Sharlia breathed in the boy’s scent. He smelled natural, as natural as he could ever smell, and that told her a lot. It told her that the boy was telling them the truth. She didn’t like it, but she did see it. She did know it. She did understand it.
Brandon watched her lower the boy back down to his feet. Seeing this, he hated it. His anger only grew. “What are you doing? Kill it. Kill it before it does any more damage.”
Sharlia let go of his throat. “He is telling the truth Brandon. He is what he is.”
Brandon did not agree. He thought of nothing else, and reached past Sharlia and grabbed the boy back by the throat. He squeezed him hard as he lifted him back off his feet.
All of them, but Sharlia more, reached for Brandon’s right arm. She grabbed him, but felt his strength. She felt his power. He was Michael’s child, and now, she knew it better than ever. “You must not do this Brandon. You cannot.”
“Why?” Brandon watched the boy’s face turn paler. He watched him struggle some to breathe. He watched Sharlia take his arm. “You of all people should know better than trusting this thing. He killed your family. He tried to kill me. He tried to kill Sasha.” His voice growled. His mind flashed. His anger only grew stronger.
Sharlia understood him more than ever. There was only one true way to solve this. “Give him your throat, boy. Give your master your life.”
Brandon felt rather confused by hearing this. “That’s what I’m trying to do.” He did not know what she was talking about and this drove him nuts.
Sharlia smiled. “All of us Walkers give our lives to those who deserve it. Give him the chance to give his to you.”
The boy nodded strongly. It was hard to do with his head firmly held high. “I promise you to stand by your side my lord. I will give you my life to prove it.” The boy struggled, but did manage to say this much even though it came out gargled and with half of the air that he did actually get. It took everything he had to do it.
Brandon blinked with hearing this. He did not expect it. He did not really know what to do with it.
Sharlia understood him and had to answer him. “He will let you take his life Brandon. That is a sign that he will follow you.”
Brandon blinked again. “Why would that do anything, being that I’m going to kill him anyway?”
Sharlia breathed and nodded. She also squeezed his arm with a gentle tug. “He is showing his trust for you my lord Brandon. He is showing his loyalty.”
Brandon calmed some with all of this. He did not understand it, but at the same time, he was still human—at least as far as he was concerned with it—so he had compassion. He had trust. He still had will.
With the grip relaxing around his throat, the boy let the air gush back into his lungs. With it, he finally breathed. “I will walk with you. You are the true lord of the Gorhans.”
Brandon dropped the boy back to his feet ever so slowly without ever thinking about it. He then let go of his neck. Inside him, his emotions were erupting into a thousand different directions all at once. A part of him wanted to kill the kid—hell he deserved that much, but the other side of him—the side that was still human, could not do it. He could not, and would not, kill someone for nothing. He could not hurt someone that was giving themselves over for it willingly. With it all, he did not know what to do, so he just bowed his head. He took a deep breath. He let his eyes turn back and his fangs to slide back inside his mouth.
With him relaxing, Sharlia sighed. “He will…,” she began, but an overwhelming and powerful scent exploded on the air around them. It came strongly and came from many different sources all at once. Smelling it, her eyes flared red again as she spun back around. Taking a deep breath, she recognized all of them. She also recognized what it meant. “We are surrounded. They are here. Vincent and the Gorhans have found us.”
Collectively, all of them gasped.
All of their eyes flared red. All of them readied themselves for the fight that was about to come.
8
“When do you think they’ll come?” Sasha stoked the fire some. She got it burning as big and as brightly as he asked her to get it. Now with it going, and knowing everything she now did, she could not wait to see them. She could not wait to smell them. She could not wait to feel all of them standing beside her. This was her instinct. This was her greatest feelings coming on her all at once.
“I’m not sure.” Jimmy sat down beside her. He too could not wait to see them, but for all of a different reason for it. For him, it had been years, centuries even since he was. It had been a long time, too long at that to see them again.
She watched him sit. She saw her feelings shared by him too. “Can I ask you something?” She looked back at the fire. The orange glow warmed her face with a gentle ease.
He nodded and looked down at his hands. “Who are they?” He turned and looked right at her. He knew this would come. He understood all of the questions that were now roaming around inside her head. He would have them too, if he were in her shoes.
She smiled at his eyes. He looked different, but at the same time, he looked the same as he always did. He looked right too. She could not explain it any more than that. “I guess that’s why Collins made me huh?” She thought about her pack. She thought about Marie, Markey, Susanna, and all of the others too. She even thought about Samuel. She loved all of them, but maybe him more. He did what he did because he thought he was doing the right thing. He was trying to protect them from the hurt that he knew was coming and this made her also feel sad. She was sad for him.
He met her emerald stare. “I made you through others, but yes. I made many over the years. When I passed into him, I told him to do it without him knowing that I did.”
“So…It’s like he heard an echo.” She looked back to the flames. “He knew that you wanted him to do it…to make others for the time to come.”
He nodded. “I did.” He smiled.
“But why?”
