Just as Ravenheart teeth grazed Tony's stomach, his weight was lifted up.
"You are too ambitious for your own good, wolfling." Sebastian held Ravenheart several inches off the ground by the scruff of the neck. "Rule Quakahla? Bah, you are not good enough to lick this shaman's feet. You are doomed to remain a beta wolf indefinitely."
Sebastian threw the younger werewolf toward the body of Beryl, where he landed on the lifeless form. With a shudder of revulsion, Ravenheart regained his footing and lifted his head, a deadly expression in his eyes. But the werewolf King took no notice as he turned his back and gazed down at Tony, "Philippe will deliver your coup de grace, Shaman."
Tony saw Philippe covetously moving in on him, and saw Ravenheart crouch behind Sebastian's back. He was losing blood, losing it fast and too much of it, but he still had some strength left. He considered breaking the connection with the bear, but either way he was no match for two werewolves. Philippe, he could take care of. If luck held, Ravenheart would give Sebastian more than enough to deal with.
"You old fool!" Ravenheart roared, charging at Sebastian. He head-butted the older werewolf but Sebastian recovered quickly and whirled, giving his attacker an open-handed blow that sent him reeling.
Philippe, taking no chances of losing his kill, dropped his head to take out Tony's entrails. Tony rolled, digging out a mound of mud and kicking it into Philippe's eyes.
Then a wild scream undulated through the night. Everyone froze, eyes turning toward the sound. Lily was careening across the village, slipping and sliding in the mud, silver hair streaming behind her and uttering a fierce cry.
Ravenheart forgot about Sebastian. Returning her enraged cries, he raced toward her. They met under the light of the half moon, Lily not skipping a beat as the werewolf put his hands on her. Though he shuddered horribly, though the stench of burning hair rose from him in waves, he held on, shaking Lily. Her head flopped back and forth. Her eyes fell closed.
Tony scrambled to his feet and broke into a run. But Sebastian was ahead of him. With a spray of mud and water, he vaulted through the air, landing just behind Ravenheart. In one quick movement, he grabbed Ravenheart's neck and wrung it.
The wolf sank to the ground, taking Lily with him. Disregarding his own safety, Tony broke his connection with the bear and knelt beside Lily in human form. Her face was white against the dark mud. The crystal at her neck had grown pale, as lifeless as she looked. Whipping out his knife, he pivoted to protect her from Sebastian.
But the werewolf king made no move. Ravenheart lay dead in his moonlit shadow, and he turned dully to take in the body of the fallen Beryl. Philippe alchemized to wolf shape and began slinking backward toward the maze.
Arching his neck, Sebastian let out a howl so mournful it chilled Tony's bones. Then he swept down, lifted Lily off the ground, and ran toward the forest.
Lily's outraged cries hit Tony's ears, alleviating his dread, but they faded into the darkness of the woods before he could get to his feet. Deathly stillness now cloaked the village. All the people had entered the cave. The animal pens were empty.
He sprinted into the forest, ducking here and there to avoid runoff from the trees. He ran with the quiet movements of a practiced warrior, but still heard no other sounds. It was as if Sebastian and Lily had disappeared, and though he knew Lily had taken Shala there, he had no idea where.
He heard a twig snap. Brandishing his knife, he spun toward the sound.
"Papa?"
And then Shala was running toward him, throwing herself into his waiting arms. "Oh, Papa, you're safe."
Tony held her close, his joy at finding her dimmed only by Lily's disappearance. Should he instruct Shala to stay here and continue searching? But the smaller werewolf was lurking about somewhere. Shala had no defenses against him, while Lily had many.
"Hang on, little one," he said, then broke into a run.
"Where's Lily, Papa?" Shala asked in alarm as they came upon the quiet village square. "Where is she?"
In the sky, the pale moon grew larger—less than a quarter of it remained in darkness—spilling light across the village that revealed the brutal wounds on Beryl's lifeless body. Tony pressed his daughter's head against his shoulder to shield her from the sight.
"She's at the gate," he told her, then took off for the cave, hoping against hope that Lily had escaped and was waiting for them there.
