Curse Of The Marhime

by Dayana Knight

  “Stefan did not take your daughter unwillingly. They loved each other. Nor did we murder your family. You know as well as I that rogue weres are responsible for the deaths of your loved ones.”

  “Love? What do you know of love? You who eat of human flesh?” she demanded. “My daughter was raped and became laden with wolf spawn. She died giving birth to his abomination.”

  “Your daughter died in childbirth alone and forgotten, cursed as marhime by her own family, left to die but for the drabarni who took pity on her.”

  Pita blanched. This woman was her grandmother? The woman was referring to her as an abomination? Anger rose and along with it her beast. Her vision wavered between the high intensity of the wolf and her normal sight. She trembled as she felt the beast’s need to break free from her human form. Though there was no moon tonight, she felt the pull to shift so strongly she grabbed Tomas’ arm and tugged. He glanced down and she whispered, “The shift…it wants to come.”

  “Control it. You must not shift, Pita,” Tomas whispered.

  “How?” She whimpered as the tightness filled her. Panic threatened, and she wavered, but the now familiar velvety voice caressed her mind. “Deny the beast, Pita. Shut your mind to it. Hear only my voice.” Niko whispered within her mind. She stared at his broad back. He’d felt her shift. He knew her beast had awakened. Pita tried to concentrate on the conversation between Niko and the Matriarch and urge her beast to quiet. It worked. The tightness began to ebb and she relaxed.

  Niko’s voice once more flowed into her head. “See, iubita mea. You can tame your beast.” She felt, rather than saw his smile, and concentrated on the touch of his mind to hers. Like a kiss—his kiss—it calmed her and the beast within her, and it lay down with almost an audible sigh.

  Niko’s voice bit into the momentary silence. “Are you willing to slaughter us all for what a few rogue weres have done?” He spread his hands wide. “Think, woman! We are more powerful if we band together than if we seek to destroy each other. The real issue here are the rogue ones not us.”

  When no answer came he asked, “Are you so willing to destroy your own flesh and blood? Your only living relation? Your granddaughter?”

  Pita gaped at Niko’s back then her gaze slid to the Matriarch whose eyes flashed black and cold.

  “She is not my flesh. She is the flesh of o Beng. I denounce any relation to the sperm of the wolf.”

  Niko shrugged. “She is what bands us all together. The common thread that will protect us all. Face it, woman, the gaje seek to destroy us all. They have no place for tinkers and thieves. Look at the persecution the Gypsies have withstood through history. Humans fear the lychan as well and misunderstand us. They wish to destroy us all through their ignorance. Our survival depends upon our banding together. Together we can rise above the gaje’s blind discrimination.”

  The Matriarch’s silence continued. Pita caught movement in her peripheral. She turned to see Adriana move into the forest— barefoot, which made sense—but where was she going and why? She turned to glance at Tomas and then to her father but their attention lay upon Niko and the Matriarch.

  Pita thought back to Adriana’s reaction earlier, her opposition to Niko and Pita’s bonding, and a stab of fear overtook her. Was Adriana also working with the Matriarch? Pita dropped back out of the gathered mix and silently slipped away to follow Adriana. The Matriarch had begun the prophetic name calling again in earnest so no one paid Pita any mind as she slipped into the forest and allowed her beast to shift free. The tightness filled her making her bend and fall to the ground upon all fours. Bone crunched as her face and spine elongated, limbs changed, hair sprouted everywhere at once and the ripping fabric reminded her that she should have taken her clothes off.

  Ah well…

  The change took place swifter and more controlled. And nowhere near as uncomfortable as the previous ones. Her body must be adjusting. Scenting the night air, Pita moved off toward the north. Adrianna loped ahead several yards away and by the silence of the forest, Pita knew that she too had shifted.

