by Hazel Gower
“You’re right. We have a lot to work out, and I have a lot of questions.” Squeezing her hands, he brought them up and kissed them. Pet was his mate. She was a blessing. “First things first—you need a name. Faith said something to me and it’s stuck...you’re not their pet anymore. You can be what you want to be. I think you need a real name. One that they didn’t give you. You’re free now. You’re no one’s slave or pet.”
She blinked and then nodded. “You’re right. Let me think about it for a bit.”
Chapter 4
Griffen
Kirby had given birth to a big, ten and a half pound boy, and they’d named him Ryland. She’d been induced as the baby didn’t want to leave his mum. Rane was so proud of Kirby, and he boasted to everyone about how big his boy was and how cute he was too. Everyone was so happy about the birth of a child in the pack; any child born was a huge celebration of new life. Griffen had weaned off the wolfsbane and was now feeling the pack again.
He and Pet were taking it slow, building the trust again. This time, though, Griffen knew she wasn’t a child and she could protect herself, if she chose to. Pet didn’t stay in the house all the time, but she didn’t venture far. Until these last few weeks he hadn’t realized that Pet had pretty much gone from one prison to another, being cooped up in the house. At first, they started out slow, strolling up and down their street. After a week of doing that and no one attacking her, they started exploring the forest. They didn’t talk much, just enjoyed each other’s company. Griffen never let her go out on her own until the other week, and that was to the bush where he knew she could camouflage herself if she was in danger.
Today was their first walk on the beach. He held her hand at the entrance of the wooden planks down to the open beach. His heart raced, and his palms were sweaty. The beach was a central place for everyone. His pack loved the water, and he knew that the beach was usually the place where you’d run into most of the pack and some humans.
He squeezed Pet’s hand in his own and focused on the pack and felt a bunch of them close by. This would be the real test. Today it was just him and Pet. He didn’t have his family to help if any trouble came their way. The beach was different from the forest, because there wasn’t much for Pet to camouflage herself to and hide if she needed to. He had no idea if she could swim, but he doubted it, because he hadn’t taught her and she hadn’t been to the beach that he knew of.
Frowning, he narrowed his gaze as he looked down at Pet. “Can you swim?” He should know things like this, but the water and needing to swim had never come up before.
She shook her head. “No. I’ve had no need to.” She closed her eyes and her lips turned up, and her face seemed to glow for a moment before her eyes opened and their golden color flashed bright. “I’ve seen people swimming. You...” She went an array of colors before she took a deep breath and slowly let it out, settling back on the skin color closest to his. “...naked,” she whispered.
Huffing out a chuckle at her embarrassment, Griffen reminded himself that she was over two centuries old and ‘seeing’ him naked in a vision shouldn’t have her blushing. He was sure that quick loss of control was her form of blushing, or maybe it was ‘need’ when she remembered ‘seeing’ his naked form. Now that he knew she was an alien he had to work out all her meanings...er, tells; she wasn’t human and he was sure she would react differently.
“Did you like what you saw?”
There was no mistaking her meaning when she looked him up and down. “Yes. It is a vision I was happy to see over and over.”
She tugged on his hand and he knew she was done with his stalling, so they walked down to the beach. When they made it to the end of the wooden plank path she let out what could only be described as a contented sigh.
“It’s beautiful. I’ve seen beaches and oceans before, but I’ve never seen them, felt the sand, dirt, shells, and other forms of earth beneath my feet.” She turned to face him and beamed up at him. Her smile was so bright you’d have to be blind to miss it. “I want to learn to swim.” She sighed longingly.
“I’ll teach you.” Her bright smile had his heart soaring.
“I’d like that.” She nudged him. “Did you know that most of the worlds I’ve seen have had an ocean?”
She looked down for a moment, then turned back to watch the waves crash to the shore.
“Demons hate water. That’s one of the reasons why they left this world alone for so long. It has so much of it. Their planet has no water. Well, almost none, like ten percent. Demons don’t need water. They can stand small amounts though. They have to, because it’s how most of them travel, when the lightning hits the earth and creates the rips. There was a world that was advanced well beyond this one in science. They had figured out how to travel like what the demons were doing and built a device.” She started walking, but her gaze stayed locked on the ocean. “The demon king has their device.” She huffed and a big, fat tear slid down her cheek. “I was punished. It was the worst punishment.” She shook her head and started sobbing. “The demon king wanted the beings alive to make more of those machines so he could travel through the worlds. I was supposed to help.”
She covered her face, stopped walking, and dropped to the ground, her fingers sifting through the sand.
“I gave the wrong information and made sure the lower demons destroyed the world, killing all the beings that could make another device.” She gazed up at him through puffy eyes. “The demons aren’t smart enough to replicate the machine, but the demon king knew this world meant something to me, so he ordered us to come here. The beings...er, I mean humans and shifters...are smart, and I don’t know how long, but it will be soon, that he realizes that humans, shifters, and even beings like Bengie—half-breed demons—are smart enough, with the right tools, to replicate the machine to travel. I am the destroyer of worlds, but what you and the demons don’t know is that there are thousands upon thousands of worlds. With more machines the demons could reach them.”
