Kane sighed. “Ondrea, I understand the risks of that but the risks of her returning with us are worse.”
Deryn pushed on Alejandro’s chest. “Would you please move? I’d like to book a flight and get home.”
He locked gazes with her. “I didn’t betray you, Deryn. How is wanting my wife safe a betrayal?”
Rolling her eyes, she pushed on him again, trying to get him off her. “Move. Now.”
In an instant, Alejandro had his mouth covering hers. It was so full of passion that it seemed to engulf Deryn, igniting a fire deep within her belly. She went into his arms, needing to be closer to him as their tongues intertwined.
The door to the lab opened. “Deryn, I wanted to apologize again. I know how.... Unhand my niece!”
She and Alejandro stopped kissing and glanced at William. He looked livid.
“Uncle Will.” Deryn offered up a small smile as she touched her swollen lips. “It’s okay.”
“No. It’s not. I have not spent my life constantly worried you’d end up with Soto to turn around and be fine with you taking up with another shifter.” He glared at Soto. “The only reason I permitted you to remain in her life is because Nava said you’re like Deryn, you have Avatarian blood in your veins and were created to be her protector--to guard all of the original slayers. That is it! I can’t stand that she’s best friends with shifters. The thought of her dating one is even worse.”
Shocked, Deryn stepped forward. “I can’t believe you’d say that. You’re a shifter.”
He narrowed his gaze. “A fact that cost your aunt her life. She thought that others wouldn’t see her as a threat because she was married to me. It didn’t change anything. They still came. They still attacked her but they waited until I was out of the country to do it.”
“Aunt Senna died in a car accident with my mother. She didn’t....”
William slammed the door shut behind him as his chest heaved. “No. That’s what Nava and I decided would be best to tell you, Deryn. She didn’t want to say that your own father was the one who tipped off a local group of shifters and vamps about what his wife and her sister truly were--original slayers.”
Deryn let out a soft laugh. “That’s absurd. My father passed away before I was born.”
“No,” William said, his voice clipped. Rage was evident on his face. “Your father didn’t die, Deryn. He’s very much alive. Your mother realized that she was in over her head with him--that he had insane ideas about promising you to a fellow god, that the union would somehow strengthen his power and his hold on the other Avatars.”
“Another god? Still alive? Uncle Will, are you feeling okay?” Deryn asked, lost as to what he was talking about. “You’re making it sound like my father was an Avatar. That’s insane. Grandma said that he had the blood of the beast master line of gods in him but that....”
William snorted. “Well he better, he is the beast master god, Deryn. He’s powerful and deadly. Why do you think Nava hid what you are from you? She didn’t decide to settle down and make a quiet life here on Earth. She came when she learned that her daughters had been slaughtered and that her granddaughter had been taken by her own father.”
“Deryn, I hate to say it but it makes sense. Your grandmother has always been adamant that you hide who you are. She’s done everything to keep your name off the NHD list,” Kane said, voicing what she didn’t want to be true.
“No. Grandma said that my parents were madly in love and that....”
William tossed his hands in the air. “Deryn, do you think she would want you to know that your aunt and your mother fled when your mother found out she was expecting? They weren’t the only women from my understanding. There were others that left, too. Many were goddess or demi-goddesses.”
Ondrea stepped forward and drew her brows together. “What made them want to leave?”
“Many had been blending in, living as normal supernaturals or even posing as human for hundreds of years. The realms of the gods had become littered with politics and power struggles. They didn’t want to be a part of it. Many also had started families--some with shifters, vampires, whatever ... that doesn’t matter, what does matter was the response the head council of the Avatars gave to the realm’s population, many of their own, both men and women, who had dared to taint the lines with other blood.”
Deryn stood there, too shocked to do anything but listen as her uncle continued to speak. “They ordered the execution of any offspring that resulted from the unions that were outside the Avatarian race. They also wanted the mates destroyed to teach any future ones a lesson. Your mother was instrumental in ushering many to safety and then hiding who they truly were. She didn’t have to do that. You’re a pure blood, Deryn. You weren’t going to be executed. But many of her friends’ husbands and children were.”
