She sighed. “Maybe, but that doesn't mean they can't be happy. We’ve been married twenty-eight years, and despite serious Brotherhood matters from time to time, we’ve been blessed with a lot of happy.”
“I’m tired Cynda. I can't even imagine how tired Cade and Jarrett are. Living through centuries of war and suffering, it would wear on you.”
Cynda laced her fingers with his. “That's why they are who they are, and you are who you are. We’re never given more than we can overcome. I believe that. Besides, I can't imagine you as a wolf.”
Rederrick chuckled and kissed her hand. “When we finish Bellig this time, we have to give the day-to-day operations to the kids. The logistics have grown too big for any one person to handle. Plus, I’m not young enough to be in these fights anymore. Every battle I’m a little slower, and my back has not been the same since Patrick's Point.”
“I know. The magic tires me out faster these days. While I won't admit to being old yet, I do agree that it is time to pass the reigns to the next generation. We can retire from it and just help them when needed.”
“It’s hard to hand them such a burden,” Rederrick lamented.
“I trust them, and burdens often have blessings too. Think about how many people we’ve helped, and how many they have helped. Think about how many would come to your call if you needed them. We have a large family that extends far beyond our children.”
Smiling, Rederrick leaned over and kissed her head this time. “I’ve been blessed indeed.” He tipped her chin up and tenderly kissed her lips. “When this is over let's take a trip to a tropical island. Maybe Greece. It’ll be like a vacation to our own Elysian fields,” he said
“Are you promising me a trip to paradise?”
Cupping her cheek, Rederrick kissed her again. “We could both use a little paradise.”
Cynda giggled. “It’s a date.”
Rederrick pulled away and examined their little beds with a serious expression.
“What is it?”
“I was just wondering if I’m too old to make out with you in this twin bed like we did in college.”
As the memory flooded back, she laughed. “You may not be, but I am.”
He grinned wickedly and pulled her to him again. “Let's find out.”
“James, time’s up. You need to sleep,” Ashley said with a yawn.
“Yeah sure,” he said absently.
“James!”
“Huh? What?” he said without looking up.
Frustrated, she snatched the screwdriver from him. “You promised,” she reminded him.
“Ash,” he pleaded.
“A couple hours rest, then you can finish it with fresh eyes.”
He rubbed his dry eyes. “Okay, I’ll clean up,” he agreed and started gathering up tools.
Ashley moved to organize his notes since she couldn’t stand her brother’s disorder. She mumbled under her breath about stupid boys and their ridiculous organization systems.
Listening, James grinned as he sorted tools into the correct cases. “I take care of what’s important. Besides, I know what’s in those notes, anyway. I memorized them.”
Looking up, she smirked at her brother. “Well, aren’t you special?” Her smile died when a rush of conflicting distress and malice assaulted her.
Chuckling, James looked up to respond, but the words died in his throat. His sister had gone sheet white, and fear shone in her eyes. “Ash?” he questioned with concern. Seeing movement at the door, his focus shifted. One of the men assigned to help him entered behind Ashley. James struggled to remember the man’s name right away, so he offered a standard greeting. “Hey, Sergeant.”
“James,” Ashley whispered in warning.
The man said nothing in return but stared at the device on the worktable.
Confused by the soldier's odd behavior, James only half-turned to his sister. The sergeant walked stiffly past Ashley to the table, and picking up the circular, metal creation in his hand, he held it in front of his eyes.
“James!” Ashley exclaimed, and realization dawned on him then. The malicious grin the soldier displayed was a direct conflict to the strained look in his eyes. The soldier was clearly at war with himself.
The sergeant threw the metal device, and all of James’s hard work, right at his head. “Run, Ashley!” James ordered as he fell to the floor to avoid the flying object. It hit the wall behind him and chipped the cinder blocks. Seeing the damage, James understood the blow would have killed him.
Ashley kicked the man back to keep him away from the notes, and in response, he casually pulled out a grenade. Her fear tripled. Using the lessons Jarrett had spent weeks drilling into her, Ashley jumped on him to neutralize the biggest threat. She couldn’t allow him to pull the pin.
