“The ring,” Cross continued, “the ring they gave you is one of the tools they will use to do this.”

  “Wait, did you bump into me because you wanted the ring?” Hurt and betrayal made her chest ache.

  “No!” he said quickly. “That was coincidence.” He shook his head. “No, my brother predicted it too. And I tried to stay away, but I couldn’t.”

  “The world’s going to end?” she asked. “You’ll die? And my father? And everyone?”

  “Those left will become slaves of the mages.”

  This was all crazy, but something inside her was telling her it was all true. After tonight, after everything she’d seen, it became more and more obvious that he was telling the truth. How could she even deny it after what she’d seen; after what she’d done?

  She stared down at the ring on her hand. God, she hated it! Wished she could cut if off. Wished there was some way to stop that future he was talking about.

  “God.” Jonathan buried his face in his hands. “I wish … but even if I could go back in time, I would have done everything to save you, Sabrina.”

  “Dad …”

  “Isn’t there any way to stop it?” Jonathan grabbed Cross’s arm. “If you care about my daughter, you’ll find a way. Please. I’ll do anything.”

  Cross’s jaw hardened. “I’ve been trying to find a solution. But my brother’s premonitions have always come true.”

  “And there is no way to change the future?” she asked. “Something we can do now?

  “My brother’s visions aren’t set in stone, he says. But he doesn’t know what we can do now to change it.”

  A dread filled her. “You said that in his vision … this ring is one of the things that they need to bring about the destruction of the world?”

  “Yes.”

  “And because I can’t take the ring off, what he really means is me and the ring, right?” He didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. “It’s me, isn’t it? I’m the reason that vision will come true. It’s because of me.”

  Cross swallowed. “You were in the vision. Right before my family dies and the mages take over.”

  “Then you have to … you have to do something. Make sure I don’t cause that.” She took a deep breath. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to live,” she concluded. “Maybe I need to die—”

  “Sabrina, no,” Jonathan embraced her tight. “No!”

  “Dad, there’s no other way.”

  “No! I will not allow this to happen!” He turned to Cross. “If you care for her one bit, you won’t stop trying. You’ll find a way to save Sabrina. There has to be a way. You said you’ve thought on this for a long time. You must have some ideas. Please,” he cried. “Please save my daughter.”

  She looked at him, at his face. There was an inner battle she could sense he was fighting. “You’ve already thought of a solution.”

  “One possible solution,” he said after much hesitation. “But we can’t—”

  “What is it, Cross? Tell me,” she pleaded.

  He took a deep breath, and his hands clenched at his sides. “I should have walked away from you that day I saw you.”

  “At Wicked Brew? When you bumped into me?”

  “I saw you earlier than that, Sabrina. A few days before that. I saw you across the street and followed you to Wicked Brew. Then I came back every day to try and see you. Then we bumped into each other accidentally, and that was when I realized who you were. When I saw you and your ring.”

  He’d known about her even before that day? “Why didn’t you leave me alone?”

  “I couldn’t.”

  Those two words made her ache. She knew how it felt. How it felt to be pulled toward someone like a magnet, unable to stop. Because that was how she felt the moment they met. “You said there was a way? What if we just stay away from each other?”

  “It’s not that simple,” he said. “In my brother’s vision, he says you’re there because of me. He was specific about that.”

  “So, what do we do? We can’t reverse time. We can’t make it so you and I never met.” The serious expression on his face made her heart stop. “Is there?”

  Sabrina sucked in a breath as the memories flooded back into her head. It was a strange sensation, like she was empty and then suddenly filled. She remembered all of it. Well, most of it anyway. Not the exact events, but she could already guess at this point. “The forgetting potion.”

  “Yes,” Cross confirmed. “It wasn’t just any forgetting potion. While most forgetting potions only erase recent memories, this potion could make you forget one significant aspect in your life. My grandmother knew how to make it. She never told anyone. But I was learning potion and spell craft from her, and she told me how and made me promise to never tell anyone.”

