“My son has told you more than any human has ever known about us,” Rone observed, taking his seat at the head of the table once more. “But there are pieces that you’ll need to understand going forward that will take some thought on your part. I have been ready to do away with Creed once and for all, but your mother was right. Immortality doesn’t mean that we’ll be around forever, and we needed to make sure that you would carry on the bear Kind blood, if only for one more generation,” Rone explained, his gaze settling on his son and Hannah as they too took their seats. “If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself,” Rone said solemnly. “I couldn’t live forever knowing that your death was because of something I did.”
“And you won’t have to,” Jake assured him, his eyes brightening with his own tears. “Times have changed and the people of Lake City and Hinsdale will listen. The mine is their life, and I don’t think they will be willing to let it go so easily this time.”
“Maybe,” Rone nodded slowly, his eyes on Hannah. “I wasn’t entirely sure before, but I am now. Your blood is pure bear Kind. That, including a few other factors makes you the only one in the world able to kill Creed.”
“What about my father?” Hannah questioned, her gaze sliding hesitantly to Jake.
She didn’t want to get him in trouble by saying too much, but she also wanted everything out in the open so that she knew exactly what she would be facing.
“It’s okay, he knows how much I’ve told you already,” Jake nodded, opening his mind to Hannah so that she could see what Rone had seen.
“I’ll never get used to this,” Hannah shook her head as Rone and Jake’s memories intertwined, some of them lost on her as they came in pieces.
“The council’s rules were strict when Creed and his pack were bound. We have never been able to kill any species of Kind; to do so would mean certain and immediate death for us. This is why we have only been able to maim the escaped creatures and cast them back into the abyss. But even so, they cannot just be killed,” Rone explained, his hands folding together as if in prayer. “Creed, like us, is half spirit half wolf and so is his pack, except with them, he was trying to recreate man on his own. It’s a formula that he could never attain through his own power, but he continued to try, creating mutants that can never complete a full shift into human form.”
“Full shift?” Hannah asked just as old memories transferred from Rone’s mind to hers, jerking a gasp from her throat.
Her body tensed as a wolf, just like the one that had attacked them on the ridge, staggered forward, its fangs dripping saliva as it seemed to writhe in pain. She could hear its groans, see its matted greyish brown fur as it shed from part of its body like you would a coat. Thick corded muscles grew pale white skin in patches, a human arm, head and neck appearing where there had once been a snarling snout. The rest of the animal remained wolf, bent and deformed in its current state. The memory was cut short just as the animal lunged forward, a swiping claw bringing a scream from Hannah’s throat as her arms flew up to protect her face.
“Stop!” Jake’s sharp tone shattered the memory into pieces, his firm grip on her shoulder reminding her that she was still sitting safely at his kitchen table. “You scared her!” he accused, a growl low in his throat as his eyes narrowed towards his father.
“How do you expect her to fight if she can’t handle a simple memory?”
“I’m fine,” Hannah stopped the heated exchange before it escalated, her head nodding reassuringly as she looked at Jake. “It was just so vivid, I felt like it was right in front of me for a moment,” she shook her head, the image now burned into her mind forever.
“That is why the area around the four passes is bound by a curse, cast by the council, leaving them unable to shift into any other form but wolf,” Rone explained, his lips drawing into a grim line for a moment. “If they were to ever make it past the four passes, or even into town, we might not be able to tell right away.”
“Creed and his pack has had time to strengthen,” Jake supplied cautiously, concern still in his eyes as he studied Hannah’s paler than normal face. “By nature, wolves are very smart. Combine that with just a little human intelligence, and it’s not beyond them to try and blend.”
“B..blend?” Hannah questioned, her eyebrows raised in alarm.
“Clothing, maybe even shoes…”
“It’s happened before…long ago,” Rone confirmed with a nod.
“It’s why we patrol daily, hourly,” Jake squeezed Hannah’s hand in reassurance.
