by Bonnie Vanak
His voice cracked as he smoothed back silky strands of hair from her face. “Look what I’ve done to my beautiful Emily,” he whispered.
Anguish lashed him as he gathered Emily against his chest, her blood trickling onto his shirt. He picked her up in his arms and kissed her pale, still lips. Holding her body, Raphael marched around the altar, her arms dangling down. He could not speak or make any noise. She needed quiet, his beautiful Emily. His courageous, trusting draicara. Around and around he circled, the tears on his cheeks cold with the night air.
“Rafe, Rafe.” Damian’s anguished voice came from a great distance. “Look, Rafe. Look at the dagger!”
He could not look at the blade that had sunk into his beloved draicara’s heart. Stealing away her blood, her essence.
But a faint light shimmered in the ghostly shadows in the little glen. The light pulsed white and grew stronger.
It came from the Sacred Scian he’d dropped on the altar.
Hope sprang up in his chest. Carefully he laid Emily down on the altar and studied her blanched face. “Breathe, just breathe. C’mon, chere, you can do it. Breathe for me,” he whispered, caressing her cheek.
He bent over and sealed his lips to hers, sending a warm breath into her mouth.
She sighed and opened her eyes.
Behind him, his brothers dropped back, muttered in Cajun, even Damian. He ignored them, his gaze affixed on his Emily. Her rosebud mouth parted, and color flooded her cheeks. Deep emerald eyes filled with tender love studied him.
“You’re crying,” she whispered, touching his face.
“Just a spring shower.” He let her wipe the tears from his cheeks, his heart lurching with joy.
Carefully, he helped her sit up. Already the terrible wound in her heart was healing, the blood vanishing from the altar. Raphael helped her off. She seemed stronger, more vital. Magick shimmered in the air, sparks dancing in the silvery moonlight.
The Scian still pulsed with white light. He picked up the blade and tested the edge with his thumb. Power surged through him. He turned to Emily, helping her off the altar. Raphael picked up her hand.
“Now. Touch Gabriel. My brother. With your bare hands.”
“Ah, can’t you pick another volunteer?” Gabe protested.
Emily did as he asked. Gabe staggered back and collapsed on the ground. The others stepped forward, rumbling with anger and shock. Raphael held up a hand.
“Wait,” he told them.
His brother lay still, as if dead. A heartbeat of silence passed. Two. No movement. After what seemed like an hour, but was only minutes, Gabriel stirred. He got to his feet, passing a hand over his pale face. Gabe flashed him a wry look.
“That’s some handshake your draicara has, Rafe. Remind me to keep my hands off her.”
“How do you feel?” Raphael asked.
“As if someone shocked my insides with a 220 line. In a good way, though. I feel stronger.” Gabe frowned. “Like I’ve been pumped full of power.”
It made sense now, the tingle he’d felt when Emily first touched him with her bare hands. Jubilant, he flipped the Scian into the air and caught it by the hilt. “You have. Emily’s power. Aibelle’s power, of the earth. For Draicon, her touch is not death but inner strength. It overcomes you, because your body is too weak to receive it. Shocks you. But when you regain consciousness, you’re stronger.” His tender glance fell on his mate. “She isn’t the cursed one but the one who will save us.”
Emily held out her hands. “Then why, why did I kill my papa?”
The broken tone nearly undid him. Very gently, he picked up her hands. “I doubt you did. You stunned him, as you did to Gabe. Urien killed your father. Not you. Urien realized your newfound powers spelled the end for his rule, and he made it look like you killed your father, in order to condemn you with a curse that would result in your execution.”
He bent his head to her, tenderly embracing her and fusing his mouth to hers. He didn’t care if his brothers watched. The moment was only for her, a celebration of life. His and hers.
“Ah, Rafe, man, we’ve got company,” Etienne said softly.
The moment shattered like glass against rock. He lifted his head, protectively shoving Emily behind him. The stench of rot and raw sewage nearly overpowered his senses. Shuffling noises sounded in the forest as the enemy neared.
