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I’m not worthless, so what is it that I can bring to the table? Giselle sat staring blankly at the computer screen. What would the universe take in trade? She’d run though all the web searches she could on offerings to the gods and magical pacts and still came up empty. Blood sacrifice. A life for a life. First-born child. Most of them sounded like the stuff of fairy tales. Knowing the great majority of what she read was bullshit didn’t help either. In the past, she might have texted Damien to ask him or maybe stopped by his house to chat. But their breakup had ruined that, and pressing the issue with him would only push him further away.
She couldn’t ask her family; wolves knew next to nothing of magic.
Giselle really needed the advice of a witch – one that wouldn’t advise against what she planned to do out of motherly love, so Cassandra was out too.
Still her fingers hovered over the keys as her mind drew a blank of what else she could ask the vastness of the web. She’d been holed up in her room for the better part of an hour before the door opened behind her.
Giselle ignored her sister’s approach. Didn’t matter which one it was, she was busy. They could go about their business and leave her in peace. She was supposed to be studying and catching up on missed work still; at least, that was the cover she’d used to get Martina to give her alone time.
Nothing could stop her prying sisters, though.
“I’m not going to bring it up, because I know it’s a worthless cause, but you have to snap out of the funk soon,” Taylor said to Giselle’s back.
Damn! Just go away. Giselle wanted to scream the words. She’d rather face the Spanish Inquisition than invite her sister to open her chest and rip her heart out again talking about stupid boys.
“Okay,” she sighed at her sister’s awkward attempt at pretending she didn’t want details. It ate her up inside, and Giselle knew it. Her and Damien’s breakup had been the quietest one in school history, with neither talking about it to anyone in the families. In public they acted as if all was business as usual, except that it wasn’t. Seeing him ripped the band-aid off her bleeding heart. Each time she was reminded that she was not allowed happiness in anything.
Behind her, she heard the soft squish of the mattress. If Taylor was getting comfy, this conversation was happening whether Giselle wanted it or not..
“Ash was looking for you at school today,” Taylor teased, as if hearing his name might spark something in Giselle.
Not the boy she’s expected her sister to bring up; but she didn’t feel like talking about him either. “Ash knows where to find me,” Giselle sighed. She started typing the words magical sacrifice into the search bar then deleted them just as quickly, knowing she was being watched.
“Maybe he wants to go run? I could cover for you with Martina.” Taylor sounded genuine, but hints of unease were laced within her words.
“Yeah. Sure. Running is good,” Giselle said absently, trying to locate her train of thought. “Not now, though. Busy.”
Taylor groaned behind her. “If I were Di, I’d just demand you turn around and tell me what the hell is going on in your head.”
Giselle squeezed her eyes shut, holding back the angry reply she wanted to give. Taylor was right about one thing: Di would try to steamroll her, but that wouldn’t necessarily change the results. She took a breath and decided to fight fire with fire. Taylor wanted info, and so did she. “Am I worthless?” Giselle turned to face her sister.
“I didn’t mean...” Caught off guard by her reply, Taylor choked on her words. “That’s not... No... Look. I’m sorry.” She stood as if she were planning to walk out of the room, but Giselle beat her to the door.
“What makes me valuable? What is so damn important about me?” Giselle asked. “If I’m so damn important, as everyone has tried to tell me, why has the universe chosen to shit on me?”
Fear replaced shock in Taylor’s eyes. “What? Why are you asking that? Are you okay?”
She’d taken the bait. Giselle smiled inwardly as she kept the hurt in her voice. “Everyone tells me I’m so special, but recent events have proven otherwise, right? I mean the Alphas... Damien...”
Always the sympathetic one, Taylor’s bleeding heart gushed, hearing Giselle downplay her self worth. Tears glistened in her eyes as Giselle finished speaking.
“It’s been a crappy month, Elle, but that doesn’t mean you’re worthless.”
“Sure seems like it.” Giselle added a little extra sulk into her voice.
“You’re awesome. I mean it. Forget the whole Alpha blood debacle. Forget Damien and his stupid family for breaking you two up.”
“So they did break us up?” Giselle cut Taylor off before she could realize what she’d revealed.
“Uh...” Taylor’s shoulders slumped with guilt. “Yeah. He was asking too many questions about Orion and Cassandra, and his mom finally said it was time things ended.”
“I figured as much.” She’d long since accepted that truth, but it still pained her to hear it.
“He really cares about you. So don’t think it had anything to do with your worth.” Taylor reached out, but Giselle pulled away before she could make contact. Annoyance flashed across Taylor’s soft face, and she let the smack of her falling hand hitting her thigh echo in the room before speaking. “No one wanted you and him to end up like your father and Cassandra.”
