Bound (Legacy Series Book 4) Page 16

  "From my understandin', ancients got thicker skin than most an' they don't bow to dominance like us shifters do," Hank spoke while chewing. It made his drawl a bit thicker than usual.

  "Find their vulnerability," Vanessa said, her voice soft against my cheek.

  "Elaborate, would ya, cat woman? Sheesh," Xany teased, rolling her eyes dramatically. I smirked and Vanessa's heightened purrs told me she didn't mind it.

  "Usually one method works best to kill them," she said. I sensed the hesitation in her voice, the one that usually meant she had more to say but stopped herself first. This time, however, she continued. "If you mess up the first time by using the wrong tactic, you might not get a second chance."

  "An' that, in a nutshell, is all I ever heard of about ancients." Hank set his glass down as if Vanessa's words were law.

  "So what do we do?" Xany looked between us.

  "That's what Adia is here for. She can help us sift through all of this and find Ileana's weakness," Caden said. "Ana has fought an ancient before, I believe."

  "I think my mom has, too," Vanessa added.

  "How did Ana find the weakness of the leech? And Kat?" Xany queried.

  "She didn't," Vanessa answered.

  "What happened?" I turned some in her lap. Everyone focused on Vanessa.

  "They made some sort of deal or exchange, I think." Vanessa met Mal's gaze as if asking if he ever heard of something like that.

  "I've heard of Changer-vampire contracts before. It's like one provides something for the other in exchange for a truce." Mal nodded to Vanessa. "The Pride seems to be fond of that."

  "Allies are helpful," Vanessa commented.

  "They can be, yes," Caden agreed.

  "Well, considerin' our numbers, truces aren't somethin' I'm fond of," said Hank.

  "Me either," a voice said from outside the front door. Everyone turned their gazes it. "There be a cat in there."

  "She is family. Go inside," my mother's voice joined the muffled younger voice.

  "That's what Hank said at the powwow and you beated her up enough," the stranger continued to wrestle with my mother. I looked between Caden and Hank, both of them were laughing under their breath. "It's not the funniest thing you've ever heard you know."

  That got Xany giggling as well as the rest of us. Vanessa didn't seem too amused yet.

  "Go inside, Adia," said Mom.

  "Can't they come outside?"

  "The Breeders will catch a chill."

  "For the sake of Pete, Adia! Get on in here a'ready," Hank raised his chuckling voice an octave.

  "Fine."

  I'm not sure what I expected Adia to look like, but I definitely didn't expect a teenage werewolf clad in head-to-toe leathers. Her long black braids cradled her baby face, swinging lightly as her moccasins met the wooden floor. The heel of her walking stick thudded against the floor with each step.

  "Who's Pete?" she asked.

  "It's a sayin'." Hank shook his head.

  Mom entered the cabin behind her and shut the door. The two of them beside each other looked as if they'd dropped out of a textbook photograph of historical American Indians from the 1800s.

  "Don't I know you?" Xany furrowed a brow as she stared at Adia, her hands on her hips.

  My mother turned to Adia and said something in a tongue I didn't understand. Adia answered her back and gestured with her stick in Xany's direction. I recognized the language as a Native one, but couldn't put my finger on it, though a few Cherokee words were mixed in. All eyes turned to me as if I had some insight into it.

  "Don't look at me. They're speaking something even I don't know."

  "It's Cheyenne and Cherokee," Mal said. "But I don't understand it either."

  "She knows Xany." Vanessa translated from what I guessed was her interpretation of their gestures.

  "Well, hello!? English please or at least Cherokee so Shawnee can tell us what you're talking about," Xany interrupted the pair.

  "You still be loud mouthed." Adia set her walking stick down on the table and patted Xany on the shoulder.

  "How many languages do you speak?" Imogene looked at my mother with wide eyes.

  "All," was my Mom's only response.

  "Let's get to business here! Where's Pete?" Adia looked at Hank.

  "I tol' ya it was just a saying. There is no Pete." Hank shook his head. "Quit foolin' about, would ya?"

  Mal laughed as if he was completely entertained by Adia, but something else hung heavy in his heart while he looked on. He glanced at Xany then caught Caden's gaze. Even his eyes held something somber. I didn't like it.

