“Good Lupine? Since when have you changed your mind about me, Tristan?” Troy asked, his voice growing stronger.
The wizard smiled. “Never did change my mind, Troy. I waited for you to change yours about life, and your direction in it. You’ve been wandering a long time and using the stars to navigate, but kept searching for your north star to guide you home.”
Tristan glanced at Jenny. “You finally found it… with Jenny.”
Her heart felt full of joy until she gazed around and realized Tristan was not alone. Four other beings stood nearby. One with blond hair, strands tipped in crimson, who dressed in all red. Another had dark hair tipped with tiny crystals and he wore what looked like an Elvis jumpsuit, sequins sparkling in the sunlight. The third wore cobalt blue and had an intense look.
Instinct warned these were the wizards of the Brehon she’d heard about, the powerful beings who judged and guarded all OtherWorlders.
But it was the fourth that drew her attention the most.
He looked, and seemed familiar.
Tall, broad-shouldered, he was bare chested and wore black leather pants. Two leather straps crossed his muscled chest and were held together with a brass ring. Twin swords were sheathed in leather scabbards upon his back. His eyes seemed dark as pitch, flickering with gray shadows like mist. Long, dark blond hair swirling with many colors spilled down his back. An intricate tattoo of ancient Celtic runes covered his right shoulder and right bicep.
He took her breath away, and not for a good reason.
Tristan made a sweeping motion. “I asked my fellow wizards to join me.”
Going through the motions, he introduced all the beings. Gideon in the red ruled over the Fae. The Elvis jumpsuit was Xavier, who ruled over nymphs, ogres, trolls and mages. The wizard in cobalt was Drust, who judged and guarded dragon shifters.
As he turned to the bare-chested wizard, Tristan paused. A sly grin lit his face.
“I’ll let him introduce himself.”
The tall, muscled wizard turned to her. “I am Caderyn, the Shadow Wizard… my daughter.”
Troy blinked. “Somehow I get the idea that is not merely a term of endearment.”
She gasped at the wizard’s next words.
“No, it is not. You are my daughter, Jenny Logan.”
Chapter 13
Caderyn touched Jenny’s hair. His touch sent sparks of power coursing through her. My dad.
All these years she’d never realized she was adopted. Oh, she sensed she was different, with all this crazy magick no Lupine ever possessed. Sensed maybe her parents hid secrets from her.
But fathered by a powerful wizard?
“I am your father,” Caderyn said in his deep voice.
“Not like that line from Star Wars. Luke I am your father,” Tristan said. “Nope. Caderyn is not Darth Vader. He’s much nicer.”
The Shadow Wizard glared at him. Xavier elbowed Tristan in the stomach.
Caderyn turned his attention back to her. “You, Jenny, are my daughter, birthed by a pure Lupine who lived in the wilds of Alaska, and given up for adoption to be raised in Lupine household.”
It was too much to absorb. She backed off. “I need a minute.”
Troy gripped her hand. “You okay? If not, say the word and we’re leaving. Wizards or no wizards.”
Always so protective. Jenny cherished this side of him.
“I’m okay.” She kissed his cheek. “I’ve got this.”
Jenny turned to Caderyn. “If you’re my father, where’s my birth mother? Is she alive?”
A head shake confirmed her fears. Her heart shattered. She’d so hoped that if her birth father lived, her mother had as well.
“How… did she die?”
“Hunters.” He turned back to her, grief and fury etching his handsome face. “They shot her for sport while she was in wolf form.”
The same way her adoptive parents died. It was too much. Her throat closed tight as she struggled against tears.
Caderyn studied her with his intense gaze. “Know this, Jenny. Your mother wanted you. She never would have abandoned you to be raised by other Lupines. She kept you with her until the day she died.”
“Did you love her?”
The words came as a whisper because she was afraid to hear the answer. The last thing she wanted was to know she was conceived as a cheap, one-night stand to satisfy a male’s lust.
A brief smile touched her father’s face. “In my own way, as much as I can, I gave her my affection. We were fond of each other. Selena had a wild, carefree spirit, always breaking the rules. She intrigued me.”
His smile dropped. “Our affair was brief, passionate, but we both understood, indeed, we confirmed it to each other verbally, that it would never go anywhere. She belonged to the world of the wild Lupine.”
The wizard looked away into the distance. “In the end, the life proved too much for her.”
So many questions. But there were too many here, and she felt intimidated by all the wizards.
Troy gestured to Tristan. “Let’s discuss what happened here and how we can prevent it from happening again while Jenny becomes acquainted with her father.”
The Silver Wizard looked amused. “We?”
“We.” Troy scowled. “Do you think I’d stand by sipping tea knowing there is such evil that easily infiltrated this ranch where Jenny and I stayed?”
“You appear more of a coffee drinker,” the wizard murmured.
“Enough jokes, Tristan. Troy’s right. What the hell is going on that this happened on my land that I personally warded against crap like this happening?” Aiden demanded.
Tristan glanced at Caderyn, who nodded. “Let us have, as Skins say, a debriefing and I will tell you. Caderyn, I know you want private time with your daughter.”
Caderyn gestured toward a path cutting through the trees. As she walked with her father, he told her what happened.
“You were never meant to be conceived. We wizards are forbidden from spilling our seed when we have sex, unless it is with an approved mate. I broke that rule. Danu made the rule for a purpose – the child of a wizard and a
