Chapter 80 - The Beginning

— Elaeya —

I woke in a familiar hospital room. Kaden was there. I tried to smile and tell him I was okay and to wipe those worries off his face, but the words caught it my throat. The place smelt clean and fresh, but there was this echo of filth, and blood, and gore that came back to me and refused to go way.

I closed my eyes for a moment, but realised my mistake instantly as all I could see and hear was the screams of Tamarak as he was being skinned alive, the gurgles of the man’s throat I cut, the plop, plop of body part falling down, and the warmth of the gore hitting my skin.

I jerk uncontrollably, trying to wipe away the phantom filth off of me.

I knew it wasn’t there, my brain knew, but it didn’t want to believe.

Kaden sat on the bed and held me.

I wanted to show him how strong I was, how fierce I could be, how this had changed nothing, how we would go through this and continue our life together unimpeded, unafraid. But again, my mind didn’t comply and my emotion burst out.

I hugged him for all that I was worth. I knew deep down that this was silly that I could do this, that this was the end of nothing. But there were things that I’ve held down for so long that I needed to release that I never gave away. And at this moment I knew it had to come out.

I’ve spent so long never letting myself be vulnerable, never weak, but as he took me in his arms and crushed me against his chest, I knew I could be vulnerable that I could survive it, that I would lose nothing for it.

I just opened the floodgates.

I quickly fell asleep again.

I woke a few times, until I was sent back home.

For a few days, there was this numbness inside. As if the everyday routine felt alien and odd. There was a disconnect that slowly faded with time. I knew it would.

I was glad to find that the wounds on my neck had healed completely and left no visible scars. Those on my belly were nearly completely gone too. I knew how it bothers Kaden to see them and how much he blamed himself.

It didn’t say it outright, but it was there. He saw himself as responsible for everyone’s safety in his pack, and any failure in this was a failure or his. I know he was haunted by the families who perished in the attack, so was I. There were nights when I still heard their screams of pain, and pleads. And I would wake up, and hug him until I felt back asleep.

“I won’t stay,” said André as I visited him.

He was doing a lot better and was doing some physical therapy to get all his limbs moving right again.

I nodded, I expected that some of them would not stay for long.

“I have a family, you see,” he said.

I nodded again.

“I do have something for you though.” He took out a silvery chain with a few little pieces dangling from it. “It’s a gris-gris. I made it just for you. For protection. As a thank you, for saving me.

Pavarti was on another bed in that room. She was looking very intently at us. Tamarak, and the little girl shared the room next door.

“Give me your left ankle,” he told me.

I raised my leg and complied.

He tied the little chain around it, I felt its quiet power instantly.

“Thank you, but I think my husband did a lot more than I,” I told him.

He nodded. “I will have to find something for him then.

A few days later, Pavarti was gone. No one knew how she had managed to escape without anyone noticing, especially with the heightened security everywhere.

“Nagis, man,” said Alik. “They’re half-divine, you know. It’s pretty hard to keep one prisoner to begin with.

Kaden nodded. “Well, she was not a prisoner here so—,” he let the words tail out.

“I would have liked to say good by though,” I said.

André came to us with a big wooded box in his hand and put it down at our feet.

We were in the pack house talking with Alik who had grown into a good friend and confidant.

“I’ll be leaving today,” said André. “The little lady told me you deserved your thanks,” he told Kaden.

Kade gave me a knowing look but shook his head at André. “I got all that I need.

André smiled. “Where I’m from, it’s impolite to refuse a gift.

“Do beg pardon,” Kaden said formally with a smirk. “Below me to refuse a gift of good intentions.

André smiled wider. “This is for you,” he said pointing at the box.

He took a small knife and extended it to Kaden handle first.

“Please, if you’d be kind enough to cut your hand,” He asked Kaden.

Kaden looked at the man confused. I gave him a nod.

I was curious to see what this was about, but I knew there was nothing wrong about it.

Kaden, at my assurance, took the blade and cut his left hand.

“Now, pour some of the blood in this box and repeat the words after me,” he said opening a slit on the top of the box.

Kaden quirked an eyebrow at him then looked at me.

I nodded again, he shrugged and complied.

Alik was watching the scene very intently.

André said a few words in creole that I did not understand and Kaden repeated them as best he could.

“So,” said Kaden a few seconds after they were done. “What is this about?

“I heard they call you the Hellhound,” said André. “I’m a witchdoctor. The underworld is my prowling ground. I thought you might enjoy the real thing,” he said flipping the top of the box off completely.

Three balls of fur jumped out and rushed to us.

Kaden squealed instinctively and backed off, dragging me behind him.

