Almost twelve hours later, I woke up and I felt stronger, physically and mentally. I was on top of the world, I felt like I could do anything. I felt indestructible. I felt like myself, yet completely different as well, like there were now two versions of me inside my body.I walked down the stairs where everybody waited and Adara jumped up and ran over to me as soon as she saw me on the stairs. I was smiling at them, looking, and feeling like myself, just a much better version of myself.Adara wrapped herself around me. “I was so worried.” I felt everything more clearly, more defined and her emotions slammed into me. I didn’t care who was watching as I kissed her and pulled her closer to me.“Get a room!” James shouted from the kitchen table and I broke off the kiss.Adara looked up at me as I smiled. “Are you really okay?”“It’s hard to explain but I feel kind of reborn, stronger, unstoppable.” Her smile made my heart flutter and I hugged her close to me just as James pushed his cha
“Always envision the outcome of your spell, you have to see it, believe it for the magic to work its best.”I put Karani’s book down and looked at the beginner spell in front of me. Could it really be that easy, imagine it, say the words, and just like that it works? I laughed out loud at myself and rubbed my eyes.“Your talisman or amulet makes your magic stronger. I already made one for you, it will find you when you’re ready. Don’t overthink your magic. Be your magic. Become one with it and see it in everything around you. You should always keep your talisman with you, it will empower you and your senses, so that you’re never caught unawares.” I turned the page and there was nothing there, just blank pages. I closed my eyes briefly and reread the last paragraph.“If you have come this far then you have succeeded in harnessing my powers, be careful how you apply it, I will teach you what you need to know to survive the future that I saw. But fate can always be changed sometimes as
Christian turned on his heel and stomped ahead to the house. I stood there and watched him. Was that really true? Have I been so immersed in these books that I missed a whole day? I followed him back to the house and locked the sliding door behind me. I felt like a shitty father because while I couldn’t tell him exactly what I was doing, I hated him feeling abandoned.Christian went upstairs to his room and I heard his door slam shut. He was sulking. I left the empty bottle on the counter and sighed as I walked past his room. I closed the bedroom door behind me and sat down on the bed with Kai.The bathroom door opened and Adara walked out with steam billowing around her. “Did I really not eat dinner with you guys last night?” Her look was one of annoyance. It seemed I was pissing everyone off today.“No, you’ve been in the study since after dinner the night before.” Guilt slammed into me again.“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”“I understand that you have to do all this and why, but you
Time seemed to stand still as I sat next to the road holding Christian in my arms, his head lolled to one side and the pain seared through me. My own blood dripped onto his face and I felt a hand on my shoulder.“Kiran, you need to let go.”I turned my head sideways and looked at the police officer crouched next to me. Two paramedics stood right behind him and I let go reluctantly. One of them shone a light in my eyes and said something but I couldn’t focus.They were looking for a pulse but I already knew. Death had taken him from me and I’d never before hated him as I did in that moment. One of the paramedics looked back at me and I could see the pity in her eyes.“Sir…have you been drinking?” It was another police officer that had asked me that, someone I didn’t know.“No.”My Jeep was written off and I looked back over at Christian where they placed a blanket over him while two other officers made markings in the road and took photos of the scene. I took a breathalyzer test just a
I closed my eyes and concentrated on her pain. I felt the connection and I pulled on it, pulling all her pain into me. Some pains never went away but I could make it bearable for her, she’d be able to breathe through it.Her pain burned inside me. It was a white, hot fire of pain and regret and I felt it surge through me. I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds and then I switched all my emotions off. It was the only way I’d get through it.Adara stood up and walked towards the door. “You can sleep with us tonight.” The door closed softly behind her. I stayed on the couch and let all the emotions inside me settle as tears ran down my face unchecked.A few hours later, James knocked on the door and told me it was time to go down to the clearing. Carl and Frank were on their way back with Christian’s body. I had showered and dressed in a suit but I still felt broken, even with my emotions switched off.I stepped out onto the patio as the pack stood in two lines waiting for me to lead them
The day after Christian’s funeral, I closed his bedroom door, I couldn’t walk past it every day and see his stuff. I also didn’t want anyone to change or move anything in it. It was his room.I woke up in the mornings and felt like the walking dead. I let James take over completely at the hotel and I hadn’t been there in weeks. Adara needed to get back into her routine as well so I took Kai in the mornings.We would sit in the study and I would read while he slept on the couch next to me. I’d feed him and change him before immersing myself in Karani’s diaries again. The pages were now revealing themselves to me.I looked at Kai as he slept and then I glanced over at that stuffed dinosaur that was now sitting on my desk. I touched the talisman around my neck, it was ice cold to the touch, but I always felt the flow of magic from it.I closed my eyes and I concentrated. I saw the flame in my mind and I touched it, it didn’t burn me. I was drawn to the flame and the words just came. “I c