He took a deep sigh before he began, “Devish knew that he would one day come back. The black wolf is more powerful than the others are, so I figured why not. You don’t think that I would just wander the world for all that time without doing something about it, did you?”
She giggled some with this. It had been a while since he and her were like this—alone, just the two of them. She missed it. She also missed him. “So can I ask you something else?”
“What?”
“Rachel. Who is she to you?”
He gulped shallowly with this. “She was and is the one. She will always be.”
She heard the fear in his voice. She smelled it on him too. “Why continue thinking that way? With everything, she has done—having that Gary guy following her for all those times—why still love her? Why still want to be with her too?” She figured that there was more there than that, so she just kept up with her general questions instead. If he doesn’t want to tell me that’s fine. It’s his right to do it. She understood if he did. It just made sense.
He felt surprised with this. “She didn’t do that because she wanted to. She felt it because of whom she is. She could not help herself from wanting to be with me. She always did.”
“So why still love her?”
“Why do you love Brandon?” He watched the side of her face, as she looked down. He loved the way she looked when she was thinking. She looks so innocent. She looks so pure. She looks so much like her.
Now it was her time to feel surprised. “Because I just do.” It was the best answer that she could give him. It was the only answer she had, and probably ever would.
He nodded. “Now you know why I do.” He smiled.
She needed even more. “How will you do what you’re going to do with her now standing against you? How do you do that?”
“How do I fight against someone I love?” It was his turn to look down.
She saw the pain on his face. “Yes.”
He smiled again, and looked back up. “All will happen the way it should. And it will.”
She shrugged, smelling a heavy mustiness on the air moving around them. Smelling it, she knew what it meant. Watching four people step into the glow of the flames, on the other side of them, she stood up.
Jimmy stood up with her. Seeing them again, he understood his memories completely. He remembered them. It felt like yesterday since he had seen them too. It felt right watching them being there again with him.
One woman of the group stood there softly, but she looked nothing of the kind. Her blonde hair looked greasy and unkempt. Her face was clean but looked like stone.
She obviously led the others, which to Jimmy was the way he intended it. At least he thought it was. “Cassandra?” He moved around the fire and stepped to her left side. The three others behind her readied themselves for anything. They looked almost ready to pounce. “It’s nice to see you all again.” He smiled to all of them.
She, and the others, did not return it. “Who in the fuck are you?” She let her eyes flow from what looked like blue to yellow all too fast. A slight growl rolled in with her words.
Seeing this, hearing it, he understood why. I look like I did but I am not him. He smiled again. “I am Kalima.” He looked at all of them, felt their hearts pounding inside them, and nodded. “I look a little different, I know this, but I am Kalima. I am the black wolf.”
Cassandra looked to the others, and they looked at her.
This made Jimmy look at them too. Michela was there. His real name sounded something like it, something he had trouble in pronouncing, which is why he gave him that name instead. His dark skin flashed in the fire’s glow. Seeing him, he now remembered everything about him. He found him on his journey to Africa after he left Europe back in 1493. When he did, he loved his strength. He thought he was a good soul. He was also a very sorrowful friend. His strength and his knowledge of living in the wild helped them remain hidden through time. He was a benefit that he could not pass up.
Next to Michela was Sebastian. He found him in Italy, not far outside of Rome. He was quiet then, but his knowledge for being a slave to a Senator of the Republic made him louder than most. He was strong. He was possessive. He was also angry, which was something that he loved more than anything else about him did.
Elisa was also there. She was the daughter of the King of the Visigoths. Her strengths outweighed that of her fathers by tenfold. She was also bright. She was smart as hell.
Nana stood behind Michela. She was from Brittani. She fought the Romans in their great rebellion back in 344. Her mind for tactics made him fall in love with her. Being that she was also scorned made her worth more than that.
Seeing all of them, he nodded, while feeling a little shocked by it too. He remembered everything about them and it made him somewhat surprised. It made him feel confident too.
Cassandra turned back to him with her eyes still sparkling with the wolf. “Prove it.” She took a deep breath and smelled his strength. She smelled the wolf, but she needed more. The man she knew was powerful. He was also different. She would know him when she saw him. She was sure of this much.
Jimmy smiled. “Cassandra, I found you in 1283, just outside of Alexandria. You were so young then that I didn’t want to turn you but I did after you tried to kill me. No one had ever tried to do that after they learned what I was. The impression stuck with me for days. I knew that you belonged with me after that.”
“Someone could have told you that.” She felt determined to stand her ground on this. She had to know for sure. She did not have any other choice.
He looked over to Michela, and then the others one at a time, and then finished back on Cassandra. “I am Kalima. I am your father.”
Cassandra bowed her head and let her eyes return back to their normal green and blue color. “Show us.” She lifted them again. “If you are Kalima, then show him to us. Show us the wolf.”
Again, Jimmy smiled. “All right then.” He removed his shirt and let the eyes at the back of his mind come forward with force. He dropped the shirt to his side as his own eyes flared yellow.
The blackness of his skin came first, followed by the familiar cracking of his bones. His claws formed fast. His hind paws formed right at the same time. The fur ebbed out as his snout formed long. Before the shirt hit the ground, Kalima stood there in front of all of them in all of his powerful glory.
