They didn’t have a chance to say anything more as Sunny brought her folks over to meet the men. Hank took a step back while Sally took over, introducing Jason, then Maria introduced Jesse, and finally, Sunny beamed as she brought them around to Den.

  Den shook hands with Sunny’s dad, knowing he was being evaluated and sized up. Sunny’s mom gave Den a hug and told him to call her Marilisa.

  It was some time later, when they were sitting around a table in the common room of the Pack house, enjoying coffee and snacks, that they got down to business. The two Alpha couples were present, as were Sunny’s folks, Hank, Sunny, and Den. A big platter of baked goodies had been left at the center of the table along with insulated pots of coffee, tea and bottles of water.

  Sunny’s parents had asked everyone to call them by their first names. They seemed exactly as advertised—quiet people who kept to themselves but loved their adopted daughter very, very much.

  “We always suspected Sunny had a lot of magic, but we didn’t know what kind,” Marilisa explained. “I knew we had to adopt her, though, to protect her. We weren’t looking to adopt a child, but she ran up to me when I was walking from my car into a store one day, and I caught her before she got run over. She was just a tiny thing and had escaped the woman who’d been fostering her. We got to talking, and I realized Sunny needed someone who understood magic, because even as little as she was, she made my senses tingle with energy.” Marilisa reached for Sunny’s hand and squeezed it on the tabletop, smiling at her daughter. “I told Herman about her, and we applied to adopt the very next day.”

  “We watched over her as she grew, but her magic never really manifested in a way we could understand. She could make flowers bloom from a young age, but that was about all,” Herman picked up the tale. “We didn’t want to push her as we’d been pushed by our families. We didn’t want to pressure her, but wanted to let her grow into whatever she might become in her own good time. We didn’t realize she had dryad blood. Frankly, that’s something that never crossed our minds.”

  “It’s not all that common,” Sally said not unkindly. “I didn’t know what I was until just recently, though I always had a way with houseplants.”

  “Me too,” Maria put in. “Until I met Jesse, and he told me about my heritage, I had no idea.”

  “Thanks,” Marilisa said sincerely. “To be honest, I feel like a fool now for not realizing or even thinking in that direction. To think of all the wasted time, when she could have known what she was or sought training from someone with more knowledge of what she could do. I’m sorry, honey,” she said, turning to meet Sunny’s eyes.

  “There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Sunny insisted. “I think this has all played out as it was meant to be. Though I do wish I’d realized you were running a magic school at the ranch.”

  “It wasn’t really that organized,” Herman admitted. “We took in the occasional student who needed help or a place to decompress. There’s a lot of pressure put on the children of certain magical lineages. Both Marilisa and I were disappointments to our families and wasted a lot of years trying to be something we weren’t to please them. When we finally found each other, we went our own way and were promptly disowned by both our families.”

  “That’s terrible,” Maria said, compassion clear in her voice.

  Marilisa sighed. “That’s the way of magical families sometimes. There’s a lot of pressure to perform and prove your worth. My family saw me as a disappointment because my magic expresses through my art. I always thought Sunny’s might be expressed through her dancing, but though I saw hints of that from time to time, it never really manifested. At least, not on stage.”

  “Only when I danced among the trees,” Sunny put in. “That’s when my magic came closest to the surface,” she agreed.

  “I really must thank you, Maria, for helping Sunny with your healing skill. She’s moving so much better already,” Marilisa gushed, tears in her sparkling blue eyes. “I’ve been trying to make contact with a mage-healer for a long time, but since our families disowned us, the few I know of wouldn’t speak to me.”

  “You were?” Sunny asked her mom. “I had no idea.”

  “I would do anything for you, sweetheart,” Marilisa replied with love shining in her eyes. “You know that.”

  “I do. And I feel the same,” Sunny replied with a watery smile as she leaned in and kissed her adoptive mother’s cheek.

