Gypsy Rising

“I thought you were wiser than that, Avery,” Zuela chimes in. “The daft girl is just going to get you all killed, because no one here has the balls to tell her she’s too fucking stupid to lead. A fucking sanctuary for omegas? Are you kidding me?”

Zuela walks out, and Vance leans against the wall, while I scrub a hand over my face.

“I thought it’d take her at least five or six years to finish this place up,” Arion states, gesturing around. “Even with the technology of today.”

“I’m going to see what Zuela’s noticed on Idun TV,” Vance states very quietly. “I suggest you all leave until Violet’s stopped being angry.”

Something sparks against him, and Vance hisses out a breath, as he staggers forward, cursing the air like it’s shocked him.

Anna’s still there, smiling like an evil prankster, as a little spark disappears from her fingertips.

“Careful, boys. I’m a little more lucid now, and I find I like you all a lot less this way,” she informs us, before strutting off in the lacy underwear.

“Cannon ball!” she shouts before racing through the movie room door.

In a few minutes, all the Simpleton’s shout her name, and they all start singing some ghost song. Unreal.

“Anna returns from an impossible death right around the time when Idun rises, and we’re just all going to ignore it. Cool. Makes sense,” I finally state, since I’m the only one who seems to have a motherfucking problem with Anna being alive. Well, not dead. Well, not dead for the second time.

“My head is going to explode if one more thing happens today,” I note aloud.

I start toward the door to decide which problem I want to tackle first.

“Violet didn’t tell us about Anna, because she didn’t want us to make that about Idun too,” Vance tells me like he’s pointing it out for me.

It takes a second for me to groan in realization. “Of course our first suspicion is Idun related. Everything is suspicious when Idun is alive. Are we just supposed to pretend it’s normal for a ghost to not be dead after final decay?”

“Maybe she faked her death,” Emit inserts.

We all blink at him, and he literally growls at us.

“I’m trying to think of other things we should rule out long before we move toward any touchy Idun suspicions. Violet missed Anna, and now she has her back, and we all just got put on the curb like yesterday’s trash. I suggest doing the same fucking thing I am, unless you want to really piss her off,” he points out.

It’s actually a good point.

Damn mutt.

“So what’s the plan to get Violet back, though?” Arion asks Vance. “Has someone said it and I just missed it because of the overwhelming amount of distractions around here?”

Emit starts walking out. “I don’t need a plan. She and I were just friends, so she can’t really break up with me. My new goal is to make sure she agrees with that.”

The bastard wolf just smirks as he leaves.

“He was way behind, and now I think the prat just jumped to the front,” I say on an infuriated huff.

I go invisible, and Arion’s hand grabs my shoulder while I’m supposed to be unable to be seen. I turn him invisible too, instead of arguing about it, shrouding us in illusion, as we quickly walk into the room everyone keeps hiding in.

We both go still when we see the sleeping shifter in the bed, looking exhausted. Violet quietly rocks the small, very pale child that is swaddled securely in a blue blanket.

I forget about everything else in the room as Violet smiles affectionately down at the child, kissing the babe’s head while she coos to it.

It’s almost like looking at an entirely different woman who has been finding her footing without us. Marta simply watches her from a corner, eyes not searching us out, even though she surely smells us in here.

A tiny hand emerges from the blanket, capturing Violet’s finger, and Marta’s eyes water, as Violet’s wide smile seems to actually double. I drop against the wall, eyes riveted, as Violet kisses the small, crinkled forehead of the squirming child.

It takes me a while to realize the shifter’s eyes are on her, and I go rigid when I do. Until the shifter starts leaking tears.

This day hasn’t made sense. Not once. Yesterday was boring and dull and predictable—everything I hate about most days. Today makes me miss yesterday.

“You should keep him,” she whispers softly to Violet.

Violet’s wide-eyed gaze swings toward the female like she’s off her rocker.

“No, his mother should keep him. You’ll be safe here,” Violet is quick to counter. “He’s going to need his mother.”

“I’m a target, and I’m as good as dead now that I’ve drawn so much attention to myself. Omegas should never draw attention to themselves for this very reason. We’re an easy complication to eradicate,” the mother says quietly, causing Arion to bristle when Violet’s jaw tics.

“If they want to eradicate you, they’ll have to go through me first. Then they’ll have to get through my mother, who also happens to be a really badass alpha just like them.”

Marta smirks, casting a subtle, smug look in our direction. Fucking cunt.

“Marta Portocale sitting at the bedside of an unregistered shifter and offering her protection,” the shifter says, laughing humorlessly.