My consciousness elevates to a peaceful place in her presence, proving how fated mates truly are the missing half to the other’s soul. Her absence has taught me even more about the need for equilibrium and mindful focus in the face of my own demons. A lesson I have failed at times, but tonight was a breath of hope as I was forced to place my trust in something higher when my search for her was placed on hold as I battled for the greater good. Well played, Nannau.
“Warrior, that is a much brighter path that will yield greater fruit,” RedTail wisely breathes. “You are meant to walk side by side, not always one in front of the other. In life, the lead will need to switch based on the journey. In knowing that, you will maintain your balance.”
“It is a dance we’ve long been trying to learn.” Back and forth, our individual control issues forcing us to step on each other’s toes.
“Isn’t all of life a dance along a set journey?”
“Touché.” I smile.
“Allow her to come to you in her own time. One cannot force the wind. Your brothers and sisters may now come and wait by the fire.”
“Thank you.”
Raising my hand, they all advance forward and take a seat, side by side. Moments pass into minutes, giving way to hours. RedTail delights us with prayer and tales from the ancient past as we patiently wait in solidarity for our priestess to rise. As much as I try to revel in the moment with our elder, my thoughts constantly shift to and from the resounding heartbeats, and the heat of the fire and his distant words. I never thought there to be room within my being for anyone else but my mate, and now I am finding that the possibilities have things shifting, making room for the impossible without lessening the former.
As the dark night sky begins to grey and the stars gently fold back into the distance, one by one, the fire finally dies down into smoldering embers. Realization of such hits as I blink away the night and expectantly look to RedTail, who in turn, pointedly ignores me. Fatigue pulls at our sore, tired, and cold bodies in the absence of the flames as unease shuffles through us. As we all begin to unfold our limbs and stretch, the ground begins to buck and tremble, throwing us well out of the way in a painful dismount. Well, all of us but RedTail, who remains perched on his little dirt mound, unaffected.
Where the heart of the fire had once lain, the ground crumbles away to a deep pit. Clambering up against the force, air rushes out in a tidal wave, knocking us back down into the shifting earth like children attempting to wade through violent surf. Finally, after a few tortuous moments, things begin to settle and I rush to the edge of the pit. Down below, curled into the fetal position, lies the other half of my heart. Pale, battered, bloody, and dirty, she moans aloud. Without a thought, I jump down, twenty feet or so into the dimly lit area, and rush to her. Unsure of where to touch, I opt for her warm, small hand and fold it into mine as my lips softly seek hers. Her eyes fly open as our mouths meet and the hunger there is not for more flesh. A growl rips through her, ominously bouncing off the walls of the earthen tomb as she flips me over and latches onto the column of my neck in one ferocious, painful strike. She begins to drain me on a level I’ve never felt before. My periphery clouds in white and my heart begins to struggle to pump, straining against my sternum.
“Sasha, please stop,” I beg under the weight of her power, the words becoming lost into a garble, unable to move from the hold she has me under. She growls again as if possessed and bites deeper, threatening the very life within me. “Sasha!” I manage to roar in her ears and attempt with what pitiful strength I have left to lock my fist in her hair and yank. Her head snaps back in my hold, the beautiful pier of her neck now bared to me.
Her chest rises and falls in rapid succession as she internally struggles to fully come too, her mind possessed.
Sitting up and into her trembling body, I yank her head to the side by way of her hair while my other arm locks around her back. Tenderly, I sink my fangs into her and steal back a minute amount of life before my own heart gives out. She moans and writhes in my arms. As I seal the holes in her neck and look into her gorgeous green eyes, I finally see the clouded state partially give way and her brilliant malachite return. Recognition hits as a million emotions flit over her delicate, dirt-stained face, and she collapses into me in a heaving sob.
“Shhh, mon amour. Mon Anu, everything is alright.” Standing up with her cradled in my arms, I squat and jump with all of my might, barely clearing the lip and landing before our group. Looking around to each and every one of them, I pause on the now-standing RedTail and nod in thanks. He bows in return and we march forward, back into the trees as the new dawn breaks. Throwing one last glance over my shoulder at the meadow, a pristine and untouched area now shines back in the morning dew. Not a single marring exists, and RedTail is nowhere to be seen. Two bodies lay peacefully at the edge of the forest, one of a noted priest. Emile picks up his phone to call Dominic and Solana as I clutch my precious cargo to my chest.
“They are on their way.”
“Would you all mind waiting here for the healer and the witch while Emile and I transport her home?”
Soiled, exhausted faces loyally nod, the night doing nothing but solidifying their eren stance. Even Inessa’s nieces have seemed to have aged with wisdom.
“My love, look at me.” She turns her face from my tattered shirt and bleakly complies. “Do you think you can transport the three of us home?” I knew she could. I could feel the power coursing through her. If I thought she had unexpected surprises before, that was nothing in comparison to what she would now be capable of.
Her soil-caked hand reaches to Emile, who gently takes it while warily looking to me. A hawk screams overhead, and in a flash, time and space fold in on itself. Within minutes, we are standing in the foyer back in my house. Emile drops like a bag of stones and begins wrenching his guts on my hardwood floors as the mode of travel registers with his fleshed form. Molly and Erik run in, and Molly throws herself into caring for my poor brother without thinking twice.
