The Ancients Series

by Christine M. Butler

  Fear clouded Anna’s features. “You would send a female to the locks?”

  “You sent me to Zach and Sophia knowing what they planned. I don’t know why you suddenly expect pity from me.”

  “That was Leanna. I didn’t have a choice!”

  “Except I was paralyzed, not knocked out. I heard everything you and Leanna talked about. Your choice was very clear.”

  Anna blanched.

  “Now, I have important things to attend today, so spit it out already. What do you have to tell me that I didn’t already know?”

  “Clarissa is with Malachai. She went to him when Evan realized she was only with him for ulterior motives. My sister only ever wanted the top dog, and now she has him.” Anna sniffled. I laughed. “What? Why are you laughing?”

  “First of all, Malachai may have been the oldest, but that certainly doesn’t make him the top dog! Every male in this room is in higher standing, and with exception of you, every female too!” I stood and waved my hand indicating the people in the room with me. “My people are not hiding with tails tucked between their legs. They aren’t waiting for someone stronger to do their work for them. Any of my people are worth far more than your precious Malachai, who secreted away a harem of women to abuse at his whim. He will be brought to justice, as will any who stood with him.” I turned to leave then.

  “Wait! Please!” Anna begged. “Please, be kind and remove my bond to him. At least let me die in peace.”

  “I cannot remove your bond, nor would I ask it of those who can. You will live out the rest of your days in the locks, bonded to Malachai. You deserve no more than that.” All the color drained from Annabelle’s face. The locks were nothing to joke about. There were three sets of them worldwide. One was about two hours away, another was deep down in the jungles of South America, and the third was in the unforgiving frozen wasteland of northern Siberia. Each set of locks held the worst of our kind. The rapists, murderers, and the jerks that hoped to out us to the general populace in outrageously violent ways were all there. Each set of locks was self-contained. Supplies were dropped in, but no one who was ever taken there got back out. Being sentenced to the locks, for some meant death, because the others present there would see to it. Women were almost never given a sentence, because everyone knew what would happen to them once they were dropped in.

  “Well,” I said as we all left the room and shut the door, “that was mostly a waste of time.” Everyone was staring at me then, “What?” I had zero problems kicking Annabelle through the portal to hell, but judging from the looks on everyone’s faces, I was the only one who felt that way.

  “We’re just surprised you sentenced a woman to the locks.” Eileen stated bluntly.

  “What would you have me do? Turn her loose?”

  “No, baby. What your mom was getting at is that she didn’t think she’d ever see you make that harsh a call.”

  I spun to make sure I could see everyone who was now standing outside of Annabelle’s cell with me. “Is that what you all think of me? You all think I’m soft?” No one answered. They all stood there in stony silence, probably unsure of how to approach things. “Does everyone think I can’t be a good ruler because I try to find better ways to do things?” I slammed my fist into the wall behind me, allowing my anger a little release. “That’s not being soft. It’s smart. Brute force only gets you so far. I don’t want the fear of my people. Antoine ruled like that and look where it got our kind. We were weakened by our separation from one another. I want to earn my people’s respect, and we will be stronger for it. As for her, she deserves no mercy. Whether that decision makes me weaker or stronger in anyone’s eyes doesn’t matter to me.”

  “Jess! No one said you did anything wrong or that you’re weak. We were just shocked, that’s all.” Evan spoke up while everyone else was still staring at me bug-eyed.

  “She took me.” I pointed to the wall. Somewhere behind there the woman that I had just sentenced was. “She could have gotten me killed, Mikael killed, the baby…” I sighed heavily. “Their plan was to kill my bond-kill Mikael-to hollow me out and give what was left to Zach to use how he wanted.”

  Mikael was the one who took his anger out on the wall beside him now, punching a fist sized hole into it to keep from exploding on the woman being held nearby. My mother sucked in a shocked breath and flinched away from him.

