Rise of the Lycans: Shadows And Secrets

Chapter 20 – Bar

Maeve

I turned and tossed most of the night thinking about what Alpha Lachlann had said. “Ye’ll die wi’oot an Alpha bond.”

Jack had told me something similar, but I thought he was trying to scare me into giving in and being with him. He said that most humans died birthing pups.

Was it true? Would I die having this baby? How did I not know this?

There were whispers about the problems with the mate bonds, and very few pups were born, but I didn’t know much about humans. The Luna Queen was human and she had three lycan pups. If something was mentioned, then I had missed it because I thought I was a shifter. I knew I needed to find a doctor and quick. Remington had mentioned looking for one last month, but I refused. Shifter doctors would all be loyal to the Alpha King, and there were so few lycans in the world. I was far along now that a shifter doctor might figure it out now and alert the royal family.

My plan was to wait until I went into labor and go to a human hospital, claiming to be nine months pregnant. It’s not like the baby would be born with fur and a tail. Even shifter pups looked like normal human babies. They grew into regular children and teenagers. They shifted at eighteen. At least… werewolf shifters did. Nan mentioned that the royal lycans were different because they had been able to shift since they were pups, and the other lycan pups had to wait until twenty-five.

There was a lot I didn’t know about lycans, and I suddenly wished I had asked Persephone more questions. Kicking off the blankets, I shuffled to the kitchenette to find something to eat. Something to calm my nerves. The clock told me it was four in the morning, but my anxiety told me it was snack o’clock.

I shoved a slice of bread into the toaster and set the electric kettle for some tea. My eyes kept drifting to my cell phone, wondering if I should call Rex. His mother is human, and she had three pups. There had to be a secret I didn’t know. Tears started to prick my eyes, and I needed to hear his voice.

I longed for his comfort.

My fingers unlocked the screen on my phone, and I scrolled through the list of contacts. The painful reminder that I didn’t have his phone number cut right through me. And why would I have it? Rex never gave it to me. He had never called to check on me. He wanted to forget about me.

The pop of the toaster told me my warm crust of bread was ready. I set the phone down, and swiped the tears away before reaching for the new jar of marmalade. The lid proved to be a challenge for me, and I cursed before I tried again. My hands felt a bit swollen and I couldn’t seem to grip the lid firmly.

Grunting, I gave a firm twist, and the jar slipped from my hands, shattering into a sticky mess at my feet.

I heard a loud meowing from the other side of the door and yanked it open. A wide-eyed and fully alert Jinx was in the corridor. His tail swished, and his ears twitched.

“Maeve?” Kit rushed up the stairs from the pub kitchen.

“You sneaky wee clipe,” I eyed the tattle-telling cat. He meowed again and brushed up against my leg.

“Is everything alright?” Kit asked, like a worried mother hen.

“I dropped a jar of marmalade, and Mister Whiskers over here has great hearing. Does he ever sleep?”

“Demons don’t sleep,” she laughed.

“Demons?”

Her eyes widened for amoment before she schooled her features. “He’s a naughty wee devil cat,” she said. “I mean, he stole the wing right off the goose this evening.”

She had a point. The sneaky little cat had slipped into the kitchen while Mars was cooking with his back turned to the resting goose and snatched a wing. He was probably here hoping to get a snack.

“Nothing wrong with wanting a snack,” I reached down to scratch his head, trying to recall if I had ever noticed him sleeping. Most cats napped throughout the day, but not Jinx. He was more like an alert guard dog slinking in the shadows and watching everyone.

“Let me help you clean this up,” Kit offered and rushed down the hallway to the big closet where we kept the cleaning supplies.

Jinx slunk in behind her, and a moment later, she stepped out with a spray bottle and some rags in hand. She kicked the door closed and returned to my apartment. I offered to take the supplies and clean it myself, but she insisted on doing it herself.

Hoping the toast was still warm, I grabbed it from the toaster and chewed on it plain. After being here for two months, I realized Kit, Mars, and Cadbury had never asked personal questions about my past and hadn’t offered much about theirs. They could have been a team of unassuming mob hitmen or part of a witness protection program, and no one would have noticed because they seemed to blend right in.

Kit was middle aged, with short bobbed brown hair. She had fair skin, brown eyes, and an average build. There was nothing that really stuck out about her, and I couldn’t help feeling that she preferred it that way.

The three of them had all accepted me as Remington’s niece and had been nice to me. They all worked and lived here, so they knew about shifters, vampires, and mages. Still… no one asked questions and I wondered what Remington had told them. There was a loyalty to him that seemed to go beyond the well-paid-employee-type of loyal. Like the same loyalty one would have for an Alpha.

“Kit, how long have you known Remington?”

“For as long as I can remember,” she answered simply. “You’re all cleaned up. Would you like some tea before I go?”

“No, thank you. I think I’m going to crawl back into bed.”

