by Leeda Vada
“No yet, Aunt Vesta,” Calli replied. “I think I’ll go for a walk. I have to get out of here for a while.”
“Wait, let me go with you,” she replied. Calli heard her but was already out the door. She clearly wanted to be by herself, but Vesta was not going to allow that.
Chapter Fifteen
Calli had not cried during the service. She was so full of hate, guilt, and shock that she was afraid that if she started to cry, she would never stop.
The rain stopped as she left through the patio doors. She saw some of her father’s friends standing off to the side under some trees in the yard. Rand and several of his friends were shooting baskets on the court that doubled as a tennis court.
Calli heard a few people call her name. She sped up, hurrying to get lost under the cover of the forest that surrounded two-thirds of the Lakota property. She had not changed clothes and still had on her black pumps, which were not made for walking through the woods.
Calli could sense Canaan following her as she walked briskly toward the forest, but he made no effort to catch up with her, and for that she was grateful. This night had too many similarities to the previous time Canaan had followed her during a crisis in her life. It was not a time on which she wished to dwell.
“Calli, slow down,” she heard Vesta call. Reluctantly, Calli slowed her steps and waited for the other woman to catch up.
Canaan wanted to give Calli his support, but he knew it was too late for that. The support she needed she would not accept from him. He had relinquished the right to give her his physical and emotional support when he rejected her years ago on a stormy night much like tonight. He fell back as he saw Vesta approaching her.
Catching up with her young friend, Vesta asked, “Where’s Canaan? I could have sworn I saw him walking this way.”
“I guess he changed his mind,” Calli replied, taking a seat on a nearby bench.
Vesta joined her. “Now. Talk to me, Calli.”
“What is there to say?” she asked in resignation. “Nathan is dead, dead because of me.”
“How can you say that? You know that is not true,” Vesta corrected her.
“It is true. Nate was in Mexico because of me. It was because of me that Canaan was forced to leave Bakari. Nathan, as part of his team, followed him there,” she related, her voice full of guilt.
“No, baby, no,” Vesta said, enveloping her into her arms and gently rocking her. “You didn’t kill Nate. Canid outlaws killed Nate.”
“But I did!” Calli insisted. “Nate would not have been over there if it weren’t for me.”
Vesta lifted Calli’s chin, forcing her to look up. “Listen, Calli, yes, Nathan admired Canaan. He admired Dakota too. Do you blame Dakota for Nathan’s death?” she asked.
“No, but that’s different,” Calli insisted.
“How is it different?”
“Because it is,” Calli responded.
“Wolves are predatory creatures at two years old, Calli, and are biologically wired to function as a social hunting unit, which necessitates safeguarding their territory. Males and females are born to fight, males for status and females to protect their cubs. Even a female may become the pack Alpha when her mate is killed, until either she chooses another mate or another male Alpha is voted into the position. Over the centuries, these wolf characteristics in Canid DNA have been subjugated by our more human genes. But they are still there, just in a much less dominant form. They don’t hunt for status anymore, or at least that’s what our males tell themselves. Instead, they fight to rescue other Were descendants who need their help to survive. And they fight politically, financially, and socially to protect the pack. For Apollo, Erol, and Odin, it was fighting and undermining the slave traders, rescuing Canid from the holes of slave vessels en route from the Nigerian and Sierra Leone coasts and from holding camps as they awaited transport to Virginia. For your generation, the war is more of a global one, but still with the goal of the survival of our species. You can’t blame yourself for any of that,” Vesta asserted.
The two women sat quietly for several minutes, letting the rain absorb some of their grief. They both started at the sound of Laura calling Calli’s name.
Calli turned to her friend, “It’s that time.”
“Won’t you stay a few days?”
“That’s not an option,” Calli said, rising, and giving her friend a tight hug. “I have to get back. I received special dispensation to come to the service. There have been enough ‘special circumstances’ made for my presence in Scythia. I don’t want to make things more difficult between mom and her family.”
