Kodiak Bloodlines - The Complete Series (11 page)

“Noah knew what Lennox had done...he knew what you were, he had to...but he was willing to keep me in the dark. That’s not love. That’s submission to his father.”

“His father demands submission, Jordan. He’s the Alpha, he deserves it.”

Jordan snorted. “He’s not my alpha and he never will be.”

“Be careful Jordan...”

“Careful? I’m not afraid of him, or you. I’m not a little girl any longer. I’m here for my sister and no one is going to stop me from taking her.” The feeling had returned to her arms and legs slowly as she kept the old woman talking. Without warning, she changed and stood now in her wolf form before the old woman. She saw Sable clutch the yellow flower more tightly, and then she felt four huge paws hit the ground beside her. Asher glanced at her with his amber eyes and she knew what he intended to do. She nodded her white head and the huge Black Panther propelled himself

Hitting Sable like a bowling ball he knocked her over and into the door. The door tore off of its hinges with his weight against it and he and the old woman rolled into the house in a tangle of limbs before the wolfs bane took over and he was left as immobile as Jordan. She hated leaving him there...but she had faith he would be okay. She bounded up the stairs to Sonja’s room. She could hear her sister pounding against the inside and calling Sable’s name. She wanted to know what was going on. Sable had locked her in the room from the outside.

“Sonja!”

“Jordan? Oh my God! Oh Jordan!” she could hear the relief in her sister’s voice...Sonja had thought she was dead. “Please get me out of here!”

“I will Sonja, but I need you to listen to me, okay?”

“Okay,” Jordan could hear the sounds of Sonja’s breathing and she knew her poor sister was scared and confused. She hated frightening her even more than she already had...but it had to be done.

“You trust me, right?”

“Of course I trust you. You’re my sister. You and Mamma Sable are my only family,” Jordan felt sick hearing her say that. “Why wouldn’t I trust you? Jordan, what is going on?”

“I promise, I’ll tell you everything as soon as we have you out of there. I need you to stand as far back from the door as possible. It’s going to shatter inward when I jump against it...”

She heard Sonja let out a dark little laugh. “This isn’t really the time for jokes Jordan.”

“I’m not joking, little sis. Get away from that door.”

“Jordan, you’ll hurt yourself.”

“Trust me, Sonja. Tell me when you’re in a safe spot.” She heard her sister’s footsteps as she moved away and Sonja called out,

“Okay! Be careful!” Jordan was already in wolf form. She stood at the top of the stairs and ran the three feet to Sonja’s door, throwing her muscular form at it when she got close. The door splintered inward. Shards of wood went everywhere, and her sister was cowering in the corner of the room. Jordan started over to her and Sonja held out an umbrella and said, “Stay back!”

Jordan had forgotten to change. She smiled and her canines gleamed in the dark making Sonja look even more frightened...and then she morphed back into her human form. Sonja watched wide-eyed as it happened and then she passed out.

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C
hapter 2

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B
y the time Sonja woke up, Asher and Deacon were both in the room with them. Judging from the look on her face when she saw the two giant, naked men, Jordan was afraid her sister was ready to pass out again.

“Who the hell are they? Why are you all naked? Jordan, what the hell is going on?”

Jordan was crouched down next to her. She brushed her sister’s long blonde hair back out of her face and looking into her pretty blue/green eyes, she said, “Everything’s going to be okay now...but you need to come with us. We have to get out of here, quickly.”

“What? No! You need to tell me what’s going on, Jordan. What was that thing that broke down my door?”

“That was me honey. I shifted.”

“But...you couldn’t...the night you mated with Jude...” She heard the low growl rumble from Asher’s chest.

“Jude wasn’t my true mate, Sonja. You were right about that...about waiting for your true soulmate. I’ve found him at last. This is Asher...and Declan. Do you remember them, at all?”

Sonja shook her head and pressed herself further into the wall. The poor thing looked terrified and having been through these same feelings herself not too long ago, Jordan felt only empathy for her sister.

“We have to go,” Asher said. Sonja glared at him and then at his brother who was looking at her with awe.

“Who is he to give orders and why is the other one looking at me like that?” Sonja whispered.

