Abandoned and Unseen (Branded Packs #2)(10)

“That’s true,” Ariel said softly. She tilted her head at Oliver. “I’m new to the whole shifter thing since I grew up human. I don’t quite understand what just happened.” Ariel was the first made shifter Anya had seen since the walls were built. It had been done to save her life, and though it was the catalyst for the change that placed them on rocky ground, Anya couldn’t blame Holden for risking it all to save his mate.

Oliver let out a breath and ran a hand over his face. “I’m the Foreseer. I can see glimpses of the future if the gods allow it, but not always, and not when I want to. Hell, it’s not always completely accurate because one change in how someone reacts and the future changes.”

“So nothing is set in stone?” Cole asked, his voice deep.

“Nothing,” Oliver said solemnly. “Though sometimes, no matter how hard you try to change the way things work out, fate has a way of f*cking it up and making the worst happen anyway.” Oliver closed his eyes and growled before composing himself. “You can ask what I saw, but sometimes, I can’t tell you.”

The others nodded as Oliver opened his eyes.

“What did you see?” Anya asked, her voice a whisper.

Oliver looked past them, his eyes seeing nothing. “I saw blood. Blood, loss, and death.” His voice was hollow, a memory of what it had once been. “Change is coming, but at great cost. The world isn’t ready for what is to come, but we must be. For if we’re not…then there is no use for the hope we dug up from the trenches of agony.”

Anya held back a shudder, though she felt that same shudder roll through Cole at her side. No one asked Oliver to explain what his words meant. Some things didn’t need to be explained. And others were so vague, the truth behind those words so shadowed, that if they were to ask, they might get far more than they bargained for.

They ended the meeting then, their minds on what Oliver had seen and on what the coming months would entail. While she wanted to ask her brother exactly what he had seen, she knew he’d said exactly what he’d meant to. If he’d wanted to elaborate on the vague statements of blood and death, he would have.

Instead, she walked silently beside him on the way to pick up her boys before they headed home. The others had their own plans for the evening, but she wanted to let her bear out to play with her sons, then make dinner and pretend, if only for the night, that everything was okay. She’d ignore the metal at her neck and the ink on her arm—there was nothing more she could do.

“Would you like to go for a run?” she asked, her voice devoid of emotion. She didn’t know what Oliver needed, and frankly, her head hurt from dealing—or rather, not dealing—with Cole during the meeting.

Oliver shook his head. “Maybe not a run, I don’t have that kind of energy today. But maybe we can shift with the boys and roll around. I know they already shifted today, but they are probably anxious and could use another shift to get out all that excess energy.”

Anya smiled softly. “I think they could use another shift, as well. This time when I’m actually there and they aren’t trying to sneak out of the house.”

Oliver wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she sank into her brother’s side. “You’re a good mom, Anya. Never forget that. Okay?”

She nodded, though something inside her told her that this wasn’t just her brother speaking, but the Foreseer, as well. What that meant, she didn’t know, but she’d hug her sons as soon as she could just in case.

Lucas and Owen bounced toward her, full of sugar and smiles as they left the maternals. Anya thanked the bears who’d watched her cubs and promised she’d help them soon. She had a shift with them later that week, but sometimes on her days off, she enjoyed watching the babies with the others. As a dominant, she’d gone on patrols in the old compound, and now she would here, as well. Plus, she did different shifts with each of the submissives, maternals, and other lower ranking sections of the Pack. Since they were not allowed to leave the den, they had to make do with what they were given by the humans. Each faction was critical to the Pack’s survival as a whole and functioned on a level that ensured their survival.

Her boys ran around her legs as they made their way home, laughing and asking questions about where she and Oliver had been. They lived right on the edge of the cat’s territory, hence why her boys saw so much of Cole. She figured that soon, once again, the lines of who lived where would blur. There just wasn’t enough room to be picky.

“Your uncle Oliver and I want to shift and play. How does that sound?”

Lucas jumped up and down, waving his fists in the air before stripping off his clothes. Well, at least he’d bothered to do that first, instead of trying to shift before disrobing.

Owen smiled at her, so sweet and adorable. “We can shift, too?”

She ran her hand through his hair. “Of course, baby. Let’s play.”

Owen bounced on his feet and quickly joined his brother in bear form. Oliver rolled his shoulders and shifted as well, letting the boys jump on his back as soon as he was done. Anya rolled her eyes as Lucas tried to jump on top of Oliver’s back. Since her boys knew not to use their claws while playing, the twins weren’t succeeding at their goal to take Oliver down.

She quickly took off her clothes and shifted, the sharp burn and ache that came with each shift washing over her. It wasn’t a burst of sparkles to shift, but it also wasn’t the grotesque imagery that old movies made it out to be.