ANNE MARIE’S POV:
I open my eyes. The sunlight is too bright; it stings them and makes my head throb. So I slam them shut. I am back in the Timmons-Von-Dracula estate, lying in our omega suite. Those dreams Gaia gave me leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. But it’s probably the wolfsbane from that potion.
"Oh, my goddess," I say, my voice sounding scratchy.
Sienna stirs in her own bed. "Annie...? You awake?"
"Wide awake," I tell her. My heart thumps against my ribs. The potion wears off, and the thick, heavy feeling in my brain starts to clear. That witch tried to wipe our memories, but it didn't quite work.
In another life, I belonged to Marcus Walker. The hive pack beta claimed me. I was carrying his twins, Marcus Jr. and Peter. I wonder if I ever actually held them or if they just vanished when that witch decided to rewrite the script.
"Annie, we were happy," Nix says in my head. "He's ours. I can feel it. We were supposed to have..."
I wiggle my toes, then my legs. The potion is gone; my muscles feel loose and heavy. I stretch and press my palms into my cheeks. It feels so good to be able to move again.
When I sit up, Sienna does the same. We look at each other.
"Anne Marie, you'll never believe it, but..." Sienna says, her chest heaving.
"I was claimed by Marcus," I blurt. It is just a fact.
"I know," she says. Her dark hair is a mess around her face. "Dr. Patrick Greyson claimed me..."
"Cee-Cee, we both got pregnant," I say. My throat feels like sandpaper.
"Micah," she says, standing up. "Jared and Aaron. Our sons..."
She says it like it's a declaration. I let out a short laugh. I imagine Sienna with a huge baby bump, looking annoyed and glowing. It is a funny image.
"What's so funny?" she asks, raking her hands through her long, wavy locks.
"You. Knocked up," I grin.
She huffs and crosses her arms. "Well, laugh it up. I was a homewrecker. A pregnant slut..."
"Oh, stop it," I groan. I get out of bed and walk over to her.
She falls into my arms, her shoulders shaking. Tears leak out of her eyes.
"Don't cry," I say, rubbing her arm. She looks completely wrecked.
"Elizabeth... she was so kind to us. And I..." Her breath hitches. "I slept with her husband!"
"Uh-ummm," I say, pulling back. "From what I saw, he seduced you during that storm. Bit you. Marked you. He didn't even ask..."
She glares at me, but she looks unsure. "Maybe, but..."
"But nothing," I say. "Marcus did the same to me. Called me to his office and fucked me on his desk."
Sienna sniffs and smirks.
"Patrick took me on his and Elizabeth's bed. And it was..." Her voice breaks. "I want it to be real again. I want that life back. Does that make me terrible?"
"No," I say. "Hell no. I miss my twins. Or the idea of them." My voice gets quiet. "And yeah, we worked at Greyson Medical. Knew Lucas and Stephanie, the Moon Crest royals..."
She nods. "I was interning under Patrick. You were a medical assistant in the ER. And we knew Nolan and Sophia too..."
I snap, then point at her. "And I was supposed to work at Walker Industries!"
Her eyes light up. "Annie, that was your dream job..."
We stand there in the morning light.
"Marcus Jr. and Peter," I say their names proudly.
Then silence falls. We both take a seat on my bed. Sienna begins braiding her hair.
"Twins?" Sienna asks. She laughs.
"Yes!" I lay back, crossing my arms.
"What if..." She pauses. "What if fate hadn't changed and that witch never screwed us over? Would we have had them?"
"And if we did, do they just... not exist now? How does that work?" I look toward the window.
That witch who messed with our lives better hope we never break free of her spells. Our kids are gone; our mates are gone. Now we are just omegas acting as pets in a vampire cell. We used to be princesses of the Blue Moon pack, but now we are just footnotes. My head aches from the memories, like a dull throb behind my eyes that will not stop.
Sienna stares at the wall.
“I think I know... why they,” she stops.
“What?” I sit up, my joints popping.
She breathes in deep, smelling the metallic tang of the room.
“Last dream before I woke? I took ultrasound images to Patrick. Showed him Micah, Jared and Aaron.” Her blue-green eyes glow against her mocha skin. “He loved me. Not her. That royal marriage was just a cage. An arrangement by his dad.” She starts pacing. “Remember the pack’s oracle?”
I roll my eyes. “The old... lady?” The memory is blurry, like looking through some kind of dreamscape.
