Chapter 50: The Truth Dawns

Jared's POV

"A fifth child?" I grabbed Oracle Mira by the shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

"Quintuplets," Oracle Mira gasped. "Georgia gave birth to five kids that night, not four. Your mother was there during the birth. She took the fifth baby and disappeared."

"That's impossible," Anna said. "Georgia would have known. You can't just steal a baby without the mother noticing."

"You can if the mother is unconscious," Oracle Mira said weakly. "Georgia lost so much blood during birth that she passed out. When she woke up, I only showed her four kids. I was sworn to silence by your mother, Jared. She threatened to kill all five children if I told anyone."

I felt sick. My own mother had done this?

"Where is this fifth child now?" Daemon wanted.

"I don't know," Oracle Mira revealed. "Your mother died two years ago, Jared. I thought maybe the child died too. But if Serefina Brooke is living and working with Caleb..."

"Then she has the fifth child," I finished grimly. "And she's been training it for six years."

Emma's face was white. "We have another sibling? And they've been turned into a weapon?"

"Why would your mother do this?" Anna asked me.

I thought back to my mother's dying years. How paranoid she'd become. How she kept talking about saving the bloodline. About making sure our family stayed strong.

"She never approved of Georgia," I said slowly. "She thought I needed a stronger mate. Maybe she took one of the children to raise herself. To make into the perfect heir."

"Or the perfect killer," Daemon said grimly.

"We don't have time for this," I said, standing up. "Georgia and Kaia are in danger right now. We need to save them first. Then we'll worry about the fifth child."

"But what if the fifth child is at the warehouse?" Emma asked. "What if that's the trap?"

She had a point. But I couldn't just leave Georgia and Kaia with Caleb.

"I have to go," I said. "Alone, like Caleb demanded."

"No way," Kelvin said strongly. "We're coming with you."

"Absolutely not," I said. "You're children. This is too dangerous."

"We're not normal children," Kelsey reminded me. "We have powers. We can help."

"Emma almost died fighting Grandmother," I said. "I won't risk you three too."

"Mom would want us to help," Emma said stubbornly. "She'd want all of us to save her and Kaia together. As a family."

The word "family" hit me hard. These kids had only known me for days, but they already considered me family. They trusted me. Believed in me.

How could I let them down?

"Fine," I relented. "But you follow my orders exactly. No miracles. No running in. We do this smart and careful."

They all nodded.

We grabbed weapons and headed to the old warehouse on the edge of pack territory. It was abandoned, dark, and creepy.

"He's definitely in there," Daemon said, sniffing the air. "I can smell his scent. And Georgia's. And..." He stopped, confused. "Something else. Someone I don't recognize."

"The fifth child," I said with certainty.

We approached the building carefully. The front door was open, like an offer.

"It's definitely a trap," Anna whispered.

"I know," I said. "But we don't have a choice."

We entered slowly. Inside was dark except for one light in the center. Under the light stood Caleb, holding Kaia. Georgia was chained to a post nearby, unconscious.

"Mom!" Emma screamed.

"Ah, you brought the whole family," Caleb said with a smile. "Perfect."

"Let them go," I ordered. "This is between you and me."

"Is it?" Caleb asked. "Because I think it's about so much more than that."

He snapped his fingers. Someone stepped out of the shadows behind him.

A child. Maybe six years old. With red hair and green eyes just like mine. Just like the triplets.

But this child was different. Their eyes were cold. Empty. Like they'd never felt love or joy in their entire life.

"Meet your fifth child, Jared," Caleb said. "I call them Shadow."

"Shadow?" Emma whispered. "That's our sibling?"

"Hello, brothers and sister," Shadow said in a flat, lifeless voice. "I'm here to kill you all."

"No," I breathed. "You're just a child. You don't have to do this."

"I'm not a child," Shadow said. "I'm a weapon. That's what Grandmother raised me to be. And guns don't have feelings."

Shadow raised their hands and dark magic—darker than anything I'd ever seen—shot toward us.

We barely dodged in time.

"Stop this!" I shouted at Caleb. "They're innocent! All of them!"

