Relentless (12 page)

She pointed to one brown square. “This is your mark, the one you have when you Become. The very first one you had when you started to change to a werewolf.”

“How did you know?”

“Because this is where a werewolf’s life symbol always falls.”

“I have that one, too.” I held my finger over another tile.

“That is the Lycernian mark. All the pack carries this mark. Over time, you may get more. The marks indicate the gifts you will have or do have.”

“I just have those two.”

“For now.”

“This says I’ll have more?”

Her finger moved on to another wooden piece. “Here. You will have a gift to communicate with others.”

I thought of my ability to speak with Louise without words. So maybe I’d learn how to do that with others.

Rayna’s hand hovered over the tiles. “These are unclear to me. There is mystery, and this indicates loss.”

I started to tell her to stop. I didn’t want to hear about loss.  But as her hands moved over the stones, my vision seemed to blur. I could hear the words “I’m not sure.” She seemed uncertain as to the meaning of some of the runes. In the distance, I heard a wolf howl. When I looked at Rayna, she didn’t seem to have noticed. I tried to ask her if she’d heard it. My mouth moved, or I thought it did. Yet no words would come. Then I could feel him, right behind me, and I turned. The wolf was huge, his black coat shiny in the firelight. Yellow eyes glowed. He bared his teeth and came forward. From the corner of my eye, I tried to see Rayna’s reaction, but she kept her hand over the stone surface, studying the tiles as if the wolf weren’t even there. His breath was hot on my face, and I realized I was the only one seeing him. His huge head was right between Rayna and me, yet she didn’t acknowledge his presence. He reached out and licked my forehead.

All at once, Rayna lurched backward, jerking her hand away from the runes. One of the tiles in the center sparked and burst into flames. I watched, not really surprised by the burning piece. The wolf licked my forehead again. The world spun, and darkness closed in. My body felt light. I was fainting, and then I raced into the darkness. White lights flashed. I blinked repeatedly as the feeling of movement ended. I looked around, unsure what had happened. I was dreaming or having a vision. I was standing in a room with a bed against the wall. A nightlight from an attached bathroom gave the room a soft glow. The bed had carved posts that nearly reached the ceiling. Rotating in a small circle, I took in the log walls and windows with thick curtains hanging to the floor. Rustic was the word that came to my mind. A cabin, a log cabin. I moved closer to the bed. The guy with red hair lay there, his chest rising and falling evenly. Now I knew I must have fainted and was having some kind of dream. I’d never seen this guy before except in my other weird dream. He pushed at the covers, mumbled something, and sat up. His hand went to his eyes. He rubbed them then stared at me, shook his head, and lay back down, pulling the blanket up to his shoulders. His arms and shoulders were covered with an intricate tattoo. The light was dim, and I couldn’t make out the design. I reached out to put a hand on his arm. I wanted to see if he felt real. Before my fingers made contact with skin, I was jerked back into blackness.

I felt the sand beneath me before I opened my eyes. I was lying on my back.

“Alexis.” Rayna’s hand was tight on my arm. “Are you okay?”

Sitting up, I stared around us. “Where’d the wolf go?”

“What wolf?”

“The one that was here right before that tile caught on fire.”

Rayna took a moment to examine the entire sandy area still illuminated by moonlight. Finally, she faced me. “There was no wolf.”

My hands were gritty with sand, so I scrubbed them over the floral fabric of my skirt. “I might have dreamed it.”

“You saw the tile burn.”

“I did. Then I guess I blacked out.” The knot that had been building in my throat had to be swallowed down before I could continue. “So…is this normal for a reading?”

Rayna picked up the tiles and dropped them in the pouch.  She took her time, as if it took all her concentration. The string tightened as she pulled at it, carefully closing the bag.

Rubbing the soft leather, she spoke. “No, it is not normal.”

“What does it mean?”

She put the pouch in her bag, grabbed the other one, and collected the bones. Finally, she turned to me. “I don’t know what it means, especially the burning rune. I will have to speak to my grandmother.”

I groaned.

“What? You don’t want my grandmother to know about this?”

“She’s never had much good news for me.”

“Maybe this time will be different.”

I shrugged. Rayna pulled the cloth from under the stone and walked to the water to wet it. Returning, she used it to wipe the now-dried blood from the ornately designed surface.

“Why did I pass out like that?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

“It was weird, like I had a dream of some guy I’ve never met before. He was in a log cabin asleep. The really strange thing is that I dreamed about him before.”

“Yet you’ve never seen him before?”

“Never.”

She stared at me for a moment then finished packing her tote. “That is odd. We’ll go now.”

“But I didn’t learn anything about my future or what my decisions should be.”

“Of course you did.”

“What?”

“I don’t know exactly what the burning rune means, but I do know that it is very powerful. It tells me there is great power around you. Others will want to use it, use you. Always remember, your decisions affect many when you have great power.” She turned and started up the hill.

I followed behind.

Rayna pulled the Jeep over to the curb, and I got out, wiping at a few grains of sand that still clung to my legs.

“You sure Myles is going to be here?” Rayna looked around at the crowded sidewalk.

“Yeah, he was going to hang out in town and wait for me.”

“Maybe he was meeting someone.”

I frowned at her. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask. It’s his private business.”

She smiled. “Sometimes private business has some very public results.”

I wasn’t sure if she meant that about me or about Myles. I didn’t ask. “Either way, I don’t know what he’s doing, but I’m supposed to call his cell when I get here.”

