Chapter 61
Wednesday 23rd September, 2020 (Continued)
Jonah’s POV
I could not sleep. My wolf wanted to be next to Star so he could relax. It was hard for him and me to be away from our mate. I had not asked Star about what Harper had revealed to me yet. I wondered why she had not told me about what Mrs Plastique had done. I felt sickened by it. How could she have stolen her niece’s inheritance. Mrs Plastique’s husband was quite wealthy. It was not as though she needed to be twice as wealthy. They had left Star and her grandmother practically destitute. To add insult to injury, Angie was aware of the theft and she had taken every opportunity to make fun of Star’s financial situation. That was monstrous in my eyes. I had not realised how truly wicked she could be at first. I felt a strange mix of emotions. Guilt, regret, anger, shock. I was conflicted. I could not cut ties with Angie completely just yet. I was afraid something terrible could happen because of the curse. My wolf told me something bad could happen either way because of all the attention my brothers and I had given Star lately. I was wide awake and just staring at the ceiling when Noah burst into my room.
“We have to snow globe our way back to our pack lands now. We have work to do!” Noah said.
“We’ve only been here a day and a half,” I said, surprised at the urgency in his tone. Did he expect us to do this right away in the wee hours of the morning?
“Have you talked to Dad yet?” Noah demanded.
“No, I’ll call him first thing when the sun comes up,” I said, trying to placate Noah.
“Well, I have,” said Noah.
I raised my eyebrows.
“I spoke to Jamie through a magic mirror first and then I spoke to Dad too!” Said Noah.
I nodded, waiting to hear the rest of the story. Noah took a deep breath.
“They excavated Alpha Alto’s tomb and the coffin was empty!” Said Noah.
“What?!” I yelped. We were in deep. “Where is he? What are we gonna do?” I said. My wolf began to panic.
“Relax,” said Noah sternly.
I narrowed my eyes at him, annoyed at his dismissal of my reaction.
“There’s more,” he said to soften the blow he had just dealt. “Jamie asked Dad to unearth Oleander too!”
“Was he missing too?” I wondered.
“No, he was there!” Said Noah.NôvelDrama.Org: owner of this content.
“Ok,” I mumbled.
I was not following what the new plan was.
“So…” I began.
“So Jamie wants to have a seance to speak to Oleander!” Said Noah.
My mouth was agape. “She thinks he moved the body?” I said.
“Who else would have done such a thing?” Asked Noah exasperatedly.
I sighed.
“Ok, well why do we have to leave in the wee hours of the morning though?” I asked.
“Because we put Alpha Jessie in danger!” Said Noah.
I furrowed my brow. “How?” I asked.
“Georgianna put a witch’s mark on Jessie’s wrist when he and Jamie found her body. That means she will take him with her if we don’t bring Alpha Alto’s body to her soon,” explained Noah, his face pale and strained.
I took a deep breath. We had dragged Jamie and Jessie into this in the first place.
“So I offered myself in Jessie’s place if it comes down to that. It’s not Jessie’s family curse to bear,” said Noah.
“WHAT?!” I yelled. The room quaked.
“Cut it out!” Demanded Noah.
“Why would you do something like that?” I spat.
“There’s four of us and only one Jessie. If anything happened to me, Star would still have you, Zaya and Eli. If Jessie gets taken, Jamie and their twin children would be all alone,” Noah said, explaining his reasoning.
I did not respond. I didn’t want my little brother to risk himself. I was the eldest. I was supposed to protect everyone.
“No one is going with Georgianna,” I said, more to myself than to Noah.
“Well, not if Jamie’s plan works,” said Noah.
“So why does Jamie doing a seance to contact Oleander involve us snow globe hopping back immediately?” I asked, still confused.
“Jamie says that usually in seances, a loved one of the deceased is trying to contact them. The loved one is the link she said, to help make contact. The seance would work better that way. We’re not loved ones of Oleander but we are of his lineage. He might come forth for us,” said Noah.
I sighed. It was worth a shot.
“What if Star doesn’t want to go?” I asked.
“She has to! She belongs with us!” Insisted Noah.
“Harper would want to stay,” I pointed out. “And then Star may want to stay with her twin,” I mumbled.
Noah was considering what I was saying.
“I have something to tell you too,” I added hesitantly.
“What?” Asked Noah.
I was contemplating telling Noah about Angie’s mom and the real will of Star’s adopted father. Star should have been the heiress of her adopted father’s estate not Mrs Plastique or Angie.
“Jonah?” Prompted Noah.
I would tell him later. My head was swimming with thoughts. I felt saturated.
“Nothing,” I lied.
Star’s POV
My mates woke me up in the wee hours of the morning. “What’s wrong?” I asked, immediately noticing the grim expressions of their faces.
“Star, remember I told you about Jessie getting a witch’s mark and that Georgianna said she would take him if we don’t bring Alto soon?” Noah said.
My heart plummeted. Had she already spirited Jessie away somehow.
“Yeah, I remember! Is he ok? What happened? Your Dad is getting Alto’s body right? And Jamie has Georgiana’s. We’re almost there aren’t we?” I fired a series of questions at them as my mind and heart raced.
“Dad didn’t find Alto’s body. The coffin was empty,” said Noah gently.
I felt physically sick.
