The Seer (chapter 7)

...continued...

Chapter 7

 

Stella untangled herself from her husband late in the afternoon and stumbled into the kitchen. Her perfect kitchen, Warren bought her everything she could think she wanted for her kitchen. After a night of running and a lot of sex, she was starving, so she was going to make lunch for her husband. Or that was the plan before the doorbell rang. She couldn’t think of anyone that would drop by unannounced after the full moon. Everyone she knew was usually recovering all day. To her surprise and distain, the stalker was at the door. It was déjà vu, hadn’t this just happened? This time Miss Stalker had her baby on her hip.

“Is Warren home?” She had the nerve to ask.

“My husband has nothing to say to you,” Stella said. She leaned in the doorway in her underwear staring down the blonde bimbo and her son. In her opinion the little home wrecker wasn’t even that attractive.

“He’ll want to see his son,” she insisted.

“He doesn’t have any children, what the hell is wrong with you? Warren would never touch you, if you value your life you’ll never come near my house again,” Stella told her. If she let herself get too mad she would change, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

“Look at my son; doesn’t he look like his father?” Stalker chick said, yup Stella way going to change and rip her throat out.

“You’re a w***e and don’t know who his father is, that’s not our problem,” she told her in a bored tone. For the child’s sake she would try not to kill his mother. This would be her good deed for the day.

“I’m sorry that your husband is in love with me and you’re keeping him from being with his family,” stalker said.

“Get off my property before your son has no parents at all,” Stella growled. So much for that good deed, this girl needed to learn not to mess with other people’s lives.

“Warren loves me, you need to stop forcing him to stay with you,” stalker said. The thing that caught Stella’s attention was that this woman was so delusional that she really believed what she was saying. And the baby, something about him was familiar.

“Stella,” Warren called, she turned to see him looking weary.

“Warren you take care of this or I will,” she warned him.

“I don’t even know your name so how can I love you? I never touched you so there’s no way I fathered your child. Now please leave you are upsetting my wife,” Warren said to the stalker. He pulled Stella out of the doorway and stared at the woman and child in front of them.

“You know me, Rita Ames; we made love and had a child. You told me you loved me and that we would be together once you got rid of her,” Rita the desperate stalker said. “We belong together, the three of us, that’s what you said.”

“No I didn’t, all I did was give you a ride home a long time ago. Do not come to my house again. I would never cheat on my wife or leave her, I love her not you,” he said. Then he shut the door not bothering to wait for a response.

“Warren, tell me the truth, did you have sex with her?” Stella asked, she started pacing so many things were running through her mind, especially that baby.

“I told you I didn’t and Mackenzie showed you I didn’t; why the hell would you ask me that again?” He asked, Warren never raised his voice at her, but he did now.

“That baby, he looks like you,” she said staring him straight in the eyes.

“I know,” he said. She stopped pacing and stared at him.

“Her baby is like half a year old, you and I have been together for the last 3 years. If you slept with her before that’s one thing but...” She trailed off unable to finish.

“Stella I did not have sex with that woman. I’ve been in love with you since the day I came into your restaurant with my sister. I know you have issues with trusting men, but you can trust me, I would never hurt you,” he paused. “But I know why the baby looks like me and it’s not because I’m the father. Nora and I aren’t twins, we’re actually triplets, we have a brother named Jake.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that? I’ve been to your parents’ house a million times and I’ve only ever seen pictures of you and Nora and the kids,” she was confused.

“Jake and I joined the army together and it changed him or maybe it wasn’t war that changed. He was always kind of different, but when he came back you could really tell. And well he tried to do something to Amanda, I mean something sexual,” he sighed. “Because of that my family basically disowned him and my mother had every picture she had digitally altered so that he isn’t in them. We don’t talk about him because Nora was so heartbroken and Amanda has been in therapy ever since because of this.”

“And I thought my family had issues,” Stella said sinking down to sit on the couch beside her husband.

“My brother didn’t take being cut off well; I haven’t seen him in years. I was the one who caught him with Amanda, she was getting dressed and he walked in her room. When I heard her crying I ran to her and he was touching her,” Warren stared at the floor with a disgusted look on his face. “Anyway he blames me for our family wanting nothing to do with him. After that I went away again so I never saw him again. Jake is the only way that the baby could look like me. I’d even believe he did this to get back at me, I never told her my name but she knows where we live.”

“Warren are you and your brother identical?”

“Not quite but we do look a lot alike, I suppose he could pass himself off as me. But he couldn’t be here in town, Javier would know if there was a wolf in his territory,” he shook his head.

“Not if the wolf was using magic to cover his trail, like Zkar,” Stella said thoughtfully. “There’s no coincidence with two brothers seeking vengeance, I mean my dad he deserves whatever he gets but not you. Warren you’re like the nicest person in the world, you did the right thing your brother needs to face what he did because he was wrong. Nora and Amanda and your mother don’t deserve to have to see him and be hurt all over again.”

“That’s why we’re not going to tell them, they don’t need to know. I’ll handle this, I will find my brother,” he said with this distant look in his eyes. “And do whatever it takes so that he’s not hurting my family.”

“What about Rita? The little airhead is convinced you’re in love with her,” Stella said. No matter what the truth was if that woman showed up again she would get clawed.

“I’m not concerned with her, she’s no threat. Just try not to kill her please, she’s been manipulated,” he said.

“I can try but won’t make any promises,” Stella said getting up and going back in the kitchen. Once she was rested she needed to go for a run otherwise she was going to go crazy.

“Stelly-bee, I love you,” Warren told her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight, just what she needed.

Three years ago Warren Chase walked into Moon Magic; he was newly out of the army and had recently returned home. That day Stella had been filling in for the hostess that had babysitter drama. When their eyes met there was an instant connection, she could feel it. But since he was there with a pregnant woman and two kids, she refused to look at him again. Just because she liked to flirt didn’t mean she would ever mess with somebody’s marriage. Before Warren left he approached her and asked if she was available. Immediately she told him he was disgusting to ask her out when he was there with his family. He laughed and explained that he was with his sister and her children. Feeling completely ridiculous, Stella agreed to go on a date with him. Which turned into her breaking her no sex on the first date rule, but she felt so connected to him it didn’t matter.