He was a trained Brotherhood operative though, and he evaded her easily, and backhanding her hard, he drove that point home. Hitting the table next to her, Ashley crumpled to the ground.
Chapter 33
Standing on a sand dune on the Matagorda Beach, Cade stared out at the calm ocean as the night fell. “It was here?”
“Yes,” Jarrett confirmed.
“There’s nothing. No sign it happened, and no clue to help us.”
“No, there’s not. I’m not sure why we expected there would be.”
Cade looked up as the stars started to appear. “I’d hoped—”
“That she’d be standing here waiting for you?”
“No. Well—No. I just thought there would be something.”
“It doesn’t matter what’s here. The only thing that matters is what we do next. We have to find him, Cade. Even if I die trying, I want Niall’s head.”
“Bellig,” Cade corrected.
“Whatever.”
“I think it’s important. His name I mean. From what you told me and his own words to Collett in California, he doesn’t like being called Bellig.”
Jarrett nodded in agreement. “Then let’s use it every chance we get.”
“Where do we go from here?” Cade questioned as he walked back to the Escalade.
Following, Jarrett replied, “Stick to the plan. We make sure the others are safe, then we find Bellig.”
“We still don’t know how to defeat him.”
“No, we don’t. But I’ve learned what we’re capable of together.”
“Is that faith in your voice?” Cade questioned as they settled in the SUV.
Uncomfortable, Jarrett shrugged. “Honesty.”
“We hunt then?”
“We hunt.”
Cade started the car and drove to the nearest gas station in the small town of Matagorda. They pulled in to refuel, but as Cade got out something caught his eye. Without a word, he left Jarrett and the running Escalade to jog across the street.
Inside the car, Jarrett scowled. What is he doing? Jarrett thought. But he realized what had drawn Cade's attention. His brother stood in front of a little old house. Painted blue and white, the cottage style home stood out among all the other buildings, but it was the wooden sign staked into the lawn that intrigued the lycans.
Opening the door, Jarrett hurried to follow his brother. When he reached Cade, they stared at the script carved into the wood and painted the same blue hue as the house. For almost a full minute the brothers stood there reading the wooden sign. It read, The Bluebonnet House.
“Didn’t Hall say Selena talked about bluebonnets?” Jarrett asked.
“It can’t be a coincidence, not in our world,” Cade said, turning and meeting his brother’s eyes. Skeptical, he turned back from the sign and slowly walked to the door. His heart pounded and his stomach twisted. He stood on the porch but hesitated. Jarrett put a hand on his brother's shoulder, and lifting his other hand, he leaned in to knock. Before he could, the door opened.
An older woman, small in stature with long white hair greeted them with a bright smile. “Well now, it sure is good to see you. You’ve both grown so tall. There’s more than a bit of your fath
er in you, isn’t there? Especially the eyes, but that's to be expected I suppose.” She paused as she gave them a good once over. “Might be that you’re taller than he was.”
Jarrett and Cade looked at each other as if contemplating the accuracy of her statement, then turned their attention back to the older woman. “Uh,” was all Cade uttered before she continued?
“Oh, listen to me prattle on. Come in then, but be mindful. There are two little ones asleep." Turning, she walked away from the door but kept talking. “Those two, poor dears,” she clicked her tongue regretfully, “it’s been a rough week for them.”
Ever impatient, Jarrett couldn't stand it anymore. “Do we know you?”
“I should say not,” she replied indignantly as she entered a modest kitchen in the back of the house. “Sit down, I’ll get you something to calm your nerves. Tea then?”
“I don't drink tea,” Jarrett grumbled, but he sat at the little round table that was scarred with age.
“No, I suppose you’re right. Big strong lad such as yourself would be more of a coffee man,” she said in a placating tone, then opening the refrigerator and selecting the milk, she filled two glasses.
“Look,” Cade began, “you obviously know us. It seems you were expecting us, so you must have a good idea as to why we’re here.”
