She reached the bank, stepped into the rushing spring, then dipped her head and lapped at the cool water. It tasted clean, fresh. Good. She panted, water dripping from her mouth.
Niko came up beside her and drank. When finished he nestled his snout behind her right ear, nuzzling her. She accepted his affection by nuzzling him in return, instinctively knowing this to be the wolf’s way, its language.
After a few moments, his smooth velvety voice coated her mind. “We will win, my Lupa, my soul mate.”
Why hate me? She thought, comfortable now with this non-verbal means of conversation.
“Many years ago rogue wolves/shifters roamed the forests. They destroyed the Gypsy woman’s family. She was the only one to survive the attack. Only a mere child at the time, she wandered from the caravan into the forest.
“When she returned, she found her people ripped apart. Her siblings went missing, presumable meals for the wolves.” Niko sat on haunches while Pita made wide circles then lay down in the sweet scented grasses of the bank.
“What happened to the rogue wolves?” Pita asked finding her thoughts easier to string together and realizing she spoke more like herself—complete sentences rather than choppy spurts of thought. “Who were they and why did they attack the Gypsies? Why does the Matriarch refer to me “wolf’s child?””
“Your father was a shifter, your mother a Gypsy or more politically correct Roma. Their union taboo, your mother was cast out as marhime. Her family turned their backs on her. She was pregnant out of wedlock and by a shifter. An old woman took pity on her and nursed her through her labor. She died giving birth to you.”
“Niko,” she breathed. “You knew my parents?”
“I know your father. He is part of the pack. You have already seen him, though in wolf form. He was among the wolves at the cabin. Your mother, I only know of the story I have told you.”
“Ohmigod. When do I see him—my father?”
Before Niko could answer her the night air ruffled Pita’s fur, and she shivered, feeling as if she’d been touched. A cloud drifted across the moon darkening the landscape. Pita’s entire body tightened. A yelp escaped her as the pressure hit her again.
Niko rolled on his side and curled into what appeared to be a fetal position then began to change before Pita’s eyes. The fur seemed to split and flesh appeared to stretch and ebb as paws stretched into arms and legs. Loud crunches and crackles filled the night as Niko’s spine straightened. Moans escaped his mouth as his body stretched and spasmed. Then the most amazing thing happened. His snout shrunk and molded back into flesh. Hair lengthened on his head, ears receded and moist flesh hugged human bone and cartilage once more. Niko was back in all his glory, butt naked, though she had little time to enjoy the view as another wave of intense pressure overtook her causing a deep scream to hurtle through her.
Niko crawled toward her. “Pita, lay down. Your body is trying to shift back. Relax and try to go with it.” He stroked her flank as the sensation of bone expanding hit her. She felt her spine elongate and her paws begin to stretch. Fur split and fell away replaced by smooth flesh. Moisture coated her skin as the change progressed. One final build of pressure, and she wondered if the sensation was similar to birthing a child. The ground she lay upon felt soaked, and she shivered in the cool night air remembering that she too had nothing on. Niko gathered her in his arms and held her stroking the long line of her back.
Nauseous and trembling, Pita shivered. “I’m s-so c-cold.” She whispered.
Niko set her gently on the soft cool grass and got up. “I will be right back.”
A few minutes later, Niko appeared donning his sweat suit and carrying her debris-covered robe. Helping her to sit up and wrap her in the robe’s warmth, Niko coaxed her with gentle words and lifted Pita to her feet. Her muscles screamed and her legs threatened to give away, but Niko whisked her up into his arms and carried her through the pre-dawn woods.
“Exhausted…” she whispered. “Tell me who my father is…”
“Soon, you rest now. We will meet your father later, and you will learn all there is to know.”
Though Pita wanted desperately to gain more information, her eyes felt leaden and the rhythm of Niko’s steps lulled her tired body so that before she could whisper another word, sleep consumed her.
