“I would be honored.” Her response was no more than a raspy whisper as her throat was still healing from the trauma the vampires had inflicted upon her. It was unreal how much she looked like me. We were the same height, our hair about the same length, and nearly an identical color under the moonlight. The difference being that where I had bright green eyes, hers were a bright blue reminiscent of the waters of the Aegean Sea. Willow was cradled in my left arm, and I held my right out for Tamara to guide her through the circle with us. As we approached, Mikael split apart from the rest, allowing us to enter beyond the barrier the semi-circle of our pack had made. We walked to the center, at the lake’s edge, and turned to face our pack-mates.
“This night, we celebrate the lives of two very important members. Willow Ash St. Marks De’Lune was born to this pack two nights ago.”
“We welcome you, Willow Ash St. Marks De’Lune.” The pack intoned as one voice raising into the night sky.
“That same night, we welcomed Tamara Anne Simms back into our pack after she was nearly lost to us. We are thankful that she was returned to our pack and granted a second chance at life.”
“We welcome you, Tamara Anne Simms.” The pack intoned as I finished.
“We welcome you both, and together we are one.”
“One pack.” The pack voiced in unison, and then all those who could shift did so, howling their acceptance of our newest pack member, and the newly returned, as one spirit under the moon. Tamara took off in her wolf form, a great gray beast, to run with the rest of the pack. I stood firm, in my place as a mother, watching over my baby as the pack took off into the forest surrounding the lake. I felt their energy and excitement ebb and flow through the trees as they went, and I was exhilarated as if I was with them too. That was what it meant to be linked as a pack in spirit. I had never known, because I had been sheltered from that part of pack life growing up. I understood why my parents had done it, but I was thankful that Willow would always know what pack life truly felt like as she grew.
Warm, strong arms encircled me as I stood there by the side of the lake with the others who were pregnant and couldn’t shift, or looking after those too young to join in the run. “How are my beautiful girls doing?” The spicy-man scent of my mate clung to me as he pulled us closer to him. His warmth seemed to seep right through my clothing and into my soul. It was an amazing feeling having my family together this way, with the pack energy all around us, and the illusion of safety in numbers.
“We’re doing just fine, now.” I turned so that Willow was nestled between mine and Mikael’s bodies. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into him, so that we all fit snuggly as one family unit and then he kissed me, underneath the moon as we celebrated the life of our daughter.
“I woke up this morning, and once again I thought maybe it was all a dream, yet here we are.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I never thought to see the day…” his voice trailed off wistfully as the tell-tale glimmer of tears sprung up, misting his emerald laden eyes.
“Here we are. Your family. Your pack. Why don’t you go run with them?” I, myself, looked out longingly at the forest. The wolf in me wanted to join the fun, and run and play with the others, something we’d missed out on for too many years. The other part of me was content to stay right where I was though. Wrapped in the security of my mate’s arms while holding my own daughter was a joy all its own.
“I don’t need to run, Jess. Everything I ever wanted is right here.”
How could I argue with that. Those very words stomped down my antsy little wolf’s feelings, and make her take notice of the truly important things in life. We were happy, for once, and it was time to soak some of that in and enjoy it before life crept in again and ruined everything.
BLESSINGS
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to Tamara before the ceremony the other day. Can someone fill me in on what happened to her?” I asked as I sat down at the kitchen table with my coffee, seeking the answer from my parents or Mikael, all of whom deemed it necessary to crowd my space before I got to take my first sip of the magical anti-cranky brew. They all shared a quick look that immediately put me more on edge. Apparently, they were trying to decide if they should hide something from me. “Well?”
“There were three vamps.” It was Mikael who spoke up, finally. “They attacked, but weren’t going to use her as food. She claimed they were talking about getting her to ‘the site.’” He tossed up air quotes around the words as he spoke. “They were arguing among themselves about whether she was the one, and how someone else wouldn’t be happy if another was drained and it didn’t work.”
“If what didn’t work?”
“I suppose, that’s the question at hand.” My father added dryly. “Unfortunately, the information Tamara gave us just ended with more questions than answers. The plus side is that we know the girls are all being taken to a specific place to be drained.”
“That doesn’t help unless we know where they’re being taken.” I added.
“No, but it does tell us we need to find one central location that has seen a lot of blood in the past few months.”
A sick feeling bubbled up in my stomach then at the thought of the number of girls who had gone missing from both our pack and the pack run by Avery Daniels. “Has anyone spoken to Avery lately? Are they still having problems over there?”
“He’ll be coming by in a few days to give an in-person update. He was trying to give you a little time to be a new mom before he came piling his problems on top of the ones we have here already.”
“Well, I may be a mom now, but I still have a duty to my people. Tell him sooner rather than later is good. We need to end this before any more women are brutalized for this sick bastard’s end game.” I tossed my hands in the air helplessly. “Whoever the hell the sick bastard actually is.” Then I looked up at everyone who was sitting around the table. “Maybe it’s just me, but this seems odd. I just can’t imagine the dark ones rallying together like this for one specific cause. They don’t usually like to be together in big groups do they?”
“Jess…” Mikael started worriedly.