Only three months later he asked her to marry him. Even though she’d been married twice, Stella said yes. Her first husband was when she was 18 and he eventually started to bore her. So when he cheated she didn’t even care, she just left him after less than a year of marriage. Husband number two actually hit her, so her father taught him a lesson. That of course was after she dug her claws into him. The trouble was that she liked sex and to have fun, having a man trying to tell her what to do did not work for her. And she married humans, which was a whole other problem. Warren didn’t try to control her and didn’t say anything about her sometimes skimpy clothes or her shameless flirting. He accepted her for who she was and never even got jealous, it wasn’t like she was ever going to cheat on him and he knew that.

“I love you too Honey Bear,” she whispered. “But I am not having sex with you again until I eat something.”

“I’ve never known you to turn me down,” he whispered in her ear.

“Food Mr. Chase, I’m so drained,” she replied. It was hard for her to say no to him, he was the best lover she ever had and she had quite a few.

“Fine, but after we eat I’m taking you back to bed,” he told her.

“Agreed,” she said with a smile. She was going to trust Warren to take care of this mess they were in the middle of; he would make it go away. So she wasn’t going to think about any of it anymore.

 

 

Lynn realized how lazy she was when she was sitting on a washing machine in the laundry room. Once again Sebastian was doing all the work while she watched. He cleaned the apartment, cooked and did both of their laundry. Sarah would have never put up with her being so lazy, but Sebastian spoiled her. None of that stopped her from sitting reading a Cosmopolitan magazine someone left behind. While she flipped through it she couldn’t help but to stare at the ring Sebastian had given her the day before. It was a white gold band with a heart-shaped diamond and tiny aquamarine stones on either side of the heart, she loved it. Even though she always vowed not to get married young, she accepted his proposal.

“You’re going to help me fold,” Sebastian said when he came over.

“But you’re so cute when you’re being all domestic,” she replied.

“What if I told you I want a woman to stay home and have children?” He asked, she laughed.

“Then you better marry someone else,” she told him. “If you want a hot nurse, then I’m your girl.”

“You will make quite a hot nurse,” he agreed. “Doesn’t this bring back memories? We did meet right here.”

“Yeah and now you’re forcing me to go against everything I believe in and marry you,” she said. “But I kind of like that idea, even though I know my parents won’t.”

“We don’t have to get married if you don’t want to,” he shrugged.

“You want to and so I want to,” she said. “So there are some interesting positions in this magazine, we should try them.”

“Are you getting bored with me already?” He asked leaning into her and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Not really, but you do have less experience than I do,” she said.

“You don’t need to bring that up or the fact that you’ve been with more men than I have with women,” he sighed.

“Just barely love, I’m no hoe,” she replied. “So about this getting married thing, when should we do it?”

“No idea, do you want to do it before the summer is over or later?” He asked, it amused her that neither of them had even thought of when they would get married.

“Guess it would be good to do it before I start school, so that gives us between now and January. Is it hard to plan a wedding?”

“How should I know? Emily and her mother took care of all that stuff, my job was just to be there,” he said with a sad look in his eyes.

“Do you want to get married in a church? How do you wolves do it?” She asked feeling bad he was thinking about the past.

“Depends on if your family is coming, I’ll do the whole church thing if you want I don’t mind. Usually the high priestess performs marriages or Javier can do it, it’s your choice. Didn’t you ever dream of what your perfect wedding would be like?” He asked, it was a good question but she never did.

“No I never wanted to get married, so never thought about it. My parents would want me to get married in their church. But I’m picturing my paleness in a white dress and its scary,” she sighed. “Most important is where you’re taking me on our honeymoon.”

“Anywhere you want to go is fine with me,” he told her.

“I’ve never been anywhere so I’m excited,” she said and kissed him. Kissing of course turned into them making out right here where they first met.

Lynn imagined walking towards Sebastian in a pretty dress with flowers everywhere. Maybe her dress would be a little off white, it didn’t matter she would marry him in jeans if she had to. Even though she was against getting married young there was nothing she wanted more than to marry this man. It didn’t matter that he was a wolf or that she was young and stupid, all that mattered was love. She loved this man with all of her heart and it surprised her. Once she didn’t even believe in love, now it was everything to her. For their wedding she was picturing something outside and a honeymoon on a beach somewhere south of the border.

“Evalinda Mae Jordan!” A very familiar voice practically screeched. Lynn turned to see her mother standing in the doorway.

“Evalinda?” Sebastian asked staring at her looking amused.

“I never told you that?” She asked he shook his head. “Mom what are you doing here?” Her mother looked very un-amused and close to having a heart attack, they had been making out and her legs were wrapped around his waist.

“I was looking for you,” Rose said looking very pale. “What are you doing with this man Evalinda?”

“Please just call me Lynn,” she said hopping down off the washer. “I’ve been meaning to call you, um this Sebastian Alonso and we’re engaged.”

“What? You are engaged?” Rose looked like she really might faint.

“Yeah,” Lynn said. “Oh um Bastian this is my mom, Rose.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you Mrs. Jordan,” Sebastian said.

“Alonso? That name sounds familiar,” Rose said thoughtfully.

“Yeah because its Mackenzie’s last name,” Lynn told her. “She’s um Sebastian’s sister in-law.”

“Lynn why don’t you take your mother upstairs so you can talk and I’ll finish the clothes,” Sebastian suggested.

“Ok, thanks,” she said and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Mom, follow me.” She led her mother back upstairs to the third floor, but not to where her mother expected to go.

“You’ve moved in with this man? Why didn’t Sarah tell me about this?” Rose asked as they entered the apartment.

“Because I told her I would talk to you myself,” Lynn replied. “I just moved in technically, like two weeks ago or so. Don’t worry about me, Bastian is a great guy.”

“How old is this man?”

“Oh he just turned 30 in January,” she said wishing she lied.

“Evalinda I never expected this from you,” her mother sighed. “That man was touching you inappropriately in a public place, what has he done to you? You can tell me if he’s forcing you to stay with him or trying to buy your affection.”