She smiled, but it was a sad smile, and she stared out at the ocean.
“At the moment the demon king is only going to the worlds that the portals have previously opened. Your world, Earth, has four worlds that—when a storm hits and the rips occur—opens to it. But the worlds connected to you might not connect with the other three your world can. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Griffen nodded. His mind right now felt like it was about to explode. Holy shit. He knew demons came from another realm, or world, and that Pet had too, but to learn that there were thousands of worlds and how they connected was mind-blowing.
As he let it sink in he realized what this could mean. He needed to get this information out to all the leading members of the world. Governments needed to be notified, and scientist and potential people needed to be watched. It was important that the demons didn’t get people to build more of the machines.
Pet stood and patted his arm. “I can see the wheels turning in your brain. I think you, we, have time. You see, you—well, not you personally, but shifters—are something that the demons didn’t expect on this world. Demons are hard to kill, and the people on most planets don’t know how to do it.” She wrapped her arms around him. “You’re not from this world. Well, you are, but originally your species, shifters, came from a different world, one of the only ones I know of to defeat the demons. You’re a tough lot and hard to kill.”
With his mind about to explode, Griffen plonked down on the sand, speechless. “We’re aliens too?”
“Yes. I guess you originally were, but a long time has passed since the first shifter group came here.” Pet’s husky laugh reached his overflowing thoughts, and Griffen knew everything would be okay. It was his favorite sound, and it had soothing calmness flowing over him.
He knew in that moment that Pet needed to tell what he’d just learnt to all the shifter leaders around the world, and they all needed to work together. But for now, as Pet sat beside him and snuggled against him while they watch
ed the waves crash to the shore, he needed time to think. Time to be at peace. Time with his amazing mate. Time that he was sure, thanks to his mate, they would have, because she’d given them information that no one else was aware of.
* * * *
The beach had been a success. Sure, some pack members had been on the beach, but they’d kept away and he hadn’t felt any hostility sent Pet’s way. They’d spent the afternoon on the beach, soaking in the sun, and he’d promised he would teach Pet how to swim, setting aside an hour or so a day. The excitement she’d showed at something he took for granted, like knowing how to swim, was contagious.
He’d been on a happy buzz ever since, even when he got home and called his brother to organize a meeting of the world alphas together to discuss all the new information he’d learned. Technology was great; Pet may not like it, but it came in handy when you needed to get a whole group together but they were scattered all around the world.
He’d just learned, after a meeting with all the alphas, that Kane had placed Pet ‘under his protection’, and Faith had also added that if they messed with Pet, they messed with her. And no one messed with Faith, or wanted her angry with them. This protection explained why they hadn’t been attacked while they were out and why the pack’s hostility toward Pet wasn’t as bad as it had previously been.
Braydon was in Faith’s arms, and she was walking back and forth across the room, rocking him to sleep. She’d been at the meeting. All the alphas trusted Faith and knew she was a vital part in the war against the demons. All the screens in the large room were off now, and Faith was chatting with Pet.
The two had become close since Pet had done whatever she’d done to help Faith. And Pet had helped her. Faith had been crazy; she’d been in her head over ninety percent of the time, visions bombarding her, and not wanting to miss anything important, she had let them control her. Faith seemed to be back to normal now...well, normal for her.
“One thing that I can’t stop thinking about…” Faith’s words caught Griffen’s attention, and he stopped helping pack away equipment with Kane to listen. “Why did I see a vision where the demon king says he didn’t have a soothsayer?”
Pet didn’t say anything for a while. She sat eerily still, her eyes didn’t even blink, then she cocked her head to the side, blinked, and straightened. “I see options, or I did when I got visions, many different paths. Where you, Faith, are only given one or two, at a maximum four. When I see a vision, I am usually given at least four different outcomes, never one.”
Faith shook her head. “No. I used to only get one. But as my visions came more frequently and I used my sight instead of shying away from it, I then started to get more than one option that fate could go.”
“Yes.” Pet nodded. “Because you were using your gift more than you should. The more you used it, the more you saw. You kept changing that outcome. What you saw was probably a version of what happened if you didn’t change it.”
Faith sighed, leaned down, and kissed Braydon’s forehead. “The big demon said he didn’t have someone like me, but he had you?”
“The possible future must have changed, because he did have me, but having said that, I am...was nothing as powerful as you.” Pet caught Griffen’s gaze, and her eyes flashed a bright gold. “Kane changed fate. You two being together started the changes of fate. I’m alive, when I shouldn’t be. How old were you in that vision?”
Faith narrowed her brows and pursed her lips. She then sat on one of the seats. “I wasn’t much older than I am now, but I wasn’t with Kane either. So yeah, I did change it, but only by a few years.”
“Ahh.” Pet moved closer to Faith. She sat next to her, smiling. “I was not always on this world. I may be over two centuries old, but time doesn’t pass the same on every world. The demons’ home world is very slow. One day on theirs is a year on this one. My own home world, from what I’ve seen, is different to here. What is time?” Pet shrugged.
Griffen studied his mate, and in that moment he realized he was beyond lucky. His mate wasn’t just smart, she was special and a crucial part in understanding the demons and the world around them.