“Okay, sweetheart, but you know you have family here too.”
“Some choices cannot be unmade, Aunt Vesta. And who knows, maybe they shouldn’t be,” Calli added as she walked toward Sheba and her mother.
#
As Canaan and Khan escorted Calli and Sheba back to the Scythian’s cloaked jet, the intense feelings of anger and resentment aimed Calli’s way from the assembled Canid crowd overshadowed any feelings of sympathy some may have felt.
When Calli defied Apollo and subsequently resigned her Bakari citizenship, the majority of Canid saw her actions as not only a rejection of Apollo’s authority, but also a rejection of everyone in the Canid community. Her seeking sanctuary with her mother’s people after that rejection only fueled the criticism against her.
Her temper and capricious actions had been evident since her childhood, character flaws exacerbated by indulgent adults who reinforced her rebellious behavior with tolerant smiles and weak reprimands.
Memories of kindnesses she had shown others, no matter their rank or background, were not enough to even the scales. The courage and chutzpa she showed to go toe-to-toe with her brothers and other Canid males her father had trained had made her a hero to young girls as well as elderly matrons. That was now all but forgotten.
Though a few in the community knew of her future as Canaan’s mate, everyone sensed that she was special. Seeing her next to Laura and the Scythian warrior had to have made them wonder if Calli was part Amazon. Was that why she was able to pass the Warrior training? Was that the root of her need to be a Warrior, to claim a role previously reserved only for males? It would explain her resistance to becoming a proper Canid mate to Canaan.
And where did her true loyalty lie? Maybe that was why she so readily relinquished her Bakari citizenship.
These questions only exacerbated the mourners’ grief, anger, and frustration over the deaths of Nathan and the three other Canid Warriors.
Canaan realized that these negative feelings were not aimed at him, because in their eyes, he was a victim. A Were male had no other option but to care for and defend his mate. In their view, his biology would not allow him to behave any other way. Though many would wish Calli harm, they realized that their hands were tied. For whatever punishment they wreaked on Calli, Canaan would suffer as well.
Still, the crowd did have the power to make Calli feel their disapproval, and they sent it to her in waves. Calli had expected no less. But these self-same Canid who now bombarded her with arrows of disdain and disgust were the same Canid who had raised her to take it without flinching.
So the stronger the crowd’s feelings of condemnation grew as they tried to break her, to force a crack in the granite veneer or to make her at least validate their feelings by showing their power to wound her, the stronger she became.
But to their dismay, Calli’s exile had forged her into the warrior she had dreamed of becoming—an aloof, immutable, battle-hardened soldier—one who repressed all personal feelings and let nothing interfere with the fierce control that was the trademark of a Canid Warrior.
And as Canaan watched their faces as he and Calli walked through the crowd, he feared her Canid family would never forgive her for it.
Chapter Sixteen
Amaka collapsed onto the cold gym floor, the news driving her to her knees. She had taken advantage of Tamby’s absence to relax and
do a minimum workout. She continued to put together an effective, but safe, exercise routine to keep her body in top form during her pregnancy.
She wasn’t sure she would be able to regain her position on the Snow Team, but she wanted to be in fighting shape, just in case.
Her work with Snow was the sustaining force in her life. She had met Nathan when they were paired on one of the team’s joint missions with Canaan’s Mestizos.
Even through the haze of lust and liquor, she and Nathan had both been stunned at the force unleashed at their coupling.
Since Amaka was not Canid, the force of the passion unleased when their bodies joined at their first encounter stunned, then concerned, them both. They were Warriors. Neither had marriage nor mating as goals for their immediate futures. They weren’t ready for the chains of obligation and restriction that accompanied mating and marriage.
Every young adult Canid knew of Canaan and Calli’s catastrophic story. She and Nathan had witnessed first-hand much of the tragic consequences of an ill-timed mating gone awry. They in no way wanted their lives to follow the pair’s disastrous path.
