Ellida (46 page)

“Maggie found some interesting documents in
Seth’s safe. It looks like Seth had some geologists here recently.
They found a rich silver vein at the bottom of the Great Orme. It’s
right under the surface, so it would be a clean and easy open-pit
mining operation.”

“That’s great!” James said.

“Unless they faked the results to keep Seth
happy. I’ll bring another expert here, a friend of mine, to do
another evaluation. There’re also a few old copper and gold mines
worth checking. In the meantime, we’ll see about the ski resort
Seth wanted to build. That was actually one of his sane ideas. I
suppose Red Cliffs will be interested in investing in it.”

“You bet,” Jack said. “We’d also like to
invest in the hot springs you have on your side and we don’t.
Winters are long here, but with those thermal springs, we can build
year-round resorts, with spas, swimming pools and camp ground.”

“We’d need a better road between the towns,”
Darius said.

“I know. We’ll talk about it,” Jack said.

SEVERAL DIFFERENT written testimonials
regarding the death of Brian Canagan and Halifax Mohegan had been
found in Seth’s safe. In the span of a few days, the same six men
had signed three different confessions: that they acted upon direct
orders of Rowena Withali, being rewarded with a significant sum of
money from her; that they had planned the murder on their own,
ambushing Brian and Hal in revenge for some old grudge, and finally
that they had killed them on James’ orders.
‘For a long time,
James Mohegan lusted for Brian’s wife, Elizabeth’,
was stated
in it. “
He decided that the only way to get her was to kill her
husband. He summoned us on the night of August 16th…”

The blood drained from James’ face and his
hands were shaking when he read the ‘confession’. “Bastard! Bloody
bastard! I wish he could come alive, so that I could kill him
again! This time I’d take my time.”

Jack placed his hand on James’ shoulder.
“Come on. We need to talk to Rowena. Let’s see if she’s awake. I’ll
find Mom and Astrid.”

“You can see now that Seth used her for his
own purposes,” Robert said.

“He didn’t want Rowena, he wanted a child
with her. That’s why he took her,” James said bitterly. “He used
her for his own sick plans and I was stupid enough not to see it
before.”

“It’s over, James,” Robert said. “Let it
go.”

James turned to Robert. “You never believed
Rowena was responsible for Hal’s and Brian’s deaths. It took me a
long time to figure it out. You either know far more than I, or you
are wiser that I am, Canagan.”

Robert laughed aloud and slapped James’
shoulder. “How about both, my friend.”

Jack motioned toward the pile of
‘confessions’. “This is clear proof of her innocence, if you still
need it, Dad.”

“I don’t,” James said. “My anger and pain
didn’t let me see the truth. Until Astrid came. She made me look
deep into my soul and find the truth there. But this!” He shook his
hand still holding one of the testimonies. “To say that I wanted to
kill my best friend to take his wife! That was what he wanted
people to believe. Oh, God!”

“Rowena needs to hear this from you, Father.
Let’s see if she’s awake.”

SHE WAS dreaming she was floating on water,
blue and crystal clear. Warm. A single sunbeam brushed over her
cheek and gently traveled alongside her jaw.

Suddenly, her eyes shot open, darkened with
fear.

“My daughter! Where is my daughter?” her mind
screamed, yet the words came out in a raspy whisper.

“Astrid’s fine. Relax, Rowena,” Ahmed said in
a soft, soothing voice.

“I want to see my daughter!”

“She’s fine, not a scratch. You must stay in
bed.”

“Darius?”

“He’s fine, too.”

Rowena closed her eyes. “Seth’s dead,” she
said quietly. “I can feel it. There’s no fear inside me. I’m
free.”

Ahmed stroked her face. “It’s over.”

A warm current of the bond ran throughout
them, filling every cell, every muscle, every part of their body
with powerful, healing love.

Ahmed closed his eyes, savoring it.

“It feels good,” Rowena murmured. “Too bad it
comes with a man.”

“Excuse me?” Ahmed said with a smile,
brushing her cheek.

She smiled weakly. “Nothing personal. What I
feel, that’s the bond, right?

“Yes.”

“Then why aren’t you surprised to feel it?
Don’t tell me you knew it was me?”

“I felt it when I touched you the first time,
but you were unconscious.”

