He nodded. “You are a true warrior at heart. I would that you had been born a hunter. You would have made us very proud.”
My father’s voice, full of disdain and worry, roused my attention as I entered the room again. I’m not sure what exactly he was saying though, because by the time I actually started paying attention again, it was Sierra who was coming out of her seat to plead with me.
“Don’t listen to that. We have to get him back!” Sierra’s face was stricken, and tears once again streamed freely down her face. I had always been under the impression that the reason mothers loved their babies so much was because they felt the miracle of growing a person within themselves. I was seeing now, that it simply wasn’t true. Babies, children even, have a magic all their own that wraps around a person’s heart and ensnares them. Sierra would give up her everything for the child that wasn’t biologically hers just as I would for Willow.
I turned to my mother then, “I need you to keep Willow safe, and take care of her until Mikael or I get back.” My mother started to protest, but I shushed her quickly. “I can’t sit back and leave that baby to be drained because I was afraid for myself. If it were Willow, I would have been out the door the moment I knew how to get there. The only thing that held me here this long was to make sure my daughter is taken care of while I am out there, and in case I don’t get back. You tell her how very much I loved her.”
“You need to wait until Mikael and Asi are back, Jess. I will not stand by and watch you march yourself right into the arms of the enemy. We don’t even know exactly what a Fiul Sange is capable of.” The worry was back in my father’s voice, but so was the authority of a pack master. Were I not the White Wolf, he would force me to stay behind. I felt the power in his words, and thanked my ancestors for the blood line I possessed.
“I am going. It would also do for you to remember who I am. White Wolf blood runs in my veins, and those tricks you are pulling to keep me here won’t work. What they will do is piss me off and send me in search of another pack to reside with when I get baby Jack back.”
There was a collective gasp in the room. To leave the pack of my birth for another would be to shun the old pack, which would mean my entire family, including Mikael, if he chose to stay. It didn’t always have to be that way, but if it were done because of something like this, a shunning would be facilitated.
“You are quick to throw out that you are the White Wolf, Jess, but you forget you are my daughter. What would you do if it were Willow standing here ready to lead the charge against, hell we don’t even know what? There could be a dark army awaiting you out there.” I saw the fine tremor of fear run through my father’s hands then. He was right, I would do whatever it took to keep her safe. In fact, that had been what he thought he was doing for us when he allowed a security team to search my house while I slept. Realizing that it was done out of love didn’t change the outcome of his actions though. What it did do was change how we had to approach the situation, and the only way to make it work was to follow the plan that Layla and I had concocted together.
“It’s time for me to go, before they do anything stupid with the baby.”
“I’m going too!” Sierra was quickly on my heals as I moved toward the front door.
“You cannot.” She appeared ready to argue with me, so I pushed on. “I made you a promise that I would bring Jack back to you. Do you want me to honor that promise?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then you need to stay behind and honor your own, to help look after Willow until we get back, and even if we don’t.”
“Jessica, you can’t ask me to stay behind. How will the baby get out again, once they have you, if no one else goes along?”
I smiled at Sierra, because it was the same question Layla and I struggled with ourselves until we came up with the only solution possible.
“Don’t worry, little one, we have it all covered. Jessica knows exactly what to do.” Layla’s sweet sing-song voice intoned to Sierra as she draped her arm affectionately around her shoulders. “Now, come, and my sister will make you a tea that will help take the edge off while we wait.” I tipped my head towards Layla in thanks, and left the house.
“Jess,” Ashley called out from the door.
“Yeah?”
“You better come back safe and sound, or Mikael’s going to go on the warpath when he gets back.”
“Ashley, you just make sure they don’t tell Mikael where I went until after he comes back to the pack lands on his own. He is in enough danger, chasing down the worst of our wolves, I don’t need him distracted. I need him to come home to our daughter.”
“In case you can’t?”