“Honey...I promise I’ll explain everything, but we really do have to go.” Sonja started to argue again. Asher flicked his head at his brother and Declan moved in and scooped her up as if she weighed no more than a doll.

“Stop it! Put me down!” He threw her over his shoulder and held her legs tightly to keep her from kicking him. That didn’t stop her from pounding her fists into his back, but he only seemed amused by it. She found her sister and said, “Jordan! Why are you letting them do this to me? What have they done to you?”

“It’s for your own good, Sonja...I promise.” The three of them, with Sonja in tow, moved quickly down the stairs. When Sonja saw Mamma Sable lying incapacitated in the floor she began to kick and scream again, scratching at Declan’s back with her fingernails.

“Mamma Sable! What have you done to her? Jordan!” Jordan was trying to talk to her sister and get her to calm down but Sonja wasn’t listening. She kept screaming Mamma Sable’s name. Declan didn’t pause, he kept going until they were out of the house and on the front porch. Once they were outside Declan sat her down and with his face only inches from hers he said,

“I prefer you keep your claws put away until we’re ready to mate. It’s hard for me to concentrate when you’re digging them into my back. That’s something best reserved for when I have my cock buried deep inside of my mate.”

“Your what?”

“You heard me.”

“How dare you?” Sonja said, but her voice was shaky and her face was flushed. She wasn’t as brave as she was trying to sound and her sister could tell by the way she was looking at Declan it wasn’t all fear either. Declan only smiled and said,

“Would you like to walk now or am I going to have to carry you all the way back to the plane?”

“I can walk!” she spat at him. Meanwhile, Jordan was surveying the carnage. At least ten of Lennox’s men lay dead around the yard and meadow. Cyprus and Sage waited for them at the edge of the clearing but she didn’t see Micah. She looked at Asher and he said,

“Micah didn’t make it,” sadly. They made their way over to Cyprus and the others. Cyprus had his eyes trained on Sonja and she was looking at him, suspiciously.

“Sonja,” he said with a smile. “You’ve grown up as lovely as I knew you would.”

“Who are you?”

Cyprus didn’t look fazed by her rude tone. “I’m your Alpha,” he said.

“No! Lennox is the Alpha,” she looked at Jordan and said, “And Jude is second in command. He’s out of his mind looking for you Jordan...”

“No honey, he’s known where I was all along. He was out of his mind because he knew that he wouldn’t live if he tried to come get me. They knew I would come back for you though and they thought they could take both of us...again.”

“What do you mean, again? What the fuck is going on?”

Cyprus took her arm and said, “We will explain it all in due time, Sonja. Now, we have to go.”

He didn’t raise his voice, but even Sonja got from his tone that was going to be the final word on the subject. She did pull her arm away from him, but Cyprus only looked amused. She let Jordan take her arm as they walked through the deep brush. The walk back to the airplane was a lot longer on two legs.

Once they were all on the plane Jordan looked at Asher and said, “Were Jude and Lennox there?”

Asher snorted. “I didn’t see either of them. It seems the pack was sent in to fight while the “Alpha” and his cub stayed tucked away safely somewhere.”

“He’s afraid of losing his bloodline. We have to be ready for a counter-attack,” Cyprus said. “He will be back and it will be with a vengeance.”

Asher put his arm around Jordan and she snuggled into it. Poor Sonja was looking at her like she’d lost her mind and sitting as far away from Declan as she possibly could. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. Jordan felt for her sister, but she wasn’t worried. Just like she had, Sonja would come to understand what had happened to them and that they were finally where they belonged.

Chapter 3

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“Y
ou mated with him? You just mated with Jude...”

“Stop making it sound so sordid. I’m telling you, the reason I couldn’t change after I mated with Jude was because he wasn’t my true mate. Asher is, and Declan is yours.”

“Huh uh! No way am I mating with a panther!”

Jordan giggled. “Finish dressing and we’ll go down and see Erza and Mamma Crone. They’ll help you understand.” She left the room and Sonja sat back down on the bed.

