by Leia Stone
Kai laughed. “Thank God for burning man,” he echoed as Max shook his head, confused.
Shaman
Kai scanned my body giving me a sultry look. My cheeks reddened. We were standing in the kitchen while Kai made me an omelet. We got in late from the club and I had fallen into an exhausted sleep.
“Have you decided on a place for the wedding? Other details?” Kai asked me.
I smiled. “Well, I have to contact Nahuel about another thing, so I will set the date with him. I want him to marry us. Emma and Diya are worrying about the other stuff.”
Kai nodded. Nahuel was the Native American Shaman who performed the ceremonies for mated couples. He was also some kind of spirit guardian to me. I didn’t really understand it all yet. If I wanted to know for sure if I was a Devi or not than I would have to ask him, and I promised Sylvia I would talk to him about it.
“Most girls want to worry about the decorating and other stuff,” Kai said.
“I’m not most girls.” I gave him a sassy look.
He smiled. “You’ve never said a truer word.” He kissed my forehead. “What other thing do you have to contact Nahuel about?”
I could feel him scanning my emotions. Tell him about the Devi thing now or later? Later. “You let me worry about that.” I kissed him as he gave me a suspicious look.
After breakfast, I got dressed and walked outside to the back side of the house.
I reached inside my shirt and pulled out the medicine pouch that Nahuel had given me after that witch, Prudence, nearly killed me by holding me hostage in the dream world. I emptied the bag into my palm. It held a small sprig of dried juniper, a tiny wolf carving and a black apache tear. Nahuel had said that if I ever needed him, to bury the apache tear and he would come. I dug a hole in the earth and buried it. I covered it up and waited. I wondered how long it would take. How would he get here? Was he human? Kai said that Shamans were a species of their own. Nahuel seemed extra special. He had stopped time at Sadie’s wedding to tell me things. It was fascinating and scary all at once.
After a few minutes, a twig broke deep into the forest behind the house. We had no fences. The pack roamed freely. I peered in the direction of the sound. There he was, between two tall pine trees. He motioned me to follow.
I picked the apache tear up and shoved everything back inside my medicine bag. He was almost out of sight.
“Hey, wait!” I screamed.
I ran to catch up. He turned to face me. We were deep in the woods.
He whispered, “I hear these woods have ears.”
Oh, the drones. RAIDOS. “Yeah, look, I called you because I wanted to know if you will perform the mating ceremony for Kai and me?”
He gave me a sly half smile. “Consider it done.”
“Thanks. We are thinking in about two months.” I lowered my voice to a faint whisper. “Sylvia thinks I might be a Devi. She said–” He placed his hand over my mouth. His head shook left to right. Not here. He mouthed.
Okay, so he knew what that was.
“I need you to come with me for a few days. Can you clear it with Kai?” he asked.
My eyes widened. “A few days? Where?”
“Canada.”
That was vague. I looked at him, confused. “Canada. Okay. Why?”
“So that you can fully get to know your spirit and your life’s purpose. Will you take this journey with me, Aurora? It is my honor to guide you on your spiritual path.”
He was always so serious! Whoa. Okay. “I’m not very spiritual. I mean I don’t eat animals because I don’t want to hurt living things, but that’s about it. I’m not so sure about God.” I was honest because he was giving me a pretty intense look.
He smiled. The smile turned into a full on laugh. I had never heard Nahuel laugh before. His long silky hair was tied back in a thick braid.
“What’s so funny?” I prodded him.
“When white people say they don’t believe in God, it’s like saying you don’t believe in yourself. Very funny. You are right here in front of me, so how can you not believe in God?”
I shook my head, confused. “Well, I’m not God.”
“Or are you? Are we all?” He opened his hands, gesturing to the woods.
“What? You’re confusing me.” Geez. This conversation was not going how I thought it would.
He returned his stony-faced expression. “Yes, everything is confusing on this side of the veil.”
He patted me on the shoulder. “Tell Kai I will pick you up later this afternoon for our adventure. You must come alone. He is not on the same path as you are, so he is not invited. I am sorry.”
“Well, that’s going to go over well. Not.” I said with exasperation.
Nahuel smiled. “You will be well protected.”
I nodded and he began to walk away.
“Wait!” I yelled after him. “How did you get here so fast?”
He turned back to look at me. “You do not believe God exists, you will not believe how I came here so fast.”
Hmm. Fine. Be cryptic. I turned back toward the house to find Kai leaning against a tree in our yard. He was staring at me.
“Hey, Nahuel will marry us!”
He looked pissed. His eyes were yellow. How long was he standing there? With his werewolf hearing he could have heard everything.
“You expect me to let you go into another country with another man? A man who isn’t even a werewolf?” he shouted.
Oh brother! Here we go.
