“My mother had tucked me into my bed for the night and left to put our cow in the barn and then gather wood for a coming storm. I never knew exactly what happened until I was older, but she was attacked and left for dead in the barn and I was taken to the convent of the Sisters of the Four Gods in Tuscany.”
“Wait, are they connected to the Church of the Four Gods that Kieran was talking about at the Wolf Pack Pub when we were eating dinner there?” recalled Zane.
“Yes. They put me into a cell and chained me to the wall; all while I was crying for my mother. Then they told me she was dead, but I remember thinking they were wrong. I knew my mother was alive and would save me. I don’t remember much from that time except I was punished repeatedly when I refused to do what they asked.”
“What the hell could they want a five-year-old to do,” asked Zane, agitation showing in his voice.
Sighing, David knew his answer might cause his mate to reject him but he plowed on. “Every day I was made to stand in the middle of a room where I had to recite different prayers until I could say them from memory. I refused a lot, and was punished for it.”
“Is that how you got the scars on the back of your legs?”
“Yes. I was caned for that and so many other things. When my mother showed up, she’d sneak into my cell and rub a healing salve on the welts.”
“Wait!” exclaimed Zane. “Your mother showed up? Why the hell didn’t she take you away from there?”
Taken aback by the force and logic of Zane’s question, David paused.I better go back to square one so my mate understands everything.“My mother,” explained David, “survived the beating, but it took a long time for her to heal. Our neighbor who lived on the other side of the mountain came by to check on us after the storm and found her unconscious in the barn. He brought her into our house and discovered I was gone. He had a terrible choice to make…go after me or save my mother. Luckily for me he saved her. When she recovered, she began her search for me. It took her two years, but by that time, I was fully immersed in my role as a High Priest.”
Avoiding eye contact with Zane, David gritted his teeth, feeling guilty at the way he’d treated his mother then. “One day, when I was walking to the Church of the Four Gods, my keeper fell and sent me back to get help. It was the first time I’d been alone since I was kidnapped and the feeling was amazing. So as soon as I was out of my keeper’s sight, I went into the woods that lined the path we were on so I could do what every seven old year boy wanted to do…play. I’d been forbidden to do that, but I still remembered the games I played with my mother.
“Suddenly, my mother stepped out from behind a tree. I was petrified, sure she was a ghost. I started to run away but she grabbed my arm and told me she was there to take me home. To my great sorrow now, I refused and told her I was a High Priest and that she couldn’t possibly love me if she wanted to take me away from my calling. She started to cry, begging me to go with her right away but I wouldn’t. I broke loose and ran all the way back to the Convent, scared she was going to follow and kidnap me.
“Just as I got there, the High Priestess was leaving and she grabbed my arm, wanting to know why I was crying and where my keeper was. I told her about the fall and that I was sent back to get help…but I never told her about my mother. To this day, I can’t explain why but something inside me prevented me from saying anything.”
“I think you were protecting your mother,” Zane said, softly.
“Maybe.”
“What happened then?” asked Zane.
“The High Priestess had another one of my keepers take me back to my room and lock me up. The next day, when my keeper walked me to the Church of the Four Gods, I kept looking into the woods, hoping to see my mother, wondering if she’d been real…but she wasn’t there.”
“Babe, I have a couple of questions.”
“Go ahead, ask me anything.”
“First why did it take your mother so long to heal? A quick shift would have taken care of her injuries, especially if your neighbor had treated them.”
“My mother isn’t a shifter,” David said.
“Huh? Then your father was one?”
“I don’t think so. When I was older my mother told me I didn’t have a father.”
“Then how did she get pregnant with you?”
Shrugging his shoulders, David said, “No idea. Her pregnancy was discovered by her father one day when she was sick and couldn’t stop throwing up. When she couldn’t name the father, she was kicked out of her family and village and told never to come back. She left, turning her back on her family and friends and hiked into the mountains where she found an abandoned house with a barn. She told me the place called to her and she knew it would be where she raised her child.”
“Wow! She was a very strong woman, just like my mother.”
“My mother is still alive,” said David.
Stunned, Zane stared at his mate. “I’m sorry. I thought she died.”
Taking a deep breath, then letting it go, David continued. “After that meeting in the woods, I didn’t see my mother again for a couple of weeks. Then one evening when I was led back to my room to be chained up for the night, my mother was there, mopping the floor. When my keeper turned her back to get the chain, I looked at my mother and she was holding a finger to her lips, warning me to be quiet. I was speechless so she had nothing to fear. After my keeper locked the chain to my collar, she asked my mother how much longer before she finished cleaning my room. After my mother answered, my keeper told her to finish up and make sure she locked the door behind her.
“I remember sitting down on my bed, watching my mother, wondering what she was doing there. When she finished, she opened my door and peeked out. Closing it quietly, she then sat next to me on my bed. That evening, my mother told me what had happened to her the night I was kidnapped and that she never stopped looking for me. It was so confusing, I didn’t know what to think because in my mind I was the High Priest who was supposed to save the world.
“And now my mother was asking me to abandon everyone who was counting on me…I didn’t know what to do and I began to cry. Looking back, I realized the High Priestess had done a real head job on a five year old child. By the time I was seven, I honestly believed what she’d told me. Anyway, my mother gathered me in a hug and held me until I stopped crying. Then she told me everything would be all right, tucked me into bed, and kissed me good-night.”