Kit left with the dirty rags in hand and I waited a moment before I slowly pulled the door open again. A part of me was expecting to find Jinx stalking the corridor, but it was empty. Tip-toeing down the hallway, I stopped at the supply closet expecting to hear the scratching and meowing of the trapped cat. I pressed my ear to the door and held my breath.

Silence.

I hesitated for a second before reaching for the door knob. I pulled it open just as a fine mist of black smoke evaporated. I blinked to clear my vision, and scanned the ground. There was no sign of Jinx.

“Jinx?” I whispered the cats name and stepped inside to make sure he wasn’t caught on something. “Bad kitty?” I called out to him, but there was nothing.

I stepped further inside the closet and nearly tripped over the mop. My hand shot to the back wall to brace myself, and shimmering light suddenly appeared. An illuminating outline of a door on the back wall of the closet had just appeared… as if by magic. I didn’t see a handle, but I touched the door with slight pressure and it slipped open with ease.

Pulsing strobe lights greeted me, but I heard no sound. Looking through the door, I saw the black metal stairs descending through a haze of black mist, but nothing more. I knew there was a secret pub or wine bar downstairs for other supernaturals, and a great idea hit me.

If I could find a mage or seer, maybe I could find out what my future holds… if I had a future.

There was a flicker of terrifying excitement rushing through me. My heart thundered in my chest, and I licked my parched lips. Anything was possible down here, and if I had any self-restraint, I would have returned to my room.

I stepped onto the first step, and the door behind me disappeared. Music and chatter floated up to me, but I was still on the other side of a black mist. Remington had said there were enchantments, but this was wild. I never saw anyone coming and going through the cleaning closet, so it could have been an entrance for Remington… or Jinx.

I continued down the stairs.

If Remington finds out, I’ll just blame Jinx.

With each step I took, sinking further into the depths of Dead Man’s Pint, I felt the energy shift and the temperature drop. I stepped out of the fog and rushed down the last few steps to a dark corner. This place was so much bigger than the pub above. It was hard to believe anything like this was located in the middle of Edinburgh.

The walls were stone, the floor black, and the décor was modern. This place was giving ritzy Manhattan club vibes. Unlike the mahogany bar upstairs, this one was a long sleek dark glass and it was three times as long. Black velvety booths with privacy curtains were tucked all along the walls. People were seated at black high-top tables around a stage in the center of the room.

What ever they were drinking, they were drinking out of copper, silver, and gold goblets. I was expecting glassware, but this wasn’t an ordinary pub. The sign on the opposite side of the room stated, Black Room Drink. Red Room Play.

This was definitely the black room, and I could only imagine what the red room was. Everyone seemed to be well dressed, and I was suddenly aware of my flannel pajama dress and wool socks. The music shifted, and I recognized the song by Duran Duran. I stood in darkness, humming the lyrics to Come Undone, and tried to summonthe courage to step out of the shadow.

For two months, I’ve been living upstairs in a bubble, completely unaware of what was happening under my feet. My hand moved over my baby bump, reminding me that I needed to find someone who could help me. I had lived my entire life believing in shifters, mages, and vampires, but there was something more here.

A female carrying a tray of goblets moved close to me, and I noticed a long tail hovering a few inches off the ground behind her. She was beautiful, but I had no idea what she was. Another man seated at the bar had big horns extending from the top of his head. He looked almost human, but he wasn’t. The female beside him wore a see-through dress and had small, leathery-looking wings protruding from her back.

“Maeve?” Remington had suddenly appeared beside me out of thin air.

“Where did you come from?”

“I could ask you the same thing?” His lips tipped up in amusement.

“There was a door that appeared in the supply closet and I came right down these stairs,” I pointed to the stairs. “Did you teleport or something?”

“Demons can move through shadows, Maeve.”

“What?” My mind started to spin. I knew what I heard, but there was no way. The bartender lifted his head up and his eyes looked reptilian. A woman with short blonde hair turned her head, and I noticed that her ears were pointed. The room started to sway.

“Tinkerbell over there has pointed ears,” I giggled nervously. “What the hell is going on here?” Panic surged through me.

“It’s okay, just breathe,” Remington tried to calm me.

Demons.

The story about the kelpies… He was trying to tell me something.

Jinx jumped down from a barstool and turned into black smoke before he materialized into a large black dog.

“I’m…I’m…” I blinked a few times, not believing what I was seeing. “I’m hallucinating,” I breathed. Jinx wasn’t just a dog—he was a three-headed dog.

Fear consumed me as I stared at the hellhound. My vision blurred, and there just wasn’t enough air down here.

“Maeve,” his voice sounded like it was coming from underwater.

“Jinx…” The word left me in a whisper before my knees gave out, and the numbing darkness welcomed me.

In dreams, we enter a world that’s entirely our own. A world where the desires of our hearts become a reality.

Rex lay stretched out on the patch of grass beside the river, sleeping in the sunlight. He was naked and just as magnificent as he had always been. I wanted nothing more than to touch him and feel him pressed against me.

Not daring to take my eyes off him, I took three steps closer to him. The grass was soft and warm on the soles of my bare feet. I felt a gentle breeze caress my skin and realized I was also naked. This was my dream, and I was going to do what I longed to do.