“I can handle it. I have to. Being the white wolf doesn’t stop just because you have a baby. It’s a calling, and one that needs to be answered. It’s a calling that Willow may one day inherit for herself. I’d rather do my job to the fullest now, and make it easier on her in the future, if that’s possible.” Mikael didn’t answer, he just threw his hands up in surrender. “So, was I completely off base with the dark ones?” I asked, looking to my dad for answers.
“No, you aren’t. It’s an angle we’re looking into, actually.”
“Along with others.” Mikael huffed out.
“Speaking of other angles, how the hell did she get away? And why was Tamara attacked, her throat ripped into, if they were supposedly saving her for some special place?”
“Maybe now isn’t the time for this, Jessie girl.” My father hadn’t called me Jessie-girl in an age. Not since before I came home marked with Evan’s scent almost two years ago now.
My parents got up to leave then. “Seriously, I don’t get those answers? What’s going on?”
“Bring the baby by later, I have some things I pulled down out of the attic that you might want.” My mom called out to me as before they shut the door. They seriously just acted like I hadn’t asked some pretty important questions. I remembered the look they all shared when I first sat down to join them, and I turned to Mikael then. “My parents might be burying their heads in the sand on this, but I’ll be damned if I am going to let you do it too, Mikael.” I put Willow down in her basinet so that I could help clean up the mess from their breakfast while I waited for an answer. As I took the dishes from the table to the sink I caught Mikael staring after me, worry-lines wrinkling his handsome face in spots. “What? Seriously, we promised remember?”
“Hmm?” He answered absentmindedly.
“What’s going on in that head of yours to c
ause these,” I had walked over to him and caressed the slight frown lines appearing on his forehead. “What on this earth could be so bad that you think you suddenly have to hide it from me?”
“I don’t know Jess. I just worry about you. Actually, seeing you and Tamara standing next to each other in the moonlight at the ceremony made me wonder a few things.”
“What things?”
“I wondered, just like you did, who is really behind these attacks, because it doesn’t just seem like a bunch of dark ones out to break free and come out of the closet to humanity. If that were their game, they’d play it better. I am beginning to question who exactly is being targeted with all these attacks though. It’s clear that they are looking for a specific woman, and it was almost uncanny seeing the two of you standing there side by side last night. I keep hoping that one day I will wake up, and for once you won’t have a giant target pasted to you, but I think it’s an impossible dream at this point. The moment you came out as the white wolf sort of killed that possibility.”
“Tamara looked a lot like me. You guys think that they’re looking for me, don’t you? I never realized before. I mean I knew they were mostly taking dark haired girls, but there are a lot more dark haired girls in these parts than light. I never thought that I might be the target.”
“No? How could you not? You’ve been kidnapped and attacked how many times now? Hell, some of it by my own family’s hands.” He shook his head then, and sunk further down into the chair. “I worry for you, Jess. Now, I worry for Willow too. She’s not like you. Everyone will know who she is, and what she has the potential to become…” Mikael looked up at me then, green eyes glowing with concern. “How the hell do we let her grow up normal, and protect her at the same time?”
“Honestly?” I smiled down at him, and cupped his face in between my hands, feeling the rough stubble on his cheeks. “We do the same thing any other parents do. We watch, we prepare her, we raise her the way we want, and do the best we can with what we’ve got. Fortunately for Willow, we happen to have a lot of resources and a lot of eyes around to look out for her.” I leaned down and kissed his forehead. “She’ll be just fine. Just look at the amazing genes she carries. There’s you… and there’s me… she’s made of nothing but awesome!”
Laughter at the door made me look up in time to see Evan standing there with Natalia. “Your mom let us in on the way out, but I didn’t want to interrupt.” Evan apologized.
“No worries,” I said as I stepped back from Mikael then. “Can I get you guys a drink or something?”
“When did you get back?” Mikael asked as he gathered himself, stood, and turned to face his brother.
“We got in late last night, figured we’d wait until a decent hour to come meet my niece.” Evan walked over and hugged his brother then, “Congrats, my brother. I know you’ve waited for this day for a long time.” Mikael gave a gruff, noncommittal noise in response, which triggered laughter from Evan. “Aww, what’s the matter, having a daughter not all it’s cracked up to be? Already worried about the boys who will be beating the door down?”
“Don’t even start on that subject.” Mikael launched a playful punch at his brother’s chest. “Besides, as her Uncle, it’s your job to help scare them off before they even think of getting to the door.”
“Boys!” Natalia rolled her eyes as she walked over to me. “Heaven help your daughter. She’ll never be allowed to date with them around.” I loved hearing Natalia speak, her thick accent, and the roll of her tongue always reminded me of a couple of my white wolf ancestors. In that way, talking to Natalia always felt like home. Both Evan and Mikael’s accents were much more muted. Apparently, when Antoine was alive, he made them practice for hours a day to sound as though they were American. He had been planning on sending his boys to rule the roost over here long before they discovered I was alive and coming into my power.
It still took a little getting used to that Evan now had a mate of his own now. I didn’t think of him in any romantic way anymore, but it was still odd seeing him so at ease with another soul. Those two were truly meant for one another.