  There might be one way. You could forget about me. Forget you ever met me. Forget I ever existed.

  The words echoed in her head, but it wasn’t her voice. It was Cross’s.

  Then we need to do it. If that’s the only way.

  It was strange hearing her own voice saying something she didn’t recall. But there it was, clear as a bell.

  We don’t have a choice, Cross. If we don’t ever meet, then Gunnar’s vision will never come true. He said it. I’m there because of you.

  But Sabrina … this potion … it will mean that it’s as if you and I never met.

  I know … but do we have a choice? We’re talking about the fate of the world. Promise me, Cross. Promise me.

  Tears burned at her throat. “Oh God … it was all … the accident … Dad?”

  “You came up with it, and we concocted the cover story together,” Jonathan said. “I had a whole wing of that hospital blocked out just for you. You took the potion there and woke up a few hours later with no memory of the last twenty-four hours or of Cross.”

  “I created the potion so that you would forget we ever met, while preserving everything else,” Cross explained.

  She swallowed and closed her eyes. A searing pain knifed through her chest as she recalled that moment, when she was in that room and took the vial from him. There were words that had been stuck in her throat. Words she wanted to say, but couldn’t.

  Goodbye, Cross.

  “Aside from getting their regular payout from me, those men asked about you on a regular basis,” Jonathan explained. “They would check on you, to see if you still had the ring and who you’d been involved with. That’s why I kept bribing your boyfriends away. I didn’t want them hurt.”

  “Why didn’t we all three take the potion?” she asked.

  “It’s difficult to make. I could only make enough for one person at a time,” Cross said. “And we needed to remember in case there was a problem.”

  “And my poker face has gotten me far in business,” Jonathan said, amused. “It was easy enough to lie to them and tell them half-truths about you.”

  “But I remembered anyway,” she said. “I—I don’t think I truly forgot. Those paintings in my studio … they were all of you, Cross. Somehow, I could still remember you.”

  He shook his head. “Maybe I made a mistake with the formula. I’m not sure.”

  “Couldn’t you give her a stronger dose?” Jonathan asked. “We could try again.”

  Fear rose up in her chest. “No! You can’t make me forget again!” She clutched Cross’s arm. “Please don’t make me do it. I don’t want to forget you. Besides, it didn’t work the first time. We tried to stop it by making me forget, but I still remembered. We’ll always find each other, I know it. Please, Cross,” she begged.

  “I won’t,” he said solemnly. “I don’t want you to forget either.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Then what should we do now?” Jonathan asked. “How can we protect Sabrina?”

  “Can’t we fight them?” she asked. “Erasing my memory obviously didn’t help. You’re so powerful, and you have others of your kind, right?”

  His eyes darkened. “You’re right. But we can’t do it alone,” he admitted. “We will need help.” He stretched out his hand. “You should come with us, too, Jonathan. For your own protection.”

  Sabrina tucked herself against Cross’s side. “Please, Dad?”

  He hesitated but nodded anyway. “All right. We’ll try this your way.”

  As she felt the comforting coldness wrap around her, she breathed in his scent and whispered something that she hoped he would hear. Words she had been wanting to say for a very long time.

  Chapter Ten

  Cross staggered forward as they landed rather ungracefully at their destination. Though he heard the words coming from her lips, he wasn’t sure if he understood them correctly. He looked down at her, cuddled up to his side. The smile on her lips, and the sparkle in her amethyst eyes told him he hadn’t imagined it. “Sabrina? You—”

  She nodded. “And I meant it.”

  He knew he had made the right decision. Never again. He would never lose her again. It had torn him apart having to stay away from her. “I—”

  “Well, now,” a seemingly disembodied voice said. “I was wondering what time you’d drop in.”

  He froze at the sound of the familiar voice. “Mom?”

