Saving Aeron

Take out

The hot water from the shower cascaded down her back as Brigh washed the sickness of seeing her sister betray her off of her body. If their parents could see them now, they would admonish them for letting anything tear them apart. Family is not political. Family first. You don't disagree in public with your family. And here, Neasa betrayed them all. As the steam built up on the walls and mirrors, Brigh let the water drum against her head, hoping to drown out the words left unsaid that still threatened to roll off her tongue.

She yelled into the downrush of the shower and let her body shake as she crouched to her knees. They had both betrayed her long before she knew and obviously before she married Fergus and they killed Balor and sentenced her to death. But that hadn't happened here and still she felt like it had just happened. She had tried so hard to find where they betrayed her, she thought it was after, not before. She buried her feelings and thoughts towards those people closest to her and effectively blinded herself to what they were doing.

The knock on the door shattered her thoughts. "Brigh, it's Kai. I was at the desk out here and we heard you scream. Are you OK?" Thankfully, he had recognized the differences in what screams could be.

"Just letting out some tension." She wiped her face as she turned the water off. "I'm good."

"Let me know if you need anything. Fynlee's going to order some take out."

Fynlee knew just the way to drag her out of her own head- pizza. "Tell her to make mine mushroom and meatball."

She felt anything but good. She failed her family and she was losing her pack- no amount of extra cheese and grease would make that easier. She felt like she was just swimming in the middle of the ocean without a safe harbor in sight. The only good thing that had come out of this had been Kai. While he had surprised her with his arrival and she kept him at arms length, he was one of the closest people she had that she trusted. With Fynlee and Gavin supporting her, she felt safe and determined, but with Kai, he looked at her like she could do all the things she wanted to.

He stayed in her suite, with Fynlee and Gavin, and rarely left her side. His nose was always buried in a book or on the computer analyzing the research done at the hospital, but his ears were always open and scanning the room, making her feel like she could relax for a moment.

Even when they were silent and watching a movie or waiting for news, his presence kept her calm. Even Reyna adored him, purring and relaxing when he was in the room. They could relax when he was on watch.

The room was full of condensation racing down the walls and steam rising up off of her skin. She needed that. Now, she needed to get her head into the game.

As Luna, it was her responsibility to negotiate a peace with the warring packs, but even in her training, she hadn't read about a scenario quite like the one her sister walked them into. Warlocks, witches, and wizards had waged wars with different shifter packs throughout history, but logic and negotiation had always brought peace back to the people.

The Lunar Mind had always been able to be controlled. The Luna, or Alpha, of the pack bound the wolf and the suffering lived out their time in a monastery equipped to handle lunacy. It was a sanctuary for the afflicted and allowed them to live out a life with counseling and redirection. Different monasteries had their own specialties, some were farms, others were vineyards, still others were combinations, creating materials the packs needed.

But her sister, driven by her own greed and lunacy, had allowed her wolf to get mixed up with a warlock. Did that happen before or after Fergus lost his wolf? How long had she been plotting to take the pack from Brigh? Was it before she brought Fergus to meet their parents? After their parents were killed in the car accident? When did Neasa betray them?

She needed to find her sister and bind her wolf. Maybe that would help with the lunacy running through her mind. Then, she needed to find the warlock and bind him. But what she couldn't rectify in her mind was what to do with the baby. An innocent baby, half her sister and half a warlock that would rule them. If it had been any other child, she'd have killed the mother and let natural consequences take its debt.

It all came down to finding Neasa and binding the lunacy. Then she could demand the answers to all her questions, put together the timeline and figure out where everything went wrong. She rubbed the towel over her head and let out a low growl. She needed to stop waffling and stop her sister.

Banging from the other room drew her attention. The thick thump of flesh hitting flesh and furniture scrapping against itself drew her attention off of herself and onto the next room. She heard a pained grunt from Kai. Quickly, she shifted, Rhigan jumped out of the bathroom and the last thing Brigh heard was the whimper of her wolf as her head exploded and the world was silent.