“What are we gonna do?” I asked.
“A seance to ask Oleander where Alto’s body is!” Said Eli.
I had not been expecting that. Zaya and Noah nodded eagerly at Eli’s words. The three younger brothers were scrutinising my expression. Jonah however would not meet my eyes all of a sudden. Were things going to go right back to normal? I felt my heart constrict painfully.
“We need to go,” said Jonah softly, still refusing to meet my gaze.
“What about Harper and my Dad? And the Queen?” I asked anxiously.
“They’ll be ok!” Said Jonah dismissively. “We need to go back to our pack lands!”
“I can’t leave without telling Harper,” I said firmly.
“You left our pack lands without telling us,” said Zaya, fixing me with a glare.
I had not had his anger directed at me since the night of the party. It took me back to that time immediately. It was just like this, very late, all the Quads against me. That time they had all told me to go away and I did. This time they all wanted me to come with them and I didn’t want to. I simply could not hold my tongue on this one.
“That’s not a fair comparison. You tell each other things before you tell me and I get that, you shared a womb. Harper and I are twins. It’s the same,” I retorted.
Zaya opened his mouth to argue but Eli put a hand on his shoulder.
“Ok, Princess, let’s wake up Harper and your Dad. I don’t want to upset them either,” said Eli.
I smiled gratefully at him.
Zaya huffed and folded his arms but did not protest. Noah and Jonah were quiet too. We all went to Harper’s room. I knocked on his door. There was no answer.
“Harper!” I said sharply.
Silence.
Harper! I called through mind-link.
Nothing.
“Where is he?” I wondered aloud.
Zaya tried to force the door open but it was locked and I was pretty sure all the doors and windows were enchanted with Fae magic for protection if even earrings could be so well enchanted as to have distinct personalities.
I frowned.
“We need to go, Star! Jessie and Jamie are counting on us and they didn’t hesitate to help us when we needed them. It wasn’t even affecting them. They could have left us to face the curse alone…” quarrelled Zaya, pausing mid-sentence to stare at me.
“Where’s your ring?” Zaya asked. “You’re supposed to always wear it!” He chastised.
“I lost it,” I said apologetically.
“I know,” Zaya said. “Jonah found it. You haven’t given it back to her? Where is it?” Snapped Zaya, turning on his eldest brother.
Jonah took the ring out. “It totally slipped my mind with everything that’s been going on,” said Jonah. He did look dazed.
Zaya snatched the ring and grabbed my hand. He was so agitated. I instinctively pulled my hand away in annoyance.
“Oh, good grief, Star,” he said.
Since when was I ‘Star’ all the time and not ‘Baby.’
“Even you are being flippant with me now!” I said.
Zaya’s expression faltered.
“Star, I just want to take you home. You’re mine and you’re not acting like it,” he said.
Ugh!
“I’m not a possession,” I said.
“I don’t mean it like that,” said Zaya exasperatedly.
“Princess, let’s help Jessie and Jamie do this seance. They deserve our help,” cooed Eli.
I felt a pang of guilt.
“Of course they do,” I said, my tone softening. “But…they just need the relatives of Oleander to do the seance. They don’t need me.”
“We came all this way to take you back home, to rescue you,” said Zaya, sounding more hurt than angry now.
More guilt stirred up within me.
“I know,” I said softly. “I appreciate that. I do…but…I wasn’t in danger here. I didn’t need rescuing. I’m probably safer here than on the Viper Moon Pack lands.”
“The Viper Moon Pack lands?” Said Zaya incredulously. “Not our pack lands? Are we not gonna rule as Luna and Alphas then?”
I bit my l*p.
“I never said that. I found my Dad, my twin, a whole Fae family and werewolf and Fae kingdom and my dragon less than two days ago,” I said. “I don’t wanna just up and leave.”
“Don’t you have the snow globe?” Asked Noah suddenly. “The one that goes straight to the Viper Moon Pack lands and back here in the Ice Moon Pack lands?”
“Yes!” I said, nodding.
“We could take the long way,” suggested Noah, looking at his brothers. “We have some snow globes to return along the way and Star could use the shortcut with her direct portal when she’s ready to come back.”
Eli seemed to be considering this. Jonah’s expression was unfathomable.
“Are you guys for real right now?” Asked Zaya.
I hated seeing him look so hurt and after the special time we had had.
“Zaya,” I pleaded. “Don’t be up-…”
“Since you have that portal, it’s not a big deal to just come with us now! You can easily go back and forth afterwards,” said Zaya.
“Harper is going to be Alpha for sure now,” I told them. “He impressed the Queen and he has a dragon now, a golden one, called Helena the Heaven-born. She’s getting along great with Haven the Hellish.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Said Zaya.
“There are so many reasons for me to stay. I haven’t fully sorted out stuff yet. I don’t know how to use my Fae mag-…”
Zaya interrupted me again. “No, there’s one reason to stay, your family and one reason to go, your mates and I get it. I know where I am on your list of priorities now. Just so you know, I would defy my father if needed and I have defied my brothers for you before already,” said Zaya. “I’m not asking you to forsake them forever. I’m asking you to be my mate properly.”
That stung. I did not know what to say. There was a long tense moment in which no one spoke.
“What’s going on here?” Said a deep voice.
I turned around, startled.
My Dad.