Seeing him, tall, black, and strong, Cassandra smiled. She breathed in his smell. She took him into her soul.
The others, standing behind her, all gasped.
Sasha felt pride with watching him change. She loved him so much. She loved his power even more.
They all watched him stand tall. They listened to his snarls. They saw the telltale white colored fur beneath his chin.
Cassandra walked up to him and stopped. “You are Kalima.” She smiled, as she felt his body’s heat burn in front of her. He looked the same. He looked like the wolf she knew.
Jimmy called on his eyes, and slid back into his normal form after only a few seconds. When he was human again, he turned to all of them in turn. “Well?” He looked back again to Cassandra.
She smiled. “Kalima.” She gave him a nod. “Why have you called us here after all of this time?” She breathed in his must. She breathed in him. She could not help herself.
Jimmy looked back to Sasha before he answered her. When he felt ready, he did. “We have a fight coming. I need all of us to join it.” He nodded to Cassandra.
Cassandra looked back to the others. “You are our master.” She looked back to him. “What took you so long?”
Jimmy huffed some with this. “I’ve been up to a few things.” He laughed some following it.
Cassandra felt confused by this.
He saw this and knew that before they headed to Europe, he would first have to explain things to them. They deserved to know the full truth. They deserved everything. “I will tell you everything.” He bowed his head. He would tell them now.
9
They came fast as they rushed them. Within seconds, the Sharlias were each tackled to the ground. With so many Gorhans, they could not fight. In all fact, they did not stand the chance.
Vincent came out from the trees when all of them were contained. He saw Sharlia standing towards the center of the clearing and smiled to her with a gleeful nod. “Ah my dear Sharlia.” He stepped into the moonlight. Seeing her there, knowing that his master Devish had seen it all, confidence flew through his soul. “It is so nice to see you again, my dear.” He looked to her left and saw Maxwell there too. “I see you have found what is left of your family.” The smile vanished when he saw the man standing there with her on her right. He did not expect to see him; this much was obvious. “You?” He could not believe it. He did not understand it, but he did fear it. He did fear him.
Brandon watched him and the others gather all around the park. He watched everyone grabbed. He watched everyone closely. He could easily see that they were surrounded. He didn’t like this, but that was not what he thought about after seeing Vincent. With him there, his anger flared. “You motherfucker.” He turned and faced him. His eyes flared back to red and his fangs flew out.
Seeing this, Vincent took one-step back. “How? How have you lived?”
Brandon bowed his head. “You obviously don’t know everything.” He looked back up. He’s scared of me. He could smell it. He could see it. He liked it too.
Vincent took another step back.
Sharlia saw him and let the animal in her out. Her anger flew too. “Vincent, you are a son of a bitch.” She turned and looked back to the young Gorhan that she had just convinced Brandon not to kill, and looked right to his face. “You did this.” It made sense. “You led them here.” It answered her worst fears. Now, more than ever, she regretted that she let him live.
Vincent laughed with hearing this. When he finished, with Sharlia looking back at him, he kept the smile. “He did not betray you my dear Sharlia.” He looked to Maxwell and nodded to him. “He did.”
Seeing the dir
ection of the nod, Sharlia looked to Maxwell, and her heart sank. “You are with them?” She could not believe this. Realizing it now, terror raked her soul and mind. “How could you be with them?” She gasped. She felt like crying. She felt like breaking down. “How could you betray me—betray us?”
Maxwell blinked. He moved away from her and walked to Vincent’s side. “I am sorry my lady, but we must join with Devish. He is our future. We must follow him. We must let him lead us to a new glory.”
Sharlia felt tears roll down from both of her eyes. Her break continued without any other thoughts about it. No one ever leaves their family for another. This felt wrong. This felt very bad.
Brandon watched her lower her head. He felt for her. He hated it, and turned back to Vincent. “All of this was to get to us. All of this was for him.” He shook his head.
Vincent took a deep breath. “He is our god brother. He is the view of what our future will be.”
Brandon chuckled some with that one. “Is that what you tell yourself? You and your future are very fucked up.” He slapped his hands to his hips. He had more to say, and all of it came out all by itself. He could not have stopped it if he tried. “Does your future move to kill others like you—like us? Is it your future to conspire with others against your families?” He looked at all of them around him and then ended back on Vincent. “You sent that Gary dude to kill Michael didn’t you?” He met his stare with his fire red eyes burning. Inside, his mind filled with everything that happened. He could even remember some things that matched to Michael’s life. He could see Vincent arguing with him about the black wolf. He could remember how he, Michael, needed to find him before he killed other humans. He remembered that he had to stop him. He had to protect the truce between them and the world. He remembered how Vincent hated him. How he wanted him dead. He did not know why he knew all of this, but he did not care. It just mattered to see it. It mattered to feel it. It mattered to know the truth.
Vincent looked at the others with him and heard them gasp. One of them, Jason, one of the oldest of their group, turned to him with wanting eyes. He feared what that look meant.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 4, 5, & 6 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 2) Page 47
