother. He crossed his arms and pressed his lips into a thin line. “No, Lucy, it was not nice of them,” he insisted. “It was dangerous.”

“You’ve got to let it go, Griff,” Ellie muttered, as she flopped down onto the couch and snuggled up to Alex, who draped an arm around her.

“Her pack killed our family, Ellie,” Griffin said, as if she needed reminding.

Lucy glanced up. “That poor girl has been through heaven knows what, under the thumb of her insane brother. If Lila says she is telling the truth, that she did her best to help you, and us, then we owe her our lives.”

Blowing out a deep breath, Griffin gazed out of the large panel of window situated behind the couch, although he really didn’t see the twilight-shadowed mountains outside because he was too busy mastering his anger. “Hugh? Alex?” He tried for male solidarity. “You see where I’m coming from, right?”

Alex and Hugh were watching a Broncos game and trying their darndest to stay out of it.

They glanced at each other. “Ah-hem.” Hugh coughed. “You see, Griffin, it’s—”

Griffin held up his hands. “No, I can see you don’t agree, so don’t even bother trying.” He grabbed the jacket he’d thrown over a barstool when he came home earlier and stormed to the door. “I’m going out.”

Adelaide stood by the doorway. She laid a hand on his arm as he passed, making him pause. “You have to figure out how to forgive Selene,” she whispered to him.

He jerked away from her touch and a momentary pang of regret lanced through him as his rejection darkened her eyes. After years growing up with Ellie, he was still getting used to Adelaide’s gentler and more sensitive nature.

“Sorry,” he muttered and turned to the others. “If you insist on being friends with Selene, I don’t want to hear about it.” With that, he banged out of the house.

* * *

Quiet descended in the wake of Griffin’s departure.

“Ugh!” Ellie finally exclaimed, throwing up her arms. “Stubborn. Idiotic. Obstinate…Grrrrr…Darn brother!”

Lucy paused in her stitching. She reached over and patted Ellie’s hand soothingly. “Give him time, sweetheart.”

“He has to get to know her to change his mind.” Ellie stood and started to pace. “Time won’t help if he avoids her.”

“Don’t force him yet,” Adelaide said.

Alex got up and wrapped his arms around Ellie, pulling her close. His embrace calmed her in a way she desperately needed.

“Listen to Adelaide,” Alex whispered in her ear.

Ellie slumped forward. “Okay…I’ll try. He’s just so damn stubborn I could scream.”

“Come on, wild girl.” Alex linked their fingers together and gave her hand a squeeze. “Let’s go home. Give Griffin some time to cool off.”

“Okay…okay.” Ellie smiled into her te’sorthene’s twinkling silver-blue eyes, then reached up and gave him a swift kiss. They grabbed their things. “’Night, everyone.”

They received a chorus of goodnights in return as they headed out the door.