The Lunam Ceremony (Book One) (13 page)

I pound on the guesthouse door. It’s late, but I know she’s awake. She opens the door in a blue silk robe I’ve never seen before. She steps to the side and lets me in without a word.

I launch right in. “Did you know he had a baby before Lunam? Did you know about Leah? Is that why you left him?”

Layla sits on the loveseat and covers her legs with her robe. “Kalysia, sit.” I cross my arms over my chest and remain standing. She sighs and says, “I knew about his son. He didn’t keep it a secret. But the life you have before Lunam is irrelevant to the person you become after.”

“So, you’re telling me he isn’t a womanizing pig with a gang of bastard children running loose in the pack?”

“No!” Layla looks towards the hall. “Keep your voice down. It wasn’t like that. Your father is one of the last pureblood Sierra males. There is a lot of pressure put on males to breed. It’s the only way to insure bloodlines. Not all of his choices were his own. He did what was right for the pack.”

I sit down with a thud. I imagine my father at fifteen being forced to impregnate some poor girl. “Who was the girl?”

“She was an older unmatched female.”

I feel vomit creep into my throat. I have to get Cassie out of her pack before something like this happens to her. “Do things like this happen a lot?”

“Yes. But we can change all of that. You can. Some of the traditions are outdated.” She stumbles on the word tradition. “With you leading Sierra and me on the council, we can pull the pack into the twenty-first century. Change it for the better.” She places her hand on mine.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the council?”

Layla rubs my back. “If I told you, it would have swayed your decision. I wanted you to work off of instinct, to use your gut. If you didn’t want to go to Lunam, we wouldn’t have gone. But you never fought me on it, Kalysia. Think about it.”

For all the bitching I did about Lunam, I never stopped her. If she had told me about my father, I would have used my head and not my instincts. I hear rustling in the bedroom and remember Monte is here. “You forgive him?” I nod my head towards the bedroom.

“It’s complicated and it’s late.” Layla stands. “We can have this conversation another time, when it’s just us.” She offers me her hand. “I love you, Kalysia.”

I hug my mom and tell her I love her, too.

“Will you be here in the morning when I leave?” I ask her as I reach the door.

“Of course, we’ll see you off then head back to Jessie’s.”

We
she says, meaning her and Monte. They are a “we” now.

I wrap my arms around myself and hurry back to the main house. The air is moist and freezing cold. Fog fills the night sky; I can’t even see the moon. Something catches my eye on the second floor. Dillan is watching me on the balcony. His protective manner is something I have to get used to. First Layla and now Dillan. I guess I should be happy to have two people who care about me. I could be in Cassie’s shoes right now. Alone.

I open the door to his room. He’s moved from the balcony and is sprawled across the bed, wearing only a pair of boxers. I kick off my shoes and slide under the covers to warm my feet.

“Is everything ok?” He rubs my arm. I tell him I’m fine, just tired. “I have news. Do you want to hear it now or tomorrow morning?” He slides under the covers with me and turns off the lamp beside the bed.

I don’t want to talk anymore. I cozy up in his arms and feel my eyes beginning to shut.

“It’s good news, you’ll want to hear this.”

“Ok, but I can’t take any more drama tonight.”

“My father said he will talk to Conall and request Cassie’s transfer.”

Dillan doesn’t finish whatever he is about to say next because I pounce on him. “Thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me, Dillan.” I kiss his cheeks, his eyes, and then his mouth.

He grabs my hips and flips me onto my back. “My life goal is to make you happy, Kalysia. I’m going to give you everything you’ve ever wanted, and I’m going to love you more than any woman has ever been loved.”

“Promise?” I whisper.

Dillan presses his lips softly to mine then pulls back with a wicked smile. “You bet your ass.”

The morning sun fights to make an appearance through the lingering patches of fog. We stand outside saying our goodbyes. Dillan’s truck is packed and ready to go. Layla hands me a cell phone and tells me it’s programmed with her new cell number. I promise to call her when we get there, wherever
there
is. I even let Monte give me a hug and I apologize. He tells me to forget it and shoves a bulky envelope in my hand. “What’s this?” I open the flap and see a stack of money inside. Monte takes the envelope and shoves it in my backpack.

“It’s an emergency fund. It’s from both of us.” He motions to Layla. She smiles and points at Monte behind his back. The pack will provide food, housing, even clothes, but I gladly take Monte’s money. I don’t need it, but someone else I know might.

Dillan’s father is in a meeting and doesn’t see us off, but Adel does. She hands me a cooler with sandwiches and snacks. It’s only a two-hour drive northeast, but we have enough food to last two days.

A half hour into the drive, Dillan asks for a sandwich. I pull one from the cooler and unwrap it. A delicious smell fills the truck. It’s the same luscious meat we had for dinner. “Did your mother make this?” I hand Dillan the sandwich and then unwrap one for myself.

“Yeah, she’s sort of a foodie.” Dillan takes a huge bite while maneuvering around a delivery truck. “Food is really important to her,” he says hesitantly.

“How so?” I bite into the soft roll and juice from the meat slides down the side of my face. I wipe it with my arm and search for a napkin in the cooler.

“My mother’s family were purist. They believed in living off the land, no contact with the outside world. Food was scarce when she was growing up.”

“So, she wasn’t part of the Tuluka branch?”

“She was, but her parents chose wolf as their dominant form. When she was born they were forced to live as human, but refused to live in the pack. They lived off the grid until she was seven. When the elders found her she was severely malnourished. She barely spoke. Othello said it was the worst case of neglect the elders had ever seen. Othello’s mother worked as a nanny, he was there the day she was brought in. Othello and Adel were raised together, of course he didn’t go to Lunam being a beta, but I think he really cared about my mom. That’s why he worked for my father.”

