Nita's Redemption, page 11
‘Our mate is perfect. Do not disrespect her,’ his wolf snarled.
He stopped in his tracks. “What the fuck?”
‘Hello, human Tank. I am your wolf.’
‘How do I know you’re my wolf and not some evil entity?’ Tank went quiet, focusing his breathing while he tried to find the source of the intruder.
There was a snort and a grunt in his mind. Tank found no other presence other than the wolf and himself. The beast was the same as he’d had since his first shift. ‘How are you speaking to me?’
‘I am not sure, actually. I can speak to you and the other wolves of the pack. Although I do not like speaking to some of the others as they are idiots.’ Tank’s wolf snarled, flashing images of wolves he recognized into his mind’s eye.
He exhaled, wondering if wolves always had talking beasts or if they’d done something when the Ravens had joined them.
‘I believe the Ravens might’ve unlocked the ability, but it should’ve always been this way. We are one, but we are also separate.’ His wolf nearly snarled the last bit like he’d hated being unable to talk to him.
‘Do you have a name? Have you been able to speak to the Ravens?’ Fuck, he couldn’t believe he was having an inner talk with his own wolf and truth... he was sure he hadn’t lost his fucking mind.
The wolf gave a barking like laugh and then went quiet. ‘We all have names the Moon Goddess blessed us with. Mine is Titan, which means defender and bound for greatness. Abe’s is Aztec, which means the God of War. The wolf housed inside of Link is Ludwig, which means famous in battle. And no, we have not spoken with the Ravens.’ His wolf’s tone was deep and gruff, rumbling in his mind.
Tank stared up at the sky, worrying about everyone having a talking entity within them and how they’d react. Hell, would they all think they were going crazy? He sucked in a breath, thoughts swirling in a mass of chaos. ‘What about the females? Do they have... female wolves and can they talk to them as well?’
If a wolf could purr, Titan did just that, flashing an image of Nita’s shiny black wolf to the front of his mind. ‘Our female is glorious. Her name is Alana, which means awakening.’
Tank could picture his wolf preening as if he’d had something to do with their female being the bad ass warrior that she was. ‘What is Jaklyn and her mates wolves names? Is that a secret?’
His wolf was quiet for a few minutes, giving Tank time to send his senses out to ensure they were safe.
‘We are safe, human.’ Titan huffed, his tone a slight snarl like he’d been offended.
‘Calm down, wolf. This is new to the both of us. I guess we’re on a learning curve.’ Tank took in an audible breath and let it out slowly. Fuck, he wasn’t sure how to navigate this new reality. He had links to his pack and best friends, and of course his female, but damn, and entity or wolf that was a part of him was totally different.
Titan flashed images of the two of them working together with the wolf easing his way through different times, showing Tank that they had in fact always been a part of one another’s lives. ‘The only difference was I was silenced. I was always there in the back wishing to speak, knowing when we shifted I was closer to myself than any other time. The times you gave yourself to the wolf, you allowed me to have some control.’
‘So the times I felt like I was more a passenger was when you were in control, or when I was injured, and my wolf pushed for me to allow him to take over was actually you as the wolf taking on the suffering? Was that because as a wolf you could heal us quicker?’ Tank looked up at the moon, wondering if the Goddess was up there watching him and his wolf converse.
Silence fell upon him. There was no usual sounds, like the rustling of leaves or birds chirping, sending his inner alarm on high alert. ‘Titan do you sense danger?’
Tank didn’t let on that he was aware of danger or that something was off by any outward response. He kept his steps slow and solidly paced as if he was just a male out for a stroll. If someone or something was watching, the only thing they’d see was a big male in jeans and nothing else strolling around a trailer park. Not much out of the ordinary to see there. Other than he was a big fucker, but lots of big motherfuckers around the area.
