Awakening the Beast (15 page)

The breeze was gentle. The salt of the ocean settled on her lips. The wind was cool on her skin, but the fire within her kept her warm. The wind signaled a storm was rolling in from the sea. They could take refuge in the forest. The earth lent her strength to bolster her own. The wind shifted, blasted against her, warning her someone was approaching from above. At first she did not focus on the vibrations of the other person. It had to be someone from camp, but the wind continued to batter her until she paid attention. When she did, she realized it was someone that she was not familiar with. Illiana sighed and lifted herself up, landing gently back on the cliff. She looked around and did not see anyone. She placed her hand on the earth and felt the vibrations of the newcomer’s heavy footsteps. This person was tall from the way the air surrounded him and sent back a distorted image. She kept her eyes closed and concentrated on the earth, ready to use its energy to send a crack into the ground and stop him in his tracks if he meant her harm.

“You are so beautiful, a goddess bathed in the moonlight casting a spell over the land.”

Had she heard it right? Was that his voice? She opened her eyes and stared. In the moonlight, his chest was riddled with scars that had come from claws and teeth. His hair had grown longer and glinted golden in the moonlight. “Christopher.”

“It’s me.” He offered her his hand.

She stared at it, waiting for him to dissolve into some kind of fevered dream or vision. When he knelt down and drew her to him, Illiana knew he was real. Christopher placed his hand on her cheek and stared into her eyes. He trailed his finger along her jawline and over her lips. He studied her the way he did when he first discovered that she could turn into a wolf. She traced the scar that ran across his forehead, nicked the corner of his eye, and sliced his right cheek down to the end of his nose. He winced.

“Sorry. Does it hurt?” she asked.

“No. It doesn’t hurt. It happened a while ago.”

“You were hit by a cougar when you were in a cave trying to rescue my aunt.”

His eyes widened. “H-how did you know that?”

Where should she start? There was so much to tell? Would be believe her? Would he even want her after all this time? “I saw it in one of my dreams. The first one I had of you was a couple of months ago. You were talking to Jalisa and feeling downtrodden. You asked the wind to carry a message to me. Here I am. I heard you. It just took me a while to get back.”

He curled a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. “You’ve changed. When I look into your eyes, I don’t see the girl who was broken because the pack wouldn’t let us be together. You’ve become this powerful woman. You look the same, but are so much more beautiful.”

“And I don’t see the boy trying to fill his father’s shoes. I see a leader who’s taken responsibility for his pack and the burdens of the hardships that I spun into motion.”

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you’re here now.” Christopher captured her lips and kissed her roughly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body into his. Being in his arms was the homecoming that she had been waiting for. It was the best place that she had been in a long time. His lips were soft and yet there was a yearning in his kiss that she had never experienced before.

A moan slipped from her mouth and he swallowed it up. He tightened his grip on her as though he was trying to make her one with him. She clawed her fingers down his back and felt the firmness of his body. They fit together perfectly. She fit together well with her other mates, but there was something more there with Christopher. There always had been. She loved Belik and loved Ohanzee. They were a part of her, but Christopher had always been her first love. With Christopher back, how was Ohanzee going to take him? So many things and questions ran through her mind, but all that mattered now was being in his arms. Together they could fix all the problems that lay ahead of them.

He kissed her harder until she pulled away and caught her breath. “It’s so good to see you. Seeing you, I know we’ll take back our home.”

Illiana felt his scar once more and trailed her other fingers over several of the marks on his chest. They were older than the ones she had seen before. He took her hand and traced one over his stomach.

“This one I got with my first tussle with the cougars. The bastard had a longer claw on its middle front paw. Jalisa patched me up.” He moved their hands to his upper thigh where he had been bitten by something. “Another cougar got me by the thigh when I was trying to get away. That was a scary one.”

“Did J-Jalisa help heal you of that one too?” Illiana tried to keep her voice steady. She pulled her hand away and turned back toward the ocean not able to face him if the answer was yes.