The consequences had been many and far-reaching, affecting the lives of both extended family members and the entire Cumberland nation. Schisms developed within the Powhatan pack—between friends and within families—who found they were forced to take sides, no matter how reluctant they were to do so.
Therefore, many of their generation were reluctant to jump headlong into the mating game, hence their indulgence in one-night stands or other short-term affairs that involved nothing more than a mutual satisfying of physical needs.
Sex was a very effective and pleasurable way of releasing the access adrenaline that followed the violence and danger associated with battle. As comrades-in-arms, the males respected their Smoke counterparts, and that mutual respect made for an effective pairing of the two teams on missions.
That’s why when Tamby brought to Amaka’s attention the questionable readings she was sensing from her, Amaka was surprised. But later Tamby’s words made her pause and think back to the last time she and Nate had been together. She began to examine the time period since.
Alarmed, she took an at-home pregnancy test and it confirmed her suspicion. Perhaps a part of her had known all along, and Nathan may also have suspected something.
They had avoided each other since that night, making sure they were not on any missions together. They declined any postings together, fabricating an excuse or switching assignments with other team members.
Her pregnancy test changed things. She knew that with the extrasensory abilities of all Were descendants, especially the Canid, her pregnancy would not go undetected, as evidenced by Tamby’s awareness.
She could no longer be in their presence. Consequently, she requested leave and stayed at Tamby’s cabin in Canaan’s retreat in Colorado.
She was living day-to-day, hiding out. Tamby did not push her but allowed her denial. They both had known that plans had to be made, including making Nathan aware of the situation.
But Amaka had not been ready. She and Nathan were not a mated pair, which is why this pregnancy was such an anomaly.
One reason Were descendants, Canid included, were so casual about the superficiality of their sexual encounters was because they could only conceive with their destined biological mates. Because the symptoms associated with the recognition of one’s mate were so obvious, there were few “accidental” pregnancies.
In fact, Amaka did not know of any. And though she and Nate had been in close proximity many times before their coupling, there had been no signs of either being each other’s mate.
Tamby had suggested that there must be some unknown element in her or Nate’s background that had escaped the Canid doctors.
But the intensity of Amaka’s reaction to word of his death had shocked her. She had lain on the gym floor in a stupefied state for hours until the next morning when Tamby had found her.
After helping her into a hot shower, Tamby put her to bed. Amaka remained in bed for the next three days, only rising to use the bathroom and shower. Tamby insisted that she eat, reminding her often of the health of the child she carried.
Amaka hadn’t dared attend the funeral. She watched the feed relayed by Tamby from Bakari. She wept for the Lakota family, having to endure another disruption in their circle. She also knew that knowledge of Nathan still living in the child she carried would give them comfort.
So how could she explain her resistance to informing them? She didn’t know, but she couldn’t. Not yet.
#
The housekeeper watched in silence as the mistress of the house deleted the number on the Apollo’s cell. What a stroke of luck. How convenient to her plan. What better person to have on her side than Apollo’s own Lupa. What power this knowledge gave her! Ironically, the Lupa would be instrumental in destroying her own species. Revenge was better served cold.
The two women had a similar goal: the alienation of Canaan and his destined mate. The couple must not be allowed to breed. Though she and the Lupa each had different reasons for preventing the mating, their ultimate goal was the same.
Donoma was a patient woman. She had to be, but now things were falling into place. Calli’s repudiation of Apollo as her Alpha had gone a long way to keeping her and Canaan apart. Now, between Belen’s machinations and her own, the destined pair would remain apart.
As Donoma turned the corner to return to her quarters, she spied the child, Bena, watching Donoma observing her mother. The housekeeper approached, kneeled, and clasped the little girl’s hands.
“Don’t worry, child,” she assured her. “I will keep your mother’s secret. Your mother is only trying to protect your brother from coming to harm. She knows that Calli will only hurt him.”
