“I’m…sorry. May I ask why?” Damien took a sip of the stew, amazed at how good it was. Jill hadn’t been lying. Kain could cook amazingly well. It took he had not to gulp it down in a single swallow.
“In the middle of the change, they turned into a werewolf and tried to kill me. It’s not a pleasant feeling, Damien. It’s why most of us don’t turn someone unless we know they won’t become monsters. Kyle was worried that you may become a werewolf after you didn’t wake up for so long,” Kain took his own bite of fish, offering Damien some water. “I told him I would end you myself if that became the case, knowing Jillian couldn’t do it. For now, my friend, eat and regain your strength. We will begin again when you are ready.”
Damien watched as Kain rose to his feet. There was something about him that demanded respect. Something powerful Damien couldn’t wrap his head around.
****
After breakfast, Kain had Damien once again blindfolded. Only this time, he made Damien remove his shirt so he could feel everything around him.
Kain coached Damien through how his body needed to feel. How he needed to relax and realize that the darkness held no fear.
Slowing his breathing, Damien remembered Jill’s howl. He understood the words she said over the wind.
The burn inside of him expanded to his muscles as his mind’s eye took a large shape. It’s eyes the piercing amethyst color of his own. It was just within reach but still so far away.
The hours passed by, changing the golden rays of the sun into the pale silver and grays of the night.
“The moon rises, Damien. It is time for me to leave you. You did well. Your senses are developing nicely. Try to make tonight easier. I will return in the morning.” Kain began tying the jacket he usually wore around his waist.
Instead of the feral wolf of the first night, Damien now locked eyes with the same image he’d seen when he’d encountered Chelsea.
Kain stood on muscular legs bent at the knees. His thighs and calves bulged with hard muscle. Torn and tattered jeans hung off of his knees. His chest bare and sculpted. The faded crest of what looked like a medieval wolf holding a shield engraved on his left hip.
Damien was awestruck by the beast above him. He was the spitting image of Tenebris from the vision he’d had when Barghast fought his brother in the burning meadow.
The huge lycan howled. Only this time, it was almost like a song. Soft and melodious despite the ferocity of the beast it came from.
Kain sprinted away as graceful as a marathon runner into the woods.
Great, how badly can I mess tonight up? I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to do. Damien thought, mentally preparing himself for the no-doubt horrible night to come.
Damien went back to the fire to sit down and watch the flickering flames. His mind focused on the huge shape he saw in the training with Kain earlier. That’s what I can do.
Blindfolding himself, Damien sat in the meditation pose Kain taught him to relax his mind and become more aware of the landscape around him.
At first his body tried to force his instincts to adjust, bringing about a sense of frustration. His chest tightened as his desire to give in almost took control. Damien took the blindfold off, cursing under his breath. Why can’t I figure out something that should be so natural to me? What the hell is wrong with me?
Looking up at the moon, Damien had to choke back the uneasy sensation nagging at him. What if he couldn’t ever change? He’d let everyone he knew and come to care about down. They’d be in danger. Jill would be in danger if he couldn’t pull himself together.
Jill. Damien laid down on his back, his eyes locked on the glowing orb in the sky. A sense of warmth falling over him as he felt his mind being pulled into sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Damien opened his eyes to see a woman staring down at him. She was beautiful. Her hair strands of pure silver light flowed down her back to rest upon the ground all around them. Her skin was so white, it would make even the snow blush with envy.
Her long, slender fingers comforted him as they ran through his dark hair. Their touch felt cold, like the soft kisses of snowflakes on his cheeks on a dark, December night.
“Who are you?” His eyes grew wide as he found he was speaking without moving his mouth. His voice almost an echo in the nebulous space around them.
The woman smiled, leaning down and kissing him softly on the forehead. “Do you truly not recognize me, my son?”
Damien didn’t understand. He hadn’t remembered ever seeing this woman in his life. “I’m sorry. I don’t.”
The woman ran her fingers over the muscles of his chest up to his neck where Jill bit him. The marks had long healed yet glowed a bright silver sending a wave of warmth through Damien’s body.
Realization hit him as to who she was. He was staring in the face of Luna, the Night Mother herself. “Luna. You’re… Luna.”
Luna let out a silken chuckle. “Yes. I am.”
Damien sat up quickly, scooting away from Luna as far as he could. His eyes bulged with shock at the beautiful goddess in front of him.
Her dress was a soft blue, barely concealing her slender, naked form. Her silver hair falling the length of her height as she stood, dragging the ground in soft ripples like a river of stars.
Wisps of cloud drifted from her body as she moved, reminding Damien of the steam that happened when warm breath met the cold of winter.
The space around them was foreign yet so familiar to Damien. His eyes looked up to see the vast sea of stars and nebulous clouds. He’d been here before but he didn’t know when or how.
“I can see in your eyes that you are confused, my child. You do not need to be afraid. I come on behalf of one we both love. One who will soon need your help as badly as you have needed theirs.”