  “Annabelle and Leanna both knew what the plan was. They laughed about it. Leanna was at least a little sorry that Mikael would have to die, but…”

  “But what?” Evan asked.

  “Let’s go sit down in the other room first.” When everyone was situated in the room across the hall, I took a deep breath and started in. I looked at Evan, “do you know how your mother was chosen to be Antoine’s second mate?”

  “She looked a lot like my mother, I was told.” Mikael answered, and Evan confirmed with a shake of his head.

  “They were sisters.” I hadn’t told anyone about hearing their family history yet, because it seemed like a cruel thing to do to tear their family down even further than it already had been. Sophia had babbled on incessantly, and some of what she’d mentioned, I’d actually almost forgotten, until recent events jogged my memories. “Antoine held the one sister captive, like those girls you found. Leanna gave birth to two sons, not one.”

  “What do you mean?” Mikael looked worried now.

  “Malachai is her son as well.”

  “What?” Evan repeated.

  “What did you say?” Mikael was looking at me with wide eyes, disbelief clouding his vision, and apparently his hearing.

  “You found a woman who is pregnant with Malachai’s child remember? The same thing happened with Leanna. Only, she looked enough like Antoine’s mate that she gave birth, and then went back to the harem, leaving people to think that her sister had a baby. The only baby your mother had,” I said addressing Mikael “was you.”

  Mikael sat himself down, solidly, in the chair and stared off blankly at the table that was before him. “This is crazy. I don’t… are you sure?”

  “You were the only one born of Antoine’s bond to his first mate. Malachai was born out of a bond, and Evan to the second.”

  Evan looked sick. “My mother knew, didn’t she? About those girls in there?”

  Jess nodded. “I’m pretty sure she knew they still existed.”

  “I texted Serena. She should be here soon. She filled in all of the blanks in my memories the other day when we talked. I heard Sophia saying things, and I remembered some of the conversation I heard Leanna and Annabelle have when they first took me. They all liked to run their mouth as if I would never remember, but then again, that’s exactly what they thought would happen. When I had my little breakdown the other day, I remembered some of the things I’d overheard, and I talked to Serena about what it could mean.

  She confirmed what she knew to be true. I would rather she explain how she knows though, because I won’t do it justice, and you need to believe it. We are not just sending Annabelle to the locks. We are de-legitimizing Malachai’s claim on everything. Maybe, in doing so, it will flush him out. If someone is helping him, keeping him safe from us, they might think twice if this knowledge goes public, because Mikael is the one who would sit throne in Antoine’s place if I were not here.”

  Again, I sat there watching the faces around us, and my father had joined us at my mom’s behest. No one spoke until Serena showed up, and started explaining things.

  “Those damnable Kings’ Harems…” Serena started. “We can blame my mother for yet another bungle where they are concerned. She gave the order that the family in charge must continue to procreate or else their wolf powers would be lost to all. She lied, of course. She knew that her watchdogs would die off long before any of us would, so she would need them around a while longer. She knew, that like the animal she bound them to, the wolf people were prone to mate for life. She didn’t want strong lines ending because a female died before she could procreate
with the strongest of males. So, she lied and told them a king’s harem was necessary. I didn’t know it was still being adhered to. Even Sophia objected to the idea. If she’d known…” A look of longing and sorrow crossed Serena’s visage at the mention of her dead sister.

  “She was in love with Antoine, Serena. Sophia knew about his mates, and still continued to love him. She may have known and indulged his beliefs because of it.”

  Serena looked sad and worn down. “If only love were an easy thing.”

  Mikael had come to my side while we listened to Serena speaking, and now he draped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. It was easy for us now, but it hadn’t started that way. We could both relate.

  “What does this mean for Malachai?” I asked. “Evan was able to resist his father’s call because of his parentage, how does it affect Malachai, knowing what we know now?”

