Bloodright (30 page)

“I was there the day he resurrected it. It was why he took me from Vulkasin. Without my blood as sacrifice the ring would not reveal itself.”

“My God! Did he try to kill you?”

“Nothing so graphic or painful. But the entire episode was terrifying. Fenrir revealed himself to us before Thomas forced him back into the ring. He was ferocious and hideous to look upon.”

“How did he force Fenrir back?”

“The bearer of the ring holds all the power over the wolf. Rafael has no comprehension of the true power he holds on his hand. Sharia will reveal the powers once the packs are gathered.”

“Rafe has made sure it never leaves his body as wolf or human. But it has been messing with his head, too. I think the wolf is restless.”

“Rafe must understand that despite what Fenrir wants, Rafe has the final word. He cannot be forced to do anything he does not naturally want to do, and his word is final over Fenrir’s.”

Falon let out a long, exhausted breath. Her temples pounded. But she would have her answers. “The night I met Rafael, a man named Viktor Salene approached me.” Falon watched her mother’s face for any clue that she knew the man. The flare of her nostrils was her only tell. “Did you know him?”

“Yes,” Layla whispered.

“He knew my name. Told me he was taking me to my people. Slayer people.”

“Viktor Salene was a crazy Corbet wannabe.”

“What’s so great about the Corbets? They are bloodthirsty murderers!”

“That fact is inarguable. But amongst Slayers, the eldest son of the eldest son of Peter Corbet are born with innate powers no other Slayer possesses. They are revered among all Slayers.”

“How do you know this?”

“I was a captive of one of those eldest sons. I heard and saw more about the life of a Slayer than any Lycan before me.”

“Why did Salene insist I was a Slayer?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he sensed your innate power, not realizing you were Lycan.”

“How did he get the ring from Corbet?”

Layla shook her head. “My gut tells me he slew Thomas for it. He would never have handed it over of his own free will.”

“Rafe killed Salene and took the ring.”

“The ring is where it should be. For now anyway.”

Falon’s eyes narrowed. A hunch niggled at her. “Did you—have affection for Corbet?”

Falon hissed in a breath when she caught the softening in her mother’s eyes before she could hide it with indifference. “How could you?” she demanded, horrified by the thought. “After what he did? Is that why you refuse to talk about him? Is that the real reason you could not face your pack?”

Layla’s eyes filled with tears. “You were not there, Falon. You did not see the side of him I saw.”

Falon fought hard to keep her emotions under control. No, she had not walked a mile in her mother’s shoes, but even so, she could not fathom how
any
Lycan could feel compassion for such a heinous individual. Falon despised Thomas Corbet on principal alone for what he had done to Rafe and Lucien. So, too, should Layla.

“He’s a murderer.”

“What are Rafe and Lucien?”

Falon’s jaw dropped. Never would she expect her mother or any Lycan to defend a Slayer against a Lycan. “How can you ask such a thing when you were there! When you witnessed firsthand their cruelty? What would you expect any Lycan to do to the people who destroyed their family? Hug them and hang out? The Slayers started this fight centuries ago. As you know Lycans have only one natural enemy: Slayers. Lycans fight for survival not because of hatred or because some douche-bag king didn’t like wolves but because they have been singularly persecuted for almost a thousand years!”

Falon shook she was so angry. But more than that, disappointed that her mother would sympathize with their mortal enemy.

“Falon, I have slain my share of Slayers. If any one of them walked into this cabin, I would tear their heart out. What I am saying is, there are two sides to every man. And not all men who are born into hatred embrace it.”

“Are you saying Thomas Corbet didn’t get off killing Lycan?”

“No, I’m just saying perhaps if he had a choice he would not have.”

“We all have choices, Mother.” Falon sat back against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. This was not how she wanted to get to know her mother. It was not what she expected. But now that the cards were on the table she would have all her answers. But Layla blindsided her with a question.

“Did you ever expect to soften toward Lucien?”

Falon hissed in a deep breath. “He is not a Slayer!”

“But he wanted to kill Rafe, the man you loved, and he would have slain you had the council’s verdict upheld the Blood Law to the letter.”

“No, he would not have!”