“From Superstar to show off.” Jessica regarded me coolly and slapped Malachi’s hand away as he tried to redo the buttons.I shrugged without saying anything because it all still felt surreal. I had tried to conjure up the flames again but nothing happened and I felt disappointed in myself. Adara took Kai from me and I stood up.Malachi grinned as he read my mind and took another apple from the bowl and threw it at my head. His throw was significantly faster than Adara’s throw had been, but again instinct took over.“Stǫðva.” The apple stopped and when I lowered my hand it fell to the floor. Jessica looked mildly impressed and Malachi was grinning from ear to ear.“Did you guys hear that?” Jessica frowned and I knew she was thinking now.“I started magic when I was nine and I’ve never heard anyone speak like that before. Where did you learn that?”“I don’t know, I said stop and it stopped.” She was now looking oddly at me and then her eyes brightened with some sort of revelation.“It s
Dezrael’s pregnancy had been a relatively easy one but she hated every minute of it. The bigger her stomach grew, the more Sean distanced himself from her. She could understand his irritation but not his distance.She had been eight months pregnant when Sean’s anger was finally given a voice. “I don’t understand why you had to do this!” He was pointing to her stomach and Dezrael had just about had enough.“I told you why, Sean. My reasons haven’t changed. We discussed this before I went to Alaska.” She could feel the resentment coming from him.“No, Dezi, you talked and I listened. I had no say in this and that is really hitting me hard.” He was still looking pointedly at her stomach.“It’s almost over, Sean, just a few more months and then our life will be perfect.” She had second thoughts now. Would Sean really stand by her through all of it?“You’re already a strong witch. Why do you need another witch’s power?”Dezrael was getting irritated now. “Because power is everything!”Sean
I looked intently at Josh. Everything he said was true and a sudden idea occurred to me. I wasn’t going anywhere with these people alone.“Come with me then, help me figure this out. You have no pack, but you have me and I have a pack, a family, a home. I would never just leave you,” I said to him and he nodded at me.“Fine, let’s go ice-skating or shit,” he said and smiled at me.“I’ll go with you on one condition,” I said to Malachi.“Yes?” Malachi didn’t seem worried about my condition, he only wanted me to leave with them.“Josh goes with me, I’m not leaving him behind,” I said to Malachi and he nodded.“Of course. Gather whatever you want to take. Our flight back leaves in three hours,” he said.He walked towards the door holding Jessica’s hand. James turned to look at me and I could tell that he was sad. I could feel it deep within myself.“Do you feel that?” he asked me and I looked at him.“I feel your sadness,” I answered him.“That’s one of the things you can do. You can fee
“We don’t care what you selling, bargaining or want. We ain’t interested,” Josh said as he closed the door behind me and stood next to me. I had an uneasy feeling about this and I was glad that I wasn’t alone.The older man looked at me with curiosity and I wondered what he wanted from me. His gray eyes seemed to search for something in mine and I couldn’t look away. It was almost like he was trying to read my mind.“He doesn’t recognize us,” the older man said to the younger man and woman with him.“Am I supposed to know who you are?” I asked the older man.The younger man stepped forward. His eyes held sadness and he looked intently into mine. He put both of his hands on my shoulders and squeezed lightly. It all felt too surreal like I was supposed to know him.“My name’s James,” he said and then he hugged me tightly. I just stood there with my arms by my sides not knowing what to do. He let go of me after a while, sighed deeply and then looked away.“I think you might have me confu
It felt like I got tunnel vision until I could only see him, moving in the ring. I was focused and I saw the plan forming in his mind. He was going to move me until he had me on the ropes and then deliver his killer punch. I saw it happen in slow motion.“He’s going to come from the right and then the left, the punch to your jaw will be a right hook,” the voice said clearly in my head and I dropped my hands as I stood up right in shock. I couldn’t move my head as George’s fist hit me so hard I felt my jaw dislocate.I was on my back, coughing up blood and the crowd was going wild. Josh was right there by my head. “What the hell happened, why’d you drop your arms man?” He was yelling at me and the announcer bent over me.“Ten count then the fight continues, unless you tap out.” I shook my head and started to get up.I pushed my jawbone back into place and I felt it start to heal. I looked up at the Council members sitting there and somehow I knew that the older man was speaking to me i
