Of Blood and Twisted Roots (Rise of the Morphlings Book 1)

by E. M. Moore

  “I think it’s time I showed you something. I have regretted our last moments for ten years and now I’m going to show you why,” she said, turning robotically to the side and making her way up the stairs. I stood where I was, debating on whether I should follow.

  What did I really have to lose though? Even though I really wanted to make my way downstairs and forget about all this, I made my way after her. For an older lady, she sure had some speed on her. By the time I made it to the stairs, she had already made her way to the top and was rounding the corner to her office.

  Jogging up the stairs and making my way around the corner, I walked through her door and was hit with a memory.

  I had only been about eight at the time and had fallen, gashing my leg open in the process. Millie had taken care of me and had watched through shocked blue eyes as my skin slowly knit back together leaving it finally unblemished.

  It was the first time I’d been hurt, and we had no idea my skin would do that. Watching it had only made me cry worse. I just wanted to be normal. This was just another thing that would set me apart from everyone else.

  “You may be different, but that is what makes you special.”

  I would never forget those words Millie uttered to me that day. I had attempted as best I could to make that my motto. Even though I still felt betrayed by her, I knew I still loved her for all she had done to try to make me feel loved.

  She was currently sitting in front of her bricked-in fireplace holding a box with an infinity sign on it.

  Looking over at me with tears in her eyes, I barely heard her whisper, “I have had this since the day you got here. I have no idea what is in it, but I have had this compulsion over me not to give it to you until you were ready. The box… or something, has decided that you are. I have felt you coming for the last few weeks. I have no idea how to explain it, but I just knew.” She held the box out for me to take as I just stared at her.

  I had this feeling the contents of this box would forever change me and that made me very hesitant to take it. I had always wanted to know where I came from and why I was this way. Taking a deep breath, I took the box from her hands.

  “Thank you, Millie. Though, I would like to open this in private.,” I stated as I made my way from the room before she could respond. Now that I had the box, I needed to open it as soon as I could.

  Finally making it to the basement door, I threw it open and ran down the stairs. Absolutely nothing had changed since the last time I had been down here. The black bean bag I had brought down was covered in a layer of dust, but still looked just as I had left it.

  It was strange how at home I felt in this little nook even after being gone for so many years. Even the lamp that was sitting on the makeshift table made from boxes was still there. Carefully laying the box down, I cleared the dust off my things and turned on the light.

  Making myself comfortable, I took a minute to collect myself. My arm was still itching from the altercation earlier. I had probably cut myself or something when I had fallen. I pulled my shirt sleeve up and was left in utter shock.

  On my arm in the middle of my bicep was a small infinity symbol that looked as though it had been tattooed on. What the fuck is that? I thought as I ran a finger over it, not even feeling an indentation like you would expect there to be on a tattoo.

  My breathing started to pick up as I started to panic. What had that wolfman done to me? I started to take deep breaths to calm myself down when my attention caught on the box. Maybe it would hold an answer as to what the hell was now on my arm...

  I figured it was like a Band-Aid, less painful if you just ripped it off. I grabbed the box and tore off the top. Inside there were some baby items, a pacifier, baby shoes, and a small broach, which all the items had the same infinity symbol that had now popped up on my arm.

  I was slowly pulling out the baby items when I noticed there were some papers laying on the bottom. Reaching in, I took out the papers and sat the box back on the ground.

  My Dearest Anika,

  I am so sorry that you will have to grow up in a world without your father and me. I cannot even begin to explain how much you are loved, but you are not safe with us. Our kind is being hunted by the wolves. They need us to have the ability to shift when they want versus being controlled by the moon. Unfortunately, your father was hurt the last time we were attacked, and I fear that this is the end for us. I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but you’re a Morphling. The last we heard there was another clan of our kind near the Serpent’s Hollow. You can find it in the Blue Ridge Mountains out in North Carolina. Just follow the river and they will find you. We have prepared this letter to not be able to be read until you were older and able to make the journey on your own. There is so much I need to tell you, and nowhere near enough time. Beware the moon, it is your enemy. The wolves can only hunt you during that time unless they have one of our kind’s skin. Silver will be your best friend. In this box I have given you two silver daggers that I have carried since my mother gave them to me. Also, be on the lookout for your mates. It may take time, but you will find them, eventually. When you meet them, an infinity symbol will appear on your arm. Our kind mate with more than one man, you will know when you have found them all when the band is completed. I am so sorry we do not have more time. The moon is rising now so I must get you to the orphanage. Never doubt our love for you my darling. I am so sorry we do not have more time.

  All my love,

  Your mom, Elora

  I felt the tears falling from my eyes as I read and reread the letter, taking in every word. You could feel the love my mother had for me in her words.

  If we were only normal, this would have never happened. Sitting and wallowing in my self-pity, a ridiculous thought popped into my head: Oh shit. The wolf trying to kill me is one of my mates.

  Oh, hell no! That was not going to work. Maybe my mother had gotten it wrong, and that was just how it had worked for her. There was no way in hell I was going to be mated to that beast even though the hate I felt toward him was nowhere near what it should be. I had to shelf that idea in my head to think about later because I just could not mentally deal with that at the moment.

