Jason felt partly empty as he got to his feet and stepped back, affording Byron and his mate the room they needed. The spell he’d performed was sapping and dangerous and it had drained him of a good amount of his strength. In fact, in that moment, it felt as though he would never regain all of his power, but he’d heard that this feeling was often the case with warlocks after this spell.
He felt partly empty. But he also felt partly full.
His gaze wandered from Katherine and Byron to Lalura, who was also coming to her feet. And then it moved on to the couple standing a few feet away. Lucas was watching his brother. But Dannai was watching Jason.
Jason’s heart hurt in that moment. It was a real, physical ache. He gazed into Danny’s multi-colored eyes and remembered how they’d played together as children. How he had always kept her would-be bullies at bay. It was his magic that had protected her in her childhood and it was his magic that had saved her family tonight.
Now Jason’s gaze slid from hers to the hand she held protectively over her stomach. He swallowed as a strange feeling uncoiled in his chest. It was warm and unfamiliar – and he liked it. Twins, he thought, a bit mystified.
And then he raised his eyes, nodded once at her, and mouthed the word, “Congratulations.”
Danny blinked once – and then she smiled. The smile lit up her eyes, casting their gem-like colors into fire light. “Thank you,” she mouthed back.
“Now then,” Lalura said, breaking the silence that had filled the clearing amidst Byron and Katherine’s reunion. “There’s just one last thing to take care of.”
Jason turned to find her leaning over Katherine and holding out her hand. “Byron, hand me her crystal, please dear, and be quick about it. I can’t stay bent over for long.”
Katherine seemed coherent, but a little confused as to what Lalura was talking about. She also looked dreadfully pale. She had been turned into a made wolf by Byron’s blood, and Jason knew all too well that Byron’s blood had been tainted by princess Isabel. Any made wolf would be anemic after enduring what Katherine Dare had suffered. For Katherine, however, the blood loss was probably even more detrimental. No doubt, Byron would be dealing with that particular issue as soon as he and his mate could find a room, or at least some small amount of privacy.
In the meantime, Byron looked up at Lalura and narrowed his stormy gaze. The wind shifted and Jason glanced at the sky to find clouds forming overhead.
“Why?” Byron asked, his voice a throaty, emotion-weary growl.
“I think Katherine looks better without it and I doubt she wants to wear it around for the rest of her life,” Lalura told him pointedly. “And besides, it’s a little nerve wracking to think that at any moment, it could break, wouldn’t you agree?”
“What are you doing, Lalura?” Jason asked. He hadn’t meant to interfere, but this spell was his work and he was well aware of the importance of the crystal Katherine wore. It held her life force within it. If it was destroyed – she would be too. He should know. He wore one just like it around his own neck.
“You’ll see, Jason,” Lalura told him, shooting him a hard look. He immediately wanted to back off. If Lalura wanted the crystal, she could have the crystal.
“Give it to her,” he told Byron, hoping the trust he had in Lalura would show in his own eyes.
Byron looked from Jason to the old woman and hesitated. And then he looked down at Katherine to find that she was already pulling the leather strap over her head. He didn’t make a move to stop her, but Jason could see the tension in his form.
Katherine handed it to Lalura, who smiled approvingly at her and patted her hand. “There now,” she said as she turned away from them and faced Jason. “Let’s have yours as well while we’re at it, Jason.”
Jason’s eyes widened. He took an involuntary step back and his hand came to his chest where, beneath his shirt he could feel the outline of the small hollow stone that pulsed in time with his heart.
Lalura simply raised her chin, narrowed her gaze, and held out her hand.
Jason looked down at the hand and hesitated. But only for a second. Then he reached behind his neck, took the leather straps between his fingers, and pulled his own phylactery over his head.
Lalura smiled brightly when he laid it gently in her open palm.
“I never did like these things,” she muttered. “I may not be able to raise the dead, but I can sure as hell do something about this.” With that, she tossed both crystals into the air and Byron leapt to his feet. At the same time, Jason rushed forward. But the crystals went up – and up – and froze in space, turning slowly where they were suspended by some unseen force.
The light within them both began to grow brighter. Jason instinctively wanted to shield his eyes once more, but he didn’t. Something told him not to. Instead, he remained frozen to the spot and stared up at his floating phylactery as the light inside of it grew and then pulsed once with gorgeous white brilliance. There was a shattering sound, like crystal thrown into a fire place, and the lights began to spiral downward.
Jason gazed, transfixed. It was so beautiful. He wanted to touch it. He wanted to hold it, to have it – he wanted it inside of himself.
So that’s where it went.
The lights sparkled like fireworks, gleamed like comets, and twirled to the earth like brilliant tornadoes. One came for him. The other went for Katherine. The world stood and watched in fascination as Jason and Katherine closed their eyes – and the lights found their marks.
He felt it enter his chest as if he’d been touched by something purely good. Living, breathing forgiveness maybe. Second chances. Hope and happiness. It infused his body, vibrated through his veins, and then went deeper.
He would never have been able to describe the sensation of the place the light went. It was simply a part of him. And now, instead of being dark and maybe partly empty, the space was light and bright and warm – and one hundred percent full.
