We Shall Rise

by J. E. Hopkins

  Reysa handed him a tissue and he wiped away the blood. “Rey, would you take Tati into the kitchen? I would like to talk to your friend here for a moment.”

  Christian handed Tatiana over to her mother, but Reysa did not budge. Leaving these two hot-blooded alpha males together would not bode well. Someone would get hurt and she couldn’t bear the thought of either suffering. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Why don’t we all go into the kitchen and I can make a snack?”

  “We just need a few minutes, love. No need to worry. We’ll behave.”

  Reysa knew Christian too well to be fooled by those assurances and apparently so was Tatiana who signed to her mother. Are Daddy and Kaden going to fight?

  Christian responded to Tatiana who was on the verge of tears. “My sweet girl, I assure you that no one will get hurt.”

  Tatiana seemed reassured, but Reysa knew better. Christian didn’t promise not to fight, just that no one would get hurt. She gave him one last threatening look and he winked in response. “Trust me, love.”

  Reysa carried Tatiana out of her bedroom and closed the door leaving Christian and Kaden to “talk.” The men just stood there facing one another as if waiting for a duel to commence. Kaden wanted to rip the wolf’s head off while Christian just seemed annoyingly amused by the situation.

  “So, no luck finding Yas?” Christian questioned breaking the silence.

  “Unfortunately no,” Kaden responded not expecting that question. The wolf was trying to distract him. Cunning puppy, but Kaden was no fool either.

  “Are you actually trying to find Yas or are you just taking advantage of the opportunity to spend time with Reysa?”

  Now that’s what Kaden expected from the wolf. “Jealous? Are you afraid I’m taking away your favorite bone, pup?”

  Christian just smiled in amusement. “I don’t do jealous. There’s no reason .”

  “So confident that you won’t lose her?”

  “I’ll never lose her,” Christian answered firmly. All hint of his usual playful nature gone. “That’s not possible. We’ve been together since we were small children. We have taken care of each other, protected each other and loved each other for all of our lives. Nothing and no one can break us up.”

  The assuredness in which Christian spoke flustered Kaden. Christian was too confident that Reysa belonged to him.

  “You’re not mates. You’re not her destined love,” Kaden spoke trying to convince himself that Christian was not a threat.

  “There are different kinds of mates. Believe me, she and I are mates of a sort. I may not be her destined love, but I am her destiny. We create our own destiny. Right now, hers and mine are intertwined.”

  “You can’t defeat the mating bond. If it’s there, it cannot be denied.”

  Christian shrugged his shoulders brushing off the mating bond issue as if it were no threat to his relationship with Reysa. “If it’s there is the key, isn’t it? But isn’t that bond rare among vampires? Odds are there’s no mate for her, unless you’re trying to tell me you know something I don’t. Are you implying that you’re her mate?”

  Was that what he was trying to say without exactly speaking those words that would forever change him? Kaden knew that inner voice in his body recognized her as such, but he could not acknowledge that. The last thing he wanted was a mate. That dreaded bond nearly destroyed his mother. He would never allow himself to be weakened by that desperate need for another.

  “The response I expected,” Christian chided. “When you’re man enough to go after what you want, then you can question my relationship with her. Right now, you’re in no position to stake a claim. I will fight you to the death before I let you hurt her. For now, she’s mine. If you want to challenge that, then you better earn her, otherwise go back to cowering in the corner while the rest of us happily live our lives without all your brooding angst. Drama is amusing on TV and movies, but I rather do without in my personal life.”

  Christian turned to walk away when he felt a hand seize him by his throat thrusting him into the wall. The threat of impending violence did nothing to wipe the smirk off of Christian’s face. “You’re standing a bit too close, leech. Are you going to kiss me or something? I should warn you, I don’t bat for the same team. Some of my kind are into that and I actually know a few wolves that might enjoy you, but I’m not willing to play it that rough. I definitely prefer the softer sex.”

  Kaden released his hold. “I should snap your neck.”

  “You can’t, I assure you, and the attempt alone would incur the wrath of our mutual lady friend.”

