Bloodmark (39 page)

Brychan, Channing, and Eamon would likely move to York Harbor, and they wouldn’t go unnoticed by the small town. Their persistent closeness to me would stir suspicion from the humans.

“Shall we retire?” Tegan asked.

The room emptied as I was lost in my own thoughts. “Sorry,” I mumbled as I followed her out. “Where’s Grey?”

“He’ll meet us in the library.”

I couldn’t stop the smile from taking over my face at the thought of being with him again, to feel his strong arms wrapped around my body. I yearned for his touch.

25

Bloodmark

We walked into the library, the room where I had started my journey
down this twisted path of mistaken love. The books still filled the shelves as they had before, but now they did not hold my escape—they held the past. I had lived life away from everything, and my tale had only just begun. Grey leaned against one of the pillars. His black shirt and jacket were open again, and his black tie hung loosely around his neck. He smiled as I approached him. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he kissed me.

“We have to talk,” Mund interrupted.

Grey loosened his grip on my waist as I turned around to face my brother, but his hands remained resting on my hips. His touch awakened my body.

“Grey, I know you are Ashling’s one true mate, but you will need to win not only her choice, but our father’s. You must beat all three of the others in the Bloodrealms. If you don’t do this, you will leave Ashling to her death, as I know she will not accept any other choice from our father,” Mund said.

“I understand.”

“The Bloodrealms are an old-world werewolf tradition. It started out as bare-knuckled boxing leagues for royal and noble packs to blow off steam, show strength, win a bride, and occasionally settle disputes. After the split, the forsaken packs have made it a much darker place of unspeakable treachery, violence, and slavery,” Mund said. “There is one more thing you must know. Ashling, before we leave in a fortnight, Father has one more ceremony that will be performed during the Bloodmoon, and no one can interfere. No matter how she screams in pain, Grey, you cannot interfere.” He turned his attention to my obviously worried face, and his voice softened. “You will be branded as a Boru. You will finally receive your Bloodmark.”

A shiver involuntarily ripped through my body. The brands were tattooed in the blood of our fathers. Tegan said it was the most excruciatingly painful thing she had ever endured. I knew it was for my own protection from other competing packs, but the idea of it being burned into my flesh didn’t bring me any comfort. Still, I was honored to finally earn my mark and my place in the pack.

“As she wasn’t branded as a child, you will have to bear witness to our father’s right to her, as you are a potential suitor. And if you show any pain or in any way try to interfere, you will be put to death.”

“Does everything lead to death with you people?” Grey said.

His dry sense of humor didn’t make anyone else smile the way it made me. I agreed with him. Our laws seemed so ridiculously ancient. You annoy someone, death. You speak to someone above your station, death. You breathe in the wrong blood direction, death.

“Etiquette dictates that you shall escort Ashling to her chamber as we follow behind,” Tegan said. “Remember there are eyes everywhere here, and they are watching you, Ashling. Until we are home in York Harbor, we aren’t safe from their inspection, and even then, there will be eyes on you. We must behave accordingly.”

We walked the halls as slowly as we could, dragging out every possible moment we could together without drawing attention from the others we occasionally passed. I wanted to be alone with him. I wanted to pour my heart out to him. To tell him every feeling I had without him by my side. But I knew it couldn’t happen as long as we remained at the Rock.

He kissed my cheek lightly, and my blood warmed at his lightest touch—he fueled my wild abandon. Tegan shooed him away to the chamber he shared with Baran down the hall. Once I was finally alone in my chamber—as Dillon, the head of the guard, stood watch oustide my door, I climbed into my giant bed. I was still in my beautiful gown. I curled myself into a ball and subconsciously touched my cheek where Grey’s lips had been moments ago.

I couldn’t stop thinking,
I’m alive
.

Grey saved my life in more ways than one. When I thought I had lost him, I had let go of who I was. But he came for me and brought me back to myself. I closed my eyes, letting all the emotions of the day slip away into the night.

