Chapter 20
I woke up abruptly and sprang forward, looking around. My heart raced as I panted, out of breath. William sat in a chair across the room.
“Where am I?” I asked with trepidation.
He shrugged his shoulders and stood up. “Someone’s bedroom at Luna’s grandfather’s house. You fainted.”
Everything that happened came rushing back, and I felt a bit embarrassed at the thought of being weak and fainting. “I did not faint…I…I passed out from…” I trailed off, and tears filled my eyes. I gulped down air to keep from crying. What was the point in trying to hide anything from William? He could read me like a book.
William sat next to me on the bed, and put his arm around my shoulders. He pulled me close and I buried my face in his chest, quiet tears spilled from my eyes. He stroked the back of my hair, which was now almost completely straight.
“Why is this happening to me?” I was confused and just wanted to go home. Back to mom. Back to when I thought my life was normal.
He just held me tight, making quiet hushing sounds to calm me with his uniquely smooth voice. “All of this is not the end of the world, Genevieve.” He gently kissed the top of my head.
“Are you…you know…one of them?” I pushed myself back for a second to see his face.
“No.” He pulled me in close again. “I’m not.” He smiled thinly.
My heart began beating like crazy, but his never changed. I pressed my ear closer and really listened. At first, I thought he didn’t have a heartbeat, which on a normal day I would find impossible. But then I heard it, very faint and beating slowly.
I quickly raised my head and shot him a look. “You’re lucky,” I smiled.
“Why?” He asked, a line formed in his forehead making him appear confused.
“For a second, I thought maybe you were one of those “blood sucking vampires.” I giggled, doing air quotes for blood suckers.
“A vampire? What would make you think that?”
“You have like the slowest heartbeat ever. At first, when I didn’t hear it I was about to freak. But, you’re safe, because you’re alive. You know, vampires are dead and all.”
“Look, Gen. All I know is I care a great deal about you. It doesn’t matter what I am or what you are. I just want to be with you, regardless.”
I pushed away from him and stood. Surprisingly, my leg didn’t even hurt anymore. I paced the floor and then stopped when I was directly in front of him. His gaze locked onto mine.
“What am I, William?” I paused, giving him time to say something…anything, but he just dropped his eyes and stood. “You know what’s going on here, don’t you?” A tear escaped and ran down my cheek. “Am I some kind of a freak, William? Is that what I am…a freak?”
He glanced at me but only for a brief second, and his eyes looked so sad. “Of course not,” he said, walking over to the window.
“Then explain how my leg healed in a matter of hours? Huh, William?” I folded my arms tightly across my chest, and furrowed my brows.
“When I first met you, I thought you were just this beautiful girl I wanted to get to know. But then-”
“I see you’re awake now,” Aunt Bev said after barging into the room. I nearly jumped to the ceiling, but William must have sensed her coming, because he only slowly turned around. “Can you please come into the living room?” She asked, but she wasn’t really asking. She was telling. “We need to talk. Everyone is waiting.”
Right away I noticed how she glowered at William when she thought I wasn’t looking.
“I’m feeling weak, and I have a major headache. Besides, William and I are talking right now.” I replied severely.
“Gen, there isn’t much time.” A painful expression flitted across Aunt Bev’s face when she looked at William. “She doesn’t have a choice you know, and you’re just making the inevitable harder.” She looked hard at him before storming back out of the room.
“I’m not doing anything,” he shouted back, but the door had already slammed shut.
William wouldn’t look at me, so I crossed the room and made him face me.“What is she talking about? What’s the inevitable?” I searched his eyes for the answer, but his expression seemed cold and distant.
“You’re legacy.” He said, trying to sound matter-of-fact about it, but sadness filled his voice.
“My what?” I laughed hollowly.
William wrapped his arms around me and squeezed so tightly I couldn’t breathe. Then just like that, he dropped his arms to his sides. “You have to go to your aunt. Let them explain it and then we’ll talk.” His gaze was completely mesmerizing. Whenever he looked into my eyes I kept having to remind myself to breathe.
“I don’t want to talk to her… to them,” I pleaded, but William gently pushed me away.
“Go on, it’s something you have to do.” He said, not unkindly and pushed me harder, but in my heart, I knew he didn’t mean it. “We’ll talk afterward… I promise.” He turned back toward the window and I reluctantly left the room.
Aunt Bev, Mary, Luna, and her three brothers were all in the living room when I walked in. The three boys were shirtless and I tried not to stare at their taut upper bodies with muscular torsos.
I smiled thinly. “Okay, let’s get this over with.” I rubbed my hands together and took the only empty seat, which happened to be on the couch right next to Joseph. It was a little awkward to say the least.
“You’re not going to pile drive me into the wall are you,” he teased, and his brothers laughed loudly.
“I just might,” I shot back sarcastically, but couldn’t keep from grinning.
