The Immortal Scrolls (21 page)

“I am well,” she said smiling. She was no longer an immature adolescent. She was a woman. He looked at her long, dark, flowing locks, dark eyes, and pretty face. “You have returned for good?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes, with my family,” he said.

“Oh,” she replied, slightly taken aback. “I see.”

“We will see you later tonight at the festivities,” he said cheerily. Lucian felt bad for the girl. She had always wanted him, but he had never wanted to be with her, let alone marry her. It was a match set up by the elders.

Kara smiled and nodded and then walked away. Lucian jogged the last bit to their tent. He walked in quietly and found Skye asleep with the babies. A cradle had already been placed in the tent by the bed, but Skye had the babies with her. Lucian smiled, crawled into the bed, and cuddled up next to her. He knew he needed to talk to Skye about what he was and about the village. He also wanted to discuss marriage with her. Skye woke up. She turned her head back and kissed him. Lucian kissed her back gently as he stroked her arm.

“Skye, I need to talk to you,” he said.

“What is it?” she asked.

“What you saw in the woods…my people…we are werewolves. Do you know anything about werewolves?” he asked her. Skye shook her head no. “Our origins are foggy. Some of us think it a gift and others a curse. On the full moon we change form from human to wolf. We can change voluntarily at other times, but during the full moon we cannot choose.”

“But—” Skye started to say.

“What you saw—me changing—it takes a lot of strength, and there are consequences,” said Lucian. “I saw how terrified you were of me. I would never hurt you. We are not monsters.”

“I have seen a lot of strange things lately,” she said. Skye laced her fingers through his. “How could I ever have been afraid of you? I know you, Lucian. I know you would never hurt me, my love.”

Lucian tilted her face to his and kissed her gently. Willow was awake and cooing. Lucian laughed at her sweet sounds. “You should feed them. We are leaving them with the elder village women tonight. All the children and the elders do not participate.”

“Participate in what?” she asked with a look of concern.

“The rituals,” Lucian said mysteriously. “We have three days of rituals, the night before, the night of, and the night after the full moon every month.”

“Oh,” she said, not sure what to say.

“I told you before there were consequences if we do not phase. Every time we fight the phase we age. Otherwise we are immortal. There are some of us, those who have lived very long lives, who decide to start resisting the change so they may age and die like a human. Forever is too long for some. The elders are choosing their path. Neve is my great-grandmother. She will be watching Wolf and Willow. They will be perfectly safe with her.”

“All right,” Skye said reluctantly. She cradled Willow to her bosom and fed her. Wolf was still asleep. Lucian sat next to her and watched lovingly. He stroked Willow’s forehead. Her blue eyes were wide open and alert as she nursed. A few minutes passed, and Willow fell asleep again. Lucian took her and held her.

“Come here, sleepy head,” Skye said to Wolf as she picked him up. She gently tickled his feet with her finger until he opened his green eyes. When he did, it was as if Skye had a vision. She saw a pair of bright green eyes, a man’s eyes, though she could not see his face.

Lucian saw Skye staring off into space. “Skye, what’s wrong?”

“Did you say something?” Skye asked as she snapped back to the present. She looked around, confused.

“Are you all right?” he asked her.

“Yes. I just thought I saw something…” she said as her voice drifted off. “I’m fine.” She placed Wolf to her breast, and he began to nurse.

As the time passed, the drumming grew louder, and they could hear people chanting and shouting. Lucian had taken the babies to Neve. Skye had boiled some water and placed it in the small bucket in her tent. She stepped in and washed herself quickly because it was cold. Her clothing had disappeared and was replaced by a tiny animal skin skirt and some bits of animal skin that barely covered her breasts. At least someone had left her a fur cloak and some boots, she noticed.
It must have been Lucian
, she thought. She knew that the cold didn’t bother his kind, and they didn’t need to cover up as she did. Skye rubbed scented oil over her body and dressed. Lucian came back as she was sliding on her animal skin boots.

“Are you ready, Skye?” he asked anxiously. His lusty eyes looked at her in approval.

Lucian was dressed in a loincloth made of the same animal skin as hers, and she noticed he had some blue symbols painted on his skin. Her eyes longingly followed the markings over his muscled chest and arms.

