Broken Heart 08 Must Love Lycans (34 page)

I put the empty bowl on the nightstand, then snuggled with Jeff and tried not to think about Damian. Or Damian’s lifeless body riddled with bullet holes, soaked in blood.

All kinds of scenarios had entered my mind. The vampires could Turn him. His mother could breathe life back into him. Morrigu could let him drink from the chalice.

Hope was a tiny flame inside me, even though my own heart told me the truth: Damian was gone, and I was lost without him.

“Do you feel that?” I said. The air felt electrified. Jeff lifted his snout, cocked his head, and then he barked. The hair on the back of my neck rose. Wary, I scooted off the bed, hugging Jeff, as I looked around the room.

“Shit,” said Jarred. He stood up, too, and shoved the injector into my hand. “Skip Morrigu’s blood spells and use this.”

“What?” Stunned, I looked at metal tube the size and shape of a cigar and then at Jarred.

“The problem with the first serum was that I donated DNA in my weakest form. Still, my demigod blood was enough to disrupt the theria genotype’s natural process. It was trying to encode Damian’s DNA, but mine was just potent enough to, as you so kindly put it, fuck everything up.” He grimaced. “He’s getting through the protections faster than I thought possible.”

“Who?”

“Your friend,” he said with an almost smile. “The new serum includes lycan DNA coding.”

“Dr. Michaels said that adding more lycan DNA could overload my system.”

“It’s your choice,” he said. “Morrigu’s dark blood or my lycan DNA.”

“But you’re not a lycan!”

“I can be,” he said. “That’s my curse. I can be anyone. Anything.”

“What does that mean?” Panic was started to claw through me. My heart pounded fiercely, and I felt an intense heat gather in my belly. “Why are you helping me?”

“I’m the one who hurt you. I need to make this right.”

“I appreciate that,” I said warily. “What, exactly, are you?”

“I’m a therianthrope,” he said. “The only one left on this earth. And you are the daughter of the last known changeling. My last hope to find a mate.” His gaze filled with anguish. “I wished you could’ve loved me the way you love him.”

“Oh, Jarred.” My heart broke for him, even though I was feeling wretched. My bones hurt, my muscles felt rubbery, and inside me, something foreign scrabbled, wanting out. The inner me, the werewolf who wanted to live.

“Good-bye, Kelsey.” He disappeared. Literally. No sparkles, or electric air, or anything. Just gone.

The moment he left, gold sparks burst inside the room, and when they dissipated, I saw Ruadan. He cocked an eyebrow at me. “There you are, love. C’mon, then. You’ve work to do yet.”

I walked into his arms, holding my dog, the chalice, and the injector.

Then we went all sparkly—and did our own disappearing act.

 

We arrived in a huge room with a vaulted ceiling, stained glass windows, and large stone dais at the front. Pain radiated through me, and I was having a tough time drawing breath.

“The change is upon her,” snapped Morrigu, who stood. “Hurry!”

I briefly wondered how Morrigu could be in Aufanie’s chapel without the Goddess’s invitation, but I was tired of trying to figure out the policies of supernatural jerkfaces. Screw ’em.

I put Jeff down, and he trotted off—probably to go pee in a corner. Ruadan helped me to his grandmother, who stood a few feet down the aisle in front of the dais. Her gaze was on the chalice in my hand. She couldn’t have it unless I gave it to her, not until the bargain was met.

On the left of the platform stood Alaya, who was dressed in even more formal robes. Her black lace veil was so dark, it was a wonder she could see through it. Damian’s brothers stood on the other side. They were looking at me, but I could see Darrius stealing looks at Alaya and frowning.

Someone else was there, too.

Damian.

Even though it felt like I was being turned inside out, I climbed up the steps and grabbed the edge of the smooth, worn rock. He lay on the flat stone, looking too much like a sacrifice. He’d been stripped and cleaned, and wore a black and gold robe.

“Damian,” I whispered.

“You must mourn later, child,” said Morrigu, “lest you want to join him in the next world.”

“I want to join him in
this
world,” I said raggedly. I turned, and stumbled. “If he drinks your potion, will it save him?”

Morrigu narrowed her gaze. “That was not the bargain.”

“Do you want the chalice?” I asked bitterly. “I’m changing the terms. Answer the question.” I fell to my knees, sucking in harsh breaths. I heard an odd cracking sound and agony shot through my limbs. I kept a death grip on the chalice.

“Foolish girl,” she said softly. “Yes, the potion will save him. He will live again as he was—but the magic is meant for you. Do you love him so much that you would give up your only chance to live?”

“Yes,” I said, and it was true. But I wasn’t giving up my life. At least I hoped I wasn’t. The injector was still in my hand, hidden by the sleeve of my pajama top.

“Very well,” said Morrigu. “I will trade Damian’s life for my chalice.”

Well, at least she hadn’t told me something cryptic and stupid. I gave her the chalice. She held the edge of it by her fingertips. She raised her other arm and a small, silver dagger appeared. She drew the blade under her wrist; black blood dribbled into the cup.

As the Morrigu whispered words I didn’t understand, the dagger disappeared. In its place, she held a grape-sized lustrous gray rock, which she put inside the chalice. I heard a metallic plop, and then silver sparkles emitted from the concoction.

“Silver, blood, antimony, chalice,” said Morrigu. “Life reborn.” She walked to the dais, leaned over, and lifted Damian slightly. She whispered into his ear, and his mouth opened wide.

She poured all the contents down his throat.

I burned.

My muscles were pulling away from breaking bones.

I screamed.

“She’s trying to shift,” said Drake, kneeling next to me. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Kelsey.”

I looked up and saw Damian peering at me over the edge of the altar. He looked alive and healthy, as though he’d never spent a second as a corpse. My love. My mate.