“Stop,” he ordered instinctively. The hounds stopped and sat at his feet, tails wagging and their red glowing eyes on him expectantly.

“I know of this underworld god who has a three headed dog as a guardian, but those are pretty hard to come by, so I summoned you three hellhounds. You will find them incredibly loyal and protective.

“Ah!,” said Alik. “That was what the blood was all about. Establishing ownership.

André nodded at the wizard.

“How loyal are we talking?” Alik asked, looking at the pup clinically.

“Intensely so. They will grow to become quite big and will need massive amount of meat. Fresh or rotten, it matters very little to them, but they prefer blood over water, so get yourself well acquainted with butcher shops around. They will obey, but you don’t always have to command them verbally. They are known to enjoy what their master enjoy,” he inclined his head to me politely. “And to hate what their master hate. So a little word of advice here. Don’t leave them unsupervised in a room with one of your enemies unless you’re okay with crime scene clean-up crews.

Kaden nodded at him, his eyes fixed on the puppies.

It was an unexpected gift.

We received a box through special mail addressed to Kaden and I. Inside it we found two wooden boxes, one little box addressed to me and the biggest one to Kaden. Inside mine, I found a necklace. The package contained a note from Pavarti.

For your help and care, when the time comes, this will give you in turn the help you will need.

Inside the other box addressed to Kaden were two wide scimitars of intricate designs with a note.

You have killed enemies of mine and freed me asking for nothing in return. I know of no other gift but to give you tools to do more of this, and do so more efficiently, and send to the underworld those than must, while protecting, those that should be. You have my blessing. We shall meet again one day. Pavarti

Later that day, there were a few deliveries at the office that came from the Brotherhood. Inside were the heads of all those that had been involved in the hit made on me, with a letter asking for forgiveness and to remember of the good that the Brotherhood has done to the community as a whole.

Kaden made sure all those that had been found to have been involved in the sordid affair were accounted for.

He then sent back a formal letter indicating that he was not going to pursue a war any further with the Brotherhood itself, as the culprit had paid for their crimes, but that Blakemore would not resume its position under the Accord and would stay neutral in all werewolf affairs. That channels of communications were not dead between the Brotherhood and Blakemore, but trust no longer existed.

I was glad he was not pursuing more conflicts with them, as the ramifications of this would be disastrous to the werewolf population as a whole.

I knew of his crusade against the black market, and felt no sympathy for any of them. I even scoured maps with my sight, trying to find a few they might have overlooked. I wanted them gone for good. There would probably be a time where this industry would find a resurgence, maybe under a new incarnation, operating differently than it did. But I knew now that what it had been was dead and slowly being erased. It would never be the same

I visited the girl often, we had to find an interpreter, as she only knew, Korean. It turned out her name was Sena, she was ten, and Tamarak told me, an orphan. She never spoke of her parents, but apparently, they had been taken apart and sold off.

I offered for her to stay here.

I was worried about her a lot.

What happened in this basement was horrid to anyone, but what that could mean to a child was ever worst. And the potential trauma made me shudder at the thought.

I had been extremely lucky in that I had not suffered much, compared to any other who had been dragged in there before me.

Kaden and I reached to a few, and Alpha and Luna Lostcrest, of the Lostcrest pack had offered to adopt her. Their pack had probably the highest number of hybrids other than Blakmore and Blakewoods, and they had no qualms into adopting a non-werewolf child, and Myung-Hee Lostcrest was part Korean and fluent in the language.

They had visited her a few times. It took a while, but eventually I saw it, the beginning of a connection building between them. I knew they would cherish her. They had had only three sons and Myung-Hee had been very keen on a daughter that she could spoil.

Tamarak, on the other hand, had been very quiet.

Of them all, he had been the most injured, but his healing abilities even surpassed that of werewolves.

Drakes were known to be quite solitary, but they were also known for their magical properties and had been hunted fairly severely.

“If you want,” said Kaden to him one day, “Blakemore as this big-ass mountain on its territory. It’s not very populated because it’s a little too steep. I wouldn’t mind someone up there, capable of having a good lookout around.

Tamarak scoffed. “My kind is not very good at being retained into little werewolf territories.

Kaden gave him the full square-kilometer of Blakemore. That made Tamarak’s eyebrow twitch.

“How about this?” said Kaden. “All of it, you can roam, do your thing, not part of any of my packs per se, more as a freestanding Lord of Blakemore. You rule yourself and as long as you don’t do anything against our laws, we let you be. You give us a heads up from your vantage point if anything bad is coming our way, and help in time of need, and in exchange I have a fancy house built for you up there, and you receive food and everything you might need.

Tamarak was silent for a while.

