Dmitri hadn’t been particularly stoked with the idea of me spending another night in the Aether after my fun detour trip to ancient Egypt last time. He was less happy about me doing it alone. But we didn’t know what excessive exposure to the celestial energies there would have on him. We had enough shit to deal with as it was. This was the first time I’d had a clear intention and some instructions on how to achieve it, before I let my consciousness drift away to the inky black void with all its twinkling star-like eyes watching me. No one was there to greet me and Dmitri hadn’t been yanked along with me. So far, so good. I sat down and closed my eyes. I was going to call a specific Menae, on purpose, for the first time. The image of a midnight black wolf, with a starburst shaped white patch of fur on the forehead above silver eyes formed in my mind. I needed the daughter that had the gift of reading people, claircognizance, Bo called it. “Delphinios,”

I couldn’t help but wonder if all this was my fault. If I’d just listened to her when she’d insisted that she didn’t need the recognition or the formalities, would we still have to go through any of this? Would Ulf have even found out about her if we hadn’t stuck to tradition and invited him? Candice may have still been a thorn in our side at some point. Be she wouldn’t have been given the chance to create this much trouble. I was sure of that much. She would’ve been killed on sight the moment she’d stepped a foot into our territory. It was just the way that she’d been posed and done up to look like Selene that had saved her life. And now she’d been allowed to get under all of our skin. Without letting Selene rip her mind to shreds there was no way of knowing what information that she’d given to Ulf. We could only assume that she’d divulged every intimate detail that she knew about all of us in her attempt to be his ally. I never should’ve let her stay

“I’ve never faltered in my original oath as your Beta or my loyalties to you or the pack,” I growled angrily, dropping my bag and stepping towards him to meet whatever challenge he wanted to lay before me. “I’m not going to risk the life of my mate on a paltry oath of empty words made when we were children,” Dmitri growled back, staring at me through the obsidian orbs of his wolf’s eyes. “I’ve never told a soul the truth of your relationship,” my own wolf pushed to the surface and growled back. “My oath was neither empty words nor meaningless to me. I will carry that secret to my grave.” He chuckled bitterly, “You’ve always been a defiant and foolish whelp.” “And you’re a stubborn impulsive hot head!” “Wolves back in their cages,” Selene hissed at both of us, having moved undetected yet again. I felt like all the air was sucked out of my lungs, and staggered back as my wolf retreated,

Sophie and I must’ve covered ever inch of hallway through the pack house before dinner. The meal was tasteless in my mouth as I made small talk with our visiting Luna, though Kelly and Sophie handled most of the conversation with talk about the baby shower. I should’ve tried to enjoy it more. It was the last meal I’d have before we turned the whole world on its side for everyone. With Caleb distracted by the proximity of his mate and the full moon just a few days away, neither of our guests seemed to notice when the five of us wondering off together. The closer we got to the secure medical wing, the more anxious I felt. It was one thing to tell someone who I was. It was something completely different to share my blood and then try to call and transfer a wolf spirit while being recorded by any number of medical devices and with an audience. Dr Martinez practically gave Kelly a complete physical before we could proceed with anything. “Are you performing

While the energy wasn’t nearly as bad as when I’d brought Bo over from the Aether, I still felt sluggish and drained in the morning. Part of that could’ve been attributed to the fact that I’d only closed my eyes a few hours ago. As promised, Dmitri hadn’t cared what time it was when we found ourselves alone together. Not that I was complaining. I couldn’t even pretend to be upset that he’d let me sleep through my normal training routine. Both of the people who I trained with had had full days themselves and probably needed the morning off just as much as I had. The thought reminded me that Kelly had spent the whole night in the hospital instead of her own comfortable bed. I nudged Dmitri awake and forced myself to move through our suite to get ready for the day. If Isabel hadn’t already checked on Kelly I could knock that out and make a quick visit to my aunt before breakfast. With Nathan back, I could let him deal with Candice and just fill me in on t