‘You look amazing,’ I sent to him.
He gave a soft growl. ‘Amazing doesn’tbegin to cover how you look, my dear.That red lipstick is driving mecrazy.’
I smiled and puckered my lips.
Sadie’s wedding was in a rose garden at oneof the pack members’ house. It was a full moon and the sun had just set. Theaisle was lined with white flower petals and tea lights. It felt magical. A manstood at the altar with a large Native American headdress and he was holding adagger encrusted with rubies.
I took a deep breath and took in his scent.He wasn’t a werewolf or a witch but he didn’t smell human. Kai chuckled besideme.
“Trying to figure out what he is?”
I nodded.
“Shamans are their own species. They areclosest to spirit and some of them are shape shifters, so they know of ourkind. They have been performing our mating ceremonies since I can remember.”
I looked closer at the man. He could havebeen forty or seventy it was hard to tell. He had a tattoo of a jaguar on hisarm, and a sharpened bone hung from a thread on his neck. His wrists werewrapped in leather cuffs and adorned with turquoise.
Kai leaned in and whispered. “Legend saysthat the Shamans hold the power of our fertility. Long ago, any female werewolfcould give birth to pups. It didn’t matter if she was mated or not. But thenthe werewolves did something to anger the Natives and the Natives made all ofthe female werewolves infertile. Unless they were mated and blessed by theGreat Spirit in a ceremony, they couldn’t reproduce.”
Chills ran up and down my arms. Just then,the Shaman looked at me. I locked eyes with him and everything around me froze.Kai was stuck leaning into my ear and all of the seated wolves were frozen. Itwas like time had stopped. What the hell was going on? I felt my heart ratepick up. The Shaman came walking towards me. I put myself in a fighting stance,unsure of what was happening. I didn’t like that my pack was helpless ifsomeone were to attack. I was about to change into my wolf when the Shamanspoke.
“I come in peace, little sister,” the Shamansaid to me with his hand raised.
“Did you do this?” I gestured around.
He nodded. “I have a message for you, sister.My name is Nahuel. Spirit has blessed you with a great purpose. My ancestorshave cursed the werewolves for a long time. Werewolves were greedy hunters anddidn’t share their meat. They became territorial and didn’t share their land. Theyreproduced quickly and were wasteful like the humans. We did not foresee thatour curse would reduce the population of the werewolves so quickly. We onlywanted to teach them a lesson, to respect Mother Earth and all of herinhabitants. Now, the werewolves are on the brink of extinction and the balanceis being threatened.”
My mouth hung open at his admission tocursing our kind and reducing our population. He went on.
“Vampires are a threat to humans and werewolvesprotect humans. Witches are neutral to all species. If everyone serves theirpurpose, then there is balance. But there is an alarming amount of vampires inrelation to the amount of werewolves. If the vampires chose to attack, theycould wipe out the werewolves and eventually the human race. This cannothappen. I perform mating ceremonies to pay a debt to the werewolves because thecurse my people laid on them cannot be undone. But I perform them all toolittle, your presence here will change that. As the Matefinder you will bringtogether many mated pairings, with Spirits help.”
He knows what I am? I was breathing deeply now.I think I’m having a panic attack, I thought. I don’t know what made methink of Isabelle and Tristan but I blurted out, “Our pack member Isabelle ismarried to a human and they are in love. They have human children and arehappy. How can she have a mate waiting out there for her? It doesn’t seemright. I don’t understand how mated pairs are brought together, so how can I bea Matefinder?”
The man nodded kindly, seeming unperturbed bymy random thoughts. “Nothing seems right on this side of the veil. In thespirit world, it makes more sense. You have many loves in your lifetime whetheryou are human, vampire, witch or werewolf. People you have chosen to share yourenergy with, people who lift your spirit. But then, there are soul mates. Soulmates choose to spend the most time together in a lifetime. They challenge eachother, support one another, and grow together. It’s the hardest and mostrewarding pairing.” He glanced at Kai and smiled. “Your pack mate Isabelle willshare a good life with Tristan but if Spirit allows, she will also share herlife with her mate. As a werewolf, you are divided, your human half and yourwolf half. Isabelle’s human half loves Tristan and her wolf half respects him.But when you meet your mate, both halves love that person. You become one.”
That made sense to me. I felt settledthinking of it that way. I nodded.
“So that’s the message you have for me? Myrace is dying and vampires could take over, so I was sent here to find mates?Well, I have only found three mates in about two weeks, so it might take acouple of decades to find enough to grow my race.” It felt a little ridiculoussaying it like that. I hadn’t meant for it to sound so sarcastic but it did.
“No, little sister. My message for you isthat, in the near future, Spirit is going to download you with hundreds of matecouplings at once. It will be scary and somewhat debilitating. After thisinformation gets out, everyone will know who you are and all of the packs willhave benefitted from your gift, so they will vow to protect you. You are tocome out to your kind. It’s the only way to ensure you are safe. Your motherhid from her people and died a young woman. If you expose yourself at the righttime, to as many of your kind as you can, then you will ensure your safety. Youwill unite your people with one common goal. As pups start being born andchildren’s laughter is heard among the packs, they will know it is so becauseof you. So when the vampires come for you, let every wolf fight in your honor.”His face took on a menacing look. The hairs on my arms were standing.
I swallowed hard. “Why would the vampirescome for me?” Hundreds of mate pairings at once? Download? Like I was acomputer? My head was spinning.
He looked down at his dagger and then up atthe moon. “Because of the balance. You have the gift of finding mates for yourkind. But you also have the gift of giving fertility to female vampires. It’sin your blood. Literally. If a female vampire drinks your blood, she could matewith a male vampire and have a vampire child.” He sighed, resigned.
I stumbled over Kai’s frozen body and beganpanting on the grass.
“And they know this? The vampires?” Ishuddered. The thought of small children acting like those deadly vampires inthe woods made me sick. The Shaman helped me stand.
“Their queen knows and she will stop atnothing to make you her blood slave. Good luck, Aurora. Spirit has equipped youwith all that you need to fight for the Light but there is also Darkness insideof you. You must embrace all of your powers to become who you truly are.”
I stared into his seemingly endless eyes andsaw something flicker and an image take shape. I saw a flash of an image ofSylvia putting her hands on my head and mist pouring out of my body. I also sawthe image of my father putting a cigarette out on the palm of my hand when Iwas 9. I shuttered. Maybe there was Darkness inside of me. Thinking of theabuse I endured ignited a ball of rage inside of me.
“I can’t hold time much longer,” he told me.He pulled a black apache tear from his satchel. “If you need my council, justbury this in the earth. I am here as your guide and I owe a debt to yourpeople.” He nodded and walked up to the front.
I sat down in shock just as the peoplestarted moving and talking again. They all looked around confused and took in adeep breath. Kai grabbed my arm. “You smell like magic.”
I sighed. “I will tell you later. This isSadie’s day.”