Chapter Seventeen
Two years later, Switzerland
Calli reclined against the rough bark of the strong, three-hundred-year-old majestic oak on the lawn of the Varul family’s Swiss Alps villa. She slowly pulled her fingers through Meda’s mop of soft, white-blond curls.
Meda slept peacefully, enjoying the warmth and comfort she always felt in Calli’s arms. Though it was impossible for Meda to remember how the two of them had become acquainted, she felt a deep connection to Calli.
Calli made sure to visit her often, with or without Sebastian present, for Meda’s presence gave her comfort as well. It helped to quiet her demons.
She was awakened by voices that seemed to rise in intensity as they drew closer.
Two men had entered the area. Dressed in inexpensive, off-the-rack trench coats, suits, and shoes that reflected their working class status, the men’s stern, business-like demeanor evoked in Calli a sense of foreboding.
They approached Sebastian who was working on business correspondence at a nearby table. He rose to greet them.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Varul,” said one of the men, withdrawing his badge from his coat pocket and presenting it to Sebastian. “I am Inspector Kyle Jamison from Santa Rosa Grande-Bretagne, and this is my partner, agent Kevin Davidson. We are here to speak to Ms. Lakota.”
“Concerning?” Sebastian inquired, after taking a cursory look at the badge.
“With all due respect, sir, I can only discuss that with Ms. Lakota.”
“I cannot allow that, Inspector,” Sebastian insisted, blocking Calli from the officer’s line of sight.
“I’m sorry, but I must insist, Mr. Varul.” Inspector Jamison signaled to a second man, who spoke into an electronic device in his ear.
Within what seemed like seconds, six gendarmes, armed with high-powered rifles, entered the garden. Simultaneously, a legion of black-garbed, militia-styled Varul guards formed a circle around Calli and Meda.
“No one is approaching Ms. Lakota, Inspector, not as long as she is under my protection,” Sebastian warned.
Awakened by all the commotion, Meda jumped up, and flung her arms around Calli’s neck. “Who are these men, Uncle Sebastian?” sh
e asked. “Why do they have guns?”
“Don’t be frightened, Meda. These are police officers. They will not hurt you. Inspector Jamison and I are having a slight misunderstanding.” Moving over to her and Calli, he took Meda from Calli’s arms and handed her to her nanny who had rushed from the residence.
Meda protested, kicking at her nanny. “No, Sebastian. I want to stay with Calli,” she cried.
“It's okay, Meda,” Calli tried to reassure her, rising and going to stand beside Sebastian. “Monsieur, I am Calli Lakota. What can I do for you?”
Ignoring Sebastian’s efforts to block his access to her, the Lieutenant approached Calli. “You do not have to talk to him,” Sebastian protested.
“Why not, Sebastian?” Calli responded. Turning to the officer, she asked, “Again, Inspector, what is your business with me?”
Jamison responded by removing a large white manila folder from a deep pocket inside his coat. He extracted a white official-looking sheet and approached to hand it to Calli.
Sebastian intercepted the white form and after perusing it, handed it to Calli.
Pulling a pair of handcuffs from his right coat pocket, the Inspector turned to Calli. “Ms. Lakota, I have a warrant for your arrest on the charge of murder.”
Sebastian took Calli’s elbow, pulled her back, and inserted himself between her and the lieutenant.
“Mr. Varul, you have no right to interfere with an officer of the Swiss government performing his duties,” the Inspector admonished him.
Sebastian responded, “So, are you going to arrest me too, Inspector?” his arrogance reflected in his raised brows.
The already tense atmosphere in the garden threatened to explode into action as Sebastian’s militia and the gendarmes cocked and aimed their weapons.
“No!” Calli shouted, forcing her way past Sebastian to stand between him and the Lieutenant. “No bloodshed, please.”
She turned to the Frenchman. “Who am I supposed to have killed, Inspector?” she demanded.