by Sabrina Rue
“Oh, no. It’s so hard for Were females as it is.”
“Titus’s life is already tied to mine. He made certain that should anything happen to me, he doesn’t survive it.” Desiree inhaled deeply. “Knowing my Mate will die if my heart stops beating means I must survive.”
“Help me up, my love.” Desiree stood and lifted her mother to her feet. “Of all my children, I somehow never imagined you grown. Not really.” She held her face in her hands. “I think of you with butterflies on your fingers and dandelion fluff in your hair. The time went so quickly.”
She kissed both Desiree’s cheeks. Titus hadn’t moved from his position at the end of the couch.
Redbird approached and stared at him for a long moment. “The week Ryker was born, Nathan came to me and poured a leather pouch of gold coins and rare gems on the bed. Your gift to celebrate his birth.”
He smiled.
“To you, it was probably a small gesture, nothing more. To this Pack, to this family, it was the financial security we needed to solidify the four regions of Texas, truly help our people, and grow into the third most powerful Pack in the United States and Canada.”
“I’m glad of it, Lady Blackwell.”
“My Mates first learned of you from their fathers here in Texas, as I learned of you from mine, the Alpha of Colorado Pack. It seems, throughout the history of Were kind, you’re a prominent figure helping to keep our kind safe and make us stronger.”
Titus smiled and said, “You have a question.”
“There are many different stories of our origins. My great-grandmother told me that the witches used to capture Daemon kind with iron, taking their blood by force to use in their experiments.”
He nodded but didn’t speak.
“Each of these attempts ended in failure and many died as their warped creations tore a blood-soaked path through villages. Only the Daemons were strong enough to destroy these monsters.”
“Unfortunately, true. The witches were persistent.”
Redbird took a step closer. “She said some Daemons tired of the bloodshed, of the ignorance the witches would never overcome on their own.”
“They kept using the same tricks and spells, creating deformed monsters, dooming hundreds of innocents to violent death with every attempt. When entire covens were slaughtered, another took up their work within a decade.”
“Until Daemon kind showed them the scientific approach. Offered their blood willingly and remained on-hand to monitor progress.”
Redbird folded her hands. “Each of the Lesser Kingdoms is believed to have a founder. In our history, there are stories of a Daemon whose blood resulted in the first true bonding of man and Wolf. They speak repeatedly of the Moon. The Moon was to be feared and respected. It guarded but also punished those who strayed from the path.”
Tilting her head, she told him quietly, “The Moon was not the celestial body our ancestors implied. You are the Moon, are you not, Titus? The founder of Weres?”
He held her gaze unblinkingly for almost a minute and it seemed everyone in the room held their breath.
“On my world, before we came to this planet, science was millennia ahead of where you are even today. Six of us among Daemon kind felt that destroying the witches was the wrong approach. Humans had evolved too far to remove their curiosity.”
“It would never stop.”
“Yes. The worry was that they would accidentally create a creature who could not be controlled even by Daemons. They were already well on the way.”
He clasped his hands behind his back. “Things were a mess and getting messier. We knew we couldn’t stop their experiments but thought we could improve the odds of success and save lives.”
Titus sighed. “So, we stepped in. I gathered three covens under my guidance and gave my blood willingly. Were kind were created when I showed them how to help the Wolf and human coexist.”
“Holy. Fuck.” The whispered words from Harmony summed up what everyone in the room felt.
“Jariah’s group created Vampires centuries later. Tatiana, my sister, adopted a coven who created Shapeshifters based on the results I shared with her on Were kind. And so it went for Merpeople, Nymphs, Faeries and Elves. We strengthened the Witches and showed them better uses for their power.”
He released a sound of frustration. “Unfortunately, some covens still dabbled. Their creations escaped and managed to procreate. Trolls and goblins went into hiding. Every powerful djinn was captured and enslaved by human warlords.”
“The six Daemon Council members are the founders.” Redbird’s voice was reverent.
“Hmm. When Lucian, our leader then and now, discovered our unorthodox solution to the witch problem, he agreed not to slaughter everyone involved if we took an active role in governance.”
Titus laughed. “Such an order was no hardship to me. Your first generation was fast, strong, and clever. I never lost interest. You’ve evolved into the most powerful of the Lesser Kingdoms over the last two millennia.” He winked. “Even if Vampire kind refuse to admit it.”
Glancing up, Titus met Harmony’s eyes. “One crack about being related and I won’t be pleased. There are more than a thousand generations between us.”
“I wasn’t even gonna say anything!” He arched a brow. “Fine, I was but not if you’re gonna be so touchy about it. Geez.” She bumped hips with Jax. “What a fucking fascinating development.”
Titus extended his hand and Desiree didn’t hesitate to put hers in it. He gently guided her around her mother.
“I’ll keep her safe, Lady Blackwell.”
“I know you will. What concerns me is keeping yourself safe. Desiree won’t die if she loses you but as a woman who lost both my Mates, I can promise you, there are moments living on is worse than death.”
To everyone else in the room, she announced, “Let’s give them time alone.”
