“Please don’t freak, Gen. It’s nothing bad. I swear. It’s just that … you’ve changed. You’ve changed a lot.” He suddenly looked embarrassed and lowered his eyes.
“Okay, now I’m really starting to freak out. Would somebody please talk to me so I can try to make sense of this whole thing.”
Joshua and James had been staring at the floor the whole time like they were afraid to look at me. Did something really happen when I touched the stone. Maybe that’s why it had been hidden behind the ice for so long. Maybe no one was meant to find it because it was cursed.
“Look at your skin, Gen. It’s … it’s so flawless, it’s almost glowing.”
When I pushed a piece of loose hair behind my ear, I noticed how silky it felt. Not just soft either, it really felt like silk. My heart suddenly raced out of control.
I ran my hand across my arm and it startled me, and I quickly jerked it away. I had never felt skin so extremely soft that wasn’t on a baby.
“You’re suddenly more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen. It’s like you take my breath away.” Joseph was in awe.
I laughed hollowly. “I think you guys stayed out in the sun too long. I’m no different than I was ten minutes ago.”
“You’re wrong.” Joseph turned and started across the room. “Come over here.”
I followed him to a spot on the other side of the room where the ice covered a green mossy area giving it a mirrored effect.
My knees grew increasingly weak and I trembled, staring at my reflection. My whole outward appearance had changed. I appeared to be slightly taller, my hair was longer, my features were way softer, my body had the great hour glass shape, even my breasts were larger. I was definitely okay with that part.
I stepped up for a closer look. My eyes were definitely darker. Growing up they had always been a washed out blue color, then I noticed them taking on a greenish hue. But now they were clearly a dark shade of green.
When I turned around, Luna, Joshua, and Joseph had joined James, and they were bowing before me.
A burning flush flew over me. “Get up, you guys.” They didn’t move at first, but then slowly, they all stood.
“You truly are the Adlet princess and we are your servants,” all four spoke in unison, and it gave me goose bumps. Even though I had known very little about life, I was preparing to give it up in exchange for something I didn’t truly understand. I now knew more than ever, it was my calling.
I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my embarrassment. “Stop saying that. I’m just an ordinary teenage girl.” I turned toward the passageway, but spun back around. “Well … maybe not ordinary, but still a teenage girl. Now, can we please get outta here? I’m getting creeped out.”
I waited allowing James to take the lead, then I stepped in line next to Luna, looping my arm through hers and smiling. I started thinking about everything that had happened so far during this journey. No matter what had happened, Luna had been nothing but patient and kind. Not to mention how she’d stuck up for me when they were arguing. I had been so self-absorbed, and worried about my feelings and what I was giving up, I never stopped to think about what all of this had meant for them. Luna and her brothers were giving up everything to protect me, even if it meant them dying, and I hadn’t bothered to thank any of them.
She covered my hand with hers and gave a gentle squeeze. In turn I nudged her with my hip, a little too hard I might add, and she sort of bounced off the ice wall. What made me feel so bad about it was that was the same hip she’d walked out of the cave rubbing earlier after she had slipped on the ice. But, being the awesome person Luna was, she just giggled. Her hip had actually healed within minutes of falling, but I kept forgetting about that part.
We made it out of the cave without a hitch, and I smiled just starting to relax when James stopped abruptly and held up his hand.
“What is it?” Luna whispered. When she grabbed my arm another vision shot through me. It was the same man and he was dragging something. The next thing I knew, they were all facing outward from a tight circle they had formed around me.
Coyotes lunged at us from every direction. Some even jumped off the rocks high above us.
James and Joshua were the two fastest at transforming. In wolf form it was impossible to distinguish one from the other. They both had beautiful reddish-brown fur. Joseph changed next. His deep red fur with silver tips was even more beautiful than that of his brothers. Although Luna was a faster runner than her brothers, she was the slowest to transform. Her fur was silver with deep red tips—the exact opposite of Joseph. It was strange I hadn’t noticed it before.
“Gen! Change now,” Luna called out to me in my mind. I had been so entranced by their beauty I had forgotten to focus.
Her call came too late. A huge coyote lunged at me from behind. My back arched inward when his razor sharp claws dig into my flesh, sending me to the ground. I heard his teeth gnashing at the back of my head. Suddenly his weight lifted off of me and I quickly rolled to the side. By the time my feet and hands hit the ground I’d transformed without even thinking about it. I heard a fierce thunderous growl come out of nowhere and was shocked when I realized it had come from me.
Being greatly outnumbered didn’t faze us. We were much larger, much stronger, and much faster. Hungry for blood, the five of us tore through the pack of coyotes. In just minutes most of them were dead and the ones that weren’t, cowered and ran away to hide in the mountains.
Unfortunately, the worst wasn’t over. Actually, the worst was just beginning. Descending from the mountain was a large pack of Lycan … Zane’s henchmen. Their disheveled and splotchy fur covered bodies revealed they had battled many times before. Although they were skinny and appeared undernourished, I knew not to be fooled by their appearance. The closer they inched toward us, the more they snarled, gnashing their teeth and growling.