  Meredith Jonasson stood up from behind the sectional couch in the living room, hands on her hips. “Hello, Cross,” she said, a smirk on her face.

  “Cross?” Sabrina looked up at him, confused. “Where are we?”

  “At my parents’ loft in Tribeca,” he explained, then turned to Meredith. “How did you know I was coming?”

  Meredith was unusually calm as she rounded the couch and headed toward them. Cross had honestly expected hysterics. But knowing his mother, she was probably ready to explode at him.

  “Who do you think?” she asked as she stood toe-to-toe with him.

  Who else? “Gunnar.”

  “We went to see him tonight, but when we arrived, he said I had to come back here to wait for you. Care to explain a few things? Like where the hell you’ve been the past couple of days and why you’ve been lying to us?” Her whiskey-brown gaze landed on Sabrina, then Jonathan, and then Sabrina again. “Cross?”

  “Mom, this is Sabrina Strohen, and her father, Jonathan,” he said. “Sabrina is—”

  “Your True Mate,” Meredith said, eyes going wide.

  Sabrina stiffened beside him, and he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. There had been so many explanations that had to be made that he hadn’t yet gotten to that particular one. “Yes,” he confirmed.

  “Oh.” Her face turned from simmering anger, to surprise, to pure joy. “Oh. She’s the reason. Oh, honey.” She embraced them both. “Oh God. I knew there was a reason you would do that.” Releasing them, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Sorry, I’m not usually like this. It’s just … things have been crazy around here, ya know? We’ve been trying to reach Cross, but at the same time, make sure the Alpha doesn’t find him first. Lucas—he’s in a rage, and we don’t know what kind of punishment he has in mind for what you did.”

  “Punished?” Sabrina asked. “What do you mean, punished?”

  “We should sit down and talk,” Meredith said. “Oh, sorry. Haven’t introduced myself.” She wiped her hand down her jeans. “I’m Meredith.” She glanced down at Sabrina’s stomach. “Or should you be calling me Mom, too?”

  “Mom,” Cross said in a warning tone. He knew what Meredith was thinking, of course. One way to determine if someone was a True Mate—precognitive family members aside—was that during the first coupling, the couple always produced a pup. It didn’t matter if one of them was human either, as long as they were True Mates. “We should get to the task at hand.”

  “All right,” she said wryly. “Let’s head to Gunnar’s cabin and we can all talk.” She held onto his forearm, and once Jonathan took his other hand again, he focused his thoughts on where they needed to be.

  “That’s rather … disconcerting,” Jonathan mumbled as he tugged on his suit jacket and buttoned it up. “I’ll stick to airplane travel. Where are we anyway?”

  “West Virginia. Shenandoah Valley, to be precise.”

  Cross’s stomach clenched tight at the sound of Daric’s voice. “Dad, I’m sorry,” he said to the older warlock. “I can explain everything.”

  Daric’s blond brow lifted, then he glanced at Sabrina and Jonathan. “It seems explanations are in order. Come,” he gestured to the living area, where a large pot of tea sat on the table. “Have a drink first. I shall call Gunnar.”

  “I’m already here.” His brother stood in the doorway leading to his bedroom. “Let’s all sit down and have some tea.” He walked past them, smiling at Sabrina as he made his way across the living room.

  They all sat down, Gunnar on the leather recliner, his father and mother on the small love seat, and him, Sabrina, and Jonathan on the couch.

  “Tell us what happened.” Daric’s blue-green gaze briefly went to Gunnar, then landed on Cross. “From the beginning.”

  Cross took a deep breath, and began to tell them everything that happened, from the day Gunnar had his premonition and told him that Sabrina was his True Mate, up until this morning when Sabrina finally realized the truth. Beside him, she remained quiet, though her hand gripped his tight. He didn’t even realize he’d been holding and squeezing hers when he’d told the most painful part of the story—her saying goodbye to him before she took the potion. It was a day he would never forget, after all—the day it seemed like his heart and soul were being ripped apart.