“In case I can’t.” I turned before I could see Ashley break down. I knew they would all worry about me. Hell, I was worried about me, but I also knew that the plan Layla and I had come up with was solid. If nothing else, I would make sure that baby Jack and I both left this world in peace, instead of through the torture of a bloodletting sacrifice.
It didn’t take long for Layla to catch up to me. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I had to distract Serena. I know her, she wouldn’t have let me come to help, but she doesn’t understand what I did to seal the portal. I didn’t just link your bloodline to it, I linked myself too.”
“I know. I thank you for being brave enough to take me there. If there were any other way, I would have you stay behind with the rest of them. Now, we just have to figure out how to keep you safely hidden away until it’s time to take baby Jack back to his mom.”
“I think I can help with that.” The gritty voice that called out from behind us took me off guard a bit, because this was not what I had planned with Gabriel. Sensing my distrust of that fact, Gabriel added, “it’s a hunter’s gift to walk silently among the world.”
“You can’t be here. I won’t be responsible for any more people walking themselves into danger.” I offered, playing along to see where he was going with this, and hoping like hell he had a good plan to convince Layla.
“Well, you said it yourself. I am walking myself into danger, and therefore am not your responsibility.” He chuckled softly at that. “Besides, it is my birthright to hunt the things you seek out. I would be remiss in my duties if I did not attend you on this mission.” He turned his focus on Layla. “Someone must help keep the lovely Layla hidden while we wait on you and the baby at any rate.”
“Fine, but you’re putting your own ass on the line. I’m trying to do the right thing here, and I don’t want anyone else dying because they looked like me, or helped me.” It was a hard pill to swallow, knowing that all those girls between mine and Avery Daniels’s pack had been lost because they resembled me. I shook the thought away though, because I couldn’t afford to break down for anyone else just yet. I needed to make sure Baby Jack made it out, and away from the monsters safely, first.
“How exactly are you linked to the Gateway of the Dead?” Gabriel asked Layla the same question I had earlier.
“It cannot be found without me, or my blood.”
“Then how did the dark ones find it?”
“A question I cannot answer, because I don’t know.” Layla shook her head, silvery-blond locks bounced around her shoulders as she did so. “It still puzzles me, there is no other way, except with you and I.” She turned to look at me, and Gabriel’s attention shifted from Layla to me.
“With the two of you, or would someone from your bloodline do?” Gabriel asked as he turned his focus back to Layla.
“Well, I suppose one of my sisters could find the place if they saw fit to, but even then, only one knew how I sealed the place.”
“Maybe not,” I interrupted. “When I was a captive of your sister Sophia, she had a real bitter streak for Serena. She knew things Serena wasn’t able to tell others, maybe this wasn’t news to her either.”
“Even if that were the case, she’s dead, and clearly not suspect any longer.”
“She’s dead, but you guys have a bunch of
other sisters, right? Surely, one of them was closer to Sophia, and maybe willing to carry on her vendettas?”
Layla hesitated, and that was enough to convince me that there may be another witch at play. “It’s possible.” She finally whispered to me. “Highly unlikely, I think, but possible.”
Layla chewed her own perfectly manicured nails as we continued through the caverns. She was clearly upset that one of her sisters might be involved in this mess, this massacre of female wolves. “I’m sorry, Layla. I know that no matter how horrible Sophia was to me, she was still your sister. Whoever is doing this now, may be too. That can’t be easy on you.”
“There is no reason for you to apologize for what my sisters choose to do of their own free will. My mother, rest her soul, liked to dabble with the lives of those she considered lesser than her too. It runs in the blood, you might say. Some of us do try to stay clear of that life, but I suppose it proves alluring once in a while. You werewolves are long-lived in comparison to humans, but we witches… Ahh, we witches are damn near eternal. I think a certain madness comes with the monotony of living the same things over and over on repeat.”
“So what you’re telling me is the longer you live, the crazier you get?” I sighed and added, “I know some people who probably shouldn’t live very long.”