“You are a hypocrite, Falon. You despised Lucien. You knew if you were to mark him it would destroy Rafael. Yet you did it anyway with no regard to Rafe’s feelings.”

“I did not despise Lucien! I despised what he did.” And she did care about Rafa’s feelings. Had she not marked Lucien neither of them could move on. And to survive they had no choice but to do so.

“As I despised what Thomas did.”

“Did my father know of your affection for that horrible man? Is that what really drove him away?”

Layla’s lips thinned into a grim line. “As you, I was torn between two men, Falon, and because I was a coward, I have neither. Do not make the mistake I made. Find a way to love them both.”

“They will not allow me to openly love them both.”

Layla smoothed Falon’s furrowed brows with cool, soothing fingertips. “You have just not found a way to convince them yet.”

Falon’s brain throbbed inside of her skull. She wanted to shift and run. Run away from her questions, the answers she did not want to hear, and the turmoil in her heart and soul. But she didn’t. She stood and dug her heels in deeper.

“Why did you abandon me?”

Layla’s cheeks darkened but she looked Falon in the eyes. “I am sorry for that, Falon. But it was the only way to keep the Slayers off your scent. You had to be away from me. Completely. I
chose
to give you up so that you would survive.”

“I was miserable. All I had was my name, and after I ran away at fourteen from my foster home, I changed even that.”

“I regret your misery, Falon. There was never a minute of any hour that I did not think of you. But in my heart, I know what I did was right. That you are here with me today, alive, is proof.”

Hot tears stung Falon’s eyes. In her heart, she wanted to justify the decision her mother made, but in her soul, Falon knew she would never give up her child. She would fight to the death to protect her. She would have swallowed her pride and her fear and returned to her people for love and protection.

Falon had one more question and though she dreaded the answer, she knew she must ask it. “I see spirits. Lucien called them ghost walkers. He said you would explain.”

Layla hissed in a sharp breath. Her deep brown eyes widened with wonder and fear.

The hair on Falon’s arms crawled like caterpillars across her skin.

“You’re going to drop another bomb on me, aren’t you?” she asked, not wanting the answer.

“You have your father’s gift of the sight, Falon.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you possess the power to restore life.”

Sixteen

“THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!”

Layla shook her head and scooted closer to Falon. “Ghost walkers are restless spirits, Falon. Lycan spirits that have fallen by a Corbet sword. Their life forces were so strong when they were alive that although their bodies dissolved upon their deaths, their energy remained. All they need is a conduit to return to their earthly forms.”

Falon sat stunned, her stomach a nervous flutter of disbelief. “What kind of conduit?”

“A vessel with the gift of the sight, of seeing and hearing the lost souls who walk the earth around us.”

“I can’t help them!”

“Alone you can’t. For there to be any hope of their resurrection, you must control Fenrir’s magic. It’s powerful. While that deformed wolf has used his power to kill his own kind, he also possesses the power to restore those lives.”

“How?”

“That is a mystery. But I do know from the whispers of the northern elders that there must be blood for blood.”

“Like how Corbet needed your blood to resurrect the ring?”

“Yes. I am a direct descendant of Singarti, the Great Spirit Mother who cast Fenrir into the ring. Only the combination of my blood and the blood of the eldest son of the Corbet bloodline could call it out. Thomas knew what to do, too, and it worked.”

“Would Sharia know what to do?”

Layla chuckled. “That old witch knows everything. I swear she has a crystal ball.”

“She said for the Lycan nation to prevail, the power of the three must unite.”

Layla’s eyes darkened but she nodded. “It has always been foretold.”

Falon swallowed hard. “She seems to think the three in question are me, Lucien, and Rafe.”

Layla nodded. “I always assumed the power of the three would be a Vulkasin, a Corbet, and Fenrir. But I understand now. The power of the three is the only power to defeat Fenrir.”

Falon’s temples began to throb again. None of this made sense. It was like chasing your tail. “But what of Rafael’s chosen one?”

Layla cocked an arched brow. “He has not marked her yet.”

“But he has vowed to do so. He would never go back on his word.”

Her mother shrugged. “Perhaps he doesn’t have to.”

Falon’s brows wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

“Rafael made his vow based on information he had at the time. If that information should change, then he would have an out.”