  “Don’t overestimate your strength, puppy, or Reysa’s love for you.”

  “It is you who underestimate both. Despite our age difference, I’m a hybrid wolf and vampire. As a mixed breed, I’m quite strong—stronger than most. I could take you out with minimal effort. If you want to test that theory, I may be willing to accommodate you, as you are increasingly becoming an irritant in my life. As for Reysa’s love, after 76 years together, I think I have a good idea of how important I am to her. I know what she has done for me and what she would do for me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Don’t doubt that. It’s best that you learn to accept my place in her life especially if you hope to have a place in hers. I’m not going anywhere. Not now, not ever.”

  Christian shoved Kaden aside and strode out of the bedroom like he did not have a care in the world while Kaden fought to deny what his heart refused to ignore: Reysa was the one thing he never wanted—his mate.

  Chapter 2

  The music was blaring at The Lore. A combination of techno, pop and rock. Just what Kaden needed to drown out the frustration of the afternoon. First there was the almost sex with Reysa. His body still had not fully recovered from that disappointment. Then he was subjected to the condescending lecture from the half-dog Christian. If only he could have killed the mangy mutt. Finally, he had to spend the rest of the afternoon watching the mutt, Reysa and Tatiana interact like the perfect family while he sat on the outside wishing that family was his. After several hours of that annoying familial bliss, he hid in the guest bedroom Reysa prepared for him. Unfortunately, there was no hiding from the frightening truth that Reysa was his mate. He really needed a distraction. Thankfully, The Lore had opened its doors so he could drink his woes away.

  He wanted to distract himself with the company of a beautiful woman he could use and toss aside without another thought. The typical Thursday night tryst. He was surrounded by numerous desirable options, but none of them were her. They didn’t smell like her, look like her, feel like her. Kaden slammed his fist on the bar startling the other patrons. They all moved away from him as if he was some dangerous lunatic. If only he could escape from himself.

  He was damned. He was addicted to the one thing he couldn’t have and he couldn’t even distract himself with a poor substitute. Could his day get any worse?

  Of course, the answer was yes as Julian plopped himself down in the seat next to him which had formerly been occupied by an odd looking witch until Kaden’s little tantrum scared her away. Now he was stuck with his pissy little brother and his annoying gloating smile. “So my brother, having fun?”

  Well, he could have some fun now at Julian’s expense. Turn a negative to a positive. “I think I’m about to.”

  “I doubt it. You see, I’m not your problem. Your problem is the blonde standing in the corner, dancing ever so closely to Reysa. She seems to mold so perfectly in his arms. Like they were made to hold her.”

  Kaden tossed back another shot. His eighth. Alcohol did not impact immortals as strongly as humans, but it could cause quite the buzz if enough was consumed. “They’re just friends.” Maybe if he kept saying it he would start to believe it.

  Julian laughed. “You can’t possibly be that naive. They’ve been ‘friends’ since they were babies. They grew up together, have lived together for almost all their lives, and now raise a child together. They share a home and bed….” />
  “What do you mean they share a bed?” Kaden roared sending a bolt of heat to Julian that disintegrated the wooden stool Julian sat on. He landed with a thump on the ground. Julian dusted the charred remains off his clothes as Kaden loomed over him ready to strike again.

  The music temporarily stopped as everyone turned to face the person causing the commotion. A giant beast grabbed Kaden by the back of his shirt collar picking him up with ease as he walked him to the door. “Put me down! I’m not leaving!” Kaden wailed, but the beast continued towards the door.

  “Broderick, wait!” The beast stilled and faced Reysa. “He can stay. I’ll make sure he behaves. If not, then you can toss him out next time.”

  Broderick nodded and dropped Kaden on the ground. Kaden muffled a curse as fire sprang from his hand.

  “Don’t even think about attacking him, fireboy. May the gods help me, but I will seriously beat the crap out of you if you touch Broderick.” Reysa’s threat seemed to curb Kaden’s temper as he absorbed the fire weapon he was planning to launch.

  “I don’t know if you noticed, but he’s the one who attacked me. He grabbed me like a rag doll and tried to throw me out of the club.”