Dillan says both packs live as human and rarely ever spend time in wolf form. “Lunam was the first time I’d ever seen anyone phase.”

“You’ve never seen your parents as wolf?” I ask him.

“No. No way, my father would never phase in front of me.” Dillan shivers at the idea. Like he’s picturing his father naked or something. “If pack members are phasing, it’s something they do in private.” His eyebrow raises and he turns to look at me. “Have you seen Layla?”

I always thought phasing was the best thing about our kind. It’s disheartening to hear that others don’t see it the same way. “Yes. And she was beautiful.”

“Wow.” Dillan turns back to the road. “You were beautiful. I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

“You remember what I look like?” I’m jealous, because I can’t recall my time as wolf.

“I phased back before you and I watched you explore the forest. You were so graceful, so at peace. Then you saw me and I thought for a second you might rip my throat out. Lucky for me you phased and jumped into my arms. I knew in that moment that I would love you forever.”

I don’t say anything. Nothing I say will compare to the words Dillan just gifted to me. I kiss his hand and offer him a bottle of water.

He smiles at my attentiveness. “Thanks, babe.” He sucks down the entire bottle and tosses the empty container on the floor of the truck. “Sorry if my mom forced food down your throat. She’s gotten better over the years, but she’s still scarred.”

“I just thought she loved to cook.” I take another bite of my sandwich then wrap it back up. “Are there many purists left?” I think about Sophie Ann and wonder if she would be willing to starve for her ideals.

Dillan says most of the packs have acclimated to normal society, but there are a few he’s heard of up north, near the California-Oregon border. “My father is the closest thing to a purist you’ll find now. He’s fixated on restoring the bloodlines. Pureblood numbers are so low that in a few years we’ll all be too close in relation to breed. As crazy as our traditions are, we draw the line at brothers and sisters reproducing.”

“Good to know.” I shudder at the thought. I think about my mother and what she said about us changing pack traditions. “Maybe this is the natural evolution of our kind. This was bound to happen sooner or later, right?”

“Not if my father can help it. We all have some pureblood in us. We all came from the same wolves, it’s just that the line gets diluted. For instance, a pureblood has a child with a beta. That child goes to Lunam and matches with another pureblood. Their child is just alpha because of the diluted beta blood. My father wants to change that. He says after three generations; the line should be considered pure.”

“As long as the alpha keeps matching with purebloods?”

“Yes, exactly. You catch on fast.” Dillan pats my leg. I feel like socking him in the side of the head.

“How do they know if a line has been diluted? Who keeps track?”

“When a child is born it should have the characteristics of the father.”

I look at Dillan’s profile. His strong jawline, blue-gray eyes, dark hair, and tan skin. We look a lot alike. Who is to say the baby won’t look like me? “Children born with diluted bloodlines don’t look like us?”

“They have small imperfections. Lighter hair, darker eyes, paler skin. It depends on the father. Purebloods have a mark on the back of the neck, at the base of the hairline.”

My hand goes to the back of my head.

“It’s there. Your hair covers it. You can see mine.” Dillan turns slightly so I can see the back of his head. A small, perfectly round mark sits at the base of his skull. I run my fingers over it as he turns back to face the road. It’s completely flush to his skin, like a freckle. “Gaia marked her original pack. She was afraid she wouldn’t recognize them among the other wolves. Anyone who carries the blood of the first fifteen has the mark and is considered pure.”

“Our child…” I trail off, unable to finish the thought. I can’t even imagine having a baby.

Dillan turns to me and smiles. “Yes,” he says and gently runs his hand down the side of my face. “Our kid is going to be the best leader this pack has ever seen.”

I hate that his or her future is already decided. I sigh and look out the window. I don’t want to bring a child into a pack that forces boys to breed with women. One that places value on who your partner is or whether you have a mark on your neck. Any child of mine is going to have a choice in life.

Dillan continues talking about blood tests and how it will prove that the Shasta pack is tainted. “There are rumors that Shasta has been experimenting with half-breeds for years.” I recall the conversation I overheard between Layla and Conall. He wanted to invite half-breeds to Lunam. “Everyone knows the entire Shasta pack is tainted. Conall told my father that after two generations, the human blood is expelled from the bloodline. He and my father argue about it all the time.”

Dillan recalls a time when Conall, Monte, and Lowell were arguing over bloodlines and Conall wanted to prove that a half-breed was just as strong as a pureblood. They were camping somewhere near Shasta territory; it was an annual father-son trip.

“Conall called this boy over to our table. He was taller than me by a few inches. He had this scar across his eyebrow, so I knew he was human. Conall told the boy he had to arm wrestle me. The kid looked like he was going to shit his pants. My father and Monte started cracking up. When they realized Conall was serious, they pulled me to the side and basically told me I would let the entire pack down if I lost. We walked back to the table and I sat across from the boy. My heart was beating out of my chest as they counted us down. I got the first jump on him. I was winning, but the boy was strong. Just when I thought I had him pinned, my arm started to give out. I lost my balance, and the little waver gave him the upper hand. Sweat was pouring down our faces; it was the longest arm wrestle I’ve ever been in. I remember looking into his eyes and seeing a bead of sweat drip off the end of his nose. I watched it land on top of my hand as he forced my arm down. Then I heard my father’s voice. He said, ‘Don’t let us down; don’t let your pack down!’ Then all of a sudden my arm started moving in the opposite direction. The boy was pulling my hand on top of his. Before I knew what was happening, I was pinning him. My father and Monte lifted me on their shoulders and danced around the table. The boy shook my hand and just walked away. He didn’t care that he lost.”