“Ahhh…she was beautiful and full of life. She took from me my heart when first I saw her.” Stefan turned inward, his gaze grew unfocused as he spoke of his memories. “I came on caravan in the forest one night. I travel, tired and hungry; they welcome me to join them for meal. Nadja, your daj− mother−bring me plate of food. Her smile melt my heart.” His own smile brightened his face and made his eyes twinkle with mischief. In that moment, Pita could imagine how handsome he must have been all those years ago. “After meal, we sit and drink Rakia. Everyone speak around the campfire. Then darkness come, we sing Patshivaki Djilia−friendship songs and dance to guitar music. Nadja gave lightness to night. From that day, I not be far from her.”
“What is Rakia?” Pita asked when her father stopped to take a sip of his tea.
“Ahh…that is plum brandy. Very sweet and heavy on tongue,” he grinned.
“What did she look like? My mother…”
“She was beautiful. Long dark hair, eyes like sky. So young, she was…” He shook his head in sadness.
Pita reached over and placed her hand over his. “Papa,” she whispered, “what happened? Why did you give me up?”
“We love each other, and we do what forbidden, then Nadja become with child. She is cast out from her family as marhime−dirty. She grow big in the belly, and she get sicker. An old drabharni, mean medicine woman,” Stefan explained, “because she practice the draba, took pity on us and took Nadja in. She nurse her and help her through the pains, but Nadja, she not survive. Only you survive, my daughter. I work for Americans at university. They good to me and Nadja. I tell them, and they say they take you across ocean to United States and raise you as their child. They say I come see you if I choose, but I think it make you confused, so I stay away.” He glanced over at her, his eyes wet with unshed tears and tired with grief. “I am sorry, but I do what I think is the best for you.”
Pita moved closer to him on the sofa and hugged him. “I understand. My adoptive parents loved me and gave me the best of everything. I am guilty too, Papa.” She marveled at how comfortable that sounded to her. This man sitting beside me is my birth father. He had loved her enough to do what he thought best, even if it meant sending her across an ocean to a better life. She had to be honest with him too. He deserved the truth. “I never once had a strong desire to trace my roots. That is… not until recently.”
They sat in silence, embraced within each other’s own thoughts for several moments, then Pita asked. “What about the shape shifting? How did that come about? Is it a curse or a gift?”
He seemed to take a moment to consider before answering. “Many generations ago, a relation whose name I not remember was bitten by Lychan or werewolf. The virus move down bloodline. It able to skip generation, even several, but it seem to show somewhere in lineage. The virus come from me, Pita. Your mother not wolf, though in the Gypsy belief sometimes restless or angry souls migrate to wolf after death and hunt those who did wrong to them. They call spirits, the muló. Roma fear the muló and believe shifters or Lychan evil. They not like us and hunt us because of fear.”
“Is that why the woman…the Matriarch is a threat? She knew who I was it seems before I knew.” Pita recalled the strange eye contact on the plane to Bacau. “She came to me in my dreams, also, always in a threatening demeanor.”
Stefan nodded. “Yes. She gathers her own against us. Though we are all everyone Rom, there are many who not accept the wolf draba. We decide at gathering to remedy this war between Gypsy and the Shifter. I have suggestion but will wait for Niko and Tomas to come.”
“When, exactly, will this gathering take place?”
The sound of a car door slamming and the thud of boots upon the wooden planks of the porch distracted them. Both turned toward the cabin door, as it swung open, Pita’s question lost with the new arrivals’ entrance.
Chapter 44
“The gathering will take place tonight on the new moon. This will make it easier on the newbies, such as yourself,” Niko grinned in Pita’s direction. “They will not have to fight the pull of the shift. We want everyone to remain in human form. Trouble is expected.” Niko explained once he had everyone’s attention.
Pita remained beside her father on the sofa; Tomas sat rigidly in an armchair near the hearth and Val, Niko’s brother, stood by the cabin door.
“What do you mean by trouble?” Pita asked.
“We expect trouble from the Gypsies.” Niko glanced at Tomas and nodded.
