"I didn't know you meant that quite so literally," Jen told him as she stood and took his hand.
He led her to the front of the room and kept her hand in his when they turned to face everyone.
"I am the Alpha of the Serbian pack. By pack law I have taken this position because I killed your previous Alpha and proved my strength. I let you know the last time I spoke with you that I would be picking my first four and that it wouldn't be done traditionally. As you know, once the wolves are picked you may challenge said choices. Are we clear so far?"
"Yes, Alpha," the Serbian pack answered.
"Costin will be my Beta."
The gasps that were heard that time seemed to occur in surround sound..
Jen's hand tightened on Decebel's. He glanced at her once and she saw the “don't question me” look. She knew they needed to always appear as a united pair so she bit her tongue.
"Costin's proclaimed mate, Sally, though unbonded, will be the Serbian pack healer. My third will be Drake, who was fifth in the former pack, and my fourth will be Seraph, who is a dominant of the former Serbian pack and has proven himself faithful." Decebel paused and looked around the room, making eye contact with the most dominant in his new pack. One by one, their eyes fell to the floor in submission. "If any of you have a problem with this and want to challenge, please come forward now."
The room was silent. Jen held her breath, waiting to see if any would defy their new Alpha.
"What now?" Jen asked through their bond.
"Now we try to unite a broken pack, train a new Beta, encourage a new healer, support a new mate bond, and find the evil witch," Decebel responded.
"Oh, gee," Jen muttered under her breath. "Is that all?"
Chapter 4
“Humans think that the Fae are little, happy, winged beings that flitter around, causing mischief. If they truly knew the power we wielded simply by existing, they would tremble in their beds in an attempt to hide from us. Heaven help them if we ever decide to use that power against them.” ~Perizada of the Fae
"I don't think it is wise for us to take part in matters of the human realm."
Perizada listened as the high Fae of the council addressed her. She was trying very hard not to roll her eyes, and was beginning to realize why Jen felt it necessary to roll her eyes so often. When people said stupid stuff, an eye roll was by far the safest plan of action, especially when what you really wanted to do was tell them to pull their heads out of their butts.
"With all due respect, Dain," Peri ground her teeth together as she spoke, "it isn't just matters of the human realm. It's matters of the supernatural world and that does affect us whether we want to acknowledge it or not." She began pacing in front of the council members, three male Fae and three female Fae. "We can't leave the wolves to deal with this on their own, especially when part of it is our fault."
"OUR FAULT?"
Peri stopped in mid stride and slowly turned to face the Fae who had yelled.
"Yes, Lorelle, our fault."
"How can you possibly say that we have anything to do with their current tribulations?" Lorelle asked.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because we wiped every stinking witch, save one, from the face of the earth! Now, that 'save one' has power, power unlike any of them individually or together ever had. She has no other to compete with her power; she has none to hold her accountable. We did that! And now you think we should leave the problem we created to the wolves?" Peri was breathing hard as her hands fisted at her sides.
The anger she felt at her own kind manifested due to their lack of concern for other supernaturals – and humans – was enough to make her want to scream. They, who were the most powerful magic wielders of all the supernaturals, should be the ones leading the battle, not sitting back watching while the others were annihilated and hunted to the brink of extinction. At least, that's what would happen if Desdemona was planning what Peri thought she was.
“We understand you concern, Perizada, but we have to consider the wellbeing of our own race.” Alston, the highest member of the council spoke. “Let us confer on this matter and we will summon you when we have made a decision.”
Peri glared daggers at the council. “Yeah, you do that. Confer,” she spit out the word as if it were a disgusting taste in her mouth, “and you get back with me. Meanwhile, I will try to make sure that Desdemona doesn’t take over the world.”
“Aren’t you being a little dramatic?”
“Well, I guess you wouldn’t know for sure since you all insist on staying in your little bubble beyond the veil.” With those words, Peri turned on her heel and marched out of the great hall of the council.
Peri transported herself to the veil, all the while muttering under her breath about stubborn, selfish Fae who insisted on allowing others to perish.
“Not on my watch,” she said clearly as she passed through the veil. “Not on my watch.” She sent out a mental call to Adam and Elle, two Fae she knew she could count on, and who believed, like her, that the human realm needed them.
~
Two weeks after the announcement of the pack orders and designation of the healers, Sally sat in the indoor courtyard garden of the Serbia pack mansion. It was her favorite place to be. Flowers bloomed all around; some towered over her while others dotted the ground. A pebbled path wound its way through the garden and at the very back of the garden was a small waterfall that poured over large rocks into a pond filled with fish. Winter was beginning to wane and spring was on its way. She sat on a bench swing with a book that Peri had given her. It was a history of the gypsy healers, and their purpose in the pack. It also had lots of information on how their magic worked. Sally ran a finger over the sentences as she read out loud in the empty garden.
“After the Great Luna created the Canis lupis, she knew that her children would not be able to be medically treated by humans. Because of that, she looked into the spirits of different human cultures and found that gypsies had the greatest capacity for magic. She appeared to one of the female leaders of a tribe in Romania and told her that she would bless certain gypsy descendants with the ability to heal the Canis lupis. This not only ensured the health of the wolves, but created a special relationship between them and humans.”
