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Charging out of the building, I was surprisingly comforted to run straight into the arms of Ms. Greenlee. Our family’s praesidium—or Bulwark as we call them in the Supernatural world.
“I’ve got you,” she said with fervor as she tugged me tight in her arms. Quickly throwing me in a black sedan, we were at her hotel in no time. She said nothing to me but muttered the ancient words quietly the entire time. Glowing iridescent lights covered the hotel and I knew instantly that she was marking our territory to blanket us from danger. No Altrinion-Vampire would ever be able to see beyond a Bulwark’s shield.
“I got here as soon as the Elders told me she was here. As if being with him wasn’t bad enough you had to get yourself mixed up with the likes of her? Don’t you know who she is? She is Chartreuse Grenoble, child! The sole hunter of the Peyroux-Dunes line! She will never forgive Elias’ bloodline for his part in her sister’s death. She has issued a swift end to any Peyroux! That includes you, missy!” Ms. Greenlee laid the truth before me in a tongue lashing only spoken by care.
I know it’s more than her charge to protect our family—her sentiment is true. Chartreuse has been a known enemy to our family for as long as I could remember. Perhaps being with the boogeyman himself, Decaux Marchand, has numbed me to these facts—I don’t know.
I am thankful I never gave my true name. I told him my name was Anne Nicaud. Mixing my middle name with my sister’s given name in marriage, I had hoped to throw him off. It’s also good Altrinions can’t read wolf minds—so he’ll never know my true identity.
Most important, neither will Chartreuse.
But I know I can’t leave it to chance. I know he’ll come looking for me. I know one day he will find me.
That’s why I called Caressa.
Now, I must decide if I can do the one thing that will get him off my scent forever.
Caressa has always suggested we live normal lives. Give our supernaturality to the waters of hominum vita—life of man. Bathing in the sacred waters will forever erase our supernatural essence, allowing us to live out our lives like humans.
Perhaps I should have waited before calling her. At least until I knew more. Until the test results were sure.
For weeks I had been queasy and with the absence of my period and my frequent passionate bouts with Decaux, I decided to pick up a pregnancy test on my way back to the flat.
I decided to take it before I called Caressa, hoping—no praying a negative result would appear while we spoke, making my choice easier.
I now know my choice will not be easy. Of that I’m positive.
Although our Mother gave her supernaturality to the sacred waters while we were young, she always said she never wanted to make that choice for us. Or as she put it, “heaven forbid she clip our wings before we knew to fly.”
That is what makes this choice so difficult.
Now, it’s not just me. I have cargo. Someone else’s choice. If I submerge in the sacred waters, I do not just make a choice for me, but also for him or her.
Would he or she want to remain—whatever he or she will be? Altrinion? Wolf? Vampire? I don’t know.
I don’t even know how I could give birth or raise a child who is the seed of such a monster! How could I love him or her?
Even more, how could I not?
No matter my choice, one thing is clear—this child is mine. My own. Mine alone to love—and to love me!
I will do for this child what I wished was done for me—or what was done by a monster. Lavishly love them with every ounce of adoration I have within me! For me, this child will always be favored. The only apple of my eye. Now and forever.
“Delia?” Caressa questions once more, bringing me back to the moment.
“Yes, I will meet you there.” This time my tone is resolute. I even sense my ardent stubbornness ringing true.
I may not be an alpha, but in this moment, I know what I am—a mother. And I will do what a mother does best: protect her child.