Chapter 60

I stood in the shower letting the hot water beat down on me. I'd forgotten how freeing a hot shower could usually be, but today I was still stuck in the vision I'd had over the night. It spun in my head like a tornado that wouldn't stop.

*A group of men sat around a table. The air was thick with tension. I recognized the hunter that had a vendetta against my mates, and Heris. The others I'd seen in other visions, or when Sten and Erik were taken, but I didn't know them. The tension was between Heris is the hunter I recognized the most.

"You told me she would come, that we'd get the rest of the pack and her." The hunter growled, slamming his fist down on the table so hard it shook.

"And she will. You don't understand how the mate bond works." Heris hissed as he leaned forward.

"Then, please, oh wise one, enlighten me." The hunter spat and raised his hands in mock praise.

The already tense room got worse. Everyone around the table froze, except for the hunter who had just thrown the challenge for Heris down. They were holding their breath waiting for Heris to respond.

"Ed," One of the other hunters tried to reel him back into calmness.

"No, I'll enlighten him." Heris grinned.

"Yea, it's only fair, I mean, we do all of his dirty work for him. We should at least have all of the information." Ed nodded.

I took a moment to study Ed. The hunter who wanted my mates. He was cocky, to the point it would be his downfall. Something I felt in my gut, his confidence would kill him. He'd just challenged a descendent of the god of chaos like he was just another person. Not someone with so much dark magic coursing through their veins that they could end every life in that room with a blink of an eye. His confidence made him stupid.

Ed continued to sit there, a grin slowly growing on his face.

"All of the dirty work? ALL OF THE DIRTY WORK?" Heris boomed as he stood.

Ed's chair carried him back against the wall. He fought like he was struggling against invisible bonds. His face turned a deep red and he sputtered, trying to take in a breath.

"Is that what you think? You've done all the dirty work?" Heris stalked toward him.

Ed shook his head.

The invisible bond around his neck loosened just enough so he could take a breath.

"Let me enlighten you, Ed. I started this and I will end it. I killed her parents. I also was the one who spied on her. I kept an eye on her and her mates and made sure that we were uninterrupted, sending them on tasks that seemed important. I created the plan, you're merely a pawn to be used as I want. Do. You. Understand?" Heris poked his chest with word of his question.

Ed nodded enthusiastically.

"Good, we'll have company soon. It seems my little dove is starting to come back to herself. She's rallying her troops. Get ready." Heris grinned and turned to face the direction I was seeing from.

He walked toward me and sighed.

"She'll be here soon, and she'll be ready this time. She heard everything and seeks vengeance. Make her mates weak but keep them alive." He grinned, and it felt like he was looking into my soul. *

"Astrid?" Frode's voice broke through my memory.

I pulled my head out from under the stream of water. Rubbing my face so I could see clearly, I took in his concerned face. He'd been trying to get my attention for a few minutes.

"Sorry, I was distracted," I muttered and turned off the water with pruny fingers.

"It's okay. Are you alright?" He murmured as he held out the towel for me to use.

He wrapped me in an oversized towel as I stepped into his arms, and he held me for a few moments. I leaned into his body, enjoying his presence. Yesterday had tired, I fell asleep quickly wrapped in my mates' scents. My vision happened early in the night, and I found myself restless after. I hadn't told them about it, still processing all that I'd heard.

I knew that there was a traitor among us. How else would Heris have known about our plan? But to discover that I was the weak link. That it was my fault my mates had been captured that day.

Then to learn that he had killed my parents, setting his plan into action. Everything we thought we were doing to help other shifters were all a part of that plan. Our actions only pushed his plan forward instead of preventing it. That hurt and confused me. I was struggling with knowing what was what needed to be done and what else was just his plan.

He'd planted a seed of doubt. I knew that was his intent. He was too powerful to let me see by accident. My vision had played right into his plan--again.

"Just remembering a vision from last night. I'll fill you guys in after I get dressed." I did my best to paste a reassuring smile on my face.

He didn't buy it but nodded and left the bathroom. I turned and faced the mirror, taking a moment to study my reflection. I was pale, and I'd lost weight. I'd have to gain a little more strength before I stormed any walls.

My eyes popped open. I hadn't realized that I'd decided, but maybe that's because I always knew what I would do. It wasn't a matter of if I rescued them but when.

Frode's words cycled through my mind. We trust you. We believe in you. You have it takes. They always knew it too, they just got tired of me waiting to figure it out for myself.

Sighing, I turned and got dressed and headed downstairs to where Rune and Frode are waiting for me. They were at the table, our unofficial meeting place it seemed. Their eyes tracked me as I got a cup of coffee, something that was so routine that I didn't think about it until I sat down and realized that I was sinking back into my normal routine.

Rune smiled as I sat down, and it comforted me. I took a breath and told them what I'd seen, what I'd heard. About Heris's plan, and how we'd been playing into the whole time.

They were silent while I explained it all, and supportive after. They were babying me still. My temper rose. I glared at them before I stood and paced at the end of the table.

"What's wrong, angel?" Rune turned in his seat to face me.

"You're holding back. I don't want you to hold back. Take the damn kid gloves off. I'm fine. I'm angry and hurt, but I'm okay. I don't want to be babied." I growled and faced them.

"Fine, you want to know what I'm feeling?" Frode stood, his chair scraping on the floor.

I nodded.

"I'm infuriated that he broke your privacy. That he's left you so conflicted that you can't sort your own thoughts from his. That he's turned everything that makes you compassionate and caring and makes you, well you, a weakness when it's your strength. I'm mad that he's infiltrated you so deeply that you think you are broken.

You're not broken, Astrid. Stop thinking you are. You can push him out, you know you. Follow your heart, your gut. We'll get Sten and Erik back, we'll defeat Heris, but you need to stop thinking of yourself as the victim and embrace your magic. Embrace who you are. Until you do that, we don't stand a chance.

Even your darkest desires aren't evil Astrid, they're beautiful. We love all that about you." He stood staring at me for a moment before he moved to the office, our war room.

"That's a lot to chew on. Between the vision and what Frode just laid out for you. We'll keep gathering information and pushing forward. When you're ready, we'll be here, and we'll make a plan." Rune smiled and squeezed my shoulder as he walked by.

I didn't need time. I knew he was right. I needed to trust me, trust my mates. I took a steadying breath and turned to the office. It was time to make a plan and get Sten and Erik back.