“I see you found the little minx,” Erik pipes, taking in the state of us.
“Something like that.” I throw him a look and take off downstairs to lock the two of us away in our safe haven. Perhaps we won’t emerge until hell finally freezes over.
Chapter 7
“Everything that happens to you is your teacher. The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it.” ~ Polly Berrien
Aiden
“Dude, hurry up or we are going to be late,” Ethan hollers at me through the bathroom door.
“Wait a sec,” my hoarse voice grumbles as I force my body to move forward into the cloud of pungent cologne my shaky hands have managed to release. It’s been getting harder to deny the truth of this so-called illness despite my best attempts. Fuck it all. Slipping my worn Sublime T-shirt over my head, I open the door to an expectantly waiting and annoying little brother. I’m two minutes older, so I can say that.
“We are going to be late.” Ethan huffs as he crosses his beefy arms across his chest. Despite our never ending flu like symptoms, we’ve still managed to keep our size by relieving some stress here and there in the gym; especially since we haven’t been able to hit the court. It feels like we haven’t played an aggressive game in months; well, until we played the other day with Lysa, Liz, and the crazy vamps Mom now thinks of as part of our family. It was actually fun, but I’d never admit that out loud. At first, I wasn’t so sure and I damn well didn’t want Liz ogling them a minute longer. The old dudes even had a few moves. Something told me if they hadn’t been trying to play human at the time, we would have been in for a real game. My lips curl at the thought. That’d be fun.
“Earth to Aiden. Bro, where are you right now?” Ethan expectantly waits, looking at me like he thinks I might have lost it.
“I’m right here, duh.” Shoving past him, I grab my sneakers and plop down on the bed with a bounce.
”You sure you are feeling alright?” Our twin connection
tells him more than my words.
“Why do you ask that?”
“For starters, look at what you are wearing,” he chides back with a smug grin. He’s always had a knack for dressing better; I’ll give him that. Thank goodness, I am the better looking one.
“I feel like shit and want to be comfortable,” I grumble as I lace up my Jordans.
“It’s Halloween; we need to be wearing costumes.” His voice becomes swallowed up by the closet.
“Cool, let me grab my ‘I’m with stupid’ shirt instead. It will be perfect.” I snort.
“Seriously, this is probably our last night to act like normal college kids.”
“Ah, yes, before the impending doom hits.”
“Say what you will, I’m looking forward to it,” Ethan scoffs.
“Say what?” I stare slack jawed at my identical twin; the excitement on his face is clear as day.
“You heard me. Seriously, have you seen our mother these days? She kicks ass. She makes me think that this won’t be so bad. For once, I see possibilities beyond basketball. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sport, but I never had NBA dreams like you. I didn’t know what the heck I was going to do after college or what to even focus on for my major.”
“I thought you wanted to look more into astronomy or some shit.”
“Meh, I liked it, but didn’t know what to do with it. I don’t know, now I feel like I finally have a purpose. Not everyone had it all plotted and planned like you.” His voice comes back into the main room.
“Yeah, now that’s all shot.” My resentment threatens me over the thought of the loss of my dreams.
“Brother, is it really all that bad?” Ethan leans back against the wall, deep in thought.
“Don’t know. Just don’t know which end is up.”
“For the first time since the divorce, I finally feel like our family is falling back into place. Mom may have her shortcomings, but Dad completely fucked off. It sucks—never thought he’d do that to us.”
“Yeah, E might be old school and scary, but at least he gives a shit about us.” That is one thing I can say for the scary fuck. He definitely cares.
“He does, and so does everyone else around here. It’s nice. Mom and Ang are great, but it’s not the same as having some other guys around.”
Ethan has always seemed to search out validation from coaches and other family members who could possibly give him what our dad failed to. Even Christian tried to help by taking us out to do guy things.
“You’re right about that. The estrogen factory gets over the top. I’m finding my way, brother. Don’t worry.”
“I am worried. You freaked me the fuck out when you flipped out on Mom and E.” Ethan sighs.
“Dark times, brother. I don’t know, feels like something strange in me is battling me every step of the way. Chalk it up to whatever in the hell is going on with us.”
“Just trust in our mom. She’s never let us down even if she is strict or overbearing in the way she goes about things. This whole thing is crazy and hard as it is. Her circumstances were a helluva a lot shittier at the time.”
“Mom and me are cool. I realize it’s not her I’m mad at.” My big hands clasp as my gaze sticks to the floor.
“Good. Now, as much as I want to sit here and finally talk more about your feelings, I heard Tristan talking to Gabriel. Those hot twins from the wedding are in town. Maybe we will see them soon.” Ethan’s horny bastard comes roaring out.
“No shit?” I have to admit, they were easy on the eyes.
“They came over to visit their aunt or something. Who cares as long as we get to hang out with them?”
“Kinda wish they’d come out tonight.” It would be a good distraction.