James and Joshua slowly backed up to stand next to us by the mouth of the cave. Adrenaline surged through my body, making it hard to keep still. We stood our ground and waited. As their pack neared, they split apart. My heart raced uncontrollably when I saw an extremely large—bigger than us—solid black werewolf. His fur was short and slick, and the moon reflected off his back. His fangs were extremely long, but pearly white. When I looked in his eyes I quietly gasped, and my heart nearly skipped a beat. His eyes were not only large, somewhat angular, and black as coal, they depicted pure evil as well. I didn’t need anyone to tell me who he was. In my gut I already knew.
He slowly sauntered toward me, and all three brothers quickly moved between us blocking his path, which evidently was what he wanted. While their focus was on him, the bushes behind us exploded with a dozen more Lycans.
Luna was so fast, she had ripped out the throats of two Lycans before the others knew what happened. Joseph wasn’t as fast as his sister, but he was extremely strong. When two other Lycans jumped him simultaneously, he clawed and chomped until both of their bodies lay in a mass of blood and flesh on the ground having been twisted and ripped to shreds.
James and Joshua lunged at the larger one, but his pack quickly swarmed them. They both took on two and three at a time, but began tiring. Joseph went to help, leaving Luna to help me escape to safety.
Without her brothers to assist, the Lycans took Luna down quickly. I heard her call out to me, but I couldn’t answer. I had made the mistake of looking into the larger one’s eyes, and had fallen under his spell. I couldn’t move, and even though I was screaming on the inside, I couldn’t scream out. All I could do was continue to stare into his eyes while Luna yelped from somewhere behind. I watched helplessly as he leaped through the air and everything suddenly faded to black.
Chapter 32
When I came to, everything was extremely fuzzy at first. It was like my memory was wrapped in fog that was slowly lifting. It was still dark, but I could tell by the twisted growing pattern of the trees around us we were headed back through Devils Pass.
Suddenly, the panic of
what had happened surged through my veins and when my heart started pounding, I felt this really intense pain in my head.
“Put me down,” I yelled after looking at the face of the man carrying me. I mean, he wasn’t ugly by any means, but I was sure he was the one who had tried to kill us.
“As you wish,” he said, speaking in a low even tone with a slight hint of a foreign accent. He promptly slammed me onto the ground, knocking the wind out of me. I looked up at his face. The moonlight illuminated most of his features. He appeared to be quite young. His features seemed smooth yet firm. He had jet-black hair, a chiseled jaw line and a short pointed beard. He stood over me with an ominous look on his face.
“Did you obtain the Crest, Genevieve?” He moved extremely close to me, and stared down.
“What crest?” I tried to play dumb, but I think my face told the truth.
“Don’t think I am stupid. It would prove to be a grave mistake on your part.” His brow furrowed. “I know why you came here … to find the tomb of the Adlet woman.”
I thought about everything that had happened in the cave once I touched the Crest. Maybe he’d never seen me before I found it, so he wouldn’t notice the changes I’d gone through after removing the Crest from the tomb’s lid.
I furrowed my brow, trying to hide my fear. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now, where are my friends?” I asked while getting up.
“Dead, probably,” he said in a tone that sounded like he was pleased with himself for whatever reason. If they were dead, I doubt seriously he had lifted a finger to do the actual killing. He definitely struck me as someone who used others to do his bidding.
I narrowed my eyes. “If you’ve hurt them in any way, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Ha! I seriously doubt that, young lady.”
I moved dangerously close to him. “Why not?” I moved even closer, tilting my head back as I came within inches from him. He was a good bit taller than me and even though he did frighten me, I wasn’t about to let it show. “What’s to keep me from transforming and killing you right now?” I asked coldly.
He tilted his head, glowering at me for a long moment, an evil smile stretched across his face. He leaned forward until his nose almost touched mine. “Because, your mother will die,” he whispered, paused for effect, then let out an eerie laugh. His voice echoed off the mountains around us.
“Is that so? My mom is dead so I highly doubt you can do anything at this point.”
“But you are wrong, Genevieve. Camilla did not die in that fire. She is very much alive,” he said in a low growl.
I spun around and saw the serious look on his face. How did he know about the fire? What if he was telling the truth and my mom wasn’t dead? My heart immediately started aching, and I had to fight to keep from crying.
“Let’s go.” He spun me around and pressed his hand on my back, shoving me forward.
I took a few steps further down the path before stopping and turning to face him. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
He smiled thinly while reaching into his pocket. When he pulled out his hand a thin gold necklace dangled in his grip. He tossed it to me. “Keep walking.”
When I opened my hand and picked it up by the chain, I saw the tiny heart shaped locket. I knew instantly it was my mom’s. She wore it every single day, never taking it off. I remembered asking her about it when I was little. She told me my father had given it to her right after I was born. He told her the heart represented his love for us.
My eyes burned with fresh tears. I didn’t need to open the locket. I knew there would be two pictures inside. One picture was of me as a baby, and the other was the two of them taken on their wedding day. I slowly lowered the chain into the palm of my hand, then made a tight fist around it.