  Pita’s awareness spiked as she moved deeper into the dense woodland. Pine, rotting leaves, and fresh soil assaulted her nose. The slightest movement, whether the wind through the trees or an insect deflecting off a tree trunk, she heard it. Her hackles rose as she sensed a bit too late a movement in the shadows to her left. Suddenly a dark figure launched out of the nearby brush slamming into her flank. She hit the ground hard, paws flailing for purchase and jowls snapping. A rumbling growl began deep within her and erupted as a snout with teeth bared went for her throat. Her front paws scored the offender’s chest. The wolf wailed, backed off, and moved away. Pita smelled the coppery scent of fresh blood and felt its stickiness matte her fur. The attacker snarled from no more than a couple of feet away. Jumping to her feet, Pita immediately crouched into a defensive posture. Her attacker, an auburn-colored female, stood its ground, and continued to snarl. One look into its eyes told Pita it was Adriana as her eyes were still human though glowed as if light touched their depths.

  Teeth bared, Pita advanced forward a few inches. She would not back down. Realization dawned. This is exactly what Adrianna wanted. She wanted to pick a fight. Well…she was about to get one. In no mood to play games with this bitch, Pita continued to edge toward the snarling and bloodied female.

  Adriana lept.

  Pita readied and leapt.

  She careened with Adrianna in midair and they crashed to the ground. They wrestled—biting, and snapping. Pita lay beneath mauled by Adrianna, who was bent on tearing open her throat. She twisted and kicked violently at Adriana’s belly with her hind legs. Razor-sharp nails scored deep lacerations across the wolf’s soft underside. A deep grunt reverberated through Adriana, and she fell sidelong giving Pita precious seconds to react. Jumping to her feet, Pita attacked the stunned Adriana without hesitation. Blood splattered across Pita’s snout and eyes causing her to blink rapidly to clear her vision. A horrible scream reverberated through the night and then silence. Pita collapsed atop the carnage of Adriana’s torn throat.

  ****

  Fur bristled along her back, Pita stood alert as a large black wolf entered the clearing. Tomas. The carnage she caused affected her deeply, though not as severely as it would have had she been her human counterpart. She’d done what was necessary. Part of her wanted to wretch, but another part scented the blood and with it came an uncontrollable desire for the hunt. With each shift, she seemed to loose more of her humanity and gain more lupine qualities. Situations and events translated differently in her wolfish brain. She reacted on an instinctual level. Pita shook off the human thoughts her mind attempted to process in a physical body shake that went from her snout all the way to her tail. It felt good.

  The black wolf turned golden eyes on her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” She formed the word in her mind, but it came out a yip.

  Tomas dropped his massive head slightly.

  “What have I done?” She whimpered and pawed the ground nervously. “A woman is dead. Is it considered murder? Or are the rules different when people turn furry?” She lowered her head in a submissive gesture and rolled her eyes upward to study Tomas.

  He tilted his head and then glanced at the corpse. “Necessity, if not her maybe you or Niko” His voice cajoled, and she knew he was right. Then he turned tail and glanced back over his shoulder. “Come. We will take care of her later.”

  He trotted through the forest back toward the raised voices of the gathered gypsies and shifters. Pita followed wondering what he had in mind. There was no way she could shift back since her clothes now lay in tatters upon the forest floor. Pita sighed. Though Niko had expressively advised against anyone shifting, she’d felt compelled to see what Adriana was up to and it seemed the female wanted only to draw her out. Ambush her. Kill her. Well…she’d taken care of that, hadn’t she?

  Tomas stopped abruptly. Lost in her own thoughts, she about trotted right into him. He signaled her t
o join him, then lay down pushing his head through the underbrush. Pita did the same.

  The gathered gypsies and weres came into view. Niko and the Matriarch had moved closer, their heads bent in concentration. The two factions stood watchful behind their respective leaders but things appeared peaceful, at least for the moment. The whole conflict with Adriana must have not taken much time at all, because Pita felt sure that Niko had been so engrossed in the negotiations with the Gypsy that he hadn’t noticed nor sensed she was gone.

  “He knows.”

  Pita started, rattling the underbrush at the sudden baritone of Tomas’ voice in her head. She glanced over to see Tomas regarding her wearing a huge wolfish grin. He nudged his head in Niko’s direction than back to face Pita his voice filling her mind. “He knows you go to protect pack. You safe and strong Lupa.”

