Genesis: (Book One of the True Luna Series)

by Texie D. Freeman

  A chill went down her spine at the thought of reliving the nightmare. Donovan came up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. June shrugged his hand off and touch and moved out of his reach. “How can I do it?”

  “The seers have felt a new presence in the spirit realm that’s steadily growing in power. I haven’t been able to find them myself but injuries that result from a dream are like tree roots. Everything can be traced back to a single source. May I?” Lycos asked, holding out a hand.

  Hesitantly, June placed her burned hand in the guide’s, palm up. She was still as he lifted his other over it, his fingers lightly pressing against the singed skin. Wincing, she stayed put. One key lesson of being hunter was learning how to think through agony. During her training, June had placed top of her class for having a high pain tolerance.

  Lycos’ eyes shut and his lips moved, forming silent words. She watched him for several minutes and was about to sum his ministrations up to hogwash when there was an invisible shift in the room. The hair on the back of her neck rose and her skin tingled. When she blinked, miniscule glowing orbs of purple and silver danced above the guide’s head. She almost thought they were tea lights but there were no wires connected to the spheres.

  Looking down, June sought the alpha’s gaze. “Do you see them, too?”

  “I only see you and Lycos,” the alpha replied. His brows furrowed, “Am I missing something?”

  “Everything,” June exhaled, her attention back on the orbs. She dropped Lycos’ hand and reached up to touch a small purple one, surprised when it landed on her open palm. It felt like dry ice on her skin, cold yet burning, and without meaning to, she shook it off. All at once, every orb faded. She stared at the spot they had just occupied, starstruck as she asked, “What just happened?”

  “What did you see?” the guide questioned, curiosity shining in his eyes. He was eager for her response.

  “Lights, I think,” June stammered. Feeling like a crazy person, she searched for the rest of the room, but the spheres were gone.

  “I guess to the human eye they would look like that,” Lycos mused. “They’re not lights. They’re remnants of the spirit world that show only when in the presence of old magic.”

  “Meaning” the alpha pressed, sounding frazzled.

  Lycos’ eyes flickered to June’s injured hand. “That this situation is more dire than I thought. It wasn’t any dream walker your mate attracted, Alpha. Whoever this was is very old and very angry.”

  Donovan didn’t respond and June turned to look at him. The alpha’s jaw clenched, and his eyes had turned into a blue fire as he started to shift. June watched him with curiosity instead of fear. Catching her stare, he took a deep breath. Little by little, his body relaxed, and he slowly melted back into his old self. A long five seconds later his eyes were no longer an inferno but a smooth calm sea. To Lycos, he said, “We’re going to need your help.”

  “The Order can provide temporary aid,” the guide responded, “we can only protect June long enough for me to train her. In time, she’ll be able to block out the spirit realm without thinking about it.”

  “June? What do you think?” Donovan asked.

  The men turned to her, waiting for her answer. Truthfully, she was surprised they were giving her a choice but that wasn’t the current pressing issue. June couldn’t get past the dream. It felt too real to be just a nightmare. Her throbbing hand was an indication that something had happened last night.

  However, interacting with Lycos meant falling deeper down the rabbit hole. The voice in the back of June’s head pointed out that partaking in this madness would mean playing a part in this weird, alternate reality.

  On that note, if she went along with their game then the alpha would begin to trust her.

  “Why not?” June feigned with a shrug. For good measure, she added, “If this is what Nyx wants from me than I guess I have no choice.”

  Ten minutes later, they had a plan. At noon tomorrow, Lycos and another member of The Order would come to Donovan’s house for training. The guide originally wanted to do it at the cathedral, but the alpha quickly shut that down, saying he would rather have June some place familiar. She wouldn’t ever admit it, but she was secretly thankful. The church may have been sacred to the seers, but it gave her haunted house vibes.

