He could feel it now, the power that was changing the trail, hiding the traces of the people who’d been here before. Because Hareem was right. This was indeed the way their mates—or at least, Caelyn’s—had gone.
Oddly enough, the power seemed very similar to that of a sprite. Concern flowed through Caelyn. His people had no reason and no resources to track werewolves down. It truly made no sense that they would have interest in coming here at all.
He briefly opened his eyes and addressed Hareem. “There’s sprite magic here,” he murmured.
Hareem’s ice-blue eyes glittered with so much emotion it nearly floored Caelyn. “It’s Taryn,” he replied softly. “Phoenix said…Taryn has some sprite magic in his blood.”
That was great news. It meant that Caelyn could follow the trail of the power directly to Taryn, and he had a feeling that his own mate wouldn’t be far behind either.
Strengthened by that knowledge, Caelyn focused on his task once again. He continued to walk through the forest, followed by the silent draechen. Soon, a striking sensation of familiarity gripped him, like he was on the brink a momentous discovery which he might have made at a different time, but had forgotten. His mate was nearby. Caelyn just knew it.
Taking into account that certainty, Caelyn wasn’t really very eager to expose Graham to the entire group of draechen. They might have received serious commands and wouldn’t risk disobeying, but their natural inclination was to take werewolves out.
He stopped, hesitating to go any further with the draechen troops behind him. Hareem seemed to guess his thoughts. “Wait here,” he told his men.
The dragons seemed reluctant to risk the safety of their leader, but they knew better than to protest. Relieved, Caelyn started to advance again, this time with only Hareem by his side.
Caelyn knew they were taking a big chance, since they could easily get attacked while they were here. He appreciated the fact that Hareem was willing to forgo that for the good of both their mates.
As it turned out, they didn’t have to wait long for their actions to finally pay off. A large wolf leapt out of the bushes, straight in front of Caelyn and Hareem. Caelyn’s heart nearly stopped as he met those beautiful and so familiar honey-brown eyes. “Graham…” he whispered, feeling small, weak, and afraid, but also impossibly in love and relieved. Could it be? Could he have found his dream lover?
Caelyn wanted to reach out to the werewolf, but he feared that this might be a fantasy, just like the one before. His mate seemed just as surprised. His form melted into that of the handsome man Caelyn had seen in his dream, but he didn’t speak. Instead, he just stared at Caelyn’s face, as if enraptured.
It was only when Hareem took a step forward that Graham snapped out of his trance. He looked away from Caelyn and snarled at Hareem. “Draechen.”
The word held so much hostility that Caelyn expected Graham to lunge Hareem any moment now. Fortunately, though, it didn’t happen. Judging by the glance Graham threw his way, the werewolf didn’t want to involve Caelyn in a potentially dangerous battle. Did he know the truth about their mate bond, or was it just something instinctive?
Caelyn had no answers, but he decided to take advantage of the opportunity just the same. “Wait, please,” he said. “We don’t mean any harm. We came looking for you, for our mates.”
Graham eyed him warily, his shoulders still tense and his stance just as aggressive as before. Caelyn took a step forward and dared to brush his fingers over Graham’s shoulder. Because of the shifting process, Graham was completely naked, and the sight of it distracted Caelyn. He studiously tried to keep his gaze on Graham’s face, knowing that, no matter how much he desired the werewolf, he couldn’t jump into that just yet. The situation was too confusing. Jenarra, he hadn’t even introduced himself, or told Graham that he was married to someone else—the draechen emperor, no less.
“Who are you?” Graham asked. “What are you doing here, and how did you know how to find me?”
“Do you truly not know who I am?” Caelyn couldn’t help but inquire. It hurt him to see that Graham might not be so willing to set aside the differences between their peoples, in spite of their connection.
“You’re my mate,” Graham answered, “my angel. I know you…I know I do, but I just can’t remember where we met.”
The relief that swamped Caelyn was so intense his knees went weak. He leaned against Graham, almost starting to cry again when the werewolf’s arms automatically came around him. “My name is Caelyn Sutharlainn, and it’s true that we met before. We were lovers… We were bonded.”