  She smiled feeling her lips curl back over her teeth. Tilting her head slightly she said, “Guess I officially performed my first act as Lupa.”

  Tomas belly crawled out from under the brush backwards and loped into the woods back in the direction of the cabin. Pita followed glad in the knowledge that he led them back for the sole purpose of shifting and obtaining the needed clothing in the process.

  ****

  Not much later, Pita stood at Niko’s side once again. He continued to speak in low tones to the Gypsy woman who seemed much more receptive to the idea of combining efforts of capturing the rogue weres.

  “Some of us must leave Romania for a short while but we will return. I will leave my brother, Val, and Tomas in charge of the pack and the dealings with the rogues,” Niko explained.

  “We must have trial rights when rogue shifters are caught,” The Matriarch stated.

  “Of course,” Niko agreed, “though we must not allow this to turn into a proverbial witch hunt. It must be proven the shifter is without a doubt rogue before we sentence him.”

  “Agreed.”

  Both groups visibly relaxed as their respective leaders calmly spoke. Pita observed some of the weres and gypsies had begun to drift together and held quiet conversations amongst themselves. She took this to be a good sign. Perhaps there is hope for different species to intermingle and co-govern themselves.

  Niko had a knack for diffusing a difficult situation. She shivered at the memory of the vicious confrontation with Adriana. Pita swallowed the lump that lodged in her throat and shuddered at the thought that it had come down to kill or be killed. This is definitely not a game. These people are serious.

  “What will you offer me, Wolf Alfa?” The Matriarch asked.

  “I offer you the alliance of the weres in exchange for the protection of the pack. We will hunt the rogues as one.”

  “Agreed.”

  ****

  A crackling fire in the hearth comforted Pita’s shattered nerves in its warmth. She had caused a death, witnessed a merger, and gained a grandmother—of whom she wasn’t all that sure how to handle, or if she even wanted to handle for that matter. The Matriarch was formidable, if not cold and downright scary. Now surrounded by the people who had proven to mean so much to her in such a short time, she leaned back and sighed.

  Satisfied with the late night dinner and companionship they shared, Pita glanced around the table. Niko was at her side, her love and soul mate. Stefan, her biological father—never to replace the man who brought her to safety and raised her to be his own— sat on her other side. A heartfelt smile lit her face, reflecting the happiness at having finally found him and the truth about herself. Tomas and Dorina sat across the table from her, an extension to her newfound family. The only person missing was Sasha. Pita’s heart clenched. I won’t think about that now. I’ll deal with it later…much later.

  With a mental shake of her head, she tossed the negative thoughts and refocused on the conversations taking place in front of her.

  Tomas and Niko spoke at length about the trip she, Niko, and Stefan would make back to Pita’s home in Mystique, Montana. As they planned, she caught Dorina’s eye and grinned.

  “That stew was delicious, Dorina. More wine?” She offered to fill the woman’s glass.

  “Yes, child,” She held her glass out to Pita. “I will miss you when you have gone.”

  “And I will miss you,” Pita countered, “but we will be back.”

  Niko turned to her, placing his arm around her shoulders. “Yes, we will return. Pita has found a home here, I think.” He hugged her close and kissed the top of her head as she leaned into him.

  “I feel more comfortable here than in my own house in the States.” Pita smiled. “I want to go home and check on things. Close up my house until I decide what I’d like to do.”

  Dorina looked thoughtful for a moment. “But you not miss much the place you live your life?” she asked.

  “Sure, I will miss some things, but I am comfortable here. I always felt like something was missing—like I didn’t totally fit in. Don’t get me wrong. My adoptive parents were wonderful, but I know now that I’d eventually have ended up here. It seems my destiny.” She glanced at Niko’s smiling face. “I’ve always felt as if I were viewing my life through the eyes of a stranger, like standing on the outside looking in, so to speak. I’ve always felt most comfortable and at peace in the woods. Whenever possible, I would take long walks in the forests that bordered the house I grew up in and sit for hours in its peacefulness.” Pita leaned her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her palm. “Now I know why. I even bought a cottage house that sits smack in the middle of eight acres of forestland after my parents died in the accident. I couldn’t stay in their house. It was just too painful.” An idea popped into Pita’s mind and she blurted, “Why don’t you come with us, Dorina? You could visit with your sister. It would be wonderful to have you with us.” Pita’s thoughts turned inward for a moment as she thought about Sasha. Why had she turned against her own father? Her own blood? After all, Dorina is her Aunt, her mother’s sister, Tomas her cousin.