Ondrea gasped. “Her brother-in-law was on the chopping block, too.”
William nodded. “Yes. They wanted me dead as well and Phadra wouldn’t allow that to happen. She loved Senna too much to see her lose ... well, me.”
“Phadra?” Alejandro asked, as he pulled Deryn back and cradled her to his chest protectively. “Your mother’s name was Phadra?”
William rubbed his temples. “Dammit, Cecelia and Nava are going to kill me for telling all of you this.” He glanced at Kane and Ondrea. “I doubt your parents will be pleased either.”
“Our parents?” Ondrea asked.
Kane touched her shoulder. “Ondrea, I’m like Deryn, I come directly from Avatars as well. It would stand to reason that they’d want me dead, too. After all, my father doesn’t come from the blood line. He’s a normal supernatural. A dragon shifter. My guess is that one of your parents is tied to it all too. It would explain why Nava is so overprotective of the three of us and why she made sure we’d grow up close.”
“Kane’s right,” William said, leaving Ondrea to stand there with wide eyes and a blank look on her face. “Nava clumped the sons and daughters of the mixed Avatarian lines together in clusters so that they would have added protection and not draw suspicion due to the fact that they would naturally possess more power than other ‘normal’ supernaturals.”
Deryn drew in a deep breath as she leaned into the comfort of Alejandro’s embrace. “That makes sense. Others around them would assume it was just natural evolution not a separate race.”
“Hold up, if the Avatars hate us so much, why in the hell are we hanging out in a realm that seems chocked full of their culture?”
Alejandro spoke next, “My guess is that the children born from these unions are now adults who are more powerful than they first thought. It would make sense to scout locations suitable for them to relocate to if need be. What better place than a place thought to be abandoned by them?”
Turning to face Alejandro, Deryn kissed his cheek and her uncle made an odd noise. “What? Tell me what’s so wrong about me being in love with a shape shifter?”
“In love with him?” William looked faint. “The two of you have been back together for three days and already you know you love him?”
“Back together?” Ondrea asked, stealing the question from Deryn’s lips. For some reason the idea of her being with Alejandro seemed to terrify her uncle.
William pinched the bridge of his nose. It was clear he didn’t want to be discussing this. “This isn’t the first time the two of you have been around one another.”
“I know.” Deryn shrugged. “We figured out that we had a chance meeting the night of my attack.”
Shaking his head, William snorted. “Chance? I doubt it. Alejandro has always had an affinity for visiting you. I imagine he sensed that something was going to happen but since Nava and Cecelia tried so hard to sever your connection, he probably couldn’t figure out why it was he was there.”
“Connection?”
William let out a soft laugh. “Your families go way back. Nava and Amador, Alejandro’s grandfather, used to be like you and Kane are. They were the best of friends. Cecelia, Pha
dra and Senna were best friends. Virtually inseparable until Cecelia met Alejandro’s father and fell in love. Still, the girls stayed close.”
Alejandro tightened his grip on her. “What are you talking about?”
“Okay, there was or rather is an entire council of head Avatars. They only need a majority vote to make decisions and from what Nava’s told me, some council members are more prone to bucking the system than others. Alejandro’s grandfather, Amador, is one of them.” William leaned against the wall. “He and your father, Deryn, tend to butt heads. Their powers tend to overlap as did their taste in women. His grandfather had a crush on your grandmother for the longest time.”
Deryn’s eyes widened. “We aren’t related somehow are we?”
“Oh gods, I hope not, that would be sick.” Ondrea made a gagging noise.
William looked shocked. “By the gods, no! It was never sexual between them. Ever. Keep in mind that Avatars don’t age so the guy still doesn’t look any older than mid-thirties and he’s well into his thousands by now. In fact, he and Alejandro could pass for the same person if someone didn’t know enough to notice that Alejandro is free of Avatarian tattoos while Amador is covered in them as are most Avatarians.
