Chapter 157: The Unfolding Truth XXXVII

Third Person POV

Helen said absolutely nothing as her tears kept falling. They traced hot, salty lines down her pale cheeks and dripped silently onto her lap.

The small bedroom felt entirely too quiet now.

The only sound left in the space was the loud, snapping crackle of the fire in the hearth and the soft, uneven hitch of Helen pulling ragged air into her tight lungs.

Sonita let her rigid shoulders drop just a tiny fraction.

Her voice lost its sharp, defensive edge, turning incredibly soft and heavy with a creeping dread.

"That means your daughter has Alpha blood and nine-tailed fox blood running through her veins. Both of them. Combined into one single little body."

Helen finally lifted her head.

Her bright grey eyes were bloodshot and swimming with fresh water.

Sonita did not look away from her face.

"Which means... if the Alpha King ever actually finds out about her existence..."

"He will come for her," Helen whispered.

They said the terrifying words at the exact same time.

The syllables layered perfectly over one another, filling the tiny, warm room with a shared, suffocating fear.

For a long, stretched-out second, neither of them moved a muscle.

The heavy truth hung in the air between them like a thick fog.

And then, despite the crushing weight of what they had just admitted to each other, a strange sound slipped out of Helen.

It was a small, broken breath of air that twisted upward into a laugh.

Sonita let out a similar, hollow chuckle in response. It was a dark, totally humorless sound.

It was the specific kind of laugh that only escapes from two desperate people who suddenly realize they are still completely in sync, still sharing the same terrifying thoughts, even after spending six long years avoiding each other.

The dark amusement faded as fast as it had arrived.

Sonita turned away from the messy bed and walked slowly over to a tall wooden shelf pressed against the far wall.

The floorboards groaned underneath her boots as she reached her hands up to the highest plank.

Her fingers brushed against the spine of a thick, heavy book.

She pulled it down very carefully.

It had an old leather binding, frayed and worn soft at the corners.

The thick pages sticking out from the edges were yellowed with age and smelled faintly like dry dust and dead leaves.

Sonita walked back across the room and held the heavy object out in front of her.

Helen reached up and took it. The old leather felt rough and dry against her soft skin.

She flipped the thick book over in her trembling hands.

A single word was carved deeply into the front cover in faded, peeling gold letters.

AEGIS.

Helen looked up, her brow crinkling together in deep confusion.

"What exactly is this?"

Sonita pulled a small wooden chair from the corner and sat down directly across from the edge of the bed.

She folded her hands neatly in her lap.

"I have been studying you for a very long time, Helen. Your specific type. Shifters exactly like you. I spent years trying to figure out what you can actually do and what you absolutely must avoid at all costs. I dug up old, hidden research. Ancient things that most normal people have completely forgotten about."

Helen stared down at the worn cover, her fingers tracing the faded gold letters.

"How did you find something like this?"

Sonita gave a small, casual shrug of her shoulders.

"Living out here on the quiet outskirts has its benefits. I have my own special ways of finding things."

She leaned forward, making the wooden chair creak loudly in the quiet room. Her dark eyes locked onto Helen with an intense, burning urgency.

"From everything I have learned in those old pages... if a nine-tailed fox creates an offspring with someone who is not their own kind... that offspring will literally be the last of your type to ever walk the earth. Because the other person’s blood mixes directly with your essence. His traits combine with yours to make a new whole. It creates something entirely new. Something that the rest of the world thinks should not exist. Your kind was never meant to mix bloodlines with others."

Sonita paused and swallowed hard, her voice dropping to a softer, more fragile tone.

"But you went ahead and did it anyway. And as far as I can tell from all my digging... You are the very first person in recorded history to do so. That child... your little daughter... she is going to be incredibly powerful. More powerful than anything this world has ever seen walking on two legs. And that level of raw power will be incredibly dangerous. Because others will naturally sense it. Others will want it for themselves. They will hunt her down just to take it from her."

Helen stared blankly down at the heavy book resting in her lap.

The weight of it suddenly felt like a massive boulder pressing deep into her legs.

"You mean," Helen started, her voice barely a whisper, "you sat down and wrote out every single thing I need to know about myself... and about my baby... inside these pages?"

