by Sage Domini
As I warily stared at the object, Dorian sighed. “I won’t force you to accept it. We only wanted you to know that we are pleased. An alliance between wolves and demons is long overdue.”
I’d had enough of his pretense. “So what are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to cut me open here and take the child from me?”
Dorian stared as my voice rose shrilly. “That’s what you will have to do because you will only have him over my dead fucking body!”
Dorian shook his head. “Jessa. No demon would dare harm your child.”
“Bullshit! The witch Cassiah is here and she told me-“
His head snapped up, his eyes glittering. “Cassiah!” He unleashed a torrent of obscenities and threw the bracelet down. He stopped suddenly. His voice was calm when he spoke next. “I understand now. I don’t know what that evil female has been telling you, but believe me dear girl, you do not need to worry about devils from the outside.” Dorian leaned close to me and whispered. “Because you already have one right here.” He kissed me full on the mouth. I closed my eyes with distaste at the brief reptilian taste of his lips. When I opened them he was gone.
I wandered the woods for hours. Once I heard a rustling and glanced up, startled, but it was only Kiko prowling around, surely at Marcus’s instruction, to find me and keep watch. I was reluctant to return to the farm. Cassiah would plunder my thoughts before I could make sense of them.
And what if Cassiah’s intentions were not as noble as she had claimed? There was no underworld search engine I could access or hotline I could call to verify her story. I paced through the green woods endlessly as the day wore on. If she had lied she had been convincing. But then, you tell parents their child is endangered and they will agree to most anything.
I froze. Anything. I had resigned myself to sharing my mate with the lovely witch if it meant my child may be saved.
Nearby Kiko whined lightly. He came to my side and tried to nudge me homeward. It was indeed growing dark..
“All right,” I sighed. “I’m going.” If the child was as important as Cassiah claimed, why had she alone been sent by The Seer to battle the demons? I needed to speak to Marcus. We would question the witch together. Trailing Kiko, I made my way through the darkening woods and back to the farm.
I heard the ominous buzz of chanting before I saw the fire. It burned crudely in the large clearing at the center of the modest cabins and was fed by a large pile of hastily hewn branches. Cassiah danced around the flames, her yellow hair streaming behind her. She raised her arms and intoned a string of perplexing words. The fire surged in response. She was nude.
Kiko issued a low growl. The men of the Dark Claws stood in a grim circle around the perimeter of the fire. I assumed the women and children had been away to their cabins. Whatever was to happen here would not be amusing.
My stomach lurched when I caught sight of Marcus. He stood to the side as Cassiah continued her wicked dance. He was also nude. He started when he saw me. “Go to the cabin,” he ordered.
But before I could answer Cassiah turned. Her eyes glowed terribly. “No,” she said. “The queen needs to watch.”
“Watch what, Cassiah?”
She smiled. “You know what needs to happen. I must join with your alpha. Our mutual ecstasy will give me the power I need. Now is not the time to doubt. Your child’s life is at stake.”
I walked towards her. “Cassiah, I met a demon in the woods. He said you were a damn liar.” I held out the small silver bracelet which I had retrieved from the forest floor after the demon had fled. “The demons are pleased about the child. They offered a gift.”
Cassiah plucked the bracelet from my fingers and threw it into the fire. She smirked. “And demons always tell the truth.” She moved closer and touched my cheek. “I do this for you, Jessa. For your child.” She kissed me suddenly. I bit her cold lips. She took a step back and wiped a thin streak of blood from her mouth.
“Jessa.” Marcus’s voice was weary and unbearably sad. “I must. For us.” I had never heard him so defeated. He nodded to several of his brethren. They moved to my sides reluctantly. I yelped, thrashing, when they gripped my arms. Marcus had tears in his eyes. “Please, Jessa.”
I stopped struggling. “Marcus. Don’t. I don’t know what she wants, but it isn’t to save our child.”
But he only shook his head sadly. Cassiah sidled up to him. She ran her hands over his chest. Then lower. She stroked him and he stiffened. “It is the only way,” she purred.
I yelled. “No!”
But she led him over to the pallet which had been made up by the fire. She urged his powerful body to lie back. He closed his eyes as she mounted him. Her face was a cruel mask of triumph. How had I not seen she was evil? How did Marcus not see?
The crack of lightning came without warning. It sliced into the ground several feet from where Cassiah was on the verge of taking Marcus into her body. I blinked as my eyes sought to recover from the flash of light. Standing there, with a furious expression, was a small boy.
The effect of his sudden appearance was dramatic. Every watching member of the Dark Claws gasped and dropped to his knees, head bowed. Cassiah’s face went slack with empty horror. Marcus toppled her and rose to his knees. “Great Seer,” he said.
“Great Seer,” the Dark Claws repeated.
I stared. Somehow I had expected The Seer to be wizened and homely, a sort of underworld Santa Claus. Not this cherubic childlike being.
But when he spoke his deep voice thundered with ancient knowledge. He pointed a small finger as the cowering witch. “Cassiah. You have betrayed the sacred duties of witchcraft. You will answer for your crime.” The witch let out a high wail of anguish and dropped into the dirt. “Mercy,” she begged.
But The Seer was unforgiving. “You do not deserve mercy.” He turned to Marcus’s kneeling form. “Marcus of the Dark Claws, the witch had the foulest of intentions. She meant to exile your child’s spirit into oblivion and take you for herself.” Another wail from Cassiah. “She will be punished.”
The Seer faced me. The blue eyes in his small face were kindly. “Jessa, the last werewolf bride of the Caprese line and daughter of a lost demon. Your body carries a boy child who will bind us all together.” He nodded. “Raise him well.” With another crack of lightning he disappeared, and Cassiah with him.
I sank to my knees, trembling. Kiko returned to his human form and set about extinguishing the fire. One of the brethren placed a comforting hand on my back. But I desperately needed Marcus.
Then he was there, lifting me in his strong arms and carrying me to the privacy of our cabin. There were no words as he undressed me, only a ferocious urgency to bury himself inside my slippery center. I came virtually the instant he entered me, arching my back and scratching his chest. Despite the heaviness of my pregnancy body, he rolled me easily on top of him and urged me to ride as hard as I could bear. I scratched his chest more deeply and licked the blood from the small wounds, feeling a furious possessiveness in the act. As he climaxed he screamed my name. We rocked together until the orgasm spiraled to conclusion.
As I climbed from him I felt a flood of warmth between my legs. I knew it was too heavy to be leaked semen. “Marcus,” I said. “Our son is coming.”
Many painful hours later our child slept in my arms. He had screamed his fierce way into the world shaking his tiny hands. But he quieted when his father held him and suckled greedily at my breast when it was offered. Marcus rested his head on my shoulder.
“My queen,” he said. “My love.”
I kissed his forehead. “Forever.” Gradually he fell into a happy sleep. Our son issued a tiny sigh. He would need a name. I settled back happily into the bed pillow, not minding the hurt which burned between my legs as the baby had ripped his way into the world. I was the last werewolf bride. I was a mate and mother. I was complete.
***
About the author: Sage Domini's first written story was about a young star who fell from t
he sky and needed the help of a special girl to find his place in this vast universe. That was a few (dozen) years ago. Though Sage has moved on to racier themes, she remains fascinated by the simple concept that we all belong somewhere...with someone.