  "How does she know Xany?" I chimed in now, curious about all the undertones my bonds gave off.

  "Yeah, how does she know me?" Xany huffed and puffed. "How old are you?"

  "Dia is seventeen, now let's move along." She clapped her hands then waved them about over the table as if conjuring something. Of course, nothing happened but Imogene hopped up and moved the dishes out of the way. Caden helped her.

  "Seventeen?" I gawked. "And a Shaman?"

  "Yep. You were seventeen and in college, it's no big deal or anything." Adia eyed me like she knew something I didn't, and I was pretty sure she knew plenty.

  "It's a pretty big deal." I watched the little shaman pull small bundles from one of the pouches that dangled at her hip. Xany looked on, squinting as if she couldn't quite see.

  "No, wait. You were there when I woke up after the attack, I remember… sort of." Xany pursed her lips as if trying to drag more out of the memory.

  "Very good." Adia patted her shoulder again. "Okay so now we get to talk about leeches, right?" She shot a sideways glance at Vanessa, her lip lifting a bit. I tensed but to my surprise, Vanessa snickered.

  "Don't tell me you two know each other, too?" I looked between them.

  "No but she is fun. Okay, back to leeches." Adia unraveled several objects bound in worn bits of leather scraps. Mal moved closer, looking on with intrigue. Caden moved behind Xany, rubbing her back while he watched. Something was bothering him, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Xany seemed to shrug off her memory lapse and watched as well.

  Mom came to stand beside me and Vanessa, her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her and she smiled, nudging my chin with her thumb.

  From the wrappings, Adia pulled out a tuft of yellowed hair, a hardened oval object, and an old bone that looked like it belonged to a finger.

  "Hair, tongue, bone," she said as she placed the objects on the table.

  "Gross! And on my table." Xany nearly growled. "What is it with you people? Seriously."

  "Loud, very loud," Adia mumbled and moved on. "These all belonged to ancients."

  "Wait… you killed three ancients?" I sat forward, leaning in with as much intent as Mal.

  "Tla, Dia not say Dia killed them. Dia said these belong to." Adia pointed to the tongue first. "This one Dia controls." She pointed to the hair. "This one is dead." And finally to the bone. "This one is buried in a chamber for five years without blood. He can't rise without his bone."

  "Magic," Vanessa said, her torso now pressed against my back. Adia had her interest now, that's for sure.

  "So…" I listened to every word she said. "You don't necessarily kill the ancients. You… control them?"

  "Not control. Contain." Adia lifted a finger as if imitating a character on Sesame Street.

  Mal leaned back in his seat as if everything suddenly made sense to him. His expression softened from interest to awe.

  "So not all of them can be killed?" Xany asked.

  "Not all, especially if you make the wrong choice." Adia nodded as if what she said made complete sense to everyone.

  "Find the weakness." Vanessa nodded as if she got it as well. Why did my mates know so much about leeches?

  "Right." Adia sat down in a chair as if the discussion was over.

  "How do we find the weakness?" Caden asked as he sat down beside Adia. I couldn't help but wonder how dominant she was in compari
son to the others. She walked into a cabin filled with highly dominant werecreatures without batting a lash. It seemed like the cabin itself was more of a nemesis than anything else. Like Mom's preference for the outdoors.

  "Someone already knows." Adia looked up at Caden. Her unusual blue eyes brightened with a childlike excitement.

  "Who?" His eyebrows lifted with surprise.

  "Shawnee." Adia looked at me and smiled.

  Chapter Eighteen

  "What?" I gawked as all eyes, once again, fell on me. "I don't know her weakness, I swear."

  "You do. You just don't know it." Adia hopped up from her seat and approached me, holding out her hand. "C'mon."

  "Um…" I looked from her to Mal for some help.

  "Adia, darlin'," Hank spoke up. "Unlike yer'self and Miss Anadaya, us regular folk need some explanations, ay?"

  "Ana will explain it. My mouth is tired." Adia flopped back down in a chair. Her demeanor, attitude, and jovialness screamed teenager. Everything about her seemed young and guileless, but I could sense, somewhere deep and archaic, that she was not as innocent as she played off. Maybe she'd lived a thousand lives over. Shaman often do and some of them keep memories. Her crystal blue eyes, unique and sharply contrast to her otherwise classical Native look, met mine and she smiled. She knows that I know.