“Caelyn Sutharlainn?” another voice repeated from behind them. Caelyn stole a look over his mate’s shoulder, only to see a second man approach. “Emperor Shtamakarein Tersain’s consort?”
Caelyn noted the speculative satisfaction in the second werewolf’s voice, but couldn’t bring himself to care about it. This wasn’t the way he’d planned to approach Graham, or to explain that his marriage to Karein wasn’t a mating in any sense of the word. Graham’s body went rigid, but instead of pushing Caelyn away, he embraced him tighter.
“Is it true?” he asked. “Are you that Caelyn Sutharlainn?”
“I am,” Caelyn answered. “But I don’t love him. He’s not my true mate.”
“That hardly matters, does it?” the second werewolf inquired. “You’re still his whore. Come on, Graham. What in the world are you doing?”
“Leave me be, Monroe,” Graham answered. “I’m talking to my mate.”
The other wolf, Monroe, scowled furiously. “You can’t be serious. The draechen emperor’s consort is your mate?”
“Stay the fuck out of it.” Graham snarled. “It’s none of your business. I know what I’m doing.”
“Can’t you hear yourself?” Monroe released a sound of disbelief. “Do you realize how absurd this situation is? You’re rushing headfirst to claim a man who’s already married, to that Ornozian monster. Gods, there’s another draechen right there, and you shifted right in front of him. What more do you want? What’s he doing to you?”
The second werewolf was pointing out all the facts Caelyn had dreaded. However, Graham didn’t pay any attention to it. “I said I would help you find Taryn,” he shot back, “but that doesn’t mean you have the right to make decisions about my life.”
The mentioning of the name of Hareem’s mate naturally made the ice dragon intervene in the conversation. “Taryn? Is he missing?”
Apparently, Monroe deemed this inquiry more relevant than Caelyn and Graham’s situation. “What do you want with my brother, draechen?”
It was probably a bad idea to admit the truth, but Caelyn wasn’t surprised when Hareem did just that. “He’s my mate.”
“Over my dead body. You’re not taking him, too.”
Monroe melted into his wolf form and lunged at Hareem with a wild howl. The sound must have alerted the rest of the draechen guards, because they came rushing out of the undergrowth. One of them cursed when he saw Graham holding Caelyn and Monroe attacking Hareem. Caelyn could only imagine how bad this must look. He had to stop the draechen before a tragedy happened.
Fortunately, Hareem had kept his calm. A wall of ice appeared between him and the rest of the group. The dragons could have melted it or destroyed it with reasonable ease, but they got the message and remained behind it.
Meanwhile, Hareem directed his attention toward the wolf. He didn’t shift, which Caelyn knew would last too long and would open him up to an attack. Instead, he just assaulted Monroe with a frost nova. The werewolf managed to dodge at first, but the structure of the spell was such that it couldn’t be fully avoided. It hit Monroe’s side, freezing it completely.
Monroe lost his balance and collapsed. However, he tried to free himself, clawing at the ground, releasing soft snarls when the motions jarred his frozen limbs. It was a testament to how much the werewolf hated draechen that he had even attempted to attack like that, when he obviously wouldn’t have a chance.
“I don’t want to kill you,” Hareem said. “You are precious to my mate. But don’t try to stand in my way, or you will regret it.”
The werewolf growled again, and Hareem walked past him, heading toward Caelyn and Graham. “I need you to track Taryn down, Caelyn,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I get the feeling we don’t have much time.”
Caelyn didn’t miss the fact that Hareem had addressed him simply, by his name. It seemed that Hareem had realized formalities would just get in the way. Even if there was nothing Caelyn would have liked more than to stay with his own mate, he couldn’t refuse. “Of course,” he answered. “I’ll be happy to help.”
“Can you truly find him?” Graham asked. “He is in grave danger.”
Panic flashed through Hareem’s gaze. “Danger? How so?”
“According to his brother, he hasn’t shifted in months. If he continues to remain in animal form, his rational mind will disappear altogether and he will become unable to change shapes. Basically, he will cease being Taryn.”
