Blood Burdens (The Shadow World)

by Brandy Nacole

  The Lycans look at one another and then back to Zaire. He didn’t use his Beta command but I’m sure he would if need be. The Lycans join us around the front of the house. There are over a hundred Lycans now mingled in with the rest of us. Things were starting to look up.

  Natahala turns back to Jobe. “My own forces will be joining us later. They should be here around dusk.” Jobe nods but doesn’t comment. I’m sure that’s going to be uncomfortable for the Lycans, even though they pledged to a truce.

  Everyone gathers around the leaders as they discuss attack strategies. The first question on the table was who was going to stay behind. Alanis insists she go with the Elders but she doesn’t want some of her younger Witches to go, and doesn’t want to leave them unprotected either. A heated argument breaks out amongst the Witches. The more powerful older ones are definitely going, so it’s up to the younger Witches to decide who is going to stay behind.

  An unexpected suggestion comes from Ethan. “Danika, why don’t you stay?”

  Danika regards Ethan with shock. “I most certainly will not. The Elders are going to need all the power they can get, and I am powerful. If you think I’m going to sit back like some beginner, you and your pea-size dog brain have another think coming, because I am going.”

  Ethan’s eyes start to glow as he stares angrily back at Danika. “If you’re from such a strong line, then you should stay and protect the younger ones.”

  Danika stands in an outrage, “I’m joining the battle, and you’re just going to have to deal with that.” This is starting to sound a lot like the argument Natahala and Brynn had yesterday.

  Ethan stands up to face-off with Danika. When Ethan’s only a mere inch away from her face, he starts to say something but stops himself, and with a shake of his head, he storms past Danika, walking toward the beach. Danika turns to watch him go, her face is angry but her eyes hold so much longing. I can tell she’s fighting with herself not to follow him.

  Jobe and Zaire watch Ethan as he storms off. The Elders watch Danika. The leaders look worried and disappointed as they watch the two torn lovers’ part ways.

  Cadi, the girl that escorted us here, says she’ll stay. That puts an end to that discussion. The leaders all go back to discussing who would storm what side of the island and how to advance on Cerelia since we now have more muscle. I feel no need to stay. Honestly, how many times did someone need to discuss the same strategy before putting it into action? Maybe it was just a way for them to cope with the time until the final battle drew near.

  I jump up and follow Ethan down to the beach. I don’t know what I’m going to say to him but it’s worth a shot.

  I have to run to catch up with Ethan, who has already walked about a mile down the beach. When I reach him, he whips around, furious.

  “Leave me alone, Racquel. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Boy, how I could relate.

  I shrug my shoulders and say, “Okay, let’s not talk about it.”

  We walk on down the beach in silence. Ethan is rigid with anger. His fists are in balls at his sides and his face is tense with a deep angry desperation. He knows as well as I do that we may not come back. The thought of Danika being put into the line of danger is too much for him.

  Ethan comes to an abrupt stop, facing the sea before us. “Why did you follow me?”

  I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t know. I’m tired of listening to them talk over and over again about tonight.”

  “So I was just an easy out?” He asks.

  “Yeah but I also wanted to make sure you were okay and didn’t do something stupid.” I’ve come to understand that Ethan is a very intense guy. When something needs to be taken care of he never hesitates to take care of it, even if it isn’t in his best interests. His worry over Danika and the others could drive him to do something stupid. What, I’m not sure, but knowing Ethan, I’m sure he can come up with something.

  I try grasping for a subject, any subject, to get his mind off Danika. Then some unanswered questions pop into my mind. I have wanted to talk to him about them but there never seemed to be any time. Well I won’t put it off to tomorrow, since I might not have one.

  “Is it okay if I ask you something?” I know it’s silly to ask permission to ask a question but I want Ethan to know I respect his privacy.

  Ethan shrugs his shoulders, which is probably the closest to ‘yes’ I’m gonna get. “When we met with Jobe and Zaire in London, Zaire said something about being concerned over a mate. I noticed his finger had a mark where a band used to be. Was Zaire married?”

  Ethan nods his head, “Her name was Carena.”