‘I have reached out to Aztec and Ludwig along with Alana. Our females are very stubborn and have no plans to stay behind where it’s safest. I’ve caught the scent of chicory and true Frankincense. And before you ask how I know what is or isn’t true, I have been around a very long time. You’re my third human. True Frankincense has, for an example, a lemon/lime citrus scent and Olibanum. It’s a unique combination that many in this century are unaware of. This is ancient magic.’ A shudder almost had the human part of him giving away his inner turmoil. Fuck.
‘Yo, Tank, I hear we got some new friends, or rather old ones who are happy as all get out to be chattering with us. I for one am glad I have not silenced the bastard for my life. Fuck, I’m ready to gag and place the shit in a box in the corner of my mind if he doesn’t shut the fuck up. Feel me?’ Gray’s angry tone let Tank know that he was seriously considering doing what he said.
‘Hello, human Tank. I am Amaraq. I am the wolf inside the idiot that is Gray. We sensed the same as Titan. The humans are close but not on our lands. Harou, that is Colt’s wolf and my partner said that the females were doing a spell, trying to lower our shields. Of course, Jaklyn is being very stubborn and isn’t allowing us to speak with Lyulph because our female will want to go and find the idiots who are trying to come onto our lands,’ Amaraq snarled, flashing long white teeth in warning.
He found himself outside the trailer where his family was hopefully still sleeping. However from the way the heartbeats were pounding and the angry breathing in two rooms, Tank was pretty sure his wish was just that, a wish. ‘I’m heading in to face my mates. I think we need to have a meeting with all of us, including our wolves.’
How the hell they’d have any sort of peaceful conversation when most shifters were hotheaded when they were just males and females, now they had actual talking wolves with names housed in their very beings. Life sure as shit got real fucked up, really damn quick.
Chapter Nine
ANTOINETTE STARED AT the dirt beneath her feet then at the alter they’d set up in the abandoned trailer park. The blood from their sacrifice had already turned cool, making the bastard no longer useful to them. “Dispose of his worthless hide.”
She pointed at the corpse with one long finger nail, wishing she could incinerate him on the spot. The foul scent of his disgusting body was downright offensive to her nose, and clearly no better to her sisters as they were scrunching their noses at the scent of his death wafting off of him.
“I guess that backwater town we found him in, when he tried to steal from the both of you didn’t believe in bathing.” Antoinette gave a small chuckle. The memory of the stupid male and the shocked expression on his face when he’d realized he’d screwed up by choosing the wrong woman to make a move on, still made her laugh.
“If we were back home we could feed him to our pet crocodiles,” Cheryl sighed, moving to the foot of the corpse, leaving the head to be lifted by poor Chloe. Antoinette didn’t bother to lift a finger to help. Her job was to take what they needed and perform the rituals that would produce the outcome in hopes of getting to their ultimate goal. She wouldn’t admit she’d failed not when it was clear the male was at fault.
“Why are slimy men all alike?” she asked the other women gathered around her.
Not that Antoinette expected them to answer as they were all in a trance. Besides Chloe and Cheryl, the others had an aversion to killing what they deemed poor defenseless people. It took a little more time and effort, but she’d learned it was easier to make it to where they were unaware of what was going on so that she could perform the ritual. She had no such issues taking a life or lives. The ones she chose as a sacrifice were far from good, and none were defenseless. In fact, each and every being she selected had an evil soul from inside out. They were rotten to the core. In her mind she was doing the world a justice by taking care of the garbage. Hell, the world was a better place once she got rid of them, ensuring none of them could harm another being. Of course, she couldn’t explain that to the females who followed her. No, only a select few were able to accept what needed to be done. If you were inducted into the inner circle, you took a blood oath. If you were to break that oath, there were consequences worse than death. The ultimate goal they strove for was bringing back their true king. Once he walked among them again, all their worries would be gone. They wouldn’t have to do the goddamn parlor tricks for tourists back home in New Orleans.