Riva was standing beside the gate. "Hurry," she urged as Tony raced into the cave.
"Is Lily here?" he asked.
"Where's Lily?" Shala cried simultaneously.
Sadly, Riva shook her head. "The gate is closing, Tony. You can't wait much longer."
"We aren't leaving without Lily," Shala asserted, squirming out of Tony's arms. She ran to the mouth of the cave, peering out. "Where is she, Papa? You promised she'd be here."
He walked over to her, knelt, and brought her to his chest. "Not promised, little one. Just hoping."
His daughter raised her head. In the diminishing pulse from the gate, he saw her eyes were dry and her face full of determination. "Then we'll wait for her."
"Shala," Riva said softly from her place beside the gate, "the dark moon is waning. If we don't cross soon, it will be too late."
As if emphasizing her words, the pulse surged, then vanished. The cave was plunged into darkness.
"I don't want to go to Quakahla," Shala said, unmoved by the gate's disappearance. "I never did. And if Lily can't go with us, I truly don't want to live there."
Although loathing to speak the words he feared, Tony knew he still must say them. "She might not be alive, Shala."
"No, she isn't dead. I sense it, Papa, and that's why we must wait."
She ran back to Riva and looked up at her pleadingly. "Stay with us, Grandmother. We'll live here. This is a wonderful world too, and we could go outside. Lily might take us to the Disney lands."
Her eyes as sorrowful as they were the day Tajaya's battered body was carried into the village square, Riva bent over and kissed Shala's forehead. "I can't, Shala. The Dawn People need me. New shamans must be trained. Traditions must be passed along. There is no one else to do it."
"But I love you, Grandmother."
"And I love you, little one. But sometimes duty must win out over love."
The gate resumed pulsing. Tony looked at his determined daughter, then back to Riva.
"You've had your own doubts about Quakahla, Tony," she said. "The time for choosing has come."
Tony stood and met Riva's understanding eyes. Parting from her would leave a hole in their lives. But her warning brought back Quetzalcoatl's message during the tribunal.
Yes, the time for choosing had come.
* * *
The moon was bright, undimmed by the thunderheads and pouring rain — a yellow harvest moon that looked as if someone had taken a perfectly curved nibble from its edge. Lily crept through the woods beneath its light.
The gemstone at her neck had come alive again, delivering toxic surges to Sebastian's body. He'd staggered several hundred yards before falling to his knees. Taking advantage of his weakness, Lily had ripped the knife from the sheath at her waist and driven it into his belly. Freed, she'd turned and fled.
While in Sebastian's grip, she'd heard Shala call her father's name, knew they were by now safely at the gate. She still could join them. The dark moon had not yet passed.
But . . .
Sebastian's injuries weren't fatal. She'd missed the vital spot. He'd shapeshift, heal, and come back to plague mankind. This was her last chance to stop him.
She hadn't fared too well herself. While reeling from his shock, his claws had shredded her plastic cape, leaving deep gashes on her arms. They stung and oozed blood, which the rain diluted and rushed down her hands. She ignored the cuts, knowing they would heal almost instantly. But nothing could heal the werewolf blight except her actions.
She listened intently. Between claps of thunder she heard the soft snap of twigs beneat
h a heavy weight. She followed the sounds, pausing when the sky roared again. Then a moan came. Holding her knife aloft, she moved stealthily forward.
The earth shook from thunder, the sky filled with a burst of light. Sebastian laid beneath a tree, half man, half wolf. His hands were over his stomach, blood seeped between his clawed fingers. His silver coat was scorched, matted with mud and leaves.
"It seems your magic hinders my alchemizing, my dear," he rasped. "Have you come to finish your handiwork?"
Slowly moving closer, knees flexed, legs spread, she swung the knife before her. "You'll make no more monsters like me, Sebastian. Your rule has ended."
"Ah, Lily . . . how magnificent you are. As fierce in your mortal state as you were as a Lupine." He sighed. His pointed ears and facial hair disappeared. The man she'd met in Paris emerged, but now the ice blue eyes were faded and sad. "I have missed you,
Lily . . . none go to the opera with me since you have been gone."