“It’s why I’ve had to do what I’ve done at the mine,” Rone said quietly, his eyes lowering as Hannah’s gaze jerked to his.
It brought tears to her eyes to open up the part of her heart that had died five years ago with her mother. Her chest tightened as she pushed the hurt forward and out, memories from her past exploding in vivid colors and splashes, her mother’s smiling face fading away as her funeral passed in a blur of pain filled remembrance. Jake’s fingers stroked around hers, but Hannah ignored the comforting gesture, the memories coming so fast now that she couldn’t have stopped them if she tried. She wanted Rone to see the depression she still battled against, the agony that still ate away at her insides every time her father wasn’t near. She showed them the divide that her mother’s death had caused, and the healing that had begun to take place since arriving in Hinsdale. She made him see that he was all that she had, and the fear that gripped her with the thought of losing him too.
“We need a plan,” Hannah finally whispered, her voice wavering as the connection between the four of them slowly faded into darkness. “If Creed’s pack gets free, I’m not going down without a fight, and if you’re not going to warn them, I will,” she gritted out, her eyes holding Rone’s as he met her gaze once more.
Marigold’s tiny gasp was enough to make all of them flinch, but Hannah wasn’t backing down. She would never ask Jake to defy his parents for her, but regardless of her asking, she knew he would and so did his father.
“This isn’t a matter for a human to decide…” Rone sighed heavily, his shoulders drooping slightly as he looked from his wife to his son and then to Hannah. “I’ll summon the council.”
Chapter 24
Rone knew the type of hurt that Hannah was experiencing. He’d felt it and lived with it over the last few centuries, memories of his lost Kind plaguing him daily. It was the same pain that he wanted to spare his son, and even though he’d nearly succeeded in getting him to his eighteenth year unharmed; it was no longer the mortal consequences that Rone feared, but the emotional ones. His wife had dreamed many times of a golden bear Kind coming to take their son away from them, but he’d never even given pause to the notion. They were the last of their Kind entirely, and her forewarnings had been impossible. He’d never dreamed that a human could carry their pure blood, and he’d never imagined that there would be any kind of life available to his son, other than the one of solitude they’d prepared him for.
She made him happy. Rone could plainly see that. But it wasn’t his choice alone to make. The council had broken their own law for him once; it would be almost insulting to ask them to do it again. Even still, if Jennings wasn’t willing to fight, there would be no point in summoning them at all. The decision to reveal themselves had to be unanimous, and after losing his own son, Rone wasn’t so sure that Jennings would be willing to help him save his. But if she could put an end to this…
Rone let the thought drift off as his ears piqued, his form shifting smoothly from human to bear in a single breath. He knew he was being followed the moment he started the climb up towards Eagle’s Point, but Jennings’s legion of soaring followers overhead didn’t dare swoop lower than the tallest reaching branches. Though they would never be council born Kind, they felt his power and respected it from a distance.
There was no mistaking his friend from the much smaller look-a-likes. Jennings sat perched in his creation form, along the tip of the ridge, his massive shadow silh
ouetted against the waning sunlight. Silk smooth feathered wings lifted slightly and then returned to his sides, but he didn’t bother to turn his watchful eyes from the sloping valley below as Rone approached; he’d known his brother would be back.
Rone settled on his haunches beside his friend, a humbled growl in his throat as his eyes skimmed over the forest he’d always called home. From way up here, he could see the entire outline of the four passes, the lights of Lake City and even the tiny buildings that made up the town of Hinsdale. He knew without asking that Jennings was ready to begin his hunt. Unlike his followers, he never left the point during the day anymore. With a wing span of over twenty feet, he would be easily spotted in the ocean blue Colorado skies. It had happened before, and the rumors that followed had taken years to die. To this day, some still whispered about a mythical dragon that kept watch over the pass, guarding the gold that lay beneath its layers of bedrock and earth.