“Sasha’s changed loyalties.”
“Sasha? What do you mean?” Hope edged its way into her brain like a seedling breaking through the spring-warmed soil. “She told you what the Gypsies plan to do? Why?” Pita replayed the scene with the Matriarch and Sasha in her mind. She never knew her to be devious but… “Tomas, what if it’s a trick? The confrontation between her and the Matriarch tells me that Sasha is playing games, possibly playing both sides.”
“You might be correct. But…how does your cliché go? Things not always what they seem.”
Niko added. “We plan to let the game play out. We’re prepared for whatever they can throw at us. Remember, they fear us—a fight motivated by fear is a losing battle. They cannot hope to ambush us because we have keener sense of hearing and smell. I think if anything, they will come in hopes of disrupting us. However, the worse case scenario is that they come armed, in which case, we will have armed guards surrounding the place of gathering.”
“Wow. You guys have this planned out like a covert mission.” Pita said awed by the scope of preparation that had gone into this gathering.
“Our survival is not to be taken lightly.” Niko stressed. “We must protect the pack in whatever way we can.”
“There are so few left,” Tomas shook his head, sadness etched into his words. “So many have died and suffered needlessly.”
“Yes, but tonight is end.” Stefan pounded a fist into his other hand. “We take new strategy for preservation of pack.”
Niko crossed to the sofa and slapped Stefan on the back in camaraderie. “Yes, your plan is solid.” Smiling he took Pita’s hands pulling her to him. “Come. Let’s take a walk.” He nuzzled his face into her hair and whispered, “I want to get you alone for awhile.”
Shivers of anticipation tickled her belly. Smiling she said, “Okay.”
To the others Niko said, “We’ll be back in awhile. Gather your things; we leave after the gathering.” As he led Pita out the door he turned, “Tomas see that all the arrangements have been made.”
“Yes, I will see you this evening. I take Stefan with me into the city.”
“Good. Val, keep an eye on the Matriarch.”
A nod of assent and he was gone out the door. In a blink of an eye, he shifted and disappeared across the dooryard into the forest.
“Wow.” Pita stared after him. “Doesn’t say much, does he?”
Niko chuckled. “No. He is very quiet and a very good soldier. My brother knows no other life. He has shifted since he was very young. His comfort is the forest.”
“Does he socialize on a human level? Date, work? You know, have a life?” Pita asked as they walked hand in hand into the woods.
“Yes, but he would rather be in the forest. No shifter can stay in wolf form indefinitely. We are first human, than wolf.”
“Ah…” Pita speculated a moment. “Okay, if your brother has been shifting for a long time, how old was he when he began his change? I thought the mutation didn’t become apparent until later.”
“Just like everything else there are exceptions to the rules.” Niko laughed. “Val began shifting in his early teens. As a matter of fact, you were late.” He teased. “The average is early to mid twenties.”
“Are you saying I’m old?” Pita poked him in the ribs and sprinted down the path with Niko in close pursuit. He tackled her, bringing her gently to the grass and held her beneath him, both of them laughing. She turned onto her back to face him, and he raised himself into a push up position, pal
ms flat to the ground at either side of her head. Their eyes held for a moment, then Niko bent and kissed her. He leaned his body down upon hers and nuzzled into the crook of her neck. Pita wrapped her arms around his neck enjoying his closeness. She arched against his erection wanting nothing but to feel him inside her once again. His lips found their way to hers once again in a soft kiss, then he sighed and pressed upward in one smooth motion, reaching down to help her off the ground. “Come. As much as I’d like to continue this, we must prepare for tonight.”
****
The forest lay shrouded in darkness accented by inky blackness where shadow met night. Pita relied on her newfound night vision, a gift of the change. All of her senses had heightened in human form as well. The heavy scent of pine and moist soil permeated the night air, and the haunting music of natural wolves baying drifted on the wind as she and Niko entered the clearing.
