The Alpha's Mother-In-Law's Forbidden Love (The Cresta Chronicles)

Lilia POV

Diamond Lake was perfectly named.

Straddling the border between Evenhide and Crimsontail, it shimmered like the surface of a diamond, and was shaped like one, similar to the layout of Graywolf City. 

But for Lilia's money, the real treasure had to be the family time by the lake. They'd only teleported partway so Jiro and Garnet and the other Sinsworths/Blackthorns could catch up. Teleporting used up much energy, even for the most advanced witches, wizards, and mages. Diamond Lake seemed like the perfect halfway point.

Camped at the water's edge, the family set up a picnic for the ages. Dirge and Thessi raised the tents. Various Cresta pups sniffed around for firewood or interesting shells and pebbles or anything else that might be useful. Young William, Talon, Kelara, Patch, Marieke, and Anneliese looked after the toddlers. Ransome, Titania, Azandra, and Kyon spread out the blankets. Jiro and Dane roasted an enormously fat boar on a spit over the fire pit, while Lilia and Garnet placed all the food on a wooden picnic table near the lake. Alpha Caden and Aldwin, as well as the scholarly Walter Longbridge, prepared a pile of other game. Alicia and Florinda seasoned the meat. Daxius and Pascalline cast spells of protection.

"We needed this," Lilia told Garnet.

While arranging wooden plates at one end of the picnic buffet, Garnet surveyed the wild, crowded family get-together. "Poor Jude and Ravyn, having all of us descend."

"They'll love it," Lilia asserted. "My mother gets to be the queen, not just of a shop, but if an entire pack."

Garnet wrinkled her nose. "What is she going to do with the shop?"

Daxius, who had been circling the picnic area while throwing up interlocking wards, answered. "Marieke and I will run it. That way, it'll still be in the family."

Lilia nodded, beaming. "Mother and Father have worked this out in the last few days. It's such a natural solution."

Garnet looked impressed. "Of course it is. You can pass the shop to one of the pups, if they want to become crystal merchants. And in twenty years, who knows? Humans and shifters may live side by side, openly."

Lilia swatted her with a napkin. "Just like Jiro, always with stars in your eyes, seeing the most impossible visions, and then making the rest of us believe."

Dane called out, "They make the impossible possible. The meat is almost ready!"

Anneliese's voice rang out. "Tau? Lucina? Brandy? Where are you?"

A pink ball of fire, Anneliese flew toward the site where she'd last spotted the children. "There are paw prints along the shoreline," she shouted.

The worry squeezed Lilia's heart, and she and Garnet followed Anneliese, hot on the trail of the missing pups. William kept up with them, holding his pet bunny Flufftail. "Lucina," he called out. "This is no time to play hide and seek, okay? Dinner's ready. Yum yum!"

Garnet glanced at Lilia. "He's going to be such a good big brother to Kelara's new baby," she murmured. "He's so caring."

Lilia frowned. "The pups are going to cry for weeks when the Blackthorns go back to Lugdunum. "I wish--"

Anneliese's voice rang out. "Who are you?"

The question seemed directed at a perfect vision of loveliness, a lavender-haired woman with a glowing aura around her. She stood in the shallows of the water with the Cresta pups playing around her feet.

Tensing, Lilia tried to sense any evil in the woman. Nothing that she could detect.

"I am Liriope," the sweet-voiced woman said. "I'm the water nymph that guards this lake. I wanted to warn your pups not to go deep into the water. There's a temperamental water dragon lurking in Diamond Lake, and he sometimes swims in the shallows close to shore. He's been known to terrify shifters who just wish to enjoy the lake in peace."

Lilia swallowed. "Thank you, that was kind of you."

Liriope had pointed ears like an elf, but she definitely looked like a water nymph. Lilia had had her share of encounters with them over the years. Her hair flowed in lavender waves, and she almost walked on the surface of the water. 

"Your pups will be quite safe," she said in a musical voice, splashing them with light drops. "Go back to your family, children!"

William gazed up at her in awe. "You're the prettiest water nymph I've ever seen."

She smiled at him, and a dazzled William picked up little Lucina. "Why, thank you, young Alpha. Thank you kindly."

Lilia whistled, impressed. "You can tell he's a future Alpha?"

"You'd be surprised what water reveals," Liriope said with an enigmatic expression. 

William raced off with Lucina, Brandy, and Tau clinging to him.

Anneliese even looked awestruck by the water nymph. "It's not often that guardians of a lake make an appearance, is it?"

Liriope shook her head. "My kind can be so stuffy. We don't interact with the people around our lake unless there's a problem. There have been misunderstandings in the past. I know shifters are the same way."

Lilia whistled, impressed. "We're opening up more, but yes."

Liriope cocked her adorable head. "I sense that, which is one reason I revealed myself."

Garnet nodded thoughtfully. "The pups weren't in danger of encountering that water dragon, were they?"

Liriope smirked. "No, but it's never wise to leave little ones to their own devices so close to any body of water."

Lilia raised an eyebrow. "They had plenty of people watching their every move."

Liriope sighed, stroking her hair. "I'm sorry if that came across as lecturing. I can see these children are well-loved and protected. In any case, I wanted to meet you because we nymphs are alert to changes in the world. The ebbs and flows, the currents, and what lurks beneath the surface. Huge transformation is around the corner."

Lilia took that in stride. When a mystical guardian said something like that, anyone with an ounce of awareness took the information seriously.

Azandra had joined them, and Cyran. "What kind of transformation?" Cyran said, his golden eyes intense.

Liriope's next words had everyone in the picnic area sitting up and stopping what they were doing to take notice.

"The kind that will change this world as we know it."