Emily’s pack had returned.
Chapter 17
O nce they were her family. Her pack. They had carried her on their strong shoulders, helped to raise her, showered her with kisses and adoring hugs. Emily, their hope, Urien called her. The only youngling born among them in more than fifty years.
Now they were the enemy.
They would kill her, if they could.
Emily watched Raphael, wind ruffling his long hair. Moonlight touched the streak of pure white in his head, glinted off the earring in his left ear. Once she thought him different, a loner like herself, and feared him.
Love poured through her. He was different, like her. She embraced the difference in her heart and slipped to his side.
Looking up at him, she clutched his arm. “Not behind you, protected, but beside you. This is what is meant to be, my draicaron. We will fight in this form.”
Still, his brow was furrowed with worry. “Stay low,” he warned, as his brothers growled, shifted and prepared to fight.
The attack came like thunder rumbling down the mountain. Her pack rushed forward, shifting into their true Morph shapes, yellowed fangs shining, saliva dripping from their reddened, twisted mouths.
She recognized Urien’s tall form as the leader snarled and attacked the first Draicon he encountered: Gabriel, who went for his throat. Raphael’s brother sank his teeth into Urien’s skin and ripped. Acid blood flowed, burning Gabriel’s muzzle, but the Draicon bravely kept attacking Urien. Yet each time he feinted forward and his fangs sank into the Morph’s skin, Urien healed. Cruel laughter echoed in the valley as Urien pointed a finger at them.
“You can’t kill us,” sneered the thing that had once been her uncle. “We’re immortal, invincible.”
A melee broke out, Raphael’s brothers pouncing on the Burkes, who kept healing each time the Draicon attacked them. Then Urien sprang forward and aimed for Gabriel.
Talons extended from his fingers. He slashed at the wolf’s throat. Blood spurted and Gabriel fell, howling. Shivering, he shifted back to his human form, clutching the crimson pumping between his fingers.
Emily saw her pack stop, lean forward to inhale the Draicon’s fear and dying energy.
Feed.
“No,” Raphael said, stricken. He started forward, but she laid a hand on his arm, staying him. She took the Scian from her mate and slashed her wrist.
Emily raced to Gabriel’s side. She dripped her life-giving blood into his mouth, forcing him to swallow. His eyes closed, then flared open, shining with renewed strength and determination.
Glaring at the thing that had been her uncle, whom she once loved, Emily let all her anger surface. “It’s your turn now, Urien. You’re not invincible. You’re toast.”
She pounced forward, touching him just once.
Urien screamed and dropped down. All around them, everyone went still, even the Burkes.
A heartbeat of silence passed, then the incredible happened.
Urien twitched, and his body contorted, writhed and then split into two halves. A gray wolf emerged from the writhing mass, shook itself and stood by the screaming, bubbling mass.
The bubbling mass went still, then turned into ash.
She understood then and sent her thoughts to Raphael.
Her mate, glowering with fury and power, charged forward. He was beautiful, this Kallan, his long hair flowing behind him, his muscles working as his long legs pumped furiously. Raphael sprang over the wolf that was now Urien, slashed at Emily’s pack with the glowing white blade.
The Morphs began to scream and fall. One by one, each cut from the sacred dagger made them dro
p, writhe and split in half.
Their good Draicon selves stood by silently as wolves.
The evil Morphs were left as writhing masses of wet flesh, which bubbled, died and then turned to ash.
Emily raced forward to assist, touching those Raphael could not reach. Soon it was over.
More than two dozen gray wolves stood before them, mute and staring with yellow eyes. Docile as lambs as they huddled in a mass before the Draicon.
Raphael’s brothers shifted back into their human forms and clothed themselves. Gabriel went to Emily’s side and picked up her hands.
He touched them with reverence, moonlight showing the awe on his face.
“It was you. The Chosen One, not the cursed one. Your blood gave me back life, and your touch gave them new life as well.”
Raphael bounded back to her side, sheathing the blade even as its light died and it became golden once more. He swept her off her feet in a hug, crushing her to him.
