The Lunam Ceremony (Book One) (39 page)

She searches my eyes for any hint of hope. She can’t mean, no it can’t be. “You mean, Jase?”

“Yes. We did some digging.” She flits to the desk and pulls out some papers. They look like birth records. “The Dunsmuir pack is a cesspool of half-breeds. I doubt Conall is even a pureblood. I know his daughter isn’t.” She shows me the Dunsmuir pack family tree. “Cassie’s mother, Stacy, was a second generation half-breed. Making Cassie a third generation. The pure blood overpowers the human blood, giving them the ability to phase.”

I look through the names on the sheet; my eyes suddenly stop when I see his. I point to Jase’s name. There is no father listed beside it. “Why is Jase on this list?”

“Shasta keeps record of all the births connected to their pack. I think they’ve known about the half-breeds phasing for years.” Layla looks at the page over my shoulder and points to a black dot beside Jase’s birthday. “For some reason they believe Jase didn’t phase.” She looks at me suspiciously. “But you’ve seen him turn.”

“Yes.” I don’t tell her why they think Jase didn’t phase. I don’t want to involve anyone else in this situation. I read the rest of the list until I find her name. Delilah is listed near the bottom. I realize the names are in order by birthday. No black dot appears by her yet. “Is there another list somewhere?” I don’t see Lacy’s name on the sheet.

“This is just the Shasta list. Sierras don’t keep track; they didn’t think they half-breeds mattered.” Layla returns to pacing. “They’ve lost years of records. There is no way we will ever find them all. That doesn’t matter now. We need to focus on who fathered Jase. If my research is correct, it has to be a pureblood. It looks like only half-breeds with links to purebloods phase.” Layla is babbling about who the candidates for Jase’s father could be, when there is a soft knock on the door. “I don’t want to interrupt, but the truck is in the neighbor’s driveway.” Monte’s head appears in the doorway; he avoids eye contact with either of us.

“Sorry.” I walk to the door and hand him my keys.

“Everything’s, uh, working out?” he asks.

“Yes, darling, everything’s is working out just fine.” Layla blows him a kiss and he leaves. When the door closes, she continues talking about Jase. “Another thing we learned about these half-breeds is that they phase on their eighteenth birthday, regardless of the moon.”

My mother confirms what I already know about them being more powerful than even an Altum alpha, because they don’t have to wait until the harvest moon to phase. “That means any child you have with this Jase character will be eligible to lead regardless of when you conceive.” She picks up a new stack of papers and shuffles through them. “We just have to convince the elder council that this is the future of our kind.” I can’t believe my mother is even contemplating me being with Jase. I can’t have her fighting to allow me to leave Dillan for Jase, when Jase doesn’t even want me.

“Mom, I have to tell you something that will change all of this.” I point to the papers on the desk.

“Are you ok? You look pale.” Layla puts down the papers and gives me her full attention.

“I can’t be with Jase.” I take a deep breath. “I have to go back to camp, back to Dillan.”

“Honey, why? I just told you he violated his partnership with you by only conceiving with Cassie. You can leave and be with Jase.”

Why does the idea of me and a half-breed appeal to her all of a sudden? Even if Jase’s father is a pureblood, he’s still tainted, by her own admission. “Why do you want me with Jase so badly?”

Layla looks shocked. She starts to backtrack a little. “I don’t want you
with
him. I want you to be happy.”

I raise an eyebrow at my fibbing mother. I know her too well. “What’s going on? I thought being with a half-breed would muddy our bloodline.”

“That’s what we thought, but it turns out Conall is right, the line does purify itself. This is how the Dunsmuir Shastas have kept their numbers so high. They figured out how to make an alpha with humans.”

All the Shasta alphas are real; they have the numbers to take over the pack. My hands are shaking, then my legs. My body convulses. I double over, ready to vomit all over a very expensive-looking throw rug.

“Kalysia!” Layla kneels beside me on the floor. She yells for Monte, and he arrives in half a second.

Monte asks if I’m hurt, sick, thirsty. Layla screams at him to do something, but there is nothing he can do. He can’t fix me. Nobody can. Layla and Monte help me to the sofa and lay me down. I feel stupid having them dote on me, but then again, they are my parents. Caring for me is their job. A job Monte was robbed of because Layla selfishly stole me away. I won’t do that to my child. He or she will grow up with the love of two parents.

“Do you need a doctor, honey?” Monte asks as leans over Layla, who remains by my side.

I finally find my voice. “Not yet.” I look at Layla’s worried eyes. “Not for at least nine months.” Realization seeps into Layla’s face. I can’t believe I’m about to say these two words. Something I didn’t think I would say for a long time. My mother smiles. She knows without having to hear it. I need to hear it. I need to say it. “I’m pregnant.”

When Monte leaves to get champagne, I drop the bomb on Layla.

“I thought it was Dillan’s, until you said Jase is a pureblood alpha,” I whisper. “I thought for sure it was Dillan’s. I think it’s Dillan’s.”

Layla paces in front of me, biting her thumbnail. She only does that when she’s plotting. “Why do you think it’s Dillan’s and not Jase’s?”