“Um-humm,” she said absently as she reached into the oven and pulled out freshly baked cookies.
Cade glanced to Jarrett, who shrugged and shook his head. The woman placed a plate of cookies on the table and set a glass of milk down for each of them. Still looking at his brother, Jarrett cocked an eyebrow at the childish snack.
“Sit down, Cade,” she instructed. “You are far too tall to be looming in this little kitchen. Look at you, you’re practically stooping.” She glanced at her watch and puckered her lips in thought. “You will have to excuse me one minute. Poor Nina has had a nightmare.”
On cue, a little girl started whimpering. The sound came from the room closest to the kitchen. “Eat your cookies. I’ll be back in no time.”
As Cade watched her hurry away, Jarrett picked up a cookie, scowled, and sniffed at it. Glancing over and witnessing the latter action, Cade rolled his eyes. “It could be poisoned,” Jarrett said quietly, then shrugged and took half of the cookie in a single bite. “I suppose there are worse ways to die,” he said with a full mouth.
“Really?” Cade questioned with sarcasm.
“What?”
Cade lifted a brow this time.
“I like cookies.”
Cade leaned over in an effort to peer into the little room. Both of the wolves sensitive ears picked up the conversation as the older woman soothed the child.
“Shhh, Nina, you’re all right now.”
“Ramee, I want my mommy.”
Surprised, Cade gave Jarrett a sharp look and mouthed, “Ramee?”
Setting his empty glass down, Jarrett tilted his head slightly to listen better. He heard Ramee singing the child back to sleep and turned his attention back to the cookies.
A soft glow emanated from the room, but as Cade stood to see what caused it, Ramee emerged. “That poor dear, misses her mum something fierce.”
“Where’s her mom?” Jarrett asked.
“Unfortunately, tragedy is not exclusive to lycanthropes. It is the children who suffer most as a result of prejudice and war. Don’t you think?”
Jarrett swallowed hard because he sensed what she would tell him next.
“You are correct, Hunter. Their mother won’t be back.”
Cade eyed her carefully. “You visited Cynda in the hospital, but you’re here. Do you live here?”
Her eyes lit with amusement. “When I’m needed.”
“Those children need you? You’ll help them?” Cade questioned.
“For now, but next week will be better.”
“What happens next week?” Jarrett asked gruffly.
Ramee stared at Cade. “If we show just a bit of faith the future can always be better. With the smallest grain of faith, great miracles are possible.”
Cade couldn’t explain it, but he felt comforted by her assurance. Jarrett experienced much of the same, but the feeling made him nervous, especially when she sat at the table and noticed the missing cookies. She smiled. “You still like cookies then? That pleases me.”
Jarrett stopped mid-bite and stared at his peanut butter cookie. Ramee laughed lightheartedly. “It is not poisoned.”
“Who are you?” Cade asked.
“I am a great many things and known by many names. You know me as Ramee.”
“You knew our father,” Jarrett said.
“Yes. I did know him though he knew me no better than you do.” She waved her hand, and the room went dark. A white light started on the table’s surface and rose, building into a ghostly image of two people embracing. “I knew your mother too.”
Both Cade and Jarrett found themselves hypnotized by the sight before them. Neither man had ever seen their parents, but they understood that’s exactly what she offered them now.
The story they’d heard from Merilynn and Rowena played out on the kitchen table. “Your parents possessed mighty courage,” Ramee said in a loving tone. “It was difficult for them to set aside selfish desires to protect what mattered most to them in the whole world.”
The brothers watched the parting between the lovers. The sad reenactment faded. They watched as a wolf pack ran close to the small cabin in the woods and saw the midnight-black wolf forcefully steer them away. The picture shifted smoothly to their mother, as she passed her babies to one of her best friends, and whispered protections over each of them. Then Lyndell stood before a mob on a hill with her shoulders straight, and fierce resolve in her eyes.
The image wavered under dancing flames made of blue-white light, and Ramee continued. “Courage and resolve are required when the problem is bigger than a single person.”