A surge of electricity shot through my body, forcing me to my knees. I was blinded by a white light, and as it faded, I saw her. My heart beat so frantically my chest ached. My mom was inside a dark room. It smelled of must and lavender. She was sitting against a cold dirt wall and she was calling out to me. She kept trying to show me something, but I couldn’t make out some of it. Flashes of mountains, snow and pathways dotted my mind, then vanished.
My eyes shot open when I heard a loud thud. I promptly turned around and saw Zane lying in a crumpled mass on the ground, a darkened silhouette standing over him.
I sensed him before I saw him. My heart fluttered unabashedly. “Oh my God!” I jumped to my feet, breaking out into a gigantic smile. I leaped, throwing my arms around his neck, and wrapping my legs around his waist. “William,” I squealed, squeezing him tightly, not wanting to ever let him go.
He swung me around a few times, squeezing his arms even more tightly around my waist. “Genevieve … thank God you’re all right,” he whispered softly in my ear. “I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you.”
We held each other a few more moments before he loosened his hold, letting me slide down the front of him to my feet. He still had his hands around my waist as we gazed into each other’s eyes.
I quickly noticed he had a puzzled look on his face, and his eyes kept searching all over my face.
“What are you looking at?” I had almost forgotten about the sudden change that happened in the cave.
“You’re different somehow,” he said, his fingers gently pushing loose hairs away from my face.
My skin flushed warm, and I grinned. “It’s a long story,” I answered, then as I thought about something, my grin slowly faded. “How did you find me?” I asked, gazing into his eyes, still unwilling to let go of him.
Before he could answer, some loose rocks slid down the mountain. William’s gaze flew upward.
I sensed his uneasiness, then I suddenly remembered Zane was unconscious only feet from where we stood.
“We have to go!” His voice sounded urgent. He grabbed my hand and we ran. I felt like a clumsy puppy, tripping and stumbling while we ran. William just held on to my hand and pulled me along, keeping me from falling. We didn’t slow down until we were away from Devil’s Pass.
“Wait! I have to find Luna and the boys,” I shouted, yanking back on his hand. “I need to make sure they’re okay.” I didn’t know what William’s plan of escape was, but I couldn’t leave without at least knowing they were all right.
“Where are they?” he asked earnestly.
“They were still fighting the Lycans at the Ice Cave.” It promptly hit me that so much had happened since I’d last seen William. I couldn’t help but wonder what he would say when he found out I was a werewolf, and not just any werewolf either. I was the Adlet Princess.
I needed to tell him before he found out on his own, so I could explain that none of it would ever change my feelings for him.
“I went to that cave looking for you, but the only thing I saw was a lot of blood and dead coyotes.”
I thought about what Zane had said, and hoped he was wrong. “Maybe they’re back at our camp … follow me.” I held out my hand and he took it, giving it a gentle squeeze.
William and I ran until we were inside the tree line not far from the camp. He pulled on my arm so I would stop. I opened my mouth to speak, and he gently place his finger to my lips.
“Shh. I hear something,” he whispered, then turned his ear to the side like he was trying hard to listen.
I did the same thing and then I heard Luna’s voice. She was crying. My heart sank as I thought about something bad happening to one of her brothers. Oh my God … Joseph!
Chapter 33
I bolted toward the camp. I hoped William was behind, but wasn’t about to stop to find out. I had to see why Luna was crying. I couldn’t even think about any of the brothers being hurt, especially not Joseph. I didn’t actually realize just how fond of him I had grown until the threat of him being hurt or killed entered into the equation. The closer I got the more my heartbeat quickened and the unbearable ache inside my chest grew.
I rushed
toward an opening in the trees where I saw a small fire burning through the branches. Luna’s sobs echoed inside my head. When I broke from the trees I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Genevieve,” Luna shouted when she turned and saw me, a huge smile immediately covered her face. She jumped to her feet and ran to greet me. The force of her weight almost knocked me to the ground.
I silently counted heads. All three of her brothers were there, and I quickly realized Luna had been crying for me. Joshua and James were even smiling when I looked at them. There was something more in Joseph’s expression than just a smile, like, relief mixed with a sadness, maybe.
“How did you get away from Zane?” she asked, squealing and squeezing me way too tightly. Suddenly, she went stiff and the brothers’ smiles disappeared.
I didn’t realize what it could be at first, but then I remembered … William had stepped out from inside the tree line.
Luna released me and stepped to the side. “What are you doing here?” she asked, not entirely unkindly.
I felt the tension quickly forming, and decided I better say something. “William rescued me.”
“Sure he did,” Joseph said, glaring at him. He stepped extremely close to William, and eyed him up harshly. William didn’t cower one bit even though he knew he was outnumbered. Instead, he leaned in close to Joseph and appeared to say something to him, but I couldn’t hear what.
Joshua spoke up and broke their testosterone-filled stare down. “So, tell us, William, how did you find Gen? I mean … who told you where we were?” Joshua shot William a dubious glance.
“Genevieve’s aunt told me where you guys were headed,” William answered dryly. Once I got down here, I tracked you guys to the cave, but when I got there, you were already gone. I was headed back down the mountain when I overheard voices, and that’s how I found her.”
Ties to the Blood Moon 2nd Edition Page 16