Cynthia looked up at Decebel and saw that his glowing, amber eyes were on Jen. Cynthia decided then that the only way she would ever take a mate is if he looked at her the way Decebel was looking at his mate. She left quietly, not wanting to disturb them any longer.
Cynthia made her way from room to room until all of the females were in dry clothes. All of the males had phased back into their human form and growled at her freely, though she didn’t take offense. Vasile was actually the worst and that surprised her, because he was never out of control; it was never a good thing for a wolf of his power to be out of control.
“Where is Perizada,” Vasile snarled.
Cynthia tried to keep the fear down so that Vasile did not see her as easy prey. She kept her eyes on the floor and her tone very neutral.
“I don’t know Alpha. She left just after all of the mated pairs retired to their rooms.”
Vasile paced the room restlessly, never getting more than a couple feet away from the bed where Alina lay.
“She picked a fine time to leave,” he snapped.
“Alpha, if I might say, I don’t imagine Peri would ever abandon those in her care. Perhaps she is trying to figure out a way to break the curse on the females,” Cynthia explained.
Vasile didn’t acknowledge that Cynthia had spoken.
“How are the others doing? How is my son?”
“They are coping. It was a very smart idea to keep the other wolves far away.”
Vasile turned back to his mate when she made an especially painful noise. Cynthia winced and wished for the hundredth time that she could do something more to help.
“Thank you Cynthia for your help; I know this isn’t easy for you. Please let me know the minute Peri is back.”
And just like that, she was dismissed.
Q
Peri stood before the council in the great meeting hall. The walls were tall, and white polished stone. The ceilings were so high that it was hard to know if there really was a ceiling at all. The floor beneath her feet gleamed under the soft glow of the Fae lights that floated throughout the room. She felt a strong sense of dèjá vu as she stared at the other members of the council. It didn’t seem that long ago that she had stood before them, petitioning for their help. Once again, just like on that occasion, they were feeding her a load of crap.
“We have told you, Perizada, that we have played our part. We did what the Great Luna asked of us. We called the packs.” Alston’s tone was dry and bored, and it made Peri want to slap him.
“Do you honestly believe that is all she intended for you to do? All hell is about to be loosened upon their world and you think that all you are required to do is use a rock to call on the wolves?” Peri’s voice rose with every word.
“Don’t you think you are being a little dramatic?” Lorelle asked.
Peri’s eyes snapped over to her and they narrowed. “You would know of dramatics wouldn’t you Lorelle?”
“Come now, Peri, let’s not let family feuds cause any more problems. Since you seem to think the sky is falling it would be wise not to add to your predicament.” Alston brushed his long hair back from his face and stood from his seat. “I think this meeting is over. We have told you what we have done, the part we have played. Now Peri, since you have always been the ambassador to the wolves, it’s your job to take it from here.”
Peri’s mouth dropped open at the audacity of the highest member of their council. She was hoping that at any moment the Great Luna would drop a bolt of lightning on his head.
“Okay listen up ass hat,” Peri’s voice boomed throughout the meeting hall. “I realize that you may not believe this, but your crap stinks too, just like the rest of us. You aren’t any better than the next person in line, human or supernatural. Pretty soon, all of the races will need each other’s support—even the Fae.
"I’m telling you now, if you keep this up, all of you are going to end up standing alone covered in ashes, bruised faces, singed air, bloodshot eyes, looking from left to right saying, “what happened, where’d my eyebrows go?” And, you know what my answer is going to be? They went down the toilet bitch, along with the rest of the world. So how about for just a tiny blink in your completely undeserving long lives, you think about someone other than yourselves and step up to help? Can you try that for me?”
The six council members stood with their mouths agape, staring at Peri as if she’d grown a third arm. Finally, Lorelle cleared her throat and schooled her face. “And if we don’t?”
Peri smirked at the one and only sister she had. “Then I will save Mona the trouble of having to fry your butts. I’ll take you out myself.”
Alston snorted. “Be realistic, Peri. You don’t have the power to challenge us. Not unless you possessed all of the Fae stones.”
Peri pulled both hands from the pockets in her robes and held them out, fists clenched and palms upward, to the Fae arrayed before her. She slowly unclenched her fists, revealing the five Fae stones, two in her left hand, and three in her right. The Fae stones, which only appeared in times of greatest need, lay ominously in her outstretched hands.
“How do you like me now bee-otch?” She grinned, wickedly.
“What do you need from us?” Dain finally spoke up.
“Why, Dain, thank you, it’s so nice of you to ask,” Peri’s voice dripped, with false congeniality. “I have this small, teeny, tiny problem. You see the nasty old witch has put a spell on the mates of the wolves, well seven of them to be exact. They are experiencing the very same torments that their mates experienced while trapped in the In-Between.” Peri didn’t bother to tell them that their mates couldn’t touch them. There were just some things that were need-to-know, and these Fae didn’t need to know. “I can’t break the spell by myself and the two healers are also under the spell so I cannot ask for their help. That leaves me with you bundle of joy.”
“We will come with you,” Dain nodded, “we will help these wolves who obviously mean so much to you.”