Giselle let the words sink in. Everyone always worked with her best interest at heart, but good intentions weren’t always the right path. Damien’s questions were no doubt the ones she’d had him ask, and the truth that was being so closely guarded had ended their relationship – a truth she had still yet to discover. Something of value to her. She had to offer something. But what in her was worth anything? Her blood? Her spirit, maybe? She could only offer herself. And maybe that was it – part of her soul or something, scary as that was.
Taylor’s annoyance faded in the silence of the room as the two girls stared blankly at each other. “I know life is throwing crap your way, but you have to try and shake it off. In less than a week―”
“I’m sorry I’m being a bitch.” Giselle cut her off. “I’m just wallowing. Feeling worthless. I mean, I was all but guaranteed to be royalty and then dumped like hot garbage... why?”
“That Vivian lady.” Taylor flipped a switch and went back on the defensive for her sister. “She’s poison. You should have been Alpha. You have the blood of Orion Silverman in your veins. You were born of freaking magic and all. You’re like Super Wolf.”
Giselle snorted at her sister’s gushing. “Super Wolf? Really?” Her words hit closer to home than Taylor had probably intended. She was a special kind of oddity in the wolf world. Magic had been her catalyst, and though her mother had lost it, Giselle had not had life stolen from her. So perhaps some spark of it resided within her.
“I could totally whip you up a fabulous cape if you wanted.” Taylor’s smile returned.
“Do it. Seriously. Hot pink.” Giselle threw words out to keep Taylor speaking, while her mind worked out what Damien had said about being able to channel magic as a witch. She might not be one, but if that quality resided in her blood, it might be part of the equation.
“Ewww. No!” Taylor cringed, and then took her place back on the bed. “If anything, you need a cool blue.”
“Either way, I’m Super Wolf, right?” Her sister had unwittingly given Giselle the answer she had been looking for. But damn. She had no way to confirm her suspicion.
“Yeah, I’ll say. Super Annoying Wolf.” Taylor laughed. “You’re awesome when you’re happy; but damn, girl, you can mope with the best of them.”
“Well, I did lose Alpha and my boyfriend in like the same week. Am I not allowed to have feelings?”
“Nope.” Taylor chucked a pillow at Giselle. “You suck it up like a big girl.”
Giselle lobbed the pillow back at her. “Right – you’re one to talk.”
“That’s a low blow.” Taylor scrunched up her face, but there was no real anger to be seen.
“It is, isn’t it?” Giselle mocked her. “All is fair in love and war.”
“Speaking of love...” Taylor asked. “Ash?”
“Really? You’d ask me that now?” She knew she shouldn’t have brought it up. Taylor might have said she was okay with anything that might happen between Giselle and Asher, but the truth was, she’d be hurt.
“He was asking for you.”
“Because we both love to run when we’re stressed.”
“And he likes you,” Taylor said with a tinge of jealousy.
“I just lost my boyfriend. I’m not ready for a rebound. Especially not with Asher Thrace.”
Her stern rebuttal had a calming effect on Taylor, as if her sister needed to hear the truth to temper her own fears. “Okay. Just trying to get your mind off of Damien. You know... sister solidarity.”
Giselle’s mind had lingered on Damien for too long because he was directly tied to all the failing aspects of her life. She needed him to help find information. She missed having him around. And she knew that beyond his family’s support of their breakup, hers was secretly cheering it on as well. One less embarrassment when the Alphas came.
It hurt. All of it. Like a dagger to the heart, over and over. And there was nothing to be done about it because they were all right. She couldn’t be with Damien in the future anyway, Alpha or not. It just wouldn’t work. That much was certain. Saving her father would only further drive the wedge between them, as she now had an idea of what she’d have to ask Damien and his family to do for her. She only hoped by the end of things that friendship would still be possible... if she were capable of it herself when the dust settled. A small part of her wondered if she’d end up trading places with her father when all was said and done.
“I swear I will get Di in here with more chocolate if you don’t stop moping.” Taylor’s annoyed voice rang sharply in Giselle’s ear.
“I’m not. I just lost my train of thought.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“Sorry. I do need to run. Burn off some steam. That will get my head right again.” Giselle tried to smile, but she saw the light fade from Taylor’s face. It didn’t take a genius to know why, either. “And I hope you and Di will run with me. Sister solidarity.” She winked.
“You don’t want to go with Ash?” Taylor’s voice betrayed her true feelings.
Giselle prayed her sister would get over Ash. She hadn’t even dated him that long, but her pain lingered despite her many attempts to refute it. “Why would I want to be around a boy right now? They’re dumb, remember?”
Taylor had come in to perk her up, and Giselle had ended up being the one to make her sister smile by the end. She laughed about it as she grabbed her sister by the hand and hauled her up from the bed. “Let’s take the night off and go find the dried-up stream.”