Page 21

CADE

O ne month after the storm, Lyra woke to the sound of coffee brewing and the scent of something that smelled suspiciously like Junie's famous blueberry pancakes wafting up from the inn's kitchen.

She stretched languorously in the four-poster bed, her body humming with the contentment that came from a full night's sleep uninterrupted by magical crises or supernatural emergencies.

The bond with Cade was a warm, steady presence in her chest, and through their connection, she could feel his quiet satisfaction as he puttered around the kitchen below.

The Mist & Mirth Inn had been fully booked for the past three weeks.

What had started as curiosity about the reopened founder inn had evolved into genuine enthusiasm for what Lyra and Cade had created together.

The inn felt alive again—not just magically, but with the kind of warmth that came from being a place where people genuinely wanted to spend time.

Every room had been lovingly restored, the common areas buzzed with conversation and laughter, and the garden had been transformed from overgrown wilderness into something that belonged in a fairy tale.

Lyra had found her place in Mistwhisper Falls' supernatural community, no longer the uncertain outsider but a respected member who contributed as much as she received.

She'd started teaching basic magical control to younger witches, her hard-won understanding of chaos magic proving invaluable for others struggling with unstable power.

The town council meetings were still bureaucratic nightmares, but now she was consulted rather than lectured, her opinions sought rather than dismissed.

And Cade... Lyra smiled as she felt him through their bond, his wolf content in ways that suggested he'd finally found the balance between duty and happiness that had eluded him for years.

He'd moved into the inn two weeks ago, officially claiming the residential wing as their shared space.

His pack had adapted to the change with surprising ease, many of them seeming relieved that their alpha had finally found someone to share the burden of constant vigilance.

"Morning, Sunshine," Cade called from downstairs, his voice carrying the warm affection that never failed to make her heart skip. "Breakfast is ready when you are."

"Give me five minutes," Lyra called back, already reaching for the clothes she'd laid out the night before. The inn had guests checking out this morning, and new arrivals expected by afternoon. The rhythm of hospitality had become as natural to her as breathing.

She was brushing her teeth when the first sign of trouble appeared.

Through the bathroom window, she could see Hush Falls in the distance, visible through the gap in the trees that Cade had carefully maintained for exactly this purpose.

During the day, the waterfall looked perfectly normal—crystal-clear water tumbling over ancient stone into the natural pool below.

But Lyra had learned to check it every morning, just to be sure.

The water wasn't glowing blue anymore. It was glowing red.

"Cade," she called, her voice sharp enough to carry the urgency. "We have a problem."

She heard his footsteps on the stairs before she'd finished pulling on her sweater, and when he appeared in the doorway, his expression was already shifting into the focused alertness that meant alpha business.

"The falls?" he asked.

"Red instead of blue. When did that start?"

"Three days ago," Cade said grimly. "I was hoping it was temporary, but it's been getting brighter each night."

"Three days? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I was hoping it would resolve itself, and because you've been so happy here. I didn't want to worry you unless I had to."

Lyra stared at him, feeling a spike of frustration through their bond. "Cade, we're partners. That means you don't get to protect me from information I need to make decisions."

"You're right," he said immediately, and she could feel his wolf's chagrin at the mild rebuke. "I'm still learning how to balance keeping you safe with treating you like an equal partner."

"Well, learn faster," Lyra said, though her tone had softened. "Because if the seal is changing, I need to know about it immediately."

They made their way downstairs together, where Junie was indeed in the kitchen, along with what appeared to be half the inn's current guests.

The communal breakfast had been Lyra's idea—a way to build community among the supernatural travelers who stayed at the inn—but this morning's gathering felt different.

There was an undercurrent of tension that suggested news was spreading through the supernatural grapevine.

"Morning, you two," Junie said, though her usual cheerful demeanor seemed strained. "I hope you're hungry, because we've got plenty to go around."

"What's the occasion?" Lyra asked, accepting a cup of coffee that tasted like comfort and subtle warnings.

"Nico called a meeting," said Marcus Blackwood, the vampire from Asheville who'd become a regular guest. "Said he had information the community needed to hear."

"What kind of information?"

"The kind that requires coffee and carbohydrates to process properly," Nico said, appearing in the kitchen doorway with his usual dramatic timing. But his pale eyes were serious, and Lyra could see the tension in his shoulders that suggested whatever news he carried wasn't good.

"How bad?" Cade asked bluntly.

"Bad enough that I've spent the last week confirming it through multiple sources before bringing it to you," Nico said, settling at the kitchen table with the fluid grace that marked him as definitively not human. "The seal beneath the falls isn't the only one showing signs of stress."

Lyra felt her stomach drop. "There are others?"

"Three more, scattered across the continent.

Each one built by different founder lines, each one designed to contain.

.. entities... that were too dangerous to destroy outright.

" Nico pulled out a folder thick with documents and photographs.

"Seattle has a binding beneath Pioneer Square that's been showing fluctuations for months.

There's something under the French Quarter in New Orleans that's been making the local supernatural community nervous.

