Aconite (The Elektita Series Book 1) (21 page)

"How could
you not have told us you were with child, Alexis? That is important, more
important than the food or place settings."

At least they were
being far calmer than Jonathon's initial reaction. All the boys had sequestered
themselves in the room that was supposed to be mine after I answered their
final question. They were screaming in that language I wasn't familiar with.
Every now and then things would go crashing into the walls and floor. If I did
decide to keep this house someone was going to have to buy me a new bedroom
set.

"Do you not
hear what is going on in there? I will have to sleep on the couch or back at
the Inn tonight by the sounds that are coming from that room," I said to
Jo. We both looked to the closed doors. There was no way she could argue with
that.

"You're
right, but what on earth possessed you to divulge that bit now? You could have
told us back at the cafe."

I gave her my best
you are full of shit look.

"Of course,
Jonathon probably would have reacted worse but he wouldn't have two of the men
he despised above all others to fuel that rage. He could have dealt with it
before arranging to meet here." When I thought of it from that direction
she made sense. It wasn't the best plan I'd ever come up with.

"Maybe it was
better to tell him here. He had to keep his shit together for the good of the
future, right?" It was her turn to give me her best you are full of shit
look. I could see our connection now. It was strong, and I hoped to keep it
that way.

"After I sat
through each one of you retell pivotal parts of your lives I couldn't keep that
kind of secret. Besides it hasn't even come to pass so how do we even know it
will?" I couldn't read the look that passed over Jo's face. Fate was real,
obviously. How else could you explain that life after life I always found my
way back to them? But decisions you make also affect the outcome just as
easily.

"Look,
Alexis, the magic of foresight is just that, magic. The magic of the Gods
doesn't waiver and change based on decisions we make. Foresight bestowed by the
Gods cannot be wrong."

If I was the
chosen one then maybe I was the exception to the rule. I could freeze everything
around me and create storms to coincide with my emotions. How hard could
manipulating my future really be? I would just avoid Jonathon at all cost. I
could not fathom the decisions made between now and this time next year that
would put a child in my womb. I reached for my belly and stared at the door to
my room. I desperately needed it to burst open and give me an out to this
situation. I held on to an even greater secret that I would take with me until
it became too heavy to bear. If it was true and I could not stop this fate,
then I could at least slow any more damage done by it.

They had been at
their screaming match so long that I couldn't even be sure there was anything
left for them to destroy. Suddenly, the doors to my room swung open each
slamming into its connected wall. I didn't know if I should ask what they had
decided or if I should wait for them to talk. I looked to Jo for guidance.
After all she was my familiar. She knew what I was asking and all I got in
answer was an exaggerated shrug.

"You will go
back to the Inn and collect your things. Then return here to stay while the
threat is so near." I didn't expect warmth and love but I was not
expecting the cold dispassionate command that Jonathon gave.

"Well aren't
you being generous. I at least get to gather my own things this time."
Sarcasm oozed throughout my response.

"I knew
it," Jonathon growled, glaring at Sebastian and Richland. 

"Relax big
boy, now is not the time." I didn't need him wolfing out over something
that couldn't be changed. "Besides, I think the decision to stay here or
go back to the Inn should be made by me, and me alone." That was the
reason I had left Missouri to begin with. My parents thought they would make
all my decisions for me, bend my life to their liking.

"No, in this
you have no choice. What happens to you affects us all." I couldn't argue
with them. Finally, Sebastian and Jonathon agreed on something so I should
probably listen to them.

"The three of
you were in there all that time yelling and breaking things to come up with,
‘You will do as we say.’” I tried to mimic Jonathon's voice the best I could.
Both Jo and Richland laughed at my crappy imitation but my muses didn't think
it was quite so funny.

"No, if you
must know, that is not all we discussed." Sebastian's answer was short and
to the point. I understood that they were old, born well before women held the
same respect as men but he damn well better adapt.

"What did you
talk about?" He was going to include me whether he liked it or not. If
they thought for the second time this week I was going to be trapped in a house
I better have a damn good grasp on what is going on outside of it. I stood my
ground unwilling to agree to their command without knowing anything else. A
small smirk broke through Jonathon's hard features. We had already dealt with
this. He knew that I wasn't the type of girl to jump when told.