The golden glow of a small fire backlit many of the arrivals. Pita estimated thirty to forty people milling about. Several small groups gathered at various points around the fire. One noticeable fact surprised her. For the most part, the gathered were male. Only a handful was female. One woman in particular, lit up when her eyes alighted upon Niko. The woman stood as tall as Niko in her stilettos and seemed to have the longest, most perfectly shaped legs Pita had ever seen. Long wavy black hair fluttered in the wind as she moved, and her pale, creamy skin glowed iridescent in the firelight. Pita felt her belly involuntarily tighten. Jealousy and insecurity rose within her, as the woman slinked towards them.
Pita wondered how the woman could so artfully maneuver through dirt and grass in those shoes. She managed to keep them from digging in and appeared to walk as if she were on a catwalk in a fashion show.
“Nikolae,” she all but purred running a hand down his chest, “where have you been these last few months?”
“Around.” He snatched the woman’s hand before it made its way any further south. “How are you, Adriana? This is Pita Sedgwick. She is my Lupa, my mate.” He pulled Pita closer to his side.
Pita chilled at the coldness of his attitude towards Adriana and the direct emphasis on the word ‘mate’, but his fingers caressed the back of her neck softly beneath her hair. Adriana stepped back as if slapped. Her eyes burned amber for a fleeting moment then returned to their natural dark shade. She sniffed the air like a dog then said, “Ahh…so you have bonded with this woman? She is marked by your beast?”
“Yes.”
Adriana narrowed her eyes, gave Pita a slow once over then her eyes met Niko’s once more in a cold stare. “My but you work fast, Nikolae.” She nodded then pivoted in a swish of hair and sauntered away.
Pita shivered involuntarily, and Niko hugged her closer, seeming to sense her discomfort.
“What was that all about?”
“Nothing you need to worry about, but I will tell you all about Adriana later. Now we must attend to the business of the pack,” Niko said taking her hand and leading her toward the newest arrivals.
****
Not a word spoken, nor a call to order uttered, yet every shifter present turned his and her attention to Niko. He stood flanked by Tomas on one side, Stefan on the other, and several males, who Pita assumed, shared some form of rank within the pack. Those men fanned out on either side of them. She counted twelve in all. Sitting upon a fallen log directly in front of the group, she noticed Niko’s eyes settle on her at regular intervals. Others formed a semi circle around the group and stood or sat on the ground, but everyone’s attention remained locked on Niko.
“Finally we gather as a pack,” Niko said. “It has been a long time since we had reason to meet. Now it is time to function as one and work to strengthen the pack.”
“You have chosen your Alpha even in times where we were forced to separate and hide what we truly are. I accept my position among you and take full responsibility of this pack. If any among you challenge me for the position of Alpha, do it this night, or from this point forward keep your silence.”
Niko stood quietly and waited. Feet shuffled, the rumble of low voices, some coughs and the occasional throat clearing heard, but not one shifter challenged Niko. Pita glanced around at the faces. All seemed accepting. All but one. Adriana’s frigid eyes burned into hers. A deep chill of anxiety stabbed like a cold dagger into Pita’s belly.
“That settled and acknowledged,” Niko continued, “I have found the female destined to be my Lupa. Pita Sedgwick, born of Nadja, whose only curse was to love a shifter against her Roma heritage forcing the Gypsies to cast her out.” Niko turned to Stefan and placed an arm across the older man’s shoulders. “This man, her father, whisked the child away to the safety of an American couple who raised her as their own in the United States.”
Pita caught her father’s eye and saw sadness cross the dark orbs. She felt her own loss at not knowing him for all those lost years. Her attention moved once again to Niko.
“Pita is my true soul mate. She stands as the true Lupa in this pack, the female equivalent to the Alpha. Our beasts have communed so the bonding has begun. We are pledged to protect and aid the pack to flourish as well protect each other and the welfare of the pack with our lives.”
Adriana stepped forward. “How do you know this is the daughter of Nadja? Where is your proof?”
“My proof stands beside me—her father and the communion of our beasts.” Niko stepped forward to take Pita’s hands pulling her to him. “Any other that dare to challenge my Lupa and this blessed union, let him speak now!”