“No, you have it wrong he loves me and we just got carried away. Really I swear I was going to tell you about us, I just didn’t know how. With the thing with Mercedes starting trouble with Mackenzie and her family, you’ve been distracted lately,” Lynn paused. “You have to leave her alone; she’s not your daughter.”

“And you would know this how? When she was taken you were just a baby,” Rose said with tears in her eyes. She was looking around the living room inspecting everything; good thing Sebastian was so neat and tidy.

“Because when I met her a month ago I also met her parents and she’s almost identical to her mother. I’m sorry Mercedes dragged you into this but I’ve spent a lot of time with Mackenzie and her family, this is the wrong thing,” Lynn told her mother.

“Her husband, does he hurt her?” Rose asked to her surprise.

“What? Why would you think that? Javier worships her,” she said feeling defensive but not knowing why.

“Because he dragged her out of the police station and was furious when he found her there, I was afraid for her. And now I find that you’re trying to marry this man’s brother? Evalinda I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into here with your secret life. What can this man really offer you? We don’t know his family and what about his religion? And I thought you were going to go to college and we were going to find a suitable husband for you. What happened to your plans?” Rose asked.

“I’m already accepted to nursing school, I start in January. Sebastian comes from a very big and very close family. He has some money saved and is paying for me to go to school, Bastian cares about my future. And I’ve been to his church once. Stop worrying about me, I’m fine,” she paused to gather her thoughts. “As far as Mackenzie is concerned her husband isn’t abusive. But you’re interfering with their lives and causing problems in their marriage. Javier is just protective of his wife and son.”

“Well it will all be over soon enough anyway,” Rose sighed. “Mercedes had a lawyer petition for a DNA test, and they’ve already taken samples from both of us.”

“What made you come over here today without even calling?” Lynn asked, it was very suspicious and very unlike her mother.

“Mercedes suggested that I pay you a surprise visit and now I see why. This man could be a predator, why would he want to marry such a young girl? For that matter why isn’t he married himself? Does he have children? How do you even know him?” Rose was firing off the questions, but Lynn didn’t expect her to accept this no matter what. And she owed Mercedes for snitching on her.

“Sebastian isn’t a predator; I didn’t tell him how old I was when we met. I met him while doing laundry and he works at the bar with Sarah, but don’t get mad at her she didn’t know.  The reason he isn’t married is because his fiancé died a long time ago and since then he’s stayed away from women. Oh and no to children,” she replied.

“Are you pregnant? Is that why you want to marry him? This is why I’ve always told you to save yourself for marriage, but it’s clear to me that you haven’t done that. Now you’ll have to pay for your mistake,” Rose said looking disappointed.

“I’m very not pregnant, we’re careful about that because I’m way too young to be having a baby. Mom you got married at 16 to a man your parents picked for you; I’m not like you or my siblings. Sebastian and I are getting married because we love each other,” she said trying not to be too annoyed. She’d known her mother would react this way.

“But you admit that you’ve had intercourse with this man?”

“Yes Sebastian and I have had sex, not a big deal.”

“He is the only one you’ve been with?”

“No,” Lynn sighed, why did her mother decide to care now?

“I knew it would be a mistake to allow you to live with your sister, she let you go around behaving like a harlot and you’re with a man 12 years older than you,” Rose shook her in disgusted. “Evalinda I think what’s best is for you is to come home and to stay away from this man.”

“We’re getting married, I’m not coming back to your house that place has never been my home. Sorry you couldn’t marry for love, but I am and I’ll never let anybody tell me how to live,” she paused. “And you wonder why I didn’t tell you, you can never be happy for me. All you’ve ever done was put me down and try to make me feel bad about myself. Never ever again, there’s nothing wrong with me, it’s you.”

After years of being the family outcast she couldn’t hold her tongue anymore. She never shared the beliefs of her family and questioned everything. Including if her parents ever actually loved each other, from what she saw they just pretended. Richard Jordan was never around anyway, he was a truck driver so he traveled a lot. It was no secret that Rose’s parents found her a man that in their eyes was perfect for her. They were religious in an extreme way and never gave their daughter a chance to live. And instead of Rose giving her children the life she couldn’t have, she blindly followed what her husband and parents told her. Which even included having 10 children when she didn’t want to, of course she never complained. But Lynn knew that she was a mistake and her mother never wanted her, especially after Mackenzie was gone.

Even though it had been such a long time Lynn could remember when she was a baby and Mackenzie was always the one that wanted to play with her. Mackenzie was the one that would wipe her tears if she cried and would share with her and let her sleep in her bed. And once she was gone Lynn was alone with her broken parents and uptight brainwashed siblings. Sarah was the only one who took care of Lynn and encouraged her to have opinions of her own and think for herself. And after fighting with her parents and being generally miserable, Lynn moved in with Sarah when she was 12. Being away from the family made it easier to love them, but Lynn knew that no matter what they would never accept her.

“I’m just not sure you know what you’re getting into, love isn’t all you need to keep a marriage together. I just want what’s best for you and you are so young and always insisted that you would never even get married. Now I find you here with a man touching you and you’re telling me you live with him and you’re getting married. Its not that I’m not happy for you, I’m just shocked,” Rose assured her.

“Things change, I never expected this to happen but it did and I’m happy. Bastian is amazing, he loves me and we have an amazing connection,” Lynn told her. The door opened and in came Sebastian with three baskets full of clothes; most of them belonged to Lynn.

“Having a nice chat?” Sebastian asked as he dragged the baskets in.

“Guess so,” Lynn shrugged going to help him.

“What’s this you’re helping me?” He laughed and kissed her forehead and carried two of the baskets into their bedroom.

“You’re my house-honey,” she told him and he laughed.

“For the moment, but you owe me,” he assured her as they headed back to the living room.

“Always,” she replied. They sat down on the couch together with Rose watching them from the arm chair.

“Mr. Alonso, what type of work do you do?” Rose asked.

“Please call me Sebastian,” he said. “Currently I’m working as a bartender, but I’m considering taking a job in construction. There’s going to be a position opening up at a company where I have connections and I would basically run the company.”