  Veros was waiting for them, torch in hand, outside Lycos’ chamber. The seer was silent as he guided them through the musty halls and outside. Once the double doors were shut, June tilted her head back and sucked in a breath of fresh air. Despite all the weirdness that had occurred, she felt oddly calm as they walked back to the truck.

  “It won’t happen again, June,” Donovan stated, breaking the silence as they settled into the cab. “I promise.”

  June frowned at his terse tone. When the alpha started the truck and pulled away from the temple, she hesitantly inquired, “Are you thinking about your sister? The one who tangled with a dream walker?”

  “She didn’t tangle with anyone,” he quickly snapped. His hands tightened around the steering wheel. After a moment, his fingers relaxed and he sighed, “Sorry. Yes, I am.”

  June nodded slowly, letting the tension slightly ease before asking, “What happened to her?”

  “Marigold left the pack to go to college,” Donovan said. “While there she met a guy, Clark Anderson. Other than their abilities, dream walkers can easily pass as human. There was no way for Marigold to know that he was plotting against her.”

  She swallowed, feeling for his loss. “Is she…?”

  Donovan was silent for a moment and then, “No, but she may as well be. She’s been in a coma for the past year at the pack clinic. Marigold is in perfect health, but the doctors can’t explain why she won’t wake up. I’ve tried everything from calling in specialists to using The Order and mind linking her.”

  “What about the dream walker? Couldn’t he do something?” June asked. She may be new to most things magic but that seemed like a reasonable solution. Clark was the one who broke Marigold, maybe he was the only one who could fix her, too.

  “By the time I realized it was him, he vanished,” Donovan gruffly stated, “I went back to the school and his dorm room had been cleaned out. He had no family history either. He was given up for adoption at birth and raised in a string of foster homes. I’ve called in favors from almost every pack around the world, but not a single person has seen him. It’s like he’s a ghost.”

  June could relate. The hybrid that had bitten her mother had escaped and Dale was left to deal with the debris. Sometimes, she dreamed of hunting down the beast and putting a bullet in it. She would bet that Donovan felt the same about Clark. Out loud, she promised, “You’ll find him because one day, Clark will slip up and no one can hide forever.”

  “So I pray to the goddess,” Donovan exhaled.

  Looking over, she caught sight of the heaviness lingering in the alpha’s eyes. Despite her promise earlier to fight the pull towards him, June couldn’t stand the idea of him locked in his mind, hopelessly spiraling. She surprised herself by asking, “Can I meet her one day? Your sister?”

  Truthfully, she wasn’t sure why she wanted to since Marigold was just another hybrid. However, the hair on the back of her neck had risen again, like it had in the cathedral when she had first saw Lycos. Despite her apprehension, she wanted to follow the feeling.

  For the first time that day, the line between Donovan’s brows smoothed as if she had eased some of his stress. He took his eyes off the road to look at her with a shining smile. Warmth carried in his words as he nodded. “Nothing would make me happier, June.”

  /CHAPTER SIXTEEN/

  Not long after leaving the temple, June soon learned that there was more to Ashby than stretches of winding backroads. She was surprised when the truck converged onto a busy street after a few miles of nothing but trees on either side. Outside, smiling pedestrians walked along small store fronts and mom and pop shops. It would’ve been the perfect postcard.

&nb
sp; Instead of participating in their cheery dispositions, June scooted low in her seat. Bitterly, she dutifully reminded the alpha, “You said no one would see us.”

  “I can’t exactly clear a busy street,” he scoffed and gave her an amused look as they rolled to stop at a red light. “What are you doing?”

  “Hiding, obviously,” she scoffed and waved a hand at the window. “Do you see how many of them there are outside?”

  “Sit up, please,” Donovan exhaled. The light changed and the truck moved forward again. “No one is going to say anything, I promise. The pack doesn’t even know I found my mate yet, much less that you’re human and a former hunter.”

  June thought it over before complying. Maybe if the pack saw her a riot would break out and she could sneak away in the chaos. The voice in the back of her head said that that was unlikely. She ignored it and asked, “Where are we going now?”