"The
possibility of a pregnancy and what that means for the future. If that would
occur, how could it be dealt with?"

I didn't like how
he spit out the word pregnancy like it gave him a bad taste in his mouth. I had
stepped forward from the implied threat in the second part of his sentence. I
didn't and never would give a damn about what they wanted to do if I would
conceive because that would be my choice. They could go to hell in a hand bag
if they thought otherwise.

"Calm
yourself, Alexis; no harm will come to any unborn child." Richland came to
stand at my side. For the first time since coming here my tattoo flared to
life. I had grown far more attached to the possibility of one day becoming a
mother then I had realized.

"Let's clean
up and get out of here," Jo offered to break the mounting tension.

"That would
be wise. You two tend to the kitchen and we will reinforce the wards. I don't
want to lead anyone here." He was back to acting like we were second class
citizens. If I knew how to do the wards I would have fought to set them myself.
With my options limited I chose to deal with the kitchen and because Jo was
already dragging me away.

I wrapped the
cheeses and put them back in their spots in the oversized fridge. Even if we
all lived here full time this fridge was larger than it needed to be.

"How many
lives have I lived?" I knew my question was unexpected, but I wanted to
know. Maybe one day when my life wasn't filled with werewolves and sadistic
witches out to kill me, I might look them up. It would be interesting to be
able to read about all the lives I had lived. I would avoid their obituaries
though. My deaths are one thing I would rather not know about.

"Nine,
including this one." Her answer was quick without hesitation. I had lived
eight lives prior to this one, and I was murdered each and every time, never
living long enough to see old age. Jo began washing the few dishes that we had
used. Even though there was a brand new dishwasher just waiting to be used she
washed by hand. Maybe she just needed to keep busy. She hadn't even neared her
normal self since arriving here.

"None of my
other lives ever had children?" I knew the answer to that but what I
didn't understand was how. Birth control was relatively new in comparison to
say, the seventeen hundreds.

"No, you
never did. I remember many lives where you pined for children."

I couldn't bring
myself to voice the question that burned the brightest within me. I really
wanted to know who I had wished the father to be. Had I always wanted Jonathon
to be the father of my child or is that a variant in my fate. She had moved on
to drying the dishes while I wiped the counter with a towel I found in a drawer
next to the sink.

"Amara had
believed herself pregnant days before she died."

I stopped wiping
the counter mid-motion. Amara must have been another of my lives. My entire
body had tensed from the shock of her words. Amara had thought to be pregnant
days before she died. Jo made it sound like she had just drifted on soundly in
her sleep but in reality she had been murdered.

"Who would
murder someone that may be pregnant?" I couldn't hold back my disgust.

"The Elektita
care little of anything other than their own goals. But in all honesty I don't
believe anyone but I knew she may be with child."

Her words gave me
an even greater reason to hate them. It had taken me months to forgive my dad
for shooting our dog when he developed rabies. When I finally did, I let him
have it first before ending up curled in his lap sobbing the rest of my sadness
into his sleeve.

"We are
finished," Richland pulled me from my memory. Even though it was such a
sad time the normal childhood memory left a smile on my face He arched an
eyebrow but let me have at least one good memory. It was nice after all the
ones that have destroyed me mentally this past week. Sebastian and Jonathon
followed behind him, staying as far away from each other as possible.

"None of you
have fleas do you?" Sarcasm was my go to when I felt uncomfortable and
right about now the awkwardness just shot up a few notches. They may be working
together but they were still far from declaring their unwavering friendship
with one another. The three men shot each other angry looks like I wasn't the
one to just ask the offending question.

"Never mind.
What do you do when you strengthen the wards?" I hoped the picture in my
head wasn't what they really did. I pictured the group holding hands or dancing
around the house singing some ancient chant that would hide us from the outside
world. I may have pictured them naked a time or two, but that is something else
I would keep to myself.

"Do you
remember what I did in your room at the Inn?" How could I have forgotten?
The look in his eyes was something that nobody could have forgotten. One minute
the entire room was storm battered and the next it was cleaner than what their
house keeper could accomplish and in less time. I also couldn't forget the
brief second his black eyes glowed red.

"Of
course."

"Drawing
wards is very similar just using a different incantation. When performed by all
three of us it is virtually impenetrable. That bit of information helped ease
the nerves that had stood on end at the thought of staying out here alone.