Luna walked over to Damien, her feet bare and light as she stepped forward. She knelt before him, her hand reaching out to cup his face, caressing it as she spoke. “You have such a beautiful creature inside of you, Damien Pierce. I long to hear his song of praise. Will you set him free and let me hear it? I will bless it to sound so much more beautiful than any of my children. Its power will be the ability to give hope in the darkness when all other hope is gone. Please, my child. Will you let your mother hear her son’s voice?”
Damien looked away, overwhelmed at the promise Luna just gave him. He’d only seen a shape, not a full form and had no idea how to release it.
“I don’t know how. I’m not even sure I can,” Damien got on his hands and knees before Luna, his fists propped up on his knuckles as he lowered his head. “Please, mother. Can you help me?”
Luna rose to her feet, smiling as her size began increasing to that of the titans in Greek mythology. Her mortal body deteriorated to match the sea of stars around her. Her eyes glowed a radiant royal purple.
Damien felt himself rising up off the ground. His eyes meeting Luna’s as her light surrounded him.
The muscles in his body began burning. Not with pain but with the utmost of pleasure.
Unlike most lycans, Damien’s bones didn’t snap or twist in to place. They merely adjusted just as water moved around stones blocking its path. His tendons didn’t pop or snap but moved out of the way until his newly formed flesh and bone shifted from man to wolf.
His cries of sudden shock melted into a howl so silken it sounded like the comfortable combination of wind blowing through a Native American flute and the loon of the night.
As Luna promised, she smiled at the sound. Her voice gentle as she spoke. “Your song is so beautiful, Damien. I hope to hear it more in the very near future. Now wake up, my son. The day arises. My child will be waiting for you.”
****
Damien jerked awake, taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air.
Had it been a dream? No, his chest felt hot as though it had been seared with a poker. His lungs burning when he tried to breath. He knew this feeling. It was the rage that he saw in the dark god’s eyes the first tim
e Damien had seen him. He must have been angry that Luna interfered.
“Glad you finally woke up. I was beginning to worry.” Kain’s gentle voice came through the burn. He made them breakfast, waiting until Damien chose to wake up.
“I had a dream. I saw Luna. I felt her touch me,” Damien’s mind went hazy as he tried to remember the details of his dream. His body felt strange. A craving filled him as he tried to sit up. His hand went to his face as he vaguely remembered what happened. “She…”
“What? What happened?” Kain’s usually relaxed demeanor appeared stressed. When their eyes met, Kain’s eyes widened. Damien’s eyes had a different feeling about them. As if something inside had been set free and waited to be revealed. “So, you are truly, finally awakening. It is an honor to witness this.”
Damien shook his head, not sure what anything Kain said meant. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Kain. Lay off the formality. I’m still the same guy.”
Kain scoffed, handing Damien a plate of food. “Of that I have no doubt. However, I have a feeling tonight will be much different than any we have seen from you since this all started. Tonight, you will hunt with me. Tomorrow I teach you to fight.”
****
The moon rose, bringing with her angry clouds ready to burst. Low rumbles of thunder made Damien flinch slightly as he thought about the dark god’s fire.
Kain’s hand on his back helped Damien relax back into focusing on the area around him.
“Ready? Tonight, you show me the wolf behind the man. Do not be hesitant. To our people, the change is even more natural than staying in the human form we have to take. Remember, the wolf in us was our first form until we were given the ability to turn into man.” Kain walked around Damien to stand in front of him.
Damien watched as Kain’s muscles grew tight all over his body. His fangs growing from his mouth as his jaw extended into the muzzle of the sandy haired wolf.
He fell forward onto his fingertips. His back legs bent like a marathon runner whose eyes were trained on the finish line; focused intensely on their goal.
It amazed Damien how easily the change happened for Kain despite how painful it appeared due to the scars that marred his copper skin.
The large tawny wolf raised his head to howl to the moon as her face disappeared behind the dark clouds. The rain beginning to fall echoed in the woods around them, the wind blew in strong gusts across the soft grass.
Kain made it look so easy. Damien had witnessed him shift walking forward after Chelsea ran. He’d seen Kain rise from his feral form to his human form like it was nothing to him.
Damien closed his eyes, trying to remember the events of the dream. Luna helped him free the wolf inside of him. He thought of Jill, her words over the wind the first night he suffered so badly just to try and make it through. He thought about how many times she’d looked at him with eyes so full of pain and worry as she placed herself up as a sacrifice to protect him. Her soft smile as she looked up at him after they made love, the deep gash in her shoulder she’d gotten after she’d saved him from Lilith.
I want to protect that smile. I don’t want her to hurt anymore, not if I can actually do something. I want the power to help her. I need the power to be what she needs me to be!
A whimper escaped Kain’s throat as Damien fell forward, his body rippling like the surface of the water after a rock had been dropped into it. His back arched as he threw his head back.
A slight roar escaped his throat as his arms and legs became the legs of a large wolf. His jaw extended with less effort than any lycan Kain had ever seen.
The tips of Damien’s tail and legs were dark like his hair in his human skin. The white fur as pure as snow flowing like ocean waves in the wind.
Damien raised his head and howled. Kain lowered his gaze, turning to lead Damien towards the woods to teach him to hunt.
At first Damien had trouble walking on all fours, slightly stumbling as he tried to walk forward. He soon swallowed his uncertainty and let his instincts take over, clumsily following his friend.
