Matefinder (15 page)

                I looked down at the deep blue silk dress
that clung to my petite figure. My hair was a spill of curls that were expertly
pinned all over my head and cascaded over my left shoulder. My lips were
stained red with lipstick and I wore heavy eye makeup. Diya had made me over
and I liked what she had done. Most of the old Mount Hood pack was in route to
Sadie’s wedding, while the new Portland members stayed back to defend our territory.
Kai was driving his family and me to Seattle. He kept giving me side glances in
the car. I smiled. He cleaned up well. His wild hair was slicked back and he
wore a grey silk suit with a bright blue shirt.

                ‘You look amazing
,’ I sent to him.

                He gave a soft growl. ‘
Amazing doesn’t
begin to cover how you look, my dear
.
That red lipstick is driving me
crazy.’

                I smiled and puckered my lips.

                Sadie’s wedding was in a rose garden at one
of the pack members’ house. It was a full moon and the sun had just set. The
aisle was lined with white flower petals and tea lights. It felt magical. A man
stood at the altar with a large Native American headdress and he was holding a
dagger encrusted with rubies.

                I took a deep breath and took in his scent.
He wasn’t a werewolf or a witch but he didn’t smell human. Kai chuckled beside
me.

                “Trying to figure out what he is?”

                I nodded.

                “Shamans are their own species. They are
closest to spirit and some of them are shape shifters, so they know of our
kind. They have been performing our mating ceremonies since I can remember.”

                I looked closer at the man. He could have
been forty or seventy it was hard to tell. He had a tattoo of a jaguar on his
arm, and a sharpened bone hung from a thread on his neck. His wrists were
wrapped in leather cuffs and adorned with turquoise.

                Kai leaned in and whispered. “Legend says
that the Shamans hold the power of our fertility. Long ago, any female werewolf
could give birth to pups. It didn’t matter if she was mated or not. But then
the werewolves did something to anger the Natives and the Natives made all of
the female werewolves infertile. Unless they were mated and blessed by the
Great Spirit in a ceremony, they couldn’t reproduce.”

                Chills ran up and down my arms. Just then,
the Shaman looked at me. I locked eyes with him and everything around me froze.
Kai was stuck leaning into my ear and all of the seated wolves were frozen. It
was like time had stopped. What the hell was going on? I felt my heart rate
pick up. The Shaman came walking towards me. I put myself in a fighting stance,
unsure of what was happening. I didn’t like that my pack was helpless if
someone were to attack. I was about to change into my wolf when the Shaman
spoke.

                “I come in peace, little sister,” the Shaman
said to me with his hand raised.

                “Did you do this?” I gestured around.

                He nodded. “I have a message for you, sister.
My name is Nahuel. Spirit has blessed you with a great purpose. My ancestors
have cursed the werewolves for a long time. Werewolves were greedy hunters and
didn’t share their meat. They became territorial and didn’t share their land. They
reproduced quickly and were wasteful like the humans. We did not foresee that
our curse would reduce the population of the werewolves so quickly. We only
wanted to teach them a lesson, to respect Mother Earth and all of her
inhabitants. Now, the werewolves are on the brink of extinction and the balance
is being threatened.”

                My mouth hung open at his admission to
cursing our kind and reducing our population. He went on.

                “Vampires are a threat to humans and werewolves
protect humans. Witches are neutral to all species. If everyone serves their
purpose, then there is balance. But there is an alarming amount of vampires in
relation to the amount of werewolves. If the vampires chose to attack, they
could wipe out the werewolves and eventually the human race. This cannot
happen. I perform mating ceremonies to pay a debt to the werewolves because the
curse my people laid on them cannot be undone. But I perform them all too
little, your presence here will change that. As the Matefinder you will bring
together many mated pairings, with Spirits help.”

                He knows what I am? I was breathing deeply now.
I think I’m having a panic attack
, I thought. I don’t know what made me
think of Isabelle and Tristan but I blurted out, “Our pack member Isabelle is
married to a human and they are in love. They have human children and are
happy. How can she have a mate waiting out there for her? It doesn’t seem
right. I don’t understand how mated pairs are brought together, so how can I be
a Matefinder?”

                The man nodded kindly, seeming unperturbed by
my random thoughts. “Nothing seems right on this side of the veil. In the
spirit world, it makes more sense. You have many loves in your lifetime whether
you are human, vampire, witch or werewolf. People you have chosen to share your
energy with, people who lift your spirit. But then, there are soul mates. Soul
mates choose to spend the most time together in a lifetime. They challenge each
other, support one another, and grow together. It’s the hardest and most
rewarding pairing.” He glanced at Kai and smiled. “Your pack mate Isabelle will
share a good life with Tristan but if Spirit allows, she will also share her
life with her mate. As a werewolf, you are divided, your human half and your
wolf half. Isabelle’s human half loves Tristan and her wolf half respects him.
But when you meet your mate, both halves love that person. You become one.”

                That made sense to me. I felt settled
thinking of it that way. I nodded.

                “So that’s the message you have for me? My
race is dying and vampires could take over, so I was sent here to find mates?
Well, I have only found three mates in about two weeks, so it might take a
couple of decades to find enough to grow my race.” It felt a little ridiculous
saying it like that. I hadn’t meant for it to sound so sarcastic but it did.