Chapter 38
Pita awoke to hushed voices. Her eyes opened to cold grey light penetrating through the off-white, muslin, window coverings. She lay burrowed beneath a soft feather comforter…naked. Pieces of the previous night teased at the edge of her memory. For a moment, she thought it a dream but the muscle aches and the filthy pink robe tossed on the chair across the room told a different story.
Voices cut into her thoughts. She recognized Niko, though the other male voice was that of a stranger and heavily accented. Curiosity prodded her to get up but comfortable warmth and sheer exhaustion kept her from moving. Instead, she burrowed deeper into her nest of flannel and goose down. Rest just a little longer. The voices faded further into the distance as sleep enveloped her once more.
When she awoke again, rain pattered softly against the window. The cabin was otherwise silent. It felt empty and cold.
Alarm chiseled through her as she pushed the comforter aside and pulled the flannel sheet from the bed, wrapping it around her nakedness and proceeded to pad barefoot across the rough wooden floor to the outer great room.
The first thing she noticed was the banked fire in the hearth, then the room’s emptiness. Where was Niko? She glanced about for some sign of where he’d gone, perhaps a note.
Nothing.
Pita went to the front window and looked outside. The car sat where they’d parked it the day before. She scanned the grounds around the cabin as far as she could see.
Nothing but silent, empty forest.
Turning, she let the window covering whisper back into place and returned to the bedroom. Rooting through her suitcase, she pulled out a gray sweat suit and a lacey bra and panty set in light pink.
Twenty minutes later, she stood on the front porch of the cabin wondering what she should do, a little miffed at being left alone. Where’s Niko? She wondered again.
Pita sat upon the old porch swing and gazed out into the forest. Why didn’t he leave a note or something?
Doubts slithered into her mind. Why had he not mentioned the fact that my father was right here and had been all along? Was all this a convenient set up to get to me? For what reason? A cold, uneasy sensation wriggled low in her belly. She got up and paced the small porch, dampness and cold seeping into her. Silently she chided herself. Why do I trust people so easily? Sasha…look how that has turned out. She sighed in resignation. Have I mistaken Niko’s motives as well?
Just as her frustration began to wind into anger, three large wolves crashed out of the woods to the left of the cabin in a full run. As she watched, they morphed, still running, into human form. Two she didn’t recognize, but Tomas appeared among them. She stared mesmerized at what she’d just witnessed then blushed realizing all three men were totally naked. Pita backed away, weak-kneed and dropped onto the swing as they approached the porch slowing to a fast walk. She blinked in an effort to test reality, feeling as if she were in the middle of a Twilight Zone episode.
Tomas spoke first. “Go get something to cover us,” he said to an older man.
The man rushed past Pita into the cabin not making eye contact. Both Tomas and another younger man stood discreetly behind the waist high shrubs that surrounded the porch. Convenient. Pita felt a touch of humor surface through her shock. On the brink of hyperventilating, Pita tried to slow her gulping breaths to a more manageable and relaxed inhale and slowly blowing air out on the exhale.
“You okay, Pita?” Tomas asked. He clearly wanted to come to her but planted his feet with great effort where he stood.
“Just fine if you consider I’m gulping air like a beached fish and may just drop to the floor any second in a dead faint.” She dropped her head
between her knees for a few seconds then met Tomas’ eyes once again.
“What’s going on Tomas? Where’s Niko?” she asked abruptly, using more force than she intended, but it wasn’t everyday three wolves came crashing out of the forest and ended up as men.
The man came out of the cabin with three blankets, which the men promptly wrapped around themselves.
Tomas turned to the third man and said, “Go into forest and get our clothing, Artur.” The young man turned leaned over; as if to get down on all fours, and swiftly changed back into a lean grey wolf, blanket fluttering to the ground as he trotted off toward the tree line, and disappeared into the forest.
Pita stared after him, then flicked her gaze to Tomas in silent question. She felt her brows draw together and the frown descend upon her face.
“Come, we go inside.” Tomas directed a hand lightly on the small of her back. “We have problem.”