"We each
stand at different points of the area we want to protect and chant in unison,
building in strength as we near the end. The wards recognize us and whoever we
choose."

"Now that we
have come to the end of our class on incantations and their effects on wards,
can we get going? We need to be back here before full dark." I knew why
and that helped quicken my pace.  

Sebastian,
Richland, and Jonathon insisted on walking out first as Jo and I trailed
behind. Even with the wards they still couldn't overcome the urge to protect
me. We all stood on the large porch. The night sky was beautiful but something
felt off, something felt wrong. The wind sat abnormally still. I had become so
used to the salty breeze that I felt my heart begin to ache for its return. The
group must have felt the strangeness that floated through the night as well
because they began to fan out around me. Their muscles rippled with the tension
that the quiet supplied.

I let out a breath
that I didn't know I'd been holding.

"Is this an
effect of the wards?" I whispered the question not wanting to break the
attention that they had focused out into the night.

"No."
Jo's short and to the point answer sent white hot fear running through my
veins. If they could feel the wards being tested they should know if they had
been breached. I tried to see something in the trees or sky that would have
caused such worry but there was nothing. There was nothing but swollen silence.
I strained my ears to hear anything that would point towards normal. The birds
had ceased their songs, and the crickets didn't dare make a noise. Our deep,
heavy breathing was the only signs of life.

"Could I be
doing this?" It was a possibility. I had done it before without knowing it.
Granted I was usually pissed off to the point of no return.

"No."
This time her answer came out more like a hiss.

I waited for the
pain in my tattoo to come but it didn't. So whatever this threat was my early
warning system hadn't received the memo. I even tried to will it to do
something. Still nothing came.

"We need to
get back in the house." Sebastian's words were so thick I had to replay it
in my head to understand what he said. I couldn't bring my legs to heed his
command, they were frozen to the spot with fear. I stumbled from Richland's
shove as he tried to get me back through the doors.

The thresh hold
was barely a step away before the door slammed shut knocking me forward into
Sebastian. My breath felt stunted as all the air pulled back and retracted
harshly causing an invisible explosion all around us. A large group of birds
shot up and into the night. All the normal sounds of the forest came flooding
back in all at once. The shock of it all was deafening.  Air rustled through
the pine branches and birds sang their nightly songs. I leaned against
Sebastian's side as I recovered from the brief loss of oxygen. His body was
fever hot. He didn't even react to my advancement. What was wrong with him? I
gave the others on the porch an appraising look. None of them had seemed to
find the solace I did in the forest returning to normal. No one would dare
describe them as human if they could see through my eyes, they all where
crouched and twitching with the need to change. I still couldn't sense what was
out there but whatever it was had achieved what we had worked to avoid this
whole evening. The relief that I had taken was short lived.

The worst sounds I
had ever heard in my life echoed through each of the men. I cringed back from
my place at Sebastian's side when I felt his forearm bend and fold in an
unimaginable direction. The wet sounds of bones popping and shifting as each of
the men bent and contorted in such a grotesque manner that bile slid up my
throat. Growls and screams of sheer pain pierced my ears. I wanted to run but
there was nowhere for me to go. I couldn't handle this and I was positive at
this moment that not even Alexandria had seen how the man had become a wolf.
Locking myself in the house would not do much good against three moon driven
werewolves. Every scary movie I had ever seen played back in unison in my head.
All I could do was hope that they still held on to some of their humanity in
this form. Jonathon had told me their control was excellent but something had
snapped it like a twig. I had known prior to this moment that they were other,
werewolves, and I had taken it like all the other things that had made its way
into my life lately. In the most unhealthy way possible. I hadn't been scared
of what that meant for them or me. It was just another fact of my life, but
there was no way to grasp the entirety of it until they shifted right before my
eyes.

Jo stood a bit
away from where she had been, impassive to the men screaming out the pain of it
all, as they shifted right before our eyes. Jo crouched low to the wood deck
more like a predator than human, scanning the area for whatever threat had
caused the guys to shift. I admired her bravery. For me, in this moment, I was
perfectly content hiding behind the magic werewolves.