“Since when?” Lynn asked unable to help herself.

“Got a call a few minutes ago actually, Maddox said he needs someone he can trust and he likes my background,” he explained.

“Are you going to take the job?” Lynn asked, he just shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. What she noticed about everybody in Sebastian’s world was that they tended to talk about things that were important as if they didn’t matter.

“I’m guessing you would like me to,” he said watching her close.

“I don’t know, it’s your decision,” she replied aware her mother was watching them closely.

“Not really whatever I do affects you too, but we can discuss this later,” he said.

“If you’re intending to get married, have to talked much about you future together? Where you plan to live and if you want children and such?” Rose asked changing the subject.

“For now we’ll live here and after we’re married we’ll look for a house,” Sebastian answered. “And at this time the last thing either of us is thinking of is children, Lynn’s education is most important.”

“What day will the wedding be? Where? Who will pay for it?”

“We were just talking about that actually,” Lynn said.

“I’ll pay for everything you don’t have to worry Mrs. Jordan. And whatever Lynn wants she’ll have,” he said.

“And you can afford a wedding working as a bartender?” Rose asked looking suspicious.
            “I have some savings,” he said dismissively.

“I was thinking of maybe an outdoor wedding at the end of the summer would be nice,” Lynn said drawing the conversation away from money. Since Sebastian hated talking about money and her family didn’t have much at all, that would be a bad road to go down.

“My family has the beach house, we could go up there,” he suggested.

“Evalinda if you insist on getting married I think it would be proper to do it in our church. Would that be a problem for you Sebastian?” Rose challenged, he just looked amused.

“Not if that’s what Lynn wants,” he said. “I was engaged to a conservative Christian and for a long time I was a member of her church.”

“Really? And do you still attend church?”

“Currently I attend the church I grew up going to,” he told her.

“I don’t want to get married in a church,” Lynn said and her mother stared at her.

“Why not? What’s wrong with getting married in the same church as your parents, grandparents and your siblings? Its tradition,” Rose said.

“It’s not my tradition, its fine for you but it’s not me,” Lynn said. Her mother looked ready to have a heart attack.

 “Maybe we can go up to the beach house this weekend, so you can see if that’s what you want,” Sebastian suggested.

“Oh I love that idea,” she said and kissed him. So what if her mother was there, she would just have to get use to this. Her whole family would. This was her life and she was going to marry Sebastian and nobody could stop her.

*************************************

 

My dreams lately have been chaotic so I’ve been spelling myself just to get some rest. I had been having a wonderful dreamless sleep when I woke up. Before she even left the farm I could sense my mother. She appeared beside the bed and looked down at me. Reluctantly I slipped out of Javier’s arms and she followed me into the bathroom. For her to just show up in the middle of the night I knew something had to be wrong. So I sat on the sink counter and waited while she paced. Until then I forgot I’d gone to bed in just my bra and panties, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen me in them before.

“Three months,” she said finally. “That’s when he plans to go to war.”

“We knew this was coming,” I said. “But they will come back; I’ll pull a vision if you want me to.”

“I wish he could just be happy with our life here, I don’t want to live in demon land. And we had another fight, he left,” she said with a pained look in her eyes. “Maybe I should have just kept you and runaway a long time ago.”

“Then we wouldn’t have Mena and Noah. He will come back and everything will be fine, you love each other,” I said feeling like a hypocrite.

“Says my daughter who wants to leave her husband,” she replied. “Being a queen for real and living there away from you isn’t something I’m sure I want to do.”

“I’m not leaving him; we just had a few issues,” I paused studying her. “That’s not the only reason you’re here.”

“Of course not my daughter the seer,” she said solemnly. “We need to go see Sierra.”

“Dad made us promise never to go near her and I don’t want to see her after what she did to you,” I told her.

My grandmother hated the fact that her only child was the mate of a demon so to get my dad to stay away; she spelled my mom so she couldn’t have children.  The trouble is that she screwed the spell up and my mom could conceive children but they always ended in miscarriage. Instead of it driving my father away it just made him more determined to stay with his mate. In his mind it was his fault because he thought he’d caused her to lose me. But even once he found out that it was Sierra he didn’t even tell my mother, he didn’t want to hurt her. It was me with my visions that found out the truth and I confronted Sierra about it and that was also the day I learned I could play with fire like the other demons. Something in my anger triggered my sudden ability to create and manipulate fire. And though it shouldn’t have been possible for me to overturn Sierra’s spell, I did. A barely trained witch can’t reverse a spell cast by a high level witch like her, but I did. Maybe what they say about me is true. Then again prophecies only come true when people cause them to, thanks Sierra and Zenis.

“We need her and I don’t like it anymore than you do, but it has to be done. She has to read you,” she insisted. It was clear she’d given this a lot of thought.

“No we don’t need her, I’ve gotten this far staying alive without her help,” I protested.

“Mackenzie I know that you’re visions aren’t what they should be right now and that you can not see what’s going to happen to you. Did it occur to you that it could be a spell? Someone might want you walking around blind so you can’t see when they attack. Don’t you owe it to your family to find out? And so you know I refuse to lose you again so if you refuse I’ll drag you,” she told me. My mother the Queen.

“And I would help you,” came the groggy voice of my husband. He squinted against the light, he leaned in the doorway.

“This is coming from the man that wants to keep me locked in the house and has guards on me 24/7? Can neither of you believe I can handle myself?” I pretty much knew I wouldn’t win this fight but I wouldn’t be a gypsy witch if I didn’t argue.

“It’s not about if you can handle yourself or not something is going on and we’d rather you be safe. After everything that’s happened to you its possible that someone else could come after you,” Javier said. He was trying to sweet talk me, being all calm and concerned. My husband the semi-diplomatic the Alpha. “Come on baby think about Noah and the girls.” Yup he was good.

“Does dad even know about this?” I asked watching my mother.

“What do you think we were fighting about? Not just war sweetie,” she shrugged.