And the founders' seal in Salem has been completely compromised. "

"Compromised how?" Sheriff Torres asked. Lyra hadn't noticed her arrive, but the law enforcement officer was leaning against the kitchen doorframe with the alert posture that meant she was already thinking about crisis management.

"As in no longer functional," Nico said grimly. "As in the entity it was designed to contain broke free two weeks ago and disappeared into the general population."

The kitchen fell silent except for the sound of coffee percolating and someone's sharp intake of breath.

"What kind of entity?" Lyra asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"A Siren," Nico said. "One of the old ones, from before the supernatural communities learned to coexist peacefully. It feeds on emotional chaos—broken hearts, shattered families, the kind of despair that makes people do desperate things."

"And it's loose?"

"It's loose, it's hunting, and it's getting stronger." Nico's expression was grim. "Which brings me to the really troubling part of this report."

"There's a worse part?" Marcus asked.

"There's a connected part," Nico corrected. "The timing isn't coincidental. All four seals began showing signs of degradation within weeks of each other, despite being separated by thousands of miles and maintained by completely different founder lines."

"Meaning?" Cade asked, though Lyra could feel through their bond that he already suspected the answer.

"Meaning something is actively working to weaken the bindings.

Something with enough power and knowledge to target multiple seals simultaneously.

" Nico paused, letting the implications sink in.

"The founders didn't just bind individual entities.

They bound parts of something larger, something that's been trying to reunite its scattered pieces for over two centuries. "

Lyra set down her coffee cup with hands that weren't quite steady. "You're saying there's a master entity? Something that's been orchestrating the breakdown of all the seals?"

"I'm saying the Mistbound beneath our falls might not be the primary threat," Nico said quietly. "It might just be one piece of something much more dangerous."

The weight of that revelation settled over the kitchen like a blanket of dread. Lyra felt Cade's protective instincts surge through their bond, along with the kind of strategic thinking that came from years of pack leadership.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"We strengthen our seal as much as possible and prepare for the probability that we're going to have company," Nico said.

"The other founder bloodlines are awakening, Lyra.

I've had reports of supernatural surges in at least six different cities, all associated with families that carry genetic markers consistent with founder heritage. "

"They're being called," Lyra realized. "The same way I was called here."

"Exactly. Which means we're about to become the center of a convergence that could either save the supernatural world or destroy it entirely."

Before anyone could respond to that cheerful assessment, there was a knock at the inn's front door. Lyra moved to answer it, grateful for any interruption to the increasingly dire conversation, but when she opened the door, no one was there.

Just a letter on the doormat, addressed in elegant script to "The First Founder's Heir."

"That's new," she muttered, picking up the envelope. The paper felt expensive, and there was something about the handwriting that seemed familiar, though she couldn't place where she might have seen it before.

She was about to open it when movement at the edge of the forest caught her attention.

A woman stood at the treeline, watching the inn with the kind of focused attention that suggested more than casual interest. She was tall and elegant, with dark hair and features that seemed to shift whenever Lyra tried to focus on them directly.

"Cade," Lyra called, not taking her eyes off the mysterious figure. "You might want to see this."

But by the time he reached the door, the woman was gone, leaving only the faint scent of ozone and something that might have been magic hanging in the morning air.

"What did you see?" Cade asked, his enhanced senses no doubt picking up traces of whatever had been there.

"Someone watching the inn. Someone who didn't want to be seen." Lyra held up the letter. "And someone who apparently knows more about my heritage than I do."

"Don't open it here," Nico said, appearing behind them with the kind of urgency that suggested his fae instincts were screaming warnings. "Whatever that is, it's been magically prepared. We should examine it in a controlled environment before you make contact with whatever enchantments it carries."

Lyra nodded, though every instinct she possessed was screaming at her to tear open the envelope immediately. The letter felt warm in her hands, and she could swear she felt it pulse with each beat of her heart.

"The seal isn't the only thing changing," she said quietly, looking back toward the falls where red light was still visible even in daylight. "Everything's changing. The whole supernatural world is shifting, and we're right in the center of it."

"Then we'd better be ready," Cade said, his arm sliding around her waist in a gesture that was both protective and supportive. "Because ready or not, it looks like the next phase of this crisis is about to begin."

As they stood in the doorway of the inn that had become their home, watching the forest for signs of their mysterious observer, Lyra felt the weight of destiny settling over her shoulders.

The thread that linked her to Cade pulsed with strength, their place in the community was secure, and the immediate crisis had been resolved.

But the letter in her hands felt like the opening line of a much larger story, one that would test everything they'd built together and everything they thought they knew about the supernatural world.

The first book of their journey was ending, but Lyra had the distinct feeling that the sequel was going to be much more complicated.

And possibly much more dangerous.

But whatever came next, they would face it together. Bonded, committed, and ready to protect the home they'd fought so hard to build.

The Mist & Mirth Inn stood ready to welcome whatever the future might bring, and its founders' heirs were finally prepared to claim their full inheritance.

Even if that inheritance came with more questions than answers, and more danger than either of them had ever imagined possible.