“Come on now,” Heather cajoled. “Don’t hold back on our account.”
Kara smiled. “I wouldn’t dare, Helen.”
Stella understood what the younger girl was saying, and she agreed, but something in her mind still wanted to whisper that even these men could be brought to their knees before evil if it offered just the right morsel. It sickened her to think that one of these poor wolves would be stuck with her as their mate.
“Keep that mentality,” Stella told Kara. “Don’t let yourself become jaded.”
“You aren’t jaded, Stella,” Heather reached over and patted her leg. “You’re just a little worse for wear. Nothing that some TWC can’t fix.”
“TWC?” Stella smirked.
“Tender wolf care, not to be confused with TBWC, Tender blind woman care. The two are easily confused, so it’s completely understandable if you get them mixed up.”
“I don’t think I want to know just how tender wolf care could be confused with tender blind woman care,” Stella said as she wiped the tears from her laughter away.
Heather shook her head and made a flicking motion with her hand. “It’s something to do with the tongue bathing portion of the care.”
“Okay, stop!” Stella nearly rolled off of the stump she’d been sitting on because she was laughing so hard. Kara had given up and was laying on her side on the ground holding her stomach as she laughed.
For those few minutes as the laughter consumed them, Stella was able to forget the pain that was growing in her, and the fear that seemed to be joining it. She was able to just enjoy something she’d never had before, friendship. If she had to have a mate, if that was the price for all of this, then though she was terrified, she’d decided it was worth it. Having met Heather, Kara and the others and having their esteem and love was more than Stella could have ever hoped for. And for them, for their friendship, she would figure out how to deal with the crippling fear of having a man’s undivided attention on her. As the laughter died down she took a deep breath and tried to push away the feeling that their time in the pixie realm was coming to an end. And once they left, things were going to be changing again. She didn’t want to think about what those changes could be.
Stella straightened herself back on the stump and smiled at the still chuckling Heather. “You okay, Helen,” she asked using the nickname Peri had given her.
Heather heard the smile in Stella’s voice and she had never wanted to see so badly. She wanted to see the utterly battered Stella, who always sounded a little jaded and a little in pain, smiling. She could tell just from her friend’s personality that her smile was one of those that would make others stop and notice.
“I’m alright,” Heather confirmed.
“Are you ever scared?” Stella asked, suddenly serious.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just―” She paused. “You live in the dark. Doesn’t that ever terrify you, or paralyze you, into not moving?”
Heather understood the double meaning even if Stella didn’t fully understand why she was asking her. “I guess if I understood what the absence of light looked like, then maybe I’d be more adequately scared. But sometimes you seeing people forget, I have no frame of reference. You say green tree and I say yellow dip stick. It’s all Greek to me.” Heather knew it would make them laugh again, but that didn’t make her words any less true. Asking if she was afraid of the dark was actually a pretty common question. But, like Heather couldn’t imagine what it was like to live with sight, the seeing couldn’t fathom what it was like to live without it.
“Maybe that’s why I’m not scared of the whole werewolf mate thing,” Heather offered. “Because I don’t have a point of reference in which to draw that fear from.” She wasn’t lying, not exactly anyway.
Heather wasn’t scared of being mated to a werewolf. That wasn’t where her fears or insecurities lie. Her fear was what the male would think when they realized that their mate was blind. Call her stupid, but in Heather’s mind the animal kingdom was all about survival of the fittest. She would be considered a weakling, one not worthy of surviving because of her lack of sight. The only thing that really scared her, about finding this mate they’d been promised, was the possibility that he would find her lacking.
She steered the conversation in a lighter direction, not wanting to dwell on what she couldn’t change anyway. The only reason they’d even brought up the mate bonding was because each of them had begun to have sharp pains that would rob them of their breath. For some reason, that night, the pain had gotten to the point where they couldn’t hide it anymore, not from each other at least.
But Heather was done with all the seriousness. She was worried about Anna and Jewel and unsure about what her future in the supernatural world looked like, and she just didn’t want to dredge it all back up. So instead she came up with silly things, light hearted things, that she hoped would give them all a little respite from their inner turmoil.
Heather flinched as she saw a bright light behind her eyes and felt a moment’s emotion of worry and determination that didn’t belong to her. She was feeling him again, experiencing his feelings. She pushed away any thought of him and focused on her two friends. While Adam and Crina slept and Gustavo brooded, she, Stella and Kara acted like the teenagers they’d never been allowed to be. It was one of the best nights Heather could ever remember.