"Witches,"
she whispered. I swallowed the scream that threatened escape. I should have
known from the stories of my own abilities at bypassing the wards that it would
be far easier for mastered witches to get through them as well.

Sebastian had
completed the horrific change first. His massive caramel frame stood on all
fours to my left. He looked like an over grown Timber wolf. He swiveled his
massive head to look at me. I knew then why Alexandria had not been scared. He
was beautiful. The same true blue eyes stared back at me. The cream markings
that framed his snout were like nothing that I had ever seen. He bared his
teeth to me and let out a deep guttural growl before returning his attention to
the tree line. My tattoo roared to life and pain shot through my chest.

Realization
dawned. The wolfsbane was in protection of my protectors.

Richland bumped
his massive mahogany head into my shoulder. He was extravagant. His coat was
solid in color and thick but felt soft as it slid through my fingers. His eyes,
our eyes, stared back at me. His touch dimmed the glow but the pain didn't
falter in its assault. He whimpered only slightly before he too returned his
concentration on the woods. His touch was a reminder that I was safe with him
no matter how much my body begged to differ. He was my brother.

There was no room
for Jonathon at my side but I could see him in his full glory. He was not as
large as the others and far thinner as well. His coat was midnight black. If it
was full dark he would be invisible in the night. I couldn't see his eyes but I
knew they would be just as dark. He stood taunt and unmoving. I knew he could
use the night to hide himself so well that his prey would be unaware of his
presence until his teeth sliced into their throats. I shuttered at the thought
of how many had fallen prey to that very advantage. Jonathon's muscles twitched
and vibrated. He was anxious for a fight or the ability to run? Could a wolf
stay still under the call of the moon? If we lived through this I would ask
what they did when they let the change sweep them up.

I should never
have doubted Jonathon; their control was impeccable. They were not raging
monsters when in this form; they had purpose. My fear of them turning against
me had no merit. Their target was somewhere out of sight. I reached over and
absently scratched Richland's thick fur. The smell of his shampoo and deodorant
swirled all around us. He was still Richland after all. He wasn't bothered that
I was treating him like a very large dog. This is what I did growing up. When I
knew I was going to get in trouble or something terrible had happened I took
comfort in scratching our golden retriever behind his ears. Richland didn't
mind though. I could have sworn he bent his head in a bit further into my hand.
Maybe he was taking comfort in it too.

A crack, not far
out of sight, sent more birds flying off into the sky. The scream that had
threatened escape finally won its fight. The space that Jo had once occupied
was replaced by a large black cat—smaller than all the wolves but still massive
for a feline. Strands of color played in the light giving Jo's jet black coat a
personality much like Jo's when she was human. She was beautiful and pissed.
She let out a noise that sounded too much like a lion to be of much comfort.
Her feline body shook with the need to chase. It was the same mannerism I'd
seen in neighborhood cats. I bet the boys envied her, with her painless
transformation. Her bones didn't shift and crack. There were no screams of
pain. This was magic at its finest, something beyond a curse.

"The wolves
still have their claws in you I see." The all too familiar voice preceded
two hooded figures as they silently stepped into the clearing of the driveway.
This was not my dream this was something that I did not foresee. What was the
point of having a dream that gave me the possibility of a future for it to get
ripped away within a day?

"I thought
you had set the wards," I said to no one in particular.

They had told me
the wards were indestructible with the power of all three but clearly they were
wrong. I knew the voice but I couldn't place it, fear had severed all rational
thought. I couldn't even find comfort in the four creatures that surrounded me.
Never in the past had they been able to protect me.

"Child, do
not put your faith so fully in the paws of these monsters. After all, they are
the reason we are here." The other hooded figure was young even though she
called me a child. Her voice was strong and held no signs of age.

"Show
yourselves! If you are here to take this life from me as well, at least have
the balls to do it face to face." They turned their heads to face each
other, then returned their faceless attention back to me. In unison they
reached up and slid the hoods down revealing themselves. Another loud and
unrecognizable scream blew from my chest.

 Linda and LeAnn
stood menacing and far surer than I had ever seen them before. Jo crouched even
lower as she threw herself in the air. Her entire being directed at our
intruders.

"Stop,"
I screamed. The purple light from my tattoo exploded into the night, absent of
any pain letting the world around me fade away. I let the power of the
wolfsbane consume me.