No Remorse (28 page)

“I know you can shift at will.” He looked at her and nodded his head when she confirmed with a nod of her own. “And now that you have mated with Blake, he can, too.” He nodded once again when Blake confirmed as well.

“Do you still have the stone?” Gabrial asked her and smiled when
Amber pulled the chain from her
shirt, showing him the stone. He was pleased. She had wrapped leather string around it and formed a loop to run the chain rather than have a hole drilled through it. She had kept the stone pure.

“Good girl,” he told her and explained that the stone had been specially crafted for her. “I know this has been and still is frustrating for you, but you were too young to understand what would be happening to you with the change. If you had shifted at the school when you came of age, your ‘other’ abilities would have been noticed and the council would have been notified.”

Leaning against a couple of large boulders that lined the shoreline of the lake, Gabrial continued telling her the tale of her life from his perspective. Blake sat against the hard surface, pulled her backside to him and wrapped his arms around her. Thinking to him self that this was going better than he thought it would.

You are not off the hook for not telling me about this when you met me at the shelter. You had plenty of time then and now.

Punish me later, you need to hear what he has to say,
Blake responded and nudged her, nodding in her grandfather’s direction.

Gabrial hadn't even noticed that they were holding their own conversation while he continued talking. “Blake informed me that you had a run in with the bully at school and was ready to take off.”

“That was your car again!” She said and slapped her forehead in annoyance for not noticing it at the time. She had been too distraught over the fact that she was leaving Blake behind to pay attention to the car itself.

Blake smiled, reading her thoughts and kissed her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. She had to stop the moan of pure pleasure and pulled away from him with a haughty look mouthing silently “What are you doing?”

Blake shrugged with a devilish smile and pulled her back against his hard groin. Just touching her was making his senses go into over drive.

“Tonight is the full moon,” Gabrial responded, catching
on
to Amber's embarrassment and her elbow in Blake's side.

Her face flamed red at being caught and Blake actually laughed out loud while her grandfather turned; a knowing smile across his face.

“I was young once.” he told them, leaning closer and whispering loudly “When you have mated, that feeling does not go away with age, either.” He admitted and straightened back up, so he could continue looking out over the calm water.

The sun was climbing higher in the sky and the day was becoming warm. The heat from Blake made Amber hot, but she didn't want to move out of his embrace.

“One day, sweetheart, you will have to forgive your mother. She meant you no harm,” Gabrial continued in a soothing voice. “She didn't do things the right way to begin with, but she did what she thought was best for you at that time.”

Amber wanted to tell him that she didn't know if she could ever forgive her, but Blake squeezed her lightly so she remained silent.

“Before she was to give birth, your mother ran away from home. She made it to her friend’s house where her family took your mother in. Of course, they called me so I didn't have to worry, so I made arrangements with them to allow you to be born there, away from the seeing eyes and the senses of the council.”

“Long story short, the family your mother stayed with was very powerful witches. They cast a protection spell over you the moment you entered the world.”

Amber caught the present tense he had used. Realizing the gory details of the witch’s family dying was just another li
e her mother had told her.

“I am going to tell you something, but hear me out.” He looked over his shoulder and waited for her to agree before he continued. “The friend’s mother was dating a vampire.”

Amber gasped, her eyes widened and Blake laughed at her surprise.

“Yes, there really are such things as vampires.” Gabrial laughed at them. “You believe in werewolves, don't you?”

He didn't give them time to continue to dwell on the thought. “The vampire was very taken with you, Amber. He was there when I came to visit right after you were born. All he could do was gaze at you, and touch your foot in amazement. Even at a couple days old, you were very aware of those around you. You would kick and get excited when he came into the room.”

Amber stared at her grandfather. “Really, a vampire, aren't we like enemies with them or something?”

Again he laughed and answered. “No, they are actually our allies, most of the time. Of course, there are some real asses, but that is the case in all races and most species.”

“At first, when I saw him eying you, all I could think about was him sucking you dry. But he opened his mind to me and I could see that he was truly amazed and intrigued with you. He showed me how your blood sang to him. He impressed upon me that you were very special and you needed to be taken care of and protected at all costs.” Gabrial paused.

“Amber, I already knew that you were exceptional, he just confirmed what I had been thinking. So I made a deal with him.”

He stopped talking and turned to look directly at Amber. She waited anxiously to hear what he had to say; but was let down when he started talking about the witch again. She wanted to know more about the vampire!

“The witch had cast a protection spell around you, but it wasn't enough. When you were older, I went back to her. The stone around your neck is a work of her magic. She blended three stones together. I honestly don't know how she did it, but the amulet actually inhibited your ability to change. It also stifles your pheromones, so that werewolves and other were creatures could not scent you once you did shift.”

Gabrial looked at her with a crooked smile “Ironically, it also made it to where I couldn't track you, either. So I sent Blake out to make sure that you were safe, that is until he screwed that up.”

“I didn't screw it up, she ran off from the hotel your driver dropped her at.” Blake defended himself.

Amber waved off Blake’s argument. “More on this vampire stuff. Why would I have never met another vampire if he was so attracted to me? Wouldn’t I attract others?”

“Yes you would have, but you have been marked. Like werewolves, vampires are very territorial and once someone has been marked other vampires know to stay clear or risk clan wars.”

Amber shook her head. She didn’t know what else to say and sat blinking in disbelief at what she was hearing.