Layla and Gabriel both chuckled at that. “I don’t think that’s all there is to it. Your Serena is a good example. She’s saved the day more than a few times. That has to count for something in the land of the crazy.” Gabriel offered. “I hate to sound like a petulant hunter, but are we getting close?”
A light went on behind Layla’s eyes, in the most literal sense of the word. The silvery gray in them now glowed, brighter than a wolf’s eyes when light reflects from them. “Almost there…” she whispered.
“Whoa! Your eyes!” I couldn’t stop staring, and once I pointed them out, Gabriel joined with me.
“Sorry, my magic is showing.” She shrugged off our curious stares, and continued pushing forward through the dark cave system. The slope to the land wasn’t the only tip-off that we were descending into the depths of the earth. The scents around us changed too. I could no longer smell the flora and fauna from the forest outside. Now, everything took on a musty smell that denoted closed off spaces and limited escape routes. My heart was beating faster in my chest as the slight smell of sulfur also tickled my nose. Flashes of memory haunted me as I likened being this far underground to that of being caged by my captors. Too many times I was a rat caught in a trap. Now, I was willingly walking towards the same fate.
I didn’t even realize I had stopped walking or that I started hyperventilating a bit. “Jess, you will be okay. I know what you’ve been through. Serena explained everything to me. This is not a cage. You will have choices. You will have a way out, I promise.” Layla’s eyes shot through with mercury fire as she spoke. “Just breathe.” Once I got myself under control again, Layla attempted a smile, but it was tight and the strain she tried to hold back had become evident. “We’re nearly there. I don’t think Gabriel and I can continue on with you from this point.”
“Is it straight through the rest of the way?” The panic started to bubble up inside me again. There was so much at stake, and as usual, I found myself wondering if I was up to the task.
“It is. There will be various little nooks and crannies here and there off to the side of the cave walls, do not follow any of them. Straight on, it should start opening up shortly.” Layla was whispering now. “I can sense beings up ahead further. If I can sense them, they are of death magic. Dark ones, most likely.”
“Dark ones are ahead?” Gabriel’s stance changed from his low level cautionary stance to one of high alert.
“Will they let me pass?”
“They should. I don’t think they want to anger the Fiul Sange that lies in wait.”
“Neither do I, for that matter.” A nervous chuckle escaped my lips as the words did. I took a moment to remind myself what I was down there for. I was there to get baby Jack back to his mother, to save him as much as to save Sierra. I was also there to make sure no other girls went missing, or were tortured in my place. I turned to a skeptical Gabriel, squared my shoulder, and put my game face on. “I’ve got this.” Before I could second guess that shot of confidence, I moved beyond them, and into the deeper shadows of the cave.
It was then I realized what the light behind Layla’s eyes had been. She had been guiding us with her internal witch light. Once I stepped beyond the area where she could see, the light dissipated, and went out altogether. I knew then that I was truly alone for the rest of my journey. I could still see in the dim cave, just not as well as the dark ones who I could feel lurking on my periphery. This was their world. I was the invader, and none of them seemed too happy about it.
SOLO BATTLE
My phone wouldn’t stop buzzing in my pocket as I walked through the caverns that, somewhere up above, linked my father’s lands to Avery’s. Finally, I decided just to answer it, only to hear Mikael’s angry voice on the other end.
“Have you lost your mind, Jess? We’re out here on the trail of the rogue hunter and Clarissa to stop them from helping the others to find you. Now, you’re going to just walk your ass to them?”
“Technically, yes.” I was definitely going to be in trouble with Mikael if I made it back alive.
“Seriously, you’re going to be a smartass, right now? What about Willow, Jess?”
“She’s taken care of until you get back.” As much as it pained me, I had to keep my emotions on lock down. If I had taken too much time to think about possibly leaving Willow and Mikael behind, I would have chickened out, and Sierra’s baby would suffer for my cowardice. “Who told you?”
