Echoes of fate

Echoes of fate


“I have to go to another meeting,” Nyte growled as he checked a new message on his phone.

“Again?” I groaned, reluctantly sitting up so he could roll out from under me and out of the bed.

I had been using him as a pillow, groaning at my aching stomach and contradictory cravings. For the past few days, I had been miserable, sick in bed day and night with barely any strength to continue searching for my missing tarot cards. On top of all that, Nyte had been called to the Alpha’s office more often than usual. I had tried asking him a few times what was happening, but he always told me it was nothing to worry about—just pack business.

“Can’t you just sit this one out? Please?” I whined, rolling on my side as another wave of nausea swept over me.

Nyte bent down, kissing my forehead and rubbing circles over my upset stomach. “If I could, I would. No questions asked. But this isn’t something I can just sit out of. Trust me; I don’t want to leave you alone any more than I have to.”

“What kind of pack business is this?” I asked, even as I knew what he would say.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about. Just relax. Take a nap if you can. I won’t be too long.”

He pressed another kiss to my forehead before leaving. My heavy eyes watched as the door closed behind him. Usually, Madi would have come to keep me company, but lately, even she was attending the meetings, making me even more curious about what they were about.

I rolled over onto my stomach, trying to find the perfect position to lie in to ease my rolling stomach. Part of me wished I would throw up, hoping that if I did, the nausea would subside, and I could get over whatever sickness I had caught. The buzzing sound of my phone brought my face out of my pillow, stretching my arm out to grab the device from the bedside table.

Grace: Hey, Paige. Long time no talk. You busy?

I smiled, happy to see a message from my friend. Ever since she and Rome took over the Academy, I had rarely heard from her. Despite the light of the screen doing little to ease my nausea, I sent a hasty reply.

Me: Hey, stranger! No, I’m not busy unless you count dying of food poisoning as being busy.

I waited a few minutes for her reply, lolling my head back into the pillow as I waited, only lifting my head again when I heard the alert chime.

Grace: Is it true you are living in the Coronado Packhouse?

I frowned.

Me: Yeah. How do you know?

Grace: Word travels fast within the werewolf network. What has Nyte told you about what is going on?

I forgot my nausea momentarily; my interest perked as I wondered if Grace knew what all these pack meetings were about. Was it more than pack business after all? She and Rome weren’t part of the pack here. Rome had formed his own pack with the werewolf students who chose to stay at the school. So, if they knew something, then it had to be bigger than pack business.

Me: What do you mean?

Grace: The meetings he has been attending at the packhouse. What has he told you about them?

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to sit up in bed despite my protesting stomach. She did know something. There was something to know, and the fact she chose now to text me as my curiosity was rising had been one of the driving forces pushing me to find my cards: wanting the answer to what Nyte was hiding from me as if I were some delicate flower who needed protection from the ugly truths of our world.

Me: Nyte hasn’t told me a thing. He just says it’s pack business and not to worry about it. Do you know what is happening then?

Grace: Yes. Rome and I are in the meeting now over the phone. I asked them what you knew, but no one would be straight with me. I’ve been telling them to bring you in for a few weeks now.

How serious was it that Rome and Grace had to be on a conference call in the meetings? Just what was going on? This certainly wasn’t just pack business. The more I looked over Grace’s message, the way she urged the werewolves to ask for my help, it was far more serious than Nyte was leading me to believe.

Me: What exactly is going on, Grace?

Grace: Werewolves are going missing all across the Pacific coast. We’ve had students disappear in the middle of the night with no trace of them left behind, not even their scent. The same has been happening with entire packs up and down the coast.

The air rushed from my lungs, shock widening my eyes as I read her message, viciously typing my reply.

Me: How could entire packs go missing?

It didn’t make sense. Werewolf packs were close-knit. They worked together to defend each other like the wolves in the wilderness. One alone could be taken, but an entire pack? It didn’t make sense.

Grace:At first, it was small packs. Packs who generally kept to themselves. No one noticed at first, and when they did, they believed that maybe they had moved to a new territory. But then, more social packs began to disappear. They were gone overnight without a trace.

Grace: That is when the larger pack Alphas began to meet. It was to see if the missing packs had moved into the territories of the other Alphas. But as they met, they realized that everyone was affected. That these packs were gone. Nothing but their personal effects were left behind.

Me: How long exactly has this been going on?

Grace: Months. Longer than you’ve been in that packhouse. The packs going missing have only gotten larger. And with no scent trails to follow, it’s impossible to know where they’ve gone. I’ve even tried some tracking spells…but nothing. Have you, by chance, seen anything in your cards or a vision?

I groaned at the reminder of my missing cards, sending another wave of nausea up my throat.

Me: My cards have disappeared. They’ve been gone for about a week now. But even before then, I hadn’t seen anything that told me about this. Everything you’ve said is completely new to me.

Grace: Well, when you find your cards, pay close attention and watch out for yourself. The Coronado Pack is big, but the latest pack to disappear was nearly as big. Whoever or whatever is doing this is growing stronger. I know that the pack may not accept you, but whoever is doing this won’t see past you being there. Stay safe.

Me: Thank you for the heads up.

Grace: Anytime. Stay safe and stay in touch. I hate that I heard about your mate from Rome and not you.

Guilt filled my heart, wanting to tell her the truth: that he wasn’t my mate, not by fate at least. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t reveal the truth about Nyte and me even to my friend because to say it out loud to anyone other than him made it true. I wasn’t sure I actually wanted my time with him to end anymore. I wasn’t sure I wanted his mark removed anymore. Even as I knew how selfish it would be of me to keep what belonged to another, I just wasn’t sure I could go on to live a happy life after giving him up.

