I nodded, remembering the tense conversation from before. “I know. But I won’t give up on Samson, Gigi.”
She patted my hand then raised it to her mouth to kiss it. “No one is asking you to. Just make sure there’s some balance, okay? Don’t lose your other mate in pursuit of the second one.”
“It isn’t so simple,” I told her, aching for them both. “He also misses his brother. They both do even if they won’t admit it. Their pain is there all the time.”
When we got upstairs, Samson was perched on the front of his desk, tapping those fingers. The others were seated and standing around the office. Not a full-pack meeting. They’d never fit inside his office, just the betas, elders…the leadership. Except Wendi. I hoped she was feeling well. Her mates were there. I wanted to ask if she was okay, but Samson was giving me serious side-eye already.
“Took you long enough,” he grumbled.
“I could say the same for you.” Gigi snickered beside me then raised her hand for a high-five. Samson was not impressed.
“I called you here because Christie and I found a clue yesterday. Does anyone recognize this?” He held up the necklace we’d found the day before. The pendant glimmered with the sun coming in through the windows. Samson walked around the room, giving everyone a closer look despite our enhanced shifter sight.
Gigi gave me a look but didn’t say anything. A first.
“What did Virginia’s parents say?” I asked since he’d forgotten to give me any info after he’d visited them. “Had they seen it? They saw her wearing it, right?”
“They said she came home with it after a trip to the city. Some older woman gave it to her, and she wore it every day. As if she was afraid to take it off.”
“That’s because Opal gave it to her. She marked the young girl for the taking.”
I whipped my head to Gigi so fast I almost broke my own neck. “What?”
Samson stopped dead in his tracks and whirled on Gigi. “Who is Opal, and what do you mean marked? Gigi, please explain. We need to know as much as you do.”
“Impossible, but I will tell you what I can. That necklace isn’t just a necklace. It’s the symbol of the Crystal Lake pack. Their leader is Opal, but I thought she had long gone. You have read the histories, right, Samson?”
Samson’s face lost all its color. “Not really. My father said they were useless.”
Gigi scoffed. “Of course, he would. I guess it’s up to me to get you up to speed, then. Opal was thrown out of this pack when I was a girl. She was half-witch and, before she left, she claimed she would curse this pack and return vengeance on it one day. She used her hands to burn this symbol into one of the trees. I’m sure it’s still here somewhere.”
“Wait!” Brandon stood and rifled through the papers on Samson’s desk until he came up with a picture. “I knew I had seen this. I knew it. We took this weeks ago. Didn’t think anything of it at the time. We were just taking pictures with Moss’ new camera, but we thought enough of it to show the alpha.”
I took the photo from Brandon’s hands, and sure enough, it was the exact symbol as the necklace. The symbol was burned into the bark.
“There are fresh burns here,” Gigi pointed out, taking the picture and putting on her tiny glasses. “She’s back. These fresh burns means she has returned and is ready to claim what she thinks belongs to her. I really thought she was gone forever. I guess revenge never dies.”
Samson took the picture from Gigi and scrubbed at his forehead, about to rub it raw. I wished I could soothe him somehow, but that was out of the question, especially since we were surrounded in this room.
“Where is she? How do I find her? What does she look like? Wherever she is, Virginia must be. And the others.” Samson was up in arms. His face had gone red, the color rushing back in, and I flinched at the waves of rage coming from him. “We’ll get search parties organized and leave right this minute.” He was frantic for information and his voice rose with every word.
“She’s like a ghost. You think you’re the first to try and find her?” Gigi said.
He kicked at his desk while the others grumbled amongst themselves. “So what are we supposed to do? Just wait here while she collects our females? Just let her take all of them?”
Gigi bowed up as though Samson had stabbed her with the truth. “There’s only one who can come against Opal. In the meantime, you keep all the girls here. In their homes, if possible. They need someone with them at all times. Opal will want them isolated. She’s smart and powerful, but she’s not one for confrontation. She hides in the shadows and waits in the wings.”
“Who is this one who can defeat her?” Samson demanded, looming over my grandmother.
“One who hasn’t realized who she is yet. She’s blinded by her