  “I’m so grateful Sunny had you in her life, Marilisa,” Sally said softly, watching them. “And you, Herman. I hope you don’t mind that I asked Den to find her for me. My goal is not to intrude on your family, but to reconnect with mine and help our ancestor.”

  “Mind?” Herman asked, his tone incredulous. “How can we mind? You’re our Sunny’s flesh and blood. Of course, you needed to reconnect.” Herman was taking it well, if Den was any judge.

  In the momentary silence that fell after that statement, Jason changed the subject. They had even more serious matters to discuss and it was best to get that stuff out of the way.

  “I spoke to Den’s Clan mate, Brian, a short while ago,” Jason reported. “There’s been some damage done to your property. One of the barns on your ranch was broken into, apparently. Brian did a bit of reconnaissance, and the damage didn’t look too bad, but I suggest you stay here for a few days. I also talked to the Redstone Alpha, and he’s agreed to help with a strike team. Jesse?” Jason gestured for his brother to take up what was turning into a briefing.

  “I’m hoping to send a small unit to Sacramento, with your permission, to capture or kill those who attacked your home,” Jesse stated succinctly. Herman and Marilisa looked concerned and a bit shocked. “Have you ever heard of the Wraiths?” Jesse asked shortly, searching their faces.

  “A legend, I thought,” Herman replied, shaking his head. “Shifter mercenaries is the rumor.”

  “Yes,” Jesse nodded in confirmation. “That’s exactly what we are, but with one caveat. Most mercs work for the highest bidder. We only work for those on the side of Light. It’s our guiding purpose.”

  “You mean to tell me that you’re the Wraiths?” Herman looked from Jesse to Jason and back again.

  “Not me,” Jason said, smiling and holding up his hands, palms outward. “That’s my brother’s deal, and he does it very well. So well, in fact, that he’s gathered a group of like-minded ex-military shifters around him. Those are the Wraiths.”

  “You lead the Wraiths?” Herman asked, nonplussed, looking at Jesse with a sort of awe-filled respect.

  “I do,” Jesse confirmed, “but I hope you’ll keep that to yourself. Of course, as events are unfolding, I think the time for secrecy is nearly at an end. Our side is going to need every asset at its disposal if we’re going to stop the Destroyer.”

  Now, Herman and Marilisa looked fearful and disbelieving.

  “Do you have information that she’s really back?” Marilisa asked in a near-whisper.

  “Nothing solid as yet, but it’s looking more and more like she returned to our realm a while back and is regaining her energy. From everything I’ve been told, moving between dimensions like that—especially from the farthest realm to this one—takes a lot out of you.” Jesse shook his head. “I’m preparing because I think we’ll all be called upon to act in concert sooner rather than later, and it’s better to be prepared and not be called upon than need to act and not be ready.”

  “I can agree with that,” Herman muttered, nodding. “What do you plan to do on our ranch?” he asked a moment later.

  “Small strike team with local Redstone support. We go in, assess the damage done, try to disarm any traps that might have been laid, and make the place safe for some specialist support to go in and decontaminate anything that might have been magically tainted. We know the Venifucus use blood magic rather routinely, and I probably don’t have to tell you how that fouls everything it touches.” Jesse outlined the plan. “I’d like to lay a trap with an eye toward ending the immediate threat. The only problem I foresee on an ongoing basis is that, if one group of Venifucus operatives know about your place, I have little doubt others do now too.”

  “We can’t go home?” Marilisa sounded aghast, and Herman put his arm around her shoulders.

  “After we finish clearing it out, yes, you can, but it may not be safe long-term,” Jesse clarified. “I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I think it’s best to be honest.”

  “Of course,” Jason added, “you are welcome to stay here with us until Jesse’s team is done. You might find you like the area and want to resettle someplace close by. I know Sally is hoping to talk her sister into a long visit, at the very least. Maybe you’d like to stay in the area as well. But you can think about that as long as you need to. Right now, I think Jesse just needs your permission to send his strike team onto your property.”

