by Mandi Casey
Luckily, the visions have so far only come at night, while I was home. Kieran didn’t know how much stock to put into them, but I did. Through the visions, I could not only see what our enemies were up to, I began to experience the emotions they felt during the time of the vision. Cian, Kieran’s brother, hated me. My vision of Cian speaking to strange men—who wore tattoos coursing up their arms, traveling under their clothes, and re-emerging past their collars up to their jawbones—told me he was up to no good.
Kieran didn’t want to believe his brother would ever consider harming him. Kieran is of the ilk that blood is thicker than water. There was a time where I would tease him, during the lighter days of our relationship, that his blood was a tad thicker than most. Kieran wanted a caring and supportive relationship with Cian, but he will never have it.
Cian is Evil.
I can only hope Kieran will discover this for himself before his brother is allowed to cause too much trouble for my love.
Many other visions came to me. Dear Granddaughter, I had a vision of you, and at the time of this writing, you have not yet been born. The vampires and werewolves have spoken in hushed tones of a Selected so unique, so powerful, that she will either unite all of the vampires and werewolves, or she will bring them all to their knees.
My dearest child, my vision has showed me the Selected they spoke of is you.
I know what your mother and I chose may not have been the right choice for you. But believe me, child. Living a life surrounded by Others has been anything but normal. I wanted that for you. Before you were even born, I pleaded with your mother to give you a normal life. For I knew, when I gazed upon your mother in my arms after her birth, that she was the mother who would bear the daughter, the one to become the Selected they all spoke of.
So, my grandmother really believed I was the one? That made it even worse that she and my mother decided to hide me away in a different city and not prepare me for my life. I’ve decided to forgive my mother for her decision, but I’m still unable to let go of all of my anger toward her.
Dearest mine, I have feared for your safety from the day I myself became the Selected. Once I had given my blood to Kieran, exposing the truth that I was not the one they sought, I knew. I may even have known before my visions ever began appearing to me as my second sight that you were the one.
Don’t be frightened, but be wary. Use the abilities you develop to protect yourself. There are a lot of beings, both vampire and werewolf, which will appear elegant and genuine, that they only want what is best for you. But they are not genuine. They only care for their ambitions.
If the Goddess blesses you with gifts I do not list within these pages, and she will, use them wisely. The Others will want to take advantage of them and use them for their own means. Choose well who you divulge to what you are capable of. Not even Kieran is aware of all of my abilities. Only a fool would tell someone everything. You would only become a bigger and more sought after target than you already are.
That was why we were afraid when the Elders found out they had a seer in their midst they would take me and use me as their pawn in trying to take over the city of Kenosha. They would no longer leave me alone. As it stands, I didn’t serve significant to their plans. I wanted to keep it that way. One of my goals has always been to stay as far away from the Elders as possible. Kieran swears they are good and just in their controlling of the vampires. He believes there is legitimate cause as to why they make the rules they make. In my opinion, from what I’ve heard and seen for myself, a lot of what they do is not done for the greater good of the vampire nation. I’ve seen them wage wars that their people have no way of winning. Why would they send their own people out to hunt down werewolves during a full moon?
I don’t agree with their fighting and warring with each other, but to wait until their enemy is at their most dangerous before they attack is akin to committing murder of their own people, or vampires.
I put my arm out and stretched, then covered a yawn with my hand. It’s kind of funny when I thought about it, the things people do when no one is looking, things they normally do when people are, like covering a yawn.
It had been a seriously long day, but I wanted to keep reading. Grandma knew things about both sides that they seemed unwilling to tell me themselves.
Their actions don’t make sense to me. The Elders made moves, politically and socially, that don’t improve their station within the city limits, or out in the surrounding townships where the wolves tend to congregate. It was confusing, why the Elders would have such great interest in a small and insignificant city as Kenosha, until Kieran explained why.
Kenosha is concentrated with Ley Lines, intersections of supernatural power riddling the city. The Elders want to harness that power. They want to control the comings and goings of the demons from the Underworld. In essence, they want to control the world, and everyone in it.
The Elders want to walk in the sunlight.
The Elders want to no longer need blood to survive.
The Elders want to be the only supernatural, and in their minds, superior, beings in existence.
The Elders want it all.
Small segments of scenes from the future began to flash before me. At first, they came in random intervals, completely unexpected and usually when I was in bed at home, with no one else around. For a time, I thought the visions had a mind of their own, that some higher power was deciding what I would see, when I would see it, and who was around me when it happened.
The more frequent they became, the more I began to understand what triggered them, for there was no higher power calling the shots. There were events in my life that would initiate the onset of the visions. They had one thing in common. Every vision had something to do with those who were different. Non-human.
Not all of the visions were useful. Some were of simple, mundane, everyday activities like the werewolves shopping for food to create the glorious meals they prepared. Others were much more helpful.