“That’s not really the point. The point is that during the height of the turmoil among the gods themselves, Amador’s tomb guards decided to attack. Nava issued an order to her slayers to protect him and his family at all costs. Amador had already lost his wife during childbirth and had only one daughter.”
“Cecelia,” Deryn whispered.
“Yes. The tomb guards staged an uprising, doing their best to seize power. Your mother, being one of Nava’s finest slayers answered the call. She was assigned to guard Cecelia and her young family.” He sighed and shook his head. “Not that Nava even had to tell her girls to protect Cecelia, the boys and her husband. No. Senna and Phadra loved her like she was their sister, too.”
Deryn chanced a glance at Ondrea and found her standing there with her mouth wide open, clearly as shocked as Deryn was. “Can you get to the point, Will?”
“The point is, Cecelia had mated with a normal shifter, not an Avatarian one. While Amador wasn’t too pleased, he in no way wanted his grandchildren or their father slaughtered so during the course of the tomb guard uprising, he asked your mother to hide Cecelia and her family on Earth. She agreed.”
William shook his head. “It was several months after that when strange things started happening.” He laughed. “I can still remember Phadra’s face when this little boy, no more than five at the time just appeared out of thin air. She recognized Alejandro immediately and called Cecelia to let her know he was okay. When his mother demanded to know what he was thinking using his magik to move through space and time, he pointed at Phadra’s very swollen belly and said he wanted to visit the baby.”
Alejandro stiffened. “Wait, you’re telling me that I somehow teleported myself to see Deryn when she was still in her mother?”
“Yep.” William nodded. “You’d taken a shine to Phadra during the course of her assisting your mother with hiding you all and you’d always loved Nava. Of course, none of us knew that Phadra was pregnant at the time. She wasn’t showing yet. Well, all of us, but you. You kept asking her about the baby. When was it due? When would you get to play with her? When could you keep her? She thought you were a cute, albeit a delusional little boy. When you began making regular house calls to visit Deryn after she’d been born, they realized they might have a problem. Especially since Phadra had been forced to cut ties and hide from Deryn’s father--Teryn. Every time you used your Avatarian magik to visit, you left a trail. You couldn’t help it, you were just a little boy.”
Ondrea burst out into laughter. Everyone stared at her. She put her hands up and kept laughing. “What? I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s hilarious that Alejandro has been in love with Deryn since before she was even born? Come on, this is too perfect.”
William pointed at her. “You hit the nail on the head, Ondrea. Alejandro was in love with Deryn. Well, at the time they assumed it was a one sided accidental connection. That Alejandro might have accidentally mystically attached himself to you while your mother was saving his life.”
Ondrea eyed Deryn carefully. “Hmm, looks like the attraction is mutual to me.”
“Nava told them not to worry about it, that Alejandro and Deryn were most likely mates. She said it made sense that the Fates would put them together. Regardless, it wasn’t safe for Alejandro to be transporting himself half way across the world at that age so Nava agreed to allow his mother and your mother to temporarily bind Alejandro’s ability to sense and locate you, Deryn.”
Alejandro let out a low growl. William shook his head. “No one wanted to keep you apart out of spite. It was too risky for that much power to be in one room together. We all had enough problems binding Deryn’s powers because she kept making things in nursery school fly across the room. You name it, she did it. You weren’t exactly easy on the power usage around her either.” William pointed at Alejandro. “You even branded Deryn by accident.”
Everyone gasped and looked at Alejandro for an answer. His eyes widened. “What? I don’t remember any of this.”
William laughed. “Deryn was just a baby and she was fussing something fierce. You appeared in her room and began to sing to her. When she’d quieted down, you planted a tiny kiss on the back on her neck while she slept peacefully on her stomach.”
Alejandro reached out for Deryn but pulled his hand back fast. “Oh gods, the jaguar on the base of her neck. I put that there, didn’t I?”