“You surprise me.” Griffen gathered her up in his embrace and kissed both her cheeks before pecking her lips and sitting down with her on his lap. “When I first met you, I thought that you were this scared, young thing that knew nothing and I’d have to teach you how to do things. Then you go and blow my mind with all the knowledge you hold. And I start teaching you swimming and reading, and what I think will take years to teach you, you learn in weeks. Amazing.”
“Damn straight,” Faith muttered.
Pet snuggled into his embrace, and Griffen held on tight. Today had been an eventful, and emotionally draining, day. Pet had revealed what she told him on the beach to all the alphas, and they’d spent the day talking.
The pack was going to exchange more people. The new mixed teams had been working out well, and as Pet had said, they had all come from another world. Today he had learned that shifters were all mixed up in the beginning. It was the humans and their need to separate and fight over what race was better that changed how they were and split them up. They had learnt that the world wars that had happened weren’t started by humans, it was the demons doing it, but the humans were quick to point the blame at other countries.
Information had poured out of Pet today, and Griffen expected her to be tired, emotionally at least, with everything she’d had to tell and explain. She’d stayed to the very end, and before she sat down she had been helping to clean up.
Bengie had laid low because he knew people weren’t comfortable around him. He and the other half-children were still a sore subject with some of the alphas. Griffen had kept Pet away from them too. He wasn’t sure how she would react to him, because she’d been held prisoner by demons all her life and he was half-demon.
Bengie barged in. “I’ll put Braydon in his bed. I know it’s his nap time.”
At the sight of him, Pet stilled against Griffen, her body becoming frozen. Her skin changed, and she camouflaged against him.
Bengie didn’t seem to notice her as he bounded into the room and straight for Faith. He took Braydon out of her arms, and Faith kissed Braydon’s forehead and then Bengie’s.
Pet didn’t move the whole time Bengie was in the room. She stayed camouflage against him. For a moment Griffen worried, because he couldn’t even hear or feel her heart beating. Once Bengie was out of sight she changed back to the skin color closest to his.
“That is so cool,” Faith muttered, breaking the silence.
Pet didn’t look at Faith, she stayed against Griffen for a while before he heard and felt her heart beating again. It was then that he wondered… “Can you stop your heart? I didn’t hear it then, and I swear I couldn’t feel it.”
Slowly, she eased back and looked from him to Faith and Kane. “Yes. It is a safety...no, maybe more like a survival thing for my people. Like how we can be a chameleon. It helped me to live long enough so I could meet you.”
“You’re amazing.” It was things like that that reminded him she was an alien and she was special, and he was damn lucky to have her.
As he thought of everything he’d learnt today, he knew that with Pet’s help they could win the war against the demons. He couldn’t believe that months ago he’d been so unsure of everything and how he felt about his mate. He never said it out loud, but for a while there, he’d regretted saving her. He’d had a major pity party. Now he knew how truly lucky he was.
“Do you know another reason why, even though there is so much water here, the demons want this world?” Pet said. “It’s because humans are adaptable. They can mate with almost all the species of the worlds I have been on. At least I’m sure they can with most of the worlds, from the glimpses in my visions. Think of the possibilities. The demons have. That’s why they tried it themselves. I know the demons have tried to mate with at least one other species, and it didn’t work.”
“What!
” Faith screeched.
Pet went an array of colors before she set back again to human skin. “I never lost control of myself before, but you make me reveal myself. Since giving some of my powers to you, I’m finding it harder to control my reactions and stay in one form.” She groaned and then stood. “I’m ready to go now.”
Griffen got up too and followed her.
She stopped at the entrance to the room. “I am telling you all this so you know how important it is that you stop and kill as many demons as you can. You have to win. It’s not just your world that rests in the balance of you winning the fight.”
With that, Pet walked out of the room. Griffen followed her. She had spent the day giving them vital information. He didn’t know if he felt better knowing how bad everything really was, or worse. One thing he did know was that he was slowly falling for Pet. The more she came out of her shell and he learnt about her, the more he liked.
* * * *
Pet
Hope. That’s what she wanted to be called. She was sick of being thought of as destructive. She wasn’t that anymore. She had done good things. She’d told the shifters everything she knew. She’d made sure she kept information from the demons as best as she could. She’d strived to be a better person, someone her mate would want and be proud to claim.
She had done bad things, but she’d learned that nobody was perfect. She’d done the best she could with what little she was given. Now she was free, and she deserved a life. She deserved dreams. She deserved to be who she wanted to be.
Pet wasn’t going to be called her slave name anymore. Hope...she would be called Hope. She wanted to be known for good, not bad. She wanted people to think positive and have hope when they heard her name. No more pity, and no more people thinking of her as the Destroyer of Worlds.
Running out of her bedroom—she and Griffen had been getting along so well, but still hadn’t moved to the same room yet—she found him in the kitchen cooking. She loved food. The demons hadn’t given her much food, and what they did give her wasn’t very good. She loved Griffen’s cooking. She liked her new friends’—Faith, Sara, and Sandra’s—cooking too, but Griffen’s was the best.