Dawn's Destiny

Grant relaxed and shortly afterwards the rhythmic sound of light snoring buzzed in her ear. His chest was hard against her back. His arm draped heavily over the bend of her hip. His fingers flexed and tightened in a gentle grip around the blankets covering them. He nuzzled in closer, scraping his stubbled cheek across her neck. Shift lag set in and although she shouldn't be tired, her eyes fell shut. As much as she should hate it and hate him for all but kidnapping her, she had to admit being held felt damn good. The whole criminal thing aside, he was devastatingly attractive. He was perhaps the most reluctant, considerate thug she'd ever had the misfortune of meeting. Against her will, as much as she fought it, she too, sank into slumber. Feeling safe and secure, more protected than she ever had been and had any right to, with his arms wrapped tightly around her.

Chapter 23

Drew squeezed Tala's hand and led her to the bluffs. Dawn crept over the horizon, bathing the sprawling plane and the towering cliffs in a wash of glowing golden light. Too restless to sleep, minds racing with questions that there simply were no answers to. They decided to go for a walk and watch the sleepy world awake rather than return to the confines of his shadowy subterranean world. The forest flanking them chattered in a burst of life. Birds sang to greet the warm sun. Chipmunks and squirrels rustled leaves in the trees as they scampered through the branches. Deer picked through the edge of the tree line to sneak nibbles at the spring shoots of grass.

Down below in the valley, the town inhaled a deep sigh and shook the sleep from its eyes. Humans went about doing the things they do in preparation for the oncoming day. Time always seemed to slow to a crawl in these fragile moments between dawn and the full waking of the day. The air was cool and fresh. The grass wet with dew. The sky above glowed with streaks of pink and gold. "I love this time of day," Drew said, pulling Tala close to rest his chin on the top of her head.

"What about the sunlight?"

"Doesn't bother me anymore," he answered. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed her against his body. A happy and contented smile crept across his lips. No man should know the rapture of such peace and joy. Not so long ago, thoughts of death and loss spread through his soul like a cancer eating him from the inside out. Now, all he could think about was the life that he held in his arms. She'd rescued him from the brink. Gave him a reason beyond duty to go on. Nuzzling her hair, he sighed happily. He hadn't realized how lonely he had been.

Tala smiled in pure contentment. Drew was so happy. A different man than he'd been on the day they first met. She basked in his joy, adding it to hers, layer upon layer. Her wolf had never been so content either. Somehow, the man, the wolf, and she had melded together to become one harmonious unit. Separating any part would destroy the other interdependent pieces. She'd be no more able to function without this man than she could survive without her wolf. "Anytime that we're together is my favorite time of day."

"Agreed." Drew gently turned Tala to face him and rested his lips on her forehead. Tasting the salty-sweetness of her skin against his lips, he mouthed, "Love you." The sun warmed his back, chasing away the chill. It was spring, bordering on early summer, a time of blossoms and growing things. He longed for a way to bottle the feeling. Keep it forever and hold it close to him. Use it to sustain him through the long bleak winter ahead. Spring was fleeting, summer a fragile thing, autumn a blink of an eye, and far too soon winter would come again.

One question, one he hadn't had the courage to ask. Hung over his head like a dark cloud. Shadowing the completeness of his joy. The fight, seeing her broken body, so close to mortal death had sparked the question in his mind. And he had to ask. He needed an answer. He'd stay with her, no matter what her response. But, if he had the chance, to keep her at his side, to love her for a limitless amount of time, he would. "Tala." He traced the outline of her jaw with his finger and lifted her face. "Would you have chosen to become like me?"

"I've wondered how long it would take you to ask me that question," Tala answered. He asked with dread as if he hated the part of himself that was hunter and beast. And perhaps, in a way, he did. She'd changed. She could feel it inside of her. The beast prowled restlessly though her mind. Constantly searching. Endlessly hungered. Drew saved her life.

Grant had injured her badly. Maybe, that'd been his intent all along. But, she didn't think so. Tala saw the regret in his eyes when he landed the punch that dropped her to the ground, shattering her ribs. He hadn't meant to hurt her. Harm her, yes. But, he'd never planned on killing her. Her wolf could have healed most of the damage and kept her alive. But, her broken body hadn't had the strength to shift. Drew's blood had done what her wolf could not.

