“Do I just jump right in?” she questioned, visually assessing the size, length and depth of the pool. Thankfully, it looked only waist-high, but in length it was over fifty meters.
“Claim your birthright,” Endauvie spoke with an emotionless expression.
“Okay.” Raina removed her clothes as she moved toward the clear, inviting pool. “I can do this.” Placing one exploratory toe into the water, she howled in pain and immediately yanked her foot back. “What’s in there?” she asked, staring at the clear liquid that should have been water, but wasn’t.
“The sacred pool is filled with Tears of the Dragon.”
“Dragon tears,” Raina scoffed, feeling rage getting the best of her, “are you bloody kid’in me?” Her accent strengthened. “It’s too hot. I’ll be incinerated if I go in.”
“Tell me who you are and you may cross unharmed,” Endauvie snarled, finally showing a hint of emotion.
“I’ve told you.”
“No. You have not,” the First One stated softly. “You will die here Raina Jacobs if you cannot claim your destiny. You must decide…now…if you are the real Hybrid.”
“Everyone says that I am,” Raina whispered.
“But you do not believe that you are.” Endauvie cocked her head to the side reminding her of a raptor.
Raina glared angrily at the creature glaring back at her. “Does that matter?”
“Of course it does,” Endauvie’s tone softened even more. “You must believe, Raina Jacobs or nothing…including destiny…will matter.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Mustering all of the power she had, she stepped into the pool once again and pulled her leg out in pain.
“Damn this!” she growled. “I have to claim it. I have to believe.” But did she? Did she really want to be the Hybrid? “I am Raina Elaina Emmanuel Jacobs, daughter of the Blood Moon Pack and heir to the Romani Assembly.” Again she stepped into the pool, but this time she endured the scalding liquid. “I have survived so much shite it’s un-freaking-believable,” she growled low, tapping into her inner-wolf. “I lost my mother when I was a child.” She took another step toward the box. “I watched my best friend get mangled by my father.” She stepped again, wincing at the heat radiating off of the pool. “I survived getting hit by a freaking double-decker bus,” she yelled out, skin beginning to blister. “I found the love of my life and I’m not leaving him again!” she yelled. “I am fuckin’ Raina Jacobs, daughter of the Blood Moon Pack…” Her nose began to elongate into a snout. “Daughter of Richard Jacobs, the Supreme Alpha of the British Clan, first son, of the first son of the Blood Moon Pack,” she growled, sprouting fur where hair should be and claws where fingernails should be. “I am the daughter of Elaina Emmanuel…” Her tail extended and her teeth lengthened until they were sharp and pointy. “I am the heir to the Romani Assembly…and I will be the bridge between Humans…” Her arms morphed into front legs and her human features were almost wholly gone. “…Werewolves…and…Romani…”
In her wolf form, she swam across the pool, stopping only to gather the wooden box between her teeth. With unexpected grace, she swam to the edge and hoisted her large body out of the sacred pool of dragon’s tears and shifted back into her human skin.
Endauvie looked at her and smiled. “Who are you?”
Resolutely, she proclaimed, “I am Raina Jacobs…the bridge between all species. I am the Hybrid,” she smirked. “And today…I kicked destiny’s arse.”
*****
Quickly, she got dressed and ran from the sanctuary as it faded into nothingness. Smiling broadly, she held the box out to Duncan, who was looking tired and frail. Shite!
“How long have I been gone?”
“Almost forty-five minutes,” Duncan wheezed.
Picking him up in a fireman’s hold, Raina ran toward the grassy knoll where they had originally appeared. Janet followed closely behind. A concerned expression on her face.
“We must move faster.” She glanced back at Janet, who was struggling to keep up.
“I’m moving as fast as I can,” Janet puffed. “You’re moving like a rocket is strapped to your back.” Janet gasped for breath. “What happened in there anyway?”
Raina ignored the other woman’s question increasing her speed. “I’m faster in my wolf,” she shouted to the slowly fading ex-editor.
“We can’t shift on this plane,” Janet reminded breathlessly.
Raina smiled. “I can.” Then she did the unthinkable and shifted into her wolf form, but this time she was…bigger…faster…and stronger. All of her muscles felt like they had been injected with some sort of super serum.
