He hadn’t intended for me to find three mates, to become the female leader of a powerful pack, and to have a connection with the Mother that would see me change the way the pack was governed in more ways than one.

In fact, I had to believe that if Cyrilo had known all that, he’d have purposely left me the hell alone.

Still, I heaved a sigh when they darted back like wusses and got inside the SUV.

“Why were they so scared?” Lara asked as she watched them drive off with a frown. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

Austin blinked at her. “You could have said it then.”

“She works differently, Austin. She isn’t as quick to talk as we are.”

“As you are,” Ethan grumbled at his brother, making me roll my eyes.

Seriously, when this milk moon stuff was over with, I was boning Ethan twice because he was a serious grouch when he was horny.

Thankfully, my barriers stayed erect at that, because Austin didn’t even make a quip at my thoughts, and I twisted back around to Lara and murmured, “Berry is special. They sensed that, that’s why they wanted to get out of the way.”

“Oh, that isn’t normal? I mean, he said she was a natural but…”

I frowned at her. “But, what?”

“Well, she’s a shifter, isn’t she?” Lara asked, her voice wary now, but her question had all of us tensing.

“You can recognize that?” Eli rasped, his face loaded with a tension I easily understood. Especially as Berry wasn’t a shifter.

She worried her bottom lip, and I could tell that she wished she hadn’t said anything. Her shoulders hunched up, which prompted me to move forward, to raise my arm and curve it about her shoulder so that I could haul her in close to me.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. We’re not worried. Just very surprised.” I cleared my throat when Eli’s impatience bombarded me, never mind her.

I glowered at him, and mentally flipped him the bird. “She can feel your irritation,” I ground out, watching him glare back at me before he huffed a breath and stacked his hands on his hips.

“You’re not afraid of him, are you?”

Lara’s question had my brows soaring high, but my men shuffled about awkwardly. They knew we’d both been raised in an abusive household, so her question didn’t put them on the defensive, just made them a tad uncomfortable.

As well as homicidal.

Father was fortunate he was already dead, was all I’d say.

“I’m never afraid of any of them.”

“Even when they’re angry?”

“They’re never angry with me. Even if I do stupid shit.” My lips quirked up at that, when I thought about all the times I’d woken them up when I was pregnant to go traipsing through the woods to the totem circle.

I mean, at first, they hadn’t known they’d get laid, but they’d come with me, grumbling and grousing as I wandered through the forest like a sylph.

“You never do stupid shit,” Lara argued. “You’re very sensible.”

Austin snorted. “I wouldn’t say that.”

I grinned at him. “You love how sensible I am.”

His laugh made my heart soar, and I turned my grin to my sister, letting her soak in the rays because she hadn’t had enough joy in her life, and I knew that was founded in our heritage in more ways than just one.

Not only because of our father, but because of the gifts she’d been granted—and hers? Made mine look like springtime walks in the park.

She eyed my smile and released a soft breath. “I’m glad you’re happy, sister.”

“I am, Lara. I’m very happy. Every miserable day was worth it for the gift of my life now.”

My men tensed at that, and I knew they hadn’t anticipated such a reply. I couldn’t blame them, not when I hadn’t intended on saying it, but it was true.

I’d give anything for Joshua to live again. I’d give anything for Kian to have another chance at a life that was cut tragically short. But this me? This Sabina was so happy, I felt like I was high.

Sure, my emotions changed, and one of my guys might piss me off, or someone in the pack might make me grind my teeth, but that was life too. You couldn’t be happy all the time, and now, I was pain-free, loved, and blessed with a child who was safe—who the Mother had promised would never be harmed…in other words, I knew, the Mother had meant I’d never lose him like I had Joshua.

That was more than any woman could ever ask for.

I sucked in a breath as my eyes started to prickle with tears, not because I was sad, but because of the opposite. I just absorbed how happy I was, and I wanted her to know it. Wanted her to feel it so that she’d know she could open up to Austin, Ethan, and Eli, so she’d know they were family too and that they’d protect her like they’d protect me and Knight.

She stared at me a second before she graced me with a hesitant smile. Her hand reached out, and she traced my lips, traced my happiness, and whispered, “I can see your she-wolf. She’s silver, isn’t she? Or silvery-white. Bright blue eyes.”

I tensed at that, before I gawked at her some more. “How do you see that?”

She released a shaky breath. “Do you remember the spirits—?”

When her words broke off, I got it.

“Oh my god, Lara. Oh my god! You could see their animals? They were the spirits you saw?”

She gulped, nodded. “I just never understood it. Never—” Her hands came up to cup her face, and when she rubbed her eyes, I got it.

Totally.

All her life, she’d felt sure she was losing it, and when she’d told me why, I’d understood. But now, it was rammed home to me just how strong her gift was.

Especially when she turned to my mates and correctly identified their coloring, from their fur to their eyes, and when she turned to Berry, she did the opposite.

Only, I didn’t recognize the description she gave me.

My men, on the other hand, did.

And when Lara finished, Berry howled, but she didn’t move over to me. Didn’t move away, just stood in the circle with the twins, and her family came from out of the woods. Not the pack, just the male who I knew was her mate, who I’d nicknamed Silver, and the elder pup, Lucky, who was fully matured now.

When she stared at us from the circle of her family, Eli rasped, “How can this be?”

Austin and Ethan were just as somber, but it was Ethan who whispered, “They’re us.”

“This is impossible,” Austin rasped, but Berry howled. Then, with a yip, like they were bored, the two twins…twins—sweet lord—started bouncing around, teasing, nipping at their heels, and enticing the other males to play.

We watched them do just that, until another howl from the forest had them dashing off, back to where they belonged now.

Only, Berry stood up, her head turned back to us as she watched us watch her.

I gulped, then did the only thing I could do, “Go and be with them, Berry,” I told her, even though her name was Merinda.

I felt the instant fear that I’d never see her again, but she looked to her sons, then yipped, and responded to another howl I knew came from her elder son.

The wolf equivalent of Eli.

As she left, I felt my mates sagging around me. Not only with confusion but with distress.