Peri rolled her eyes. “I’m glad that you all have decided to come to your senses. But, I do hope that you are acting for the right reasons. And, don’t expect someone to bow down at your feet and kiss your toes for saving the day. Saving the world is the most thankless job ever. If you don’t believe me, then go ask the humans who do it daily.” The Fae continued to goggle at her. Peri clapped her hands together and rubbed them as if they were cold and she was trying to get them warm again. “Enough with all of that, let’s get down to business.”
Q
Costin lay next to Sally on his bed. He was as close to her as he could get without touching her and yet it felt like they were worlds apart. Her eyes would flutter open occasionally and the lost look that glazed over them nearly broke him. His Sally was shutting down. She was escaping into herself to get away from what she was going through, even though it wasn’t really happening. She didn’t have a wolf to turn to for strength and help; she only had the deep recesses of her mind to run to. She was trying to get as far away from the bad things as she could, but it also took her far away from Costin. He continued to try to speak to her using their bond, but she had effectively severed it. The only thing that he knew to do at that point was to talk to her, to share with her, his heart, his love, his longings.
“Sally mine, I know you are in there. I know that you are protecting yourself, and I’m glad for that. I miss you. I miss your skin, your hair, the way you smell when I touch you. Did you know that you smell different when I touch you? I don’t know if Jacque or Jen ever explained that to you, but as your mate, you respond differently to me. There’s a desire that isn’t there with anyone else and that causes you to give off a different scent. It’s the most alluring scent in the entire world. But, because I can’t touch you, it’s gone. I miss the way you blush when I flirt with you and how soft your lips are when I kiss you. You know what’s crazy? Not too long ago, I didn’t have any of those things and I was still able to live. Sure, it wasn’t a great existence, but
I was alive. Now, that I have you, I can’t live without those things, Sally. Not just because of the Blood Rites, but because I couldn’t go on without you being in this world. So you see, when this is all over, you have to come back to me. Whatever it takes, my sweet love, I will do it. I will take away every nightmare, every soul haunting memory, and replace it with my love. Do you hear me Sally?”
Costin’s voice filled with the unshed tears that he had been fighting and he unconsciously reached out to touch his mate only to withdraw his hand quickly. “You have to be okay,” he whispered. “You have to, because I am not okay without you.” He let his mind drift back to the quiet moments that he had been given with her, his brown eyed girl, so many soft laughs, and sweet smiles. He thought about the night that he had held her in his arms as she slept. It was the first time she had ever slept in a bed with a male, and it was the best night of his life. He had been awake for hours after she fell asleep. He had listened to her heartbeat and the rhythm of her breathing. It had all been music to his ears.
He smiled when he remembered the night he had taught her how to bartend. She was so easy to be around and he knew that he constantly had a ridiculous grin plastered on his face because of her, but he didn’t care. As long as his Sally was happy, healthy, and safe, he didn’t care about anything else. Yet, here she lay next to him, and she was none of those things. How many times could a man fail the woman he loved, before it became too much? He didn’t know the answer to that question, but he did know that if there was anything that he couldn’t handle in this world, it was watching his mate suffer, and not being able to do a damn thing about it.
“I will make it right, Sally mine,” he whispered, into the room, his quiet voice mixing with the sound of her occasional whimpers. “I will make it right, and kill the one who made it wrong.”
Q
Decebel paced the room like a caged animal. His breathing was rapid and he was holding back his wolf by a thin thread. His eyes continually darted back to the woman on their bed and with every glance his heart broke all over again. He knew that the other males were feeling exactly the same, only he had one thing they didn’t, a child. A child made in love with the woman who completed his soul. There was nothing more that he wanted in this world than to hold his baby girl in one arm and his female in the other and he swore by everything he could think of that he would do that very thing.
“Think, Decebel, think,” he muttered to himself, for the thousandth time. His brain was a fog of rage and worry. His heart felt as if hundreds of needles were puncturing it, stabbing over and over with every desperate sound from his mate. Every thought was out of his grasp, every breath was a struggle and he was beginning to wonder if he and Jennifer would ever have a happy ending. They had been through so much since they had met and he just felt it was a matter of time before they didn’t make it out as they had so many times already. He turned abruptly when he heard his name.
“Dec,” Jen whispered. He was at her side in the blink of an eye.
“I’m here baby,” he told her, gently. He looked at her gold locks and longed to sink his fingers deep into the strands, like he had so many times before. He needed to see the spark in her blue eyes and hear the sharp slash of her tongue when she snapped her sarcastic remarks at him. Some might be hurt or annoyed by it, but he knew that was how his Jennifer showed her love. If she ignored you, then that was when you should be hurt. He watched as her lips tensed and her eyes squeezed shut. He knew when her body shuddered that she was in pain, or at least she thought she was. Decebel knew first hand just how powerful the mind was and how it could make the body feel.
