Chapter 88
When Evie got home, her son was waiting, wearing away the carpet with his pacing.
“What did he say? Did he remember the story?” He asked as soon as she closed the door behind her.
“Let me take my coat off first son, please?” She chuckled, her heart light that after so many generations of watching and waiting her family’s purpose was finally coming to pass, and she would be the one to complete the mission entrusted to them. “Did you gather everything I told you to?” She asked Kyle, who was still pacing anxiously.
“Yes, I got everything, does that mean she’s the one we have been waiting for?” He asked his mother, he reminded her of when he was a little boy, eagerly awaiting Christmas morning, it made her smile.
“Yes, I believe she is the one we have been waiting for, which means we will finally be able to call him forth.” Evie couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped her mouth as she said it out loud for the first time.
“Will he be angry she isn’t here, and we don’t know where she is? Should we wait until she and the Alpha return?” Kyle asked quietly, unsure if they should risk angering a man as powerful as the stories said he was.
“I don’t think we have a choice; we have confirmation that she is the one. If we hear that she has been found, we are supposed to summon him, that’s the instructions he left. We know it’s her, we just have to pray that will be enough for him to find her on his own.” She informed her son, resolute in what she had to do. She took the necklace her mother had entrusted her with, as the oldest, and threw it into the fire, breaking the glass vial. She completed the ritual exactly as the stories had told her to, thanking her mother for drilling it into her head for years so she couldn’t forget it if she wanted. Her uncle had always been jealous that his sister had been left the secrets as the eldest child, he would tell the stories to his son and her half-brother while making her and her sister scrub the floors. All the while telling her what a disgrace she was to his family’s name. Her father, James, had been an Eta, nothing special, but kind and wonderful, and he adored her mother, Dahlia. She didn’t understand when she was a child, why her mother and father didn’t live together, or why she and her sister were kept away from the pack. Then when she was fifteen, and Maria was thirteen, her father stopped visiting them, and their mother told them she had met her second chance mate, and was going to live with him, it was years before she knew the truth. Eric’s father, Ivan, unable to find his mate, made a deal with her uncle Tarben, who had kept Dahlia’s relationship with James a secret from everyone, Tarben killed James and sold his sister Dahlia to Ivan. When Evie turned eighteen, she met her mate, Darryl, and moved to his pack, taking her sister Maria with her. When Maria turned eighteen, she also found her mate in the same pack and quickly became pregnant, her mate devastated by her death named their daughter after her. Evie was pulled out of her dark thoughts and painful memories by a knock on the door, she stood, her hands trembling as she walked to the door. She tried to steady herself but couldn’t calm her nerves as she opened the door and looked upon the deity she had summoned.
Charlie POV
Daniel and I decided to call room service and spend the rest of the evening in bed, making love and laughing. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other after what felt like thirty-six-plus hours of nothing but kisses and the promise of the bed we were laying on. And with every whispered ‘I love you’ from Daniel’s lips, my resolve softened. I began wondering if we would be this hungry for each other after we completed the bond, and how I would feel when we finally returned to work, and he would be around many available females. I began picturing my mark on his neck, and his mark on mine. Several times when he pushed me past my breaking point, I almost asked him to mark me, but every time I tried, something stopped me. I found myself rehearsing the question in my mind, ‘Would you mark me? Will, will you mark me? Mark me please?’. Nothing sounded right, then I found myself silently begging him to bring it up, ask me if he could so I could just say yes. We made it through the whole night with neither of us mentioning it. But as we fell asleep, exhausted in each other’s arms, I decided that we would return to the pack with answers about my family and our marks.
“Ah, the family of Nikolaos, have you finally completed the task I entrusted you with?” The enigmatic-looking visitor asked, his lavender eyes strangely hypnotic, his darkly tanned skin, made them appear lighter, and more magnetic. His hair was a rich brunette colour with sun-kissed high lights and fell in soft waves to his shoulders. He was slender, but his muscles were clearly defined, his short-sleeved t-shirt and jeans were nowhere near weather appropriate. As if waking from a dream, Evie, snapped herself awake and stood aside to let the stranger inside.
“Are you really Protectus? From the stories?” She managed to ask, curious after a lifetime of wondering.