“Ah. So you had time to get used to the idea
of being bonded?”

“A whole three hours. You will, too. The bond
works quickly.”

“This is crazy. I don’t want another man in
my life.”

Ahmed gently squeezed her hand. “I know.
Don’t worry about that now. I have something else to tell you.
About Darius... No, no, everything’s fine,” he added hastily when
he saw Rowena’s face instantly turn paper-white.

He quickly told her about Darius’ real
father. To his astonishment, Rowena wasn’t surprised. She was happy
and relieved because she knew the nightmare her step-son had lived
in all these years. “I always knew Darius was completely sane,” she
explained. “I attributed it to his mother’s healthy genes. Does he
know?”

“Astrid’s probably told him by now.”

“Where is she?”

“Jack’s ordered her to take a rest, so I bet
she’s busy somewhere. Would you like me to send for her?”

“No, not now. Wherever she is, they need her
there. Oh, my baby, my little girl!”

“Let me check you,” Ahmed said gently.

“Wait. My parents?”

“Your mother’s in the hospital, your father’s
somewhere with Darius, I assume. Do you want me to call them?”

“In a bit. I need to see Arina first. When
you finish with the checkup, can you find her and ask her to come
here?”

There was urgency and tension in Rowena’s
voice. Ahmed knew there was a reason behind her priorities and
didn’t question them.

Blood rushed to Rowena’s face as Ahmed lifted
the thick blanket Rowena was covered with.

“I had to take your clothes off,” Ahmed said
quietly. “In case some poison ended up on them.”

“Well, you’re a doctor. You see people in
various stages of undress all the time,” Rowena said with a tiny
smile, but covered her breasts with her good arm nonetheless.

“You bet. The bruises have almost
disappeared,” Ahmed continued in his best doctor’s voice. “The
knife wound’s healing fine. Liv completely extracted the poison
...” His long, warm fingers gently pressed around the abdomen area.
“Any pain here? No?”

IT WAS Rowena, then, who was that mystical
connection between him and Astrid, he thought, as his strong hands
skillfully continued dressing her wound and checking her vitals. No
wonder he’d been feeling so protective of Astrid since the
beginning. In a way, she was his daughter. And Rowena—he’d been
waiting for
her
for such a long time. He’d been dreaming
about her centuries before she was even born. He’d finally found
her, after centuries of loneliness and longing.

As if she could read his thoughts, Rowena
placed her hand over Ahmed’s, drawing strength from the warm wave
that was running inside her body.

“Ahmed, I need time,” she said softly. “We’re
complete strangers. I lived through some difficult years. So often
it was hard to see any good coming out of it, and any life beyond
all that fear and madness. I’m not ready for any kind of
intimacy.”

“I understand, Rowena. Until recently, I
wasn’t much better. I’ve been waiting for almost four hundred
years. I can wait a little bit longer.”

“Oh, that long. Thank you, Ahmed,” she said
and smiled at him. “Can you please find me some clothes? If I stay
in bed a minute longer, I’ll go nuts.”

“You should stay in bed.”

“No way am I going to celebrate our victory
from a sickbed. And please find Arina. I need to talk to her, in
private, if you don’t mind.”

“Stubborn woman, like your daughter,” Ahmed
said, smiling. “But you’re right, it’s your victory as much as
Jack’s and Darius’. Just take it easy, all right? I’m going to look
for Arina.”

FIVE MINUTES later, Arina rushed in. The two
women hugged each other.

“It’s over,” Rowena whispered.

“It is over. This time for good.”

“Did you hear about Darius?”

“Oh, I did! I knew all along he was
healthy!”

“Are Khalid and Tibor safe? Did they go
back?” Rowena asked as she started to put on the clothes Arina had
brought with her.

Arina made a movement toward the door to an
adjacent room. “They’re hiding here.”

“Holy crap!! Somebody will smell them!”

“Did you smell them? Or Dr. Demmir? Don’t
worry, Ariel took care of that. They don’t leave any scent at all.
They refuse to leave before they see with their own eyes you’re
fine. You know them, two stubborn mules.”

Rowena smiled, shaking her head. “They need
to leave Copper Ridge as soon as possible. It’s too risky for them
to stay here any longer.”