“I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“I just mean with the entire nation at stake, nothing is carved in stone,
buniq.
Not even the Blood Law.”

Falon rubbed her head as the migraine erupted full force between her temples. “I don’t understand any of this. I don’t
want
to understand any of this! It’s too hard and makes no sense to me.”

“What
do
you want, Falon?”

“I want Lucien and Rafael.”

“But if you can have only one, which would it be?”

“That is like asking me whether I would choose my heart or my soul.”

“To live a full life, you must possess both.”

Falon lay back on the thin mattress and clamped her hand across her eyes. She would sell her soul to Thomas Corbet for both men. “Try telling them that.”

“Perhaps you should.”

Falon lifted her hand and peered at her mother. “What are you saying?”

“Have them both. Tell them that is what you want. Accept nothing less.”

Falon jackknifed up; her cheeks flamed red-hot. “Are you kidding me? They would tear each other apart!”

“If they love you, they will share you. If they want to see the morning after the rising they will have no choice but to come to terms with it.”

“I—ah, I don’t think Sharia meant it like that, Mother. She meant united in spirit and power.” Warmth fizzled through Falon’s veins. Oh, dear Lord, in her perfect world she
would
have them both. But she lived in reality. “Rafael is honor bound to Anja, and I am soul bound to Lucien.”

Layla smiled and lay back onto the mattress, pulling Falon into the security of her arms. “To be united in spirit, one must be united in heart, body, and soul. From there comes the power.”

“Mother!” Falon cried, embarrassed that she was talking about, well, alluding to living with two men in a sexual relationship. Her skin shivered with warmth. Lord, it would be a wild ride. “Lucien and Rafe would never co-alpha, and they would
never
share me that way. And honestly? I would go crazy trying to make them both not be jealous of the other. It would be impossible.”

“If you say so, Daughter.”

“I say so because it is so.”

But when she closed her eyes, Falon could not help but think of the two men she loved and what it would mean to belong to them both.

SHAMELESSLY, FALON RAN naked through the timber. Her path up the steep mountain ran parallel to the road to Vulkasin. When Rafe’s scent became too strong to ignore, she banked away, backtracking, looking for a calm place where she could lay beneath the moon’s soft glow and call upon her imagination to make her dreams come true. She shifted, increasing her speed. Her long, lean body stretched; her taut muscles loosened. The wind brushed across her face through her silky fur. She was free. Free to love whom she wanted, when she wanted. Free of Slayers, free of the impending doom. In her dream she could do anything, be with anyone.

Feeling a presensce nearby, she looked to her left and gasped. Lucien’s black wolf ran beside her. His golden eyes glowed brightly, his wolf grin holding happy promise.

A nose nudged her right flank. Startled, Falon looked back. Her heart stumbled in her chest. Rafa’s deep aqua-colored eyes glittered beneath the moonlight. He moved up and in perfect step, the three of them raced across the mountain.

Her heart sang with joy. There was no hostility, no snarling or posturing, just peaceful synchronicity.

As they came back around and down the mountain, Falon came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the small pond nestled peacefully behind the Amorak encampment. Both alphas stopped beside her. For long minutes, they stood blowing, catching their breath. Lucien stepped past her into the quiet pond and drank. Falon threw her head back and growled happily, running into the water and splashing him playfully. He grinned and dove in after her. She shifted and came up for air. Naked in his human body, Lucien laughed and swooped her into his arms. She looped her arms around his neck, feeling loved and carefree. His hard muscles felt good on her soft skin.

“I love you,” she happily cried. His hands cupped her tender breasts. She arched against him, as his lips possessively claimed hers in a deep breath-stealing kiss.

Firm fingers traced along her spine. Tearing her lips from Lucien’s, she quarter turned and gasped. Rafael smiled down at her. Wide-eyed, she turned to him, lacing an arm around his neck while she kept the other possessively wrapped around Lucien. “Rafa,” she breathed. His lips dropped to hers, still warm and damp from Lucien’s lips, in a long, passionate kiss. She turned fully into him, missing the protective warmth of him. His erection stabbed her in the belly. Of their own volition, her legs lifted and locked around his hips.