“Yeah, well, where there’s a pretty girl, boys will always find a way. Isn’t that right?” I looked up at Evan whose cheeks turned red at the reminder of how he had marked me when we first met.
Evan cleared his throat and decided it was time to change the subject while everyone laughed at his expense. “So, where is my lovely little Niece anyway?”
Mikael had already walked over to the bassinet and picked her up. “She’s right here. My little sleeping beauty…” Seeing Mikael melt every time he held our daughter would never get old. I just smiled over at them as Evan reached to take hold of her.
“She’s gorgeous! Thank the wolf spirits that she looks like her mother.” Evan announced amid laughter.
“I have to agree with you there,” Mikael started, “although if she was sporting my whiskers maybe I wouldn’t have trouble keeping the boys away later.”
“Mikael!” I yelled in mock-outrage. “You will not wish whiskers upon my child, unless she has completed the change and is in wolf form.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He bowed slightly towards me while Evan made the sound of a cracking whip. “Yeah, well, I’m okay with being whipped, brother.” After seeing Natalia walk up, and peer around his arm at the baby, Mikael added, “Looks like I’m not the only one.” Evan just shrugged his shoulders and grinned.
“I can’t believe how tiny she is.” He whispered to no one in particular. “It’s crazy, I feel like I might break her if I breath too hard.”
“Well, do try not to do that. I’d hate to have to kill you today.” Mikael said through his laughter.
“May I?” Natalia asked, as she approached Evan and Willow.
“Of course.” I smiled at her as she took Willow in her arms.
“She truly is beautiful.” Natalia offered. Then she began to chant in an angelic voice.
“Lumina sa straluceasca in jos
Si sa binecuvanteze acest copil
Un viitor luminous, cu bucurie si rasete
Poate spiritele luminare uita mereu dupa
Si sa binecuveanteze acest copil frumos.”
By the time she got to the end of whatever she was chanting. There was a warm white light surrounding both her and my baby. I panicked, and snatched Willow from her immediately. “What the hell are you doing?” I looked Willow over to make certain she was still okay. “What the hell were you doing to my baby? What was that light?”
“Jess, calm down.” Evan stated.
“What the hell was that, Evan?” Mikael asked.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” I screamed at Natalia.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized in her thick Romanian accent. “It was a blessing. Nothing more.”
“Nothing more?” I questioned. “There was light around the both of you.” Natalia looked startled by what I said, and now she looked just as panicked as I felt. That did nothing to calm my nerves. I turned to Evan then and demanded, “explain this!”
“Let’s all calm down a little bit, first.” Mikael offered, which surprised me. “Jess, she gave a typical lunar blessing to Willow. It’s one that is given to all the babies that are born to our people. At least, it’s the blessing our pack always gave to babies when they were born. I’ve said it to her myself since she was born.”
“I never heard you.”
“Probably because I say it to her when I’m up with her while I let you sleep. Really, the words were all the same. Roughly translated, it is: The light shine down and bless this babe. A future bright with joy and laughter. May the spirits always look after and bless this beautiful baby.”
Mikael turned from me to Evan and Natalia then. “Now, what we need explained is the light that actually shined out from Natalia to surround Willow.”
Natalia was no help. She simply mumbled, “I’m so sorry,” repeatedly.
Evan sighed before answering. “Can we all just sit down for a minut
e, calmly, while I explain. I promise, nothing bad happened here.” Suddenly, the dark circles under his eyes took on new meaning, as I gauged the fact that this was not a first time occurrence. He blew out a breath, getting ready to speak again, before I interrupted to make it clear that I didn’t want him to hold anything back at this point.
“Evan, my track record with your pack, your family in specific, hasn’t exactly been all roses. So, excuse me if I worry when one of your people starts glowing my baby up with mystical light.” I retorted hotly. “If you hold back at this point, and I find out later that there was something we needed to know, I promise you I will rip through heaven, hell, earth, and anyplace in-between to find you and dole out a justice I find befitting.” Natalia’s eyes grew wider as I let fly my promise for vengeance if her mate lied to me.
“I know, Jess. I promise you, Natalia meant no harm to you or Willow. Just listen, please.”
“Fine.”
“You know we left, after Malachai was killed and the girls were captured and put in the locks.” I nodded my head in agreement. We had been worried at the time that he would take Asriel with him, and that Ashley would have to make the choice to go or stay without him. I don’t know what sort of deal they worked out, but Asriel ended up staying behind with Ashley, and working for my father, while Evan and Natalia left town. “I took Natalia back to Romania when we went away. We went back there to see if we could find Natalia’s younger sister. When she was taken to be a part of the King’s harem her sister hadn’t gone through all the transitions yet, so we thought, maybe she had never gotten sucked into that life.” Evan shrugged and looked for Natalia now just stared at the floor. “We didn’t find her, but we did find their father who swore the King took both girls the night he came for Natalia.”
“That’s insane!” I noted before Evan continued.
“Yeah, well, we all know where my father and brother stood on the sanity scale. Anyway, we didn’t find Claire, but when we saw evidence that she’d been there all along, one room down from Natalia, she lost it.”
Bound by the Moon (The Ancients Series Book 4) Page 2