                “No, little sister. My message for you is
that, in the near future, Spirit is going to download you with hundreds of mate
couplings at once. It will be scary and somewhat debilitating. After this
information gets out, everyone will know who you are and all of the packs will
have benefitted from your gift, so they will vow to protect you. You are to
come out to your kind. It’s the only way to ensure you are safe. Your mother
hid from her people and died a young woman. If you expose yourself at the right
time, to as many of your kind as you can, then you will ensure your safety. You
will unite your people with one common goal. As pups start being born and
children’s laughter is heard among the packs, they will know it is so because
of you. So when the vampires come for you, let every wolf fight in your honor.”
His face took on a menacing look. The hairs on my arms were standing.

                I swallowed hard. “Why would the vampires
come for me?” Hundreds of mate pairings at once? Download? Like I was a
computer? My head was spinning.

                He looked down at his dagger and then up at
the moon. “Because of the balance. You have the gift of finding mates for your
kind. But you also have the gift of giving fertility to female vampires. It’s
in your blood. Literally. If a female vampire drinks your blood, she could mate
with a male vampire and have a vampire child.” He sighed, resigned.

                I stumbled over Kai’s frozen body and began
panting on the grass.

                “And they know this? The vampires?” I
shuddered. The thought of small children acting like those deadly vampires in
the woods made me sick. The Shaman helped me stand.

                “Their queen knows and she will stop at
nothing to make you her blood slave. Good luck, Aurora. Spirit has equipped you
with all that you need to fight for the Light but there is also Darkness inside
of you. You must embrace all of your powers to become who you truly are.”

                I stared into his seemingly endless eyes and
saw something flicker and an image take shape. I saw a flash of an image of
Sylvia putting her hands on my head and mist pouring out of my body. I also saw
the image of my father putting a cigarette out on the palm of my hand when I
was 9. I shuttered. Maybe there was Darkness inside of me. Thinking of the
abuse I endured ignited a ball of rage inside of me.

                “I can’t hold time much longer,” he told me.
He pulled a black apache tear from his satchel. “If you need my council, just
bury this in the earth. I am here as your guide and I owe a debt to your
people.” He nodded and walked up to the front.

                I sat down in shock just as the people
started moving and talking again. They all looked around confused and took in a
deep breath. Kai grabbed my arm. “You smell like magic.”

                I sighed. “I will tell you later. This is
Sadie’s day.”

                Kai and some of the more dominant wolves
looked at the Shaman with suspicion but didn’t confront him. Something told me
they knew that wouldn’t be a good idea. If he could stop time, who knew what
else he was capable of?

                I zoned out as the music played and people
began walking the aisle. The balance. Werewolves were here to protect humans?
It seemed right. The thought of the human race or the werewolf race going
extinct sent chills down my spine. A world run by vampire and human blood
slaves was a horrible thought. Vampire children was an even more horrible
thought. So I was sent here to restore the balance between the different
species? I looked at Kai. Life just got way more complicated.

                The music changed and I turned my head. Sadie
had begun her walk down the aisle and looked breathtaking. Her hair was pulled
back to show her strong face. She had light make up on to showcase her natural
beauty. A thin white silk dress clung to her muscular body. She held Kai’s gaze
for a few seconds as she walked by and my heart spiked with jealousy. Kai
pulled my hand on top of his and stroked my palm with his thumb. I took a deep
breath. ‘
You’re Mine,’
Kai told me, ‘
And I am yours.’

                I relaxed into the chair. Sadie met Brett at
the end of the altar. Nahuel began fanning smoke around the pair as they held
hands facing each other. Nahuel then tied a blue silk ribbon to Sadie’s left
wrist. “This represents your human half.” He did the same on Brett’s wrist.
Then he tied a white silk ribbon to both of their right wrists. “This
represents your wolf.” Just then, both of their eyes shown yellow.

                “Werewolves are courageous,
strong, loyal, and successful at hunting. Werewolves are in fact so loyal that
they mate for life. If lucky enough to find their mate, it will be the only one
they ever have.” Nahuel projected his voice to the crowd.

                Kai laced his fingers through
mine.

                “You come to me as two parts in
one body, human and wolf. You come as two souls with one purpose. To be mated
for life. To start a family if you choose.”

                Nahuel’s face took on a relaxed
expression as his eyes clouded over turning white. “This pairing is blessed by
Spirit.” As Sadie and Brett held hands, Nahuel began to braid the four strings
together. “I join your souls as one. May you have no secrets from one another.
I join your souls as one. May you protect one another until death. I join your
souls as one. May you respect each other as equals, regardless of pack rank. I
join your souls as one. May fertility be bestowed upon your family. I join your
souls as one. May you love each other for the rest of your long, long lives. It
is done, so be it.” The braid was complete and the entire altar was coated in
fine mist. Sadie and Brett stared into each other’s eyes and silent tears began
to fall on their cheeks.

                It was a beautiful moment to
witness.

                Kai leaned in to whisper in my
ear. “They say during the mating ceremony that Spirit shows you everything
about your mate, so there are no secrets. Your past, your faults, your
strengths. It is said to bring the couple even closer together and is what
bonds them for life. It’s ten times what you felt when you first looked at me
as a wolf.”

                A tear sprung up in my eye. It
was beautiful. I remembered what I was shown when I first realized Kai was my
mate. To see more, I couldn’t imagine. What Nahuel had said and the tears
falling down Sadie’s cheeks. It was all so beautiful. I turned and looked into Kai’s
eyes. ‘
I love you
.’ Something else passed between us in that look and he
smiled so big that all of his teeth showed.

                The entire ride home consisted of
Kai and me arguing in my head. I think his mother knew what was going on
because I could see her staring at us in the rear view mirror.

                Kai was pestering me to tell him
more about why he smelled magic on me and suspected the Shaman of something. I
kept telling him we would talk about it when we got home and I didn’t want to
give him details in front of his family.