“Because Dillan is a pureblood.” I shrug. “And, we had sex the morning of the full moon. I wasn’t with Jase until the third night.”

Layla doesn’t stop pacing. “Was that the only time you were with Dillan?”

I tell her we were together near the end of the season. She says the odds are in Dillan’s favor. “We don’t even know if Jase can be the father. Just because he phases, doesn’t mean he can father a child with a pureblood.” I can tell by the look on her face that she doesn’t believe her statement. “When you go back to camp, tell Dillan you were here with me. Tell him I figured out you were pregnant. If I’m right about his feelings, this riff between you will disappear.” She strokes my hair.

“What about Jase?” I think about the look of horror on his face when he thought I was sick. He’d probably faint if he knew I was pregnant and there was a chance he was the father. “What if the baby…”

“If the baby is Jase’s, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Does she even realize she’s dealing with real people with real feelings? Not to mention a baby. My baby. She looks at the dread on my face and her eyes soften; she’s out of game mode. “You’re strong and independent, just the way I knew you would be. Despite the pickle we’re in now, I know you are going to be an amazing mother. That is all this baby will need.” She kisses my forehead and a tear drops onto my cheek. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

I go to bed feeling like I’ve royally screwed up. I don’t care how much praise Layla throws at me. I know what I’ve done is going to hurt a lot of people.

I wake in the morning to the smell of bacon. The guest bedroom, which Layla says she will convert to a nursery for the baby, is decked out with a plush queen bed and antique dressing table. It’s the kind of room I dreamt about having my entire life. I sit on a tiny cushioned stool to put on my shoes and admire the small pieces of art on the walls. They are a collection of miniature frames. When I look closer, I realize they are pictures of me. They’ve been converted to black and white. I remember Layla had a camera; she would take photos of me when I was little. She must have been sending them to Monte all these years.

When I finally locate the kitchen tucked into the back of the house, I find Rusty sitting at the breakfast bar drinking coffee.

“What are you doing here?”

“Hey, sis.” Rusty spins around on his stool and opens his arms.

I give him a hug then ask where Carrick is.

“Well, when Dad called last night and told me you were on your way here, I knew something was up. So, we went back to camp. I dropped off Carrick and the truck, then I drove down in the Mercedes.” Rusty hops off his stool and walks around the counter to pour me a cup of coffee. He seems to know his way around this kitchen. “Hey Layla, your bacon’s burnin’!” He flips on the fan above the stove.

“Does Monte know about, your um, life choice?” I leave the question hanging in the air.

“Of course. I told him when I was sixteen. We were driving back from the DMV after I got my license. He said I was free to do as I pleased and that he loved me no matter what.” Rusty places the mug on the counter with a bowl of sugar.

“What about breeding and bloodlines and all that.” I can’t believe Rusty was let off the hook that easily.

“My mother wasn’t a pureblood. My kid would have been alpha, but not with the same power you or Leah have. My bad genes worked to my advantage.” He smiles.

Layla comes running in from the back porch holding an arm-full of tomatoes. She drops them in the stainless steel sink and tends to the bacon. “Rusty, rinse those for me, please.”

Rusty clicks his heels and salutes my mom. “Yessir!” She whips him with the towel slung over her shoulder and removes the bacon from the pan. I can tell they’ve spent time together by the comfortable way they move around each other. I wonder how often Rusty has visited since Lunam? He never mentioned it before.

We eat breakfast on the sun porch, only there is no sun. I devour six strips of bacon and two slices of toast. The idea of eggs and tomatoes makes my stomach turn. Layla teases me about morning sickness and Rusty almost chokes.

“You’re pregnant?” He walks around the table and hugs me. “Congratulations, sis.”

I thank him and then Layla tells him not to mention anything to the pack.

“This is Kalysia’s news to tell.” She ruffles Rusty’s hair and kisses his cheek.

“I wouldn’t dare tell a soul.” Rusty raises an eyebrow at me. “I just want to be there when she tells him.” He doesn’t think this is going to be happy news either. “Who needs TV when you have my sister?” Rusty folds a piece of bacon in his mouth as Monte walks in and slaps the back of his head.

He’s right, I’m a walking soap opera. That polygamist love triangle thing I was trying to avoid just got real.

After breakfast Monte suggests we leave early to avoid traffic. Layla packs a nice care package for the road. She includes a couple of boxes of Leah’s favorite cookies and some fancy cheese Monte says she likes. He knows more about her than I thought. He obviously had a relationship with Rusty, and he has my pictures hung in his spare room. Monte did care about us, he still does. He is going to start a war with Lowell and Conall, for me.

“Monte is going to drive to Quincy tomorrow to meet with Jase.” Layla says he wants to make sure Jase doesn’t try anything cavalier and storm the camp looking for me. I assure her he won’t. He probably doesn’t even know I left.

“Monte will be discreet,” Layla adds. “We don’t want Lowell to start sniffing around up there.” Layla’s remark reminds me of the card I found.

“I think he’s already been there.” I pull out Othello’s card and hand it to her. Monte looks over her shoulder and makes a disturbed face.

“If that guy is poking around, then Lowell already knows something,” Monte points at the card.

“Do you know him?” I ask Monte.