“Once we get what that traitor Mohini was supposed to have gotten from those worthless dogs, we will have what we need to bring Papa Legba back. After he rises and is no longer forced to guard a stupid gate, he’ll reward us.” Antoinette turned from the altar. Her rage boiled under the surface, making her tremble. She hated the loss of control. She forced air in and out of her lungs in small breaths, so they were barely audible to others. Antoinette refused to destroy the alter after they’d worked so hard to create it on the desecrated ground, nor would she allow others to see what she considered a weakness.
The shrine they’d painstakingly built was created with love and devotion to Papa Legba, with items and artifacts that only those from the decedents of the greatest lines of Voudon held. To have moved them from New Orleans might’ve been a huge risk, but time was ticking. Fucking Mohini, if she’d just done what she’d been ordered to do.
“Antoinette, one of the males has come near,” Chloe said in a hushed whisper.
She sucked in a breath, praying to the Loa for patience. Chloe and Cheryl were direct relatives to Mohini, their blood was how she’d been able to trace the traitorous bitch. Although they hadn’t been as gullible as their cousin, they were still bothersome. She needed to keep them on her side so she could use their innate powers when the time came. Not that she wasn’t powerful, but she didn’t want to fuel the spell with her blood and essence, yet. “Which one?”
“The large one.” Chloe gasped.
If she didn’t control herself, she’d roll her damn eyes to the next county. Dear Goddess, doesn’t this child realize that all the males in that... nasty-ass trailer park are huge? “Chloe, we’ve studied every member of that group. You should know the names and some intimate detail about each one of them. If you don’t, then we will need to have you go over the files again.”
A low growl threatened to escape her throat, making Antoinette nearly rip Chloe’s face off. The audacity of Chloe, threatening her superior. She flexed her fingers and unflexed them. Blood dripped from her palms where she’d dug her long black nails into them.
“I know who it is. It’s the one called Tank. They all have such weird names.” Chloe stared at Antoinette with fear and a hint of pride.
Knowing what the younger woman wanted, Antoinette patted her head. “Well done. Did he see you or come close to our salt line?”
Nobody should be able to cross over their protected line without feeling the urge to turn around and go back the way they’d come. “Papa Legba is close. I can feel him deep inside my bones. He has always been more than just one of the keepers of the Dead and cemetery, having mastery over life and death. He will return to the living once we give him the blood of one of those beasts. That is what Mohini was to have done. Seeing her with those males acting like she didn’t even know us is worse than a slap in the face.” Antoinette snarled.
She whipped back toward the altar, grabbing a picture of Mohini, anger mounting. She looked slightly different from the girl today, but years had passed. “She must’ve found a way to stop aging. I will find that out before we take her life along with her males. Yes, it will be an evening of blood and death and rising. Our Loa will compensate us for our sacrifices.” The blood from her hand painted Mohini’s face, making it appear macabre as her sullen look stared back at Antoinette.
“When are we going to try to grab her and force the males to come for the female they’re calling Nita?” Cheryl asked from the opposite side of the altar.
With precise movements she put the framed picture back where it had been, leaving the smear of blood where it was. Soon, I will slit your throat and watch as your eyes dull when your worthless life leaves you.
NITA FELT AS IF SOMETHING were crawling all over her, itching to get beneath her skin. She woke up, scratching at her arms and legs, leaving bloody scrapes in her wake.
“Mi Dušo, what are you doing?” Link asked her, his hands took both of hers in his, stopping her from hurting herself more.
She could still feel remnants of the itching and crawling beneath her skin, but it was subsiding. Her eyes jumped to his then back to her arms. “There were bugs crawling all over me, even under my skin. I don’t know there was... shit, I think I was dreaming, but it felt so real.”
Telling Link she was losing her damn mind was like she’d opened the floodgates to all her insecurities. She scooted up to the head of the bed, pulled her legs to her chest, hoping to protect herself. What the fuck did she need to be protected from she had no clue. These were her mates.