Kain stopped to allow Damien to walk shoulder to shoulder with him. The sandy alpha almost yielding in respect to his companion. His ears perked suddenly as if he were trying to focus on the sound of potential prey through the rain and thunder filled woods.
A deer with her fawn were heading into their den for the night to seek shelter from the rain. The buck stayed outside to chew on some of the pine needles and bark of the trees.
Kain lowered his head, his body getting close to the ground to stalk the buck. Damien followed suit, his body almost acting on its own as the two wolves closed in on their prey. A light bark from Kain told Damien to go around the other side to cut off the buck’s escape. The heart inside Damien’s chest was racing, his blood heated from excitement as they got closer.
Kain jumped first landing on the back of the deer, struggling to sink his teeth in the tough hide despite how large he was.
As if drawn by some unknown force, Damien jumped at the buck’s throat, his fangs finding its jugular, holding on tightly until it eventually grew too weak to struggle and fell.
A slight sting on his front leg left a thin line of blood where the buck’s antler had cut him. It healed almost immediately as with most of his smaller wounds.
Nodding, Kain took the buck in his mouth, pulling it back towards their camp site between the stones. Damien’s first night’s hunt had actually gone pretty well and for once, it felt natural.
****
Back at the site, Kain set up a shelter made out of some thick branches and vines he used as ropes. He sat beside a fire he set and began preparing the different parts of the buck for their next meals for the last few days.
“You did surprisingly well for your first hunt. Your wolf form is one of the most unique I have seen in my many years of life. That howl alone is not of this world. I should have realized ahead of time that you were struggling because your situation was different. For my failure, I apologize, my friend.” Kain looked over at his friend, his emerald green eyes full of concern.
Damien stared blankly into the flames, the taste of the buck still lingering in his mouth. “It’s fine, Kain. Not like you know what goes on when a Purifier is bitten by a lycan. I don’t know what happened. I just thought of Jill. I wanted to be strong enough to protect her and it happened. I felt like I was kicked out of my own body; looking through the eyes of something else. It scared me but felt good.”
“That sounds about right for the first time. Your devotion to Jillian is beyond astounding to me. It’s giving you strength unlike any I have witnessed. It continues to intrigue me, I must admit. For now though, get something to eat and then get some rest. I will teach you to fight wisely in battle and then we will return home so you can face Nathaniel. I have a feeling he’s bitten off too large a bite of the buck this time and is going to finally choke on it.”
The two of them laughed together at the idea of Nathaniel having his tail handed to him.
****
Damien didn’t know when sleep took him but sometime during the night, a loud clap of thunder startled him out of his dreams.
Kain was still awake, stoking the fire. The only shield against the cool air was his plaid Sherpa jacket he often wore after he transformed and a pair of tattered blue jeans. No words would come out as Damien stared at the alpha who seemed oblivious to the fact he was awake.
“You should be resting, Damien. First time changes can be taxing on the mind and body.”
I should have known. Kain doesn’t miss anything. Damien thought as he sat up. “Thunder woke me up. Why are you still awake? Isn’t it somewhere around three or four in the morning?”
Kain smiled, closing his eyes as he lowered his head. “You have such a big heart. I’m fine. Just woke up myself.”
Damien rolled his eyes, knowing Kain hadn’t gone to sleep. He wasn’t a very good liar.
The scars on his body looked so angry. The edges jagged as though wha
tever made them meant to inflict the most damage it could without killing him.
“Kain, I want to know. Those scars, the gashes. Why you sometimes look like you’re so tired you could drop at any moment. What are they from? Are you fighting someone?”
Kain didn’t look at Damien. “You aren’t ready, Damien. As strong as you have become in these three short days alone, you aren’t ready to understand. At this time, I just ask that you trust me. There is so much more about this world that you will learn in time. Go back to sleep.”
“You should too, you know. Don’t want to kick your ass because you’re too tired to stand on your own feet. That would be cheating. Especially against an apparently, old man like you.” Damien joked, laying back down.
Kain burst out laughing. The sound made Damien smile. He was finally able to reach Kain on a more personal level.
“Is that right? So, I’m an old man, am I? We are going to have to see about that. I will get some rest. I give you my word.”
The warmth of the blankets and the crackling of the fire helped Damien drift back off to sleep. His mind still focused on finding out Kain’s secret he was trying so hard to hide.
****
The following morning found the two men up at the crack of dawn.
Despite the fact that Kain had been up so late, Damien still found himself on his back time and time again.
“Okay. I take it back. I take it all back.” Damien panted as he rolled onto his hands and knees to get up to receive some more punishment from the very alpha he’d insulted the night before. I was wrong. Damn I was so wrong. I’m eating so much crow right now.
Kain chuckled, his hand running through his dirty-blonde hair. “So, what was that about me being an old man that would be, what was it, ‘too tired to stand’ on my own feet?”
“Yeah, yeah. I already took it all back. What else do you want? Blood?” Damien regretted his words as soon as Kain round-house kicked him across the face. The force sending him skidding across the ground. Damn the man could kick.
Blessing of Luna (Wolfgods Book 1) Page 24