Rone shook his head at the silly notion, letting the events of his afternoon play openly through his thoughts. Jennings observed without comment, watching the girl he’d somehow known would come along. This wasn’t their fight alone anymore. Creed had always been a problem, and even if Rone didn’t like it, it was time to do away with him once and for all.
If it’s your boy you’re concerned about…
It’s not fair for me to ask the council for his happiness. Rone’s thoughts shifted through the memory of what they’d done for Marigold. It’s especially not fair for me to ask you.
This is something that should have happened a long time ago, Jennings turned his sharp eyes to his friend, sadness filling him as thoughts of his own son filtered through. It’s not about Jake’s happiness alone. Creed needs to be dealt with. Had she come sooner…
Creed wouldn’t have spared him.
I haven’t given up, Jennings’s snapped, his razor sharp talons crushing the rock he’d so gingerly perched on just a moment before.
So you’ll fight?
If I could drive the blade in myself, I would, Jennings confirmed, breath filling his body so that his chest puffed stiff and ridged.
If he’s alive, then we will free him, Rone promised, instantly blocking the image of what Creed and his pack had probably done to Jennings’s son.
So we summon them, Jennings nodded once, his gaze fixed once again on the valley below.
But will they come? It’s been centuries…
Centuries too long, Jennings’s sighed warily, his own thoughts shifting to what they’d once been. If only we’d known.
We couldn’t have, Rone shook his head at the answer it had taken him so long to come to terms with.
Human evolution had been inevitable, and their fault alone. They’d used their powers selfishly, and would pay the price for a lifetime. It was now their duty to protect their rulers, and if that meant putting his own son at risk to do it, he had no other choice. Creed had to die.
Summon them.
**********
Hannah jumped as the final warning bell rang, her eyes jerking to the empty hallway that had been full of students just second ago. With a sigh she slammed her locker shut, her thoughts jumbling together into a ball of questions that were steadily forming. On their walk home, Jake had assured her that she’d made quite the impression on his father. But what if it wasn’t enough? What if…
Third bend on the cross country trail. Can you come?
Hannah froze at the sound of Jake’s voice in her head, her hand jerking away from the knob, she’d just grasp, as if it had burnt her. Her heart gave pause and then quickened as she glanced through the tiny window of Mr. Goodall’s government class and then back in the direction she’d just come. There was a test today, and she shouldn’t be skipping, but her feet didn’t know that. They carried her without waiting for better reasoning to process, back down the empty hallway and towards the stairwell that would lead to the basement of the school.
The second her tennis shoes hit concrete, she sprinted, along the narrow corridor that led past the girls’ locker room and out of the service door that led down to the football field. She could feel him, watching her memories as they formed, the sight of the empty green turf, the dirt path that weaved unevenly behind the bank of stands. He followed as if he was right there with her, his location plain in her mind even before she’d reached the span of trees that marked the beginning of the cross country course.
He knew before she reached him that the punch to his chest was coming, but he took it anyway, catching her wrist and pulling her to him before she had a chance to throw another.
“Where have you been?!” Hannah snapped, pushing her hair from her face so that they were eye to eye. “Do you know what kind of day I’ve had? Worrying about you and the wolves, and…”
“I was on patrol,” Jake shrugged, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as her scent assaulted his nostrils settling somewhere deep in his chest.
He welcomed the burn it ignited there, his arms tightening around her for one second longer before releasing. She felt it too, and he watched as her features eased from annoyed to embarrassed, flushed cheeks deepening in color as she took one hesitant step back away from him.
“So you were worried about me huh?” Jake teased, his finger lifting her chin so that she looked him in the eye once more.
“And everyone else in Hinsdale, including my father,” Hannah supplied, rolling her eyes as he smiled wider.
“I was worried about you too,” Jake admitted, tapping his temple. “I’m going to have to teach you how to put up a block. It’s too tempting for me not to tap into your thoughts anytime I want.”