  "Did you know each other before?" I looked up to my mother, to see if my hunch was correct.

  "Tla, but I knew her spirit." She smiled her confirmation and returned her attention to the others.

  "That explains it."

  "There's way too much code-talking going on up in this place tonight. Can we get to the note card version please?" Xany dropped herself in Caden's lap. He chuckled and patted her hip.

  "Go ahead." Adia rested her chin on her hand and watched my mother.

  "Shawnee has kept the most company of the leech. She knows best. Ancients are masters of games, what else does one do if one has lived for centuries? She exposed her weakness to you, knowingly or not." Mom turned her gaze to me. "That is the game."

  "But this isn't a game. It isn't a game at all." Vanessa spoke up, her fingers dug heavily into my hips. "Shawnee is not anyone's pawn."

  "Too late," Adia said which made Vanessa's mate bond lurch angrily inside me.

  "Mal." Vanessa met his gaze, begging for his support. His lips curved into a frown and bond quivered similarly, though, unlike Vanessa, he carried an air of understanding about the situation.

  "I agree with Vanessa, it's not a game. But, if we don't play along, how many will die until she gets bored again?" Mal drew his gaze from Vanessa to me. This was going to come down to my choice again.

  "What exactly do we have to do?" Caden asked, slicing the tension in the room.

  "We have to know what Shawnee knows," Adia summed up.

  "But she doesn't remember and it could be a hundred million different things. So how do we pinpoint exactly what the weakness is?" Xany piped.

  "Shawnee comes with me to the woods for a sacred circle." Adia looked at me as if saying, "Ready? Let's go."

  "Not without me she don't." Xany stood up.

  "Yes, she must go without anyone." Adia narrowed her eyes at Xany's defiant gesture.

  "Then I'll stand guard but I'm going with her. She can't get taken again without me."

  Xany's words set Vanessa in an uproar. The grip she had on my hips tightened to uncomfortable pressure. I grabbed her hands and pried her fingers back.

  "Easy, baby. I'm not going to get taken, Xany is just making a point."

  "Circle is impenetrable by anyone but the ones intended. You would be the most at risk," Adia said, matter-of-factly.

  "But not going or coming from there. Just give me my crossbow and put me in a tree. I can protect her from there."

  "This land is protected. A crossbow will do no good with an ancient. You will have us fail before we even start." Adia looked up at my mom, her eyes riddled with, "Are you kidding me?"

  "Not without me. I'm stubborn too." Xany huffed putting her hands on her hips.

  "Then Dia will make you stay. It's that simple." She stood again and looked to Caden and Hank.

  "Hang on a minute here," I interrupted. "It's me we're talking about here. I should get to say what I want about it, too."

  "Yep." Adia met my gaze with a smile. "Go ahead."

  Xany's attitude didn't bother me as much as my mates. I turned in Vanessa's lap and looked between my mates.

  "No," Vanessa said, offering me nothing more.

  "She's going to be outside the door for Gaia's sake." Adia, like Xany, seemed eager at times to prod the cat. "Gaia's sake, not Pete's." She glanced at Hank who, similar to Caden, let us sort it out for ourselves.

  "Mal?" I wanted to hear from him now, too. Vanessa's response was clear enough.

  "I trusted her with Xany's life, I trust her with yours." Mal took my hands in his and squeezed them.

  "Ness?" I turned in her lap, releasing one of Mal's hands to hold hers. She looked at Mal and twitched her nose twice, then lifted her brows upward. You trust? The cat-language clear to me this time.

  "Yes I do," he answered.

  She drew her pained gaze back to me. Nothing scared her more than losing me, our mate bond told me so. Honestly, nothing scared me more than the threat of an ancient taking out my mates, and my pack. I'd do anything to prevent that.

  "I know," I said. "I'll be by the fire pit." I glanced at Adia to make sure I was right. She nodded. "You can watch from the window. Our bonds will be flooded. Not like before."

  "You've done this before," Adia said.

  "Yes. When I was little." I glanced to my mother who nodded. "It's not a bad thing, just a way to help me remember the finer details."