“Canada isn’t really another country. It’s Canada! Like a six-hour drive. They speak English, mostly. It will be fine. Canadians are freakishly nice.” It was true. Never met a Canadian I didn’t like.
“Canadian vampires are not nice. What is a Devi?” he prodded.
“Shhh.” I looked left and then right.
‘I was going to tell you.’
‘Tell me what, Aurora?’ His eyes were brown again, but he still looked pissed. I braced myself for his reaction and told him everything I knew, including the fact that Devis died young. As usual, he listened with a stone-faced expression that scared the shit out of me. When I was done, he sighed.
‘So Nahuel can do some test to find out?’
‘Yes, that’s why I need to go to Canada with him.’
‘If some angel or other spirit is possessing you, I will probably lose my mind,’ he confessed.
‘Me too! I feel like ripping my skin off! But it makes sense to the witches why I have so many powers. Why the balance is out of whack. I might be here to fix it.’
‘In Indian mythology, a Devi is a Goddess incarnate. She comes to Earth to do one of three things. Create, Preserve or Destroy.’
His words gave me chills. He continued, ‘So how will you fix the balance? War? What about our wedding, having babies, growing old together?’ He complained and I hated that he looked at me different now.
I was in his arms the second he said that. ‘All of that will happen no matter what. This is my life and no one controls it but me. You should have learned that by now.’
When I was stuck in the dream with the black witch, Kai had come to get me out. He had confessed he thought I was an Alpha because he knew no one could make me do anything I didn’t want to. I reminded him of that.
Kai leaned his forehead against mine. ‘Go with Nahuel. Find out if you are a Devi. We will deal with it if and when we have to.’
He kissed me quickly and began to walk to the front of the house.
“Kai.”
He turned back and gave me a sad look. A look that said he already thought the worst.
“I’m not going anywhere until I’m ready. As long as you and my mom are alive and breathing in this world, than so am I.” My wolf had come to the surface. He nodded and gave me a half smile.
I felt rage boiling up inside me. Where was this ‘angel’ when I needed her before? When my twin brother drowned, when my dad was beating me up, when I had no money? But then, a sudden peace came over me, like my
fiery anger had been doused in water. I saw mist surround my body. Magic? It wasn’t mine. Was it? I wasn’t meaning to. I looked around the woods. I took a deep breath through my nose. Nothing. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. The mist dissipated. That was weird.
Tara
I made my way to the front of the house where Max, Jai, Akash, Devon, and Kai were flying the drone catcher and drinking beers. Probably not the best combo.
“Is Emma home?” I asked Devon. He nodded. “I’m going to go check on her.”
Emma had become my best friend. She was loyal, kind, and generous. Being that I was such a dominant wolf and she was submissive, I always felt the need to protect her. This was ramped up one hundred times since she was pregnant. I tried not to think of all the horrible things that I had heard can go wrong with a werewolf pregnancy. Emma would be fine.
After a short walk, I knocked at her back door. I smiled looking at her lawn and remembering it as the place Kai had proposed to me.
“Come in, Aurora!” she shouted from deep inside the house.
I went into the house and followed the soft talking sounds into a back room. Emma was lying on her bed and Diya was squirting jelly on her large, round bump.
I got excited. “Are we finding out the gender today? Shouldn’t Devon be here?”
Emma laughed. “Aurora, I told you! I don’t want to know. I am grateful for whatever. Devon gets queasy at these things.”
A werewolf that beheads people gets queasy at an ultrasound? I looked at Diya. “You will know the sex of the baby, right? You can tell me?”
Diya smiled. “Not if my patient doesn’t want me to.”
“Well, how am I supposed to buy a good gift if I don’t know the sex?”
Emma squeezed my hand. “Grey, yellow, green, brown.”
Umph. No fun.
Diya pressed the ultrasound wand to Emma’s belly. She stared at her handheld monitor for a moment and frowned. “Emma, roll to your side.”
My heart hammered in my chest. My eyes went yellow. I was about to call for Kai when I heard it. Thump, thump, thump. The baby’s heartbeat.
“My God. You scared me,” I told Diya.
Emma looked at me and laughed. “You’re going to have to toughen up if you want to be in the delivery room.”
I smiled. “Really? You want me there?”
Emma nodded. “Who else will hold my hand when Devon faints?”
We all laughed.
Diya moved the wand around. “Eighteen weeks. Everything looks great. I can see the sex organs clearly and it all looks healthy.”
I peeked over her shoulder at the moving blob, trying to interpret the sex organs. I saw a huge, long protrusion. Oh my God, it’s a boy! Diya looked back at me as if she knew what I was thinking.
“That’s the umbilical cord,” she pointed out.
Oh.
“Well, Emma, I’m really happy with your progress. You will need to go on strict bed rest in another few months. The baby will start shifting from human to wolf at about twenty-eight weeks. That will make your uterus contract and can start early labor if you are too active. You can’t shift yourself after twenty-eight weeks, it’s too risky.”
