by Lynn Veevers
“You summoned?”
Kaya had to laugh at Kenneth’s sense of humor. He took the seat next to her’s and they told Eugene about Kenneth, Samantha, and everyone else. They told him everything, except what was going on with Senka. Kaya figured that was something he didn’t need to know. He sat a long moment digesting it all and then finally he spoke.
“So Samantha is a Lycan of the wolf variety? Eric is also a Lycan and they have some type of physical draw toward each other that neither can control, yet she clearly wants me around? I honestly don’t know if I should make it easy for her and just leave or if I should stay and fight for her affection. I like her so much, but I also know if their magnetism gets any stronger, I don’t have a chance. What is it with me and picking unattainable women,” Eugene said in disbelief.
He looked defeated as he slumped in his patio chair. He then perked up stood up and said, “Thank you both for not only sharing with me, but trusting me. I am going to go work this out in my head, alone.”
They watched as he walked back into the house. Once they were alone, she asked Kenneth to fill her in on the plans, but not before she reassured him Eugene would be fine.
Because she had been so enamored with Anissa’s yo-yo Kaya had missed the brunt of the conversation concerning the plan everyone had decided on so she asked Kenneth to bring her up to speed. The plan was so simple Kaya could almost laugh at it. Samantha’s ability to conceal was a key component. She was going to keep the hunting and rescue party obscured from the Afflicted, making them unable to pick up their scent. Apparently, Owen’s brother, Art, had an almost identical trait to what Noah had possessed, so he would track Shannon’s scent. Anissa, the stealthiest member of the group, would pick off individual targets as they progressed through the caverns. Owen and Dahlia represented the brute force for when things got hairy. Kenneth would acquire Shannon and run her to safety. But before any of that could happen, Kaya would go in with Anissa and scout ahead as some type of small insect or rodent.
Kaya stopped Kenneth there to ask a question. “What about wrought? If they somehow sense me and use it on me, I am a sitting duck.”
“We thought about that and Josh said he can encase you in a shield, but it will only hold for a certain distance before you get out of range and his barrier fizzles out. At that point, I will tell you telepathically and we will venture in as far as you have gone and join you. We will repeat this until we get to where we need to go. Josh is going to stay outside the caves and caverns because once we get into the thick of it, they could use wrought on him and there is no point in putting him in danger. He will wait in one of the trucks for us to return. If, for any reason, something happens and he is attacked outside of the caverns, he can simply drive away. The reason you will stay is because you can morph into the Pure Form of a Lycan once the first step is done, making you immune to wrought,” he explained.
“Yes, but I can use none of my gifts in Pure Form.”
“No, but you can fight and regenerate like a Lycan can, so you should be fine.”
“What about Senka? Are we planning on killing her? We are killing her right? She can’t be left alive to do this to someone else’s parents or sister or anyone at all ever again! She has to die, Kenneth.”
“That’s the plan. She cannot be left unchecked,” Kenneth said grimly.
They sat in silence, their moods bleak. Kaya decided a night run was what they needed to lift their spirits, so she stood up and concentrated on a wolf Pure Form. She felt her skin tingle and then the morph took hold. She had chosen the appearance of an artic wolf this time, all snowy white and majestic with a full, fluffy tail. She turned her wolf’s eyes to Kenneth and reached out to him with her mind.
“Come run with me.”
“I will but first keep talking to me this way. I want to take a picture so you can see what you look like. You are amazing, Kays,” he said in her head.
She did as he asked and he snapped a picture with his phone. Kaya saw the photo he took and was completely in awe. Her eyes burned with a cerulean blue against the pure white fur making her resemble a wolven goddess. Kenneth assumed Pure Form and, side by side, they cleared the railing of the patio and ran off into the night.
16
What the Heart Wants
Wednesday was a day of preparations. Cole arrived early in the morning and Kaya realized Kenneth had not mentioned him in the plan for tracking down and eliminating Senka. When she brought it up to Kenneth, he simply told her Cole would do what Cole always did; listen.