“Sierra is still mad at me anyway, why would she even read me or tell me the truth? We all know she holds grudges; she’d want something in return. And I would bet it would have to do with my son,” I said. Of course my mother being a gypsy too wasn’t going to back down either and they really would drag me there.

“Sweetie you underestimate how much she wants you in her life. My mother would do anything to get on your good side, you are her powerful legacy. And let’s not forget how great the coven would look if Noah was a part of it. Nobody would dare look down on us again,” she said.

“This has bad idea written all over it,” I shook my head.

“I’ll go with you,” Javier offered. It definitely wasn’t for my benefit but I decided not to point that out.

“Whatever but just remember I said this is a bad idea,” I told them.

“Yes yes child we’ll remember,” mother said dismissively. “Javier you might want to talk to Maddox, he’s planning to make a move soon.” With a wave she was gone having gotten her way, like always.

“I still find it weird that we’re almost the same age,” Javier said shaking his head.

“Not as weird as I find it,” I said. He leaned in to kiss me and I wrapped my legs around his waist so he carried me back to bed. “Javi are you sure you want to get involved in this war?”

            “Gives me something to do,” he shrugged. “But I think I might need to quit my job, I’m not able to commit myself to it like I should be.”

            “Just take a break to figure out if it’s what you really want,” I replied. The truth was that it didn’t surprise me at all I knew he was struggling with this ever since he became Alpha.

            “War doesn’t scare me Kenzie, I’ve already been to war to get where I am. It just feels wrong to keep doing this,” he sighed.

            “Just make sure you come back to me,” I told him.

That was what worried me what would I do if he never came home? What would my mom do if my dad never came home? And what about Noah and Mena?  Without them none of us would be safe, that’s a fact. I try not to think of what can happen, but I do a lot. Being kidnapped is no fun and I know that if it happened again I definitely wouldn’t be living a luxurious life and neither would my son. At least I was safe from the outside world with Zenis. Even I can admit that I wouldn’t be able to protect myself and Noah forever. And that would be where Sierra and the coven would come in; I’m no fool I know that’s what she wants. To be honest I don’t think the coven is even strong enough to keep us safe from the world. The demons would lay down their lives for my father’s heirs. And I would have to be the one to lead them, since they don’t believe in a woman’s right to lead there would be problems. There were just too many possibilities and my visions weren’t operating normally and even so nothing is definite. As always my life was left up to fate.

 

 

Javier never got rest on his days off, he just never got rest. There was always something going on. So today he was holding court in a coffee shop, the caffeine helped him to stay sane. Noah sat in his stroller biting a teddy bear and banging his cup against the holder. He felt guilty about not spending enough time with his son, so he took him while Mackenzie was off with his sisters. Of all the babies Javier had ever seen his son was the best behaved and the quietest. Sometimes he was certain that was because Noah could communicate with Mena without words.

The first person to show up was Vince, which wasn’t surprising at all. Auri moved back two days ago. If Javier had a choice in what went on between Vince and his sister, he’d have stamped it out a long time ago. But that wasn’t his place, he was just around to keep the peace and deal with exposure risks. The world wasn’t ready to know that witches, werewolves, demons and such walked among them. Keeping things quiet would have been easy except that his wolves loved to fight. Fighting as wolves was one thing but fighting as half turned humans was a huge problem. A little too often Shoshanna provided him with potions for the human bystanders to help them forget. Lately the amount of incidences was down, but still there was a lot going on in the pack. Every summer the heat made people crazy.

“Your sister is a pain in my a*s and a commitment phob,” Vince said when he sat down. “She’s at your house right?”

“I’m not getting involved, didn’t I warn you? From now until forever I will not get involved in other people’s relationships. Unless of course you screw me over again,” Javier told him.

“Not my fault your sister has issues, the latest one is over my neighbor. She’s like a mother to me, but Auri is mad about it or something,” he sighed.

“Maybe she would be happier if you actually proposed to her and bought her a ring. That was one of the many things the females were chattering about,” Javier said.

“Yeah and now they are at Moon Magic plotting my death,” Vince shook his head. “Anyway, are you really going through with the whole demon war thing?”

“Kind of have to, I can’t really go back on a promise I made to my wife’s father. If anyone could take me out it would be Maddox,” Javier shrugged. “Hopefully it won’t last too long I don’t trust you being in charge of anything.”

“Tell me again why Jared isn’t your second, he’s responsible and levelheaded and can definitely be trusted,” Vince said.

“He doesn’t want the power, and you know he hates attention. Though hanging out with Zara is drawing a lot of attention, but that’s his problem. If he wanted he could be Alpha, in fact I would give it to him,” he said dismissively. The trouble was that Jared supported him becoming Alpha and had encouraged him to go for it.

The last four years of fighting and breaking up fights made Javier wonder how his father kept this up for so long. It probably had to do with the fact that Zenis was a cold heartless b*****d, but he did keep everybody in line most of the time. No matter what there would always be fights and threats of exposure that was life. Nobody ever warned Javier that becoming Alpha would destroy the person he was. That was why he couldn’t bare to work anymore. How could he look into the faces of children when it was possible that he might kill someone they love? He hated to take lives; it wasn’t his place to decide if someone should live of die. But if he wanted to live he had to make the tough decisions. And now that included figuring out what he would do since he couldn’t allow himself to continue being a doctor.

“Zara is an interesting one,” Vince said thoughtfully. “Jared better be careful she might break him.”

“You would know wouldn’t you?”

“Ain’t my fault Zara gets around,” Vince shrugged. “Noah your daddy wasn’t always so whipped I promise.” Noah looked up and laughed.

“And you’re not? My little sister owns you,” he said.

“It’s definitely the other way around; don’t be surprised if I come drag her out soon. This is exactly why I’m against the whole marriage thing.”

“What part of not getting involved don’t you understand? As long as your relationship doesn’t affect everybody else it’s your problem. But if you just married her at least maybe she’d stay home,” he reluctantly suggested. Who was he to give relationship advice when his wife was on the verge of leaving him? Things were fine now, but he knew something else was going to happen.

“Here comes your next appointment,” Vince said nodding towards Warren.

“I have a problem,” Warren said when he came to sit down.