Christopher slipped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips along the side of her neck. A shiver ran down her back. Illiana held in a moan as his hot breath blasted along her ear. All she wanted was to believe that everything had gone back to normal between the two of them. However, time had passed and so many things might have sprung up between them.

“Jalisa’s nothing more than my second-in-command. Besides, I think she has a thing for one of your ravens.”

“Impossible. You know the laws. Ravens and wolves can’t be together.”

He laughed. “The old laws don’t have much meaning these days. Everyone knows the wolves and the ravens are never supposed to be together, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve seen a few things this past year that I never would’ve believed myself. But I never lost hope that we’d be reunited. Then this man shows up, telling me we have a mate in common. How do you think that made me feel? You were the one who found someone else.”

She stared into his eyes. His expression had melted and all she could see was the hurt that lingered there. “Ohanzee’s a good man. I resisted him at first. We were both in so much pain. Believe me. I wasn’t looking for another mate. I thought I’d come apart at the seams when I left the forest. If I stayed, then it’d have driven me crazy seeing you and not being able to touch you.”

“Don’t you think I thought the same thing? Don’t you know how much us not being together hurt
me
? Even if you didn’t make the choice, the council was never going to make it so that we could be together. They were going to have you killed.”

“Have me killed? Because we loved one another?” The idea the wolves were going to kill her because she might not give up Christopher… She touched the scars she carried on her chest that Simian, Christopher’s father, had given her when she was accepted into the pack. She had thought then things would be okay, but she had been wrong.

“I never told you because I didn’t want you to worry. Then you did the most selfless thing and gave me up so that I would not be shunned by the pack. I was grateful for that. Then they came and things fell apart. All the while, I figured you were off somewhere with Belik. I prayed that you’d come back one day and now you did and you brought another man.”

“When we left Belik and I went to the village where the cougars were. The leader’s daughter was going to be killed because she was like me. They offered to let us go if I wrote a letter of introduction of trade to my mother. From there, we crossed a Great Lake by boat because it takes four days to fly over it in good weather. I met my father and he taught me so many things. I can control all four elements and talk to them. And I have visions of the future. They showed me you and the volcano erupting by the village. Ohanzee and I became close when I healed him. He made me forget about what I had left behind. I dreamed you rescued my aunt and…” She paused and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. This wasn’t how I expected you to meet him. But here you are. I never stopped loving you, Christopher. You were always in my thoughts, but I love Ohanzee, too. Belik’s accepted him into our lives and we’re mates. He’s a good man.”

“So where do I fit into this equation?” Christopher asked.

Illiana shrugged. “I don’t know. As much as I wanted to get back here and make sure you were okay, we have to reclaim our home first. When our people are safe, then we can think about the future. Right now, can’t we just be us, together?”

“And they won’t get jealous?”

“Belik, no. Ohanzee… Maybe, but he knows that I love you. Christopher, I love you. All I want is to be with you, unless you don’t want me.”

“Of course I still want you. It’s all I thought about since you left.” Christopher slid his hands down her torso and found the tie to her shirt. He tugged on it until it came loose and did the same to her pants. “Your outfit is different. I’m used to those dresses you wore that hugged those wonderful curves of yours.”

She slid her hands over his chest. “I’ve changed a little on the wardrobe. Besides, riding a dragon with rough scales isn’t very comfortable in a dress.”

“What’s a dragon?”

Illiana shook her head. “I’ll explain it all later. Right now, I want you. Is that something so impossible after all this time?”

“No, it’s not impossible. Not at all.” Christopher kissed her once more and this time all her fears and worries melted away. They were together and that was all that mattered.