Gabrial chuckled at her response. “So, what other abilities do you have?” he asked, then added as an afterthought while staring at nothing on the water, “that you know of?”

Amber leaned back and looked up at Blake. His eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled down at her, nodding his head in encouragement. Amber stepped away from him and into nothingness. She emerged directly in front of her grandfather who was not expecting her to appear so suddenly. She startled him, causing him to jump back against the rock. His hand came up in defense, but quickly dropped so he could look around when she vanished again. Amber reappeared on the other side of the boulder that stood slightly in front of him.

“Holy crap!” He exclaimed in excitement.

Amber laughed joyously at his startled expression and funny response. She evaporated again and rematerialized where she had started, back in Blake's arms.

“You know that's not a werewolf’s ability don't you?” Gabrial asked her, leading her to come to a certain conclusion.

The reference he made went completely over her head. “Honestly, since I’ve pretty much been on my own and haven’t really been around other werewolves, I don't know what all their capabilities are.” She looked at him attempting to figure out what he was trying to tell her.

“Think about it, honey.” Blake urged, having already figured out what conclusion Gabrial was waiting for her to come to.

Cocking her head, her eyebrows drew together in concentration. Suddenly like a switch was flipped she gasped and her eyes opened wide, mouth dropped.

“You allowed the vampire to bite me!” she concluded triumphantly.

Blake laughed and pulled her closer against him, if it were possible.

Now she was excited. “I can control minds too,” she told him proudly, excited to know why she could accomplish some of the new abilities.

“You have other skills, too, but I’m guessing they have not appeared yet.” her grandfather said, settling back with a smug look at his cleverness. “So you are not angry that I let a full grown vampire bite a newborn baby and exchange some of his blood with you?”

“I suppose if you think about it, it is kind of creepy. But I am thankful that you did.” She reached over and gave him a hug.

“But there are a lot of risks with people knowing this,
especially now.” H
e told her, looking deeply into her eyes. “The Council is aware that you are alive and that you have special abilities.”

“But how?”

Blake released a frustrated sigh and glared out at the water. “I didn't think they would make contact that quick. “I shoul
d have killed Donald and Stewart
instead of letting them walk away.” He growled.

“Bloodsworth’s death already drew the interest of the Council, especially since you were involved,” Gabrial told Blake pointedly. Blake caught his eye and stayed quiet on the subject. Now was not the time to bring that up.

Gabrial stood up and stretched his arms, rotating his back. “I think the years are starting to catch up to me,” he was grinning down into Amber's happy upturned face.

“So there really are vampires out there?” Amber asked excitedly. She was elated that she could finally understand who and what she was. She didn't feel like she was a freak among her own kind any more.

“Yes, as I mentioned, there are other were creatures such as were-bears, were-cats, or they would rather be called were-panthers and leopards and tigers and so on.” Gabrial couldn't help but smile at the eagerness she exuded.

“And this,” Amber pulled the stone out from her shirt once again and caressed its smooth surface, “kept them from sensing me.” Then the realization hit her. “All the time I thought I was surrounded by werewolf, it could have been other creatures?” At Gabrial’s nod she let that sink in, and then turned to him excitedly. “Are there fairies and trolls and,” Amber laughed along with the men as they all began walking back towards the interior of the woods again.

“I hear talk that there is, but personally have never met any,” Gabrial said, thoughtfully stroking his chin, “Come to think of it, your grandmother’s mother could have been a troll, she was mean enough.”
 
 
 

They all laughed again and continued walking in the direction of the house and all the people waiting there for them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

W
e need to talk about the ritual,” Blake reminded them.

Amber stopped with a frown. She had temporarily forgotten about the ceremony. Before she could become stressed, Blake continued.

“It’s only introducing you into the pack.”

“Blake, you have to keep Amber safe. Her blood is very important and the least amount could give the council what they are looking for. So her blood cannot be shared with anyone at the ceremony tonight.”

“I understand, sir,” Blake told him honestly, pulling Amber back into his arms.

“Blake,” Amber began to argue and he stopped her with a kiss. She was hesitant at first because her grandfather was standing right there. But her willpower was gone and she gave into his soft lips, kissing him back.

Blake pulled his lips away, quickly pecking her lips with another kiss before lifting his head to look at her grandfather. “I swear to give my life to protect my mate. I love Amber Hamilton Scott Edwards with all my heart and will fight to keep her from harm,” Blake promised.

Amber stared up into his solemn face and tears came to her eyes. She let it slide that he had given her his last name. From someone who hated crying, she sure was doing a lot of it lately. She sniffed and blinked away the tears.

Blake tucked Amber close to his side, placing his arm about her shoulders, they continued through the woods. Gabrial and Blake both took turns explaining how the ritual was supposed to work.

“Generally it’s performed to connect you to the pack. But, it appears that with your, uhhh,” Blake searched for the words and then had an “ah ha” moment, “your enhanced genetics, you can already communicate with some of the members you have met.”

Gabrial assisted with the explanation. “When the ritual is performed at the beginning of the full moon phase, like it will be tonight, you will have a strong connection. The blood ritual will allow you to connect with the pack, no matter where you are. As the pack leader’s mate, you will be able to even get a general location to where they are at any given time.”

“Way cool,” Blake said. Even he was learning what to expect, since he had never taken a mate before.