*****
Four days later….
Katherine peeled off the last of her clothing and dropped it on top of the pile of garments beside a large water-weathered stone. Then she turned toward the sound of the surf and squinted her eyes. The sea wind tossed her hair back over her shoulders, allowing the sun to kiss her bare skin.
Through werewolf blood donations and the use of protective magic, the damaging effects of the sun on Byron and Katherine had been progressively lessened over the course of the last few days. They were told, in fact, that eventually, the tainted blood in their veins would be replaced completely and they would no longer be required to wear magical shields. It was worse for Byron than for Kat; he’d been force-fed Isabel’s blood for fifty years. Not only did he require more protection, he also had to feed. In a way. When ordering steaks, his were always rare. And when he and Kat made love, which was often, she encouraged him to leave his fangs in a little longer… drink a little more. It was a win-win situation.
Kat, on the other hand, had been given relatively little of the tainted blood, and most of that had ended up on the forest floor when Wraythe had done her in.
Regardless, however, right now Kat stood before the yellow orb in the sky free of fear, and it felt good. It had been a long time since she’d gone skinny dipping. Once, when she was twelve, she’d gone on an after school trip with fourteen other children. Kai had been there. They went to a nearby lake and, when the teachers’ backs were turned, she and Kai slipped away from the rest of the class. As promised, he’d taken off his clothes first. So, she’d kept her end of the bargain and followed suit.
Kai was a rare gem; he’d remained a gentleman and, once she was naked and in the water, his constant joking around made her forget all about it. They may as well have been wearing suits – but there in the back of her mind had been the delicious knowledge that they weren’t wearing suits. They were bucking the system – going natural. She supposed that was what had made it so fun.
Kat had very fair
skin; she’d gotten a bit sunburned that day. But unlike the other girls, she’d gone home without tan lines. And Kai had never let anyone in on their secret.
She smiled at the memory now. Slowly, deeply, she inhaled, taking in the salt and sun and freedom. Dannai had been right; the magic of her coven had turned what would otherwise have been a frigid Northern California beach into a paradise. It was warm and the breeze was gentle.
Danny had confided in her that since the covens were sort of sequestered along the West Coast for a few days in order to tie up a few loose ends, some of the witches had gotten antsy and had begun casting nature spells. As a result, the normally cold and damp shoreline was a very pleasant seventy-six degrees and the water was a clean eighty. At least for a radius of two hundred feet. If she strayed any farther, she’d have goose bumps and possibly hypothermia within seconds.
At the moment, she was alone.
The werewolf curse had been lifted and suddenly female born wolves across the globe were finding they had powers they hadn’t had the night before. It amounted to a milder version of mass hysteria, which prompted action on the part of the werewolf council and everyone who worked with them. The witches were convening, the werewolf council was meeting, and everyone wanted to meet the “precious” woman who had saved the werewolf race.
Katherine had to admit that she’d more or less shrunk under the prospective attention. Jesse had seen the look in her eyes and immediately gone to bat for her, informing werewolves everywhere that the woman they were all referring to as the “Curse Breaker” would be remaining anonymous.
Kat smiled softly and looked down, her gaze automatically finding the small wolf’s paw mark that graced her abdomen. It was actually quite a pretty mark in shimmering gray; it looked as if it had been drawn by an artist. It forever labeled her as the Curse Breaker, though. For not long after the incident, some coven’s seer had witnessed the mark in a vision and spread the word. Now everyone was on the lookout for a made wolf with a wolf’s paw on her stomach and teenage werewolves were tattooing the symbol on their own abdomens in solidarity… or maybe it was just wishful thinking.
She wouldn’t know. But she did know that touching it gently with her fingers made her both a little bit happy and a little bit sad. It felt like life did, like lessons learned, like remembering – and like moving on.
Kat delicately grazed the fingertips of her right hand over the mark and then dropped her hand. The wind kissed her cheeks, brushing fine strands of blonde hair across her face. This was one of those incredible, rare moments when the rest of the world seemed to have something important to do and she didn’t. Which left Katherine naked on the beach and not another soul in sight.
She couldn’t have been happier about it.
With an ear to ear grin, Katherine braced herself and then took off like a light. Her long legs ate up the sand as she raced across the beach and hit the water. The warm, salty sea embraced her feet and legs, enveloping her in what felt like magic. Which made sense. It was magic, in a way.
She dove in and swam for several minutes before deciding she was probably pushing the limits of her “alone and safe” time and headed for the shore. And that was when she saw the massive black wolf sitting on the beach, its storm gray eyes watching her with rapt attention.
Katherine stopped swimming and treaded the water. The wolf cocked his head to the side. Katherine shook her head slowly and waved a naughty-naughty finger at the wolf.
The wolf flashed into human form and grinned broadly at her, flashing teeth that had grown an impressive set of fangs.
He’s so beautiful, Kat thought as she took in the tall, strong form of her mate. He wore linen pants and a white linen shirt rolled up at the sleeves and he was barefoot. His pitch black hair was wind-tossed and touched with the salt of the sea. She noticed that his tan was deepening.
Maybe she wasn’t the only one who liked to skinny dip.
