Their Mistake

Prologue

CALDER

It wasn’t quite dinner time yet, but I was ready to retire for the day. Remi wasn’t in her office, and either was my brother, so I had a good guess where I could find them. Just as I thought, I found them on the bed in our room. 

“Was this voluntary?” I silently asked Cullen. 

“Not really,” he replied. “Pip told me she looked a bit ragged, so I lured her up here and got her to lay with me for a bit. She fell right asleep.” I nodded, looking at Remi lying with Cullen. She was curled into his side with a blanket laid over her. Cullen had his tablet in his lap, presumably to work while she slept.

“She’s really tired lately,” I frowned. Cullen nodded. “Maybe we should take her for a check-up?” Her belly was rounding fast in her pregnancy. 

Cullen lightly ran his fingers down her arm. “Maybe,” he said thoughtfully. I came over to the side of the bed. 

“Switch me,” I whispered. “I want to hold our mate.”

“No,” Cullen said, frowning. “You’ll wake her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Greedy,” I accused. Remi stirred next to him. 

“See?” he said, raising an eyebrow. She sat up with a sleepy smile on her face. 

“Calder,” she said. 

“Hey, baby,” I smiled. I sat down on the bed as she got herself up. She looked at her watch then scowled at Cullen. 

“You said you would get me up in 30 minutes!” she chided. “Cullen, it’s been over an hour.”

He smiled at her. “You were tired, love,” he said softly, pushing her loose hair out of her face. She continued to frown at him. 

“Excuse me?” I said, getting her attention. Her eyes flicked to me, and a smile danced on her lips. I opened my arms, and she moved to crawl towards me. I wrapped her up in my arms before kissing the top of her head. “You look radiant when you first wake up,” I told her. 

“I won’t look so radiant when I tell you we are on baby duty tonight,” she said with her face hidden in my chest. 

“What?” Cullen complained. 

Remi pulled away from me to turn back to Cullen. “Gentry asked if we could take the baby so he could get Sam away for the night. She has been stressed out lately. Pip is coming to get him in the morning, but she already had plans to have dinner with Ryker’s parents tonight.”

Cullen’s shoulder slumped, and I let out a chuckle. “It won’t be that bad,” I said. 

Remi smiled. “Yea, its practice,” she laughed. 

SAMMY

“Ah!” I yelped. The energy backfired and shot at me. I managed to dip out of the way, the only casualty being my singed shirt sleeve. I slammed my hands down on the table. Nothing was working. I should have gained control by now. Grayson was almost two months old, and I was completely recovered from the pregnancy; there was no reason for these erratic magical outbursts. 

There was something more going on, and I needed to figure out what it was soon. Gentry was starting to get worried about me running off all the time, and the slips were getting harder to stop. I couldn’t integrate into the pack fully until my magic wasn’t creating a problem. The twins and Gentry had been getting push back from their Elder Council about a witch being the Beta’s mate. They held firm against them so far, but if they thought I was dangerous or out of control, I wasn’t sure what could happen.

Nothing added up, though. I used all the siphoned magic from Voldigoad to stop him and seal him away. Grayson was no longer inside of me, unbalancing me. The mating ritual was complete, so my magic capacity was more extensive than ever. Why was I losing control like newly realized witchling?

My phone rang from my bag across the room. Gentry was probably worried that he couldn’t link me. I ran over and dug desperately inside until I found it. “Hello?” I answered without looking at the caller ID. 

“Sam, where are you?” Gentry’s smooth voice said. 

“I needed to come to the shop for a bit,” I said. 

“We need to do something about you being over the boundary. I can’t link you,” he pouted. I could imagine his lip sticking out at me, making an adorable face. 

“I’m sorry, I lost track of time. I will clean up and head back to the pack right away,” I told him. 

“Good, I have a surprise for you,” he said cheerily. 

“Oh, surprise? What is it?” I asked. “Is it food?” 

Gentry laughed. “It can be. I got us sitters for Grayson tonight, and we are going away, hun.”

My stomach turned a bit. “Going away to do what?” It was hard enough to control my magic but hiding it from Gentry was another level. It was easier in my shop, where the valuables were magic-proof. I managed to magic-proof a few things at the packhouse in Grayson’s room, but he hadn’t shown any magical affinity so far. Only time would tell with a hybrid. 

“I can’t give away everything. It’s a surprise. Just come home and pack an overnight bag,” he instructed. He sounded so proud of himself; I wondered what he planned. 

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.” I hung up the phone and looked around. I had been sneaking off to my shop as much as possible as all my books and totems were here. If I was going to stop the erratic outbursts, this was the place to do it. I waved my hand and muttered ‘purgo’ to clear the mess. Inanimate objects moved on their own, returning to their dedicated spaces. In a matter of minutes, the whole room was tidied. 

I grabbed my bag and headed out to the front to lock up with a sigh. Once I was across the boundary once more, I could teleport myself back to the packhouse as long as my magic cooperated. For now, it was. 

I strapped my bag to my back before climbing on my bike to get back across the boundary. Something was causing a shift in my magic, and I had to figure out what. I resolved to go back to the basics when I could get back to my shop. There had to be an explanation for all of this, and maybe it was simpler than I thought.