Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Rylee leaned in closer, eyes wide. “Suddenly Leah is having dreams. Like foreshadowing. So I guess she might know you intended to go for a run the day before and call and tell you not to bother because it was going to rain.” Rylee giggled.
Amber shivered. It was so surreal. It seemed like Rylee was pretty calm about all of this. Maybe Amber would be eventually, too, but for now, she was still too stunned.
“Are there other mates with powers?” Amber asked.
“There are three other newer mates. Has Isaac told you about Olivia?”
Amber nodded. “Daddy… Can I just say how odd it feels to call my mate Daddy?”
“It was weird for me, too. You’ll get used to it. All Alpha mates call their man Daddy.”
Amber chuckled. “Anyway, Daddy mentioned Olivia. She’s the one who’s blind but her wolf can see, right?”
“Yes. And she can talk to the bears telepathically.”
“So weird.”
“There are two other women who were recently mated. Jezebel and Suzette. Suzette was the woman who was kidnapped on the day of her ceremony. Her mate, Brock, hunted her down and rescued her from a cave. That was the first time the Alpha Protectors learned there were bear shifters in the area. It was one of the rogue bears who kidnapped her.”
“Why did he do it?” Amber sat taller as it dawned on her that her life was fragile. She shouldn’t be sassy about going outside by herself. Not if a bear shifter managed to kidnap another woman right out of her home in the valley without detection.
“No one knows for sure. Most likely to prove he could. To scare the Alpha Protectors. And it worked. They may have been overprotective before that incident, but they’re doubly so now.”
“I guess that’s reasonable. And Suzette doesn’t have any special powers?”
“No. Neither does Jezebel, Arion’s mate. Not that anyone is aware of yet anyway. Since Leah started having dreams, Arion and Brock are paying close attention to see if their mates suddenly exhibit a new trait.”
“It’s kind of scary,” Amber admitted.
“Yeah, but also powerful. We mostly know what the bears can do, and they aren’t able to block us from scent, sound, or clairvoyance, but we don’t know what the lions are up to.”
Amber cringed. “Lions… Mindboggling.”
“Right? I’m the only one who has been aware of one of them. I nearly died when I woke up in the middle of the night, smelling that cat circling our house. It took me a minute to figure out what it was. I knew it was feline, but it’s not like I’ve ever seen lions, tigers, panthers, or leopards. I’m not familiar with any of their scents.”
“But you haven’t scented one since then?”
“No. Just the once. Also probably a warning.”
Amber’s mind was racing as possibilities flooded her. She’d thought a lot about this in the last few hours. “If we assume the lions can mask their scent or even their speech, do you think they can also mask my ability to see them?”
“That’s the mystery. How could they? They’d have to become invisible to keep you from seeing them.”
“Or too far away. I don’t know how far my power extends.”
“You’ll learn fast. The only reason Isaac is in communication with Hayes and the elders is because he knows how important this is. If there’s even the slightest chance you can see something, we need to know. The safety of the Alpha Protectors, their mates, and everyone in the valley could depend on it.”
Amber rubbed her temples. “That’s a lot of pressure.”
Rylee grabbed her hand. “I know. Don’t look at it that way, though. All you can do is look around, figure out how far you can see, and try to make sense of it. It’s not your responsibility to save the world.”
“Do you feel like you have to sit outside and inhale all the time?” Amber asked.
Rylee shook her head. “At first I did. I felt like I needed to be diligent. What if someone snuck up on us while I wasn’t paying attention? But the stress was too overwhelming, and Daddy doesn’t allow me to focus on my gift all the time. In my case, we usually keep the windows open about an inch just so I can scent a change in the air, but it’s hard to block out what other people are eating. Isaac makes steaks a lot.” She scrunched up her nose and pinched it. “Gross.”
Amber giggled. “I love steaks!”
“Good thing your Daddy likes to grill them. Bleh. And I can sort of ignore the scents all around me, only focusing when I know a bear is close or sometimes it doesn’t have to be something or someone specific. Sometimes I scent evil or death or weird stuff that makes no sense to other people.”
“That’s so strange.”
“It’s better than Molly. She hears everything. She has to wear earplugs to block it out. Her Daddy insulated a room for her and later her entire house so she wouldn’t lose her sanity. If she were standing outside right now with no earplugs, she would be hearing every word we say.”