Kale felt her alarm, though he didn’t fully understand why. So he pulled back as much as his wolf would let him, giving her space. She wasn’t ready to hear his voice, not yet. He laid out in his wolf form, under the stars of Farie, basking in the moon’s glory. His wolf had finally settled enough to let him have the hope of actual rest now that they knew Peri was no longer going to try and keep the wolves apart from their true mates. So he closed his eyes and allowed himself to dream of the days to come when he would finally get to meet her, talk to her, and hopefully hold her.
Ciro knew he was dreaming when he opened his eyes and saw the Great Luna standing before him.
“Creator,” he bowed his head reverently.
“Hello, old one,” she said gently. He heard the wry smile on her lips and smiled himself. Their Creator had a sense of humor. She called him old one, because it was true. Ciro was indeed old, one of the oldest werewolves alive, but he didn’t look a day over twenty-five. All wolves aged very slow, but he aged even slower. He’d never questioned it: why his Creator let him live so long without a true mate. He never questioned how he had managed to stave off the darkness.
“Because it was my will,” she answered his unasked questions. “She has been through much and I knew she would need someone willing to be patient. You, Ciro of the Italy pack, have learned patience in your long life. I knew she would need someone strong enough to bear her pain but gentle enough not to frighten her with that strength. She needs to be loved through actions and not words. I have kept you young beyond your time, so you would be wise enough. I have kept you from surrendering to the darkness inside of you because you will need to help her fight the darkness inside of her. Be patient with her, Ciro. And remind her often that she is safe with you.”
“You have my word that I will do all that you say for her,” Ciro vowed.
The dream faded away and Ciro was left with his own thoughts. After centuries of nothing other than leading his pack, he was finally going to get to start living.
Nick knew that even though Kara would soon be back in Farie, he still couldn’t claim her. He could only be what she needed him to be and for now that meant being her friend. But it would be enough. Just to have her close by where he could protect her, talk to her, and know without a shadow of a doubt that she was safe, would be more than enough.
Most everyone else was asleep as he sat in the living room of Peri’s home staring out the window. He hadn’t moved from the spot he’d been sitting at since their meeting where he’d shared his ideas on what their strategy should be after others had failed. It was almost as if his wolf had planted his
butt in the seat and was refusing to move until Kara walked through the front door though he was pretty sure the man would refuse just as adamantly.
He was surprised when someone sat in the seat across from him and began staring out the window with him.
“I thought things would be more interesting than this,” Thadrick said in that cool, sophisticated tone. It made Nick want to slap some chaps on the djinn and put him on the back of a motorcycle, because no one could act sophisticated on the back of a motorcycle with the wind blowing in their face.
“People are sleeping,” Nick pointed out. “Things usually aren’t interesting when people are asleep.”
Thadrick heaved a sigh that made it clear he didn’t think Nick’s excuse was a good enough one to explain why no one was entertaining him. “Do djinn sleep?” Nick asked, deciding that if he was going to be rude enough to sit and invade his territory while Nick wanted to be thinking about Kara, then Nick would ignore basic species etiquette 101.
Thadrick shot Nick an annoyed glance. “Sometimes.”
“Why aren’t you sleeping now?”
“Because I want to talk.”
Nick almost laughed at the near pout coming from the ancient djinn. “Okay,” was Nick’s only response. And later he would realize why saying okay to Thadrick in any context was not a good idea.
“I think I want a mate,” Thadrick’s declaration reverberated off of the empty walls.
Nick’s heart kicked into overdrive as he stood suddenly and headed for the stairs. “I just remembered that I’m really tired,” he called out over his shoulder as he took Peri’s stairs two at a time not bothering to look back at Thadrick and see if he’d confused or offended him ― or both.
Nick figured since he was pining after a seventeen-year-old, he wasn’t exactly the best person for Thadrick to hit up when it came to dating. Thadrick would just have to wait for the next poor sucker to come along and sit in the chair across from him.
“Good luck with that,” Nick muttered under his breath as he settled down to sleep. His last thought as he drifted off was that he couldn’t wait for Kara to get back so he could tell her about Thadrick the ancient djinn and his declaration that he thinks he wants a mate.
Dalton refused to answer his Alpha.
“Dammit, Dalton. Do we really have to go through this again?” Dillon growled at him. “You aren’t an Alpha and you aren’t a lone wolf. You aren’t going to hunt on your own.”