  “That’s his job. You were making a scene. We don’t allow violence at The Lore.”

  “That wasn’t violence. That was a debate between brothers. Let that half-bear, half-wolf fiend touch me again and I’ll show you real violence.”

  Reysa burst into laughter. “Broderick would eat you alive before you got a chance to fry him. The arrogance of pureblood vampires. You think you’re better, stronger because you’re a pure vamp? You have no idea was these creatures can do and if you keep making threats, you’ll learn the painful way. I won’t always be there to rescue you.” Reysa strode away leaving a frustrated Kaden in her wake.

  Kaden returned to the bar, but sat far away from Julian who was talking to a brunette with eyes as black as coal and skin as pale as a ghost. Her breasts were pouring out of her barely there dress. Julian, always the gentleman, struggled not to notice, but Kaden caught Julian’s occasional glance at those saline based globes.

  Kaden just shook his head. Even the creatures of the night were obsessed with plastic surgery. At least the Elvira clone would keep Julian out of his hair for a while.

  “Bartender, I want another shot of the Jose Cuervo!” Kaden slurred his demand for his favorite tequila. The bartender continued serving others as if she never heard his wailing. “Listen chick, I said I want another drink.”

  This time the bartender stilled and slowly turned around to face Kaden. Her one midnight blue eye focusing intently on him, “Sugar, I heard you the first time. The last thing you need is another drink. Trust me on this. You need to calm down before you do something you’ll regret. One more crazy move and Broderick will throw your rather sweet, tight ass on the street. It would be a shame to bruise that perfectly sculpted rear of yours.”

  Savannah. Kaden had met her before. She was not someone you could forget. She had an air about her that demanded respect. On any other day, Kaden might have been able to give her the respect she commanded, but not today. On a day like today, she was just another nuisance keeping him from what he wanted.

  “If you won’t help me, I’ll get it myself.” Kaden reached behind the bar to grab the tequila, but Savannah used two arms to stop him while she poured drinks with her other two. “Sugar, let’s not play this game. You can’t arm wrestle me. You don’t have enough of them. Recognize that you can’t win, accept it and move on. I would hate to have to slap you silly in front of all these people, but you seem to need a spanking. I think you would prefer it if my girl Reysa handled that, but I don’t mind giving you a good lashing if you misbehave. Four arms are better than two.”

  Savannah smiled and released Kaden who begrudgingly sat back in his chair. “Sweetheart, why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”

  “Lady, if that’s what you are, I don’t even know you. Why would I tell you anything about me? How could you possibly understand?”Kaden questioned.

  “It’s easier to insult me than talk, I see.”

  Kaden felt like a cad. Savannah was just being nice to him and he was acting like scum by taking his frustrations out on her. “I’m sorry,” he grunted as he spoke those foreign words.

  “That must have been extra hard for you. I could hear you choking on the words as you struggled to utter them.”

  “I did just throw up in my mouth,” Kaden smirked.

  “Thanks for sharing. Let’s just say, your apology is accepted. I know you’re not really pissed off at me. You’re still in a deep self-pity mode. That’s the alcohol talking, sweetie. You have problems, I have problems, and everyone in this club has problems. You’re no more special than anyone here. I get that you don’t know me from a hole in the wall, but sometimes it helps to talk to strangers. You should be glad someone is willing to listen to your pity fest.”

  “I’m not feeling sorry for myself.” Kaden frowned at the whininess in his own voice. He was mired in pathetic self-pity. He really needed a distraction. “Tell me something about you first,” Kaden suggested needing Savannah to open the door to conversation before he could step in and unload his baggage.

  “No problem. I’m not shy as I’m sure you can tell. I don’t mind talkin’. That’s what I do for a living.” Savannah perched herself on top of the bar directly in front of Kaden. “Here’s the short version of my tale. You may not have noticed, but I was born with a couple of extra arms, and one eye short of a pair.”

  “I didn’t notice,” Kaden snarked.