Kat felt a smile grace her lips as Byron eyed her appreciatively. Then, clearly deciding that she wasn’t going to come out of the water any time soon, he broke into a run, heading straight for her. Kat’s eyes widened and she backpedaled in the water, which of course did absolutely no good.
Byron took the first few splashing strides out into the surf and then dove in fully clothed, eliciting a squeal of protest from Katherine. He was under the water now and she couldn’t find him. She couldn’t hear his heart beating through the splashing of the waves around her.
She screamed as he grabbed her waist from under her and then surfaced behind her, spinning her around and yanking her body against his as he did so.
“You’re impossibly beautiful,” he told her somewhat breathlessly. His dark hair was slicked back from his face and his eyes matched the gray of the sea.
“Some people would say the same about you,” she told him. “What people?” he asked, ducking his head to kiss the water droplets from her shoulders. “Just some,” she replied. He chuckled. And then he asked, “What were you thinking about?” He straightened and looked into her eyes. “On the beach.” “You were watching me then?” she asked, embarrassment painting her cheeks with warmth. “Absolutely,” he laughed, smiling darkly. She noticed that his accent was a bit stronger just now. She wondered if it was the water – the coast in general – bringing it out in him.
“You’re a tool,” she told him. Byron frowned. “A tool? Like a hammer?” She laughed. “Never mind. And that reminds me, I’m showing you Star Wars tonight. It’s going to blow your ever loving mind.” He looked at her as though he had other ideas as to what they could do that would blow his mind, but she shot him a stern look and he chuckled. “Are you going to tell me?” he asked again. “What you were thinking?”
Kat thought of her mark and of her memories. But Byron’s smile was devastating and she felt so good with him in that moment, she didn’t want to ruin it with talk of deep emotions. She thought for a second and then smiled a mischievous smile. She felt a wicked streak rush through her as she said, “I was thinking about the first boy I ever went skinny dipping with.”
Byron’s brow raised and lightning flashed in his eyes. “Oh?” “Yep. His name was Kai and we were twelve.” Byron blinked and Kat saw some strange expression cross his features, but mistaking it for another form of jealousy, she went on. “Nothing happened. He was a perfect gentleman. And we were best friends.” “Did you say ‘Kai’?” Byron asked suddenly. Now it was Katherine’s turn to frown. “Yeah, why?” “Kai Keahi?” Kat’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “How the hell did you know that?” Byron began laughing, a deep throaty chuckle that shook his hard body and because he was holding her, shook hers as well. “What’s so funny?” she asked, truly confused. “Kai Keahi,” he said, settling down a bit, “is the son of Manoa Keahi, known in some circles as “Madrid,” because he’d visited once and always talked about going back some day.”
Kat looked at Byron as if he were growing a third eye. It was what she felt he would do at any minute. “What the heck are you talking about?”
“Madrid rode with me in Australia,” he told her. “He was one of the wolves who made up the gang I told you about at the hotel. Kai is his son. Only he didn’t know it until he actually went to Madrid, found the woman he’d slept with twenty years earlier, and learned of Kai’s existence and the fact that she’d given him up for adoption in the states.”
Kat knew her mouth was hanging open.
“I know this,” Byron went on as his hand slid over her bottom and cupped it threateningly, “because I just had a discussion with Madrid about forty minutes ago – when he came to council headquarters and introduced me to his son. And his son’s wife. And their two little girls.”
He looked up at the white washed edifice of the werewolf council headquarters where its rooftop peeked over the smooth rocks on the beach. “Up there,” he finished.
Kat stared at her mate for a moment and then looked up at the building. And then she looked back at Byron.
“I don’t believe this,” she said. And she didn’t.
“I wouldn’t lie to you,” he told her, grinning broadly.
“Oh my God,” she said then, remembering something. “Before I went off to college, Kai told me not to worry about us – that I wasn’t meant to be with him.” She blinked and felt her mouth form an “O.” “He knew, didn’t he? He knew I was a dormant.”
Byron’s smile softened and he nodded. “Without a doubt, Katherine. And for him to realize you were not his mate and let you go proved he was the best friend you say he was and the alpha he probably knew he was.”
Wow, thought Katherine. The werewolf race had been all around her for practically her entire life. She’d never realized it. It was like a silent guardian, a force that pushed and pulled. In its own way, it had been there for her.
And in the end, in her own special way, Katherine Dare had been there for it as well.
Roman D’Angelo had lived a great many years and had come to know a great many things in that time. But one thing he feared he would never quite have down was how to prepare himself for a visit from Lalura Chantelle.
She came upon him like a hurricane, as always, and he turned from the window through which he’d been gazing at the alabaster fountain at the center of his night garden.
A moment later, he felt her presence against his wards as if she were the raven, tap, tap, tapping at his chamber door. Roman took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. Then he waved his hand dismissively and his wards fell.
“Please come in, Lalura.”
The air in his study wavered and he caught the scent of roses and lavender. He turned his back to the area at the center of the room and pretended to peruse the spines of the books he had in shelves along the wall. He knew she loved to make a grand entrance and nothing would irritate her more than him failing to witness it.