Ancient rituals filled my days leading up to the branding ceremony. One particularly annoyed me. I wasn’t allowed out of my room nor was any male allowed in. It was devastating knowing Grey was on the other side of my stone prison. I busied myself with reading, but in every story I read, the characters became Grey and me. Their love transformed into our love. Grey’s every move and breath besotted me. Even when I couldn’t see him, I still couldn’t get him out of my mind.

Finally, one night while I lay awake staring at nothing, a small note slipped under my chamber door. I bounced off the bed and picked up the folded piece of parchment, and Grey’s scent saturated the paper. I quickly unfolded the message:

I dream of you
.

I held it tight to my chest as I fell back onto the bed. He was as desperate for a glimpse of me as I was for him. A wave of calm washed over me, extinguishing my rebellion. Only a few days remained until I would be free to wildly love him once again.

Every night continued in the same way. I waited, leaning on the door for my knight to come, and every night he slipped the tiny notes under my door.

You are the fire in my soul
.

As long as you are mine
.

I lie awake missing you
.

The notes became our only moments together in those thirteen days. Our only way to communicate. I wanted to rip the wooden door apart that dared to separate our warm bodies. I wanted to taste his sweet lips once more.

The Bloodmoon finally came, illuminating the night of our sacred ceremony. Mother dressed me in the gown Lady Faye had given me; through the assaults, it hadn’t been damaged or bloodstained in any way.

“Mother, how did this dress survive?”

“The Elder Gods, like Mother Rhea and Lady Faye, are the weavers of souls. They see everything, know everything. Lady Faye spun this cloak with her hands from a piece of Old Mother’s soul, and it is yours by birthright. It will not and cannot be destroyed. It was created by Old Mother for her wolf daughters.”

“But what does that mean?” I said.

Her light laugh filled the room. “That you have to find out for yourself,” she replied.

I scowled.

“A lady does not make such a face.”

I laid my head on her shoulder, and I breathed in her scent. I had missed her. Her softness gave me such strength. For all my life, I could remember only one other time I had been away from her. Only one time darkened my memories.

“I don’t like being away from you,” I said.

“This was our first time apart. It’s always the hardest.”

I looked up at her, confused by her statement. “When I was two, you left me,” I said, my voice breaking with strain. “You left me alone on the cliffs. They said you’d chosen another life.”

“I can’t believe you even remember that.”

I whispered back, “I remember everything.”

She lightly cupped my chin. “Ashling, I did leave you. I didn’t think you would remember it.” She shook her head lightly. Her scent drifted down on me from her woven hair. “Your father sent word that Crob Dvergar was searching for me. He believed you still lived and that finding me would lead him to you. I fled to protect you. To lead them away. I would never have left you if it had been anything less than life-threatening.”

“I stood on the cliffs all night until you came back for me. I didn’t move.”

“Redmund told me how you didn’t cry. You didn’t make a sound. You just watched me flee over the hills. He tried to convince you to come inside after darkness fell, but you just stood there. Unmoving. Your bare feet on the cold stones. You were a stubborn girl.” She smiled. “It’s good you didn’t move. It’s as if you knew something we could not. Crob was waiting at our house . . . you would have walked right into his trap, and I would have lost everything. He was so close to taking everything I held dear from me,” she said, tears welling in her eyes.

I held her tight to me as she wept. My throat tightened and I felt helpless. “And if it weren’t for Grey, I’d have lost you again, Ashling, and I can’t live through that.”

“You will never have to.”

“I know he loves you,” she said, changing the subject.

I just smiled. I knew something like that wouldn’t go unnoticed by my very perceptive mother. She saw all my unspoken thoughts, like beautiful calligraphy on the walls of my heart. Her head turned sharply toward the door.

“The ceremony is about to begin. You have to play their game. Promise me,” she said. I nodded. She kissed my forehead and stepped aside, letting me walk out into the hall. My brothers were positioned like four pillars around me, escorting the family’s greatest treasure to the branding ceremony.

Father sat at the head of the stone circle with two seats open on each side of him for my brothers. Across from father sat my four suitors. They all circled the center stone as I walked with my brothers. They stopped in front of the blood-stained stone. My stomach recoiled. The smell of old blood burned my lungs.