  “He was raised with a warped sense of reality. Mikael was ignored, and Evan was feared. It made them all who they are. The bonds they were born into had nothing to do with it. He is nothing more than a wolf with an ego, much like that boy who thought he could possess you.” Serena said. “Blood of his bond can find him. The stronger the connection, the better.”

  “So, Evan being his full brother would work?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she turned to Evan, “I need a wee bit of your blood.”

  Evan moved forward, still looking pale. “Take what you need, so we can find him, and end this.”

  Mikael was still in shock. “Everything we ever knew…. It’s like it just blew up in our faces all over again.”

  “Brother, I count myself lucky I didn’t suffer the same taint as Mal did, and so should you. We’ll find him, and take care of him once and for all. You have your own family to worry over now.” Evan smiled at me, and then looked back up at Mikael. “You’re one lucky bastard! So, snap out of it, and let’s make sure our asshole brother doesn’t keep fucking shit up!”

  I tried to lighten the mood. “I remember when I thought you were the asshole brother.” I teased and placed a kiss on Mikael’s nose, which made him smile. He snatched me up and sat me down on his lap across the table from Evan and Sophia. Together, we watched what she was doing.

  “What exactly do you need Evan’s blood for, again?”

  “He has the closest blood tie to Malachai. I can use his blood to scry for his brother’s location. So long as none of my other sisters were helping out, I should be able to find him quickly.”

  “How many sisters do you have?” Evan asked while waggling his eyebrows.

  “There were 7 of us. Now, there only 6.” She jabbed his finger, and collected droplets of blood.

  “Ouch!” Evan poked out his bottom lip in a mock pout.

  “That’s for thinking dirty thoughts about my sisters.” Everyone laughed at the back and forth exchange between Serena and Evan, but then I had a thought.

  “What about Leanna? Can we use his blood to find her too?”

  “Yes, but I must focus on one at a time. When one is found we can search for the other, if they’re not already together.” Serena used the blood she took from Evan, and began chanting something in foreign words, repeating them in rapid succession. The wooden top of the table grew into a picture, a map. My jaw dropped in awe as the magic wove its way, thickly, through the room. As soon as the map was completely formed Serena dropped Evan’s blood onto it, chanting different words this time. As she did so, she never let go of Evan’s hand. He was her link, as much as his blood was, I realized.

  The few droplets of blood that had shaken free of Evan’s hand began running in rivulets across the table. They were seeking the home that Serena was sending them to. She was summoning blood to blood. After a few moments, the blood stopped moving, and pooled altogether in one spot. I stood up in order to get a closer look. “Son of a bitch!” I exclaimed as I realized where the blood pooled.

  “We should have known.” My father joined in.

  “What am I missing?” Mikael asked.

  “That’s the territory of John Freedman and his pack.” I said, looking up at my father, and then back at Mikael. “He’s that bastard who didn’t bother showing up to my meetings about the Ancient Immersion Program, because he doesn’t want change, and he sure as shit doesn’t want a female ruler. They treat their women like garbage over there. Honestly, the girls you guys brought back from Antoine’s were probably better off than the females of the Freedman pack.”

  “So, now we know where Malachai is, and that he’s holed up with a bunch of losers, let’s go get them.” Evan stated before sucking the remaining blood from his fingertip.

  “Not so fast.” My dad turned to Asi, who had been silently watching everything play out. “We need a plan. Freedman’s men are well trained, survivalists. It’s not going to be an easy feat.” Asi nodded at my dad, and started combing over the distance between our pack and theirs.

  “The first thing we need to discuss is transportation. It looks like there is right around 300 miles between here and there. We need to figure out how many men to leave behind, and how many we need to have with us.” Asi was taking charge of the tactical aspects. So, I thought of the other thing everyone had forgotten about.

  “We also need to get a hold of Avery, and see how things are going over there. Let’s make sure we’re abreast of the situation with the Hunters and the dark ones. We don’t want to send our best men on a mission when a third party could be lying in wait for such a prime opportunity.”