“Would this have to do with why my sister left you?” Javier asked, not that he wanted to get involved.

“Sort of but it’s not really my fault,” Warren said. He looking tired and worn down, very unlike himself. “Stella was pissed about this woman showing up saying she had my baby, which is impossible.”

“You are the last person I would think would be cheating, but then again fun is fun,” Vince said.

“And you wonder why I told you to stay away from my sister,” Javier shook his head. “Go on Warren tell us why this woman believes you fathered her child.”

“Because I believe it was my brother that was with her, the child resembles me. Since I’m certain I would never hurt Stella, I know it’s him. My brother may harbor a bit of resentment towards me and isn’t above dragging Stella into it,” Warren told them. Even though Javier had only known Warren the last three years because of Stella, he trusted him. And that was saying something with Stella’s bad taste in men.

“Why is it we don’t know you have a brother?” Javier asked while picking up his son who was reaching for him.

“Because he did something unforgivable and my family wants nothing to do with him. The problem I’m having is locating him, he had to be here sometime recently but there’s no trace of him,” Warren sighed. He downed a cup of coffee in one gulp, like a true caffeine addict would. Clearly he was too troubled to sleep.

“As far as I know nobody new has come into town, the only way he would be able to move around without me knowing would be magic. Which isn’t good and makes me wonder if your brother is working with Zkar,” Javier said thoughtfully.

“What did your brother do to piss off your family?” Vince asked, he of course wouldn’t notice that Warren wanted to keep that private.

“You don’t have to answer him,” he said.

“Its fine, you should know what type of person he is,” Warren sighed looking more tired. “Jake, he attempted to molest my niece and I was the one who caught him.”

“Oh wow, sorry,” Vince said looking shocked.

“So am I,” Warren said. “Anyway he was a solider once so he could use his training to be in hiding. But they don’t teach a wolf how to mask his scent in the army.”

“How the hell were you able to keep your secret in a war zone?” Vince asked, that was a good question.

“Self control,” Warren replied. “I had to do a lot of practicing and working on it before I enlisted but it’s all about control.”

“Brothers wanting revenge, I know who to ask about this not that I want to,” Javier said.

Noah had fallen asleep against him; he had an idea but hated it. Warren might have a lot of control but Javier could admit he didn’t. Especially when it came to his family and lately he was losing it a lot. Since Mackenzie’s visions were going haywire lately there were two other choices. Sierra would know, she was the more powerful of his two choices. The trouble was that even though he was going to see her, she most likely wouldn’t want to tell him anything. Like Maddox she saw Javier as a threat to her family. In Sierra’s mind because she didn’t believe in marriage or commitments neither should her daughter or granddaughter. To Javier she was just a bitter old woman that needed to get a life of her own. He would have to put aside what he thought of her and in the best interest of his family and the pack, he would have to ask for her help. The price for her help was the problem.

 

 

Even though I was upset with my grandmother I never disliked the coven. It wasn’t their fault she was crazy. Sometimes I think I actually understand why she is the way she is, it’s the visions. Sierra is at the point where her visions can take over and half the time she’s not lucid enough to speak to. So my grandmother spent most of her time alone, which probably could explain why she was the way she was. Maybe if she believed in love or let somebody, anybody love her she might be different. There’s no way to know what could have been, the only way I ever knew her was bitter and self serving. Though apparently her mother Demetria had not raised her to be this way and it just happened sometime in her many years of living.

Looking at Sierra LaTori you would never guess her actual age, which had to be at least a hundred or close to. Witches were really good at hiding their ages and living a very long time. Nobody really knows why Sierra actually decided to have my mother, but she did. My guess is that she just wanted to continue the line and maybe pass on her gift of sight. She was very disappointed that her daughter did not have that particular gift, but she is a pretty powerful witch. When Sierra found that I had the gift she was very excited, and when she found out I would give birth to a child so unique she was happiest she’d ever been. I suppose she realized that in keeping her child would pay off, except of course they we are both as stubborn as she is.

Sierra was as usual in her garden, her back was to us but she knew we were there. She had the same chocolate brown hair as my mother and I, but hers was straight. So I assume the curls come from whoever my mother’s father is. To this day that’s one secret Sierra intends to take to her grave. I imagine that maybe she loved him and he could have hurt her. Nobody was ever going to know, I wasn’t going to try to read her we had enough problems. Even though my mother deserved to know who her father really is. Sierra turned and her icy clear blue eyes fixed themselves on me, she rose and slowly stalked towards me never looking away. Javier gripped my hand, he didn’t like this.

“Enough of the dramatics mother,” my mother said rolling her eyes. “You knew we were coming.”

“And you brought one of your filthy beasts here but not the children,” Sierra said still staring at me.

“You do realize that Noah is part of both the beasts you hate,” I said annoyed. Javier gave a low growl; I knew he didn’t want to be here.

“He has my blood so we can over look that,” she said dismissively. “I would advise you both to bring the children here where they can be brought up properly without the influence of their fathers.” She made a disgusted face like she was so superior.

“This is why we shouldn’t have come here, she’s bitter and evil and doesn’t care about anyone but herself,” I said on the verge of setting her plants on fire.

“Oh with secret wolf alliances and betrayal in your little pack I know you need me. And we can’t forget the bloody demon war, do you really want to live there Eden?  Well I don’t think you have to worry about it, they don’t want you if your demon dies,” she said with an evil smile.

“She’s content being an old bitter hag, I don’t need her. There’s a reason no one loves her,” I said. Usually I’m nice to people as much as possible but she really gets to me. To prove I was pissed I did set one of her rose bushes on fire.

“We’ll go then,” Javier said. He knew where this was leading.

“Mother can you never be civil with anyone? You claim to care about your family but not enough to help. I guess I shouldn’t expect much from a woman who would do her very best to destroy her only child,” my mother said. She was still hurt by what Sierra did to her. Having miscarriage after miscarriage because of your own mother’s hate, the whole thing was just cruel.