At Niko’s touch, the familiar hum of current passed between them and the familiar rising of her beast quivered within her. Niko pulled her close holding her to him and whispered, “Place your arms around me and let your beast go.”
Pita snuggled into Niko’s embrace. Her nervousness immediately dissolved and her desire for him heightened into deep sexual yearning. Curling need rose from her core and danced with her beast. It needed to break free from its confines within her. Niko’s hands slid down her back to her buttocks. He pressed her seductively into his pulsing erection, then bent his head and their lips met with the low thrum of electric-like pulse. Everywhere her body touched his vibrated with energy. The kiss deepened as Niko’s tongue snaked erotically around hers. Pita lost herself in sensual bliss as her beast surged to the surface called by his. A collective gasp of shock amongst the gathered shifters bid Pita to open her eyes slightly, just as Niko ended the kiss.
Niko shouted above the din of voices, “Does any of you require any further proof that this female is who I claim she is?”
Pita felt as if she were peering through a shimmering amber haze. The faces of the people before her swam and registered awe. “What is happening?” she whispered.
“An aura surrounds us. It is the magic we share with our union.” Niko explained, “Proof of the bonding of our beasts.”
Before Pita could react further, a howl split the night. A large grey wolf broke through the trees, and leapt into the clearing.
Chapter 45
Val shifted as he entered the clearing, the change swift—so fast, in fact, that Pita blinked to be sure she hadn’t imagined it. Someone tossed him a pair of jeans, which he unceremoniously pulled on as he approached Niko. Pita stood quiet and non-reactive at Niko’s side. No room in the world of the shifter for shyness, she thought.
Val’s voice brought her back to the issue at hand. “The woman comes. With her many men. About twenty.”
“Are they armed?” Niko asked.
“Some.”
“How much time before they arrive?”
Val held up his hand palm open, all five fingers spread and mouthed, “five minutes.” Niko nodded then turned to face the gathering. “They come and they have brought weapons. We do not shift. We will stand ground as we are.” He searched the faces settling his gaze on different people as he spoke. “We will not give them targets. I believe they will be less likely to shoot at us in human form.”
“Why?” Someone c
alled out.
“Because they don’t fear us, they fear the wolf−the muló. Do not draw weapons, do not threaten the Gypsies in any way. Is that clear?”
A unified nod of agreement moved through the gathering to Pita’s amazement. They are peaceful only wanting to survive, not at all what humans think or the legends speak.
The forest had become silent; no insect chirped, no small creature jostled the underbrush. The only sound was a light wind rustling leaf and pine needles high within the treetops. It seemed as if everyone had stopped breathing, as well. Then she heard the crunch of dry leaves and twigs under foot. A dim light bounced about announcing the arrival of the Gypsies.
The group emerged as one into the clearing. The weres gathered to one side, taking position behind Niko. Val had been correct. Pita counted twenty men surrounding the Matriarch, who stood poised between two men holding kerosene lanterns. She clutched a large walking stick and with her movements the tinkle of her many bangles could be heard across the small clearing.
Niko bent and whispered in Pita’s ear, “Stay with Tomas,” as he gave her a gentle push behind him.
Pita didn’t argue. She stood between Tomas and her father as Niko stepped forward a few feet. Likewise did the Matriarch. Her lantern-laden bookends stayed a couple of steps behind, as did the rest of the group. Pita saw only a few men with rifles held loosely at their sides.
“Why have you sought us out?” Niko asked. “Do you come to confront a group of unarmed people with your weapons?” Niko prompted.
“We do not murder defenseless people unlike you, the spawn of o Beng.” The Matriarch waved her hand to indicate the entire group of shifters.
“We are no more spawn of the devil than you,” Niko countered. “We do not murder innocents. Nor are we responsible for the demise of your family. We try to co-exist in a world that does not understand us.”
“Your kind raped and murdered my daughter!” The Matriarch’s dark eyes drifted to Stefan. “He took my daughter!” She pointed a crooked finger at him. “The furred filth is responsible for murdering my family. I will see you all in Hell!” She spat on the ground in disgust.
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