Sure, the Highbanks went out of their way to give me peace and harmony, but we all knew the day was coming when I’d be confronted with my destiny. That was some sword of Damocles to have hanging over my head, because I wasn’t just Grace. I was the Sun Child.

Whatever that meant…

I knew the Mother had told me at my covenant, the meeting all shifters had with her at their first shift, but I couldn’t remember what she’d said. And I’d never told anyone that, not even my mates.

As my eyes focused, I swept my legs out of bed and stood up, wincing with how shaky they were and how I felt. Stumbling into the connecting bath with my glass in hand, I yelped when my toe collided with the footboard.

“What the heck?” I squeaked, gripping onto the footrail to stop myself from toppling over as the desire to hop around was more than simply beyond my capabilities. Groaning, I hobbled on one foot and used my other hand to rub my toe. Glaring at my bed which, impossible though it seemed, felt like it was in the wrong place, I staggered into the bathroom.

After filling my cup twice and drinking the entire contents twice, I filled it a third time and finally felt like my thirst was sated.

With that taken care of, I returned to my room and stared at it.

Was it different?

Why was my bed out of place?

The ache in my head returned so I stopped focusing on the things that didn’t matter, and instead, staggered back to bed. As I did, I groaned again when my foot collided with something else.

“For Mother’s sake,” I rasped, wondering what on earth had happened in here. I was a very tidy person, but here I was, crashing into things left, right, and center, dammit!

Throwing myself onto my bed for safety, I bent down and retrieved the book from the floor. I didn’t recognize it, which made me think it belonged either to Cade or to Knight, but when I stared at it, my brows lifted in surprise.

It wasn’t just a book.

It was, if anything, a tome.

And sure, there was a massive difference. I’d hung around Ethan enough to know that much. No way could this be compared to a standard paperback. The actual cover was made from leather, and it had metal studs in it which dug into my fingers where I held it. It was dark red, the color of blood, and the studs were copper that had oxidized green with age.

In gold lettering, in between the studs which didn’t form any kind of pattern that I recognized at least, it read, “Nevaehai.”

I blinked at the title even as my fingers already started to trace the letters. The font wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen before. It kind of reminded me of really old script you’d see in human bibles, but it was different. More illegible. Maybe Nevaehai wasn’t what it said, but either way, as the bumps of the leather connected with my fingers, I shivered.

“This definitely isn’t Knight’s or Cade’s,” I muttered to myself. Knight, because he hated reading and this wasn’t a school textbook—the only thing he could be forced to sit down with. Cade because, while he loved reading, this didn’t have any anime characters in it—his current material of choice.

As I tilted the book, I saw there was a kind of locking system that kept the two flaps of it together, only, it wasn’t closed.

A little nervous, I opened the book, and what I read changed everything.

My life, and my mates’ too.

Six

Knight

Later that night

I’d admit to feeling guilty.

Not because I’d done anything wrong, dammit—which wasn’t a lie. I’d only spoken with Ashley, and both Grace and Cade had reacted like I’d fucked her or something. As if.

It was just…

Mother, it felt nice to talk to someone who wasn’t like me.

Who wasn’t like Cade.

Or Grace.

Or my mother or my fathers.

Someone normal. Boring. But with great tits.

I scrubbed a hand over my face at the thought, which made me feel guiltier. Lots of guys in my class were normal and boring, but Ashley had a great rack, so I guessed that was why I preferred talking to her.

Being around Grace was a sweet kind of hell, and I almost resented Daniel and Cade. Daniel because he’d taken himself off, away from us, which meant he wasn’t being tormented by his mate. Cade wasn’t like me, wasn’t like any of us—his kumiho kept him calm. He didn’t have to deal with an alpha wolf who knew his female was there, but couldn’t have her. Was denied to him by stupid pack law.

I had to admit, though, talking to Ashley was something the wolf wasn’t down with. Even if I’d wanted to, which I hadn’t, my wolf would never have let me fuck Ashley. Even if my balls were close to bursting, which they were, the only bitch my beast wanted to be near was Grace.

We were both on the same team where that was concerned, but the human half of me wasn’t as smart.

I’d known talking with Ashley was a bad idea, but I’d shoved it off. Just taken it as my right to have a friend from school. I’d never thought it would trigger one of Grace’s episodes.

She’d been having them since her covenant. Moments that triggered weird elemental shifts, ones that only Cade could bring her down from. He did something to her, something I wasn’t sure he really understood either, but it was like he doped her up with drugs. Afterward, she tended to fall asleep and the following morning, she didn’t remember anything about what had happened during that ‘episode.’

I felt bad that I was the direct cause of one, felt better that she wouldn’t remember it, but knowing Cade wouldn’t forget and would probably drag it up in the future, pissed me off.

Even if it was my own fault.

As I stared up at the ceiling, watching the shadows of the trees sway and drift in the summer breeze, I happened to hear a door opening in the hall.

I wasn’t sure if my parents were cautiously optimistic or just aware that I was honorable because putting Grace in the bedroom beside mine was a vicious kind of torture. Her scent was everywhere in the house too. So painful, so delicious.

Sitting up, I leaned on one elbow as I tried to tune into the sounds of the house.

Grace rarely left her room after dark. If anyone raided the kitchen, it was me, but knowing she was awake after Cade had calmed her down had relief filling me because I was always worried she’d never wake up again.

Getting to my feet, I trudged after her, intending to grab some food with her if that was her goal. I was starving after having shifted earlier to heal the chest wound Grace had given me. It had stung like a bitch, and had taken two shifts to fully heal so my stomach was definitely gnawing at me.

Only, when I opened the door and headed down the hall, I peered over the bannister and saw she wasn’t aiming for the kitchen which was at the back of the house—she was going to the front door.

“Grace!” I hissed, wondering what she was about to do, but she didn’t listen.

If anything, she ignored me.

Mother, did she remember the fight?

Crap.

Hurrying down the stairs after her, I wondered when she’d gotten so frickin’ fast that she was halfway across the yard and almost at the forest line.

“What’s going on?”

I shot Cade a look, unsurprised that he was here. He was three doors’ down from Grace’s room, so with me making noise and her too, there was no way he’d have stayed asleep. That he’d managed to catch up with me told me the little shit was getting faster as well.