Eleven #5
“Unlike you, Cole loves his brother and would have done anything to save him. Matthias knew that and preyed on it.”
“All of this,” Abel hissed at Cole, “is your fault.”
“I really hope so.”
“Merritt and his power, his land, his friends, magic that moves bones, none of it would have come near us if you hadn’t wanted him.”
Cole was quiet, and after a moment I glanced at him.
“He’s my mate,” Cole told his uncle. “I was always going to find him, it was inevitable. But really, you’re the one who moved the pack. Maybe that was the true alpha’s guiding hand.”
I liked the idea that his father, not as a ghost, but as a power still in his sons’ lives, had worked some magic to have Abel relocate the pack.
Once we reached my land, I knelt in the grass, and Cole did as well, yanking Abel down to his knees between us.
There was yelling in the distance suddenly, and four bodies appeared in front of us, one of them the enormous headless man I had dispatched. His head came last. Cole was stunned, even more so when Teague stepped out from behind an oak and looked at him.
I moved quickly, bolting back down the hill a short way to the pack property.
“Everything’s fine, a friend moved the bodies,” I announced to everyone. “Return to the house and prepare the feast. Also, we all need to watch Narah and Justin. We want them off the property as quickly as possible. Your alpha will rejoin you shortly.”
My reputation with the pack was good. I had saved their children, saved their new alpha, and helped keep them all safe. Everyone moved quickly to follow my orders.
When I returned to the grove, I found Cole still staring at Teague and saw that Abel had passed out. He was lying face down in the grass.
“What happened?” I asked Cole.
“I don’t… Abel looked at Teague—that is Teague, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he glanced over there at him, and then down he went.”
“He must’ve scared him. That happens sometimes.”
“I suspect he did it on purpose for you.”
“For me?”
“Yeah. The way he watched you when you left, I think something occurred to him.”
I turned to Teague. “I need to change and burn him to ash in the cleansing flame.”
He shook his head, not wanting to be rude to Cole and speak into my mind as he normally did. For whatever reason, he’d allowed Cole to see him, so it was important to communicate with him.
“It has to be me. This is what I was made for, my true purpose,” I reasoned with my oldest friend. “And I can feel that I’m supposed to.”
Second shake of his head, and then his hand went sideways, making a cutting motion.
“I felt my power rise.”
“No,” came the word in my mind. Clearly, he was tired of playing charades with me for Cole’s benefit.
“I did,” I told him. “I felt my power rise, which I’m supposed to––”
“Hey.”
I turned to Cole.
“I think, however you give people to the land, that’s what should happen now.”
“But Cole, I’m a––”
“I know what you are, but maybe that’s not you anymore.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, you changed. You told me you did. And evidence of that change is me, right?”
“You?”
“Your goddess, she made you,” he stated. “Then later, she allowed you to be different than the others she created.”
“Yes.”
“And perhaps, as a result of that, you’ve been given the gift of friendship, community, family, and finally…love.”
My mind was reeling. It couldn’t be that simple. I was still a creature of vengeance and enmity and––
“No,” Cole said, shaking his head.
“It’s not that easy or––”
“You’re loved now, Mere, and I suspect, for quite a long time. The rest of it, your original purpose, you need to let go of. That hasn’t been you, except when forced, for a very long time. Don’t you agree?”
“You don’t know what you’re––”
“I do, though, and so do you.”
The goddess had given me her blessing when she infused me with her power. Perhaps I was still an instrument of justice, but not death.
I was, it turned out, a primordial being with a mate, friends, a teenager to look after as well as an elf, on occasion, and a siren who didn’t like to do dishes. I needed to stick to protection and not punishment. My mate was right—it didn’t suit me anymore.
“Hey, do me a favor,” Cole said, as though my life wasn’t changing in front of my eyes. “Thank Teague for my gorgeous robe, will you?”
I took a breath, feeling my power curl up like a cat in front of a fire, settle, and sleep.
“Well?” Cole pressed me.
“Thank him yourself,” I told my mate.
He smiled at me. “Thank you so much for my beautiful robe, my friend,” he called out.
After a moment, I heard the reply in my head. “He says you’re welcome.”
“All elves look like him?”
“We can discuss this later,” I told him. “Right now, I need you to come over here and get on your knees next to me.”
Cole moved quickly.
“Put your head down, don’t speak, and no matter what, don’t look at them. Promise me.”
“Look at who?”
“Just…do what I say.”
“I promise.” He tipped his head down.
“I have to let them know you belong to me.”
“Good. I want everyone to know that.”
“Also, stop being interested in Teague.”
“I’m not. You’re the only one who interests me, Merritt Baker.”
I could taste the truth in his words.