  “What happened?”

  Ethan sighs as he turns to face me. “Zaire had just become a Beta. He and Carena had been courting for more than two years. She knew he was going to become Beta and respected his decision. But Zaire was already an immortal, but she wasn’t.

  Another problem was that Carena’s brother Doran hated Zaire. He was afraid that Carena would choose to become immortal to stay with Zaire. No one knew what Carena would have done, but Doran wasn’t going to wait around to find out. So he kidnapped her.

  Zaire searched all over the world trying to find her. After years of searching, Jobe ordered Zaire back to the encampment, because he needed his Beta. Not too long after Zaire’s return, Doran showed up. The instant Zaire saw him, he attacked Doran. Jobe intervened and demanded answers from Doran.

  Doran fell to his knees pleading for their help. Doran hadn’t known when he took Carena that she was pregnant with Zaire’s child. But even after he found out, he wouldn’t return Carena to Zaire. Then, a group of Vampires had kidnapped Carena and her young child.

  Jobe and Zaire organized a group to go with them to rescue Carena. When they arrived at the cave Doran had been hiding Carena, they were ambushed by Vampires and Lycans. This hardly ever happens but a few Lycans that had been under Jobe’s brother’s command wanted revenge for his death. That happens from time to time but joining up with Vampires was unheard of.

  Jobe’s pack outnumbered the group of Lycans and Vampires. The problem was they had Carena and her young son. Jobe tried to reason with the Lycans but it did no good. A fight broke out and Zaire tried desperately to get to Carena.” Ethan pauses for a moment. “Before Zaire reached Carena, one of the Lycans shifted and ripped her throat out. Zaire shifted too, and killed the other wolf. The group ended up killing all the Lycans and Vampires who had kept Carena captive.”

  “What about the child?” I ask quietly.

  Ethan shakes his head. In a soft voice he says, “He didn’t make it either.”

  Anger that now seems to rise easily, builds up in my body as I think about that poor child, who had done nothing wrong, yet had been killed because of something so childish. It’s amazing how ruthless people can be.

  “Of course, Zaire fell into despair. When the group returned, Zaire killed Doran for all he’d done, and then he vanished. If it hadn’t been for his bond with Jobe, I don’t know that he would have ever returned.”

  “Do Jobe and Zaire share some kind of special bond?” I ask, trying to distract myself from my anger.

  “We’re all are connected to our Alpha. We can hear his commands no matter how far away we are. Usually a command isn’t given unless it’s something dire. That’s why we have the sub-leaders. They help keep our wolves in line while we are away from our Alpha. Zaire’s bond with Jobe is stronger because he’s Jobe’s Beta. They can communicate with one another without speaking. That’s part of the Alpha-Beta bond.”

  When Ethan mentions the bond they share with the Alpha, I remember what he told me when we met his mother. While we were in London and met with Jobe and Zaire, we were escorted through the encampment by Ethan’s mom. He told me that all female Lycans return to the encampment with their Alpha until their children were grown. Why would the Lycans break that important mother-child bond?

  “Ethan….I’ve been wondering-” Crap. How do I ask this? “Well it’
s about what we talked about before. About your mom.”

  Ethan closes his eyes and sighs. “I’ve been wondering if you were ever going to bring that back up again.”

  “You said that after Lycan babies were two, their mothers left until they were grown. Why?” I might be able to understand if the dad left, but the mother? I know I’m not a mother but the bond between a mother and child is supposed to be unyielding. I just don’t understand how mothers can leave their children like that.

  “It’s custom. They believe that our mothers make us weak, that they coddle us instead of teach us how to be strong. That’s why the first Alpha created the law that says all Lycan mothers must leave their homes until their children are grown. Then if they want, they can return home.” Ethan’s jaw flexes as he looks out at the sea. I had no idea all Lycan children went through this. Just another law the Alphas and Ruling Council accept as custom, no matter how ridiculous it is. And this one is ridiculous.

