Immortal Heat (The Guardians of Dacia Book 1) (27 page)

"All is going as the gods have foreseen," Nonni stated.

"Then the gods must like crazy—you have no idea what I've been through." Marilyn snorted.

Nonni whacked her upside the head with her cane.

"Owww! What was that for?"

"You are impertinent. The gods chose the time, the place and the way for things to be followed." The old lady glared at her. "You have the medallion still?"

Marilyn touched her shirt, feeling the bronze piece on the silver chain securely around her neck. She nodded.

"That is good. It is your talisman. Your destiny."

"What medallion are you talking about?" Diane asked.

Marilyn took it out from beneath her collar.

Both men sat closer to look and said a few choice curse words.

"Where did you get that?" her mother asked.

"For my twenty-first birthday, I was sent a package, no return address, but there was a letter inside. The sender was a friend of my father's and this was a special Dacian artifact he'd found and would want me to have. I was told to keep it a secret because there were those who shouldn't know of its whereabouts."

"What is it?" Diane looked around the room.

"It's half of the Dacian code. The gods gave it to the Dacians as a token of unity among the Dacians and the Zmei. They were considered to be immortal warrior brethren. A circle of peace and continuity among the two clans," Ron explained breathlessly.

"The code was broken by Zamolxis when Vamier desecrated the original Eskardel, 'Home of the Zmei.' The broken medallion symbolized what the Dacians call, "The Great Divide" when the Dacian clan was split in two," Ren continued.

"It happened over a thousand years ago, back before your Christ was born," Nonni countered. "The gods foretold of a time when the two pieces would be united and a new order would begin…that time has come."

"No." Ren stood up. "It was also foretold that if the two pieces were ever joined the world as we know it would end!"

Nonni shrugged. "Our world ends every once in awhile. We just don't know it."

"Can you be so lackadaisical in your belief of the gods that you'd take a chance on an apocalyptic turn of events?"

"The gods have spoken." Nonni glared at Ren. "That is the way. That is all you need to know."

"Where do I fit in?" Marilyn asked. So she held the medallion, what did it mean?

Nonni sat forward, leaned on her cane and stared at her. "You are the new world. You are the medallion…and you are the mother of a new generation of Dacia."

Silence engulfed the room. The icy chill drifting through her blood stream had nothing to do with the evil eye Nonni was watching her with—but with the power of her statement.

"You know it to be so." Nonni sat back as if she'd done nothing more than to reveal a secret family recipe and not a pre-ordained millennium old foretelling of the gods.

#

"Mr. Delvante." His assistant, Kassidy MacDonald came in. "Therron is here to see you."

Rick stopped writing the memo he was working on. That's all he needed, the head of the Dacian Alpha Board to deal with. As if he didn't have enough on his plate.

Rick wiped the fatigue from his face. "Fine. What's he want?"

"Rick."

The voice registered and he pinched the bridge of his nose. "What is it, Ron?"

"Oh my God!"

The feminine voice was not something he expected to hear, and he threw his head up to see the one woman he definitely didn't want to see. It had been years, a little over twenty-five to be exact.

"Diane," he said calmly. He figured someone needed to be the composed one here, might as well be him. It sure in hell wasn't her, not with the look in her eyes.

"You sonofabitch! You bastard!"

Yeah, he could deal with the names, had for centuries. One more person wouldn't matter. And if he ever deserved the names, she would be the one he'd accept them from.

Ron held her back by her forearms as she tried to come at him. She probably wanted to tear him apart, reach in to his chest and rip his heart out. Yep, and she had every right to.

"So…the mighty Rick Delvante is defeated." Nonni stepped forward from behind the couple.

"Come to gloat, Old Lady?"

"No. I come to see you get filleted like the slippery eel you are. It's time a woman puts you in your place."

"Is that why you kidnapped her and brought her here? So you could watch her gut me?" Rick tsked. "I thought you'd have better things to do like brew up some 'bat-wing' surprise or turn men into toads."

"Bah! Men are toads—they don't need a woman to turn them into one." Nonni threw her hands up. "I not kidnap her. She comes to Dacia on her own, looking for her daughter."

Rick looked to Diane. Her eyes spit venom, hatred and the worst thing he could ever see…hurt. Closing his eyes he sighed.

"Everyone leave. I want to talk to Diane alone," he said calmly.

"Good. It is time." Nonni turned to leave. "Therron, come."

Standing his ground, Ron refused to move.

Rick had counted on him as a trusted sentry over the years, even made him leader of the Alpha Board. But strain on their differences of opinions at times in the changes of democracy over the centuries had caused their friendship to weaken. There was always respect on both parts, though. Their differences were nothing new. Ron was there protecting Diane. Rick could see the determination in his eyes and an awareness of a connection he should be jealous over. Diane was his wife—technically they never divorced. But twenty-five years of abandonment would make her single in the eyes of the court.

"I'm not going anywhere." Ron crossed his arms over his chest in defiance, glaring at Rick. The protective stance Ron took as his body overlapped Diane's gave Rick pause. He didn't want to think about what that might mean. And he didn't want to get into a pissing fight over territory. Diane was no longer his territory. He'd given her up a quarter century ago.

"Fine. Stay then. But I refuse to have two women nagging on me."

"I go." Nonni said. "But you hurt her…"

"He won't have the chance, Nonni," Ron spoke out with deadly calm. "It's all good."

By the time Nonni left, Diane looked as if she might pass out. She hadn't said a thing, moved a muscle or twitched. Was she in shock?

He stood up and walked around his desk to face her. "Are you all right?"

She nodded slightly.

"Can I get you some water?"

