Origins (5 page)

Well, that was a first—a speechless Joy.

“What my mate is trying to say is how did you know?”

“She smells of you, brother.”

“Kir, that is not possible as we have not mated. There was no ritual.”

“Who told you there must be a ritual? Maybe for the newer shifters, but not you. When was the last time you spoke to the Ancients?”

“It has not been that long. I am in constant contact with them. They told me of the mating ritual and I passed it down through the generations.”

“Yes, but those of us from
Africa
are special. You should know this, Zar.”

“Know what?” Zareb was exasperated.

“All you have to do is bite your mate on the throat during sex and you are mated.”

“How is this possible?”

“The magic from here is strong. This country is old—the magic even older. It weakened when it was taken overseas, and the younger generations need more powerful magic. From what I sense here, Joy is already full of much magic. When the two of you came together the pull to mate must have been strong.”

Zareb sat down hard on the ground.

“I am so sorry, Joy, I should have known. It is always my fault.” Zareb rested his head in his palms. He shoulders slumped.

“Stop it right fucking there. I wanted what happened. No one forced me.” Joy squeezed his shoulder. He was so out of it he had not heard her approach. That was unsafe, there was too much danger for him to be off his game.

“But I should have—”

“You’re not a God. You don’t know everything. This happened, so what? It was meant to be. Now let’s get this show on the road. I want out of this place before more freaky shit goes down.”

“There is much passion in this one.” Kir grinned at him.

“Yes, there is.” Zareb stared at his new mate with hope that he thought he lost long gone.

With a few words, Joy had put the fire out and got her bags packed.

“Kir?” Joy asked.

“Yes, Joy.”

“How did you know where to find us?”

That had worried Zareb a little as well, but he trusted his old tribe mate. They had been through so much together.

“The Ancients told me you might need my help today and pointed me in this direction. So here I am, at your disposal.”

“They just have their mitts in everything, don’t they? I don’t think I like that, not one little bit.”

Kir threw his head back and laughed. Zareb smiled. His peace was coming back. Joy was right, this was for the best and meant to be. He turned to Kir and felt tension through his body, something pulled him into an old memory making him rush back in time. Like the Ancients needed him to see these thoughts of his past.

* * * *

“They are gone and it is my fault, Kir. Dji has turned evil and the tribe has been destroyed. What do we do now?”

“You do what you were born to do—protect. Go after Djimon and bring him back to the fold and make this right.”

Zareb gazed around the bloody mess. This was his doing. Everyone was dead because of some silly trinket in the jungle that had sung to him.

“I have no way to know where he went.”

“We will guide you, my son.”

“Who is that?”

“What are you talking about, Zareb?”

“You did not hear the voice?” Zareb stared unbelievingly at Kir. He had to have heard it.

“No, I did not.”

“Someone told me they would guide me.”

“You have been truly blessed. The Ancients are with you now. Believe and things will be all right.” Kir squeezed his shoulder and grinned.

“How blessed could I truly be? Everyone is dead and those who are not have gone away with Dji. You and I both know that Dji was the better guardian. No purer soul could be found.”

“Maybe that is why evil was able to take over. We will not know until you bring him home. Go. Take what you need. I will stay here and await your return.”

“You are a true friend. You should have been guardian with Dji. If you were, none of this would have happened.”

“You do not know that for sure. Our path was set in motion before we were born. We are all taught this.”

“I know in my head that this is the truth, but my heart is not so sure.”

“Go. Let the Ancients guide your way.”

* * * *

So much time had passed, but Kir was true to his word. Here, now, when Zareb needed him. The Ancients must be trying to tell him to trust his old friend. Zareb had stayed away from
Africa
, not wanting to come home until he had Dji with him and now he had even messed that up.

“Did you ever find Dji?”

“Yes. It should ease your mind to know that the evil that infected Dji was a spirit from the Vessel. Dji was trapped in his own body. We brought him home, but he was taken from me yesterday. We cannot go search for him until we destroy the Vessel, but we must hurry. Once the kidnappers figure out that we banished the evil soul and only Dji remains, they could kill him and come after us. We will not allow them to get their hands on the Vessel. No one else will be possessed. Not on my watch.”

Zareb finally stood, ferreted the Vessel out of its hiding place and led the way to the path that would get them to their burial spot. He just hoped he wouldn’t need Dji there with him to destroy the thing. If so, he’d made another error.

“No more self-doubt, my mate. I want this finished. We have to find the others.”

Zareb felt the ward being released and realised the danger was all around them. Not only had the wards kept them safe, but, as long as the evil minions waiting for them in the forest hadn’t touched it, it kept him from sensing they were out there waiting.