"None of them are innocent," a familiar voice said from above.

We all looked up. Georgia's mother stood on a platform, very much living.

"Hello, daughter," she said to Georgia, who was beginning to wake up. "Miss me?"

"You're supposed to be dead," Georgia whispered softly.

"I'm very good at not dying," her mother said. "It's a useful skill when you're trying to destroy the world."

"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "What do you want?"

"What I've always wanted," she said. "Power. And thanks to Georgia giving birth to five beautiful children, I finally have the key to ultimate power."

"The Original Lycans," Daemon said. "You want to wake them."

"Very smart," she praised. "Yes, the Original Lycans. The first of our kind. They've been sleeping for a thousand years. And to wake them, I need the blood of five sibling children born from two strong bloodlines."

"No," Georgia sobbed. "You can't. If you wake the Originals, they'll destroy everything."

"Exactly," her mother said happily. "And from that ruin, I'll build a new world. One where I rule."

She waved her hand and all four children—Emma, Kelvin, Kelsey, and Shadow—were pulled toward the center of the room by magic. Chains appeared, tying them in a circle.

"Stop!" I roared, trying to break through the magical barrier surrounding them.

"And now for the fifth," Georgia's mother said. She looked at Kaia, still in Caleb's arms. "Oh wait. She's not your child, is she Jared? She's Caleb's. How inconvenient."

"Then you can't do the ritual," Anna said desperately. "You need five siblings from the same father!"

Georgia's mother smiled slowly. "Actually, I only need five brothers who share the same mother. The father doesn't matter at all. I lied about that part. And all five of these beautiful children share Georgia's blood."

She gestured and Kaia was ripped from Caleb's arms and pulled into the circle with her brothers.

"No!" Georgia screamed, fighting against her chains. "Please! Take me! Kill me! But let my babies go!"

"Oh, I will kill you," her mother said. "That's part of the practice too. The mother's ready sacrifice. Once you agree to die for them, their blood will trigger. And the Originals will rise."

"I'll never agree," Georgia said strongly.

Her mother pulled out a knife. "We'll see about that."

She walked to Shadow and held the knife to the child's throat. "I'll start with this one. The one you've never met. The one who feels like a stranger. Let's see if you care enough to die for them."

"Don't," Shadow said emotionlessly. "She won't sacrifice herself for me. I'm nothing to her."

"That's not true," Georgia cried. "You're my baby. Even if I never got to hold you. Even if I didn't know you existed. You're mine. And I love you."

Shadow's empty expression flickered. Just for a second. Like something inside them was waking up.

"Interesting," Georgia's mother said. "It seems even my perfect tool has a weakness. Love."

She pressed the knife harder against Shadow's throat. Blood started dripping.

"Stop!" Georgia screamed. "I agree! I'll die! Just don't hurt my babies!"

Her mother smiled proudly. "There it is. The willing sacrifice. The final piece."

The chains around the children started glowing. Their blood began to float upward, making a swirling pattern in the air.

"The ritual has begun," Georgia's mother announced. "And now, daughter, it's time for you to die."

But before she could move toward Georgia, Shadow did something unexpected.

They broke their chains with a burst of golden magic—the same golden magic Kaia had.

"I'm not a weapon," Shadow said, their voice filling with feeling for the first time. "I'm a person. And no one hurts my mother."

They struck Georgia's mother with such force that she flew backward.

The other children's chains broke too. They joined Shadow, their combined magic forming a barrier around themselves and their mother.

"Impossible!" Georgia's mother shrieked. "I raised you! I made you what you are!"

"You made me empty," Shadow said. "But my real mother just gave me something you never could. Love. And that makes me stronger than you'll ever be."

But then Caleb pulled out a strange device and pushed a button.

Shadow screamed and fell to the ground, convulsing.

"Did you really think I didn't have a backup plan?" Caleb asked. "That device is wired straight to Shadow's heart. I can stop it anytime I want."

He looked at me with cold eyes. "Here's my final deal, Jared. Georgia dies and the rite completes, or I kill Shadow right now. Your pick. You have ten seconds to decide which child you're willing to lose."