  "Finer details make you sick," Vanessa's voice dropped to a whisper.

  "Not anymore," I whispered back. "Right, Xee?"

  "That's right. Only sexy stuff makes her squirm now." Xany snickered.

  "Xee," I reprimanded before turning back to Vanessa. "I have to, baby. You can watch with Mal, okay?"

  "I don't like these choices," she said with an air of resignation.

  "I know. Me either." She rested her forehead against mine and sighed, her faint nod the final go-ahead. I kissed her softly and she let me go. If she's acting on Mal's credence, she really does trust him. "All right, Adia." I stood from Vanessa's lap. "Let's go."

  "Oh good, finally." She held her hand out to me and, with one last glance over my shoulder to my mother, who looked on with less worry than I expected, I let Adia lead me outside.

  ***

  A fire blazed in the pit as Adia set about the area, her vampire trophies tucked securely back in her pouch. I looked on as she stoked the fire high so that it melted the snow around us. She laid out a thick layer of skins on the ground for me to sit. I did so, wrapping my arms around myself as I watched her cast the sacred circle. Sage burned heavily in abalone shells placed around us. Adia used a feather to brush the smoke over me several times.

  In the glow of the kitchen window, Vanessa's silhouette gazed out. Mal wasn't far behind her. I offered her a smile, which seemed to relax our bond a little bit. I hurt her so much, caused her so much worry. Since the first moment we met, I've tormented her.

  "Spirits don't like the way you think," Adia paused her incoherent mumbling to address me.

  "What don't they like about it?"

  "The way you blame yourself for things." She spread some powdery substance on the ground. It looked like salt or flour. "And the voices that follow you."

  "Nothing follows me." I glanced away from her as the weight of my own lie pressed in on my shoulders.

  "Everything follows you." Adia sat cross-legged on the skins adjacent from me, our postures mirrored though she appeared much slighter under the circumstances. She barely looked twelve let alone seventeen.

  "Do you commune with spirits the same way my mother does?"

  "Uh huh. Anadaya doesn't like the deep inbetween, but Dia doesn't mi
nd it." She held her hands out to me and I placed mine on top.

  "What's bending have to do with it?"

  "Everything. The spirit world and the inbetween are sisters. Stray too far from one, meet the other." Adia smiled, her unusual piercing eyes rattled me. Everything else about her matched except her eyes. I wondered if the things she'd seen changed them in some way. "Do you remember how to dream?"

  "You're really creepy, you know that?" I sighed. "I remember how to fall under the vision, yes."

  "Creepy." She perked up like I had complimented her fashion sense. "Dia likes creepy. Okay, now settle down and stop being funny for a minute so we can concentrate."

  "I'm not being funny."

  "Sarcastic is funny, no more." She gave my hands a squeeze.

  "Okay, okay."

  Adia sat with me, knee-to-knee on the skins with our palms together, mine facing down and hers up. Her shoulders relaxed as readiness to commune with whatever it was came over her, settling her features to a smooth, concentrated focus. It aged her, in a way, and for the first time I saw her experience and not her years.

  "You are guarded."

  "I'm sorry?" I started and she gripped my hands.

  "Walls are thick around you." She opened her eyes, the blue even more piercing than before. "Let me in."

  "I am…"

  "Tla, you are not. Shawnee is worried about her mates, worried about job, untrusting of Dia. That's not open."

  "Have you ever met any Two-Spirit people?" The question blurted out my mouth before I had a chance to filter any of it.

  "Yes, of course." She let go of my hands and we relaxed back into posture. "Why?"

  "Are they like me?" I took a deep breath and tried to be less closed to this process.

  "Less feral but yes, similar." Adia closed her eyes again and I followed her lead more appropriately this time. Feral. I still had difficulty accepting that about me. A feral-ish Breeder doesn't make any sense.

  Smoke of the smoldering sage settled in my nose as my breathing evened. Relax, let her guide you. Your mother is a few yards away, everyone is. Drowsiness pressed on my eyelids, leaving me with a sinking sensation. The ground moved beneath me, or I thought it did. The hand of sleep pulled me, deeper, downward, into comfortable bedding and a warm blanket.