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Part One
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Kai…” I managed out a whisper. Death touched my soul and I blinked.
Three women sat beside a well. I didn’t recognize this place, but it was breathtakingly beautiful. The women had no faces, yet I felt like I knew them. I had to prove myself for them to reveal their faces to me.
“These are the Norns, they can either bless you or curse you. To change Kai’s fate, you have to honor each of them and perhaps they will reveal to you what you seek most.” Death’s voice was low.
“Where are we?” I asked him, looking around.
“We’re beneath Yggdrasil in Asgard. You have a choice to make, give them what they ask, and they will reveal the past, the present and the future to you. Refuse them and be cursed.”
I walked up to the three women and I bowed before them. In this place, I had no standing, Alpha or not, and to offend them would have consequences. Urdr, Verdandi and Skuld each placed a hand on my head, and I was taken back to the past. I saw Karani, I could feel her, hear her and the pain tore at me. I saw the truth of what I was in her eyes and it blinded me with shock.
Verdandi showed me the present and I smiled briefly. Adara, Kai, Christian, Malachi, James. The people I loved most in this world. I saw her then, angelic, beautiful and I knew that I loved her too, in that moment I wanted to protect her. ‘How did this happen?’ I wondered and Urdr took me back and I could hardly believe what I saw.
Skuld gripped my head and I tasted fear, my own fear. She showed me the future and I couldn’t prevent the tears from rolling down my cheeks. This wasn’t too far ahead in the future, Kai was still a baby, crawling and laughing. I saw the dreadful things that awaited me if I didn’t get their blessing. I saw Kai in the clearing, Adara unable to take his heart from his chest with me and I couldn’t breathe.
I started choking and I was back in my office, gulping for air. Death sat down in front of me, and my hands were shaking. I couldn’t speak and I tried to swallow and comprehend everything I’d just seen.
“I don’t understand,” I said to him and he smiled sadly at me.
“The choice is now yours. You can change his fate by changing yours, give what the Norns ask of you and you will succeed. Now, I have somewhere to be, I do have a full-time job, you know.” Death laughed at his own joke. He disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.
“Holy shit.” I realized that facing Adara would be worse than what the future had in store for me if I couldn’t get her to believe me. I picked up my phone and I called her.
“Where are you?” I asked her when she picked up.
“I was just about to head back home. I forgot my laptop.” I heard annoyance in her voice.
“I’ll see you there in a few minutes.” I grabbed my keys and headed out of the hotel and drove home. My heart was beating so fast that it drowned out all the other noises and my nerves overtook me. I parked in front of the garage and saw that the front door was open.
I walked inside slowly and smelled Malachi, then I got the other shock of my life. A woman was sitting on the kitchen counter. Malachi had no shirt on, and they were kissing. “Take it upstairs, Dad.” Malachi instantly looked up and he looked somewhat guilty, she turned her head towards me and I got another shock.
“Oh, hey, Superstar,” Jessica said to me and I had a million questions that I couldn’t ask now. I had bigger problems than my best friend making out with my father. I shook my head to try and erase that image from my mind.
“Adara’s on her way home. Either get dressed or take it upstairs.” I opened the sliding doors and stood on the patio. After a few minutes Malachi joined me, his shirt on now.
“Are you okay? I know this is a shock, I was planning on telling you about Jess…” The look on my face had his words falter.
“I don’t care, Dad. I have bigger problems. I’ll speak to you after I’ve told Adara.” Her car came up the driveway and I walked around the outside of the house and opened the door for her.
She smiled at me and I wondered briefly how long that smile would last. I took Kai from his car seat and we went inside. I stopped just before we reached the front door.
“I just found Jessica and Malachi making out in the kitchen. You might want to bleach all the counters.” Adara started laughing at me. I loved her laugh.
“Making out? Like teenagers?”
“He was already shirtless, thank the gods she had all her clothes on.” Adara laughed again and walked ahead. I gave Kai to Malachi and told him we needed a minute as I took Adara into the study, the only place in the house where we couldn’t be overheard.
I took a deep breath and started the conversation. “I have to tell you something, a few things, actually.”
“Okay, this doesn’t sound like a good conversation.” She still had a tentative smile on her lips, one that would disappear soon.
“Adara, just know that I love you. I would never intentionally hurt you. I really need you to keep an open mind and believe me.”