She curtsied to Titus, kissed Desiree’s cheek, and walked around the sofa to take her son’s hand. “Come, Ryker. Your sister doesn’t need you or Jax to protect her with her Mate in the room.”
“My head is spinning,” he confessed quietly.
“It’s a lot to process. Let’s visit with Diego and Joseph, have some food, and perhaps copious amounts of wine. I think a drink or three is well deserved.”
Justice announced, “I have a question.”
Everyone froze.
Titus looked down and smiled. “Ask me anything.”
Instead, the boy turned and pulled up his dress shirt to show the markings up and down his spine that resembled tattoos. “Juliette and I both have them.”
Slowly unbuttoning his suit jacket, Titus explained, “Only a few among the first five generations of Were kind bore those marks. It was believed to be the potency of my blood combined with a natural skill or trait inside the individual Were.”
He dropped the jacket over the arm of the couch and loosened his tie. “Those who initially bore these designs gave birth to the bloodlines for your Shamans. The marks disappeared but the abilities remained.”
Unbuttoning his shirt, he shrugged the fabric from his shoulders and added it to the jacket. The he turned.
Desiree reached out to trace the intricate designs that ran from the top of Titus’s spine to the base. It looked like beautiful scrollwork tattoos at first glance but she suspected it was actually writing in another language.
Hope whispered, “I may truly faint, Talon.”
“Breathe, love.” He tightened his arm around her.
“These marks are common in my bloodline. My sister Tatiana bears them as well. We inherited them from our mother. A sign of our most powerful gift. The ability to access every being possessing a certain quotient of Daemon blood.”
Kneeling on the floor in front of Justice and Juliette, Titus took their hands. “On our world, my mother was our strongest healer. When she met my father, he became her power source. Able to extend her ability further than ever before.”
“Like Justice does for
me…”
“Yes. The marks on her back, on mine, my sister’s, and now yours…it is the key to opening the innermost gate of another’s mind, of many minds at once, and taking control.”
He shook his head. “You must be cautious in exploring this gift until you are much older. Walking around in another’s mind leaves…footprints. Places where the surface is damaged in subtle but very real ways that are felt much deeper in the psyche.”
The twins nodded. “We understand.”
“Your mother and aunt were born with an unusual amount of Daemon DNA. Their father then made sure they acquired more, through me, to fight the Purists.”
Juliette stepped close and put her hand on Titus’s face. “These traits will be dominant in their offspring and in your children with Desiree.” She was quiet for a long moment before she whispered, “Justice.”
Her brother put his hand on her forearm.
“Ah. I see.” She laughed even as tears slipped over her cheeks. “We’re happy to help, Titus. It will be an honor to serve the Moon.”
“Uh, what’s happening?” Hope asked fearfully.
“All good things, Mommy,” Juliette answered. “Aunt Harmony wishes to rehabilitate the Daemons in captivity. It will be easy to do so…once I find their Mates. Anger and loneliness are the reason the Purists came into existence. Take away one and the other has no fuel.” She looked up at Desiree. “Your idea.”
The little girl’s hand dropped away and she smiled at Justice. “We’re going to be very busy.”
He shrugged. “It keeps us out of trouble. Besides, the more lives we save, the less the losses hurt.”
The twins looked up at Redbird and asked, “May we have some of your cinnamon apples?”
She held out her hand. “Life becomes ever more interesting. Let me feed you and contemplate all I knew and thought I knew. How I wish Nathan and Tin were here to experience the wonder with me.”
Slowly, everyone left the room.
Titus remained still until the door was pulled closed. Then he stood and took Desiree in his arms.
“How terrified are you right now?” he asked softly.
“You mean after finding out you’re basically the proud papa of my people?”
“Oh, fuck…”
She laughed and cupped his face with a shake of her head. “I’m kidding. There’s no fear. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little bit of awe involved but I’m anxious to see what we can accomplish. I feel as though I have a true purpose at last. Thank you.”
He stroked his palms over her hair. “I missed you.” He gathered her close, hugged her hard.
She’d never felt so safe and cherished. “I missed you, too. There’s so much I want to talk to you about but…I’ve dreamed of your kiss.”
“I’ve dreamed of yours, Mate.”
His mouth lowered and Titus swept her into the Between where he took his time worshipping her lips while no time passed at her home.
The man possessed some seriously useful tricks.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The days without access to Desiree had gradually tested all of Titus’s strength. Before leaving her, Purists had been spotted scouting several Packs in Holland. He knew he’d have to be away from her to address the problem and protect the Weres.
Titus waited alone when the trio of Daemon murderers landed in the center of the village.
They had not expected him.
They were stunned to realize the Pack had been moved to safety. He attempted to reason with the fanatics as he’d done so many times before but it was no use.
With a sigh of resignation, Titus drew his sword and removed them from the world and all its possibilities.
He was not glad to do it.
A member of their peacekeeping force appeared when the dust settled. He could feel her sadness as she took in the scene.
Una was one of the most beautiful of Daemon kind. Dressed in fighting leathers, she knelt over each of the Daemon bodies and murmured an ancient incantation she’d learned from her uncle.