  “It’s a surprise,” he answered surly.

  “I don’t like surprises.”

  The alpha shrugged and reached over to turn on the radio. June rolled her eyes at his choice of classical music and turned the dial. Donovan made no complaint as she settled on an alt rock station. In fact, his finger tapped against the wheel and he started to hum.

  Normally someone interrupting the music would’ve bothered June but with him, it didn’t. Donovan’s low singing complemented the heavy bass and erratic drumbeats. Satisfied for the time being, she settled back in her seat, watching the hybrids go along with their Sunday.

  The foot traffic died down the further they drove away from main street. When the buildings began to space out, she started to wonder where they were going. Her silent question was answered when Donovan moved into the turning lane. Across the street was a small blue building. The sign out front was written in wiry red cursive, claiming the place as Lucille’s.

  June was about to protest eating in public but stopped when she noticed that the dirt lot was empty. The only other vehicle was a small red car that was parked by the dumpster off the side of the building.

  “I asked Lucille to give us an hour of privacy,” Donovan aired, letting the truck come to an easy stop in front of the diner’s red front door.

  “Why?”

  Her mind had snapped back to all the nights that she used beg Jace to take her out for dinner. He always had an excuse as to why they couldn’t. First it was because he was tired, or there was a game on. Eventually, after a weeklong argument, he admitted that he didn’t want a councilmember to see them out together.

  June was just now starting to realize that her ex had always been secretly afraid of their disapproval. It was easier to date when they stayed hidden in his apartment or beyond the complex’s wall.

  She anxiously waited for the alpha’s response. The rational part of June’s brain told that she was leaving so it didn’t matter. And yet, old wounds waited to be torn open. Never again would June be anyone’s secret.

  Donovan shut the truck off and pinned her with warm eyes. “I want you to be comfortable.”

  The simple explanation rattled in June as she climbed out of the cab. She met Donovan around the front of the truck and together they went up door. A bell dinged as he opened the door for her, announcing their arrival.

  “Go on and sit anywhere, y’all,” a light voice called from the back amid the sound of clanging pots and pans.

  Donovan gestured for June to decide. She led him to the back of the small restaurant which consisted of only three sections. In the back corner, she lowered herself into a booth that was made of actual wood, not the cheap plastic most restaurants had these days. The cracked blue vinyl and the deep etches in the table indicated that Lucille’s had earned its age.

  Across from her the alpha traced one of the deeper indents with his fingernail, saying, “My mom used to take me and my sister here every Sunday morning for breakfast. It was always the best day of the week.”

  “Are the pancakes that good?” June teased, surprised when her heart involuntarily clenched as she imagined the alpha as a young boy. She could see him with chipmunk cheeks and a rosy complexion. He would have given everyone a run for their money with his ocean eyes.

  Donovan looked up from the table with a wry smile, “They’re definitely something but that’s not the reason. When I turned twelve my father started training me to take over the pack. He treated it like a full-time job, even on the weekends. A month into our regimen, my mom put her foot down and demanded that I needed reprieve. After a month of discussing it, my parents came to the agreement that I would train for a few hours a day after school and that Saturday afternoons and Sundays were for rest.”

  “Why Lucille’s?”

  “This was where my mom worked before she and my father got together. When she became luna she had to quit to take over her new duties,” he explained. “Coming back here every weekend was her way of conforming but staying herself in the process.”

  June scowled. “That doesn’t sound fair.”

  Donovan met her gaze. “We do what we have to for the pack.”

  Before she could comment her concerns, the door behind the long front counter opened. A tree of a woman, tall and lean, with long limbs and grey hair pulled into a bird’s nest bun sauntered towards the booth. She arched her neck slightly at Donovan and then turned her flickering gold eyes on June. “You must be the one causing all this ruckus. I wouldn’t normally shut my diner down on my busiest morning, but rumor has it you’re something special.”

  “What rumors?” Donovan addressed skeptically.