The smile on her lips disappeared and she didn’t answer me but sat down on the couch instead. I sat down next to her and took her hand and then I started telling her everything I knew. I should have switched my emotions off, but I wouldn’t let her feel these emotions alone.
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“Death visited me earlier. He took me to a place where I saw three old women, they’re known as the Norns. They see the past, the present and the future. If you’re worthy, they will show you and give you a chance to change your fate.”“Who’s fate? Yours?”“I have a daughter.” Her eyes were wide with anger, but she controlled her voice.“How old?” I knew this was the make-or-break moment.“She was born the day after Kai.”Adara slapped me harder than I thought she could and stood up. She grabbed the first thing she could find on my desk and threw it at my head. The solid steel wolf statuette connected and cut my cheek open. She wasn’t looking at me, she was crying as she grabbed whatever she could find, and I had to turn my back to her.“Adara! Enough!” I yelled at her as she slumped to the floor and sobbed. I bent down in front of her and just held her.“Let me just tell the story. This is as big a shock to me as it is to you. I never cheated.” She didn’t lift her head and I continued
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I emptied half a bottle of Scotch in the time it took James to arrive at the house. I was exhausted and I was scared. I wouldn’t admit that to anyone, but I was. I had no idea what awaited me because I hadn’t even known witches existed.James and I finished the bottle as I told him my story. His eyes held disbelief and the expression on his face was one of utter shock. I left nothing out, I told him everything. He didn’t interrupt me once and for that I was glad. It was hard enough to tell the story twice in one day.I hadn’t slept yet and I knew my eyes were red-rimmed from lack of sleep. I had spent the night looking at Christian and Kai as they slept in our bed next to Adara. Christian saw it as having a sleepover and he loved it.“I don’t know what to say. Witches…shit”“Tell me about it.” I rubbed a hand over my face and sighed.“And Jessica and Malachi? I didn’t see that one coming.” I smiled at the way he said it, the slight frown making it more comical than it was. “What are y
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I gave the pack a moment to settle down, to digest everything I’d told them and let them come to terms with what they’d seen from Jessica. It was a lot to take in and a lot to understand. Once I did that spell, there was no going back, I’d be a half breed.“Dezrael will be coming for Kai because he is my first-born.” I had yet to tell them that I was a half breed.“Why is she coming after Kai?” Frank asked.“Okay, guys, now I’m going to tell you another secret that I only recently found out and then if it’s your choice, I’ll step down as Alpha if that’s what you want.” They all looked at me and I could see the confusion in their eyes.“This sounds worse than a witch coming after your son.”“Karani was a half witch and that makes me a half witch too. She chose her wolf life over that of a witch. Dezrael’s fear is that Kai will draw on Karani’s power one day. She wants Karani’s power for herself and she will try to claim it through my daughter which she thinks is my first-born.”There w
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Malachi glanced at Jessica every so often as he drove towards her house. It had been a long day and the time was creeping closer to midnight. She’d been quiet ever since they left the house and he wished she’d say something.“Jess.”Jessica knew exactly what he wanted to say. Malachi was loyal to a fault, always pushing and putting everyone else first. “No, I’m not going to do it.”“Why not?” The tension in the car was thick and Malachi exhaled slowly as he felt the familiar rise of irritation that could and would turn to anger in the blink of an eye.“You have no idea what you’re doing, he has no idea. That spell I mentioned, I’ve never done it and I don’t know of any witch that has successfully completed the spell.”Malachi remained quiet as he pulled into the garage and Jessica climbed out of the car and pulled the side door open. Malachi gritted his teeth when he noticed that she had yet again failed to lock her doors.“Jess…don’t walk away from me.” Malachi put his keys down on t
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Malachi halted in the doorway as Jessica lay motionless on the bed, the cups falling from his hands as his breath hitched in his throat. She wasn’t breathing and she had no beating heart. Malachi swore under his breath as he looked at her, wanting to touch her but not being able to.It reminded him too much of Karani’s lifeless body and it physically hurt, deep in his soul because he had no idea what to do. He hated feeling powerless and clueless and it didn’t happen often that he did.Malachi could feel his emotions tumbling about, his heart rate slowing, his skin growing cold as fear gripped him. He couldn’t lose her, not like this, not for something he asked her to do, something she hadn’t wanted to do.Malachi stood rooted to the spot, a low buzzing sound in his ears. Jessica was his second chance at life. He’d realized it soon after that first night he’d spent at her house, even with no imprinting bond keeping him to her, he loved her completely.Jessica gasped and her eyes snapp