The room fell silent. I leaned back next to Joseph, and stared straight ahead, but felt him taking sidelong glances at me.
I wondered why nobody had started talking yet, and then I saw why. Luna’s grandfather stepped into the room. He stood silently in the doorway and scanned the room. He had long silver-white hair, which he wore in a single braid down his back. He was also shirtless, and I was shocked to see how muscular he still was. He had on pants made from animal skins and mukluks covered his feet.
Joshua who’d been in the antler chair, hopped up and nudged his way onto the couch, forcing me closer to Joseph.
Luna’s grandfather took his seat and I noticed that he and his three grandsons all had the same red circle tattooed on their upper left arms.
Mary stood and crossed the living room to stand behind her father’s chair. “Gen, this is my father, Chief Abe Okpik. Father, this is Genevieve Labreck.” She then said something to him in, I’m assuming, Eskimo language. It must have been about me, because as soon as she finished he glared at me.
I felt very intimidated and wanted to crawl under the couch. “He-hello sir,” I muttered. He nodded at me but didn’t speak. I got the distinct feeling that he didn’t like me much.
I chewed the inside of my lip waiting nervously for him to say something, but at the same time, all eyes were on me.
“Genevieve, do you know why you are here?” His voice was completely different than I expected. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and calming, not gruff or throaty like I had expected.
“No, sir, not really.” I answered, feeling a little more at ease with him.
“ I’m going to tell you a story. I want you to listen carefully to what I have to say before you ask any questions. I also ask that you keep an open mind.” He scooted to the edge of his chair so he was pointed more toward me and then he began.
“The day of your birth is the first day in November. Beginning at midnight on that same day is when the Blood Moon rises.”
I scrunched my eyebrows. “The what?” I mumbled, but he continued as if he hadn’t heard me.
“The night of the Blood Moon is when the veil between werewolves, Adlet, and bloodsuckers, or vampires as you know them, is lifted. Many years ago there was an Adlet woman whose husband was killed during a hunt. Like many creatures, the Adlet choose only one mate for life. She gre
w very lonely over time, and tried to remarry, but no other Adlet warrior would have her.
Russian sailors began coming to our land to buy animal pelts, which were very popular given the constant freezing temperatures their country sustained. One night a man claiming to be a Russian sailor came, showering her with gifts. She mistook his intentions for love, and she lay with him.
It was later discovered by an Adlet warrior he was not a Russian sailor, but the shape shifter who had been killing warriors while they hunted. The chief, who was also the woman’s father, gathered the remaining Adlet warriors of the tribe and they hunted him down, killing him in his animal form. They dragged him back to camp to parade their kill.
The next morning the rest of the tribe, including the woman, came to see the animal, only the Russian man lay dead in its place. It was too late though, the Adlet woman told her father she was with child.
Several months later, she bore five children who appeared to be human, and five wolf-like pups. The tribe said she was cursed, and she went to her father when she got word they were coming to destroy the five pups who they said were an abomination. Her father couldn’t stand to see his daughter’s pain, therefore he agreed to take the five pups and carry them across the ocean, leaving each one at a different port to be adopted. She took the other five and disappeared into the woods, never to be seen again.”
“Okay, but what does all that have to do with me,” I asked the chief incredulously.
“The five taken across the ocean are what is known as lycan. The five she raised are a larger wolf breed called Adlet wolves. When her father reached his first stop and went below deck to retrieve one of the animals, the five “pups” had mysteriously taken on human form, but he dared not take them back. So he went on and carried out his daughter’s wishes. They grew up as humans, mating and spreading their seed, but there was evil in their blood.
Eventually, the evil ones came back to wreak havoc amongst the tribes, and also any bloodsuckers who had come here to escape the grasp of the Amalric. The royal princess came, and her warriors killed most of the evil clan, and there was peace for many years.
Over time the evil clan’s numbers grew again to be many, and they were able to kill off most of the royal family… all but one.”
He stopped speaking, and I watched as he rubbed his hand over the tattoo, and surprisingly, so did not only Luna’s brothers do the same exact thing, but Luna did too. Suddenly, the back of my neck began to heat up like fire had been placed on it. When I rubbed my hand across it, it was like touching a hot stove.
His eyes hardened when he looked at me. “You see, Genevieve, the same blood runs through your veins that runs through ours.”
“How is that? I’m not even from here?” Tears stood in my eyes, and Joseph reached over and took hold of my hand. I surprised myself when I didn’t move it away.
“Not our blood like brothers, the blood of the Adlet. You see, the spirit walkers talked of a princess with the purest of pure blood. The descendant of the royal child who had been safely smuggled out before the lycan could kill her. They said she would come one day to accept the throne, and in doing so there would once again be peace among the different clans. The time is upon us.” He looked completely serious.
“The royal daughter had a daughter who had a daughter… that daughter is you.”