  “Well that’s stupid! A child needs to be shown love and strength. That’s what mothers and fathers are for, the mothers give love and the fathers show strength. How could they think this was right?” My grandmother never made me feel weak. She showed me love but she also taught me how to be strong. Without her, I might not have survived my childhood.

  Ethan watches the waves rush toward the soft sand at his feet. Quietly he whispers, “I don’t want that.”

  I take a step closer to him. “What don’t you want?”

  Ethan looks at me with sadness in his eyes. I want to offer him some type of comfort but now way was I hugging him. Ethan and I have been more tolerant to each other lately, and heck I might even consider him a friend, but we’re not at the hugging stage just yet.

  “I don’t want to fall in love with someone just so they can leave me and our children. I want someone to share my whole life with. Yeah, most of the females return to their husbands eventually but I don’t want that separation.”

  I hadn’t even thought of what it did to the husbands of the females. I was only thinking about the children. The husbands almost have it worse. Yeah sure it was hard on the children but they’d become accustomed to it. How do you get accustomed to losing the love of your life for twenty or more years because the law says so?

  I throw my hands up in frustration. “All these laws are so freaking ridiculous. First, they want to tell you who you can love. Then, they tear you apart from your love to make your children stronger. Who came up with these laws? Lucifer?” Only a deranged and heartless idiot would make up these laws. The laws are supposed to protect us, not tear us apart.

  Ethan and I soon head back to the Coven. We don’t talk any more about love and laws. He doesn’t want to talk, and I’m so mad I can’t make a coherent thought. As we top over the beach onto the grass, Ethan places his hand on my forearm.

  “Thank you.”

  I nod my head. Even though Ethan’s mad and doesn’t want to talk about Danika, I imagine he also doesn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts. They would just drive him crazy. I might not have helped a lot but I did bring a little distraction.

  He walks off to join the others, who are spread out around the grounds, talking amongst themselves. Filek is standing alone by a tree, watching everything. I always find him standing at a distance. Filek is a distant guy. He doesn’t like being around others.

  Filek notices my approach. His face is unreadable, but his eyes give away his curiosity. “I wanted to thank you for catching me last night before I fell on my ass. So…thank you.”

  Filek holds a bit of amusement in his eyes. His black hair was its usual spiky mess. “You’re welcome.”

  I look over at the crowd, “Too crowded for you too?”

  Filek nods, “It’s always too crowded.”

  I catch Danika’s eye as I scan over the large mass of Shadows mingling on the grounds. Once she sees me she heads right over. The late morning sun is shining brightly on the Coven, making us all squint in its brightness. “Everything okay?” Danika doesn’t directly ask about Ethan, though I know she wants to.

  “Yep. Did they go over the ambush strategy again?”

  “Yes,” she says rolling her eyes. “The same plan we’ve discussed a gazillion times. There is one thing you should probably know, though. The Lycans and Vampires are going to try and clear a path for the Elders and the other high Witches. You will be with the Elders as we try to get to Cerelia. Once we reach her, the Lycans are going to create a barrier between us and any remaining Chimera that Cerelia turns.”

  “Okay, then what?”

  Danika raises her eyebrows and bites her lip. “Then we try trapping Cerelia. You’re going to be the biggest player when it comes to that. The Elders will then try capturing Cerelia’s spirit in the staff.”

  Yeah, that doesn’t sound impossible at all.

  “What about the Vampire who was here last night? Was she turned?” Filek asks.

  I think back to the wench who had me pinned to the ground. “Definitely. She had red specks in her eyes that I recognized from Micah’s.”

  “Who’s Micah?” Filek asks.

  “He’s the first completed transformation Cerelia has made. We don’t really know anything about him, but if he’s under Cerelia’s thumb, we can only assume he’s a threat.” Danika confirms.

  Without even thinking about it, I defend Micah. “Micah is not a threat.”

  Danika gives me a confused look. “We don’t know anything about him, Racquel.”

  I want to argue with her but my attention is side-lined as a man walks by us I don’t recognize. He’s not a Lycan or a Vampire and he’s definitely not a Witch. The only Shape-shifters with us are Evan, Eric, and Trent. “Who’s that?”