  “That’s better. Your sarcasm is much more amusing than your woe is me shtick. Anyhow, I was born this way. Deformed. Defective from the start. My mother was a demon and my father a lion shifter. Both were pretty powerful with their respective clans. It was supposed to be a good union, yet here I am. I got the bad DNA and ended up a Cyclops with four arms. My parents were disgusted. They didn’t pretend otherwise. At least, I always knew where I stood with them. There was no pretense. I was an abomination. They hid me from others—too ashamed for their friends to see their hideous child that couldn’t shift and had one less eye and two extra arms.

  “They locked me in the stables with the livestock. At least they didn’t cage me. I didn’t get to go outside, play with others, meet people, or be a child. I was an unwanted mistake locked away from society. When I was eight, they took a risk and had another child. A handsome baby boy who was born right, unlike me. That’s when I had overstayed my welcome. They threw me out a few days later. I almost died out there alone, but I was found by a road show owner. He ended up giving me a home as long as he could display me in his traveling circus. I spent ninety-eight years as a circus freak, but I had a home. I survived and I’m grateful.”

  “What happened to your face?” Kaden asked lacking in tact or delicacy. Savannah’s face was badly scarred on one side from severe burns. “Who torched you?”

  Savannah turned away not wanting to face Kaden as she revealed this story. “I guess you can say I torched myself. I had a hard time adjusting to this body when I was a kid. I was always falling and stumbling into things. When I was four, my parents left me in our cabin alone. I knocked over a lantern and fell into the blaze. Half my face was burned as well as my chest, stomach, arms. I screamed for what felt like hours even after I had freed myself. I didn’t know what to do. I dragged myself outside and jumped into the river bank near our home. My parents found me before I drowned. I don’t know why they bothered saving me. They were more upset about their precious cabin burning to the ground. I think they wanted me to suffer. I had cost them their home and they kept me alive so I would feel every ounce of pain for that mistake. They didn’t take me to the doctor or give me any medicine. Of course I didn’t heal right and it left me with worse scars than I should have had.” Savannah turned back to Kaden and the horrified look in his eyes. “Don’t pity me Kaden. As bad as I may have had it, I know others have had it wo
rse. I’m in a good place now, darling. I’m so glad The Lore is my home and I can be accepted among my fellow Misfits. I fit in here. I finally belong. I’m no longer Savannah the circus freak. I’m just Savannah and that seems to be good enough for everyone here. For once in my life, it’s good enough just being me.”

  Kaden felt like an idiot complaining when someone as kind as Savannah could be so positive despite all the pain she must have endured. Even now, people likely commented about her appearance and stared at her, but she never let it hurt her. It’s like she was immune to prejudice.

  “How do you do this? Aren’t you angry? Did you seek revenge against your parents?”

  “Revenge?” a puzzled Savannah questioned. “Sugar, I don’t believe in revenge. I pity my parents for their failure to love me. That’s their loss. I have a family now who appreciates me. It is they who missed out on the opportunity to know me. I have no regrets about my life. I survived. I’m proud of that fact. I wouldn’t change a thing because all the bad led to the good I feel now. It was working in that circus that introduced me to Reysa and Christian. Two lost babies who had no home. They gave me a purpose. I escaped the circus and decided to raise those kids as my own children. And look at what my babies have done. They’ve created a home for others just like us. Those that don’t fit it, don’t belong, but need a home. Now I can never doubt that my life was worth something. I could leave this earth tomorrow and feel damn proud that I raised two remarkable kids even though I didn’t know the first thing about parenting or love.”

  “You’re making me feel like whiny fool.”

  Savannah patted Kaden on the shoulder. “You are, darling, but that’s because you’ve got so much anger in you and you won’t let it go. Heal thyself, my son and a world of possibilities will open up for you.”

  Kaden collapsed his head on the bar. “I’m a mess,” he conceded. If Savannah was willing to talk to him, he needed to take advantage of this opportunity and learn some crucial information that might help him keep his sanity. It may not be appropriate, but that’s never stopped him before. “Can you tell me what’s the deal with Reysa and Christian? Are they just friends? Are they…lovers?” Kaden nearly choked on those words but he needed to know. Who better to ask than their surrogate mother?