“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