  Danika turns to look where I’m pointing. “That’s Nolan.”

  “That’s Nolan?” I ask in astonishment. I let out a small whistle, “Wow, that little fairy sure does know how to grow up.” There is no other way to describe Nolan except for hot. He’s only wearing frayed khaki shorts. His light red hair spirals down to his ears. But his ripped, very toned, very attractive torso is what catches my eyes. “I didn’t know fairies were so-”

  “Melt-a-licious.” Danika finishes for me.

  I give her a big grin, “Exactly.”

  Filek rolls his eyes as he walks off. Guy Witches are cute too but not in a sexy Tarzan kind of way. Their muscles are a bit on the normal side I guess, toned but not bulky. Vampires are just lanky bones but somehow have great strength. Lycans are built too, but not like Nolan.

  With a sly smile, I say, “It’s a shame they’re only around two weeks a year. Sexiness like that deserves to be looked at more often.”

  Danika busts out laughing. She shakes her head as she puts her hand over her face.

  “What?” I ask innocently. “You saw him, you know it’s true. When did he change?”

  “Last night after midnight,” Danika says. “You should have seen the other girls when he came walking off the beach in nothing but a towel. They were swooning and swimming in their own drool.”

  Who could blame them?

  We look over at the younger Witches, whose ages range from probably fifteen to eighteen. They’re all huddled together giggling as the guys walk by, most of which are Lycans. When we first got here, I only noticed two other guy Witches besides Filek. I’m sure the girls were enjoying some new eye candy.

  My thoughts turn back to my conversation with Ethan. How could the Ruling Council dictate who people loved? Most of them are already at a disadvantage. Male Witches were outnumbered by the females by a large margin. It just isn’t fair.

  As Danika walks away, she glances back at me when she sees I’m not following. “You coming?”

  I shake my head, “I’m going to go somewhere quiet. I still need to figure out what that black mist is that’s keeping me from fully transforming.”

  “Okay.” She starts to walk away again but then turns back. “Here, I almost forgot this. You lost it when we were in Greenl
and. I’ve been meaning to give it back to you but I kept forgetting.” She holds her hand up. Lying on her palm is the crystal necklace that Dagna had given me when this all started. The crystal still had a light blue glow to it from where the Elders had infused it with power.

  I take the necklace from her. “Thank you.”

  She nods her head in acknowledgment. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks. It’ll be needed.” I say as I walk toward the beach.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The sun’s almost set as we all stand on the beach. After feeling a surge of energy coming from the direction of Delos, which we automatically identify as Cerelia’s, we prepare to Mykonos. Witten and Jobe are ushering various groups of Shadows into the boats. Natahala’s followers showed up minutes before we headed to the beach. The Lycans had tensed up from all their old enemies being around, but no fights had broken out.

  Our numbers have swelled since we first arrived here in Mykonos. Our group now stood at around three hundred compared to the small forty or so of us who started out with the plan to defeat Cerelia just a few days ago.

  I spent the afternoon alone on the beach, trying to set peace over the black mist. Although I didn’t succeed, I had calmed the black mist down. Instead of a massive spiraling cloud. Now it was a small fog, twisting around the two strands. I’m just hoping that my efforts are enough to bring Cerelia to her end.

  Alanis is standing beside me as we wait for the others to board. “Where did we get all these boats?” There were around fifty vessels of various shapes and sizes lined up along the beach. It was an amazing sight.

  Alanis looks amused, “We have our ways.” It would seem Alanis can be just as forthcoming with information as our friendly Fae Queen. I don’t ask more, I’m just grateful that we have them. As interesting and strange as our travel across the sea in Greenland had been, I really don’t want to be trudging a mile across the sea on logs to get to Delos.

  Looking down the beach, I see Filek and Cadi talking to one another in a fierce but hushed conversation. Filek says something to Cadi that makes her lower here gaze down to the sand. He gently pulls her to him. Filek whispers something to Cadi that make her tears fall before he kisses her. Filek was going with us to Delos, while Cadi stayed behind to protect the younger Witches. It was surprising to see always-distant Filek with soft, caring Cadi.