As they shimmered from existence, she picked up the swords each left behind in the blood-soaked dirt.
They would be placed in the Hall of Remembrance at Lucian’s home. On their one hundredth birthday, every Daemon was given a sword. They were the only ones to use it, the only ones to touch it.
From the moment they took it in their hand the first time, the sword remained, even if unseen. The weapons served as a chronicle of the owner’s life, recording every moment of their lives. Their story was added to Daemon history following their death.
Quietly, he told her, “Thank you, Una.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here in time, Titus. There was an attack on another Pack in Austria. One of the largest in the country.”
He turned to her and shouted, “No!”
“A sneak attack while you were drawn here, Killian was busy in Italy, and my other agents were answering calls from Egyptian and Nigerian Packs.”
His teeth fully extended, he growled, “How many?”
“More than a dozen attacked…”
Immediately transitioning to the scene, he found the largest and strongest Austrian Pack decimated. Dozens of Were kind dead.
Many of them children and beloved Mates.
Boiling, black rage filled him up. Titus could feel every cell in his body expanding, gathering power that would kill him but wipe out every Daemon bearing a Purist symbol.
Reaching, reaching, reaching for the monsters responsible. Ready to execute every fucking one of them for their heinous crimes.
Una appeared beside him, her hand on his forearm. “Your Mate, Titus! You must remember your Mate! She’s found now, part of your future, waiting for you. Losing your life robs her of her own. Think, Titus!”
Blinking, he met her eyes. “Una…”
“Your woman needs you. She needs you to live. Remember? A few weeks ago, you didn’t know of her but now you do. You must live for her now, Vader van de wildernis.”
Father of the Wild Ones.
The old name given to him when his first generation of Weres didn’t massacre every innocent in ten square miles shook him sharply.
Desiree…his beautiful Desiree.
It was almost surreal to know of her, to have found her. So recently after almost ten thousand years alone.
Slowly, Titus released the incredible power he’d gathered to himself. Allowed his mind to let go of the Purists who hadn’t landed in this place and murdered his Weres.
Those not involved in this attack, he would deal with later. In a different way. With Desiree’s help and that of the Kassis children, perhaps they could retrieve them from the realm of insanity in which they lived.
Opening his eyes, he inhaled deeply.
Una murmured, “My people are tracking them. These people, your people, they need your help right now.”
“Yes. They will have it.” He held out his hand and the Daemon who enforced their laws placed hers in it with a frown. “I relinquished my hold on more than one thousand Purists. They will live another day and maybe even find redemption in the near future.”
He tightened his fingers around Una’s. “As for the twelve who did this,” he gestured at the burning village that reeked of blood, “you will bear witness to their atrocities.”
“Titus…?”
He took her with him. One by one, Titus mentally located and took complete control of each Daemon who participated in the striking down of almost three dozen helpless children.
With each one, he delved deep to show her how they laughed at their small victims’ screams of terror, how they smiled as they delivered the killing blows to those who had no chance to defend themselves.
Once he was certain of their involvement, of their guilt, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he wrapped energy around their hearts and crushed the life from them.
Only when all twelve were dead, their swords strapped to a case on Una’s back, did he return to the Austrian Pack that would
require decades to recover from this night.
He landed in the midst of them, lifting the broken body of a girl child barely two, and turned to Lucian’s niece.
“Make the reports. Tell Lucian I’m done striking them down after they’ve attacked. From now on, I’m taking a more proactive approach. Better he allow me to attempt to rehabilitate them or execute them cleanly than risk the lives of his officers.”
A Were female ran up to him, sobbing over her little girl. “Lord Titus…no! My baby! My Maria!”
Glancing at Una, he hissed, “I will try to mend the twisted thinking of those I can. Every Purist incapable of mental repair will die without a trial, one by one, until I have wiped their faction from the surface of the Earth. I’ve waited, as I was ordered. Diplomacy and reason have failed. There will be no more mercy.”
“They…can’t be rehabilitated, Titus.” Una’s voice was hard. She’d spent the majority of her life as an officer of their laws. She knew the depth of hatred the Purists held.
“Perhaps, when I find their Mates, we will see improvement.” She gasped but he was done talking. Holding the woman’s daughter in one arm, Titus wrapped his other around the grieving mother’s shoulders. “Let’s find your family. Tell me who we must look for, Maggie.”
Sobbing, gripping his side and her dead child’s hand, they walked the village together and he helped her find her son and her niece, hiding in a basement. Her Mate was alive but badly wounded.
He did what he could to heal the men, women, and children who survived but he was grateful when Drake and his Mate Delilah appeared to help him two hours after the attack.
The Daemon healer and human doctor saved many who might have been lost waiting for Titus to see to their wounds.
They worked side-by-side for three days, their hearts in agony at the loss of life and the injuries the peaceful village of Weres had endured.
The Pack Alpha survived but his Second fell to the Purists. Their Mate was badly wounded but healing. Her grief at the loss of one of her Mates sent Delilah running from the room in tears.
By the time Titus returned to North America, his mind was in chaos, his heart bruised from all he’d seen and done.
