Aconite (The Elektita Series Book 1)

by Alvarez, Christine

  They had been at their screaming match so long that I couldn't even be sure there was anything left for them to destroy. Suddenly, the doors to my room swung open each slamming into its connected wall. I didn't know if I should ask what they had decided or if I should wait for them to talk. I looked to Jo for guidance. After all she was my familiar. She knew what I was asking and all I got in answer was an exaggerated shrug.

  "You will go back to the Inn and collect your things. Then return here to stay while the threat is so near." I didn't expect warmth and love but I was not expecting the cold dispassionate command that Jonathon gave.

  "Well aren't you being generous. I at least get to gather my own things this time." Sarcasm oozed throughout my response.

  "I knew it," Jonathon growled, glaring at Sebastian and Richland.

  "Relax big boy, now is not the time." I didn't need him wolfing out over something that couldn't be changed. "Besides, I think the decision to stay here or go back to the Inn should be made by me, and me alone." That was the reason I had left Missouri to begin with. My parents thought they would make all my decisions for me, bend my life to their liking.

  "No, in this you have no choice. What happens to you affects us all." I couldn't argue with them. Finally, Sebastian and Jonathon agreed on something so I should probably listen to them.

  "The three of you were in there all that time yelling and breaking things to come up with, ‘You will do as we say.’” I tried to mimic Jonathon's voice the best I could. Both Jo and Richland laughed at my crappy imitation but my muses didn't think it was quite so funny.

  "No, if you must know, that is not all we discussed." Sebastian's answer was short and to the point. I understood that they were old, born well before women held the same respect as men but he damn well better adapt.

  "What did you talk about?" He was going to include me whether he liked it or not. If they thought for the second time this week I was going to be trapped in a house I better have a damn good grasp on what is going on outside of it. I stood my ground unwilling to agree to their command without knowing anything else. A small smirk broke through Jonathon's hard features. We had already dealt with this. He knew that I wasn't the type of girl to jump when told.

  "The possibility of a pregnancy and what that means for the future. If that would occur, how could it be dealt with?"

  I didn't like how he spit out the word pregnancy like it gave him a bad taste in his mouth. I had stepped forward from the implied threat in the second part of his sentence. I didn't and never would give a damn about what they wanted to do if I would conceive because that would be my choice. They could go to hell in a hand bag if they thought otherwise.

  "Calm yourself, Alexis; no harm will come to any unborn child." Richland came to stand at my side. For the first time since coming here my tattoo flared to life. I had grown far more attached to the possibility of one day becoming a mother then I had realized.

  "Let's clean up and get out of here," Jo offered to break the mounting tension.

  "That would be wise. You two tend to the kitchen and we will reinforce the wards. I don't want to lead anyone here." He was back to acting like we were second class citizens. If I knew how to do the wards I would have fought to set them myself. With my options limited I chose to deal with the kitchen and because Jo was already dragging me away.

  I wrapped the cheeses and put them back in their spots in the oversized fridge. Even if we all lived here full time this fridge was larger than it needed to be.

  "How many lives have I lived?" I knew my question was unexpected, but I wanted to know. Maybe one day when my life wasn't filled with werewolves and sadistic witches out to kill me, I might look them up. It would be interesting to be able to read about all the lives I had lived. I would avoid their obituaries though. My deaths are one thing I would rather not know about.

  "Nine, including this one." Her answer was quick without hesitation. I had lived eight lives prior to this one, and I was murdered each and every time, never living long enough to see old age. Jo began washing the few dishes that we had used. Even though there was a brand new dishwasher just waiting to be used she washed by hand. Maybe she just needed to keep busy. She hadn't even neared her normal self since arriving here.

  "None of my other lives ever had children?" I knew the answer to that but what I didn't understand was how. Birth control was relatively new in comparison to say, the seventeen hundreds.

  "No, you never did. I remember many lives where you pined for children."

  I couldn't bring myself to voice the question that burned the brightest within me. I really wanted to know who I had wished the father to be. Had I always wanted Jonathon to be the father of my child or is that a variant in my fate. She had moved on to drying the dishes while I wiped the counter with a towel I found in a drawer next to the sink.

  "Amara had believed herself pregnant days before she died."

  I stopped wiping the counter mid-motion. Amara must have been another of my lives. My entire body had tensed from the shock of her words. Amara had thought to be pregnant days before she died. Jo made it sound like she had just drifted on soundly in her sleep but in reality she had been murdered.

  "Who would murder someone that may be pregnant?" I couldn't hold back my disgust.

  "The Elektita care little of anything other than their own goals. But in all honesty I don't believe anyone but I knew she may be with child."

  Her words gave me an even greater reason to hate them. It had taken me months to forgive my dad for shooting our dog when he developed rabies. When I finally did, I let him have it first before ending up curled in his lap sobbing the rest of my sadness into his sleeve.