Owen, Kenneth, Cole, Christian, and Eric went out in the late morning and hunted down a wild turkey and a wild hog for the meal on Thursday. Christian could not stand still he was so excited. This was going to be his first hunt and Kaya had to smile because she knew exactly how he felt. She remembered the first time she’d gone hunting with her father when she’d been ten and hadn't slept the night before because she was so excited. It was a feeling akin to what a child feels on Christmas Eve when sleep just doesn’t want to come.
Cara and Samantha put together the formal dining room for the next day’s meal with Eugene. While he loved eating meat, he wanted no part of killing the animals the meat came from. So when he was invited to go on the hunt, he respectfully declined.
“Hey, Mr. O’Connell. Yesterday when I was on my walk, I did see a group of turkeys, and there were at least four toms,” Eugene told him.
“Well now, you don’t say,” Owen said, a big grin slowly spreading across his face.
Eugene conveyed to Owen where his wanderings had led him the day before and Owen gave Eugene a fatherly pat on the shoulder and left the dining room. Popping in to see how they were coming along, Kaya saw it was looking great with all the oranges, browns, yellows, and greens they chose to go with on color scheme. They were definitely the people for the job. It was hard to not also notice Samantha and Eugene were never more than three feet apart. They had spent most of the day together so far and she could feel their connection strengthening. It made her smile.
Walking out of the dining room less than a minute after Owen, Kaya went to rejoin Dahlia and her three girls in the kitchen. Those girls might have resembled their dad down to their cute little noses, but their personalities were all mama. They were domestic in every sense of the word. She had no doubts they could cook and clean better than most adults.
It turned out Dahlia’s favorite pass time was baking, especially desserts, and Owen found himself repetitively getting kicked out of his favorite room in the house. He didn’t seem to mind too much though; he loved Dahlia’s cooking.
They spent most of the day making dough for cinnamon rolls and whatever else struck Dahlia’s fancy. Kaya learned how to make fresh corn and flour tortillas, tamales, and salsa. Kaya showed Dahlia how to make trifle, a dessert Kaya’s mother had learned when they’d taken the vacation in New Zealand. She couldn’t remember the last time she’s had so much fun in the kitchen.
The day whizzed by and before they knew it, everyone was sitting around the fire pit just as the sky lost its last traces of daylight. Samantha cuddled up with Eugene and had not paid all that much attention to Eric the entire day. Eric had two of the cubs, Nadia and Christian, cuddled up next to him in Pure Form while the other two, Morgan and Valarie, snuggled with Owen and Dahlia. Kaya was snuggled up with Kenneth, and Cara sat next to them, worrying over a crochet project she had started for Di’s babies. It was starting to look like a pink and blue afghan blanket, kind of like the ones Kaya’s mother used to crochet. Sitting by Eric, was Cole and those two were talking about college majors.
Owen gently nudged Morgan and Valarie and they got up so he and Dahlia could stand. The two cubs ran over to Cole and lay down on their paws next to him. He scratched them behind the ears, one hand on each cub, and they snuggled closer to him.
“Dahlia and I are going to go on a walk,” Owen announced.
Eric, getting to his feet, addressed his nieces and nephew. “Who wants to go play video games?”
He was answered with the insistent happy thumping of tails on the patio boards. “OK then let’s go!” But when Morgan didn’t get up to follow he said, “Morgan, are you coming?”
She answered him in her wolf’s voice.
“OK, sweetie. Maybe later then.”
He walked inside and Morgan got up, walked across the patio, and lay down next to Samantha, who lavished her with attention. Her tail thumped and she started panting happily. Eugene smiled. He loved animals as a general rule, so he thought this was the coolest thing ever. He scooted closer to Samantha and put his right arm around her waist and Morgan’s tail stopped immediately. He reached out to scratch behind her ear and a low growl rolled through her which got louder the closer he got. Samantha reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling it away, then eased him away from Morgan.
“Morgan, what has gotten into you?” Samantha asked. Morgan got to her paws and took on her Human Form. The expression on her face emanated anger. She pointed at Eugene.
