Matefinder (9 page)

Sylvia, Kai, and I were gathered
around the desk in his office.

“What do you mean my mother has a
memory blocking spell on her?” I shouted. I felt like shifting. My wolf was
close to the surface and I knew my eyes were yellow.

Sylvia patiently continued. “That’s
not all. I am the one that put it there. I don’t remember it but when I touched
her hand, I could smell the spell. It was my work. I’m at a loss. I don’t
understand how I could memory spell someone and not remember it myself!”

Kai looked pissed. But before he or I
could say anything Sylvia put her hand to her lips. “Oh God.”

“What?” I stumbled forward.

Sylvia tucked her hair nervously
behind her ear. “I have a very good memory. I’m not that old. The only way I
wouldn’t remember a spell or a client, is if I also did a memory erasing spell
on myself. I would only do that, if the knowledge I was hiding was life or
death.”

I felt my breath leave me. “So is my
mom in danger?”

Sylvia shrugged. “I don’t think so,
but I obviously can’t remember.”

I stepped forward. “Undo it. Make
yourself remember. If my mom is in danger then I have to protect her!” I wanted
to shift so bad. I could feel sister wolf and her growing impatience.

“Aurora, calm down. Your wolf is too
close to the surface.” Kai put a light hand on my shoulder and I took a deep
breath.

Sylvia cocked her head to the side as
she looked at me.               

“It might not be your mother who is
in danger. I could have hidden the memory to keep myself safe, or you. Do you
really want to know what was hidden?” She asked me, chewing her lip.

I thought about it. Yes, I did want
to know. I needed to know.

“Yes.”

Sylvia sighed and looked at Kai. “I
will need powerful blood for the spell.”

He looked at me and held out his
wrist to her. She pulled her bag onto his desk and lay out a white silk cloth.
Then she removed a small ornate golden dagger with a matching bowl. She placed
a large clear crystal on the cloth and another purple crystal next to it.

“Kai, do I have your permission to do
the spell here in your home?”

He looked at me. “I hate magic.” He then
looked to Sylvia. “Yes, you have my permission.”

I cringed. Kai was doing this for me.
I was subtly picking up on clues that werewolves, witches and vampires kept to
themselves.

She nodded and took the dagger to Kai’s
wrist and dropped a few drops of blood into her bowl.

“I call on my ancestors and spirit
guardians who come in the white light. I provide the powerful blood of an Alpha
as an offering. Help me to find what was once lost. Open my mind to the
memories no matter the cost.”

I could see a white mist coming down
from the ceiling and into Sylvia’s head. I gasped and she looked at me with
silver-coated irises. Her expression became blank. The mist intensified and I
stumbled back to avoid it. Kai looked at me oddly as if he weren’t seeing the
mist. Sylvia looked horrified and then she smiled and a tear rolled down her
cheek. I watched her face play out a dozen expressions as if she were watching
a movie.  The mist retreated and Sylvia’s eyes returned to their normal color.

“What happened? The mist…” I
stuttered.

“You saw the mist?” Sylvia looked
shocked. Then she reached out her hand. “Aurora, I think you have the gift of a
powerful seer witch. I think I can show you everything I just saw. Take my
hand.”

I reached for her outstretched hand but
Kai stepped in front of me. “I don’t trust witch magic.”

I looked at Kai and chewed my lip. “I
need to see.”

Then I grabbed her hand. I was pulled
into a vision and it felt much like the visions I had when I saw a pair of
mates.

A younger woman with long blonde hair
sat on a bed of green grass stroking a large muscular man’s arm. He looked at
her and smiled before taking her in for a passionate kiss. “Genevieve,” he
whispered. Then the scene changed and it showed the man who was with Genevieve
turning into a werewolf and running with a pack. It flashed to Genevieve
standing over a spell book and her eyes glazing over white. She was a witch.
Then Genevieve was at home and holding her swollen belly. She was pregnant. The
man stroked her belly. “How can it be? You’re a witch and I’m a werewolf. How
can you be pregnant with our child?”