The human doctor, Thomas, had tried to keep her alive. But, even he was failing. She remembered the deftness of his hands as they worked on her and his desperate shouts as he ordered her to fight and to live. Drew thought he'd forced his gift on her. He hadn't. She hadn't breathed a word about her visit to the spirit world. The goddess's visit and the things she'd said were for Tala only. Would she choose? She had. And she'd chosen life, chosen him in all the wonder and mystery of everything he was. Drew's question was redundant to her. Riddled with guilt and fear.

"I don't know. Perhaps, I'm being selfish. Trying to keep you with me for as long as I can. My kind die, eventually," Drew said. Tala gently cupped his cheek. Her dainty fingers burned his skin. Her eyes held an expression he could not define. He saw so many things in the soft shades of brown and gold.

"Death won't keep us apart," Tala said. And it was true. She wasn't immortal. Certainly long lived, but not immortal. Her body would fade and give in to the ravages of time. He aged. But, it was so much slower. It was her wolf spirit that she spoke of. That misty, shadowy being inside of her was eternal. And even after she died a physical death, that part would have gone on.

Drew sighed and nodded. She'd summed it up. He stroked his fingers through her hair. Death wouldn't keep them apart. When her time came, he'd be useless. Nothing more than an empty shell. No good to anybody. And he'd ask his brothers to end it. They owed him that much after dozens of lifetimes of service. "When you cross the great river. I'll find a way to join you."

Tala met Drew's eyes, blazing dark with intensity. "No. You won't. I'm just as selfish as you are. I don't want us to be apart. Ever. I won't let go of you. I'd find my way back from the spirit world to be by your side."

Drew shuddered. He'd heard stories about the ones who refused the goddess's invitation to cross. Remaining as shadows. Clinging to loved ones and to a life that they could not live. Hollow, empty, souls without bodies. Ghosts. Never at rest, never knowing the peace of death. "No. That's not acceptable."

"Neither is your idea," Tala said. Those who tried to enter the spirit world before their time were condemned to wander. She saw them. Their bodiless, punished souls, waiting in nothing, until their natural time came to pass. Suffering decades of nothing, in his case, centuries of nothing.

Tala accepted him, even the parts he had yet to accept in himself. He'd given her his gift and she had given hers to him. Everyone who coupled had no idea of when their time would come. In theory, her life would be longer than it should be. Perhaps, extended by centuries. But, that didn't mean they had forever. Nobody had forever. And in splaying his broad hand across her flat belly he began to understand that there was only one true form of immortality. She hadn't directly answered his question. But, in so many ways, she had answered it best.

Tala stared down at Drew's fingers. His hand splayed across her belly. His skin a dark contrast to the pale pink t-shirt. The thought terrified her on so many levels. It was the reason she'd fled her fate and come here in the first place to seek out a new life for herself and the pack. Drew made her brave. He made her see beyond her fear and grasp onto hope. Twining their fingers, pressing them to her stomach, she leaned into him. He'd come so far since that first day. She'd come full circle, accepting so much about herself, about him, and about the world they shared.

Immortality was a fickle thing and so much a matter of perception. It was a fleeting thing. Something never meant to be. The one thing everyone struggled so desperately to cling to. And she held it, in the warmth of their intertwined fingers, in her grasp. She was his wife in every way that counted. Hers was not a role of duty, but one of love. Meeting his eyes, their hands grasped, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. They had their forever, however long it lasted.

Drew held Tala as tightly as he could. She was more of a woman of actions and less one of words. She showed him instead of telling him. A part of him still did not believe it was possible that a being like him could actually create life. He thought himself lucky, a very fortunate man, to have a human legacy left behind in John Mark and Dane, and so many of the brothers here. He'd loved and he'd lost. His wife. His brother. Children. Grandchildren. Everyone died. But, yet, they lived on and on and on generation after generation. And so would Tala and he. "Are you sure this is your path?"

"As long as we travel it together. I'm certain," Tala whispered.

"Together," Drew repeated liking the sound of it. Meshing his lips to hers in an urgent fevered kiss, he promised everything he was, both the good parts and the bad, to the uncertain future.

Chapter 24

Keene had the Guardians searching every dark corner of the territory searching for the wolf. The problem, the wolf's trail had suddenly ended at the edge of the lake. And there was no trace of it. "Keep looking," he barked.