Setting her down, he smoothed back her hair. You okay? he asked with his eyes.
She nodded, leaning against him, trembling and overcome by what just transpired.
The light from the Scian had faded, but the altar suddenly began to glow with a brilliance. They shielded their eyes, all but Raphael and Emily. As she lay her head against his muscled chest, listening to the steady, comforting beat of his heart, she knew what was coming.
It was about time to meet her, she reasoned.
The white light expanded from a small circle to encompass the entire glen. It became as light as if the sun itself shone in the clearing.
The red-headed goddess, draped in a forest-green gown, shimmered into form. Raphael’s brothers dropped to their knees, bowed their heads, but Raphael remained standing. Strong, proud.
A tender smile graced Aibelle’s rosebud mouth. A mouth Emily had seen in the mirror.
“Mother,” she said, her voice strong.
Aibelle held out her arms, beckoning to her. Still, Emily hesitated, looking at Raphael. He nodded and released her.
“My daughter, my lovely Emily,” Aibelle whispered. “How proud I am of you, child.”
Warmth suffused her as the goddess wrapped her arms around her. She felt something wet drop atop her head. The goddess, creator of their race, was weeping.
Emily looked up, her heart twisting. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why all these years, leaving me to think I was without a mother? Alone, after Papa died?”
Aibelle smoothed back her hair, her green eyes wet.
“I could not interfere in your free will, your right to choose your own path. After I birthed you, and gave you to your father to raise, in the purest pack of all, I told him never to reveal your secret. You needed to be free from all influence that you were immortal and my daughter. Your destiny was your own, to reject or embrace.”
“My father.” Her own eyes were wet now. “Your lover.”
Aibelle told her. She had met Emily’s father while he walked in the forest one day and they became lovers. The goddess’s gaze grew troubled. “I foresaw a great evil ahead for the Draicon, and knew they needed a tremendous power to even the balance and fight the Morphs. Evil and good must always be in balance. Thus, I conceived you.”
Continuing to stroke her hair, Aibelle looked at Raphael. “You were in her destiny as well. Her mate, a male of tremendous strength and prowess. A male whose courage and strong heart would spell the redemption of Morphs and become a new weapon in the battle against evil. A good match for my daughter.”
Raphael looked away, his strong jaw tensing. “I am not what you say. I’m not like Emily, a pureblood whose heritage is superior.”
“You are far better, Kallan,” Aibelle said, her voice gentle yet firm. “It matters not what your heritage is, but the size of your heart and the depth of your courage. Urien was a direct descendant of the first Draicon. Yet he was weak. He feared Emily and contrived a means to terminate her life and siphon off energy from you to become immortal. His greed and fear did him in.”
Raphael bowed his head and tension fled his big body. Emily sensed the relief coursing through him, along with renewed strength. “What of the Burkes?”
Aibelle hugged her again and then released her. She walked over to the wolves milling about, the white light pooling about her. Bending over, she stroked the head of the largest. Urien.
“Your touch, Emily. It splits the Morph in half, separating the evil self from the lingering bit of Draicon deep inside, the wild wolf that is a creature of nature but misdirected by the Morph guiding it. When Raphael sank the Scian into your heart, it was coated with your lifesaving blood and performed the same function. The Burke pack is wolf now, unable to communicate except as a wild animal. Yet they are able to redeem themselves by living out their last days in the wild as wolves. When they pass, they will pass to the Other Realm and be at peace, as are all my children who are Draicon. Your touch did not kill, but saved them, as will Raphael’s Scian from this moment onward.”
Aibelle waved her hands, gesturing to the wolves. “Go, flee into the woods and live in the mountains, off the land as you are aught. Remember this night, when you were set free by the Kallan and his mate.”
The wolves dispersed into the night. Emily felt a heavy load lift. She went to Raphael, who encircled her waist with his arm. He kissed the top of her head.