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head. Skye walked over to him, and he kissed her.

“Wait,” said Lucian as he stopped her from putting on her cloak. He had a small bowl in his hand with some blue paint in it. Lucian stuck his finger in the bowl and then placed it to her chest. He began to trace symbols on her flesh. His finger moved from her chest to her arms and then her face. Skye’s skin quivered as he touched her. Lucian smiled when he was finished and set the bowl down. Then he wrapped her in the cloak and took her hand to lead the way.

They walked through the maze of tents and wooden structures to an empty area in the middle of the village. There were several large bonfires and large, flat rock altars. The men and women were scantily dressed and painted with similar blue symbols as Lucian and herself. The women danced around the fires seductively as the men whooped and shouted. When the song was over, the men joined the women as the drums started up again. Skye felt a pair of eyes on her. She looked around and saw a pretty woman staring at her and Lucian spitefully. The look she was giving Skye was disturbing. She squeezed Lucian’s hand to get his attention.

“Who is that?” she said. Lucian looked around, but the woman had disappeared.

“Who?” he asked, confused.

“Never mind,” said Skye. Lucian handed her some wine, and they began to drink.

After a few drinks, Lucian tried to get Skye to dance with the women. It was difficult with her cloak, on so she removed it and decided to brave the cold for a while. She was surprised she did not feel so cold. Skye danced as the other women were doing. Her body moved fluidly and seductively. Lucian kept his eyes on her. Her body was glowing again like the other fairies. Some of the other villagers stopped what they were doing to watch, but Skye did not notice. She had shut her eyes and was moving in rhythm to the beat of the drums. When the song was over she stopped and walked over to Lucian. He handed her more wine, and they gulped it down. It was sweet with honey. The music continued, and Skye looked around to see if they were dancing again, but they were not. Instead a few couples climbed on top of the large rock altars and began making love.

“What are they doing?” she asked, feeling self-conscious. It seemed wrong to her to be watching something so personal.

“You know what they are doing, Skye,” Lucian said.

Skye laughed. “Yes, I know.”

“It is part of the ritual. Those are newly married couples trying to conceive. This is a fertility ritual,” he explained.

“Oh,” she said, slightly taken aback.

The group was becoming frenzied with their own lust. The men began chasing the women around the circle playfully. Lucian and Skye joined in. She led him around the altars, teasing him. Skye looked around as she ran and saw that some of the others had fallen on the spot and began making love. She ran away from the circle and weaved in and around the tents. Lucian was not far behind. Skye stopped behind a tent and laughed as she waited for him to catch up with her.

“It’s no use, Skye,” he said. “I can smell you like flowers in a summer breeze.”

She took off from her spot and headed back to their tent. Skye went inside and tried to catch her breath. Lucian burst through the tent flaps and embraced her savagely. He kissed her mouth wildly. Skye’s hands fumbled at his loincloth, finally freeing him from it. Lucian’s hands were all over her, not resting in one spot for too long. Then he ripped off her garments. There was something feral and exciting about Lucian that made her desire him more. Skye backed her body toward the bed, and he followed. She lay back in the middle of the bed and pulled her knees up. Then she sat slightly upright on her elbows. Lucian kneeled next to her and placed a hand on her knees. His hand slid between her legs, separating them. He moved his hand lower and lower, his eyes locked on hers, and began stroking her with his hand. Skye dropped from her elbows to her back and moaned. Lucian stopped and lay on the bed next to her, his body in the opposite direction. He bent his head down, and his tongue eagerly took the place of his hand. Skye moaned, completely uninhibited, and her cries of pleasure stirred Lucian’s desire. Then he felt her take his hardness into her mouth. Skye stroked the length of his shaft as her tongue encircled the tip. Lucian gripped her buttocks with his hands and pressed her harder to him, his head moving frantically.

