Tate’s heart stopped everytime Stella called him ‘dad’ around Margaret. The pessimistic part of him thought that Margaret would be angered and tell her daughter to stop acknowledging him like that. But when Margaret said nothing the first time, he felt relieved; the second time, he felt hopeful; the third time, which was now, he felt like the most blessed creature in the world.   He matched Stella’s smirk when he said, “Says the one who’s trying to converge every conversation with me to only one topic.”   “Which topic is that?” Stella questioned.   “You’re doing it again.”   “I know,” Stella chuckled, and as embarrassed as Margaret was, she couldn’t help but smile at her daughter’s happy face. There was no worry or

When they were far away enough, Rafael said, “May I just say that was a game well-played back there, Your High—” “It’s just ‘Lucy’, Rafael, really. And I wasn’t playing anything. Those two cousins hate each other more than anything or anyone. If they don’t improve when everyone else does, I WILL be practicing with my husband despite the risks.” Rafael took a peek at his best friend now manipulating the king and duke before he said, “I doubt the king and duke would let that happen, Lucy.” When they reached the tree, Lucianne asked, “So, who am I fighting, Rafael?” With a warm smile, Rafael said, “Me.” 

Xandar and Greg shared their thoughts with Pellethia, who was more than ready to see it in action. Practice began. When they felt the mental walls beginning to build up, both cousins closed their darkening eyes, letting the manipulation guide them towards the illusion they were being made to see. Pellethia moved from her original spot, walking around them but being careful to manipulate the cousins’ hearing so that they couldn’t hear her footsteps. Without sight, Xandar and his animal could only rely on their sense of smell, sound and touch. Their ears picked up growls from at least ten creatures, but their nose only detected two creatures within his vicinity. One was moving. One wasn’t. Greg only heard one snarling creature, but it didn’t sound like a wolf or lycan, more like a vampire. Scents guided him to a

The mental practice with the decipios drained the lycans and wolves, who were all obviously unfamiliar with their power, and most of them slept in the next day. Lucianne and Xandar only woke up when Reida demanded diaper changes and feeding, and the parents were utterly (and guiltily) relieved that Mrs Parker was coming at noon to babysit. They’d have a few more hours of rest while Reida was in the caretaker’s safe hands. After a short nap, Lucianne went to her reading wonderland and started reading one of Iridessa’s two theses on prisoner reentry, which Ivory handed to her before they parted ways the previous night. She only left the bedroom for ten minutes before her husband came looking for her.  It took Xandar zero brain power to figure out where she had gone. He groaned at the emptiness of the bed and drag

Before the five-second cue was up for round two, Margaret heard fierce and loud snarls, the type of snarls that normally hit her eardrums when her rogue pack was surrounded by other rogues who were ready to attack to either steal their supplies or kill her to assimilate her followers into their own pack.   Her survival instincts took over, and she opened her eyes to find that she was surrounded by more than ten rogue wolves, and she could see that a part of their shelter was already on fire. It was exactly like her vision.    What she didn’t realize was that there was no smoke smell despite the fire, and it didn’t occur to her that their pack had never and would never take shelter in an open space like Polje with no trees to hide them. These logical conclusions were not at the forefront of Margaret’s mind because her mind was do