Chapter Sixty Nine

CHAPTER SIXTY NINE

Juliana heads off to fix some tea, Samuel on her hip. I sit down in the living room with Nash, Arnold, and Layla.

“So,” Layla asks. “What fresh miseries have those mangy desert dogs decided to inflict on our pack today?”

“They want to take Stella,” I say, clutching my infant protectively to my chest.

“Why?” Layla asks.

“They know she’s a Crescent Child,” Nash explains. “We discovered it last night, on the beach, and they were nearby.”

“Ah,” Layla says. “A Crescent Child. What a precious gift, indeed. It is no wonder that they would want her for themselves.”

“It’s my fault,” Nash says, sounding distraught. “If I hadn’t let Regan get to my head, if I had just listened to Sarah when she tried to tell me - instead I made her stay out there with the rest of them, instead of bringing her and Stella safely inside, with me.”

“It’s alright,” I say, patting Nash on the leg and cuddling up closer to him on the couch. “They would have found out sooner or later.”