Finally, Caelyn began to understand. The werewolves must have actively attempted to remain mostly in shifted form, therefore risking succumbing to their natures and becoming mere animals. Given the chances they took to preserve secrecy, it shocked Caelyn to realize how powerful Graham’s pull toward him must have been. Otherwise, Graham would have never revealed himself like that.
At the same time, Caelyn grasped that this loss of reason must have happened before, to other werewolves, and that it needed to be avoided at all costs in Taryn’s case. Breaking away from Graham’s embrace, he searched for the thread of magic once more, relying on it to guide him toward Taryn. He noticed more wolves approaching, some of them gathering around Monroe, others coming toward Graham. They eyed him and Hareem with distrust and were clearly reluctant to come any closer.
Graham looked at one of the groups—which Caelyn surmised must be his pack—and just like that, the wolves joined them. They were clearly not happy about it, but neither did they protest. Deciding that was good enough, Caelyn started to follow the sprite-like magic.
He realized now that Taryn’s powers were special. While at the very core, they were similar to Caelyn’s, they also had significant differences. The illusion that cloaked Taryn’s scent and trail was built erratically, like a power dump with no actual focus. The more they advanced, the easier it became for Caelyn to notice it. He surmised that Taryn’s condition was worsening, because a wolf’s mind simply wasn’t designed to manage magic.
At one point, the spell grew even more powerful, becoming more than an attempt to hide. Caelyn caught glimpses of things that shouldn’t have been there. A baby cradle rocked amidst the trees, then disappeared. The sound of laughter reached their ears, strikingly familiar, but still somewhat unidentifiable.
Finally, they stepped into…Draechenburg. The forest melted away, becoming the draechen citadel. To their right loomed the cavernous expanse of the throne room, complete with the massive throne Karein used. To their left was the cliffside, the view of the Black Forest Mountains which Caelyn usually saw every time he woke up in the morning. And up ahead was a bed chamber, decorated in a distinctive draechen style—much like Caelyn’s own.
A laughing Hareem sat on the bed in front of them, tickling a cooing baby. “Who’s my beautiful boy? Who’s my beautiful boy?” he asked. “Come on. Can you say ‘Daddy’?”
It was particularly strange, because a different Hareem was right there next to Caelyn, gasping in shock and dismay. Clearly, it could only be an illusion, the source of which wasn’t very had to find. A small black wolf lay curled against the pillows, twitching, staring at the image. The Hareem in front of them didn’t seem to notice the wrongness, and when he looked at the tiny wolf, he said, “Oh ye of little faith. You’ve seen how precocious he is. He might not start talking right away, but I’ll expect him to do so soon.”
The scent of blood reached Caelyn’s nostrils, and he surmised that Taryn had used too much magic to recreate what he had instinctively been looking for. Perhaps he had seen this in a dream, just like Caelyn had relived his lovemaking with Graham. A mind already strained by the inability to shift might have fractured altogether due to the shock.
Hareem let out a wounded sound and rushed toward the small wolf. He joined Taryn on the bed and reached for him. Taryn didn’t immediately react, but then, his green-gold eyes turned toward Hareem. Hareem crawled closer to him, gently touching Taryn’s fur. Caelyn held his breath, knowing all too well that the only one who could help Taryn now was Hareem.
The wolves from Graham’s pack paced restlessly, perhaps wanting to help. However, Graham gestured for them to stop, and they froze in their tracks. Caelyn had to admit he could understand the way they felt. He wished he could do more, too, but unlike fae, he had no healing magic. He could only watch helplessly as Hareem attempted the impossible.
“Come back to me,” Hareem said. “I’m right here, sweeting, right here, just for you. You don’t need any of this.”
The illusion of Hareem and the baby vanished as the wolf sniffed the air and whimpered. He tried to curl closer to Hareem’s side, but he couldn’t quite reach the draechen. Hareem instantly fixed the problem and came closer to him, hugging Taryn and petting his fur. “Shh,” he murmured. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore. I won’t leave you ever again.”
Finally, the black wolf shifted into a slender dark-haired man. The change seemed to be painful, bones snapping and flesh twisting in a less natural way than it had seemed for Graham and even Monroe. When it was over, Caelyn felt a little nauseous, but Taryn—the one who’d had to withstand the obvious pain—was smiling. “You came,” the young man said to Hareem. “I knew you would come. I knew I could find you.”