  “Your instinct was to protect her.” Meredith looked at Daric. “That’s what it’s like when your mate is in danger. We’d do anything for them.”

  “W-w-what does it mean, True Mates?” Sabrina said, finally speaking up.

  “It means you were fated to be together,” Daric said.

  “Among other things,” Meredith said with a small smile curving her lips. “Nothing can keep you apart.”

  “This potion,” Daric began. “Signe never told me about it.”

  “She said not to tell you or Mom,” Cross explained. “She showed me the recipe, made me memorize it, and told me to never give it to anyone.”

  “But why?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Gunnar interjected. “Grandma knew he would need it. She probably didn’t know how and when, but she just knew.”

  “It’s incredible,” Daric said. “So, it completely erased all her knowledge of you? How does it work?”

  “I’m sorry, but I promised her never to tell anyone how to make it or how it works.” He glanced at Sabrina, realizing there was something else he hadn’t mentioned. Something he should tell her. “It also has another side effect—slight paranoia. That’s why you had a hard time leaving the house.”

  “And I knew this side effect?” she asked.

  He nodded. “You thought it was a good thing, to further prevent you from knowing the truth. If you interacted with too many people, they might start asking questions. I didn’t want that for you … I mean, if you found someone else, I would have understood.” Actually, he would probably have gone insane, but he didn’t want to say it out loud. “But you were too good. You wanted to save us so bad.”

  “I …” Her eyes closed briefly. “I remember. It made sense, right? It was a small sacrifice on my part, to prevent the end of the world as we knew it.”

  “Oh, sweetie,” Meredith had a sad smile on her face. “My son is lucky to have a mate like you.”

  “What do we do now?” Jonathan asked.

  “The ring … I can’t remove it,” Sabrina said. “I tried. One of the mages did, too, but when he tried to forcibly cut it off, it was like the ring hurt him and knocked him to the ground.”

  “Probably a type of safeguard. Son,” Daric began, “what else have you learned about the ring?”

  “Nothing much more than what we already know,” he said. “Although, I can confirm now that it does have the power of death and life. But I don’t know why she can’t take it off.”

  “Some magical objects are known to bond with whoever possesses them,” Daric explained. “We didn’t have that problem with the dagger because it’s only used whenever there was an ascension ceremony. We don’t know about the necklace since the mages have that.”

  “But why would they give it to Sabrina?” Meredith asked. “If it was so powerful, why hand it over to someone who wasn’t one of them?”

  “Do you think they need Sabrina as a host for the ring?” Cross asked. He’d thought about it for a while, because he, too, had the same thoughts as his mother.

  Daric paused for a moment. “Could be. But sometimes, the simplest explanations are the most likely.”

  “That still doesn’t solve how we’re going to fix all this,” Cross said. “Should we go to Lucas?”

  “Yes. But before that, you should know the reason we called you here.” Daric turned to Gunnar. “Will you tell them?”

  Gunnar straightened his posture, then leaned forward, his fingers steepling together. “My vision has changed.”

  Cross stared at his brother, dumbfounded. “What do you mean, changed? Did we stop it from happening?”

  “Not quite,” he said. “Everything still happens as I told you. Up to a point.” His whiskey-brown eyes glazed over, and he stared forward blankly. “That ceremony … the necklace, the dagger, and Sabrina. She touches the two objects. She falls, and you catch her. You hold her, and she whispers something and then …”

  “And then?” Cross asked.

  “And that’s it.”

  “That’s it?” he echoed.

  “There was nothing after it,” he said. “I didn’t see the other events. Didn’t see or feel anyone dying. It didn’t end, you see. I think … I think it may mean the future changed. Or is still changing, I’m not sure.”

  “But the rest didn’t change,” Cross said, frowning. “You still see the mages capture Sabrina and the other two artifacts.”

  Gunnar had a strange look on his face. “I still see Sabrina and the artifacts.”

 

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