Father approached the stone; as the leader of our pack, it was his duty to brand me with my Bloodmark. My brothers moved to their stone seats, and I knelt before the great stone, bowing my head to him. My wild red hair cascaded around my face like an ocean of fire. The cold stone calmed my raging mind; the unnatural calm before the storm.

“Daughter of the Boru,” Father said, “you are one of us.”

I gasped as the gold quill broke the delicate skin on the back of my neck with its intrusive, piercing opinion. The ink of my fathers’ blood pooled into the wounds the quill created. It burned and bubbled into my flesh, scarring deep. I felt my face contort into indescribable pain. I could no longer hold back the screams of agony that consumed my body, shattering any solace I had when I had entered. I had never felt a pain so deep in my bones, in my soul. No living creature should have to endure this marking, and yet I felt pride to have it.

Grey’s eyes were almost lost of all color as he endured my Bloodmark. His eyes were locked on mine without blinking. He stared in horror at my anguished face. I knew by his clenched jaw he felt every pain I felt, but he dared not cry out. Our bond would be exposed and our lives would be lost.

I gagged at the cold air, trying to stay conscious as the quill continued to gouge out my skin, leaving behind the mark of my fathers burned into my flesh—a reminder to all whom I encountered that I was no longer alone. I was a member of the Boru.

I felt my body go numb as my father finished our family crest. Nausea followed the numbness as the blood continued to burn into my flesh even after he had finished. I knew the ceremony wasn’t complete until I stood on my own and left the circle.

My hands searched for the ground, pushing me up to my feet. The world spun around me, and I couldn’t focus on any of the faces that surrounded me. I stumbled backward toward the door; I just had to get back through it. I walked unsteadily away from them. As I made my exit, Mother and Tegan waited there for me. As the door closed behind me, I sunk to the floor at my mother’s feet, choking for air to breathe. They would carry my limp body back with them—as long as father didn’t see my weakness.

“You have powerful strength in you,” Mother said. Her voice was filled with concern as she scooped me up like a baby in her strong arms.

By the time we reached my chamber, the burning had subsided. I looked in the mirror at my mark. It had already healed and was now a part of me. “I will keep your father away. Rest,
m’ eudail
,” Mother said. I loved the Gaelic words on her tongue—she always called me
m’ eudail,
which meant “my dear.” Mother left me at the door of my room, and Tegan and I sat on the edge of my bed.

“I’m sorry for the pain you endured,” she said. “I know how awful it is—and to have so many watching and for Grey not to hold you.”

“I’m fine,” I lied. I didn’t have the strength to talk. I was tired and wanted to close my eyes and sleep.

“Goodnight, Ashie.”

“’Night, Tegan.”

“Grey can carry you all the way home if you like,” she said with a smile.

I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited to leave this stone prison. The night resisted the dawn that I waited all night for. My eyes were wide open, and night persisted.

I smelled Grey and jumped off my bed to crouch at the door, waiting for his next note, but it did not come. A chuckle came from behind me, and I involuntarily jumped to my feet, staring back across my room. Grey was leaning against the stone wall next to a small opening that hadn’t been there moments before.

A hidden passage.

I ran to his open arms as he whirled me around, then we crumbled to the floor as I kissed every inch of his face. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and I could finally see his entire scar. It tore from his collarbone to his sternum. I ran my fingers softly over the damaged skin, and I pressed my moist lips to his flesh to heal his hurt.

His lips kissed my Bloodmark.

“I love you,” he said in a raw whisper.

“And I you.”

I curled up into his lap, pressing as much of my body to his as possible. Selfishly trying to consume him with my touch. My heart crashed into my chest, it beat so hard. Having Grey’s touch again made me feel whole. His hands lightly moved my hair aside as he inspected my Bloodmark with its fierce Celtic knots, heart, and wolves’ heads. His fingers lingered over the tender skin before he kissed it again.

“I can’t wait to get you home,” he said.

“How did you get in here? Where does that lead?” I asked, interrupting him.