“Of course you could,” Hareem replied, pain heavy in his tone. “You can do anything you set your mind to.”
Taryn’s face fell. “I couldn’t protect our baby. I’m…I’m sorry, Hareem. I don’t know…I don’t know what happened to him.” He was trembling again, clutching Hareem’s shoulders and completely oblivious to the way the illusion he had created was now twisting around in a wild kaleidoscope. “I lost him… I lost our Galyn. I failed you.”
“No, you didn’t,” Hareem replied. “Galyn is sleeping in the nursery. He’s just fine.”
“Oh… That’s good then. I…I must be confused.” He smiled, the tremors of his body beginning to subside. Caelyn wished he could have believed that was a good thing.
After a small pause, Taryn frowned slightly. “Hareem? Why can’t I feel you in my mind?”
A sob escaped Hareem. “You’re just tired, sweeting. I’m right here.” He brushed a kiss over Taryn’s lips in a sweet kiss. “See?”
“Yes… Here with me.” Taryn melted into Hareem’s embrace. “Hareem…I think you’re right. I’m pretty sleepy. Do you think I can rest for a bit?”
“Of course, sweeting,” Hareem replied, his voice husky and ragged. “You can rest for as long as you like.”
“And you’ll be waiting for me when I wake up?”
“I would wait for you forever,” Hareem said softly. “You are my everything.”
Taryn beamed so brightly that Caelyn wanted to scream at the unfairness. He knew what was happening of course. They all did, including Hareem, who seemed to be struggling to put up a brave face for his mate. Caelyn would have tried to rush for a healer, but at this point, there was no use. He might not have werewolf senses, but even he could smell death now.
“Thank you,” Taryn said at last. “I knew…I knew you would come. I’m so…so happy. I love…”
He trailed off before he could finish the phrase, his body slumping into Hareem’s arms. The illusion around them cracked, fading away into nothingness. Hareem released a loud, deafening roar, as he cradled the now-lifeless form of his mate. The extent of the pain in that sound made Caelyn clutch Graham’s side and bury his face in his mate’s shoulder.
He felt like a voyeur in a scene that pe
rhaps should have been private. He hated having failed to find Taryn on time. And perhaps most importantly, he loathed himself because a small part of him was relieved that it hadn’t been Graham in Taryn’s stead.
Graham held him close, not speaking, seeming frozen. Around them, the wolves began to howl, a mournful sound that carried the pain of the entire community with it. All the while, Hareem just lay there on the grass where a bed had once stood, not moving an inch.
Caelyn had no idea what he was supposed to do now. He had imagined his reunion with Graham in countless ways, but none of them included the death of Hareem’s mate. He wanted to reach out to Hareem, but the ice dragon was liable to snap at him. If Hareem ran amok, he could easily hurt Graham and the other wolves because of his agony.
He didn’t know how long they just stood there, but it must have been a while, because at one point, Monroe emerged from the forest, followed by his pack and, ironically, the rest of the dragons. They must have heard Hareem’s roar and the wolf howls and perhaps drawn their own conclusions.
Still in wolf form, Monroe took one look at the scene and went very still. Given Monroe’s obvious affection for his brother and his hatred of draechen, the situation had disaster written all over it.
Graham pressed a kiss to his forehead and broke their embrace. He got between Monroe and Hareem and knelt in front of his friend. For a few moments, they stared at each other, and Caelyn suspected they were talking mentally, although he couldn’t be sure how he had that knowledge. Finally, Monroe’s shape blurred and shifted into his human form.
“What happened?” he asked. “What did the draechen do?”
“It wasn’t him,” Caelyn replied, knowing that Monroe wouldn’t believe him, but needing to explain just the same. “Taryn used too much illusion magic. By the time we got here, there was nothing either of us could do.”
“It’s so easy to blame Taryn now.” Monroe glowered at him. “After all, he’s only one small werewolf. Who cares if he dies?”
Hyacinth, Scarlet - From the Ashes [Chronicles of the Shifter Directive 7] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove) Page 21