“He is not your one, Samantha, Uncle Eric is! Eugene is just an Gnáth. There is nothing special about him at all! If you chose Uncle Eric, you would be my aunt for reals. Then Uncle Eric would stay here!”
Tears started pouring from Morgan’s eyes and she ran into the house. Samantha just stood there, still and silent, her heart clearly breaking. The cubs meant everything to her. She faced Eugene and searched his face for an answer. He didn’t have one. He stood there with his heart on his sleeve, clearly waiting for the worst to happen. Kaya could tell he expected her to let him down easy.
Samantha was about to say something to Eugene, but he leaned down and kissed her before she got the chance. If Kaya thought she’d seen sparks with Samantha and Eric, then what she saw now was full-blown fireworks. A wave of pure energy pulsed from them and spread out over the patio. Kaya was not the only one who felt it either. The expressions on both Kenneth’s and Cara’s faces suggested they felt it too.
Samantha didn’t try fighting what was happening, instead she leaned into Eugene and kissed him back, arms wrapping around his neck and shoulders, with her fingers tangled in his hair. There was absolutely nothing one sided about their kiss. Eugene slowly pulled away from Samantha and her eyes were raging with yellow intensity. Eugene looked slightly alarmed.
“Please tell me that’s a good thing.”
“Oh yeah, that is definitely a good thing,” Cole said laughing.
Eugene didn’t look too steady on his feet for a moment and then it was as if the fog had cleared and he found his footing again. Owen and Dahlia came bolting through the door and stopped abruptly when they saw Samantha. The yellow had moved from her eyes to illuminate her face, her hair, and by the looks of it, it would soon spread to the rest of her body.
“Oh no! You have got to be kidding me!” Owen breathed as he took Dahlia’s hand and looked from Samantha to Eugene and back.
“What is going on, Owen?” Kaya asked frantically.
He totally ignored Kaya for the moment and instead spoke to Samantha.
“You have to let him choose this. He has to know before you have him accept you as his mate. You know what will happen if he declines.”
Samantha shook her head indicating she understood and with tears in her eyes, faced Eugene. He had heard what Owen had said. “I don’t care what it is that I have to know! I have seen so many things I would have never thought possible since I came here,” He said looking around the patio. “I never thought I would ever want someone as much as I once wanted Kaya…You proved me wrong. I’ll except anything if it means I get you in the end,” Eugene told Samantha in a voice that shook with every word.
“Samantha is being blessed with the temporary trait of Athrú. The word Athrú is Celtic for change or shift. This only happens when two eligible males are trying for a female’s affections at the same time and only when one is a Gnáth, the other is Lycan and the female is leaning heavily toward the Gnath. It is extremely rare that this happens. I have never seen it with my own peepers. When her heart chose him, it unlocked this temporary trait because he is a Gnáth and has apparently won favor with her. Now he has a choice to make. Natural selection would prefer she choose the Lycan suitor. However, her heart says otherwise. Athrú will give her the power to change him. If he accepts, he will be one of us, a Natural Lycan. His time is running out though. When her entire body is illuminated and if he has not accepted her before the light starts to dissipate, he will have lost his chance. This won’t happen again,” Owen explained.
“Why can’t she do this again when they have had more time together?” Kaya wanted to know.
Owen leaned toward Kaya so he was close to her and answered her in a hushed tone. “There is a price that comes with choosing a Gnáth over a Lycan suitor. If he declines, she will be stripped of the Lycan gene. Samantha knows this, but she has always been so spontaneous and hotheaded. She should not have confessed her love so soon. Either way, when this is over, he will either be a Lycan or she will be a Gnáth,” he said with a sad sigh.
“Owen, she didn’t confess anything. She didn’t say a word! This started after he kissed her. She didn’t even see the kiss coming. He did it out of desperation!” Kaya said, slightly distressed.
He just stared at her in shock and looked back to where his baby girl was glowing like a beacon.