  I needed to focus and try to find what was left of my people. Maybe I wouldn’t see the wolf again, but if I did, I would be ready.

  Leaning over, I pulled the two small daggers out of the box. Holding them in my hands, they felt like they belonged. Like my mother warned, I may eventually be taken by the wolves, but I wouldn’t be going down without a fight.

  Chapter Three

  Hours passed, and I stayed down in the basement. I read the letter over and over, thinking about my mother. How she must’ve felt to give me up. And about my father being wounded. She’d said that was when they gave me up. They knew it was their end, and it was what they’d decided to do.

  Honestly, I didn’t know how I felt about that.

  Being alive was always supposed to be a good thing, but to be alive with no one like you...that wasn’t much better. But, my mother said there were others like me out there. People whose skin changed like mine. She’d said I’d find mates.

  Mates.

  I peeked over at my arm. The infinity symbol was still there. I traced it with my pointer finger, wondering if what she’d said was true. If I got the symbol, it meant that person was my mate. But that didn’t make any sense because the person that fate had chosen was trying to kill me. Had been trying to kill me since I left the orphanage. There was no way that thing was supposed to be my mate. Unless it was just another one of life’s cruel jokes. Enough already. I was pretty sure I had enough shitty things happen to me in my short time here that I didn’t need anything more--especially having a mate who wanted nothing more than to kill and maim me. Hell no. That wasn’t fucking happening.

  With a sigh, I pushed myself up to a standing position. I’d been wallowing for far too long, holding off the inevitable. Millie was still upstairs. Millie, who’d protected me. Whatever
this letter didn’t tell me, she might know. Though it killed me to do it, I was going to have to talk to her. Her flimsy excuses from earlier still didn’t jive with me. “She didn’t think it was the right time.” Fuck that. I was alone. Scared. To not know yourself was something I wouldn’t wish on anybody. And she’d known something all along and kept it from me.

  Fire burned in my chest as I stomped up the stairs. I pushed the basement door open, sending it careening against the wall and stopped short. Millie stood in the kitchen, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked up when I came in as if she’d expected me to show up sometime, and was patiently waiting for me. She had, after all, a front row seat to my teenage years. She knew how stubborn, sullen, and moody I could be.

  “You read it?” she asked.

  I nodded, looking her over. Her wiry gray hair was frizzy, poking out over her ears. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who could change my appearance.

  “I wish you wouldn’t have left like that.”

  “Really?” I asked with a scoff. All these years later and she was going to give me a lecture?

  Her fingers dug into her arms, the tips turning white with the effort. I recognized the gesture. Instead of blowing up, she gave me a tentative smile. “I know I could’ve handled things different as well. But…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to tell you, Anika. I wanted to give you that box. You have no idea how many times I thought about giving you that box, but it just wouldn’t let me.” She pulled her hands out and brought them in front of her. “I would have my hands on it. I would be carrying out of my room and then just...nothing. Nothing.” Her eyes widened as she remembered.

  I eyed her. There was one thing about growing up always being suspicious of other people, I did a lot of observing. Because of this, my bullshit meter was on point. Millie was telling the truth. She had tried. But that still didn’t mean I couldn’t be pissed about being in the dark all these years.

  I swallowed and leaned against the wall across from her. “So, did you really feel me coming?”

  She looked me up and down. “Must have because you certainly don’t look like you did when you left. You know I wouldn’t be able to recognize you.”

  She had a point there.

  “Well, I like it,” she said, looking at me from head to toe.

  The statement brought back memories. Every time I’d change, she’d look at me with her hands on her hips, and not just a cursory glance either. She’d really look at me. Then, she’d nod slowly and say, ‘Well, I like it.’ In all the years I’d been with her, she never told me she didn’t like the skin I turned into. Even when I was a teenager and changing my hair color to every different color of the rainbow.

  “So,” I started. “I have a mom.”

  “I know,” she said, her voice turning wistful.

  I eyed her. My gaze narrowing.

  “I couldn’t say before,” she said, answering my unspoken question. “I can’t really explain it, but it was like the box. It was like I had a gag order.”

  “You met her then?” I asked.

  Millie nodded. “Just when she dropped you off. She told me that you would be needing my help. That you’d be safe here until it was time for you to strike off on your own. Of course, we screwed that up, didn’t we?” She chuckled lightly. When I didn’t even so much as crack a smile, she cleared her throat and started again. “I’m afraid I don’t know much, Anika. She just told me that you would be safe here and that everything you needed was in that box.”

  I rolled my eyes, but looked right back at her. I raised to my tiptoes then dropped back down again. “Well, apparently there are more people like me. She told me how to get to them.” Well, she kind of told me how to get to them. She could’ve drawn me a map, but--

  The main door to the house rattled. Millie sat up straight and I moved in front of her, the silver daggers from my mother already out in my hands.

  Millie touched my shoulder. “Shh, dear. It’s okay. This place is safe for you. That’s why they chose it.”