“I did not know that the spell would do that to you, I just wanted the demon to go away. And then you let her marry a wolf, do you know how embarrassing this is? Gypsies don’t marry; we do not bind ourselves to one male for all of eternity. Why was I cursed to have my daughter and granddaughter not only marry but to tie themselves to beasts?” Sierra actually for once looked like she was feeling something, maybe because she knew something. “Eden I would never hurt you intentionally, despite what you may think I do love you. But I knew that demon was going to cause you nothing but pain and he’s still doing it. If he loved you he would give up on this stupid war and focus on his family. I’m sorry for what happened but I had to do something, I will always protect my family.”

“All I need is for you to read Mackenzie, I need to know she will be safe,” my mother said. I could tell she was fighting not to get upset.

“Fine and I’ll throw in a freebie for her wolf,” Sierra agreed. “Wolf you are right to think these brothers are working together, but they have inside help. An innocent will be attacked and someone close to you will betray you, already has in fact. Oh and yes they are using powerful magic and they are soon going to step up their game. Mackenzie you should be fine.”

“Thank you,” my mother said.

“Why haven’t you told the demon you’re pregnant again?” Sierra asked.

“Thank you for never knowing when to keep your mouth shut,” she sighed.

“Mom, why wouldn’t you tell me?” I asked in complete shock, it explained a lot.

“For the thousandth time little girl I am the mother and you are the child,” she said. “I just found out and your father and I aren’t on the best of terms right now.”

“And if he knew it would make leaving harder,” Javier said and she nodded. “Maddox needs to focus so he doesn’t get killed, I get that, but you have to tell him.”

“He already knows,” Sierra said gesturing behind us. There stood my father leaning against the iron fence with his horns raised.

“Why are you here?” My mother asked him as he decided to come closer. Of course he would come if he knew we were here.

“Apparently I’m here to find out that you’re pregnant,” he growled.

“Or you could be finding out that I’m considering moving back to the coven,” she replied with no emotion in her voice at all. That wasn’t like her; he really must have pissed her off.

“Maybe you should,” he said. Then without another word he was gone.

“Come stay with us,” I said quickly. This was very bad; I couldn’t imagine why he would act like this. Yes he’s a demon with a bad temper but compared to most he’s not that bad.

“I have to get Mena,” she said looking determined not to show emotion.

“I’ll go get her and you can go home with Javi,” I said giving my husband a look.

“Come on Eden, I’m willing to bet Noah would love to see you,” Javier said.

“Go rest daughter then we will talk,” Sierra said in a tone that actually suggested she cared. I guess she’s feeling déjà vu with her daughter heartbroken and pregnant, again.

“Fine,” she sighed and took Javier’s hand and they were gone.

“My little seer, take care of your mother for me I’m not touchy like you two are,” Sierra said when we were alone. “Ever since the first time she had a miscarriage I regretted what I did, she was so hurt and seemed to cried endlessly. That insufferable demon set up a nursery for their son already so it was a reminder everyday of what she lost. The truth is that I couldn’t take the spell off and I think you already knew that. I would never have let it go on if I could have stopped it but no one else could have fixed this but you.”

“And you’re foolish pride would have you sit here alone and let us hate you. Well I never hated you, I just didn’t understand you. Now I think I might, you are losing yourself and your abilities; you don’t want her to know. She’ll always love you, tell her the truth she wouldn’t abandon you,” I told her.

“That’s the problem, she’s young she needs to be happy and like I always said that demon won’t make her happy. Do you see he’s doing this to her again, at least he didn’t throw her into a wall this time. See the truth not just that he’s your father and you love him; see what he does to her. Love isn’t a reason to be together, you know that from your wolf,” she paused going into a trance. “Don’t trust that wolf; he’s going to get you hurt. For now go to get your sister and take care of your mother, you will know when you need to come see me again.”

“What do you see for me?” I asked her and she smiled.

“Sweet child, like it has always been seen you will be all powerful and you will be able to handle it unlike others. You have to be powerful Mackenzie to protect your child; I do not see you getting lost as I have. Then again I’m old,” she shrugged. “Now go before they start to worry.”

“Goodbye grandmother,” I said and she waved.

Confused and in need of time to really think, I left the garden and went to the farm. I found my father in Mena’s room; he was sitting on the floor playing with her. What was I supposed to say to him? Taking sides was a bad idea but he’s been so mean lately, even though my mother tried to hide that from me. She felt guilty that I didn’t grow up with a father so she made him out to be a saint for my sake. I’m no fool; I know what goes on with them. Seer or not the tension between them is so apparent. He looked up at me with tired eyes, these days everybody I knew was always drained. Something was in the air, something magical and evil, and it was affecting everybody I love.

“She had no right to keep that from me,” he said.

“She’s hurt,” I said sitting down on the plush pink carpet.

“We fought the other night because I told her not to take you to see Sierra, the woman is poison and now Eden wants to go back. I can’t allow her to take Mena there,” he said looking me straight in the eyes.

“They are staying with me,” I told him.

“When she told me she was pregnant with you it was a month after my brother Bruce was killed. When I came home without him I was wreck and she helped me. But when she needed me I hurt her, that’s what I do, I hurt her. That’s why I couldn’t know about you, I wouldn’t have trusted me either. And she wanted to have children for me; she was your age and was so desperate to give me a child. Doesn’t seem fair to me, why did I deserve that? Why do I deserve her and two amazing daughters? Truth is I don’t, that’s why she should leave me,” he said shocking me completely. “Love can’t keep you together forever; I know that, my parents didn’t even love each other. My father the great King Goron cheated on her regularly, the truth was that he wasn’t a good man at all. He let one of my brothers die purposely, his stupidity killed all the others and put me in this situation. I have to fight to get home, there is no choice in that, but that’s not Eden’s problem, not anymore.”

“What are you saying? You’re trying to break up with her? Are you insane? How can you even think of that when she’s pregnant? Trust me when I tell you that this is a very bad idea, it’s not going to make this war easier. Mom knows why you have to do this and she knows what you really want is to stay here with her and Mena. Dad you can’t…” I trailed off when a vision slammed into me hard.