What if the woman had been his Lori instead? Beaten and bloodied. Roark had injured, killed so many in his time. What if Lori had been one of them? Finding this one offender and bringing him to justice would ease the burden of guilt that accompanied Keene as a constant companion. For the most part, he'd moved on. Happy with his wife and his position in the Sons, he didn't dwell on the past often. But, this one thing, the beating of this tiny scrap of a woman and all the suffering he'd stood by and witnessed, inflicted on helpless women left him desperate to make amends for all he should have done and did not.

"Keene, they've been at this all night. They're frustrated, hungry, and tired," Carter huffed. He heard the disgruntled rumblings of the Guardians breaking the silence of the woods. The sunlight stung like a bitch. Before this life of service they'd volunteered for. Most of the Guardians had survived any way possible. Stalking the shadows and prowling the night, they'd scurried through the darker parts of the city. While it was true, daylight was an unavoidable part of their world. Carter could not see the point in chasing trails. The vague bending of twigs and undergrowth, and random prints that led them nowhere. The scent vanished at the water's edge. The woods on the other side were thick and they'd searched every inch of it, dutifully at it all night, helping Keene chase down his ghost.

There was a bank of cabins on the far side of the woods and a couple snuggled up together inside. And the scent was vaguely similar to the one Keene had them chasing. But, a vampire's nose was never wrong. And the male inside was not the wolf they were looking for. Dawn cut through the trees, chasing the Guardians into thicker cover where the coolness of the night's shadows had yet to dissolve. Carter glowered at Keene from behind the dark lenses protecting his fragile vision from blinding prisms of light. The man might be one of the most brilliant trainers Carter had ever met. But, he was seriously starting to piss him off. Constantly pushing the Guardians harder and harder. Yes, it was true his group needed the training and the discipline. But, no matter how hard they tried. The Guardians weren't Sons. And they weren't in the business of wasting time on a useless vendetta.

"I don't care," Keene spat. He crouched to study a print stamped into the mud. Tracing the outline of the paw print with a fingertip, he gritted his teeth. The ground was littered with such prints and thick with the scent of wolf musk. And it was impossible to determine beyond any shadow of a doubt, if the paw prints he studied belonged to the wolf he sought or not.

"They need to toughen up," he said. Daylight made the Guardians edgy. Keene heard the grumbles and the rustle of leaves as the Guardians abandoned the lake's exposed beach in preference of the wood's thicker cover. The Guardians were soft and Carter coddled them like spoiled children. Missions didn't end at sunrise. The Guardians would not have the luxury of seeking shelter from the daylight. They needed to learn. And they should be lucky he was here to teach them a bit more gently than he'd been taught.

Roark had left him pinned to the ground the morning of his birth. Thick iron stakes had driven through his hands and feet. Stripped naked, bleeding the green grass beneath him red, begging for mercy, confused, and suffering so terribly, Keene had learned to endure the light of day. And Carter's group had the nerve to whimper behind their Raybans and the dense shade of the woods that the sun hurt their eyes? They were pussies, the whole lot of them. Carter was centuries older than he. Even older than the Great Father by far. And not even he, as their leader, had the balls to face the sun. Carter stood over him, glowering down at him from behind the dark lenses of his designer sunglasses. Keene rose to his feet and moved out of Carter's shadow. "This is the enemy. Every second that we delay the colder the trail."

"No. We're done," Carter said. And he meant it. Keene might not get the full extent of Carter's proclamation. Of exactly how done the Guardians were. He'd caught the whispers of dissention rippling through the ranks. While he was grateful to the Sons for their assistance, their pact was a tenuous one at best. It wouldn't take much for the Guardians to revert back to their old ways. And there were enough enemies out there to battle without having to confront his own men. Discontent could do that. Turn allies into enemies. And he wasn't willing to risk it. They trusted him to lead them. And it was time to pack it up and take them home. "This isn't our enemy and it isn't yours. This is a wolf issue and I suggest that you let the wolves handle their own business."

Keene's eyes narrowed. His gray eyes shone like hardened steel against the brightness of the oncoming day. Carter wanted to challenge him openly in front of his Guardians. Fine. Let him coddle his men. Nursemaid them and wipe their collective asses. He'd get them killed treating them so gently. The enemy wouldn't give a rat's ass about inconveniencing them. But, it was Carter's call to make. "I'll continue on without you. This 'man' needs to be brought to justice."