“Yes, her.” Sienna’s voice is low. “Patrick said she told him... he’d meet his true mate on Earth. That I’d give him five pups.” She smiles. “Triplets, then twins. Keys to our survival.”
My heart thumps against my ribs. “Blue Moon’s survival?”
“No.” She stops by the window. “Think bigger. The hive.” She pauses. “The survival of all werewolves.”
“So... your kids...” I lean in.
“Ugh, no. Not just mine.” She flips her braid. “Think, Annie. Remember our moms’ stories? The Nine. Beings of the light.”
I hold my breath. “Coming from us. Blue Mooners.” I say it quietly. “Goddess, Sienna. You’re right.”
“And Marcus Jr.? Peter?” She spins toward me. “They’d be part of it too.”
I snap my fingers. “Because The Nine only comes from Blue Mooners mated to Pandora’s oldest bloodlines. The prophecy.”
I never thought it was real until now.
We shout together: “Patrick and Marcus are from Pandora!”
Even the Knoxes are. I do not know how they fit in yet.
Nix wolfishly laughs inside my head. “Bingo, love.”
Then, a click. The door flies open and Lovette slithers in. My heart hammers; Sienna’s does the same. The woman looks at us with cold eyes. I feel goosebumps rising.
“What are you two princesses talking about?” Her arms are crossed.
Nix snarls: “Tell her nothing.”
I smirk. “Nothing.”
Lovette’s lips curl. “You’re up early. Those sedative potions usually keep you knocked out till noon.” She looks at us like we are thieves. “Yet here you are. Bright eyed. Bushy-tailed.”
Sienna tosses her braid. “Yes. And ready for chores.”
“Not yet.” Lovette steps closer. “Any dreams last night?” She points.
The vamps hate our dreams because they show the truth.
I fold my arms. “Nope. Not one.”
She laughs; the sound is sharp. “We will see about that. Your pack’s oracle returns today. She will peel your minds open.”
“Our oracle?” I link to Sienna.
“That witch is an... oracle?” she asks back.
Nix growls: “And we know her too.”
Our eyes meet. We know her. Lovette speeds to Sienna, her nose almost touching hers.
“Rules, girls. No mind-linking.” She speeds back to the door. “Lord Jeffrey and Lady Amanda will hear about this. And your mind-linkings.” She sneers. “Shower. Breakfast comes soon.”
She slams the door. The lock clicks.
I exhale. “What the actual hell, Cee-Cee?”
“Why don’t I remember... her? That old Seer?” Sienna asks, digging her nails into her palms.
“Same.” I press my fingers to my temples. “But...”
She yanks me close, her grip bruising my arm. “Annie. She is really a Blue Mooner. And now we know. The oracle?”
My stomach drops. “I know. Her aura always screamed our bloodline. But I never believed it.”
Sienna’s eyes darken. “Witches can fake faces. Not auras. That is hard to do. And our auras are our gift. We Blue Mooners can feel each other.”
Her embrace tightens. And my own mind begins to wander.
Why would our pack’s old seer be working with these vampires to block our memories? Did they mean us any harm? Were we the targets? Or was it Patrick and Marcus?
“Oh, hell.” I see it now. “But why? Why don’t we remember the woman who blessed us? Blue Moon only ever had one seer. And if she is an oracle dripping with Blue Moon aura, then it is her. Someone scrubbed our memories.”
Sienna’s smirk is sharp; Jinx looms in her gaze. “Obviously. Our fates got shifted. Some pieces stayed, others vanished. It feels like puppet strings.”
“Her potions.” Nix growls in my skull.
I roll my shoulders. “Her potions. It wiped her from our minds. The same woman who christened us at birth, blessed us at thirteen, and at our first shift. Poof. Gone.”
“Exactly,” Sienna snaps, pacing like a caged animal. “We know the old seer existed. We have scraps of her in our heads. But how the hell did we forget her face or how she really looks? The only thing that hit me when those bloodsuckers summoned her? She looked like Mom.”
Her fingers twitch.
Nix’s ears prick up. “Someone is here.”
I look at the door. Footsteps slither past. Sienna is already halfway to the bathroom.
“Let’s scrub this dungeon stench off. We’re already late to the party.” She slams the bathroom door. “This fucking place.”
We are wide awake now. The truth tastes like stolen memories. Our shackles were applied by that seer and her vampire puppeteers. Would our mates even believe two captured omegas over their precious vampire kin? The same ones who signed our pack’s death warrant?
Our happy ending was erased. I will be damned if we do not rewrite it.