Branches of the Willow 3 (21 page)

In the next moment, the office door opened, Andy Wallace came through, tugging at the largest bicep I had ever seen in my life. I lived with inhumanly strong werewolves, so that was saying something. The man had to be about six and a half feet easy, and his thighs rivaled his arms in ways I didn’t even want to think about. This man was a powerhouse. Behind him, keeping a hold on the other gigantic arm was none other than the smart ass Nicholi. He winked at me when he saw me take note of him.

“Who the hell is that?” I asked.

“Who the hell are you?” The man asked me, piercing me with a set of wild, hazel eyes. His brown hair was cropped close to his skull, adding to the illusion that his eyes were larger and wilder than they probably would have appeared otherwise. His lips were set in a cruel sneer, until he glanced down from my face and took in my belly. Just like that his features softened, and instead of being the raging prisoner that he so clearly was, he inclined his head toward me.

“What the hell?” I heard Mikael say beside me. He’d noticed the gesture too.

“This is Gabriel.” Avery spoke calmly. “We had to set quite the trap to snare him.” Avery glanced beside him at Serena.

“You may stop manhandling Gabriel now. He will be no trouble.” Serena stated simply, talking to Nicholi and Andy. Mikael took a step forward so that he was solid barrier between me and the hulking giant of a man.

“I would never harm her.” Gabriel spoke softly, as if trying to seem smaller and less imposing with his voice.

“Someone needs to explain what’s going on here, right now!” Mikael managed through clenched teeth. He had gone into full protect mode.

Gabriel moved forward, and Mikael shadowed those movements, always at the ready, keeping me out of sight of the man. Then Gabriel simply took a seat in one of the free chairs, and laced the fingers on his two hands together before sitting them in his lap. He looked up, directly at Mikael. “I will not hurt your mate. On that, you have my word. She and her line are ever in my charge.”

“He speaks the truth.” Serena added. “I would not bring him anywhere near her otherwise.” She moved forward, and put a hand on Mikael’s shoulders. “She is my blood, the last of my line.” Mikael glanced, out of the corner of his eye, at Serena and then allowed himself to relax a fraction of an inch. He moved, slightly, giving enough space between where he stood and where Gabriel sat that I could see the man.

“I am an Elder Hunter. We, the elders, are the trainers of the new ranks when the old fall.” We dispatched our people to the area almost a year ago, because of an influx of dark ones.”

“Wait. How did you know there was an influx of dark ones. We still have yet to see evidence of any.”

“You are not trained to look for the patterns, we are.” His gaze never left mine as he spoke, as if I was the only person in the room he needed to address. It was a bit unnerving. “There have been disappearances in surrounding human towns. The couple that turned back up as bodies, had the trademark signs of vampiric feedings. They had the right size fang marks, or were simply torn to pieces in a frenzy feed. They were all exsanguinated, with no evidence of blood near the bodies. And there were other hallmarks. I can train your people to notice the signs, but the important thing to know is that the dark ones were called here by wolves.” He glanced between Serena and myself. “We were unsure which clan brought them until we felt the presence of a witch, and her essence in this place and the other.” He nodded his head toward Avery with his last word.

“So, you knew it wasn’t my father’s pack or Avery’s pack because you sensed a witch?”

“Correct. We also sensed a witch near a third pack. We have reassessed how we do things since. That witch has since been dispatched from this world.” He looked to Serena again.

“Sophia?” I asked.

“Yes. She knew where Malachai was, and apparently orchestrated everything that transpired. From what we gathered, my dear sister wanted to be worshipped for the goddess she thought she was. The only ones who would have done so, other than our protectors, would be the humans. Taking you, and the white wolf line, out of the equation was only part of her plan.” Serena sighed heavily.

“We came to dispatch the dark ones, but when we realized they were working with wolves, we sent our people in to start infiltrating the packs we had already cleared.”

“That’s why we kept finding interlopers on our lands.” Avery added.