  The woman cocked her head. “People are saying that you found your mate, Alpha. Is this her? I never expected you to be matched up with a human—”

  He let out a low warning growl, “Lucille.”

  The famous Lucille held up her hands in surrender. She smiled sheepishly but the glint in her eyes said she wasn’t regretful. “My apologies. You can’t blame a girl for being antsy about her pack’s future, right?”

  “Who told?” June pressed, thinking of Creed and the guard who had carried her to the pack house. She seriously doubted that Thalia cared enough to rat. The beta didn’t seem like the gossiping type.

  “I’m not a snitch,” Lucille retorted sharply, “if anyone thinks I told, I could go out of business and I’m not about to work for Jenny Garret and cook her fake French cuisine.”

  “Valid point,” she muttered. She could sense a likeness forming between her and Lucille. The older woman had a way of holding her ground that June respected.

  “It doesn’t matter anyway,” he chimed in. “June is staying, that’s all anyone needs to know. Now, can we order, please? It’s been a rough morning.”

  Lucille waggled her eyebrows. “I’m sure it was.”

  June’s face blazed as did the Donovan’s. The next minute consisted of them stumbling through their breakfast order and Lucille waltzing away while laughing.

  After a minute, June gained enough of her composure back to say, “Your dad sounds a lot like mine. All Dale ever wanted was for me to fit inside the box he built for me.”

  “As a, uh,” Donovan began and looked over at the counter to make sure Lucille was gone and then leaned forward to whisper, “hunter?”

  “Actually, he didn’t want me to follow in his footsteps,” June admitted. Her fingers threaded themselves in her lap. A nervous habit as she continued, “I took that career path because he hated it and to prove myself to my brother. Bran acts like he’s better than me. I wanted to show him that he was wrong.”

  “By killing people?”

  His phrasing made her stomach turn. June pushed aside her guilt, quietly admitting, “They never tell you what it’s like, you know? We’re raised to believe that every mission is the last fight between humankind and yours.”

  “We coexisted for centuries before the hunters organized,” Donovan said, “it can happen again.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. I think humans are done being scared and want to level the playing field.�
�

  “Even it unfairly,” the alpha commented, “with silver, guns, and science.”

  “Says the man who has super strength and grows claws when he’s angry,” she countered and tapped the table.

  “I can’t speak for my entire kind, but any shifter in Ashby who harms a human that’s innocent is promptly exiled. We only turn those who are on the brink of death, like Thalia, for example. I was patrolling one night, and I found her in the woods, beaten and stripped bare. I saved her without second thought.”

  “How chivalrous.”

  Donovan stared. “Some seem to think so. More than half of the population in Ashby are turned shifters, most were abandoned by their makers, alphas with vindictive inclinations.”

  “So, you give the strays a home?” June questioned, biting back a laugh at her bad joke. She imagined a bunch of hybrids in a pound, waiting for Donovan to adopt them.

  “I take in those that society has rejected,” he countered. “It scares me to think about how many of them would have been killed by the hunters if they hadn’t found Ashby.

  June let the argument drop. She sat back, not realizing until then that they had both been leaning across the table. With her new air space, she was able to veer her mind back onto a subject she wanted to explore. “I want to know more about this…bond. You said Nyx choose us for one another, but what if I don’t want to be with you? I much rather prefer overseeing my own love life.”

  “Haven’t you not been?” Donovan asked. “You mentioned your ex-boyfriend yesterday. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you’re the one who ended the relationship. There’s a reason for that, June. You will never love anyone the way we can love each other. A mate bond is more than good feelings and butterflies. It’s an ethereal creation.”

  She had no will power to comment and was saved when the kitchen door opened. Lucille came around the counter holding a tray up in the air with one hand. At their table, she set down the drinks, orange juice for June and water for Donovan. June’s mouth watered as the older woman put down a plate of eggs, pancakes, and breakfast sausage artistically laid out, in front of her.