I stood in that back room and wondered about the Council member’s presence. Everything that Josh had told me about them was terrible. They were rich old men using the system to their advantage, getting rid of packs that irritated them and executing people as they saw fit.He wanted nothing to do with them and neither did I. I had enough things on my plate to worry about their presence. Josh and I weren’t interested in becoming Council Zetas, no matter what they offered us.I shook my head and I took my shirt and shoes off. I had to get my head in the game. Tonight’s fight would probably be the hardest one by the look of my opponent. He was ready for me. I closed my eyes and centered my energy.I saw the fight play off in my head, in slow motion, punch for punch, kick for kick. This guy was a street brawler, I decided. His punches would hurt and he could get a knockout on the jawline.He wasn’t fast but he was strong and usually won his fight after a few punches, where he would then sn
Malachi walked down the hall, hoping that John wasn’t sending him another tribunal email. He was tired and he wanted to spend time at home. The kids were changing so much and every time he came back from a trip it felt like he’d missed something new they were doing.Adara was doing her best and she really was a terrific mother. Those two kids wanted for nothing. She read bedtime stories to them, told them stories about Kiran, they were healthy and well looked after.He could hear them all laughing in the sitting room as he closed the door to his study and switched the laptop on. He waited for it to switch on and then accessed his Council encrypted email and typed in his password.The email was from John with a video attached.“Malachi,I hope you’re sitting down while reading this. I received this video from a California Alpha, he always sends me these when new talent steps onto the scene for consideration as Council Zetas.Good luck,John”.Malachi frowned at first. They didn’t need
Malachi sat in his new study, everything still felt new and he was getting used to the layout of the new house. They had invited Adara over for dinner with the twins and James and Shoran had been invited as well.The weeks had passed agonizingly slow, and Kiran had been missing for ten months. It was hell and Malachi still felt the pain as fresh and clear as he had that first day. He still couldn’t get himself to accept that he was dead. He didn’t have a body to mourn over, hadn’t set his son’s spirit free and without that he’d never give up that last sliver of hope he still clung to.James had also come over a few times and they had trained in the new gym room built to one side of the house. He tried to keep the bonds alive between everyone but as time dragged on he was afraid that the fragile bond might break.Without Kiran, things seemed meaningless to them. It had been months with no word, no sign except the few times his imagination had run away with him and he had seen him in ev
It just felt natural when I got into that ring, the next move and the next one. I just knew how to counter and block and what to do to win. Losing was never an option with me and I wondered if I had always been that way.I loved the adrenaline rush as my opponent stepped in and I watched him. In my head I would calculate what type of fighter he was, size him up and know exactly what to do. Josh had laughed the first time I had switched sides and led with the left instead of my dominant right.Tonight, though, I would be fighting some guy from Europe, their best against our best. Sort of like a semifinal round if this was a competition, which I guess it was sort of, we had worked our way through California and packs from other states had started attending and I had beaten them all. Josh called me a celebrity in the underworld of fight nights.We had heard rumors of this guy I was fighting tonight, he only did death fights in Europe and this would be his first tap out fight. I had never
I laid down on the bed as Phil, the tattoo artist, started working on my new ink. Josh was on another bed adding to the sleeve on his arm. My tattoo was half of a wolf’s face in a Samoan design with the caption ‘Fight or Die’ underneath it.Josh had phoned some old friends he still had and had arranged for an introduction to the man that ran the fight nights in California. We went to the first one and just watched. The place was packed and I felt sure that I could have taken that night’s fighters easily.We had been participating in fight nights all over California and Marcus wasn’t very happy with us when we both handed in our resignations on the same night. He yelled and then offered us more money.We had been fighting two fights a night three times a week and we stayed in cheap motels and traveled to the next city or town as the fights moved locations. We had both started out with twenty grand, worked out our expenses for meals and accommodation and in two months’ time we had alrea
Jessica shifted on the bed and cocked her head to the side. It wasn’t that Jessica didn’t miss Kiran, she dealt with sadness differently. She poured all of her emotions into her work and kept the sadness locked away. Malachi worried about that as well.“James isn’t really helping Adara with the healing process. After he leaves, then she’s all excited because Kiran’s out there,” she said.They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes and Malachi stretched out onto their new bed. It would be Malachi’s first night in the house even though Jessica had been staying there for a week already, there were still unopened boxes everywhere.“Where’s the cat?” he asked her suddenly and she started to laugh.“I decided to give you one more chance,” she said and he laughed. She crawled towards him on the bed and sat astride him as she looked at him.“I like this,” Malachi murmured.“But now that you’re back, you’re going to have to think of a way to make it up to me, you know you can’t leave me