“Ariel came here with Azem, Harriet and
Jason. She and Azem will stay for a while and Harriet and Jason
will take them back later today.”

Arina stood up and walked to the door.

“Is the room soundproofed?” Rowena said.

Her friend confirmed it with a quick nod and
opened the door, letting two blaidds in.

One had silvery-greyish fur that lightened to
snow-white on his chest and legs, and dark-blue eyes. His companion
was slightly bigger. His eyes were stunning with their rare,
luminous shade of blue-green with dark rims around the irises. His
fur, thick and shiny and deep dark brown on his back, lightened up
to a golden hue around his head and tail.

His left shoulder was sloped, his back right
leg was strangely angled and he walked with a noticeable limp. A
half inch thick scar ran diagonally across his face and ended on
his shoulder blade.

“
So, we did it!”
Inside their heads,
the women heard the cheery voice of the grey, blue-eyed wolf. He
sat beside Arina and placed his head in her lap.

She gently stroked his fur. The green-eyed
werewolf staggered across the room and stopped by the foot of the
bed where Rowena was sitting.

“Yes, we did it,” Rowena said. “We helped to
bring Seth down, and all those horrible things that could have
happened won’t happen now.”

“You three are the bravest people I’ve ever
known,” Arina said in a quiet voice,

“
We didn’t have a choice. We had to stop
the evil before it destroyed many lives, including the lives of
those who we love the most,”
the brown wolf said in his calm,
deep voice.

“That was a risky move today, to show up in
the town square, Tibbor,” Arina said to the gray, blue-eyed wolf.
“Morgaine spotted you immediately.”

“
Of course she did. Our present image is
her creation, after all. Nobody else could recognize us, though,
and she won’t tell. Not until it’s time. We couldn’t just stand
there and do nothing. Seth held that freaking knife to Astrid’s
chest and he almost got Rowena.”

“
I’m sure Jack would’ve gotten to him in
time. We just helped a bit,”
the other wolf said.

“Robert and Anwen are here. Did you see
them?” Rowena said.

“
Briefly. They are coming to Winston in a
week or so. I’ll see them there again.”

Tibor looked up at Arina. “
I caught just a
glimpse of Amilla. She is okay, isn’t she?”

“She’s fine. Darius kept her out of battle.
She stayed at the hospital to help with the wounded.”

“I hoped to see more of her today.”

Arina closed her arms around the wolf’s neck.
“You’ll see both your daughters soon, Tibor.”

“
Where’s Astrid?”
he asked. “
Did
anybody make that girl take a rest? She’s pregnant, for Pete’s
sake, and in the last few hours she was kidnapped and held at
knifepoint by a crazy sonovabitch. She saw her mother after
twenty-something years and then she saw her fall, stabbed with the
same knife. Isn’t that a bit too much for her present
condition?”

“She’s fine, Tibor,” Arina said. “She’s
strong. And she’s a doctor. She knows how much she can do.”

“
Doctors are often the worst for
neglecting their own health.”

“She would never endanger the baby,” Rowena
said.

“How much longer will you need to hide?”
Arina asked both of them. “Did Morgaine say anything?”

“
Not very long,”
Tibor said. “
She
says we’ll start showing up in dreams first, to prepare them, sort
of. Now that everything’s over, we soon should be able to shift
back to human form
.”

“
I’m not sure I’m looking forward to
it
,” his friend said.
“Without sight in one eye, with one
leg shorter, one arm useless, and the scars crisscrossing my back,
I think I’m happier in my present form.”

“
Come on, Khalid,”
Tibor laughed.
“
It’s like Beauty and the Beast. We have to find our beauties to
liberate us.”

“
Everything’s okay with my beast, Tibor.
The man inside could be hard to love. Besides, you found your
Beauty. Arina’s your bond-mate, she loves you. Look at me. God
knows how I look in my human form, but I’m afraid I might not be
easy on the eyes.”

The grey wolf laughed again. “
Khalid, you
still have one good eye, and you can walk and run.”
He made an
attempt to wink. “Our vital parts are luckily intact, thank God,
that’s the most important. You only need to work on your charming
personality. Besides, we have no idea how we actually look. It
might not be that bad. Once we’re back, maybe Astrid or Tristan can
fix us. I also have scars. Keep in mind that women often find them
masculine.”