Emma nodded.
“God, what a buzz kill. We were all excited about the baby, hearing the heartbeat, then you have to drop that news,” I joked.
Diya gave me a sassy look. “How many werewolf babies have you successfully delivered?” she asked me. Considering Diya’s mother had thirteen children and that Diya herself had been the midwife to the largest werewolf pack in India, I decided to shut my mouth.
“Touché.”
They both smiled.
Emma reached over and squeezed my hand. “I will be fine.”
“Look, I wanted to tell you guys I will be going out of town for a few days.” I tried to make it sound light.
“What?” Emma sat up.
“Where? With who? Does Kai know?” Diya prodded me.
So much for keeping it light.
“I’m going on a spiritual journey with a Shaman.” There, the truth.
Diya made a face that looked like she was smelling skunk. “Is this a witch thing?”
I laughed. “No, kind of.”
“Because you smell like a cat. You’re all witchy lately.” Emma frowned.
I smelled my underarm. Luna. I wonder if Kai would feed her while I was gone.
“Hey, my witchy powers helped this pack. It’s kind of a witch thing, yeah, and Kai knows.”
“Hmm. Well, be safe.” Diya didn’t seem to like the idea.
Oh well. I stayed and chatted with the girls for the next few hours about plans for my wedding. I wanted it on the mountain. I promised Emma that Voodoo Doughnuts could cater the dessert. I wasn’t your average bride. I didn’t care about colors or cakes. I wanted one thing. Kai. Happiness. No vampires on the guest list.
Emma sat up and grabbed her head. “Something’s wrong.”
Diya looked panicked. “The baby? Are you feeling pain?”
“No.” Emma shook her head. “My mate bond. Devon is alarmed.”
I tore out of the room and into the backyard. When I first became a wolf, Kai was in my head hearing my every thought. It was awful and embarrassing. Over time, he had taught me to subdue it, to block him out. But he said when we were finally joined, finally mated, we could pick up on instant feelings.
‘Aurora, get to the house.’ He sounded mad. Okay. …
I ran super-fast to our backyard. I considered shifting but it was close enough.
I turned the corner and what I saw knocked the wind out of me. What was she doing here? Tara, from Diya’s wedding. Oh God! I never should have told her that Max was her mate. I grabbed my face. Shit!
Max lost his wife and child during his mate’s labor. Since werewolves mated for life and only had one mate, he thought he was destined to be alone. His one great love had died. But, At Diya’s wedding when I touched Tara, I saw that she was Max’s mate. I don’t know how it worked, but she was the one for him. Kai convinced me not to tell Max, but I told Tara. Stupid.
“Hi, what are you doing here?” I asked her. She looked a little worse for wear. Maybe she had gotten into a fight with her pack.
“I’m rogue. I need a new pack. I’m asking permission to join Kai’s.” Her voice was raw, she pleaded with her eyes. This was bad. If we let her in the pack then the first time she shifted, Max would see her markings and know they were mates. It would confuse him. He would yell at her, I had seen it in my mate vision. Max and Devon looked confused.
“Well, I’m sure Kai will let you join. An unmated female is an honor to care for,” Max told her, smiling.
Oh my God, he was oblivious.
“I’m sorry, Tara, I cannot allow it,” Kai told her sternly. Max looked at him in shock.
“Go back to my father’s pack. He must be worried,” Kai told her forcefully.
Tara’s lip quivered. “No. I’m not going back to India. Ever. I’ll find another pack.” She turned to leave.
“Hang on.” Kai grabbed her arm. He sighed. Kai knew why she was here. He must have figured out that I told her. Damn my big mouth.
“Did they hurt you?” Max asked her.
Look at him, already concerned about her. He didn’t even realize.
Tara looked at Max with soft eyes. Her short cropped hair fell in messy pieces around her face. She had a heart-shaped face and petite frame. She was delicate, but strong. She was beautiful.
“No, they didn’t hurt me. But I am hurting,” she told him vaguely.
I realized then how horrible this must be for her. She has waited her whole life to meet her mate. Then, I, the Matefinder, tell her Max is the one, but she can’t have him because his mated wife and child died and he can’t get past it. She must be going mad inside.
“Max–” I was going to tell him, but Kai jumped in.
“Max, leave now!” His Alpha command oozed with power. Max was no ordinary wolf. He was Kai’s secon
d before I came along, third now but very dominant.
“Excuse me?” he asked. “What’s going on here?” His eyes were yellow.
“She’s …” I started.
“Stop it!” Kai screamed at me.
‘Aurora, you weren’t there. I was. I watched Max hold his mate’s hand while she bled out, I watched him cry as he cradled his stillborn child. You weren’t there!’ He roared inside my head. ‘He wasn’t human for so long after that. He is better now. This will undo him.’