Visions of rogues started to emerge the closer it became to the full moon. Rogue wolves were starting to work together. I could tell from the visions they were making plans; they shared some common goal. But no matter how hard I tried to direct them, the visions wouldn’t let me have control of where I went or whom I followed. I was given the sight I was meant to see, and that was all.
The visions became longer and longer over time. As they developed, what I saw become clearer. I was able to retain more detail. I also began to feel what the participants in the visions were feeling. That’s when I realized vampires do indeed have real feelings. The only difference between them and the wolves is that the wolves wear their emotions like a coat, not that they need a coat. They are always warm.
I laughed at that. It was endearing to me that my grandmother would mention the fact that werewolves didn’t need to wear winter gear during snowstorms, for they were very warm-blooded. That’s how I figured out how to spot that my sister’s boyfriend, Michael, was a werewolf when I first met him. That was before I learned to let my senses guide me to knowing who belonged to which group of Others.
Kieran wasn’t worried about the rogue wolves, so I went to Morris.
The pack leader was still leery due to my affiliations with the vampires, but he took my words as a warning and started his own investigation.
What he found was quite unexpected.
A wolf among his pack was giving information to the rogues. Morris didn’t know how the member of his pack was able to block the mind communication pathways during his treacherous acts, but he was. The pack leader suspected that the traitor was dealing with beings learned in the ways of magic, and the wolf must have found a willing witch in the area that had something against Morris or the pack. The area was full and ripe of beings not completely human, so there was plenty of opportunity for the wolf to find such a person.
/>
Morris knew the identity of the pack member but not what information he was passing. Either way, Morris had a big problem.
The pack had a lot of enemies.
I closed the journal and leaned my head back against the soft pillow, enjoying the cushion against my head. Taking a deep breath in, I let the smell from the apple pie scented candle on my nightstand consume my senses as I began to drift off.
Once I stopped reading, my nap proved to be a fitful one. My mind raced with thoughts of betrayal among pack members. It was unnerving and kept my mind from relaxing enough to fall asleep. The thought of werewolves betraying each other, pretending to be productive members of their own pack only to set family members up for torture or death was horrible, and my uneasiness made sleeping elusive.
The wolves had collective thoughts, like a multi-line phone conversation going at all times. The betrayal of Morris and his people would be difficult to hide from the rest of the pack. What would make one wolf want to hurt other members of their own pack, their family? The rogue wolf had grown up with the other wolves; he knew their people intimately, their goals, dreams, and struggles. He also knew that Morris had nothing but the best in mind for the pack. Why would anyone want to harm that sort of loving, encouraging, and supportive social structure?
None of it made sense. What key information was I missing from the bigger picture? Was there anyone I knew who would be willing to share it with me? I was certain both Kieran and Morris were withholding information about their people, but I didn’t know why. Liam shared what he could, I assumed. My guess was that Kieran had told him what he could and couldn’t tell me, and I could practically see it in his blood-red eyes he wasn’t giving me full admission when we talked.
Then there was Blake. If anyone knew what was really going on with the werewolf pack and what Morris wanted to keep from me, it would be him. Blake was the heir to the Mid Western Werewolf Pack, and he would die before allowing any harm to come to any member of his pack.
He said he and I were destined to be mated for life, and I was the only one who couldn’t see it. Was he right? I wasn’t sure if I asked Blake for straightforward answers to my questions that he would be honest. Because of his position and obligation with the pack, I wasn’t sure he could ever be completely honest with me, even if he wanted to be, and what if we were true mates? What then?
I couldn’t be with someone that would intentionally keep secrets from me. As the Selected, I needed to know what he knew. I needed to know everything about everyone. There were so many questions swimming in my brain, it was difficult to focus on any given one at a time.
There were a few things I knew for absolute certain. I was powerfully attracted to Blake, both emotionally and physically. I cared for him and his people, and I would never do anything to put their safety in jeopardy. That included dating Blake, the heir to their pack. The vampires were a little more mysterious and distant with me than the werewolves were.
Kieran had openly welcomed me into his coven. Announcing that he was my protector, and as such, he expected his coven to do the same. He would not tolerate if any harm came to me from his coven. None of them would dare think of harassing me, let alone using me as their late-night snack. But of Kieran’s coven, I could sense more animosity coming from them. The vampires cared less about hiding their disdain for me. They just didn’t do it openly for their leader to see. There was no doubt they feared Kieran’s wrath, but they did seem a bit more rebellious, almost childlike, in comparison to the wolves.
The truth was, they were both hiding information. I needed that information, whatever it was. As the Selected, I had a purpose, and I was starting to come to the conclusion I was heading in the right direction to achieving that purpose. Unfortunately, I had a deep-seeded gut feeling that the Elders were going to stand in my way.