“Indeed. Your two packs were near impossible to get into. The third, didn’t even realize they had a non-wolf living among them.” I thought about the Hunter we had taken to the Locks, and I felt sick. Had he just been doing his job? “You think of the one you locked away?” My head tipped up to look at Gabriel then. “It was good that you did. He abandoned our brotherhood and was working with the dark ones and that pack. He was young, and easily swayed to the delusions of grandeur they fed him when they realized what he was. They had the self-professed King of the Werewolves on their side.” Gabriel looked pained. “He still should have known better.”

I turned toward Serena then, with a question that had been on my mind for a while. “The dark ones, were they a creation of the witches too?”

A pained smile creased her flawless face. “In a manner of speaking.” She looked at me, and took stock of those in the room. “Sophia was not my oldest sibling. Jonah was.” There were a few gasps around the room.

“The dark one who can walk in the light?” My father asked.

“The same.” Serena said. “Witches have a feminine magic of the Earth. We almost always have daughters. There are exceptions, as with everything. My brother was one of those exceptions. He was the only male born to my family line. When a male is born they are endowed with what we think of as a tainted magic. They have their own type of powers, in some ways making them stronger than the females, but everything has a balance, and it was quickly realized that the males of our kind were creatures of darkness. While the females are creatures of light.”

“My mother had a sister once. She wouldn’t hear of mother turning her son away, and so she stepped in thinking that no soul could be bad from birth. She nurtured the boy, feeding him fresh animal blood, and on occasion, allowing him to feed from sick humans who would die anyway.”

“My mother, was not thrilled with the way her sister took on her son, and made him seem so normal when others berated her for the attempt. She thought to teach her sister a lesson, and locked her in a witch trap with the boy. As he grew weaker and hungrier, it left only one food source for him. The stories say my Aunt offered him her blood willingly at first, but witches blood is like a drug to the dark ones. It is full of the magic they are not able to access. Eventually Jonah drained my aunt of her magic and her life.”

“Only a witch can kill another witch.” I mumbled, remembering my past conversation with Serena.

“Yes, my dear. When a dark one drains a witch dry, killing her, and taking all of her magical essence in, he becomes Fiul Sange, a blood son, a dark one who can walk in the day.”

Looking around the room, I realized, I was not the only person hearing this history for the first time. Never, in a million years, would I have imagined that the dark ones, vampires, were actually the discarded offspring of witches. My mind was racing in a million different directions at once. “Why Avery’s lands?”

I glanced up to see Gabriel smile at my question. “You are a wise one, child. That is the question of the hour.”

“So, it’s no coincidence that they’re here in this area?” Mikael offered.

“Not at all. They were called here.” Gabriel stated, and then began to elaborate. “Looking around your little pack lands, both those of the Daniels Clan and the St. Marks Pack have small human towns on their outskirts, but no major development. This doesn’t seem like the most fruitful place to stage a coming out party for the supernatural beings of the world. There has to be something else drawing them here. At first, we thought it was you.” Gabriel’s multi-toned eyes landed on me. “Then we realized they were holding their concentrated efforts closer to the Daniels Clan lands. Now, we just need to figure out what the hell that means.”

“It also means we will have to work together to figure it out.” Serena suggested. “I will be going back to stay with the Daniels Clan for the time being, as will Gabriel.” Gabriel nodded his head in agreement. “I have also called one of my sisters to meet with us. We all have different gifts, hers may be useful, as she can commune with the dead.”

“Do you think the white wolves would have knowledge of what’s happening.”

Serena smiled at me. “They may. I’m not sure they’ll share with us though. My dears are fond of their riddles and letting you figure them out.”

I rolled my eyes. That was the truth.

Serena, Gabriel, and Avery stood to leave. “We’ll keep each other abreast of what’s happening.” Avery said as he clasped my father’s hand in his.

“Be sure to keep your females close at hand. I’m not certain why, maybe because they are weaker by nature, but they seem to be a target for the dark ones.” Gabriel added before leaving the room with Andy and Nicholi.