“Zareb!” Joy shouted from his left.

Her form shimmered and she changed into her panther self, but she didn’t have the necessary control to halt the shift. She tore after two of the men that surrounded their camp and brought them down. She snapped their necks in her jaw and looked around her for the next victim.

Zareb couldn’t allow her to kill more of them. They needed at least one alive to question and
 
he did not want that on Joy conscience. A spear whizzed by his head. He ducked just in time, still clutching the satchel. He couldn’t let on that he had the Vessel. A hiss came from Joy’s direction. She charged and the man beside him went down.

“Joy. Do not kill this one. Shift back.” Zareb forced power into his words.

Kir rushed to his side, his own spear at the ready, just before he collapsed.

“No!” Zareb lost control. His power flooded his body.

He dropped the bag and slapped his hand down on the ground. It quaked with his wrath. The men stumbled and fell all over themselves, trying to escape. Joy had shifted back and he withdrew his power, not wanting to hurt her.

They both went to Kir. The man Joy had spared was long gone, but Zareb couldn’t worry about that right now.

“Is he—”

“I am not sure, my siel.” Zareb knelt beside his old friend.

He might not have seen Baakir in centuries, but that didn’t mean he felt the pain of his injuries any less. Just one more thing to add to the growing list of wrongs. Zareb knew the group who had taken Ive and Dji would still be lurking around, hedging their bets. Who knew if they’d found out Dmitri was no more.

“He has a pulse.”

“Yes, but there are no good medical facilities anywhere nearby. It has been so long that I do not even know if there is a local shaman around to help heal him.”

“Give me your hand, Zareb.”

He looked at Joy and wondered what she was about. He reached for her, trusting in her as she had in him. Joy entwined their fingers and placed them over the seeping wound in Kir’s side and Zareb opened his powers to Joy. It felt different from in the past. Their souls merged. Peace, home—everything.

This time Zareb let Joy take control of their combined forces. He had no healing knowledge and was out of his depth. The skin under his hand began to warm, his flesh tingling.

By letting Joy take the lead, he was able to keep watch and make sure none of the men who attacked circled back, they had to be the ones who had Dji. Zareb had to hope his friend and Ive were still okay. He knew they weren’t completely gone because he could sense their presence and they still had a day, maybe two, before they got to the site where they would destroy the Vessel.

“There, I’ve done all I can.” Joy slumped down.

“We still have a couple of days until we reach our destination. We should stay here one more night. I cannot leave Kir here and I do not think I could carry him far.”

“I agree, we should stay.”

“Not”—Kir coughed—“on my account.”

“You live.” Zareb closed his eyes. Maybe one more death would not be his to accept. The bloodshed needed to end.

“You should have some water and a little food. The healing took a lot out of all of us and we need to be on top of our game. They’ll be back and both you and Zareb know that, but this time we’ll be prepared and kick their asses all over the jungle.”

They got Kir as comfortable as they could, giving him some of their precious water and a protein bar. Zareb just hoped this trip was not doomed to failure. Nothing was going as it should, starting with the crash of their plane and the death of the pilot. He still did not know what had happened there. The plane had been fine when they’d left.

Joy had moved to the outskirts of the camp. Lost in thought, she didn’t hear him approach. He paused to watch her. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Not as long as he had breath in his body. She was his other half, part of his very soul, and he would die protecting her if necessary. For the first time he felt—whole. Like his place in the universe was finally being revealed to him.

“My siel, are you all right?” he asked quietly.

He’d startled her, but she pulled herself together.

“I’ve never killed before. But those assholes got what was coming to them. I refuse to feel bad. Refuse I tell you!” Her tears belied her statement.

“Oh, joyous one, do not cry. It breaks me in two seeing you like this.”

“I value my ability to control what happens to me. My life has been ripped out from under me, starting with finding out who my father was—and not only was he magical, but I also have a brother. A real, honest-to-God blood relative who was kept from me. I would have never known about Max if the rat who donated his sperm hadn’t died when trying to take out the Masters pack. After that—nothing was the same, as you know. Now the woman I grew up with as a sister is mated to my blood brother, so I deal with it. Finding out I have a destined mate and will end up becoming a shifter, yeah, big fucking changes. But I deal. I figured I’d have time. But guess what, that was taken from me too. I’m ready for this to be over now.” Joy crawled over to him and snuggled into his lap.

“My liefie, my love, it will be okay. I promise.” Zareb rocked her back and forth, soothing her with his touch.

“I want to feel you inside me again, Zareb. To be one with you.” Joy nuzzled his neck.