Aibelle’s gaze swept over Raphael’s brothers, still motionless, in the posture of respect. “Stand, brothers of the Kallan. Your bravery has been well noted. Your rewards will be plenty.”
Slowly they rose. Gabriel’s gaze was astute as he looked upon the goddess.
“Emily’s mother. I suppose that makes you Rafe’s mother-in-law. Better watch your step, t’frere.”
Silence descended. His brothers looked stricken, as if Aibelle might slay him with a lightning bolt. But the goddess merely smiled, mischief dancing in her eyes. That’s where I get my sense of humor, Emily realized, squeezing Raphael’s hand. He laughed.
“I have a feeling my mother-in-law won’t be a frequent visitor. She has other things to do. Still, it would be nice for Emily to get to know you better,” he murmured. “You are always welcome. Just do me a favor and give plenty of loud, advance warning.”
Thunder crashed in the quiet glade, lightning sizzled. Raphael’s brothers yelped and Raphael grinned. “I guess that’s loud enough.”
The goddess looked serene as her gaze rested on Emily. “Your father wishes you well, and he wants to see you again.”
“Papa?” Emily stepped forward as Raphael released her.
Into the pool of white light, another form appeared. A tall, well-formed Draicon, clad in the traditional clothing of the Burke pack.
She rushed forward into his embrace, not caring that he was now of another life force. His arms around her felt strong and corporeal.
“Emily, my Erin,” he whispered, kissing her cheek. “How grieved I was to see your loneliness. But I knew your destiny would work out in the end.”
“I didn’t kill you?”
It was a question, yet doubt rang in her tone.
He hugged her, love shining in his eyes. “Just as Gabriel did, I dropped down from the power of your touch. By the time Urien arrived, I was on my feet again. I told him what happened, told him you were Aibelle’s daughter.” Sorrow touched his face. “I had sensed a darkness in him and Bridget, but I thought they were merely struggling with the reality of your true heritage, and I couldn’t believe my beloved brother would turn against me. Urien killed me and turned Morph and began the chain reaction in the pack. The only one who held out was Helen. In the end, he killed her as well.”
They clasped each other for a long few minutes. Then he released her and bid her to return to Raphael. Her mate. Her love.
As they stood, their arms about each other, Aibelle clasped each one of their hands. “I think it is time you both were mated.”
The ceremony Aibelle performed was poignant, and the blessing she imparted filled Emily
with peace and renewed resolve. Emily turned to Raphael, sliding her arms around his neck, and kissed him deeply. Their mouths fused in electric contact, a promise of passion to come.
“Go now and seal in the flesh the bond that has been created in the heart and the soul,” Aibelle solemnly proclaimed. “When the two are one, you will be the weapon that will help defeat Morphs. With your Scian, Raphael, and your touch, Emily, you will redeem what was lost to evil.”
Light shimmered around them as Aibelle embraced Emily’s father. Then it faded slowly, and with a small wink they both vanished.
They were left with Raphael’s brothers, standing in the small clearing, moonlight shining upon their faces. The wind whispered through the tree limbs, as if her mother said goodbye.
“Well, I’d say a celebration is in order, but I think t’frere has a little catching up to do.” Gabriel nudged Damian, whose white-toothed grin flashed in the moonlight.
“Lots of catching up. I think we should leave them alone,” drawled the normally quiet Indigo, the half vampire, half werewolf.
“Let’s retire to the farmhouse for the night. Far away from any sounds we might hear in the night. We’ll leave in the morning. Besides, I’m missing my own mate,” Etienne drawled.
“That’s all you ever think about—sex,” Alexandre grumbled, giving the older brother a good-natured cuff. “That and food.”
Raphael grinned at his brothers, but Emily sensed that his mind was already in the bedroom. A blush raced across her face, and she was glad of the cover of darkness.
With promises to reunite in New Orleans, the brothers ambled off. Raphael kissed her again, cupping her face. Erotic heat shot through her.
They raced up the path to her cabin.
Inside, he paused in pulling his shirt over his head. Doubt flickered in his gaze as Emily placed a hand on his muscled chest.