Pita caught the older man’s eyes, his gaze searching hers. She thought she saw a tear escape the corner of his eye, but the man quickly looked away sliding a hand through his salt and pepper hair. A great sense of sorrow tugged at her heart, and she caught a glimpse of intense pain in his eyes before he’d turned out of her line of vision.
“Stefan, you come too.” Tomas said opening the cabin door. “We need to talk.”
The name tugged at her memory, but too consumed with Niko, she ignored the tingling at the back of her mind. Pita looked up at Tomas but didn’t say anything. She preceded the men into the cabin and slumped into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. The chair she chose was closest to the wood stove, and she hoped that its warmth would soothe the cold dread within.
“What’s going on?” she asked again, the anxious flittering sensation in her belly becoming more acute as she looked at one, then the other, noting the tension in their controlled expressions. “Where’s Niko, Tomas?”
“Gone.”
“Gone?” She repeated dumbly. “Gone, where?”
Tomas sat heavily onto the chair next to Pita and indicated the chair beside his to Stefan, who sat rod straight and stared at his folded hands before him on the table.
“Answer me.” Pita all but shrieked. Her nerves wound way too tight with the stress of the past few days, and now with the possibility that Niko had disappeared, her emotions had taken a severe nosedive, and she felt control slipping into the abyss. “Tomas?”
“We met in the forest, then took run, in wolf form. We wanted to secure the gathering place. Anyway, Niko…” Tomas fidgeted and heaved a sigh. “Pita, Niko fell into wolf trap.”
“Wolf trap?” she repeated.
“A hole dug in ground then covered. Wolf runs over it and falls through. The Gypsies, they wait, and we not able to get Niko out.” Tomas gave Pita a helpless nod. “They have guns…” he let the rest hang in the air like the threat it was.
“Was Niko hurt?” Pita asked, tears filling her eyes. “Where is he now? We have to find him, Tomas. We have to find him…”
“They take him in crate on truck. We followed as far as we could.” Tomas reached over and took Pita’s hands. “You must leave Romania. There is much danger. Niko is taken; they will come after you next.”
“I don’t understand. We must get Niko back. I can’t leave knowing he is in trouble, that he might be hurt.” Pita wrenched her hands away from Tomas.
“You must go.” This from Stefan, who, until this moment, had not uttered a word. Pita saw the raw fear in his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because it is you they want to destroy, my daughter.”
Pita stared. Stefan…Stefan is my father?
“I am your father. I gave you to the Americans so long ago. I think you safe far away, but the blood… it is strong. It pull you back to the armaya, the curse. I pray you take your mother’s blood. Not be like me.” Tears fell in earnest now. “I am sorry, my daughter.”
“You’re my father?” Her heart stopped for a second, then beat a rapid staccato and her throat seemed to constrict. She coughed to catch her breath; her entire body trembled. Shaking hands covered her mouth as her mind struggled to grasp what Stefan had just said.
Tomas got up and went to stir the fire and add more wood to the hearth. He busied himself with the task presumably allowing them some privacy, though he remained within hearing.
“Yes. I am your father.” Stefan answered drawing her attention back to him. The eyes that caught hers beseeched forgiveness. “I must explain but we have no time. You must go back to United States. You must leave Romania right away. Your life and Nikolae’s depend on it.”
Sounding like a five year old in that annoying question stage, Pita asked one more time. “Why?”
“You and Nikolae are the key to the pack’s survival, Pita.” Tomas explained coming back to the table. “Without your union there will be no pack. Niko is Alfa, king of our pack, and you are his Lupa, queen or soul mate. That is your birth rite. That is why your father must send you away to protect you. Your union will bring power to the pack. Gypsy not want that to happen. They will try to destroy you.”
Resisting another urge to ask “why,” Pita glanced at Stefan. He shook his head in agreement. “But, what about Niko? I can’t just leave and…and not know what has happened to him—what if he is hurt?”