" And you're justice's deliverer. Judge and jury and executioner, I assume."

"Yes."

"What gives you the right?" Carter challenged. Keene visibly bristled as if he hadn't thought to ask himself the question. And maybe, he hadn't. Keene didn't realize how greatly his past had shaped him into the man he had become. Keene needed justice for justice's sake alone. He'd been driven to the edge of rational thinking out of his desire to avenge the woman he'd assumed needed avenging. He hadn't stopped to see beyond her delicate stature and curves to the woman beneath them. Their world, the world of the wolf, was very different from the one of man and of the vampires. Keene just hadn't, and perhaps, couldn't accept that.

"A woman was injured. Beaten by a male."

"Ah, and you see Roark. How things were. But, Roark isn't here anymore is he? The Great Father put him in his grave. Quit digging him out of it. A challenge was issued and accepted. What if it had been another male? How would you feel then? Would you avenge him if a male had taken the same pounding?"

"I need to find him," Keene huffed. Logically, Carter was right. Made perfect sense. But, Keene could not see past the woman's bleeding and battered, crumpled form. He needed to seek vengeance for her.

"Then you do it on your own. I won't put my Guardians through anymore," Carter said. In his long lifetime he'd had a bellyful of war and blood. And he'd seen things that not even the fiery pits of hell could imagine. Family was family. Another fact Keene didn't fully realize. The wolves might have driven out the male. But, he was still one of theirs. Carter shook his head and moved into the cool shelter of the trees. Keene had dropped to his knees to study the prints. Staring off into the distance, into the thick underbrush into which they led. He hoped Keene didn't find the male to whom they belonged. Otherwise, the Guardians would be back. And Carter wasn't exactly certain whose side they'd fight on or if they'd fight at all.

The Guardians had worn out their welcome and it was time to return home. O' Sullivan was coming. And when he did, if the Guardians and the brothers weren't ready for it, the city wouldn't be the only thing to fall victim to him. O'Sullivan would destroy everything in his path to get the one thing he wanted. Blood would spill. Guardians and brothers would die. Eric would never get what he wanted most. Carter wasn't capable of giving it to him. And he'd watch everyone around him perish. The city and the woods burn to ash. Before he spent the rest of his eternity pretending. Eric wanted him. And it was the one thing he'd never get.

"Pack it up," Carter said. Staring out at the faces emerging out of hiding, he knew then he was kidding himself. He had become their reluctant leader. He was responsible for every life here and the eight hundred thousand or so in the city. The amount of trust his brethren placed in him overwhelmed him. And it was a burden he hadn't wanted but shouldered anyway. A weapon Eric would use against him when the time came. And it was coming. Carter could not sell himself out. Nor could he sell them out in the process of saving his own skin. He'd been better off to run while he had the chance. Ultimately though, what would it have gained him? Eric would have caught up with him eventually anyway. It was better to have this over with. Face the devil on his own terms rather than to wait.

"We're going home," Carter said. He heard the sounds of cheers and the rustling of branches and feet falling in step behind him. He walked fearlessly through the woods. Displaying the characters of a leader without truly feeling them. He had no peace. No solidarity of thought in his mind. And he had no idea what he was leading them into. Perhaps, into death. Perhaps, into life. He'd done something no master had ever done before. He'd united the rogues. They came to him of their own freewill and they stayed together for the very same reason. They'd follow him. Even die for him bravely and with a clear conscience. And for that, he didn't know who was the bigger fool. Him for thinking he could protect them or them for believing that he could.

Chapter 25

"Tala, you can't be seriously considering this?" Nash huffed. Staring at his daughter in disbelief, his eyes narrowed and he turned his focus to Drew. "And you're encouraging her," he accused.

"Dad, don't be hard on him. This is my decision. And I am well old enough to make up my mind about what's right for me." Tala sat back on the couch and crossed her arms. Silently, daring her father to say another word. She was going through with it whether she had the pack's support and her father's support, or not. She was marrying Drew and willingly accepting all the rights, rules, and responsibility that came along with the duty of being his wife. If the brothers fought an enemy, she'd fight along beside them. If something happened to them, it happened to her. To the brothers she'd be queen to Drew's kingship. But, it wasn't a crown or royalty that she wanted. It was just the man. It was always and forever the man.