Avery came to stand in front of me next, “Jessica, it was good to see you again.” He placed his hand on my belly, and received a kick from my daughter in response. Avery looked over my shoulder at Mikael, “Enjoy every minute of her while she’s little, once she gets here. When they grow up, you start aging, my man!” Avery blows out a sigh as he watched Andy Nicholi, and Gabriel leave the room. “Quickly, it happens quickly.” I smirked, knowing what Avery was insinuating. The poor man had two very gorgeous daughters, both of mating age.

My parents saw the others out, and Mikael wrapped his arms around me, kissed my neck, and then moved until he was standing in front of me. He dropped to his knees and held my belly. “You’re not going to give daddy a hard time, are you?”

I laughed at him. “Maybe you should ask my dad how he felt when we showered at his house that time!”

“Bite your tongue, woman!” Mikael managed through a laugh. “My daughter would never…” His voice trailed off and he looked back up at me with a wink. “I bet your dad still wants to string me up for that. Hell, I’m mad for him, now!”

“It’s all about perspective.” I laughed.

“I suppose it is. I wouldn’t trade those moments for anything though.” He stood back up, hands on my large belly, and leaned in to kiss me. “Besides, it’s pretty obvious what we’ve been up to when no one’s looking anyway.” He winked at me again, and took my hand to walk me out of the office. Ashley and Asi were waiting on my parent’s porch. I’m not sure why they weren’t in the meeting, other than the fact that my dad needed a much bigger office.

“Where were you guys?” I asked.

“Ash wasn’t feeling well. We stayed out here for the fresh air, and figured you’d come fill us in later.” My best friend was starting into her second month of pregnancy. We joked that if she had a boy, our children were already destined to be mates, even if Willow was going to be older by a few months.

We filled Ashley and Asi in on what was happening with the dark ones, Gabriel, and the witches. “It’s going to start getting crowded around here again, real fast.”

“What do you mean?”

“Witches, an elder Hunter, the White Wolf,” he nodded to Mikael then, “the King.” That’s a lot of power in one little area. It’s going to bring everyone to our doorsteps. Friends and enemies.” Asriel was right, of course. It was something we probably should have addressed in the meeting, and one of the reasons it was clear he didn’t need to miss any more. He saw the worry lines starting to crease my face and patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Jess. We’ll work through it.”

PREVIEWS

Turn the page for previews of:

Bound by the Moon (The Ancients Series, Vol. 4)

Becoming One (The Daniels Clan, Vol. 1)

Bringing Change (The Daniels Clan, Vol. 2)

Check out the website for official release dates:

http://authorchristinembutler.moonlitdreams.org

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BOUND BY THE MOON

The Ancients Vol. 4

Jessica St. Marks De’Lune has it all. She is the famed white wolf of legends. Her mate was destined to be King, and they’re having a baby. Happily ever after is only a heartbeat away for them!

Unfortunately, female wolves are disappearing. Hunters of old, who were made to kill the dark ones, are now hunting their kind. The dark ones have surfaced, and to top that off, a very unique and unheard of prison break make happily ever after seem like it’s never going to happen.

It’s going to take a miracle, maybe several, to bring Jess’s people together, keep them safe, and bind them to a common cause. If it works, they may all just find a little bit of happy. If it doesn’t, she’s damned them all to hell.

Find out how it all comes together in the final installment of The Ancients Series!

Look for it in Fall 2014.

If you enjoyed The Ancients Series, keep reading for a quick peek at the spin off, The Daniels Clan Series.

BECOMING ONE

The Daniels Clan Series Vol. 1

Annalise Daniels just wanted to go on a run, stretch her legs, and relieve the unearthly itch that had crept under her skin in the night.

As the metal teeth of a wolf trap snapped closed on her back paw, sending shock waves of debilitating pain through her, Annalise knew she was in trouble. To make matters worse, the final transition in becoming a werewolf was now upon her. The scent she was giving off as a result, making it possible for males to track her for miles, was also going to make her easy pickings for the hunters who had set the trap.

Andy Wallace had a message to deliver to Avery Daniels from the White Wolf Ruler, Jessica St. Marks De’ Lune. While on his way to meet with the Daniels Clan, Andy stumbles upon an unconscious Annalise, and must get her to safety before they are discovered by the hunters that are on their way.