Genevieve had been crying; tears
streaked her face. “You don’t believe me? I haven’t been with anyone else,
Vincent!” she screamed.

“I want to believe you! But it’s not
possible. Werewolves can take witches and humans for lovers but not as mates.
We can only have children with our mate!”

Genevieve stood boldly. “Maybe I am
your mate! I just happen to be a witch, but I am your soul mate, Vincent Briar!
I’m carrying your child and when the baby is born you will see. If only werewolf
mates can produce a child, then how am I pregnant with yours?”

                She ran from the house crying.

The next scene showed Genevieve
having just given birth to twins, holding a small baby girl and a boy. The
babies were wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. Vincent was there, he held them and
stroked Genevieve’s hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. They are mine. I can
see it. They smell like me, too.”

She gazed at Vincent and smiled. “I
want to name her Ruby, after my grandmother, and I want to name him Cole, after
your father.”

“I love you, I love them,” Vincent
said as the scene faded.

The next scene showed Ruby growing up
at varying ages, five and then twelve, and then when she met her mate. It
seemed that when she shifted with her mate for the first time is when her Matefinder
abilities manifested. Then it showed her wedding day. It showed her changing
from wolf to human but also casting spells with Genevieve, her mother. She was
some sort of Hybrid. It showed Genevieve arguing with a vampire and being
killed. Vincent tried to defend her honor and was torn apart by the vampire
coven.

Ruby explored her new abilities
finding mated pairs but was sad not to have her mother’s guidance.  Then it showed
her pregnant and also having twins. She held the babies wrapped in her arms
while her mate caressed her face; tears shown on her cheeks. “I want to name
her Aurora, and his name will be Drake, after you.”

Her husband looked at her “Are you
sure it has to be this way? I’m an Alpha, I can protect them. I will keep them
safe.”

Ruby’s eyes glowed yellow. “I’ve seen
her future and mine. We must have them turned human before the first full moon.
Then they will go live with Beth. She is my best friend and she is human. We
will have a high priestess wipe Beth’s memory. She and her husband have been
trying to conceive. They will think the babies are their natural children. The
priestess will fix her own memory so that no one ever finds out. I’ve seen it
and it’s the only way to keep them safe.” Ruby cried openly as her husband held
her.

The next scene showed Sylvia performing
a ceremony on the twin babies. Sylvia looked at Ruby. “You know the price of
turning wolf pups into humans?”

Ruby nodded boldly. “The children’s
mother must take her life before the first full moon after their birth.” Ruby’s
mate wasn’t present.

Then they were brought to Beth and
her husband’s house and a spell was cast to wipe their memory of the fact that
the twins were not theirs.

Ruby was captured by a werewolf pack
and a dark warlock on the way back from the ceremony. They did horrible things
to her. Tortured her, starved her, and forced her with magic to tell them who
their mates were. The wolves started changing innocent children. Ruby’s mate
and his pack showed up to free her and her mate’s head was torn off. He died
protecting her. When her pack freed her of the magic chains binding her, she
ran outside and looked at the moon. Not yet full. The pack that had taken her
was still fighting. She walked over to the Alpha of the pack that captured her
and sealed her death. “I challenge you as Alpha of Wide Rim pack.”

I knew what was next. I didn’t want
to see her beheaded. I ripped my hand away from Sylvia, crying, and broke away
from the vision. Kai caught me as I fell back. Sylvia ran over to me and held
me for a long time. Kai seemed to understand I was okay and that Sylvia and I
shared something intimate. It was a long time before I could speak.

“Ruby, she was my mother,” I croaked
out.

Sylvia nodded and stroked my hair. “Genevieve
was my best friend. I would do anything for her and Ruby. That explains why I
would wipe my memory. Now I remember it all. We were trying to protect you and
Drake. Your mother, Ruby, she was a powerful seer. She could see the future.
She showed me the future she saw for you and Drake. You wouldn’t make it to
your fifth birthday without being captured and drained for your blood if she
hadn’t done what she’d done.”