It started as only a crush on him. Seeing him come and go with my brother all these years always left butterflies in my stomach anytime our eyes met. Now, that crush had grown into a wild garden that not even the most skilled gardener could manage. I was madly and deeply in love with him, so much so that I could feel it consuming me.

I went to place my phone back on the table, deciding to take the nap Nyte had suggested, but another message came through from Grace, grabbing my attention.

Grace: One more thing, we suspect a vampire and a witch are behind this. But we have no proof. So, keep that in mind when you get the cards back. You might be able to confirm our suspicions.

My eyes narrowed at the message. It wouldn’t be the first time a vampire messed with werewolves. But what would a witch gain from working with a vamp against werewolves? Our history with werewolves was complicated enough, and many high witches worked tirelessly to mend the ties between our kinds. I’d never even heard a witch speak out entirely against mixing the relationship, especially since more than a few witches were sitting in the seat of Luna for powerful packs.

I didn’t reply to Grace, setting my phone back down as a new wave of nausea hit me. I buried my head into the pillow and groaned to myself. What did I eat? I couldn’t think of anything out of the usual things that I had eaten, and Nyte had been sharing his food with me. He wasn’t sick. In fact, he seemed completely thrilled lately, as if he were walking on a sea of clouds anytime he looked at me. He also had no problem jumping up to get anything I asked for while I lay bedridden and miserable—volunteering to rub my tummy, which somehow helped ease my nausea.

The first time he did it, I thought it was strange. I had swatted his hand away and asked him if he had lost his mind. But he persisted, and I found myself relaxing at his touch by the third or fourth time. It was intimate but not sexual. We had begun doing a lot more intimate things that didn’t involve stripping down to our birthday suits and playing a round of naked wrestling. Like watching his favorite cooking show, making bets on who would be cut off the show in each episode, and ranting to one another when they sent home someone we didn’t think deserved to go.

He even began watching some of my favorite reality shows with me. We were fully engaged as we gasped at the drama between the housemates on the show. It made me feel like we were a real couple—like my parents when they would watch Mom’s favorite novellas on TV or when Mom would cheer for Dad’s favorite soccer team. It wasn’t just physical. We had reached a higher level than I ever thought possible when I came and asked Nyte for his help.

I just wished he would trust me with the trouble he was facing. 

A frown creased my brow as I thought about the messages from Grace and how Nyte had been keeping it all from me. I had been living in a bubble all this time when I could have helped them as soon as I arrived. I could have helped any time before I lost my cards. All he had to do was ask.

It didn’t matter to me that the pack didn’t accept me as his mate. Technically, I wasn’t. They didn’t have to accept me. But even if I was, I still wouldn’t care if they didn’t accept me. I would still help because it was the right thing to do. And if a witch was involved, my duty as Ama’s granddaughter was to help. It was the duty of any future high witch to right the wrongs of her fellow witches, no matter who the wronged party was.

Rolling over off of my stomach, I stared at the door, wondering when he would be back. Grace had said the last pack to disappear was almost as big as Nyte’s pack. It could easily be a longer meeting with so much stress and panic at the prospect of now being next.

The Coronado pack was one of the biggest in the entire state, with the second being the Ocean Side pack that was up north along the coastline. If the pack taken last was really as large as this pack, then they would be fearful for their safety—and the safety of their children.

The thought came with images of Diego and the other children living in the packhouse. If entire packs were going missing, that meant their children were as well. The idea of anyone harming innocent babies sent a fire through my veins that I didn’t even know I could feel. A sense of protectiveness grinding my teeth.

I turned my gaze from the bedroom door, rolling over until my body slid off the other side of the bed to face the bathroom door. Cards weren’t the only way to see things. I rarely scried with water. Admittedly, I wasn’t very good at using water in my divination yet. I was barely learning to use a pendulum well. But water was the next best thing without my cards and no pendulum available to me to try.

“Don’t get too reliant on the cards. They are a tool, just like anything else. The true power of premonition comes from within us.” Ama’s words spilled from my lips as I remembered the day she had gifted me the cards.

Maybe I had become too reliant on them lately. Perhaps that’s why they were lost to me at this time. The fates wanted to test my power by removing the tool I often used the most. I stepped into the bathroom, shedding my clothes before stepping into the large walk-in shower. I turned the water on to the hottest setting, sitting on the bench as the steam began to fill the bathroom, the moist condensation dripping down the glass door of the shower.

I reached into myself, searching for the power of my specialty—the gift that all my power came from. I put the question out to the universe, asking if there was anything I needed to know. Any important details that could help those I cared about. Blurred images began to shine behind my closed lids, my inner eye trying to focus on the images. Slowly, I opened my eyes, looking directly into the swirling water around the drain. The images began to take form, the blur sharpening to reveal what I needed to see. Nyte’s face came first, his brilliant smile as he looked down at the smaller shape—a woman’s body.

The door to the bathroom opened, the sudden cool air of the other room stealing the steam and breaking the fragile spell of premonition from me.

“Paige?” Nyte called out, his tone gentle but a hitch of concern cracking his voice. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I replied, turning the hot water down and adding some cooler water to the shower. “Just wanted to relax. The steam was helping with my nausea.”

The door to the shower opened, and my eyes widened as Nyte stepped inside, already undressed, a mischievous grin on his lips.

“Well, if you are feeling better…”