Sally paused and thought about how the gypsy leader must have felt. Was she shocked into silence? Did she believe the experience or chalk it up to just a dream? She looked around the garden, pondering the emotions that must have flowed through the gypsy as she realized the legacy of her people was to be forever changed. Sally jumped as a large pair of hands came down gently on her shoulders and she felt warm lips press gently against her neck.
She heard a chuckle. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Sally turned to see Costin smiling, the dimple in his right cheek etched deeply in his face. She watched as he walked around the swing and sat beside her.
“That’s okay. I was in my own little world.”
“What are you reading?” he asked, motioning to the book in her lap.
“Oh, this is a book that Peri gave me about the gypsy healers.” Sally blushed as she realized he might have been listening to her read.
“Well, don’t stop on my account.” Costin grinned as he leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him and crossing them. He folded his hands in his lap and stared at her.
“You’re just going to sit there and watch me read?”
“Sally mine, I could sit and watch you stare off into nothing, as long as I got to gaze on your sweet form.”
Sally blushed again, feeling the heat run up her neck clear up to her hairline. She shrugged her shoulders, recognizing a lost cause when she saw one. Costin was going to sit there whether she was embarrassed or not. So she turned back to the book and picked up where she left off.
“The gypsy leader was skeptical at first, but then the first of the healers was chosen. The young gypsy girl met her mate in the market one day. There was nothing that would keep t
hem from being together; the pull was too strong. So the leader went to the girl and explained her dream to her. She asked her mate to show her his wolf form to confirm what she was telling the girl. At first the girl was a little frightened, but the love she felt for the male Canis lupis helped her overcome her fear. The gypsy leader continued to watch descendants of her tribe become healers until she was called to the next life.”
Sally felt Costin's fingertips begin to gently trail over her back. She unconsciously leaned back into his touch, as natural as breathing. She understood the pull that the book described. She feared the intensity of their bond, but knew in her heart that she could never walk away from him. Though the markings had appeared on her skin, indicating that she was indeed his mate, the mental bond had yet to appear. Sally was beginning to think that maybe it was because of the doubt and fear that she held in her heart.
“I hope that one day I can stand before the Great Luna and thank her for the gift she has given our kind through our true mates.” Costin's words were soft, but she felt them in her very soul. “Even in the short time that I have had you in my life, I cannot imagine it without you.”
Sally turned to look at him and felt his hazel eyes peering into her, searching for the feelings that she was unable to express.
“It’s okay, Sally mine, I can feel what you feel for me. And I look forward to the day when I hear the words cross your lips.”
With that, she leaned into his side and settled close as he wrapped his arms around her. Oh, how it felt so right to be there with him, his body heat seeping into her. She closed the book and decided she could read more later. For now she was going to just enjoy being close to Costin.
“Will you tell me about your life?” she asked hesitantly. “I mean, you’re sixty years old, right? Surely you’ve done some pretty cool things in the course of that time. Uh, but I don’t want to hear about your escapades with other girls.”
Costin chuckled at her. “That is a conversation for later.” He squeezed her briefly. “Okay, so you want to know about me. Let’s see, I was born here in Romania in 1951.”
Sally interrupted with, “That is so freaking weird.”
“I can see how that would be weird to you,” he agreed.
Sally sat up, quickly pulling from his hold, and turned to look at him straight on. “Costin, where are your parents?”
Costin brought his hand up to her cheek and brushed his fingers lightly across her cheek, then dropped his hand as he answered her.
“My mother died in childbirth with my little sister. She was stillborn. You see, there was no healer in our pack. And my father died with my mother since they were bonded.”
Sally took his hand and held it to her chest. “Costin, I am so sorry.”
“It was a miracle that she conceived after me. Most Canis lupis only have one child and it’s very rare for the child to survive if there is not a healer in the pack. My parents were so filled with joy when they found out she was pregnant.” Sally watched Costin’s eyes take on a faraway look as he remembered a time long past.
“I think as the pregnancy progressed my mother knew that it wasn’t going to end well,” he continued. “She was beginning to get things in order for me to be on my own. It was a sad time, but I am glad my father followed her. A male Canis lupis is a dangerous one if his mate passes on without him – which, of course, can only happen if they are unbonded. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain I would feel if you went onto the next life without me. I would follow you.”
Sally gasped. “You would take your own life? Costin, you cannot. If that happens, please promise me you wouldn’t.”
“Sorry, love, that is a promise that I can never make to you. Where you go, I go. Simple as that.”
Before Sally could respond, a voice reached out to them from the front of mansion.
“I hate to bust up this declaration of utter devotion, love, and dying for another blah, blah, blah,” Jen’s loud voice penetrated the peaceful garden, “but we have been called to an emergency meeting, so save the make out session that inevitably follows such declarations and get your to the meeting room.”
