A Cursed Bloodline
Page 30

“Anara is using Pack magic to control the wolves.”
I could barely respond. “Yes.”
“And they can’t remember their actions.”
“No. They can’t.”
“Celia, he forced you to break your bond with Aric, didn’t he?”
I nodded, shuddering slightly. “He told me if I had any contact with Aric, he would know and he would kill him. When Aric kept trying to reach me, Anara gave me two days to break our connection or he’d kill someone I loved.”
“Holy crap!”
“I know.”
“That’s how Bren got hurt, wasn’t it? Anara’s the one who attacked you.”
I sighed and wiped my hands on my jeans, smearing them with blood and hair. “He’d grown impatient when I didn’t immediately bend to his request. He came after me the night I went out with Bren.”
“That’s why Bren’s with you. You’re protecting him against Anara.”
“Yes…and I think he’s keeping Bren’s wolf from healing him.”
“We have to tell Aric!”
“No, Danny. We can’t.” My voice shook. “Anara is capable of killing anyone from miles away. He said if I told anyone, my sisters would die.”
Danny’s eyes swept around the car like he half expected Anara to appear. “Okay…okay. We have to get you someplace safe.”
“No. We have to get someplace safe. I was thinking Bermuda.”
“Celia, we can’t go there. There’s only one place we’ll be safe—Misha’s.”
“What?”
“Misha’s place is fortified with vampire power, strengthened by the mysticism of the lake. It should be enough to interfere with Anara’s were magic. He can’t reach you there.”
“But Anara appeared to me the day Aric broke into Misha’s compound.”
I could almost see the wheels turning in Danny’s head. “He probably managed through his link to Aric as his Elder. Aric’s emotions likely boosted his power and therefore strengthened the connection. Otherwise, I don’t think he could have presented himself.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
Danny wiped the sweat off his face. “Then we’re probably all going to die.”
We drove in silence for a while. It was a lot to take in and I was trying to give Danny more time to calm. “How did you stop the wolves from hurting me?” I finally asked.
“I don’t know. They just sort of stopped when I touched them.”
I thought about what he said. “Maybe that’s your power.”
“Huh?”
“Your gift as a blue merle werewolf, maybe you can somehow block magic or reverse it.”
“If that’s the case how come Bren is still in a coma?”
I wiped my eyes. “I don’t know, Danny. I don’t know much of anything anymore.”
Danny slipped an arm around me. “Maybe I can’t help Bren, but I’m definitely aware of Anara. I saw him appear before you yesterday and I heard what he said to you—even after his image vanished.”
This information did little to ease my worries. “Do you think he knows about you?”
“If he did…I wouldn’t be here now.”
“Then what happened to you last night?”
Danny’s face turned bright pink. He slinked his arm from my shoulders and returned to focusing hard on the road.
“Danny…where were you last night?”
“Um. Heidi tracked me down again. She heard about me getting kicked out of the Pack and, er, tried to cheer me up.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Did she now?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“So, let me get this straight. While I was up thinking you’d been tortured, killed, and possibly castrated, you were actuality getting laid?”
“Yes, but you should feel sorry for me.”
“And why is that?”
“Because sex is still the only way she’s able to communicate her feelings.”
“I see. Pull over, please.”
“Huh?”
“I think I have to vomit.”
“Because of me and Heidi?”
“No. Because I’m pregnant with Aric’s baby.”
Danny almost lost control of the car. “HOLY CRAP!”
“Holy crap indeed, Danny.”
—
Danny stopped a mile or so from Misha’s house so I could hurl. The moment I was done, he embraced me. “Does anyone else know?”
“No one but you.”
It felt good to tell someone my secret. And although Aric was the wolf I first wanted to tell, Danny was sure as hell a close second.
“How long have you known?”
“I found out the day after we arrived from Chaitén.”
Danny shook his head, his expression heavy with worry. “The same day you were attacked in your house.”
“Yes.”
“Also by Anara.”
“Yes, Danny.”
He hugged me tighter. “You’ve been dealing with so much on your own. How the heck are you even functioning?”
I’m not really. “No one can know about the baby.” I started trembling and almost broke down. “Anara told me he’d rather see Aric dead than have an abomination like me curse his bloodline.”
Danny tensed against me. I could scent his anger and his fright and yet he tried to comfort me. “I swear I won’t tell anyone.”
Danny stopped the car in Misha’s driveway moments later. The Catholic schoolgirls immediately pounced on me like a ravenous dog on a chunky squirrel. They crinkled their noses and Maria huffed, her Brazilian accent seething with annoyance. “Celia, dis whole attention thing is getting old. And what de hell did you do to your hair? Honestly, you look dreadful.”
Before I could smack her into the middle of next week, Liz shoved a bunch of fabric swatches in my face. “Pick your goddamn colors.”
“For what?” I shoved them back and started toward the guesthouse. And look at that, they followed right behind me.
“For the bridesmaids’ dresses. I look better in the lavender, so that’s the one you need to go with.”
“Liz, I’m not getting married.”
Everyone ignored me and then Agnes started in on me. “Regardless of the color, we’ve decided we want platinum necklaces as your gift to us.”