“Does it really matter? You should have told me.”
“I didn’t want you worried while you were out on a retrieval mission. As for Willow, she’s safe, and she’s taken care of. It’s not like I was bringing her along for the ride. They have baby Jack, Mikael. What else was I supposed to do? They thought he was Willow when they took him. If it had been Willow, would you be on the phone with me right now, convincing me not to go?”
“No, I’d be running towards you to help if it were our daughter, and you know that. This is different. I know you care for Sierra and baby Jack, but you’re running off to make yourself a martyr, and you’re leaving our daughter behind to be motherless. How does one more tragedy added to the list help at all?”
“Damn it, Mikael, and where are you right now? Oh, that’s right, you’re tracking down dangerous people. I never asked if you were trying to leave our daughter fatherless, because I knew it was something you had to do. So, stop trying to put that guilt off on me.” I sighed heavily into the phone as I collected myself. “Besides, I do not plan on dying today, but if I did, I know you would take care of our daughter and remind her that I did what had to be done. I am not the type of person to leave innocent people, especially a baby, to die in my place.”
“Jess,” he whispered into the phone, “please, don’t do this right now. Wait until I can get back.”
“We can’t wait, Mikael. If we wait, the baby dies. You’ve held him in your arms too. Hell, he was the baby we both coddled while we waited for our own to be born. He’s the one thing that saved Sierra after Jack’s death. Could you really wait if our roles were reversed right now?”
“No.” That one word came on the heels of so much misery that it made my chest ache. “I know where you’re coming from Jess, and it makes me love you all the more. We just haven’t had enough time together yet. Maybe that makes me selfish, but I think we deserve at least one human lifetime together if we can’t have the rest of our unnaturally long were-lives.”
“Mikael, some humans don’t get a lifetime together either. I love you, and I will do my best to come back for you and Willow, I promise.” I hesitated when I heard a sob coming from the other end of the line. “Mikael, if I don’t…” I swallowed hard thinking about the p
ossibilities. “I left something for you and Willow with Serena. She will see that you get it. I have to go, I’m at the cave entrance now, if I keep talking they’ll know more than I want them to.”
“Jess…” Mikael’s voice cracked in anguish. I don’t know what he would have said in that moment, because I hung my phone up and turned it off. If I had to hear the despair in his voice, or another sob come from the man I’d always known to be so strong, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go through with this plan myself. Actually, I didn’t have an option any longer. The dark ones that were interspersed throughout the tunnel system were now at my back, pushing me forward into the unknown abyss on the other side.
“Ah, so good of you to finally show your face. I had been worried that you would sacrifice your child, rather than come to me on your own.” He looked at the baby who was sitting quietly beside him. “I had heard rumors that the white wolf had given birth, that she was still with child, that she never was. It’s a daunting thing to try to see a strange world from the outside in, especially one as closed off and secretive as the wolves.”
“Do you have a point?” I rolled my eyes. It was just my luck to be stuck with the chatty leader of the dark ones.
“My apologies, it appears as though I bore you with my seemingly futile attempt to find the one who could open this portal.”
As he stepped out of the way I got my first glimpse of the dais I had seen so many times in my dreams. I took a moment to look around me. This was most assuredly the same cave I always met with the White Wolf Souls in. There, just in front of the dais was the willow tree that I had seen growing in my dreams as well.
The man, the monster, before me glanced at the tree too, before turning back to baby Jack who was still wearing Willow’s t-shirt. It was a baby blue color, which accounted for why Sierra would have chosen that one, but up in the left hand corner, just above the baby’s heart was the embroidered name, Willow. “The tree makes sense now.” He turned his attention back on me then. “Since you’re bored, I don’t see the point in wasting any more time with getting to know each other, you won’t be around long enough for it to matter. I do thank you for your sacrifice though.”
Bound by the Moon (The Ancients Series Book 4) Page 9