She sighed. It had been a long night and an even longer morning. She’d gone to bed the night before and cried for her sister and then once she’d fallen asleep she had dreamed of blood and tears and two little girls lost in the snow. The only comforting part of her dream had been seeing Jordan and Mamma Sable finding them and taking them home. Home to Willow. Home to the Warren’s where they belonged. Then she’d been ripped out of her dream by the sounds of gunshots and growls and when she tried to get out of her room to find out what was happening, she’d found the door locked. She’s so afraid for Mamma Sable. She’d looked so old and frail lying on the floor of the sitting room...what if she died?

Jordan got up and went to her. She sat down next to her and took her sister’s hand in her own. Before she began she said, “Just remember that you and I have always stuck together and I’ve always taken care of you. I would never hurt you and I would never lie to you, okay?” Sonja nodded. The fact her sister would hurt or lie to her never crossed her mind...what she feared was that they’d done something to her to make her believe all of this nonsense. Jordan stood up and pulled up her shirt. Sonja was looking at her sister’s flat stomach and the birthmark they both had near their navels. “Do you remember when we were teenagers and we talked about how strange it was that we had the same mark in exactly the same place?” Sonja didn’t trust her voice at the moment. She nodded and Jordan went on. “It is a birthmark, Sonja. It’s the mark of our people...we’re Kodiak.”

“No! No! They killed our parents. They slaughtered our family...”

Jordan shook her head. “No honey, that’s what we were told, but it wasn’t true.”

“Mamma Sable wouldn’t have lied to us. She loves us.”

“Mamma Sable was forced by Lennox to take us that day. She put a spell on us, Sonja and made us lose all our memories.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Why would I lie?” Jordan was calm. She knew her sister was going through the same thing she was when she found out. Sonja’s eyes went to the others, lingering on Declan before she said,

“They did something to you!”

“No honey, they’re our family.”

“No!” Sonja was shaking her head. Jordan signaled at the others to stand. They all did and they lifted their shirts. Sonja looked from one to the next at the birthmarks that were identical to their own. All of them except for the one old woman on the end, the one with the Jade eyes. “Where is yours?” she asked, defiantly.

Erza smiled and her pretty green eyes almost disappeared into her wrinkles as she did. “I’m a witch, like Sable. Only I’m a white witch. I do what I can to help the good...and trust me young one, these people are good.”

Sonja looked over at Declan again. It was fascinating to her how extremely masculine he was...and almost, dangerous. Yet, there was something in his eyes that let her know that like her sister, he would never harm her. She told herself that was ridiculous, she didn’t even know him...but her instincts were urging her to believe them. She let her eyes run over the rest of them. Asher looked at her sister like the sun set and the moon rose on her. That was the way she’d always told Jordan it was supposed to be when she met her “true mate.” The older man, Cypress had a regal look to him, he was very obviously used to giving orders and having them followed...but she could also see the kindness in his face. Then there were the two old women. The one with the Jade eyes was still smiling and the other one with eyes like Jordan’s still looked on the verge of tears. She looked back at her sister and she knew her only chance was to trust the one person who had always been there for her.

“Okay, what do I need to do?”

Chapter 4

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“H
ey,” Asher found Jordan pacing outside her sister’s door. Sonja had drunk the potion Erza gave her and she had recited the chant to break the spell. Then not longer than half an hour afterwards, she’d run screaming up to her room and she refuses to come out.

“Hey. I’m going in there.” Asher stepped closer and pulled her into his arms. With his sexy lips close to her ear he said,

“She just needs time, like you did. She’s in there immersed in memories that were stolen from her. Why don’t you and I go for a run in the woods and let her have some time alone to sort it all out.”

“I can’t leave her here alone.”

He smiled and kissed the side of her face. That small gesture made her shiver. “You’re such an amazing sister to her. But you’ve done what you can and Erza and Mamma Crone are here...and Declan.”

“Declan is still here?”

“He won’t leave. He’s sitting down there in the same spot he was earlier. He says until he knows that she’s okay, he’s not going anywhere. Come for a walk with me.”

She nodded and took his hand. When they got downstairs they heard the old women talking in the kitchen and passed Declan sitting forlornly on the couch. He looked up sharply when he saw them. “Is she ready to come out?”

“I’m afraid not yet,” Jordan said. “I’m sure she will be soon.”