“Anytime?!” Hannah’s eyes widened as she thought of her shower last night, and then immediately tried to switch to something less incriminating.
“I respect your privacy. I would never…” Jake blushed as a flash of her fantasy flittered between them and then disappeared. “Well not when it’s random like that, but I’m trying.”
“Stay out of my head,” Hannah moaned in embarrassment, her eyes closing as she willed all thoughts of him out of her mind.
“Keep your eyes closed,” Jake whispered, his hand closing around hers before she could protest. “I won’t let you fall,” he assured her, pulling her gently so that she followed him off the path into a thicket of trees.
It was only a few steps, but a world of difference between the open path and the cocoon of lush green leaves that now surrounded them. Jake stopped abruptly, catching Hannah in his arms as she stumbled right into him as he’d anticipated.
“You did that on purpose!”
He smiled as her eyes flew open in surprise, and then narrowed in suspicion as she reached around to grab the hand pressed at her lower back.
“Careful,” Jake warned releasing her from his hold as he revealed the present he’d been waiting to give her all day. “They’re sharp,” he nodded towards the golden claws that adorned and covered the fingers he held out for her to inspect.
“They’re beautiful,” Hannah breathed softly, the pad of her index finger tracing the ridge of one claw lightly, her brows rising in surprise as he took her hand in his.
“I made them for you,” Jake murmured with a smile, careful not to poke her as he slid the dangerous weapons off and offered them to her.
“I…I couldn’t!” Hannah laughed once, the sound stilled by the clamping of her throat muscles when she realized that he was serious. “You don’t expect me to…to use theses, do you?” she questioned.
“You said you wanted to fight,” Jake reminded her. “If this happens, fighting like a bear is the only chance you have of killing Creed.”
“If…?” Hannah’s teeth gritted as she shook her head firmly. “I’m not going to let my father die in that mine. Show me how to use these,” She met his stare with a determined look of her own, her hands now deadly as she raised them in defense.
“You must hear what the council has to say before that decision is made,” Jake cautioned, turning her slow
ly so that her back was to him now. “But in the meantime, I want you protected. The claws are charmed, with a spell that only I know and I will teach you. With a simple thought you can will the metal to your liking. Like this,” he whispered softly, his hands gripping her shoulders firmly before sliding down the length of her arms.
Her fingers fanned with no command from her, the metal growing warm against her skin as it suddenly transformed into four golden lumps that covered her knuckles. She could see the spell in Jake’s memory, her face in her own thoughts as she watched him labor over a scorching fire to get them just right.
Viygure
The unspoken language of the bear Kind. Hannah immediately recognized it from snatches of Jake’s memories he’d allowed her to see.
“What does it…?”
Her questioned was answered before the words were out, the gold suddenly cooling and then growing warm against her skin again as it transformed once more, this time forming a single golden dagger on each hand. There was no warning for the vivid images Jake let spill forth from his memories, their surroundings suddenly darkened by the snarling wolf coming right at them. Hannah’s heartbeat quickened, her breath held as she pushed against the firm hold Jake had on her arm.
The possibilities are endless…
The wolf was right in front of her now, yellowish brown stained fangs so close, that it could have taken her head if it were real. The command came through her thoughts as though it had been buried there forever. Slow and unsure, but it worked.
Niughne!
Hannah did scream this time, the wolf falling forward and through them as the four claws she’d jabbed forward hit its mark, the memory fading just as quickly as it had begun.
Her knees were weak, her body trembling as she squared her shoulders against the firm press of Jake’s chest. He was right. She had to learn to fight.
“Again!”
Chapter 25:
Jake squeezed Hannah’s hand tightly as they picked their way through the pitch black forest in silence; her, following his lead without question. She was exhausted from their afternoon of training, her muscles more sore than she would ever admit out loud, but he saw her thoughts plainly; a weakness that he would have to teach her to cover immediately.
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