Chapter Eleven

Christopher studied the large man before him. He was darker than the night and bald. His purple eyes were the thing that made him seem so unreal. Illiana and the others were sitting around a fire. Jalisa had joined them along with Tullin, the raven that she was infatuated with. He was coming to like the raven. They said nothing as they listened to Illiana’s story, what happened to Lelana, and what the plan was on taking back their homeland. Tullin barely said a word to anyone. When Lelana spoke he was so flustered he could barely mumble. What was tough to believe was that the large man before him could turn into a large beast.

“So you’re telling me that you can turn into this dragon and you let them ride on your back?” Jalisa asked Daruk.

He chuckled. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you saw me soaring above the forest. I’m here for Illiana and everyone else. I swore that I’d help in any way.”

It was easy to tell that the dragon was smitten with Illiana. Christopher tried to listen to what they were saying, but he could not help but keep his eyes on Illiana and the two men on either side of her. Ohanzee had his hand on her leg, sliding it over her thigh. Belik had his around her waist keeping her close. The envy of seeing that and knowing he should be one of those men ate him up inside. All he wanted was to find his place at her side once more. However, from their encounter the night, they had to heal their people first.

“It’s good to know that you have such great friends,” Christopher finally chimed in.

“She has more than that. Illiana’s been blessed to have two wonderful mates,” Lelana stared at him.

He stared back at the leader of the Corvi people and knew what she was getting at. She still did not approve of him wanting to be Illiana’s mate. That was nothing new. “And I’m happy for her, Lelana, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room in her life for another. How do you propose to take back the forest? That is the reason we’re all here.”

“I have an idea.” Ohanzee stood up and slipped off his clothes. Christopher watched his form shift. He expected the other man to turn into the hawk that he has seen the other day, but instead he shifted into a cougar.

Jalisa and Tullin jumped back as Ohanzee stalked over to them. Christopher could not discern the difference between him and any of the other cougars that he had come across. He was a little bit bigger, longer, but he seemed to be one of them. He transformed back to human form and faced everyone.

“Do you think I’d be able to fit in?” Ohanzee directed his question to Rama.

The younger girl still made Christopher uneasy, knowing that she had come from the same village of cougars that had taken over his forest. Illiana assured him that Rama was not a threat. She was going to help them. How that would happen remained to be seen, but he knew that Illiana trusted her so he should be able to trust her.

“We’ll figure something out. I can go into the village with him and say that we came together. Ohanzee could say he came from a village in the north. Maybe that you heard there was new territory to be had or something. My mother might believe it, but I can smell the hawk on him, too. They’ll figure out quickly he’s two-natured. If the shaman is around, he’ll pick you out immediately.”

“What about if I go in to get information? Even as a hawk, they surely won’t be able to track me,” Ohanzee asked.

Rama shook her head. “If the vultures catch you, they will eat you alive. They might eat carrion, but they also eat live animals. It doesn’t matter, their appetite is voracious.”

“You don’t have to tell us. They catch the ravens in flight and…” Tullin could not finish his sentence.

He put an arm on the young raven. “Tullin watched his family be caught in the vulture’s claws and ripped to pieces without mercy. They’re vile creatures that have to be driven from the forest. I want to reclaim what was taken from me. You proclaim to have all this firepower. Why can’t you just go in there and blast them out of woods?” Christopher asked Daruk.

“Because I don’t want the fire to destroy the forest and you not to be able to return to your homes. You have more information about these interlopers than Illiana has. It would be safer to formulate a plan, using that information, rather than sending Ohanzee in blind with Rama and have them be discovered for what they are,” Daruk commented.

“He’s right. You’ve been running raiding parties into their territory and have been coming back with refugees. You know where the leaders are. You know where their weak spots are,” Lelana said.

He ran his fingers through his hair. He glanced at Illiana who was not commenting. “What do you think?” he asked her.

“I need to talk to Coret.”

He was going to say something else when he saw her face had paled. Her eyes had taken on a glassy look to them. She fell back onto the ground. Illiana twitched and her eyes fluttered shut. Everyone gathered around her, but they did not touch her.