She sensed his sincerity, but didn't trust it. His mood would change like mercury when his wounds were gone. She continued forward, keeping her eye on the small, vulnerable spot beneath his sternum. One sharp stab would slice his aorta. Death would come quickly.
"You brought elegance and grace to the Lupine race," he gasped. "A humanity, if you will. None can take your place."
A flood of yearning overcame Lily — Sebastian's yearning. A cry for enduring love, for kindness and gentleness, for integrity, for the humanity he spoke of. This was what he'd valued in her. Not her devotion to Lupine Law, not her ability to keep the betas and omegas in hand, but for the remnants of simple human emotions she'd somehow retained.
And she remembered the irresistible tug of the hunger, knew it drove Sebastian just as it had driven her. None had been able to withstand it except Morgan Wilder. None.
"I loved you, Lily." He sighed. His hands regained their human form. The flow of blood from the wound was easing. This was her last chance. She mustn't hesitate.
A tear spilled from his eye. "Even now I love you . . . fool that I am."
Waves of compassion assailed her. Fighting them off, she lifted the knife and moved closer, but each footstep she took seemed heavier than the one before.
Pausing, she watched in morbid fascination as the lone tear streaked down Sebastian's mud-smeared mortal face.
"Lily . . ." He spoke so softly she barely heard it.
She let out a choked cry, horrified to realize she was backing away, then spun and took off through the forest. Somewhere she lost a sandal. She let it fly and kept on running. Tears streamed down her face, dogging her breath, but still she ran. Out of the woods, through the village square, toward the cave, the gate of light that would take her to another better world. But, God save her, she'd left a monster alive in this one, and that omission would haunt her the rest of her days.
When she reached the sharp rocks inside the narrow canyon, she stopped running, but her sobs remained. Her shoulders shook badly, her foot ached, and she barely maintained her balance as she crossed the unsteady field of stone.
Only when she reached the mouth of the cave did she look at the sky. The rain had stopped. The clouds were moving off. And above shone the moon, large and round, as bright as a globe-shaped lantern.
Chapter Thirty
On the far wall of the cave a faint light pulsed, vanished, and pulsed again. An image only marginally brighter than the light appeared within the pulse. "Star Dancer," Lily cried ecstatically.
"Call me Riva," the High Shaman replied. "You've done well, White Wolf Woman, and have earned that right."
Lily rushed forward. When she reached the wall the light was gone. The cave was plunged into darkness. "Wait!"
"It's too late, Lily," Riva said thinly from the other side. "The dark moon has passed on."
"No, oh no!" Wrapping her arms around herself, Lily sank to the floor, too numb to weep or wail. Now and then a lightning flash came through the mouth of the cave, a cruel reminder of how she'd missed the only light she cherished, the one that would take her to her loved ones.
How would they fare in paradise? Would Shala be bereft that Lily had failed to join them? Would Tony be overcome with grief? Or would they forget about her in time? Except, of course, when the legends were told.
She'd never wanted to be a legend. Never wanted to be a werewolf queen. Since her earliest memories she'd yearned to be an ordinary person, with loving and ordinary parents. To marry an ordinary man and raise ordinary children. Why hadn't she remembered this before succumbing to Sebastian's seductive promises? Why hadn't she remembered before it was too late?
She lowered her head to her hands and rocked back and forth on the hard dirt floor in the darkness, trying to endure her pain.
Rocks shuffled near the mouth of the cave, but she paid them no heed. Her misery was far too great to wonder what was out there. Then something touched her shoulder. She brushed at it absently, thinking it was an insect, and her hand connected with warm flesh.
She jerked up her head.
Tony stood before her, Shala in his arms. Lily stared at them, frozen in place for the time it took to take one long breath. Then she sprang to her feet. New tears flowing, she threw her arms around them, hugging them, kissing them. Tony pushed back the hood of her rain cape, stroked her hair. Shala hung onto her fiercely, also crying.
"How? Why?" she gulped between sobs. "I thought—"
"We've been searching all over for you, Lily," Tony said, his voice crackling with emotion. "We'd given up hope."