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James had begrudgingly taken over for me both with the pack and at the hotel. We still had a manager that reported to him while James took over command. It freed up my time to do what I had to do to keep Kai safe.I spent my days in the den going through every single lupiary that we possessed, but not one of them mentioned witches. I wanted to know everything I could. Knowledge was power but my knowledge at that stage was extremely limited and that’s when I phoned Jessica to join me.“What?” I smiled at the way Jessica answered her phone. Diplomacy was obviously not her forte.“I need help.”“Of course you do, Superstar. Where are you?”“At the den. Our lupiaries have nothing about witches.”“Duh. Give me ten.” She ended the call as abruptly as she had answered it and I sat back on the sofa.Jessica arrived exactly ten minutes later, a frown on her forehead and not looking happy at all. She fell down on the sofa and emptied my glass of Scotch before looking at me.“Help with what exac
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It only took me a few seconds as it all clicked and I smiled broadly and kissed her forehead again. I tucked my phone into my pocket and headed to the garage. I found a shovel and made my way around the house and down to the clearing.The path down to the clearing was as overgrown as always and the stillness of the forest around me had me feeling at peace. I knew that feeling wouldn’t last long. The moment I stepped into the clearing I’d feel different.I entered the clearing and my soul felt heavy. Too many dead bodies had lain here. I walked up to my tree and I looked at it. My mark didn’t look anything like a wolf to me but then I wondered if perhaps Karani had made Adara see a wolf, perhaps knowing that this moment would come.It seemed Karani had been prepared for a lot of things and I missed hearing her voice. It felt like years since I’d hugged her and I missed her warmth. I didn’t think I’d ever get over her loss and I didn’t really want to.I wondered where I should start dig
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I sat down on the couch with the first book and opened it. I felt drawn to it, maybe because the handwriting was Karani’s or maybe because of the magical connection, I didn’t know which but it was almost overwhelming.“Kiran,If you’re reading this then I’m dead, and you have a child. Firstly, congratulations! I wish I was there to see him or her. You’ll be a great father because you had a great example in Malachi. I know he’s with you every step of the way, he always will be too. You were and always will be the great love of his life, the pride he feels each day and the reason for him to keep getting up each day and going on.Know that I love you and I always just wanted to protect you from this world. I know that you wouldn’t have found my chest by accident and you will need help to harness my magic.You would have cremated my body and scattered my ashes in the clearing and therefore you’ll need to replicate my heart with a part of your liver. I’ve written down all the spells you’ll
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Malachi watched me but made no move to meet me halfway. His face was void of emotion and I had a hard time reading his aura. I pushed harder against the mental wall and his aura appeared and his guilt showed.“Sorry, I know you wanted to discuss this but I kind of had my hands full,” he said to me and I smiled. “It’s okay,” I replied.“But you did well on your own, there’s nothing I would have done differently,” he said to me and slapped me on the back.I was about to say something more but kept quiet as our pack members started leaving the den and shook our hands. Carl and Frank stopped in front of us and I smiled. I knew Carl’s mind was working overtime already.“If it comes to it, we go with you and we kill Vincent.”Frank nodded his head. “And whoever else we need to.”“Yeah. You’re not going down for this shit, Kiran,” Carl said.“It’ll be fine. Vincent has to prove his claims and a truth seeker will know, so I doubt there’ll be a tribunal.”Carl smiled and slapped me on the bac
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I pushed the emails from John to the back of my mind, but it kept creeping up on me and I knew that at some point I’d have to make an effort to squash this thing before it became bigger. We hadn’t done anything wrong and I believed Malika when she said she never signed allegiance to Vincent.I sat down at my desk and opened the laptop. I only had one day left to answer John Whitcombe. I didn’t really have the diplomacy that Malachi had and I acted on my emotions much more than he did. It wasn’t necessarily a good thing, making emotional decisions often led to more trouble.I thought about how to correctly get my message across without being too forward about it. I hit the reply button on John’s email and started typing.“To Head Alpha John Whitcombe,I regret to inform you that Malika Luximon is not being harbored by me, unlawful or not, or the pack of Southern Alaska. Vincent Pierre is an idiotic, blubbering …”I laughed suddenly and hit the delete button. I couldn’t send that to Joh