Without hesitation, I lowered myself beside him and pressed my lips to his. They felt like heaven as that fresh, woodsy amber scent hit me. His natural scent was intoxicating. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to smell something in a dream or if my mind was filling in the blanks, but I greedily inhaled it.

His hand shot to the back of my head, and I realized his eyes were open. Rex moaned and deepened the kiss. His tongue plunged into mine, tasting me, consuming me like a man who had been starved. Small sparks of electricity threatened to set me on fire, and I was unable to pull back. I wanted to stay lost in this dream forever.

“Maeve,” he pressed his forehead against mine. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I missed you, too,” I nearly cried and kissed him again.

“My sweet little kitten,” he kissed and licked along my neck. “Where are you?”

“I’m right here with you,” I replied, feeling the desperate need to be closer to him.

“Where have you been hiding?” His hand remained on the back of my head, holding me close as his other hand stroked my hip.

“It doesn’t matter,” I replied. The real Rex was probably out searching the globe for his true mate. “This is a dream, and I want to enjoy every moment with you.”

“And your dreams always have us naked?” He smirked.

I felt my face heat up. “Not always.”

“Tell me about your dreams, Maeve.” He stroked his fingers through my hair.

“In my dreams, you never push me away,” even as I said it, I saw the pain in his eyes. “In my dreams… you’re my mate, and I’m a shifter. You love me and our pups.”

“Maeve… I do…”

My dream started to fade, and I felt myself starting to wake. Rex reached for me, trying to hang on to me, and I fought to stay in the dream world with him as I was pulled back to reality.

It took a lot of effort to pry my eyes open from deep sleep. Groaning, I blink away the haze, trying to remember my strange dream.

My hand stopped on my belly, and I could swear it was bigger today than yesterday. Like every morning, my thoughts drifted to Rex, and the sting in my heart only seemed to grow with the pup.I didn’t have the luxury of missing or wanting someone who wasn’t mine. Someone who could never be mine.

I rolled onto my side and found Nessie on the pillow beside me. Holding her close had always brought me comfort, but now she only seemed to remind me of Rex.

“You’re looking a bit… peely wally,” Kit said, pushing the door open. She held a tray of food and smiled. “You should eat.”

I normally kept my door locked, and she had never just walked right in. My eyes fell on the new jar of marmalade sitting on the counter, and I suddenly recalled breaking one in the kitchen.

“Thank you, Kit-kat,” Remington’s voice startled me, and my eyes met his. He stood with his arms crossed in front of the big corner window. Dread settled in my stomach because I had a feeling my dream about the bar was no dream.

Kit set the food tray on the small table beside the sofa and dashed right out. Remington was oddly quiet, which meant something was happening behind his dark eyes. Details of last night started swimming around in my head, along with so many questions.

“You’re a demon?” I blurt out before I could think it through. It was a silly question because he always appeared to be human.

There was something about him that bordered supernatural, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Somehow, deep in my subconscious… I had always known it. He was always kind and gentle with me, but a monster lurked beneath his handsome exterior. I had caught a glimpse of the darkness when Alpha Lachlann tried to claim me.

“I am,” he replied casually, confirming what I already knew.

“The creatures last night… in the bar… were they all demons?”

“Last week.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve been asleep for seven days. Today is Hogmanay.”

“Hogmanay?” It was Scotland’s biggest celebration of the year. “It’s New Year’s Eve? How is that possible?”

“You had a panic attack before you fainted, and it was stressing the baby, so I helped you sleep.”

“You used magic on me?” My hand immediately dropped to my baby bump. I thought it felt heavier, and I was right.

“Growing a pup is hard enough on a mother because of the accelerated gestation, but growing a lycan takes more out of you.”

“You know a lot about lycans?”

“I know a little,” he nodded. “But I’ve been trying to find someone who might know more to help you.”

That’s what I was trying to do last night. I needed to find a seer or witch or both. I had to figure out what my future held and if there was something that could help me survive the birth. There was no way in hell I’d let this baby live in a world without me.

“So… about last night,” I tried again, unable to accept it had been an entire week. “Are there different types of demons?”

“Please come eat,” he motioned to the food tray.

I wasn’t going to let him distract me with food. “I need answers.”

He sighed and sat down on the sofa, waiting for me to join him. I shuffled over and picked off the toasted warm bread beside the soup.

“Are you a kelpie or something?”

His eyes softened with the question, and he chuckled. “You might be more kelpie than me.”

“Excuse me?”

“Shapeshifting into a kelpie was Balor’s thing.”

He’d mentioned that name before. “Balor was the benevolent demon?”

A spark of emotion flashed in his eyes. “Only a benevolent demon would give up immortality for love.” He almost sounded bitter.

He had become human to be with her. That was the kind of love I read about in books. The kind I had dreamed of. “I think it’s romantic.”

“I knew you would,” he smiled sorrowfully.

“Did you know Balor?”

“He was my brother.”