“Yeah, no kidding. That Solana chick too.” Ethan’s whole demeanor changes as if he’s feeling Solana more than he’s letting on. I get it—I was drawn to her instantly too. She’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, which makes me feel guilty and conflicted as hell.
“Let’s go.” I shove off the bed and make for the door.
“You going to change?”
“No.” I leave no room for argument on the matter.
As we head down to the foyer, I see Tristan and Antoine shuffling about, waiting to chaperone us with less-than-thrilled expressions. Mom made it sound like they just needed to get out and have a good time too, but we know the truth. No one knows for sure when our change is going to take place, so that means we get a babysitter at all times. Great. As we descend the stairs to head into an awkward greeting, the front door blows open in a furry and in walks all that is Niall.
“Mornin,’ young lads,” he joyfully says as he takes us in with extreme pride. I am kind of taken aback. Our own father never even looked over us like that—just Mom. We used to think she was just being a crazy mother. But now, seeing the same praise stemming from our long-lost grandfather does something funny to me, especially since he’s an important vamp leader or something.
“Hey,” Ethan and I chirp uncomfortably as we all stand around one another. This is going well.
“So, I hear from yer mammy tat the two of ye deserve one last night out on the town.”
Ethan and I exchange glances before meeting Niall’s wicked smile.
“Niall, not to be disrespectful, but Antoine and I were charged with their care,” Tristan butts in, afraid they will be fired from babysitting.
“Don’ ye be worrin’ so much! We can all go and have quite the time together—one big, happy family.” His mischievous green eyes glimmer, making me excited for the boys’ night out, yet terrifying me at the same time.
“Happy family at a few frat parties? You sure about that?” Tristan asks while Antoine moves closer to Niall, clearly on board with him.
“Oh no, none of tat ‘frat’ business. It’s time we all do some bondin’ at a real Samhain shindig,” Niall singsongs in his Irish accent while Tristan audibly groans in irritation. Ethan begins to vibrate next to me in excitement, ready to jump at the promise. For being the quiet twin, he’s always been the surprisingly more adventuress one.
“Well, Grandpa, let’s hit it then!” I turn and grab my coat from the closet, reading my twin’s need for the adrenaline rush and answering for us.
“It does my heart good ta hear ye say tat. Now, do I need to warn ye not ta tell yer ma about what we get into?”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen, ol’ man. Let’s hit it.” I brush by them all, heading out the front door. I’m tired of standing around debating about it. My fucking head is pounding and it is all I can do to remain upright.
“Wow, slow down, lad. Ye sure ye ready? Yer lookin’ a bit pale.” Niall easily catches up with me as the others file out behind him.
“This shit sucks. I feel like hell and am ready to get on with it,” I grumble. I hadn’t meant for it to come out that way. I just don’t know what is wrong with me.
“Tis all part of the process. Been a while since I’ve gone through it, but me memory isn’ tat bad.” His big, heavy palm claps my shoulder as we pile into the SUV.
With a quick nod his way, I climb into the back with Niall taking up most of the middle as Ethan slides in with us. Antoine takes the wheel and Tristan shotgun. Damn, these guys are huge. They all dwarf us in height and bulk, making me feel small, which is a new thing. Well, here we go.
∞
Waking up with a start, I realize I’d fallen asleep on Niall’s shoulder on the drive into the mountains. Quickly righting myself, I swipe at my mouth, praying I haven’t drooled on him too. Fuck, how old am I?
“Mornin,’ sleepyhead, you need your bottle now before we get to go in?” Ethan leans around Niall and waggles his eyebrows at me.
Ignoring him, I look around and take in where we are. A giant mansion sits before us, in the middle of the mountains. Shit, how long was I out? “Where are we?” I ask as I wipe the sleep from my eyes.
“West of Boulder,” Tristan answers from upfront, reminding me
of his presence.
“And about ta have the time of yer lives!” Niall chirps and slaps Antoine’s seat in front of him, hard, causing me to jump at the sound.
“There seems to be a lack of humans around,” I mumble, noticing the absence of cars and the odd feeling I have that only seems to pop up around vampires.
“Humans aren’ invited to these get-togethers.”
“Vampire party?” I gulp, and Ethan warily looks at me. We don’t care what anyone says; we both agree that we are very much human at the moment.
“Don’t worry, kid. It’s not like you are walking into Underworld or the bar from From Dusk till Dawn.” Tristan laughs, finally lightening up, and Antoine chuckles along with him.
“Shit, we don’t know what we are walking into half the time these days,” I grumble back, not happy at them laughing at our expense.
“Young lads, ye need ta have a wee bit of faith in yer ole’ grandad here. Do ye really think tat I’d ever let anythin’ happen ta ye?”
“Well, it’s not like we know you well enough,” Ethan pipes in, ribbing at the opening.
“Fair enough. Aside from bein’ over ta moon cause I have me a family now, do you really think I’d want ta suffer the likes of yer ma?” Everyone shudders at the thought. It goes without saying no one wants to cross her, or her new husband for that matter. After that crazy crap she pulled with me, making me face years of memory, I’m not in a big hurry to see what else she has up her sleeve. We know she’d never hurt us, but that doesn’t stop us from having a high respect level… and being a bit afraid.
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