Chapter 42
LAURA'S POV
There was a date, today’s, and five words: “My daughter is disappearing before my eyes.”
I lay in the corner of an ancient chamber, spying on Linda as she slumbered—and yet it was not quite her. Her body extended several inches over the past couple hours, and her face lost some of its childhood roundness. She could have been seven or eight by now, growing years in the space of hours, and there was no telling how much longer it would go on.
"Dear Linda," I wrote, tears streaking the ink, "You wanted to know today why vampires and werewolves just don't take turns ruling things, like we did in school with line-leader. It was a totally perfect five-year-old’s solution to hundreds of years of warfare. I wanted to tell you that adults make things too complicated, but the reality is something simpler and sadder — we’ve lost sight of common-sense solutions because we’re too stuck in our resentments.”
My hand shook as I wrote letter after letter to the child my daughter had been, the moments before she’d gone smokey and became that version of herself only in shards.
“You still sleep with Wolfie even though your hand is getting too large to grasp him comfortably. You requested chocolate chip pancakes this morning and informed me about the political ramifications of the Crimson Council's manoeuvring at breakfast. and you are ancient, little one and wise man both, I know not at all how to mother someone who so quickly rushes far beyond a childhood I have hardly held yet long enough.”
Lucien was suddenly at my side, his tread like the soft footfalls of one who knew some moments needed tenderness. He stared at my journal, with Linda asleep and her stuffed wolf in her arms, and something cracked inside his face.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I confessed, my walls crumbling around me. “How do I parent a child who is growing older, more powerful and stronger than me? How can I keep them safe if they are changing into something I don’t understand?”
“You do what you’ve been doing,” he said in a soft voice. "You love her. You show up. You tell her that whatever form she takes, she’s still your daughter.”.
"But I'm losing her. Every hour she ages, I lose a piece of that little girl who used to draw pictures of our family and beg for bedtime stories."
Lucien took the spot next to me, his shoulder bumping mine. "You're not losing her. She’s transforming, but that part of her being — the decency, the bravery, the presence to envision straightforward solutions to complicated problems — is still in there.”
"How do you know?"
“Because those traits were from you. They are in her blood and her character, not simply her innocence as a child.”
I wanted to believe him – I did, the certainty in his voice was so alluring, as Linda’s sleeping features aged on. She murmured something about treaty negotiations, and hugged Wolfie closer — the span between ancient wisdom and childhood comfort.
My secure phone vibrated with an encrypted message from Reina. The words made my stomach sink: “Council moved deadline. Appearance required in 4 hours. Non-negotiable."
“No,” I whispered at the screen. "Not now. Not until Linda completes her change.”
Lucien skimmed the note over my shoulder, clenched his jaw. “They’re trying to jam you up. Drag you away from Linda at the eleventh hour.”
"It's working." I rose suddenly and walked the room like a caged wolf. “If I do not show up, they will declare war on my land. Thousands of lives at stake. But if I abandon Linda now, in this period of transition..."
"Then I will keep her," Lucien answered at once. “You take care of the Council, I’ll keep an eye on our daughter.”
The offhanded mention of “our daughter” ached and bloomed warm in my chest. He had rejected me five years ago and chosen Unni. Now he was willing to risk his own political future to save our family.
“The Council will use this against you,” I warned. "Backing me, marking Linda as yours—it puts your leadership with old-fashioned packs at risk.”
"Let it. I’ve spent the last 5 years putting pack politics before personal truth. I'm done with that."
Another message came in from Reina, this one with even greater urgency: “New wrinkle. Alexander and kayla set to be executed at vampire palace. Same timeframe as Council meeting. Coordinated?"
I let Lucien read the message and watched him take in what it meant. The multiple crises all coming to a head at once were no accident — they were strategy. This had been planned, someone was behind this and I was not able to be in two places at the same time.
“We need to divide and conquer,” I said, racing ahead with tactical computations. “You take care of the Council, stick with Linda, I'll send in rescue missions for Alexander and Kayla.”
“That stretches our forces too slim. We need—"
“We have to trust the people we trained and the alliances that we built.” Already I was texting orders to Reina, planning several responses at once. “This is what it means to be a leader — making impossible decisions and praying that you’ve done well enough for your people that they can deal with what you are not going to be there for.”
Lucien stared down as I worked, a look on his face I couldn't quite place. "You've become remarkable, you know. Five years ago, the Laura I knew would have tried to do everything herself.”
“The Laura five years ago didn’t have a pack relying on her and daughter to protect.” For a second I stopped with my head bent over and stared at him without thinking. “She didn’t even have a partner who really respected her ability.”
“I was so dumb five years ago.”
"Yes, you were." But I said this without heat, marveling over past hurt and refusing to let it take over present reality. "But people change. Situations change. Perhaps both of us needed those five years to grow into people who could genuinely work together.”
The link would have enveloped him in an ancient chamber filled with the wreckage of a supernatural war–old grudges, new alliances and a child becoming something no one had seen before. And yet somehow, in the midst of it all, we’d found a rhythm that felt like second nature even though everything was working against us.
“Laura,” Lucien said softly, “I know this- this is not the time, but I need you to know— losing five years of my life with Linda- with you- it showed me what truly matters. And I will not lose another moment if I can help it.”
Before I could reply, Linda woke up and her eyes showed a gaze that had aged, become wiser. "Mommy? I dreamed about Great-great-grandfather Aldric. The Council is scared of change, if you show them not what they lose but what’s possible.”
“You’re very smart, sweetheart,” I said as I knelt to her level.
“He also says you need to hurry because Daddy’s ex-mate is about to fuck everything up, and only he can stop her because mate bond.” Linda's face was troubled, her own much younger than the age-old knowledge it masked. "What's a mate bond?"
Glancing to Lucien, who caught my eye over her head, I found my own worry mirrored in his eyes.
"It's complicated," I told Linda. "But for now, Mommy has to run get the Council and Daddy is going to stay with you."
“And then you will both come back and we become a family again?” The hope in her voice was Childlike purity bursting through adult comprehension.
“That’s the idea, petite étoile,” Lucien replied, pushing her hair back off of her head. “As soon as we take care of a couple of minor problems.”
Another alert bleeped — this time an unknown number. The text was like ice through my veins: “They need you back at the Council - to answer for troubling the supernatural order. But there’s another thing you need to know. Unni is on the run from the vampires with information about Linda's identity. She's taking evidence to the Council that will ruin you both. Heard you might like to have a heads up. —A friend.”
I let Lucien read the message and saw his confusion turn to cold rage.
“Unni,” he called, that name brushing decades of regret and the fresh kind of betrayal.
“Can she really testify to something bad?”
"She's privy to facts about the conception of Linda, regarding my dismissing you and indeed as regards a chronology. If she fends it off smartly to Council..." He stood abruptly. "I need to go. I’m still warded to her as a former mate. I can follow her, stop before she even gets to the Council.”
"But Linda—"
“Shall be guarded by the ancient presence and the best warriors of your own pack.” He was already heading for the exit, guided by a desire to save what he loved. “Laura, I stood by and allowed Unni to destroy our family once. I won't let her do it again."
He hesitated in the doorway and looked at Linda and me with a face worth five years of regrets and a hell-bent determination. "Keep our daughter safe. I'll handle the Council threat."
And then he disappeared, and I had to make my decision, whether to run after him, stick with Linda or race ahead of them all — no matter what choice I made someone who mattered would be fighting for their life without me at their side.