Normally my visions don’t hurt, but this one would have knocked me off my feet had I been standing. If I hadn’t known this was a powerful one the sounds and smells would have clued me in. Instead of just seeing this one put me in the middle of whatever was going on. The air was thick with smoke and fires were burning all around me. I was sitting not in my little sister’s room but on the battlefield. Before I could move or figure out what I was supposed to see, a wolf jumped over my head, like it knew I was there. That never happened to me before. My father appeared in the fog fighting someone with an actual sword; it was like something out of a movie. I’d seen him training in the past but this was an actual fight with a very ugly looking demon. He managed to cut off the demon’s head and I almost screamed. For some reason he stared straight at me, but there was no way he could be seeing me. After a pause he looked around, there were bloody bodies everywhere. The human looking ones were wolves; there were a lot of dead demons and other creatures I’d never seen before. My father disappeared and then reappeared in what looked like a throne room; somehow I ended up there too.

In a cage that I could tell was spelled, a demon lay in chains. He barely had clothes on and he was very bloody. Off to the side a big ugly black and green kind of reptile looking demon walked in with a smile that showed yellow fangs. Behind him he was dragging another demon, he was badly beaten too. The chains were loud dragging across the floor and the demon groaned. I knew he was one of our type of demons, even though his horns were sawed off. I knew the scent even if I don’t always carry it. My father looked from the cage to the one being dragged, he recognized them and so did I. The royal family was all forced to wear these gold bands with this ancient writing on them and they are spelled so that if we ever need help we’re easily found. At least that’s what I was told, what I know is the thing doesn’t ever come off once they slap it on you. Both the prisoners had the bands, so that means they are my uncles. At that realization I was thrown back into Mena’s room. I could still smell the smoke and death.

It took a few minutes for me to get back to normal. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t in Mena’s room anymore, I was in my room. Now my mother, Javier and Isadora were there too. They were all staring down at me, with concern in their eyes.  It hadn’t felt like I was gone long but apparently I was gone long enough. How was I supposed to tell them what I saw? Aside from the wolves fighting and random bits I get in visions I never really saw death. This wasn’t just seeing I could feel it; I could feel my father’s rage and his shock. From what I knew of my uncles all but one were killed in battle before I was born. I never met my uncle Stefan, but he was married to my mom’s best friend my Aunt Vanessa. He went off trying to prove his usefulness to the family, against my father’s wishes; he was the only one that they believed could still be alive other than my Aunt Lilly’s mate. Even though I’d seen pictures of him before, there was no way to tell which brothers were still alive.

“Sweetie, its ok just take a minute to catch your breath,” my mother told me.

“Did that witch do something to you?” Isadora my witch hating grandmother asked, she hated Sierra more than my father.

“No, well maybe but nothing bad,” I told her. When I tied to sit up Javier was there instantly helping me and letting me lean against him. No vision ever did this to me before, maybe grandma seer passed me along some of her abilities.

“What did you see?” My mother asked looking very concerned.

“I didn’t just see, I was there, but that’s completely impossible,” I said. In the magic I had been taught what just happened was impossible.

“Do you mean like in those dreams you have?” Javier asked.

“No, those are memories I walk through, this was a vision. Except that Dad you were staring at me like you knew I was there,” I told them.

“So you had a vision of my future? I’m assuming it had something to do with what we discussed,” he said and my mom stared at him.

“It was a battlefield,” I began not really knowing how to go about this. “I was sitting there like when I was in Mena’s room, there was smoke and fire and bodies everywhere. You killed a demon you were fighting and then we ended up in a throne room. Some big ugly lizard-like thing was there, waiting.”

“So either you saw me get killed or win,” he said beginning to pace.

“Neither actually, I never saw you fight him because there were others in the room,” I said and he stopped to stare. “The men there were two of them and they um were beaten and chained up. But two of your brothers are alive, barely alive really.”

“How could you know that? You’ve never seen any of them,” Isadora said desperately. There were tears in her eyes, these were her sons.

“The bands,” my mother said. “Am I right?”

“Yeah, they both had them but their faces were badly beaten so I really wouldn’t have known anyway,” I told them.

“But I did,” my father said still pacing.

“I can try to take you back Dad, but I don’t know if I can,” I offered.

“No,” both my mother and husband said at the same time.

“Why not? After all these years my sons could still be alive, why the hell wouldn’t she do this?” Isadora asked, she rarely raised her voice but I knew she was overwhelmed with emotions, so was I.

“They’re right, she’s not going to attempt it,” my father said finally stopping pacing. “I will not put my daughter’s life in jeopardy, not even for you Mother.”

“Isadora she is weak and we do not know what would happen if she had another vision like this. I’ve never heard of actually going into the future and to be able to move and sense things, it’s unheard of. To be seen isn’t even possible, so there will be no sacrificing my daughter for your sons. And don’t you dare try to guilt her into it,” my mother said glaring at Isadora who glared back.

“Maddox have you forgotten your brothers? They would lay down their lives for you and two of them did,” Isadora was very angry.

“I will never forget that mother, but they knew what they were doing. Stefan was a fool and if he is dead than that is his fault, he risked his life for nothing. They were soldiers, Mackenzie is barely an adult and she has a son to think about. I’m not so selfish that I would allow her to put herself in danger for you,” my father growled.

“This isn’t right,” Isadora protested. She left the room with a swish of her floor length black dress; I knew she wasn’t going to forgive me.

“Javier I think you should take Mackenzie home to rest,” my mother said and he nodded. She kissed my forehead and gave me a weak smile. “You did good, don’t let Izzie make you think otherwise.”

“Don’t argue, go home and rest, we can talk later. At least I know they are alive and I’ll face that b*****d myself,” my father said.

Javier picked me up from the bed, I felt completely drained. What happened to me? Sierra was right that I would be back to see her. I wasn’t really sure at first if I could take us back home, but I managed. As we disappeared I saw my mother with her arms around my father, she was comforting him. Of course he wouldn’t let me know how he really felt, but I knew I couldn’t do that again if I wanted to. So I let my husband carry me to our bed once we were home and I drifted off to sleep seconds later. Could what they say about me really be true? Before I didn’t believe, now I wasn’t so sure.