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“What now?” James looked quizzically at me. I had just told him my ideas about the email from John.“I’ll reply within five days, not that I see the point. I met Vincent and there’s no doubt in my mind that if Malika is sent back, he’ll kill her.”I sent a text to Robert and told him that they both needed to come to the house on urgent business. James and I walked back to the kitchen where Malachi stood near the counter tapping on his phone.“Everything okay?” I nodded at Adara and sat down at the table.“What did John want?” Malachi turned his attention to me and sat down across from me at the table.“A claim was lodged against me.”Malachi sat up straighter. “What claim?”“The new Alpha of Mauritius claims that I aided Malika in running from her Alpha and that I’ve been harboring her ever since.”“We should discuss this in detail. Do you want me to speak to John?” The look of worry in Malachi’s eyes worried me, but I wouldn’t back down.“No, Dad. Vincent doesn’t have a foot to stand
Fire Part Thirty-Seven
James lay on the ground and I had my legs around his neck. I squeezed slightly and James started tapping on the ground. I let go of him as he rolled to his knees and coughed twice. I saw Malachi by the tree line as I stood up. He was watching us.Malachi had an odd look on his face but I didn’t question him, he’d talk when and if he wanted to. I’d learned early on not to push Malachi. He was a very private person, even though we shared a lot, some things had to remain private.James was on his feet again fast and as I looked back at him from Malachi, I was too slow in blocking his kick. I spit the blood from my mouth and grinned at him where he danced like a boxer on his feet, laughing at me.He turned his head and looked at Malachi. “Do you want to cut in?”Malachi nodded, took his shirt off, and walked closer to me. He lifted his arms and I went into a boxing stance. I blinked as I lay flat on my back with James laughing so hard he struggled to breathe. Malachi’s face appeared above
Fire Part Thirty-Six
“Hello, Malachi.” Adara’s voice was clear and she sounded happy even.“Jessica’s been vomiting the whole morning.”“Is she pregnant?” Malachi heard amusement in Adara’s voice but he ignored it.“She says it’s food poisoning.” Pregnancy was the first thing that had popped into his head when she threw up the first time.“I’ll phone her, don’t worry, Malachi.”Malachi parked his car in front of the court building and he pushed everything out of his mind and switched his phone off. He took his seat and opened his briefcase as his client joined him at the table. He breezed through the next few hours and finally got his client a settlement that he was happy with.Malachi sat in his car and switched his phone on again, surprised that Jessica hadn’t tried to contact him at all. An eerie feeling settled in his gut, a feeling he didn’t like at all. He opened his messages and started typing.Malachi: Are you okay?Jessica: Never better, stop worrying and stop frowning.Malachi laughed as he read
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The conversation between Kiran and Malachi had kept replaying itself in his head. On one side he was relieved that Kiran accepted his relationship with Jessica because she was important to him but on the other side their age difference made him feel like an asshole.Malachi lay in her bed and watched her sleep. He smiled as he looked at her. A strong surge of love spread through him, so intense that it actually frightened him. He missed her every minute they were apart. He could never grow tired of her, but did she feel it as intensely as he did?Malachi knew that Jessica loved him but what kept him awake in the early morning hours was if she loved him enough to spend the rest of her life with him, to marry him and make a life with him.“You know that’s creepy, right?” Jessica’s voice was soft and her eyes were still closed.Malachi smiled. “What is?”Her eyes opened and softened as she looked at Malachi. “Watching me sleep.”“I made you coffee.” Jessica shifted and sat up straight, t
Fire Part Thirty-Four
I woke up four hours later as the front door slammed shut and I jumped up. Both babies were still asleep, and I went downstairs yawning as I did so. I was still tired. Adara was placing bags on the counter.“The rest is in the car.” She didn’t look at me and started unpacking the two bags she had brought in.I went out to her car and opened the boot. My breath froze in my lungs as I stared at half a baby store crammed inside. It took me six trips to unload everything and the kitchen now looked like she had bought the whole store.“Did you empty our account?” I asked her jokingly and she smiled at me. At least I got a smile from her. She walked up to me and hugged me, and my arms closed around her.“I’m sorry. You’re right, she deserves parents that love her. I never had that and if I weren’t here I’d want someone else to love Kai completely.” I hugged her tighter because this was the woman I loved.“Thank you but you’re not going anywhere.” She let go of me and turned back to her shop