She nodded again.

Going to his water pitcher, he poured her a glass and handed it to her. Within seconds he was drenched and standing in the center of glass shards where she had thrown the glass to the floor.

Taking out his linen handkerchief, he mopped his face. "I'll let you have that one, Diane."

"How dare you!"

He cocked his head. "Depends on what the issue is—"

"Don't play cocky with me…Richard Reddlin, Rick Delvante…whoever the hell you are. "You knew Marilyn was safe. All this time you knew where she was, and yet you made me believe you had no idea." She walked around him, sizing him up for the kill. "You are a bastard!"

Ron took a step back. His eyes widened on Rick.

Rick sighed. "I can explain—"

"Can you? Can you explain telling the world you've been missing for twenty-five years? Can you tell your widow how you just decided to leave because she was pregnant with your child?"

"You were unfaithful. I'm Dacian for Christ's sake. We can't breed."

"Well then how in the hell do you want me to explain our daughter?"

Ron stepped forward, staring at Rick. "For the love of the gods! Marilyn is your daughter?" He thought for a moment. "This all is starting to make sense now—"

"Ron…don't," Rick warned in a pleading tone.

"She's part Dacian. That's why she can shift into a wolf!"

"What?" Diane gasped.

"When we met her, she was dealing with the change. Kurren and I noticed she was in heat."

"Ron, stop…you don't understand…"

"She is one of us because…" Ron sat down on the nearby leather sofa, shaking his head, "…because you are the chosen prophet, the one chosen by the gods to produce the heir to Dacia. That's why Nonni sent her the medallion."

"Wait! Marilyn has the medallion? Which half?"

"The head of the wolf…"

"Does Aiden know she has it?"

"I don't know, why?" Ron asked.

"Because if he does all hell is about to break loose, and Marilyn is right in the thick of it."

Diane stood toe to toe with him. He towered over her by nearly a foot, but he knew she could take a man down in a heartbeat. "I don't know what is going on but if our daughter is in trouble, you've got some major explaining to do, and you better tell me everything or so help me God I
will
have your testicles on a silver platter!"

Chapter Eighteen

Nonni told her and Kurren to wait here. But Marilyn didn't know for how long. As spacious as the log house was, it wasn't enough and claustrophobia settled in. She knew she needed to run but why?

Usually there was a reason. Well, it could be because they had yet to hear from Draylon. She'd checked with Ren every fifteen minutes to see if anyone had heard about his whereabouts. He'd tried to calm her down, saying it wasn't unusual for them to go their separate ways after a raid, especially with Dacia involved. It wasn't good for all involved to come back to their native origin at the same time. They usually dissipated and regrouped a few days later.

Still, something didn't sit right. Her nerves were on edge. Just because she'd found her mother didn't mean things were back to normal. Draylon could take care of himself, after all, he'd taken care of her, rescued her from all the evil things that had happened to her in the past month, two months, weeks…hell, however long they'd known each other. These rips in time were screwing with her too much to know what day it was much less month.

"Why don't you go lie down?" Ren suggested. "You look exhausted. You've been through the wringer and it won't do anyone any good if you pass out."

He was right. She'd been on overload for so long she couldn't remember when she'd had a good sleep. "You'll wake me up the minute you hear anything about Draylon?"

"Yes. Now go—get some sleep. You'll be safe here."

"Thanks Ren…for everything."

"No sweat, sweetheart." He winked.

If she ever had a brother, Ren would be it. He was protective and sometimes a pain in the ass, but she liked him anyway. As handsome as the brothers were, she didn't feel the attraction she had with Draylon. Her thoughts turned to him, and she started to worry all over again.

#

Sleep eluded her, but her mind drifted in and out of consciousness. Prior dreams mixed in with her recent reality, making for a hodge-podge of weird emotions and new ideas. She wondered if Doc Johnston might have anything to sort out her thought patterns.

Marilyn kicked off her covers finding the material overwhelming, burdensome and frustrating. She lay there looking up at the dark ceiling, willing her body to relax. But it was more than a muscular thing, her heart beat felt all wrong, skipping beats and racing out of control. Stress and anxiety had to be getting the best of her. She needed to run.

Marilyn
.

The simple word echoed in her brain. Had someone called her?

Marilyn…are you…are you safe?

Draylon? Draylon, where are you?
she called out in her head.

Not sure. It's dark and small…I can't see anything. Are you okay? Does Ren have you? Did he get you to Rick's?

I'm fine.
She focused on him, where he might be. She hadn't realized she could do this, but the dream she'd had that night at Mike's house proved they did have a mental connection of sorts, when either one was open to it…or too weak to block…

He was weak. She could feel pain, his pain. His body lay on a hard, cold ground but closed in, tightly closed in. She inhaled only to find her ribs ache with each breath she took. It was his breaths she felt, his ribs aching. But his mind wasn't functioning. It was drowsy, cloudy and had trouble comprehending function. He moved only to have pain shoot through her hip and thigh—was his leg broken? Why wasn't he healing?

Draylon? Try to show me your last memories? What do you remember?

No! You need to stay safe. Stay with Rick…he'll protect you and keep you safe.

Damn it! Listen to me, I'm fine. Let me send help. I need to know where you might be.

No. It's not worth it. Besides, I think I'm being used as bait. Aiden wants you…he wants to know why you are so special. I know why you are special—because you are one hell of a woman, Marilyn. If I could, I would love you forever.

I'm holding you to that, Draylon.
She could feel her eyes misting. But the longer she talked to him the more she could see into his psyche. There were details of images in his memory she studied as she mentally talked with him, keeping him alive.
You
can
love me forever
.