Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 137871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 689(@200wpm)___ 551(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 689(@200wpm)___ 551(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
“Perhaps his mate died.”
That seemed obvious to Adriel. “You never considered that possibility?”
Juniper scoffed, her eyes shifting to awe. “It makes sense why he was so protective of her.”
“Who?”
“Cybil,” Dane said and chills raced up Adriel’s legs, her head already shaking in denial.
Cybil was a lost tragedy. Dane needed to accept that and move on.
“He drank from her,” Juniper whispered as she stared into the distance as if recalling a different time and place. “I heard them at night, growling and slurping.”
“I saw it too,” Dane confessed. “I even reported it to the council.”
“Maybe that’s why she went ballistic when you tried to kill him.” Juniper looked at Adriel. “How long ago was he called?”
“It’s been nearly a century.”
“A hundred years seems like a nice round number.” She shrugged. “Your sister would be of age by then.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Adriel argued.
“Do we honestly know anything about how it works?” Juniper challenged. “Gracie was just called to a wolf-man.”
“He’s a shadow-wolf,” Lazarus corrected, sounding very much like Adriel.
“Whatever. I’m just saying, those two were in that basement with me for months. I heard them attack anyone who came within reach, but they never hurt each other.”
“She’s right,” Dane breathed. “He protected her. And she protected him. They were both feral but not nearly as deranged as everyone believed. They trusted each other. If their humanity were truly gone, that wouldn’t be possible.”
“Be careful, Dane,” Adriel warned. “Some answers only complicate matters.”
“No offense, Adriel, but I’d rather know the truth than hide behind ignorance.”
There would be no arguing with him. No matter what the outcome, she was certain neither Isaiah nor Cybil could be saved and that was going to be another painful lesson Dane would eventually learn.
CHAPTER 37
Juniper slipped a book from the shelf in Lazarus’s library and drifted out back toward the greenhouse. Adriel was reconnecting with her family and she didn’t want to rush them. It was still sinking in that they had a lifetime to get to know each other and the three of them were buzzing with questions and curiosity.
They weren’t the only ones wrestling with this new kind of normal. Juniper had to constantly remind herself the battle was over. The grueling existence they survived had finally shifted like a dancer swiftly changing directions on a stage, and the wind now blew in a new direction.
It was a strange awareness, and Juniper couldn’t easily accept a life of ease after years of confined torment and life-or-death battles with a monster. Survival had been so hard for so long, that peace made her uneasy.
She sometimes caught herself laughing, and a spike of nervous energy would shoot through her. Her eyes would meet Dane’s or Adriel’s as if they felt the same stab of guilt, and then a shaky smile would appear. Who knew letting go of anger to create room for joy could be so challenging and feel so unnatural?
Happiness was definitely a process. Together, they would get there.
Adriel’s laughter coasted on the breeze. Juniper smiled at the illuminated house, warmth spreading through her chest at the perfect sound. Yes, they were getting there.
Opening the stiff pages of the book brought about the scent of time and wisdom. This one had a spine sewn of thread so rotted, the pages slipped loose from the binding. She righted the loose pages and dragged her finger down the crease.
“Sarciri glutino ventoque ad tempus.” The scent of ash filled the greenhouse, and the spine's filament cinched tight.
The corner of Juniper’s mouth curled into a half grin. Damn, she was good.
Settling into the hammock chair, she turned her back to the moon and flipped to page one. The ink was faded but at least this one was written in English. Lazarus had the most extensive library on paranormal lore she’d ever seen, and she planned to read every single book on his shelf as well as every personal entry of his and Lilias’s journals—with their permission of course.
The elder Schrocks were an open book. They believed knowledge needed to be shared for the sake of survival and that censorship led to corruption in more than mortal governments, and the history of supernatural species was an essential part of avoiding extinctions.
Juniper understood why Lazarus was so passionate about preserving the truth, especially when his own family had been so ravaged by lies. Even witches, nowadays, were commercialized into cutesy Hallmark card beings. There was an entire subculture of crystal pushing, tchotchke selling, tarot reading phonies out there dressed in gypsy clothing while wearing goth eyeliner pretending to be witches. It normalized the literature, but also buried the real magick in a slush pile of self-published bullshit that balanced between herbalist secrets and manifesting coincidence.
Lazarus’s library was the real deal. He had books on all types of immortal creatures and those who lived far beyond mortal possibility—draugrs, shadow-wolves, spirits, fairies, banshees, demons, and more. Lazarus had information on all of them.