  Asi nodded in my direction. “Just in case there are dark ones lurking, we’ll have to mobilize the men during mid-day, so there’s no chance of word getting back to them that so many of us have moved out. The women will have to be appraised of the situation, and be prepared to protect themselves too.”

  I picked up my phone and started texting Ashley. “Ash is on her way here. She can help my mom organize the women.”

  We spent the better part of the rest of the day coming up with plans, and contingency plans for if things went wrong on either side, either for the people traveling to Freedman’s lands or for those who were left behind.

  “You’ll be here with the women, but I don’t want you to be in with the women we brought back from the King’s Harem.” Mikael was advising me.

  “Wait. What do you mean by 'I’m staying here'? I want to be there when Malachai is found. I want to see for myself that he’s been brought to justice.”

  “We’ll bring him back here to you, sweetheart.” My father spoke up, trying to take the brunt of my anger so that my mate wouldn’t get skewered by the look I was sending him.

  “Seriously, this is getting old, really fast.”

  “If it were just you that I had to worry about, I wouldn’t be happy, but I wouldn’t stop you from going. It’s not just you anymore though, Jess. You have to remember you’re carrying our child, even if it doesn’t show yet.” Mikael came around the table and wrapped his arms around me, whispering in my ear. “You have my word that justice will be served, and your father’s word that we will bring him back so you can see for yourself. If we find Leanna with him, we will be bring her too.”

  “What if I asked you to stay here with me since I can’t go?”

  “Then I would. Just say the word.” His lips nipped against the tender flesh of my neck sending chills down my spine and gooseflesh across my skin.

  “No. I want you to be where you’re most needed, and that’s making sure my dad comes back safe too.” I sighed. “This pregnancy was bad timing.”

  Mikael smiled at me. “I’d say it was perfect timing. Once we get my brother, and this pack of jack-asses taken care of, you will be able to have your happily ever after you keep going on about, and now that will include a baby too.”

  Scouts were sent out with cameras, to record the goings on at Freedman’s pack. They never sent back any intel about Malachai being there, but a particular cabin received a lot of visitors, including John Freedman. Food was brought in; empty trays wer
e seen leaving. Someone special was staying there, and they didn’t leave the cabin at all. Asi and my father determined that it was probably their best bet for Malachai’s location, and they finished up the plans to raid Freedman’s pack with that information in mind.

  The final cog in the wheel of our plan was to send out notice to all the packs that anyone caught harboring known fugitives, Malachai, Leanna, and Clarissa would be given no quarter when punishments were handed down. It was also made known that Malachai was the illegitimate bastard of Antoine De’ Lune and Leanna before they were a mated pair, therefore relinquishing his title to the next eligible in the family line, Michael De’ Lune.

  It only took one day after that message went out, and Jameson St. Marks got word from his scouts that they were picking up defectors from the Freedman Pack who confirmed that Malachai was living among them. My father, Evan, Mikael, Asriel, and a few of the pack’s best warriors, including Dimitri, the new Ancient to our pack, set out to bring Malachai to justice, and hopefully nab the two women as well.

  Since it had already been decided that I wouldn’t be able to go along, I was going to test out my white wolf skills, and chalk it up as a training exercise. It would take a little over three hours for our men to get to the Freedman Pack, and just before they were due to arrive; I was going to try to induce a vision so that I could watch first hand, even if I couldn’t be there. All I had to do was convince my mother it was a good idea.

  “Please!” I begged.

  “Jessica, it’s not going to be good for the baby for you to be so stressed out.”

  “I’m not going to be stressed. I’m going to be watching what happens, that’s all. We may need to know. What if something goes wrong, and we have no warning that we’re going to be invaded by Freedman?”

  “Then we will fight, just like we prepared to do with the dark ones and the Hunters.”

  “Mom, come on. I’m only asking that you put me to sleep. Maybe you can think of it like this; I need the rest anyway.” I poked my lip out in a pout. “Please! I will be more stressed out not knowing.”