“Think about it. It’s not a bad offer. You get a well-protected and defended territory, luxuries, everything you need, and we ask for help once in a while, win-win for both of us.

“I don’t know,” said Tamarak.

“Give him time,” I said to Kaden. “He will say yes.

Tamarak gave me an odd look but said nothing, Kaden smiled at that.

“Well, take your time,” he said. “You’ll get used to it soon enough.

* * * * *

“How are things on your side?” asked Kaden to his laptop in the drawing room.

I brought coffee for him and tea for me into the drawing room.

“Much better. Or at least under-control,” said Michael’s voice from the computer. “Actually, I want to talk to you about something.

“Sure,” said Kaden as he took his cup from me.

“Oh, hey there Elaeya. We haven’t had time to chat, but I want to say, I’m really glad you’re back and okay.

“Thank you,” I told him. “And your request will be hard to comply for without some work from your part.

He blinked a little taken aback.

“What is this request?” asked Kaden.

I sat next to him on the love seat.

“Well—,” Michael hesitated somewhat, Kaden did not push and waited for him to open up. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately. Three of my brothers are now members of Blakemore. I know I don’t have the same to offer as Boisclair, but I think allying ourselves, I mean more permanently, could be an option. I’m offering Stonewillow to become independent territory of Blakemore. I know where far, and we can handle ourselves pretty well generally, but the help we’ve received since the attack as changed everything. Plus, I’m not an idiot, I know that the name of Blakemore scares a lot of people, lately even more than before. That alone could become the best deterrent to any further attacks.

Kaden thought about it. He was not as averse to the idea of expansion as before. I suppose he had nothing to salvage with the Brotherhood anymore.

“Look, I get the familial link, and the help it can give you and everything. But from a management standpoint, it would be unwise for me to do this unless you have a minimum of territory and population size to sustain this long distance.

Michael nodded and they went on for a while talking numbers.

“Give me a bit of time,” Michael finally said after a while. “Don’t shut the idea down too quickly, let me talk to a few Alphas. I don’t think I’m the only one thinking in that vein. Maybe I could get the numbers you need.

“I’m not promising anything, but I can wait too. Meanwhile, I will keep sending you support when I can.

“Thank you.

Jean-Philippe had shown his cards one day.

“I kinda expected for Boisclair to get the mindlink too,” he admitted.

“Dude,” said Darren. “You just signed a piece of paper. We did this whole blood ritual thing to get that. Don’t expect things to fall from the sky on your lap.

“I’m not,” he admitted. It was Friday dinner and we were all in the packhouse’s formal dining room. “I just kinda hope, something would happen. It would be pretty nice to have that.

“I could maybe happen,” said my mother.

Everyone looked at her.

“I can’t promise anything, but we could try.

Jean-Philippe started to cheer.

My mother cut it out. “It can’t come from you though, but her,” she said looking at Jasmine.

She was taken by surprise but her and Jean-Philipped talked a lot. She had decided not to go to Boiclair right after her birthday which was in a few days, but prepare here first. But Jean-Philippe accepted to take her under his pack and make her Luna early.

Three days after Jasmine’s eighteen birthday, my mother did the ceremony in the woods where I had mine. Some of Boislcair sent the live video home as the full pack couldn’t come here.

In the end, I marked Jasmine’s face, like mine had been. Making a connection between us. And it worked.

When Jean-Philippe realised the success of it, he took Jasmine’s face between his hands and kissed her, then jumped around and hugged Kaden, who looked at him weirdly.

“Oh, I’ll kiss you,” he told me smiling, coming my way.

Kaden put a hand on his chest and gave him a look, so Jean-Philippe turned around, dipped Jasmine and kissed her to a lot of cheering from Boisclair and catcall from Blakemore.

“French idiot,” muttered Kaden.

“Well, you were quite enthusiastic yourself when you gained mindlink.

He circled his arms around me and pressed my back against his front.

“I can contain myself better than this,” he said.

I smiled. Maybe I’d have to remind him of our wedding and excursion in the woods.

Things changed slowly at home, but at the same time, it did not feel like it. It came naturally. My life gaining its rhythm as winter settled for good.

It’s only after you have one that you really see the impact of a home. You never know what you are missing until you experience it. This is mine now. I am glad I did not run that night when a stranger cornered me in the woods. It had led me to a difficult journey, but nothing of value comes for free. That is what it is to live. The only way to never suffer is to never live. As you would not only sacrifice the pain, but also the joy, the happiness, the love. They are things in this world worth suffering for, and combat worth fighting to elevate that pain. There were people worth going to war for. There are challenges worth facing. I faced mine.

This is not the end of my story, only the beginning.