“Jennifer,” he murmured as close to her as he dared. “Come back to me baby. Hear my voice. Know that what you feel isn’t real. We are real, and I am real. Remember us, remember our love, and remember my touch and no one else’s. I know it’s hard. I know what you see and feel seems so real, but it isn’t.” Decebel fought to keep the growl out of his voice, but it was so hard because he was beyond frustrated at being so helpless. “This must have been how you felt when I lost my memory,” he told her, “to know that the one person you would do absolutely anything for, is the one person that you can’t do anything for. Sometimes life truly sucks,” he chuckled, “that sounds like something you would say.”
Decebel knelt on the floor beside the bed and laid his head down. He breathed in her scent and tried to keep from losing his control, which was about as likely as Mona becoming a nun.
Q
Jacque was still, too still for Fane’s peace of mind, but he supposed that it was better than the uncontrollable shaking and screaming. He knew that she was experiencing the things he had seen while in the in-between. He didn’t think it was ever possible to be as scared for her as he was when she had been taken by Lucas, but at that moment in time, he had passed scared a few hours back. He thought briefly about going to check on his mother, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave his mate. He knew what Jacquelyn would want him to do, but she wasn’t able to boss him around. He was going to do exactly what he needed to do, and that was be as close to her as the stupid binding words would let him.
As he stared at her, he considered something that he hadn’t really thought of. Since meeting Jacque, he couldn’t really remember a time when he was truly mad at her, but he was now. He was so mad that she would keep his touch from her, that she would take away that comfort for him. Fane knew that his desire to touch Jacque so often might eventually make her uneasy, so he had explained the deep meaning of touch between wolves. It hurt deeply that she knew what touch meant and was still willing to take it away from him. He didn’t want to be angry, but sometimes that was a much easier emotion to process than fear or pain. So, he latched onto that anger, clinging to it like a life raft to keep from drowning in the turbulent sea of his anguish.
“Why would you do this Jacquelyn? I know you were angry at me for not being more open, but can you see now what I was trying to protect you from? Can you see now that I didn’t want you tainted with images of such brutality and hurt?” Fane closed his eyes briefly as he tried to calm himself. He knelt down close to her ear. “This is not acceptable my love. Never again, do you hear me? Never again, will I allow such foolishness. I told you that I would protect you, even if it was from yourself. You need me, you need my touch right now, and because of your rash, emotional decision, I can do nothing but sit here, useless and frustrated. I’m angry with you love.” For some reason he needed her to know that, not because he wanted to hurt her, but because he needed her to understand just how much he loved her and needed her. “Don’t you see? Haven’t I shown you since the day I took you as my bride just how much I need your touch? How many nights have I simply reached for you, for no other reason than to feel your skin on mine? How many times have you found comfort in my arms, skin on skin?” Fane wanted to snarl, wanted to throw something or hit something. He had so many emotions inside him and no way to get them out.
He fell to his knees and threw back his head, letting out a mournful, angry howl. It welled up from the darkest place in his soul and crashed its way through his lungs and out of his throat. He knew his eyes were glowing and his canines had lengthened. His wolf was as angry with their mate as he was and wanted to hunt something and tear it apart. Soon he would feel the blood of a witch, warm in his mouth as he tore her flesh from her bones. She would answer for this crime against his mate. She would answer for all the evil that she had brought on their race and her death would not be quick and certainly wouldn’t be painless.
Q
The howls shook the mansion as one by one the wolves joined in the somber cry. The packs that had been moved to the furthest side of the mansion from Vasile and Alina and the other mated pairs were restless as they heard the utter hopelessness in their brother’s call. They stood outside on the grounds, some phasing to their wolf form, others staying in their human flesh, but all of them answered his call.
Drayden, the Alpha of the Canadian pack, walked over t
o where Dillon stood, a silent sentry watching over the wolves.
“What would cause a man to sound like that?” He asked Dillon.
Dillon’s eyes didn’t leave the field where the packs roamed as he spoke. “That is the sound of a man who has reached the end of his rope. His sanity is hanging on by a thread and his wolf is ready to tear apart the first piece of fresh meat stupid enough to walk in his path. That is the sound of a male whose mate needs him, and yet he is unable to be what she needs.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Drayden asked.
“Pray,” Dillon, said somberly. “Pray that we are victorious, and that the mates of these males are restored, because the wrath of a witch is no match for the wrath of even one male Canis lupus whose mate is beyond any hope.”
Wadim and Skender walked silently through the mansion, both restless because of the state of their Alpha, and both needing to do something.
“Should we go see if he needs anything?” Wadim asked.
Skender would like to say that he knew the answer to that question, but he was truly at a loss. He didn’t know how Vasile would respond to them, even though they were pack and he was Vasile’s fourth. But, like Wadim, he felt like they should do something, anything.
“Where are you two headed off to?”
Skender and Wadim whipped around at the sound of the feminine voice, both in battle stance. They were definitely on edge if they couldn’t even distinguish the voice of one they both knew so well.
“Peri,” Skender nodded as he stood up straight. Wadim followed suit.
Peri walked towards them and, from the shadows behind her, six other forms stepped forward.
“Who have you brought into our territory Perizada?” Skender asked with sudden formality.
“Pipe down Skender,” she told him with a flick of her wrist. “These are the other members of the Fae council. They have come to help me break the curse on the females.”