I stood in the bathroom in front of the mirror, studying my reflection. I wondered how long it would be before my Selected abilities started to grow stronger. When would I start to experience new abilities? Grandma wrote in her journal that sometimes it took stressful situations, like when she was in danger, for some of her abilities to activate. I didn’t know what it was going to take for mine to develop. Seriously, being kidnapped by a pissed off wolf/demon hybrid with a serious grudge and tortured by a rogue vampire wasn’t enough? If that wasn’t considered a stressful, power-triggering event, then I didn’t have any idea what would.
I’d rather mine just show up when they weren’t needed, like at that moment.
I jumped at the sound of a knock at the bathroom door.
“Sydney! Are you almost ready? We’re dying to go, and we have dancing to do.” Brianna laughed from the hallway on the other side of the door.
Max’s was Brianna’s, and now my, favorite nightclub in Kenosha.
“Yeah, just give me a minute.”
Her footsteps sounded as she practically skipped down the staircase. It was clear from the bounce in her step that my sister was in a very good mood.
My hair wasn’t straightening as smoothly as it should. I reached for the bottle of Smooth-Eez hair serum when a softer knock sounded from the bathroom door.
“Sydney, it’s Blake.”
Blake? He wasn’t supposed to be here. I opened the door and eyed him up suspiciously. My sister must have told him we were going out. I’d have to talk to her and tell her to stop trying to play matchmaker. Blake didn’t need any encouragement from my family members. He’d take Brianna’s hopes that we could be together the wrong way, and he would continue his relentless pursuit. He was already hard enough to resist without knowing my sister was trying to help his cause.
Narrowing my eyes at Blake to let him know he shouldn’t be anywhere near my private bathroom, I said, “What brings you here?”
He pushed past me and closed the bathroom door behind him.
“We need to talk.”
Blake strode further into the bathroom and leaned against the sink counter. When I stayed close to the door, he leaned over and grabbed my arm to pull me close to him. Damn his warmth. It was so difficult for my body not to melt into him. We were so close our midsections touched. The heat from his body instantly warmed me.
Blake grabbed the belt loops on my jeans and pulled me closer so that as I stood in front of him, my legs were surrounded by his. When he yanked me all the way to him, pressing my body against his, my feminine core moistened. Even though my brain told me it would be a bad idea getting involved with him, my body betrayed my better judgment and was cheerfully applauding for team Blake.
He leaned over and put his warm lips on the skin of my neck and inhaled as he placed a gentle kiss on my skin. Exciting tingles ran up and down my arm as he slid his hands upward. “Sydney, your scent drives me wild.”
I knew he could smell how he turned me on, and his long, hard erection pressing against my center told me he wanted me, too.
When I tried to step away from him, avoiding any further contact, Blake raised his hands and grabbed my head in his hands.
Before I could argue, Blake’s mouth covered mine. He forced my mouth open with his. When his tongue met mine, he claimed possession of me, body and soul.
His soft lips explored and caressed mine as he traced his tongue languidly along mine. Mini shocks of excitement and desire shot through my entire body.
I wanted him.
My groan of pleasure spurred him on. His left hand lowered to my behind and he pulled me tightly against his midsection. The friction of our bodies when he bucked against me with need was exquisite, almost to the point of pain for knowing no release. Releasing my mouth, he gently licked the scar on my neck where the werewolf had bitten me, triggering my Selected gene.
A shiver of pleasure ran through me.
His warm breath enhanced the sensitivity of the moist spot on my skin where he made contact wit
h his tongue.
I wanted him.
Right there in the bathroom.
At that very moment, I was ready to give up my rational thought processes, to experience all that his kiss and body promised. My body’s desire for him was taking over, leaving my brain in a thick cloud of senselessness.
Leaning my head back, I gasped for air.
Blake let me pull away enough to separate our bodies from touching, but not far enough for me to completely be able to clear my head.
I put my hands on his chest as he kept his on my hips.
“Blake, we can’t do this.” I couldn’t believe reason won out. My body was sorely disappointed, and for that, the ache between my thighs grew more intense, as did the heaviness in my lower abdomen.
The strong pull between us was impossible to ignore. He used it well against my resolve. Every chance he got.
A smile formed on his lips.
When he spoke, desire made his voice more heady and deep.
“Sydney, you know I don’t agree with that. The reasons you think we can’t be together can be dealt with. You are my life-mate. You shouldn’t worry about how it will affect the pack relationship with the vampires. We’re big boys. We can take care of ourselves.”
Before I could respond, Brianna knocked on the door again and said with a whine in her voice, “Sydney, it’s already getting late. Are you guys coming with us or not?”
My sister did not like to miss out on having a good time.
Blake and I gazed at each other and laughed.
I gave Blake a questioning look, wondering if he had come over intending on going with us to the club.
“I’ll come with you and your sister, if that’s okay.” He put his hands up and finished with, “I promise to behave myself for as long as you want me to.”