“Well, she might not have said it, but she definitely felt it and thought it. With Lycans, sometimes what we need can’t be found with our own kind. Samantha had an undeniable attraction to Eric, and it is clear that her heart ruled over her body in this matter. As far as having more time, well, in most cases with our kind, we know fairly fast when our intended mate has crossed our path and that individual is inexplicably drawn to us, especially if they are not a Lycan. It would appear that Eugene was indeed her intended,” Owen said solemnly.
Cara walked to her brother and he stared at her with genuine fear in his eyes.
“This is not a coincidence, Eugene. Look at her. Against all odds, she chose you over another who was just like her. Even though they were attracted in a way they couldn’t avoid, she still picked you. That says something. These guys mate for life, Eugene,” Cara said, gesturing to the other Lycans on the patio, then letting go of his hand and stepped back.
He saw Samantha was floating barely two inches off the deck and almost completely engulfed in the light; it was at her calves.
“She looks like an angel,” Eugene said breathlessly.
He reached out his hand then stopped suddenly as he gazed at her, unsure. Samantha reached out toward him.
“Eugene, I will still want you whether you choose this or not. You do not have to be a Lycan for us to be together. My mother was a Gnáth just like you.”
That was all he had needed to hear, that she wanted him regardless. He took a step forward, grabbed Samantha’s hands, and pulled her to him. The light spread to him and slowly engulfed his body and hers. They lifted off the patio fifteen feet into the air. The light faded from Samantha and she descended back to the patio. She went to stand next to Owen.
“You are about to see another son born, Daddy,” Samantha said, smiling with relief.
Finally, after quite some time, Eugene started to descend as well and that’s when Owen got excited.
“This is the good part. He will descend in Pure Form for the first time. Hmm, I wonder what color his fur will be. I get a black vibe from him.”
There was a definite hum of excitement and anticipation on the patio. Eugene was so bright, everyone turned away after he finally made it all the way down. The light finally started to condense, fading into his chest, forming the natural magical core he now possessed. There was a collective gasp from everyone on the patio and one that wasn’t when Eugene made contact again. Behind her, Kaya saw Eric standing at the sliding screen door, peering through in disbelief.
She sighed and turned back to Eugene, who stood there in his Pure Form with Samantha circling him in her own. He was beautiful with the deepest black ears and
dark gray fur everywhere except the end of his tail and his paws. They were snowy white. He was huge, much bigger than any of them would have thought for a male. Owen walked up to Eugene, who had taken to sitting on his haunches to observe everyone’s reactions.
“Now that is something else! I have never seen this variety before. You’re a fox, a silver fox!” Owen said in amazement.
“Actually, I am not surprised at all. After all, when Kaya’s tribe made him an honorary member, they also bestowed upon him a totem, an animal that serves as your spiritual guide in this life. Eugene’s was a fox,” Cara said, half mesmerized.
“I suppose that may have something to do with it. Totems are found through spiritual means after all,” Owen said, considering the possibility.
Eugene barked and Samantha yipped back then changed into her Human Form. Eugene sat there, barking like crazy.
“Calm down, boy! You need to relax. It will happen on its own. Take a deep breath and think about what it is you want your body to do,” Owen said, amused.
Eugene came back to his Human Form and said, “Wow!”
Eugene faced Samantha and reached for her. She walked into his arms and laid her head on his chest. Kaya was sure Eugene was completely clueless as to what Samantha had put on the line for him, whether she intended to or not. That would have been no small sacrifice.
Owen flashed Eugene a grateful smile. “Welcome to the family, son. Well then, I guess that right there kind of trumps the fact that I just asked Dahlia to marry me.”
Eric walked out the door and onto the patio with four cubs at his heels. Dahlia searched Eric’s eyes for disapproval and found none. All she saw was happiness, so she giggled and held out her left hand so they could all see the blue sapphire solitaire. Eric beamed a smile at Dahlia and Owen.
“Congratulations.” He inclined his head to Eugene and said, “To all of you.”
Eugene nodded with gratitude. “The Pure Form is going to take some getting used to,” he said to Eric.