“What the hell happened to you in there?” Duncan gasped, staring at her as she motioned for him to get on her back. Reluctantly, he did as she requested, holding on for dear life as she ran like The Bionic Woman back to the knoll.
“How do we get back?” Raina asked shifting back to skin when they arrived at the spot where they woke less than an hour before.
Closing her eyes, she somehow cleared her mind and imagined them both back in the cave. When she opened her eyes, she saw Duncan’s lifeless body lying beside her. Quickly, she propped up his head and opened his mouth. Thoughtlessly, she pressed her mouth to his and breathed.
“C’mon old man, open your eyes,” she teased. Nothing. Again she put her mouth to his and breathed, but he still didn’t move. Something wasn’t right. “Damn it, Duncan!” she yelled, feeling the tears running down her cheeks. “I don’t know if I’m doing this right.” She shook his shoulders lightly then a little harder. Again she breathed into his mouth and added chest compressions to her ritual. Racked with guilt she shouted, “Open your eyes! I forbid you to die on me.” Shaking with uncontrollable sobs, she sat on the cold cave floor with Duncan cradled in her arms until her father, Antonio, Blaine, and Nicolae came to get them.
Epilogue
“It was a beautiful service,” Antonio stated, hugging her shoulders tightly.
“I guess so.” Raina’s grip tightened around his waist. Looking up into his warm, brown eyes, she examined his features, handsome and kind. “Don’t ever leave me again.”
Gently, he kissed her lips. “I won’t. Only death could take me from you.”
She grimaced. “Don’t say that. No one that I love will die in my presence again.”
“Is that your first proclamation as the future ruler of all of us freaks?” Blaine asked, as he came to stand beside her.
“Yes,” she nodded, giving him a no-nonsense glare. “Yes, it is.”
Sadly, they watched the flames of Duncan’s funeral pyre reaching toward the evening sky.
“No time to wallow.” Nicolae suddenly appeared beside Antonio. “You have to wrap-up your life in New York.”
“I know,” she said, imagining Duncan discussing the benefits of eating haggis with Janet, who was a vegetarian if she remembered correctly. Or was she? She would have to ask her the next time she was in the Shadow Lands.
“Everything alright?” Her father’s voice brought her back from her reflections.
“No,” she said, shaking her head, “nothing will be alright until all of this Hybrid business is finished.”
“Have any other abilities shown themselves since your return from the Shadow Lands yesterday?” Richard asked kissing her cheek.
“Not yet.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Blaine comforted, pushing away a loose tendril from her face.
“I was so cocky,” she frowned, “I should have read the journal more carefully. I should never have let him…”
“Stop,” Antonio ordered, angling her face toward his. “No more beating yourself up. Duncan knew the risks and he chose to take them because he loved you. Don’t lessen his sacrifice.”
“You’re right,” she mumbled against his chest. “I’m tired,” she gently pushed away and turned toward the manor. “I think I’m gonna turn in.”
“Do you want company?” Antonio asked, without
expectations.
“Not tonight,” she said, trying to smile, but couldn’t. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
“Goodnight,” her father hummed hugging her tightly. “I’ll check on you later.”
Nodding her head, she left without a word and made it to the solitude of her room before the tears appeared. Angrily, she wiped them away, cursing herself and the whole supernatural cluster-fuck. A soft knock on the door halted her self-loathing fest.
Yanking open the door, she huffed, “Oh, it’s you. I’m not in the mood to talk right now…” Before she could finish her sentence, two arms grabbed her and a sharp pain accosted her right arm just below the shoulder. “Shite!” she growled, trying to shift, but couldn’t.
“Shh, Miss Jacobs. You’re coming with me.”
ROMANI
(Wolf Land Series)
Book 2
Now Available
From
L. D. K. Johnson
Claiming Kai (The Kapahu Series) Book 1
SEALing the Deal (The Kapahu Series) Book 2
Project Lieutenant (The Kapahu Series) Book 3
Honoring Noelani (The Kapahu Series) Book 4
Four Past Midnight (Déjà vu Series)
Counting Stars
Coming Soon
From
L. D. K. Johnson
Romani (Wolf Land Series) Book 2
Dark Horse: Book 1(Dark Horse Saloon Series)
Keeping Keanu: Book 5 of the Kapahu Series
Lup Teren (Wolf Land Series Book 1) Page 24