“Nita, you need to calm down, dušo. Nothing will hurt you on our watch.” Abe pulled Nita onto his lap.
‘Hello, Nita. I have wanted to find a way to speak with you. I was going to wait until you all woke up while the males spoke to their humans. I am your wolf Alana, by the way.’
‘Oh my Goddess, I’m losing my mind, guys. Do you hear the female in my head?’ Nita asked her mates.
Link rubbed his hand on Nita’s thigh. “You’re not going crazy. We too heard her, and strangely, we have a wolf as well. I mean, obviously we’ve all had wolves, but we have talking wolves. I guess they’ve been silenced all our lives. From what they say, there used to be a symbiotic relationship between shifters and their wolves.”
“My wolf is named Aztec. He’s pretty awesome. He says your wolf is Alana, who just happens to be the most amazing female in his opinion, which I agree as well. I don’t know if you remember or not, Link, but Alana was the name of the little girl who’d been tied up to the tree. All of us had felt pulled to protect her, you, when we battled the old pack under Seamus years ago. If memory serves me right, we stuck close to where you were during the entire slaughter, ensuring nobody could get to you. We’d been in awe at the poor thing that was no bigger than a child, yet she didn’t cower from any of the wolves from our pack, but...there was something that drew all of us to her. To you.” Abe’s arms tightened around her.
Nita’s memories started falling into place. Memories she’d forgotten, or rather, had hidden by her wolf. “I think my wolf took over when I was a child. She took over when things were the worst, letting me hide in my own mind while she suffered,” Nita whispered.
‘I did what we needed to survive,’ Alana said.
Nita’s eyes went wide. She bit her lip so hard she drew blood. “That night I’d have been killed if it weren’t for you guys. The demoness females came for me once they smelled my pain and fear. I’m not sure what happened after that except waking up in a room on Olympus.”
“Stop hurting yourself, or I’ll have to fix you all the time,” Abe growled, his fingers gently turned her face to the side as he licked at her bottom lip, easing the small sting, moaning at the taste of their mate. “I don’t know how we didn’t connect the little broken female with you. I guess our minds couldn’t or wouldn’t allow us to meld the two of you. Now that we know, I can see the little girl in you.”
‘Our female is amazing. My name is Titan.’ Tank stepped into the room, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s been talking nonstop for the past half hour. I guess y’all have heard your wolves now, too?”
Nita climbed off of Abe’s lap to walk across the huge bed toward Tank. “What made you so antsy you needed to leave us? And don’t even think of giving me some bullshit answer. I’m pretty sure Alana will talk to Titan, and he won’t lie to her so don’t lie or put me off.”
Tank gave a rumble for an answer, grabbing her around the hips. His lips sealed around hers, stealing her breath. Nita wanted to get lost in the arms of her males and forget about the weird stirring she felt. Hell, that would probably be the best thing, but her wolf was protesting.
‘We can’t, Nita. Something is coming for us. I’m glad our males know who we used to be. They are also aware we are no longer that weak being.’
“Alana says something is coming for us, and truthfully I feel what she says is true.” Nita looked back at her other two mates from the safety of Tank’s arms. They had the same knowing grimace on their handsome faces. She didn’t like hearing her wolf say they’d been weak. They’d been a child.
“The sun will be up in a few hours. I say we try to get a little more sleep. I just contacted my dad and told him what’s going on and spoke to Gray too. My dad said he’d call a pack meeting before lunch but wants us three at his home for breakfast.” Tank buried his nose into Nita’s neck, inhaling her smell mixed with theirs.
Tank’s dad was alpha, which meant there was no way they could ignore his order. Alana gave a little huff, making Nita grin. Her wolf was something else if she thought for a moment she could out alpha the big male. Of course, Nita would never want to challenge him or anyone else for such a position. Sure, she felt secure in her abilities, yet she never wanted to be in charge of others. Nope, not her circus not her monkeys.