  I bit my lip. It had been a long time since someone who cared for me touched me. I relaxed a little, but then a banging came on the door.

  Millie let out a startled cry this time and I patted her hand on my shoulder and then moved away. I crept toward the front door, my footsteps silent on the hall carpet runner. I peeked around the wall and stopped short when a flash of naked male chest showed through the glass window on the side of the door. The hell?

  The figure moved back and raised his foot. With one forceful kick, he slammed his heel into the door. It bowed, but didn’t give way.

  He cried out in frustration. “I know you’re in there! Let me in!”

  Millie snuck up behind me. “Is that one of them?”

  I nodded.

  “He followed you here?”

  “He’s the reason why I came,” I whispered back. “He found me and attacked me.”

  The wolfman kicked again. Millie jumped. In the next instant, she assured me, “It’s okay. We’ve had our fair share of visitors like this. Though, none of them ever got this close…”

  The skin on my upper arm burned. My mate… Could he really be my mate? How was he able to get so close if none of the others could?

  I peeked around the wall again. The guy still stood there shirtless. His shoulders heaved up and down as he searched the front entrance area for another way in. His eyes slid past the window, but moved back quickly.

  Shit.

  I didn’t move back in time. He saw me. He launched toward the window, holding his face up to the glass. “Let me in.”

  I shook my head. “Considering you tried to kill me earlier, that sounds like a bad idea.”

  “Damnit, Morphling, let me in!”

  “Yeah...no. Sorry. Can’t do it.”

  He let out a roar that sounded too close to a growl for my liking. Before I knew it, the flower pot that rested on the front stoop was crashing through the window. The glass shattered, tinkling to the floor while the soil scattered out in clumps with one lone purple flower skidding to a stop.

  I moved back and Millie went with me. The guy managed to squeeze his impressive body through the thin frame of the window and step right inside.

  “H-how did you do that?”

  His gaze narrowed. “Fuck if I know, but I’m pretty pissed off about it.”

  Millie pulled herself up and stood in front of me. She didn’t even reach my shoulders in this leggy blond’s body, but I had to admire her for her bravery. “It’s not possible,” she said. “Your kind can’t come in here.”

  “My kind can’t come in here if they mean the Morphling harm.”

  “You do,” I said. “Or was that one of your buddy’s who tried to take me out from behind earlier? Really fucking fair, by the way.”

  His lips curled back into a snarl. “Just what I wanted. A smartass for a mate.”

  Millie gasped. I was too pissed to gasp, but my mouth went dry. The symbol on my arm burned and I immediately covered it with my hand as if I could make the whole thing go away.

  He caught my movement and crossed his arms over his chest, displaying his too. Except, his already wove around the whole of his arm while mine was only partially finished.

  “So, you do know?” he asked. His jaw ticked as he stared at me. He stared so long my cheeks blushed. “I’m Riah, member of the wolf clan.”

  A lot of things should’ve caught my attention, but for some reason, his name did first. “Riah? What the hell kind of name is that?”

  His mouth snapped shut. “It’s short for Zachariah.”

  Oh, I thought. That was...kind of nice. Speaking of nice, Riah was incredibly good looking. His chest muscles were impressive. His body tapered down into that perfect v. A pair of low hanging jeans hid the rest of him until they dragged on the floor next to his bare feet. He had long dark blonde hair that just begged you to run your hands through it, and clear blue eyes that you could get lost in.

  “Don’t stare too lo
ng, blondie,” he deadpanned. “I wouldn’t want you to melt into a puddle in front of me.”

  “Go fuck yourself,” I shot back.

  Well, this was great. My first mate and I already wanted to punch him in the throat. It would’ve been nice if Mom mentioned something like that in her letter....

  Chapter Four

  After Millie gave Riah some clothes that definitely did not fit and looked as if they would rip at any moment, we made our way back to her office. I could feel his cold glare on my back, and as much as I wanted to turn around and put him on his ass, I just couldn’t find it in me to hurt him. That pissed me off more than anything.

  Riah and I took a seat on the chairs as far away from the other as we could possibly get. At least I wasn’t the only one thinking this whole mate thing was a crock of shit. Mille looked completely oblivious as she plopped herself down on the couch between us.

  “So, you two are mates?” she blurted out as if she couldn’t hold it in any longer. I grimaced at it actually being said out loud.

  “In name only,” Riah sneered, giving me a look of complete disdain. “I would never be with anyone of her kind.”

  “You and me both, mutt. I don’t even know why you’re here right now. Like, feel free to stay the hell away from me. I’m not the one who’s been hunting you, so you can shove all that up your ass,” I replied, almost screaming by the time I was done. What the fuck was wrong with him?

  “I have no choice but to stay,” he growled. “You’re my mate and I have to protect you. But just know that’s all it will ever be.”

  He stood and attempted to storm out of the room. Of course, me being me, I just couldn’t let him have the last word. “I have no use for a mutt, so go ahead and tuck tail and leave,” I replied, in the snarkiest tone I could muster. I’d spent my whole life struggling with not feeling bad about myself for being different, I would be damned if I would let a man--if he could even be called that--make me feel inferior.