  "We are finished," Richland pulled me from my memory. Even though it was such a sad time the normal childhood memory left a smile on my face He arched an eyebrow but let me have at least one good memory. It was nice after all the ones that have destroyed me mentally this past week. Sebastian and Jonathon followed behind him, staying as far away from each other as possible.

  "None of you have fleas do you?" Sarcasm was my go to when I felt uncomfortable and right about now the awkwardness just shot up a few notches. They may be working together but they were still far from declaring their unwavering friendship with one another. The three men shot each other angry looks like I wasn't the one to just ask the offending question.

  "Never mind. What do you do when you strengthen the wards?" I hoped the picture in my head wasn't what they really did. I pictured the group holding hands or dancing around the house singing some ancient chant that would hide us from the outside world. I may have pictured them naked a time or two, but that is something else I would keep to myself.

  "Do you remember what I did in your room at the Inn?" How could I have forgotten? The look in his eyes was something that nobody could have forgotten. One minute the entire room was storm battered and the next it was cleaner than what their house keeper could accomplish and in less time. I also couldn't forget the brief second his black eyes glowed red.

  "Of course."

  "Drawing wards is very similar just using a different incantation. When performed by all three of us it is virtually impenetrable. That bit of information helped ease the nerves that had stood on end at the thought of staying out here alone.

  "We each stand at different points of the area we want to protect and chant in unison, building in strength as we near the end. The wards recognize us and whoever we choose."

  "Now that we have come to the end of our class on incantations and their effects on wards, can we get going? We need to be back here before full dark." I knew why and that helped quicken my pace.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Sebastian, Richland, and Jonathon insisted on walking out first as Jo and I trailed behind. Even with the wards they still couldn't overcome the urge to protect me. We all stood on the large porch. The night sky was beautiful but something felt off, something felt wrong. The wind sat abnormally still. I had become so used to the
salty breeze that I felt my heart begin to ache for its return. The group must have felt the strangeness that floated through the night as well because they began to fan out around me. Their muscles rippled with the tension that the quiet supplied.

  I let out a breath that I didn't know I'd been holding.

  "Is this an effect of the wards?" I whispered the question not wanting to break the attention that they had focused out into the night.

  "No." Jo's short and to the point answer sent white hot fear running through my veins. If they could feel the wards being tested they should know if they had been breached. I tried to see something in the trees or sky that would have caused such worry but there was nothing. There was nothing but swollen silence. I strained my ears to hear anything that would point towards normal. The birds had ceased their songs, and the crickets didn't dare make a noise. Our deep, heavy breathing was the only signs of life.

  "Could I be doing this?" It was a possibility. I had done it before without knowing it. Granted I was usually pissed off to the point of no return.

  "No." This time her answer came out more like a hiss.

  I waited for the pain in my tattoo to come but it didn't. So whatever this threat was my early warning system hadn't received the memo. I even tried to will it to do something. Still nothing came.

  "We need to get back in the house." Sebastian's words were so thick I had to replay it in my head to understand what he said. I couldn't bring my legs to heed his command, they were frozen to the spot with fear. I stumbled from Richland's shove as he tried to get me back through the doors.

  The thresh hold was barely a step away before the door slammed shut knocking me forward into Sebastian. My breath felt stunted as all the air pulled back and retracted harshly causing an invisible explosion all around us. A large group of birds shot up and into the night. All the normal sounds of the forest came flooding back in all at once. The shock of it all was deafening. Air rustled through the pine branches and birds sang their nightly songs. I leaned against Sebastian's side as I recovered from the brief loss of oxygen. His body was fever hot. He didn't even react to my advancement. What was wrong with him? I gave the others on the porch an appraising look. None of them had seemed to find the solace I did in the forest returning to normal. No one would dare describe them as human if they could see through my eyes, they all where crouched and twitching with the need to change. I still couldn't sense what was out there but whatever it was had achieved what we had worked to avoid this whole evening. The relief that I had taken was short lived.

  The worst sounds I had ever heard in my life echoed through each of the men. I cringed back from my place at Sebastian's side when I felt his forearm bend and fold in an unimaginable direction. The wet sounds of bones popping and shifting as each of the men bent and contorted in such a grotesque manner that bile slid up my throat. Growls and screams of sheer pain pierced my ears. I wanted to run but there was nowhere for me to go. I couldn't handle this and I was positive at this moment that not even Alexandria had seen how the man had become a wolf. Locking myself in the house would not do much good against three moon driven werewolves. Every scary movie I had ever seen played back in unison in my head. All I could do was hope that they still held on to some of their humanity in this form. Jonathon had told me their control was excellent but something had snapped it like a twig. I had known prior to this moment that they were other, werewolves, and I had taken it like all the other things that had made its way into my life lately. In the most unhealthy way possible. I hadn't been scared of what that meant for them or me. It was just another fact of my life, but there was no way to grasp the entirety of it until they shifted right before my eyes.