  “By all means,” Herman said, “if you can help stop the evil, then that’s the right thing to do.” He looked down, his brows drawing together in thought before he continued. “I’m not sure how much I can pay you for your assistance…”

  Jesse held up his hands, palms outward. “No charge, sir. You’re family now.” The smile on his face widened as he looked at his mate then at Sunny.

  “I’m not quite sure that’s exactly how mercenaries work,” Herman quipped, chuckling. “But I appreciate the assistance. Perhaps there’s something we can do for you in return. Our magic may be quite benign, but we do pretty good glyphs of protection, talismans, and wards.”

  Den spoke up. “The wards around the property were very high quality. They let me in, but not the bad guys, and it took the enemy agents a great deal of time, work, and energy to get through them.”

  Jesse nodded then smiled at Herman. “That’s very generous of you. Thanks.” He stood, pushing back his chair. “But if you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to send the strike team on its way. The sooner we do this the less damage the enemy has time to do on your property.” He left the table, gesturing to a few men who had been sitting or standing elsewhere in the large room, and left with them.

  “We’re probably going to have to relocate,” Herman said finally, speaking into the silence after Jesse’s departure. “Our ranch was a safe haven, not only for us, but for others like us who have a hard time fitting in with the expectations of most of the older magical families. We are artists, but we are also teachers. Our school of magic is not exactly revered among the others. We don’t teach combat. We don’t teach offensive things or, really, defensive things either, though many of our creations do contain protective magic. We basically teach art, in many different forms. Not the technique, necessarily, but the way to imbue whatever art you excel at with magic. Like I said, it’s not exactly a high priority for most mage schools.” He chuckled wryly.

  “What my husband is trying to say is that we don’t get a lot of respect from other magic users. For the most part, we’re okay with that. We went our own way a long time ago, and it’s been good for us, but there are a lot of younger mages with the same issue who struggle. Those are the ones that come to us for guidance and acceptance,” Marilisa explained. “We need a safe place for them and for us. If our ranch is no longer a closely held secret, then we’re going to have to find another place to continue our work.”

  Jason’s expression turned thoughtful. “I may have an idea about a place that could use some looking after, but I’ll have to make a few calls. In the meantime, you’re more than welcome to stay here as long as you need to. Either in the Pack house, or if you think you’ll be more comfortable somewhere else, we can help you find a place of your own nearby.”

  “For now, we’ll accept your gracious offer to stay here,” Herman said with a respectful nod to Jason. “We are very grateful. I don’t know what we would’ve done otherwise. Thank you, Alpha.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  While her folks were settling in to the suite of rooms they’d been assigned in the Pack house and Den was off with Jesse and Jason talking about military stuff, Sally pulled Sunny aside. They went out on the back deck, Maria with them, and sat.

  “I want to show you something,” Sally said, leaning forward in her seat.

  She held her hand out, palm down and closed her eyes. Within moments, an image shimmered into being. It was a tree. Its tip was at Sally’s palm and its trunk went down to the floor of the deck. There were many branches reaching out in a conical configuration, with people’s images on them. Sally opened her eyes.

  “This is our family tree,” Sally said, looking at the shimmering golden tree that wasn’t solid at all, but a thing made of magic that would dissipate as soon as she released the magic holding it together.

  “That’s amazing!” Sunny said, squinting to look at some of the branches.

  “Mine looks mostly the same but has a few different branches and the color is more greenish-gold,” Maria offered, looking at the twinkling magical tree.

  “Can I learn how to do that?” Sunny asked, her voice a low whisper.

  Sally grinned at her and let the magic dissipate. “Yes. That’s why I brought you out here. I thought maybe you’d want to try it out a few times away from the crowd. It took me a while to get comfortable with calling it.”