“A few things aren’t exactly like they are told in the stories, but for the most part yes, I’m Protectus. Now, where is the girl?” The man said, making Evie’s heart race.
“Well, she’s not here and we aren’t sure where she is, but we know her name is Charlie Phillips, and we can confirm she is definitely the one. She brought my son back from being bitten by a vampire! And she is mated to our Alpha.” Evie panicked and blurted.
“To your Alpha? You’re sure? Have they marked each other yet?” He asked quickly, feeling a little panic himself.
“No, I don’t think so, or they didn’t when we saw them two days ago,” Evie replied a little thrown by his response.
“Good, I don’t have much time. He will track me to this area soon.” He pulled out a card and handed it to Evie. “If this doesn’t work, I will need to know when they come back, or if you need me, leave a message here, and I’ll pick it up.” He pulled several crystals out of his pockets and arranged them around himself before he closed his eyes and searched for an essence he hadn’t searched for in decades. He found a faint trace and followed it back, searching for the source, when he hit a barrier, one he had encountered before, Hyacinth. He smiled, picked up his crystals and disappeared, leaving Evie and Kyle dumbfounded, the card still in her fingers, with nothing but a number printed on it.
“Did it work? Or should we call him when the Alpha and Luna return?” Kyle asked his mother, the whole encounter had felt surreal, and a little underwhelming.
“I have no idea, son. I suppose we had better assume it didn’t than have him angry at us, his powers are singular. He was taught to fight by a God of War, and to hunt by our sacred Moon Goddess.” Evie said with awe in her voice.
“Yeah, I remember the stories Mother, but you still haven’t told me the story of the lady with the purple eyes, and who that makes Charlie!” Kyle cried frustrated.
“Oh, I’m sorry son, I was just so shaken. Let’s get some coffee and I will tell you everything.” Evie said absentmindedly to her son, she had just had a man whose feats of valour, strength and cunning were on par with some of the greatest heroes of all time. Her heart was still racing as she nursed her cup at the kitchen table, she told her son everything she had been told by Eric, and what memories of her own that triggered. They talked until the early hours of the morning, Evie told him every story and legend she could remember, as well as the prophesies other family members had seen in the thousand years since they had provided protection and safety to a half-starved and injured deity, thus being given the task and the foreknowledge of what was to come. Passing the stories Protectus had told them during his recovery, down from generation to generation, a papyrus and vial was passed to the oldest child, of the oldest child, an unbreakable chain that had travelled halfway around the world without a weak link. The enormity of their family’s purpose being fulfilled made her feel a bittersweet acceptance, her part in starting the golden age for Lycans was completed. And listening to her son’s many predictions and musings were enough to keep her smiling, despite feeling insignificant without her purpose to keep her going. Finally, Kyle tired of his wonderings and allowed Evie to go to bed, with the question of what she would do with her life swirling around in her head.
Charlie POV
We woke up in our perfect hotel room and drank coffee while watching the sunrise from our window, just as I pictured it, they even provided us with a copy of the Washington Post and a copy of the New York Times, so we could read the paper together. I wanted to commit every second to memory, smiling insanely over our coffees and stealing glances over the papers. Wearing our matching hotel robes and dreaming of a similar morning in the pack house, preferably without the threat to our lives or the fight with another species whose endgame we still hadn’t uncovered, looming over us. My conflicted thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing, bewildered about who could be calling when we hadn’t told anyone where we were staying. Daniel wearily answered, his own confusion evident by his expression.
“Dermot it’s only 7:30, why are you calling? What couldn’t wait until you come to pick us up?” Daniel griped, chuckling at his own suspicions. Until his face fell. “Yeah, we’ll be ready, see you in an hour.” He said into the phone, his eyes riveted to mine, as he hung up.
“What is it?” I asked, afraid of his reply but desperate to know it all the same.
“A couple of hours ago, Hyacinth felt something feeling its way around her barrier, trying to magically access her lands. She has asked that we go to the cottage immediately, Dermot will be here in an hour to pick us up, she fears what could happen to us without the combined magic of her people to protect us from whomever it was that tried poking around. Dermot said she sounded scared, which isn’t like her at all, if she’s worried, we should all be worried.” Daniel explained, he crossed the room to hold me. I knew he needed my scent to calm him, if I was honest his touch kept my anxiety at bay too.
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