TANIA
As she said that, Nia wondered if she was somehow trying to show off. While it wasn't in her nature to do so, she no longer knew who she was. So many changes had happened in so few months, especially the last four days.
She had been a high school student, a mate to an Alpha, a homeless teen, pregnant, a rogue, a mate to an alpha, the child of a goddess and now a god was telling her there was more to her. On top of that she saw the doubt in the eyes of those around her. The doubt in the Oracles in front of her.
She hadn't asked for any of this. The last thing she'd ever wanted was to be in the werewolf hierarchy, but it was now out of her hands. She could either fold and let down all who counted on her, her mate, her siblings, or she could rise up and take charge.
She'd let Huehuecoyotl goad her into overreaching herself. Now she was exposing the one skill she and her siblings all had just because she was pissed at the Oracle's arrogance.
'I'm sorry guys.' She sent to her siblings making sure to project her emotions.
'We'll trust them until they give us reason not to.' Her brother Ben stated.
'We're with you.' Cade put in. 'You did nothing wrong'
With a small nod she closed her eyes and reached for the familiar bonding patterns. She hadn't been officially accepted as a member of the pack but her potential as their luna heir formed enough of a bond. With Lex and Cade helping her she touched the minds of all about her.
A balance had to be maintained between connecting with the others and respecting their privacy of thoughts. She sensed them all alert to see how far into their psyche she would go. These were people skilled in living at that edge, knowing when to go deeper or withdraw.
Nia pushed the idea of their judgement aside and chose to trust herself. She had committed to this path and she would hold her head high even if she failed. Hadn't she told the old Coyote young people made mistakes? She too was young, and these alpha bloods couldn't expect her to be flawless.
Memories tended to be filtered through the thoughts and impressions of the person who had them, making them somewhat false. Together, and with a lot of practice, she and her siblings had come up with a way to place themselves and others into a point in memory then detach from their perception to become observers.
In that they managed to see more than they remembered. Cade thought they somehow went back in time, but only in their psyche and so never broke the governing rules.
She went back a little to when the fight between Lex and his sister had started even though she hadn't been there. They watched as Lex threw the first punch, as Leo blocked it and the fight escalated from there. Once again she was awed by the strength and skill her mate displayed. How controlled he was in that strength.
'Focus.' Cade admonished
Nia turned away from the fight and studied the people around, trying to see when the god might have invaded Leo. Nothing stood out, the people watching the fight and coming to watch had none of the god's signature, even Leo didn't.
Her movements were consistent with her alpha abilities, the weaknesses in her style clear for Nia to see. Even when she saw Nia and that creepy smile formed on her face, there wasn't any change in her aura other than the minute things that had alerted Nia she wasn't herself.
When time slowed, there were no dramatics, none of the fluctuation of energy the books said there should be. It was as if a natural occurrence was taking place, unremarkable as the sun coming out in its time.
Horrified she watched herself gasp for air, watched as the god taunted her and finally understood what he'd been trying to tell her. Their conversation had existed in a mere second of reality. She'd never needed to breathe.
A flood of questions and realizations assaulted her at the seemingly innocent fact. It answered so much, like why any mortal who'd ever managed to stop time or slow it to that significant level had died.
An aural flare bathed the scene when Huehuecoyotl step out of Leo. From her new vantage Nia saw the enormous power the being held and fear gripped her as she remembered her bravado against him. Had she know, oh goddess, she'd never had the guts to even answer him.
His anger when he talked about the moon boiled through the ether like a nuclear reaction, that volatile mix no sane person could ever hope to contain. Perhaps that's what made gods so different, they could check that violence.
"Why did you stop there?" The male Oracle asked when she took them out at the instant her hand had touched the young warrior.
She opened her eyes to meet his. "Nobody needs to know anything about his mate." She indicated the warrior, though her eyes remained steady on the male Oracle.
"Nobody, that is except you."
"Would you like to lobotomize the knowledge out of me?" She challenged him.
A smile flashed on his face for a moment. That clinical, practiced smile that didn't even bring lines around the eyes let alone reach them. The kind governmental people seemed to think people found reassuring. "Miss Ainsworth, you have to see this from our point of view."
Did she?
"You know our society keeps records on every living werewolf?"
Frowning Nia nodded her head. It was common knowledge, that way they kept track of the bloodlines and any gifts that marked them. Also it helped avoid inbreeding, not that the moon had ever made such a mistake.
"Yes well, there is no record of you in any were database," Nia's heart thudded and given werewolf hearing she was sure everyone in the room heard it. "Not only that, but there's no record of any of your siblings. Its as if you all came into existence recently since its impossible for any were to be undocumented"
Nia looked at her siblings to see the same confusion she felt written on their faces. The man was right, if what he said was true there was no way they should exist. Werewolf records had backups of backups going back millennia, with a copy held in the king's library guarded with magics that resisted alteration.
"The Eastaungffe Alpha pair," he indicated the couple sitting in with the rest of the alpha bloods. "Swear you've been part of their pack since you were three, but cannot tell us where you came from before that."
"My mother was the hidden Oracle," she explained, yet she knew it only maybe answered for there being no record of her, not the others.
"And your father?" He persisted. "You should at least be traced through his bloodline, yet even your former Alphas don't even know his name. Who was he?"
Looking at Jake's parents Nia frowned. She knew her father's name didn't she? She had to have asked her mother about him at some point, even her aunt. She would remember them keeping something so important from her.
"I don't know." The shock in her own voice caught her off guard. How could she have not known and gone on as if it was normal?
He nodded as if he'd been expecting that. "How long ago did your abilities show themselves?"
While Nia couldn't see why he'd suddenly switched topics she readily answered. "Three months ago."
"Miss Ainsworth, it takes decades of study for an Oracle to be able to share memories with someone. And to show such a large group? I wouldn't even attempt it. The most talented of us has been able to take at most ten into a memory." He paused to let that sink in as Nia's heart continued its dance. "But to detach from that memory, to rewind it to a point not witnessed? No mortal has ever been able to do either of that."
"So the question miss Ainsworth is who are you? What are you and your siblings?"