Nodding, William rolled his shoulders. “Yes, you did. I remember that Cecelia was furious that you’d do something like that. She summoned your grandfather to remove it. He did and Deryn immediately woke and began to cry. She spent weeks carrying on like that. It wasn’t until Senna made a joke about how she missed her kitty boyfriend that everyone stopped and thought about it. They called Amador back. He replaced what Alejandro had given her and she instantly fell silent.”
Absentmindedly, Deryn began rubbing the tattoo in question. Her gaze flickered to Alejandro’s and for a minute, she thought he might take her to the ground and bury himself in her then and there.
William touched Alejandro’s upper arm, drawing his attention from Deryn. “By the time you were six, Alejandro, they had managed to keep you from being able to pop in at anytime. Nava had been dead set on one stipulation before she and Amador agreed to the binding of the power that permitted you to do that.”
“What was that?” Ondrea asked, caught up in it all.
“She refused to agree to bind Deryn from sensing and locating Alejandro. She was also careful to only give them the spell to temporarily keep Alejandro under control--not permanently.”
Deryn covered her mouth in an attempt to block her sob. It didn’t work. “That’s why I dreamt about him.”
William nodded. “You didn’t just dream about him, Deryn. You somehow managed to tap into Cecelia as well. She called you and then she called Nava. Nava called me and informed me that come hell or high water I was to get you to Alejandro. She was also adamant that all involved in this project be protected from discovery by your father or the countless others like him.”
She soaked it all in. “You’re the one who has been removing their names from the NHD.”
“Yes. Senator Wilcox and I have been doing it slowly so as not to draw attention to it but it was necessary to keep their identities a secret. He’s got just as much at stake if they find Rebecca.”
“Why now? Why do it after all these years?” Deryn asked, vaguely aware of Alejandro rubbing her lower abdomen. He caressed it, drawing lazy circles over it before planting a kiss on her shoulder. “Why would my father suddenly resurface and come after them again.”
“No, Deryn, not just your father. There are many who supported the cause. And to answer your question, he has never stopped looking for you.” William sighed. “As far as the dreams of
Alejandro dying, Nava and Cecelia discussed binding your ability to sense him. They knew it would stop the dreams and keep you out of all of it.”
“All of it?”
“The temple was one built to honor Alejandro’s grandfather. One of the major tomb guard uprisings took place there. In order to maintain order and keep mankind safe, there has to be Avatars powerful enough to fight their peers. Word of this will eventually get back to your father. He has always been suspicious of Amador due to his close relationship with Nava so he has many spies planted within his temple. It’s part of the reason Nava and Amador have gone so long without seeing one another. He fears he’ll lead the enemy to your doorstep, Deryn. He’s also gone without seeing his daughter or his grandsons for the same reason. That has to be a lonely existence.”
She instantly thought about seeing Alejandro in the dreams and sensing how alone he was. It broke her heart to think of it. “Can we find him? He shouldn’t be forced to live an eternity alone.”
“That would not be wise. The very fact that Alejandro is almost an identical replica of Amador is reason enough to keep them apart. Should someone see Alejandro and Amador in the same room, they’ll figure out who Alejandro is and that’s not good.” Deryn watched as her uncle unbuttoned his collar. “I still don’t know how you managed to tap into him, Deryn. Nava’s gut reaction was to consider binding your ability to sense Alejandro. Her love for Cecelia and her respect for his grandfather kept her from doing that. She knew if she didn’t make sure you got to him that he would indeed die. The idea of allowing harm to come to your true mate for the sake of keeping you out of harm’s way was something Nava couldn’t do. She lost your grandfather to the wars shortly after Senna was born. She knows firsthand what it’s like to lose your husband. She also knew that it was time to let what was meant to be--be.”
“General,” Alejandro said, letting go of Deryn and causing a chill to run up her spine. “The tomb guards and whatever the hell else the Avatars once fought are still there. They’ve made several attempts on Deryn’s life.”
Shifter Fated Mates: Boxed Set Page 78