“She’s my mate and she’s missing,” Dalton argued, tired of hearing his Alpha say the same thing over and over again. “You know I have every right to go after her, pack or no pack.”
“And what if she doesn’t want to be found? What then?” Dillon taunted.
Dalton knew it was a valid question, but it still ticked him off. “My looking for her is not dependent on whether or not she wants to be found. She is my mate and she is gone. Therefore, I will look for her to make sure she is safe. There’s nothing difficult about it.”
“Don’t be a dick,” Dillon snarled.
“Then you don’t be an insufferable ass!” Dalton roared back. “Why are you fighting me on this? If it was Tanya out there, you’d be gone before anyone could even call your name. Why are you expecting different behavior from me?”
His Alpha let out a resigned sigh before giving a small huff of laughter. “I would think it would be obvious. I’m your Alpha. It’s my job to protect you. That’s what I’m doing. I just don’t want you to hunt her down only to be faced with the reality of what she has become.”
“I know what she’s become,” Dalton pressed.
“What?” Dillon asked. “What has she become? Say it. Say it, so I know that you understand what you might find if you hunt her.”
Dalton didn’t want to say it. He didn’t want to use his little dove’s name in the same sentence with the likes of Volcan’s sick creations. He didn’t want to give her the same title that Gwen had carried when he’d ended her life. He couldn’t.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Dillon said wearily. “You can’t say it. You can’t hunt her.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“You have to wait and let her come back to you.”
Dalton shook his head and closed his eyes, his heart shattering once again. “I can’t just leave her out there with Volcan calling the shots. I can’t abandon her.”
“You aren’t abandoning her, Dalton. She left you. It’s up to her to come back.”
Dalton didn’t respond to Dillon. There was nothing more to say. After fifteen minutes of tense silence, Dillon bid him goodnight and headed back for Peri’s home. Dalton continued to stare off into the distance as he let his mind pull up an image of Jewel’s face. He understood what Dillon was saying and knew that he might not like what he found once he did finally find Jewel. But Dalton knew that something far worse would happen if he didn’t go.
He found himself wishing that he could talk to her through a mate bond. He wanted to reassure her that it wouldn’t matter what he found once he located her again. He would still want her and nothing was going to change that.
“Be brave, Little Dove,” he found himself whispering into the night wind, even as he whispered it to himself.
Epilogue
“Your doubts and fears give the darkness strength, my mother once told me. So I took that to mean that all you have to do to survive the darkness is don’t doubt a thing and fear nothing and no one. The Score: Darkness 175/ Anna 4.” ~Anna
It almost felt too easy, Volcan thought, as he stared at the two sleeping gypsy healers. They thought they were safe in the hotel room, as if a lock, or holding hands, could somehow keep him out. Before long, they wouldn’t be trying to keep him locked out. They would want him with them. They would want to be in his presence so they could soak up his power.
It was a little tidbit that he’d failed to mention to Jewel when he’d offered her his blood. He explained that she would have to do as the magic commanded her, that she wouldn’t be able to help herself. But Volcan didn’t mention that the more she used this magic, the stronger the craving for it would grow. With every new witch Jewel and Anna made for him, the craving to make another would grow threefold. It would take more and more witches being made to satiate the urges inside of them. And with every witch turned, the darkness would gain more ground.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jewel’s forehead and caressed Anna’s hair as if they were precious children to him. “Sleep tight, my little lovelies,” Volcan crooned. “Tomorrow you will show me and the world just what a gypsy healer, turned witch, is capable of.”
Note from the Author:
Thank you so very much for taking your time to read Jewel of Darkness. I’m truly thankful that your time to read my books. If you’d like to keep up to date on my current and upcoming releases please go to my website and sign up for my newsletter, www.quinnloftisbooks.com.
More Books by Quinn Loftis
The Grey Wolves Series
Prince of Wolves
Blood Rites
Just One Drop
Out of the Dark
Beyond the Veil
Fate and Fury
Sacrifice of Love
Luna of Mine
Piercing Silence, Grey Wolves Novella
Den of Sorrows, Book 9 coming Spring 2016
Elfin Series
Elfin
Rapture
Surrender
The Gypsy Healer Series
Into the Fae
Wolf of Stone
Jewel of Darkness
Dream Makers Series
Dream of Me
Dream so Dark, Book 2 Coming Soon
Stand Alone Works
Call Me Crazy
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