  “Great idea!” Tomas said. “You have wanted to visit your sister for very long time.” He took her small hand into his and with a beautifully beseeching gaze said, “Go Mama. You have safety with Pita and Niko and Stefan. You will be among family and not have fear of the trip.”

  “Yes, Dorina. Come, please. Surprise your sister,” Pita interjected, unable to contain her excitement.

  Niko grinned, stood in a languorous stretch, then went to stir the embers in the hearth and add a log. “It would be no trouble to get another ticket.” He said, turning his gaze from his task and peering over his shoulder at Dorina.

  Tears of joy brimmed in her eyes while she kept nodding and grinning. “Yes…yes. I go! I will like that very much,” She finally said.

  “Good. It is settled, then,” Tomas said. “Mama and I go back to town tonight.” Turning to Dorina he said, “You will pack and I get ticket for you.”

  “Great!” Pita jumped up and rounded the table throwing her arms around Dorina. “I’m so glad you are coming with us.”

  Hugging her back, Dorina’s voice quivered with emotion, “I see my sister very soon. So many years since I see my sister. I see her soon.”

  “Yes,” Pita whispered. “Yes, you will finally see your sister again.” Tears filled her eyes.

  “Come Mama, we go.” Tomas clapped Niko on the back and said, “I will be back in morning.”

  Niko nodded.

  ****

  A short while later Tomas and Dorina left and Stefan had retired for the night. Niko helped Pita finish cleaning up the small kitchen.

  “Dorina is so excited.” Pita smiled.

  “That really was a great idea,” Niko came up behind her at he sink and wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck.

  Pita shivered away the gooseflesh his attentions caused. “Ummmm…” She grabbed for the dishtowel and dried her hands, tossing it onto the counter and turned into his embrace. “I can’t remember the last time I felt this content.”

  “Me, either,” Niko whisp
ered against her mouth then kissed her deeply.

  Almost lost in her passion for Niko, Pita became aware of howls in the distance and felt her own beast stir deep within. “Wolves,” she said cocking her head to listen. “They seem to be coming this way.”

  Niko stepped toward the window and peered out into the darkness. “Sounds like Val and someone else.”

  Pita joined him. “Who?”

  “Not sure. Not familiar. Let’s go out on the porch.” Niko stopped off in the bedroom and grabbed a pair of jeans before heading out the door.

  Pita frowned. “Why the jeans?”

  “Naked person after the shift, remember?” He grinned.

  “Ahhh…how could I miss that?” Laughing, she followed him outside and within minutes, two wolves broke into the dooryard. One definitely, Val, the other a darker shade of brown or black, Pita couldn’t tell in the mist shrouded darkness. She turned to Niko who shrugged. “Don’t know but it’s a female. Go in and grab a robe,” he chuckled.

  He turned back toward the approaching wolves, and Pita moved into the cabin to grab the garment. As she stepped out onto the porch again, Val shifted, and Niko simultaneously tossed him the jeans.

  The female wolf stayed back watching them.

  “Who have we got here, Val?” Niko grinned. “Find yourself a girlfriend, did you?”

  Pita slowly approached the female with the robe held out. Val called quietly to the wolf. “It is okay.”

  The female shifted and Pita cried out, “Oh God! It’s you!”

  Chapter 46

  “What kind of person are you?” Pita cried, angry tears streaming down her cheeks. “We have been together since we were practically toddlers. How could you keep something like this from me all these years?”

  They all stood frozen for several minutes. Sasha shivered wearing nothing but the robe Pita had handed her, and Val looked toward Niko for some sort of resolution to the conflict.