Cade stood when Collett materialized next. She was different from the Collett they had known. Her hair was covered with a white linen and she wore a drab, brown gown from an era long past. Collett walked among a crowd of women and children checking fevers, serving them water, and soothing crying babies. She suddenly jerked back, and handing a baby back to its mother, she glanced worriedly at the barricaded door. Though he heard not a sound, Cade saw the fear in her innocent eyes and sensed the threat behind the door.
“What is this?” he rasped as he watched Collett hush the children with a finger to her lips. Awkwardly picking up a sword near the door, she bustled the people to a hidden hatch beneath the rug. Her hurried actions and gestures told Cade and Jarrett she was instructing the women and mothers. “What is this?” Cade repeated as his heart picked up speed.
“If we go back, one can see that history is full of those who chose to make sacrifices for a better future for others,” Ramee explained. Collett covered the floor with a rug and stood bravely atop it. With trembling hands, she faced the door as two soldiers broke through the barrier. When one of the men tried to grab her, she swung the sword with little skill, but still managed to slice his torso. His companion pursued her with hatred in his eyes, and Collett rewarded him with a lucky strike to his leg.
Cade whispered, "What's happening?"
The scene changed again, and the frightened women and children emerged from the hidden escape hatch into the woods.
The light that created the three-dimensional images flared brightly. When it settled, the warrior version of Collett stood face to face with Bellig now. Her hands no longer shook and her stance was unafraid. The demon lord in shining silver armor held a man captive in his grip. It did not escape Cade and Jarrett’s notice that he held the stranger with a sword identical to Jarrett’s. For a brief second their eyes met from across the table, then they were drawn back to the story.
Fully armored and sword in hand, Collett pleaded with him. Bellig shook his head in anger. Her eyes widened, and she stepped forward to stay his hand, but Bellig blasted her bac
k with some sort of magic and slit the man’s throat. Lightning cracked in the sky above. Collett’s mouth opened in a silent scream.
With blood staining his hands, Bellig approached her. Bending down, he reached out to touch her cheek.
Collett's mouth moved. "What have you done?"
The words he spoke in return were likewise unheard, but the twins felt the message in their souls. Bellig proclaimed, I did it for you, for us.
A horrified expression took hold of her features, and Collett shied away from his touch, shaking her head.
The demon lord backhanded her, and standing over her, he lifted his arms. The malevolent black armor Cade and Jarrett were familiar with, replaced the shining vestments he wore before.
Jarrett stood abruptly. Cade’s hands fisted tightly, and a stinging burn originated behind Cade’s eyes as they started to glow. Closing his lids, Cade shut out the sight of her abuse. Ramee spoke again. “Often resistance to evil cites anger in those who would wish to control.”
Lightning streaked across the sky once more, and the table vibrated beneath his fists. Cade and Jarrett blinked to clear their vision. The lightning ebbed and shifted to a reddish hue as swirling smoke drifted within a new picture. Jarrett whispered, “Rowena.” His surrogate mother appeared where Collett once stood. Kneeling on the stone floor of their prison, she sobbed in prayer. Jarrett could remember her pleas to God that he please save the boy, and he could practically hear the ghostly remnants of those heartfelt words.
Fire burned bright, Rowena laid upon on a straw mattress, and Collett held her hand as she whispered in Rowena’s ear. Tears fell from Collett’s crystal-blue eyes as she kissed the deceased witch's forehead and pulled a green amulet over her head. Emotion swelled in Jarrett's throat, and he swallowed hard.
Ramee lifted her hand again and waved it over the table. “And still, in the middle of war and chaos is the right to choose your own path.”
Other images flashed; Jarrett as a boy, screaming with rage. Bellig approaching him with a kind smile and offering him food. Cade signing up for his first war and meeting his first wife, and the tragedy of coming home to find her dead. Jarrett defying his master by killing his demon handlers and hiding Mary Beth. The first meeting between the brothers played out, and the first fight as well. Wars, demons, blood, injuries, good choices and bad, all were laid to bear in the reflection of their lives, and Collett was in every one.
The Truth of Victory: A Powers of Influence Novel Page 30