As if on cue, a rap sounded on the cabin door. Pita jumped as the door swung open. Artur, this time fully dressed, walked in with a pile of clothing. Tomas took the clothing and handed Stefan his, then set the remaining garments aside. Artur quietly went back outside shutting the door behind him, his footsteps faded to the other end of the porch. Pita heard the screech of the swing as the man sat on it.
“You must and you will.” Tomas said signaling Stefan to get dressed. “We will get Niko back and send word to you. Niko must hide, also. We send him to you when it is safe. You will travel home tomorrow. I send Niko and Stefan as soon as possible.”
“But what about Sasha, Tomas? She is here in Romania. Niko and I saw her last night with the Gypsy woman. Planning and conniving with the Gypsies,” Pita added bitterly. “She was my closest friend and knows everything about me. And, of course, knows where I live. What’s to stop them from coming after me in the States?” Pita stood and walked to the window. She gazed out a moment then turned back to face Tomas.
“Leave Sasha to me. You must move and tell no one where you are going. I send Mama with you to States. She will help you, and she be our, how you say? Mutual contact.”
“Will Dorina leave Romania? Tomas, that’s a lot to ask of her.” Tears of frustration threatened. Pita paced the room, trying—in vain—to alleviate some of her nervous energy.
“She know how important, and she care deeply for you. She will protect you.”
“What about Stefan…my father?” She glanced at the place where he’d been sitting across the table, a stranger one moment, her father the next. “I have so many questions. You can’t just send me away when I’ve finally found the link to the past—my past.”
Tomas put a hand up to shush her. “He must help us to get Niko back. I will send them both to you as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Pita sighed in resignation. “Okay,” she said softly, feeling the last bit of her reserve careen out of her control like a river tumbling over a waterfall.
Chapter 39
Pita folded each item carefully and packed both her and Niko’s things into two large suitcases that Dorina sent with Tomas. Her brain replayed the last hours while she gathered belongings and cleaned the small space of the cabin in preparation of leaving.
“Pita…” She jumped at the interruption, dropping a sweater on the bed.
Her father shifted from one foot to the other, hands clasped behind his back, and attention on some imaginary spot on the floor. Stefan met her eyes and smiled, his wrinkled and worry-worn face brightening. “I named you.” He crossed the room then turned back to face her. “There is so much to tell you. Nevertheless, time is short. Nikolae needs us. We will
reminisce when we can, my daughter.” He retraced his steps to stand before her. Gently he cupped her chin in his large hand and turned her face up so he could once again peer into her eyes. “I promise when this over, I help you to understand why this necessary.” He caressed her cheek with his thumb then turned away. At the cabin door, he said, “Please trust in my word, if not in me.” Then he left.
Trust? Seems that all my life I’ve trusted other people and look where its gotten me. She tossed toiletries into a small case. A big fat lie. My life, to this point, has been a convenient fabrication of other people. Well, not any more.
She marched over to the couch and dropped onto it with such force it creaked in protest. Stomping her feet in frustration, she growled, startling herself in the quiet cabin.
Restless, she jumped to a stand and paced the room. Turning toward the door, she glanced at the two suitcases sitting stoically at its side. She glanced at Niko’s and her heart lurched.
“I am not leaving!” she shouted. “Uh, uh,” shaking her head with finality. “I’m not being told what I should do any longer. I will not turn tail and run when Niko is missing, maybe even hurt.”
She crossed to the old rotary telephone on the kitchen wall and dialed the number written on the wall next to it.
The line rang several times before Dorina picked up. Skipping the normal phone pleasantries, Dorina blurted, “Pita! When will you come back?”
Ignoring the question, Pita twisted the curly cord around her finger as she spoke. “Dorina, I must ask you something. Did you know who my father was? Did you know that he is part of the pack?”
“No, child. Have you found your Papa?”
“Yes. Tomas introduced me to him this morning. Why all the mystery? You knew more than you have let on, and Tomas could have brought my father to me anytime. I don’t understand what sort of game everyone is playing with me.” She pulled and twisted the cord with more vigor as anger crept up again.
Curse Of The Marhime Page 17