  “Me too,” Maria laughed. “Sally showed me, but I couldn’t get the hang of it at first. I had to practice a lot until I got comfortable.”

  Forewarned by that exchange, Sunny expected it to be harder than it was. She was surprised when she turned out to be rather a quick study. Within just a few attempts, Sunny was able to produce a shimmering golden-brown tree as complex as Sally’s. Since they were sisters, their tree was the same, except for the color. Sally’s was more gold, where Sunny’s was a shade darker.

  Sunny was able to rotate the tree so she could see it from all angles. There was something about one of the branches that called to her. She leaned in to look and was hit by a knowing. She couldn’t explain it any other way. She just suddenly knew that was the next person they had to contact.

  “This one,” she said, hardly aware of what she was saying. “We’re going to find her next. She’s already on her way.”

  Sunny released the magic and slumped back in her chair. Something had just happened, but she really wasn’t sure what it was. She just…knew. That branch. That distant relative. That was the one that would arrive next.

  “Has that ever happened to you before?” Sally asked quietly.

  When Sunny looked over at her sister, Sally was eyeing her strangely. Sunny took a deep breath and realized she felt drained somehow. Suddenly tired, as if she’d expended a lot of energy. Perhaps she had. She really wasn’t all that familiar with this sort of magic and had never consciously used it before. She wasn’t really sure what she was capable of or what it might do to her. She shook her head.

  “Never,” she replied. “Of course, I’ve never manifested a glowing tree before either. This has been a day of firsts, for sure.”

  “Her name is Crystal,” Maria put in. “I sensed it before you let the tree go.”

  “I guess we need to prepare or something,” Sally said, still looking tentative. She turned her gaze back on Sunny. “You’ve never been clairvoyant or anything, have you?”

  “Not that I know of,” Sunny replied at once. “I guess we can ask my folks, to be certain. If anyone would know, they would.”

  “I think we should do that,” Sally said, seeming to think out loud. “And I guess you should also be on the lookout for any further manifestations of clairvoyance. I’ll have to ask those with more knowledge of magic than I have, but it could be that your power is different than mine, even though we’re sisters.”

  “The color of her tree is different,” Maria observed. “As is mine. It makes sense that each of us will have the dryad power to different extents and in different areas. I just never thought seeing the future was something a dryad could do.”

  “We’ll have to do more research,” Sally said finally, seeming more comfortable with the idea now that they’d talked it over. “Jason’s got some connections I can call on. The High Priestess has been a wealth of information. I bet she would know. At the very least, she could set us on the right path.” Sally nodded almost to herself. “I’m going to give her a call tomorrow.”

  When Sunny and Den reunited about an hour later, she told him all about the weird events on the back deck. He didn’t seem as concerned about her moment of what might have been foresight as she was.

  “You’re new to using your abilities,” he told her. “There are bound to be some surprises along the way. Did you get a sense of where this Crystal woman might be found?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t get the feeling she was going to roll up the driveway and knock on the Pack house door. I think she’s going to be found by an ally and be put in touch with us that way. I can’t say exactly why I feel that way, but I think that’s what might happen.”

  Den nodded slowly. “Okay then. We’ll wait and see, and if that is what happens, then we’ll have more data about your abilities. Maybe you should start to keep a journal or something so we can keep track. If you do have the power of foresight, then that could be really useful in the future.”

  “So, you don’t think it’s weird?” She had to be sure. She’d never dealt with anything like this before.

  “Not at all.” He was quick to reassure her. “Foresight is a gift that some people have to greater or lesser extents. It’s a super useful thing that should be cultivated if you do turn out to have it. Either way, it’s interesting that you had such a strong reaction to your first taste of real magic. And, from what you said, calling up the tree came relatively easy to you. That has to mean that you’re much more magical than you know.”

  “Huh.” She hadn’t thought about that. “You’re right. Maria said she really struggled to bring forth the tree at first. She does it easily now, but it was really hard for her in the beginning.”