She still looked a little uncertain. “All right. Be careful, Alexis.”

“Careful of what?”

“Of making the right decisions.” She leaned back in her seat, twisting the key so the Jeep’s engine rumbled to life.

“Yeah, well, I’m not good at that.”

“Listen to the black wolf,” she said firmly.

“What black wolf?”

“The one who visited you tonight.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I thought you didn’t see him.”

“I didn’t, but you did.”

“I didn’t say he was black.”

“He was, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, but how did you know?”

She only smiled. “He came to give you something, a message or maybe a gift. If you are uncertain about a decision in the future, you should try to call on him again. He could help you.”

“I didn’t call on him this time.”

“He came on his own, and likely he will again.” She turned to look behind her then pulled onto the street before I could answer.

I watched her drive away then pulled out my cell phone and made a call. I started walking away from the marina and along a back street.  Ten minutes later, I saw him standing under the muted glare of a streetlight.

Eric. He started moving toward me. I started running. We hit each other with a force that nearly knocked us both off our feet. Laughing, he lifted me and swung me around. After he set me down, he bent toward me, and our lips met. A soft kiss, at first, but I wound my arms around his neck and pulled him closer when he would have stopped. The slight rumbling growl in his throat sent a surge of warmth flowing through me, and I wanted more from him. Laughter echoed from across the street, and we both pulled back.

“I’ve missed you.”

Brushing back a strand of hair from his forehead, I smiled. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“How much time do you have?”

“Not long. Myles will be waiting on me to call him. He’s taking me back.”

He locked his fingers with mine and led me to a bench at the edge of the sidewalk.

“How did your thing go tonight?”

I shrugged. “It went.”

“Did you learn anything interesting?”

A chill shot through me, and my skin seemed to tremble on top of my muscles. Had I learned anything? Surely nothing that made sense. Nothing that I’d share with anyone, not even Eric.

“No. It was all a lot of mumbo jumbo to me.”

He laughed. “Somehow I figured you’d say that.”

“Well, it was.”

He leaned back against the bench and stretched his legs out in front of him. “I’m not arguing with you. Fenryrians don’t have voodoo priestesses telling them what to do. We figure out what we’re going to do ourselves then do it.”

I turned sideways on the bench, my knee pressed against his thigh. “So figure out how to get them to accept me.”

He sighed, his eyes closing. “If I could do it that easily, I would, and you know it.”

I knotted my hands together. “Do I?”

Eric’s body stilled. For a moment, he didn’t appear to breathe. He sat up slowly, his hand coming to rest on my leg as he moved to face me. “Alexis, you know how important you are to me.”

“Let’s just leave. We could do it, Eric. We could change our names and go somewhere no one knows us. People do it all the time.” My fingers closed over his forearm.

He shook his head.

“Don’t say no immediately. Think about it. We could get a job, something simple, and get our GED. After that, we could take college courses. It would be hard, really hard, but we’d be together.” My body had automatically bent toward him. Close enough to touch my lips to his if I moved a little farther. I didn’t make that move. I waited.

“We can’t do that, Alexis. There’s no place secret enough to hide. You have no idea how hard it would be to survive on our own, at our age, with no help. But most of all, we would have to walk away from everything and everyone and never look back.”

I couldn’t look at him. I stared across the street at the leaves of a banana tree fluttering in the breeze. Eric had said I knew how important I was to him. I didn’t know, but he wouldn’t want to hear that. If I were important to him, wouldn’t we be having a conversation about where we could go, where we could hide and be together? Why wasn’t it possible to hide and stay safe? Wasn’t being together worth leaving behind everything we knew? When he was next to me, our skin touching, our breath intermingling as we kissed, I thought it was. I’d leave with him on the spot. Never seeing anyone who mattered again didn’t seem real. But it would be. My phone started to ring, and I dug it out of my small purse.

I looked at the screen but didn’t answer. “It’s Myles. I imagine he’s wondering where I am. I guess I need to head back to the marina.”

Eric stood and wrapped his arms around me. When we were close like this, I could actually believe things would be okay, that we’d work it out.

“I wish our lives could be different,” I whispered against his chest.

His lips brushed against the top of my head. “But they’re not.”

I leaned my head back to meet his eyes. “So where does that leave us?”

“Where we are.”

Pulling back slightly, I frowned. “Apart.”

His hands moved to my upper arms, his fingers wrapping around and holding on to me. “For now.”

“How can we change that?” The words slipped out on a sigh.

“I’m not sure yet.”

“But you think there’s a chance for us.”

“I know there’s a chance. But we have to make it happen. We can’t sit here and whine over this situation. We’re the only ones who can change it.”

“So let’s change it.”

“In good time.”

I shook my head. “Why do we have to wait?”

“Because if we want to survive it, we’ll have to plan our future, not just run away and be together.”

“What’s wrong with running away to be together?”

“We don’t live in a vacuum, Alexis. We have friends, family, a pack, a community, an entire culture. We can’t walk away from those things and pretend they don’t exist.”

“You can’t walk away.”

“Fine.” The word was forced past his tight lips. “I can’t walk away. I want to be with you, but I want our world to be better, not only for the two of us but for my pack.”

“And for that, we have to wait.” I swallowed hard. What he said wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it was probably a good thing. So why did it feel like a knife stabbing at my insides?

“For that, we have to plan.”

My eyes filled with tears, and though I willed myself not to cry, it wasn’t working. “I guess your pack is more important to you than I am.”