"You didn't even know if I was still alive! And you've come back too late to cross to Quakahla." Their sacrifice was almost more than she could bear.
"We couldn't leave without you." Tony still stroked her hair, as if confirming she was truly in his arms again.
Lily nestled deeper into his shoulder and ran a hand down Shala's arm, seeking the same confirmation. They stood in the shelter of the cave for a long time, not moving, not talking. The faint glow of moonlight came through the entrance of the cave. Only the drip-drip-drip of water from the stone walls kept the silence from being complete.
A clatter outside broke them apart. They listened warily. More rocks clattered.
"The wolf that ran away," Tony said.
She realized he thought she'd killed Sebastian. "No," she whispered, filled with shame. "I– I couldn't do it, Tony. Sebastian is still alive."
He put a hand under her chin, leveling his gaze at her as if trying to gauge her reason. Then he nodded in understanding and put Shala on the ground. Inching closer to the entrance, he gestured for the two of them to stay put. Lily paid him no attention. Telling Shala not to move, she scooted along the wall until she reached Tony's side. He made a hissing sound of disapproval, but took her hand anyway, and they both cautiously peered out of the cave.
Sebastian stood on the rocky ground, staring up at the moon, his silver coat rippling in the gentle post-rain breeze. Philippe cowered at his feet in wolf form. Raising his arms, Sebastian started shouting at the sky in the Lupine tongue. He cursed the moon, the dark forces, his every word heavy with outrage and sorrow.
"What is he saying?" Tony asked.
"He thinks I went to Quakahla."
"Then let's not clear up his misunderstanding."
He gave her a nudge and they slunk back to Shala. Lily saw him place a finger over Shala's lips, saw her nod. The mouth of the cave grew dimmer. The moon was sinking. Eventually Sebastian stopped bellowing.
Soon after that, they again heard the rattle of disturbed stones.
"Let's wait till dawn," Lily said, "just to make sure they're gone."
Tony agreed. Shala fell asleep across Lily's lap, and as time passed, she felt sure enough Sebastian was gone that she dared speak.
"I should have killed him," she said regretfully.
"He was your kinsman, Lily. That couldn't be easy to forget."
"I won't fail the next time." Her words came out clipped and decisive.
&nbs
p; Tony nodded, believing her.
"But what of you? You've missed a chance to live in paradise."
"The spirits have been guiding me on a different path," he replied, then told her of Quetzakoatl's message during her inquisition. He ended by saying, "I've been ignoring my misgivings for some time, but when I thought you were lost, my choice became clear."
"You chose me over Quakahla?"
"Yes, Lily, I love you." He leaned forward and put a soft kiss on her lips. "There'd be no life for me without you, no matter where I was."
She nodded. "I love you, too, and didn't know how I'd survive living here without you."
"Don't forget you'd miss me," Shala piped up. "You love me, too."
They all laughed and Tony swept Shala up and into his arms. "That's for sure," he said, planting a kiss on her cheek. "With us, there's plenty of love to go around."
* * *
They awoke to sunlight spilling through the mouth of the cave. Birds were singing, the sun was shining, the air was cool and fresh. And when they stepped outside, Lily found a world so clean and pure, she was sure nothing evil could survive. With Tony and Shala she crossed the jagged path that led back to the village, moving slowly because of the missing sandal.
Then she spotted a tuft of silver fur caught between two rocks. She lingered, staring down at it. Shala continued to lithely leap across the rocky ground, but Tony stopped and squeezed her hand.
"Will you go after Sebastian?" he asked.
"In time, I suppose." She met his clear golden eyes, took in the gentle waves of his dark hair, then glanced at Shala. Everything she needed was right here. "In time."
"When that time comes, I'll be with you."
"I hoped you'd say that."
Then, leaving the hair and all its memories behind, they went on toward the village. A ghost town greeted them. The gates to the empty pens lay on the ground, ripped loose in the storm. The longhouse door was open, the building stripped of everything that mattered.
Chills & Thrills Paranormal Boxed Set Page 52