Sonita gave a slow, deliberate nod of her head.

"Yes, most of them."

Helen lifted her gaze, searching the older woman’s face for answers.

"How did you know I had a baby? How did you know to write all of this down before it even became a reality?"

Sonita looked back at her for a long, quiet moment.

The orange firelight played across her dark eyes, highlighting a deep, lingering sadness.

"I think," Sonita started, her words coming out very slow and measured, "when I imagined you and Kai being together... when my mind wandered to what might actually happen between you two... I just started writing it down. Just in case my absolute worst fears came true. And look at what happened. You actually let him mate with you."

A small, sad smile pulled at the corners of Sonita’s mouth.

"Maybe I can actually see into the future."

Helen almost smiled back.

The edges of her lips twitched upward for a tiny second, but the heavy reality crushed the expression before it could fully form.

She looked down at the old leather book again.

She turned it over one last time, feeling the rough binding scratch her palms.

Then she lifted her arms and held the heavy text back out for Sonita to take.

Sonita frowned, her eyebrows pulling tightly together.

She did not reach her hands out.

"What are you doing?"

Helen kept her hands perfectly steady.

"I do not think I will be needing this."

"What?" Sonita asked, genuine confusion twisting her features.

"Whatever dark thing is coming for us," Helen said quietly, her voice gaining a tiny shred of firm resolve, "I have a terrible feeling it will be massive. Too huge for one single person to handle. And if I cannot find a way to save my baby myself... I desperately need someone else to do it for me."

Sonita immediately shoved the book back toward Helen’s chest.

Blind panic flashed bright and hot in her dark eyes.

"No. No, absolutely not. I will not put my own family in that kind of danger. This whole mess is on your shoulders. You have to do it yourself."

Helen grabbed Sonita’s wrist, her grip tight and pleading.

"Please, Sonita. She is just a baby. She did not ask to be brought into this awful mess. Take the book. Keep it hidden and safe with you. And when she gets old enough... if I do not survive this war... please give it to her so she knows who she is."

Sonita stared down at the desperate grip on her arm. Her chest rose and fell with fast, anxious breaths.

"This nightmare would never have happened if you had just listened to me in the first place."

"What is done is done," Helen said softly, her thumb rubbing gently against Sonita’s skin.

"I cannot just wipe away my child because I made a mistake. Please. Take it back."

Slowly, very reluctantly, Sonita let her fingers wrap around the worn leather.

She pulled the heavy text out of Helen’s hands and placed it into her own lap.

She sat there quietly, her face scrunching up as a new, alarming thought suddenly crossed her mind.

"When you traveled here to find me," Sonita asked, her voice dropping to a cautious, hushed murmur, "did you stop to check if you were being followed?"

Helen blinked rapidly, the sudden shift in topic catching her completely off guard.

"No. I was in such a frantic rush. I did not even think to check behind me."

Sonita slapped her own forehead with the palm of her hand, a loud smack echoing in the small room.

"Why would you not look over your shoulder? The Alpha King is actively hunting you down. He could easily have his best trackers watching your every single move. They could have been following right behind you this entire time."

All the blood instantly drained out of Helen’s face, leaving her skin looking like old, white parchment. Her heart slammed against her ribs.

"But he is not... I mean, he would never..."

She stopped talking.

The terrifying realization hit her chest like a physical blow.

"Exactly," Sonita said, her voice completely flat and devoid of any emotion.

"Someone is hunting you. And a smart hunter will always send hidden scouts to watch their prey. You showing up at my front door means someone could have easily followed your tracks. Someone could have watched you walk right into this very house."

Cold panic flared in Helen’s chest.

She gripped the soft edges of the mattress.

"I did not think about it. I just wanted to find you. I did not mean to bring trouble here."

"Well, now we have thought about it," Sonita cut her off sharply, raising a hand to silence the useless apologies.

"Which means my home is no longer safe. I cannot be the person who protects your baby. We desperately need someone else to do it."

Helen leaned forward, her eyes wide with fresh desperation.

"Who? Who else can possibly do this? I do not trust anyone else but you."

Sonita tapped her fingers against the leather cover of the book, her mind racing through her limited options.

"I am not the only sorceress you know. Remember?"