Costin stood up, pulling Sally with him. His face had morphed into the intense one that Sally was beginning to recognize as his “it’s time to kick some major butt” face. She followed as he led her out of the garden and into the meeting room.
As they entered the room they saw that a conference call had been set up. A large screen sat on a stand in the front of the room. Staring back at them from the screen were the faces of Vasile, Alina, Sorin, Fane and Jacque. Decebel stood at the head of the table and Jen stood next to him, leaning on the chair in front of her. The table and the chairs to their right were empty. Costin headed toward them and pulled out Sally’s seat for her. Across from Sally sat Drake, Decebel’s third, and next to him Seraph, his fourth. Farther down the table sat more dominants that Sally was beginning to get to know, and around the room in chairs against the walls sat other members of the Serbian pack. Peri stood to Decebel’s left.
The room quieted as Decebel cleared his throat.
“Perizada of the Fae has brought us troubling news. Listen to what she has to say and when she is finished we will decide what course of action we need to take.” He made a motion for Peri to take over.
“I have been tracking Desdemona’s actions. Unbeknownst to her, of course,” Peri added. “If what I believe she is doing is indeed true, then we are in for a battle like this world has never seen. From what my resources have discovered, it seems that she is seeking out a warlock, the only warlock known to be able to open the veil that separates this world from the In Between.”
“The who be what?” Jen asked.
Peri cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.
Jen raised her hands in surrender. “Shutting up now. Please proceed.”
“Thank you, Jen.” Peri turned to address Vasile and Alina. “Vasile, you have heard of the In-Between, correct?”
Vasile nodded. “It is a place I prayed none of us would ever have to visit.”
Peri looked at the wolves around the table and slowly began to walk around them as she spoke.
“The In-Between is a sanctuary, but not a sanctuary in the sense you are thinking. This sanctuary is for the evil, the ones who have allowed the darkness to consume them. Those who stumble upon it unknowingly or are put there and are pure of heart, to them it is anything but a sanctuary. It is a place that draws on their biggest fears and magnifies them, twists them, and submerges those beings into them. Most do not leave with their mind intact.”
“Bloody hell,” Jen whispered under her breath.
“That’s a good term for it, actually, Jen,” Peri told her. “It is hell that will strip the ones undeserving of such treatment until their bodies are bloody and worn. My hope is that we can stop Desdemona before it comes to us taking a visit to that horrid place. It would behoove us to find the warlock before she does.”
Fane interrupted, “Who exactly is this warlock? What makes him so special that he is the only one who knows how to do this?”
“He is the king of the warlocks,” Peri said tersely.
“Oh, snap,” Sally muttered.
“Seriously, this just keeps getting better and better,” Jen added, shaking her head. “Let me guess, next you are going to tell us that the lord of the vampires has taken over any and all forms of blood transfusions and is requiring the general population to stand in front of stores like snack machines, allowing blood suckers to put quarters in their pockets to satisfy the little afternoon munchies. Oh, and King Kong has come out of hiding because the blonde he stole is 85 and he wants a newer, younger love slave. Also, the Federation for Worldwide Domination by the Trolls of America – FFWDBTTOA for short, just an FYI – have been inspired by the intelligence that the Harry Potter trolls portrayed and now want to implement a plan to infiltrate the banks because surely they can count as well as good ‘ol J.K. Rowling’s little creations.”
“
Why hasn't someone installed an off switch on that one?” Peri pointed at Jen.
Decebel slipped his hand underneath Jen's long, blonde hair and wrapped it around her neck, giving it a light squeeze. “You okay?”
“You know how I get in tense situations. The sarcasm filter seems to malfunction and it just comes spewing out. I should carry an emesis basin for times like this.”
Her response made him chuckle out loud, which garnered him a glare from Perizada. Decebel cleared his throat and schooled his face.
Jen nodded to Peri. “Okay, I think it’s all out now. Wait -” Jen held up a finger. “No, no, never mind. I’m good.”
Jacque and Sally were trying to cover their laughter, as were Crina and Cynthia. Sorin even had to swallow back a chuckle.
“I have been visiting supernaturals all over,” Peri went on, “trying to see if any can give us any information. Unfortunately, many are very hesitant to aide us because of the fear of Desdemona finding out and unleashing her wrath on them.”
“Who have you spoken to so far?” Decebel asked.
“I have been able to speak with the warlock leaders in several different countries. I have spoken to members of the magi, and the troll that mans the bridge above the veil to the In-Between.”
“Okay, when exactly were you going to share with us part-humans that there were such creatures in this world?” Jen asked, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at her mate.
“Yeah, what she said.” Jacque glared at Fane. When Sally didn’t pipe in, Jacque shot her a pointed glare.
“Oh, um, yeah.” She looked up at Costin. “What they said.”
“Yesterday, but I got busy,” Decebel teased. Jen growled at him but grinned when he winked at her.
Fane, from the screen and Costin, in the room, responded in unison. “What he said.”
The girls all rolled their eyes.
“What do you recommend that we do?” Vasile’s voice came from the screen, interrupting their verbal sparring.