  Jo stood a bit away from where she had been, impassive to the men screaming out the pain of it all, as they shifted right before our eyes. Jo crouched low to the wood deck more like a predator than human, scanning the area for whatever threat had caused the guys to shift. I admired her bravery. For me, in this moment, I was perfectly content hiding behind the magic werewolves.

  "Witches," she whispered. I swallowed the scream that threatened escape. I should have known from the stories of my own abilities at bypassing the wards that it would be far easier for mastered witches to get through them as well.

  Sebastian had completed the horrific change first. His massive caramel frame stood on all fours to my left. He looked like an over grown Timber wolf. He swiveled his massive head to look at me. I knew then why Alexandria had not been scared. He was beautiful. The same true blue eyes stared back at me. The cream markings that framed his snout were like nothing that I had ever seen. He bared his teeth to me and let out a deep guttural growl before returning his attention to the tree line. My tattoo roared to life and pain shot through my chest.

  Realization dawned. The wolfsbane was in protection of my protectors.

  Richland bumped his massive mahogany head into my shoulder. He was extravagant. His coat was solid in color and thick but felt soft as it slid through my fingers. His eyes, our eyes, stared back at me. His touch dimmed the glow but the pain didn't falter in its assault. He whimpered only slightly before he too returned his concentration on the woods. His touch was a reminder that I was safe with him no matter how much my body begged to differ. He was my brother.

  There was no room for Jonathon at my side but I could see him in his full glory. He was not as large as the others and far thinner as well. His coat was midnight black. If it was full dark he would be invisible in the night. I couldn't see his eyes but I knew they would be just as dark. He stood taunt and unmoving. I knew he could use the night to hide himself so well that his prey would be unaware of his presence until his teeth sliced into their throats. I shuttered at the thought of how many had fallen prey to that very advantage. Jonathon's muscles twitched and vibrated. He was anxious for a fight or the ability to run? Could a wolf stay still under the call of the moon? If we lived through this I would ask what they did when they let the change sweep them up.

  I should never have doubted Jonathon; their control was impeccable. They were not raging monsters when in this form; they had purpose. My fear of them turning against me had no merit. Their target was somewhere out of sight. I reached over and absently scratched Richland's thick fur. The smell of his shampoo and deodorant swirled all around us. He was still Richland after all. He wasn't bothered that I was treating him like a very large dog. This is what I did growing up. When I knew I was going to get in trouble or something terrible had happened I took comfort in scratching our golden retriever behind his ears. Richland didn't mind though. I could have sworn he bent his head in a bit further into my hand. Maybe he was taking comfort in it too.

  A crack, not far out of sight, sent more birds flying off into the sky. The scream that had threatened escape finally won its fight. The space that Jo had once occupied was replaced by a large black cat—smaller than all the wolves but still massive for a feline. Strands of color played in the light giving Jo's jet black coat a personality much like Jo's when she was human. She was beautiful and pissed. She let out a noise that sounded too much like a lion to be of much comfort. Her feline body shook with the need to chase. It was the same mannerism I'd seen in neighborhood cats. I bet the boys envied her, with her painless transformation. Her bones didn't shift and crack. There were no screams of pain. This was magic at its finest, something beyond a curse.

  "The wolves still have their claws in you I see." The all too familiar voice preceded two hooded figures as they silently stepped into the clearing of the driveway. This was not my dream this was something that I did not foresee. What was the point of having a dream that gave me the possibility of a future for it to get ripped away within a day?

  "I thought you had set the wards," I said to no one in particular.

  They had told me the wards were indestructible with the power of all three but clearly they were wrong. I knew the voice but I couldn't place it, fear had severed all rational thought. I couldn't even find comfort in the four creat
ures that surrounded me. Never in the past had they been able to protect me.

  "Child, do not put your faith so fully in the paws of these monsters. After all, they are the reason we are here." The other hooded figure was young even though she called me a child. Her voice was strong and held no signs of age.

  "Show yourselves! If you are here to take this life from me as well, at least have the balls to do it face to face." They turned their heads to face each other, then returned their faceless attention back to me. In unison they reached up and slid the hoods down revealing themselves. Another loud and unrecognizable scream blew from my chest.

  Linda and LeAnn stood menacing and far surer than I had ever seen them before. Jo crouched even lower as she threw herself in the air. Her entire being directed at our intruders.

  "Stop," I screamed. The purple light from my tattoo exploded into the night, absent of any pain letting the world around me fade away. I let the power of the wolfsbane consume me.

  ABOUT CHRISTINE

  I’m Christine Alvarez, mother of four spectacular hoodlums and married to the man of my dreams. We all currently reside in my home state of Missouri. When I’m not writing, I spend my spare time as a chauffeur, maid, cook, and everything in between.

  I’m addicted to Dr. Pepper and chocolate. They are my vices and lend a large hand in getting the creative juices flowing. I write anything from paranormal romance to erotica. I’m a sucker for romance whether it is the kind with a happily ever after or a burned and broken end. You’ll find that my work covers those gray areas in between as well.