I breathed out shakily. “She sacrificed
herself. My mom, Beth. She was her best friend?”

Sylvia nodded. “Beth and Ruby met in
high school and then went off to college together. Became instant friends; they
were inseparable.” Sylvia was touching her temple and stared off, lost in her
thoughts.

“So Ruby was a powerful future seer,
but she couldn’t see that if she stuck me with Beth and Tom for parents, that I
would be beaten. That my mother would be abused and called fat and lazy by my
no good father?” I stood up, angry.

Sylvia’s face softened. “There is a
heavy price to pay for changing the future. Maybe she thought that fate was
better than being captured, tortured, and killed at five years old before you
could even learn to protect yourself.”

“Drake drowned! My childhood was
taken from me! I should get to choose my fate. It’s my life.” I turned to Kai.
“I’m going for a run. Don’t follow me.” I felt magic infuse my words as a
command. Kai looked hurt. I fled the house. I burst out of the front door
crying, and collided with Emma.

“Oh, Aurora, I’m sorry.” She laughed
and then saw my face. “What’s wrong?”

I stripped down in front of her and
changed into my wolf. Without asking, she stripped down too and followed me. I
could hear her bones slowly cracking as her change took longer. If Kai had
followed me I would have been mad, but something about Emma’s energy soothed
me. I didn’t mind. She stayed a good distance behind me as I ran. I didn’t go
my fastest, but I was running hard. I could hear Emma panting behind me. She
didn’t try to talk to me through the pack bonds and I loved her for it. She
seemed to know I needed space, but didn’t want me to be alone.

I ran and thought of my mother, Beth,
and all we had been through. Did she just love me and treat me like a daughter
because Sylvia messed with her memories? No, I couldn’t believe that. I thought
of the sacrifice Ruby made and I got angry. Part of me was grateful Drake and I
were placed with my mother because otherwise I wouldn’t know her. Another part
of me wondered if Ruby’s seer abilities were that good. What if the future changed
and she did all of that and there had been another way. I never bonded with my
father Tom. It’s like a piece of me knew he wasn’t my real father. When Drake
died and my father blamed me, he began drinking. That’s when the abuse started.

If Ruby hadn’t put Drake and me with
my mother, then my father never would have started drinking and abusing us. I
could have saved my mother from all of her heartache. I stopped at the top of
the mountain and howled long and deep. Then I curled up next to a large pine
tree. A moment later Emma trotted over to me. She nuzzled me with her nose and
curled up next to me.

‘Are you okay?’
Kai sent to me.

‘I’m with Emma,’
I replied not sure if I was okay or
if I would ever be okay. If this Matefinder gene was passed down to future
generations then I didn’t want children. I didn’t want to curse them to a life
of being hunted. If I didn’t want kids, then Kai might not want me. Emma’s soft
and submissive presence put me at ease. We lay there a long time, curled up
together.

After a while, I stood up and shook
off the dried leaves stuck to my fur.

‘Ready to head back?’
Emma asked me. It was the first
thing she had said to me since she followed me on my run.

‘Yes,’
I told her. ‘
Thank you,’
I
added. She gave me a nod and we slowly trotted back to Kai’s house.

It was late and everyone looked
asleep. Emma and I shifted and got dressed. She gave me a quick hug and my
vision changed. I was looking at a movie screen in my mind. Emma’s belly was
swollen with pregnancy and I was walking down an aisle littered with red rose
petals. I looked at my feet. They were barefoot with Henna designs and adorned
with a silver anklet on each foot. I was wearing a red and gold silk Sari. I
looked up knowing what I would see. That I would see Kai at the end of an aisle
but then the picture dissolved. Emma was shaking me. My head was on her lap and
she was stroking my hair.

                “Aurora, come back to me,” she whispered. 
“What is it? Have you found another mate? So soon.”