Lucian couldn’t hold back any longer. He needed to be inside her now. He let go and pulled himself up on the bed. He kneeled next to her and turned her body around so she was on her hands and knees. Entering her swiftly from behind, Lucian grabbed her hips and began thrusting inside her. Skye let herself be totally dominated by Lucian’s passion. Then he leaned himself back on his legs and pulled her up on him to where her back was touching his chest. He began sucking on her neck. One hand groped her breasts, and the other hand was between her legs. Skye rocked her hips gently as he thrust himself into her deeper and harder. Her cries grew louder as she climaxed, and her body began to tremble. Lucian gripped her hips with both hands as he pounded into her ferociously. Skye gasped as he reached deep inside her. Lucian groaned and cried out, unrestrained, until his last thrust. His body quivered and jerked for a moment, and then he was still. Lucian turned her head with his hands and covered her mouth with his own, kissing her passionately. She turned around, slowly letting him slide out of her so she could kiss him better.

“I love you, Skye,” he whispered between kisses.

Skye smiled. “I love you, Lucian.”

Her body was letting off the strange glow again. Lucian could feel the warmth of her light encompassing his body. He collapsed back on the bed and pulled her to his side. Lucian wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Skye pulled the blanket up over them, and they lay there for a long while. She could feel the gentle rhythm of his breathing as he slept, and she soon fell asleep.

.

Chapter Fourteen

N
APLES, 2011

S
kye was packing her belongings into boxes. Her little apartment was cluttered with boxes she’d already stuffed full. There was no change regarding the excavation, so she decided to cut her losses and move on. Skye had terrible dreams all night long. She dreamt about the past. It left her thinking all day about her future. She decided she would join up with her father, Tiberius, and continue what they had started. Suddenly there was a knock on her door. Skye went to open it.

“Lucian!” she said, surprised, as she opened her door to see her former lover standing there. He didn’t wait for an invitation and stormed inside.

“Skye, you are looking well,” he said awkwardly. Lucian wanted nothing more than to embrace her and kiss her. He had been longing to do so for centuries since the day she’d left him in Britannia.

Skye stared at him in shock. She didn’t know what to say. She had never stopped loving him, and the moment she saw him now Skye just wanted to hold him like before.

“What are you doing back in Herculaneum?” he asked.

“I’m searching for answers,” she replied.

“I am here for answers as well. Father never told me where you were. Not even our children would tell me where you were. They said you come to visit them, but you always leave in secret. I have searched for you, my love. When I heard your name on television, I came right away,” said Lucian.

“I stayed with you for many years, and I couldn’t get rid of this desire to find out who I am. I had this recurring dream that I knew was connected to my past. Then I went to talk with Queen Oona about other ways to regain my memory without destroying Amara. She told me that you and Tiberius promised Amara would be destroyed if she saved my life. So I left with Tiberius to find Amara and destroy her. But we never found her, only traces here and there.

Lucian stared at her, confused. “Why didn’t you ask me to help? Why did you just leave me?”

“I did it to protect you,” she said.

Skye’s mind drifted back to Britannia. Tiberius’s words echoed in her mind. She explained it to Lucian.

Come with me, child. We will destroy Amara and regain your memory. You don’t love Lucian. You love another, and he was stolen from you. You will only destroy Lucian if you stay with him, if you should remember. I know you do care for him. Do you want him to suffer? Leave with me now. Leave him a note. He will move on. Lucian was betrothed to Kara once. Her husband is dead. He and Kara will marry and take over the pack. It is his legacy. You know the pack is at risk of falling apart with Cale gone. Their marriage would keep the pack united. Lucian would have the chance to produce pureblood heirs.

“I never got the letter. My father must have kept it,” said Lucian. “You just left me. You tore my heart from my chest and took it with you. Then you come back several years later, stay for a night, and then vanish again without an explanation. You promised me we would talk in the morning. We never got around to that talk. And just so you know, I never cared if I had pureblood children. I love the twins, and I love our son. Do you know what has been like for me having to go beg Oona to see my own children? Why did you leave them with her?

“Oona demanded I give her our children as payment for saving my life until I destroyed Amara. After a while, I gave up the search. I came back that night because I missed you so much it was killing me. I stopped caring about my past. But I realized I couldn’t stay without the children. My life would always be incomplete. So I left again. I rejoined Tiberius and continued our quest. I gave it up a hundred years ago. I came back a second time. I wanted to be with you. But when I came to the village I saw you with Kara, and you were holding your child in the air. You looked so happy. I couldn’t intrude. So I left again. Over the years I changed my identity and location. I studied from university to university learning languages and history.”