Morrigu had kept her promise.

I lifted the injector and slammed it into my thigh.

“No!” He leapt off the dais and cradled me. He picked up the silver tube and looked down at me with a horrified gaze. “What have you done,
Schätzchen
?”

“It’s okay,” I said. I pressed my palm against his cheek. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“Never, my love. Never.”

“Aufanie and Tark are coming through the portal,” said Alaya.

I saw a bright light somewhere to the left of Damian, but I couldn’t look away from him.

“Family reunion time,” I said. My body started to shake, and my vision grayed around the edges. I tried to fight off the creature growing inside me, but I was helpless. And scared. Damian held me, never looking away, pouring his strength and love into me, wave after wave of it. It sustained me. Panic receded.

“Damian.” The sweet face of Aufanie and the stern visage of Tark leaned over me.

“S-say hello to your mother,” I told Damian. “Don’t be rude.”

He barked a laugh, and then he broke eye contact to look at his mother. “I understand,” he said in a broken voice. “I would do for Kelsey in a heartbeat what you did for my father. I’m sorry, Mother.”

“You forgive me,” she whispered. Crystalline tears fell from her eyes.

“As do we all, Mother,” said Drake and Darrius together as they joined the circle of faces above me. This was my family. The family of my heart. The ones who loved me. I felt that truth, that unalterable joy pulsing all around, filling me, healing me, buoying me.

“The circle is closed,” said Morrigu. I couldn’t see the Goddess, but her voice was close. “The bargain is met, Aufanie. Blessed be.”

“Blessed be, Morrigu.” Aufanie looked at me, her smile beatific. “Peace, child,” she said soothingly, and placed her palm against my forehead.

Tark covered her hand with his and said, “Welcome, daughter.”

Inside me, beyond the shadows of my soul, something wonderful stirred.

The beast nestled inside me, the one that felt like hope, like belonging, bloomed to the surface. A voluminous whiteness burst around me, and the terrible agony faded.

Everything shifted back together, but in a completely different way.

I was reborn.

I felt the power, the strength in my muscles, the wonderment that beat within me with the same ferocity of my pounding heart.

I lifted my snout, and howled.

“Wolf of Silver,” said Aufanie. “Life-mate of the lycanthrope king.”

I stood next to Damian, and he put his hand on my scruff. Jeff meandered over and looked up at me, his bug eyes assessing my new form. I leaned down and licked his face. He snuffled, then lay down, putting his head on his paws.

I watched as Aufanie lifted off her crown and placed it on her son’s head. And then Tark removed his collar and clasped it around my neck. Happiness rippled through me, and I barked.

Aufanie and Tark bowed to us.

“All hail the new king and queen of lycanthropes,” said Alaya in her scratchy voice. Everyone offered us their obeisance.

Even Morrigu.

 

Epilogue

Three months later …

 

“A
ny word from Alaya?”I asked as Damian drove down Sanderson Street to Jessica and Patrick’s home. It was the first time we’d been back to Broken Heart since the night Damian had us whisked away to his castle.

“
Nein.
Maria promised to keep us informed.”

Maria had been named the new high priestess, and she’d been a lot nicer to me now that I was her queen an’ all. Heh.

Slowly but surely the lycans—full-bloods and Roma alike—were returning to Schwarzwald. A new community was being built—in a location far away from the original one. The remnants of the first village had been razed, and a small memorial erected. Damian wanted everyone to remember what had been sacrificed sixty years ago, but he didn’t want them to, as Jessica so often said, wallow around in the past.

I knew Alaya had left because of Darrius. Damian had kept his promise to her about not revealing her identity, but Darrius had been nosing (hah) around, asking questions. Her disappearance had only whetted Darrius’s appetite to know who she was … and you know,
I
hadn’t promised Alaya not to say anything.

But I also knew Damian had kept his mouth shut to protect his brother.

I’m not sure, however, that Darrius would think of it as a favor.

Aufanie, Tark, and Damian’s brothers all resided with us at the castle. We had a lot of guests these days, mostly the lycans who were helping to build the new town. The castle was big enough to hold a thousand or so people, so we had plenty of space. I was still getting lost, too, but that was the perk of having a goddess for a mother-inlaw. She always knew where to find me.

I hadn’t heard from Jarred except once. Not long after Damian and I were official married (in the chapel where we’d saved each other), I received a bouquet of lilies. The card only said, “Be happy. J.”

I wanted Jarred to find what he was looking for, but I hoped he found a better way to go about his search.

Damian parked the BMW. Then he took my hand and pressed his lips against my wrist. I melted instantly. “Are you ready?”

“As long as I have you, I can do anything.”

 

The weapons of war were being carefully arranged by the leaders of the combatants. Two big-screen televisions, two Xbox 360s, and two sets of Rock Band 3 paranormal-ized (as Jess called it) were being set up, while the captains of the opposing sides—Patrick, the vampire, and Damian, the lycanthrope—eyed each other suspiciously.

I stood between Jessica and Patsy, behind the safety of the couch, eating a cupcake. I’d been craving them more than usual, but I figured that just meant that the child growing within my womb totally got the delights of sugar and fat. And also, she was a girl. I just knew it—even though Damian and I had decided to be surprised. (He thought we were having a boy. Hah.)

“I never got a crown,” said Patsy, as she gazed longingly at the one perched on my husband’s head. “Seriously. I ruled vampires and lycans for eight freaking years, and I never got any cool accessories.”

“Does Gabriel count?” asked Jessica.

We snickered. She plucked another truffle from the gold box she held. I peered inside, sniffing, and she looked at me, baring her fangs.

“You are so selfish,” I said. I pointed to my belly. “Do you want my child to suffer?”

“I’m protecting your ass,” she said. “Literally. You’re getting some junk in the trunk, girl.”