Micah wouldn’t take a chance with Jim’s life.
He reached out and lightly stroked the man’s chin, where the evening stubble growing there felt rough against his fingers. A visitor had arrived at the house not too long before. A woman, human woman, but Micah didn’t care. She wasn’t a threat, apparently. Elain had run out to greet her, and now most of them were talking in the living room.
He cuddled closer to Jim and cast out his mind. In this way, he was much stronger than his cousins. When he quieted his mind, he could take a look around for some distance away from the house.
A sort of mental patrolling of the grounds, so to speak.
He relaxed. No threats to be found.
Micah pressed a kiss to Jim’s forehead and allowed sleep to take him.
To say Elain was in emotional shock wasn’t just an understatement, it was a flat-Earth assertion. No words could describe how numb she felt as she tried to read the letter. Between her shaking hands and her tears, she found she couldn’t make out the writing. Not to mention she kept looking at the picture. She closed her eyes and cried, trying to stay quiet, but couldn’t.
Someone softly tapped on the bedroom door about ten minutes later. Instinctively, she knew it was Brodey.
“Come in.”
He slipped inside. “Oh, babe,” he softly said upon seeing her state. He closed the door behind him and curled around her on the bed, his green eyes looking sad and mournful. Gently, he took the papers from her and gathered her close. Once he knew she was comfortably nestled in his arms, he pressed his cheek against her temple.
With his lips near her ear, barely louder than the sound of breathing, he read Maureen’s letter to her. She listened with her eyes closed as the soothing sound of his voice and his familiar scent comforted her.
Chapter Three
My Dearest Elain,
Please believe me when I say how sorry I am not to be there for you right now, to witness the beautiful woman you’ve no doubt grown into. If your father, Liam, isn’t there, then I’m sure he is wishing he was. You were such a wanted and loved baby. I cannot begin to tell you how much so. Letting you go, even for a minute, was never in our plans. It was the last thing we wanted. And that’s why your father had to leave, to try to protect us.
I don’t know how much Carla has told you about your history. When we revealed the truth to her, she was in shock over it. She might have convinced herself it was a hallucination or hypnosis or something. Maybe she’s humoring me when I tell her information to pass on to you. Maybe you know nothing about who you are or where you came from. Truth is stranger than fiction. You come from a long line of wolf shape-shifters. Both your father and I are Alphas.
Maybe you’ve discovered you like to run. Or at times, when you’ve been angry, you felt like you could just tear something apart. Or perhaps you listened to the mournful howl of a wolf and felt a kindred spirit. Maybe the sight of a full moon fills you with a wonder you can’t begin to comprehend as the night lights up around you like the midday sun. It’s not just bad Hollywood movies. We really can turn into wolves. We have no guarantee that you can also shape-shift. Not all children can. But with both myself and your father being Alphas, meaning we are very strong shifters, it’s likely you will have the ability.
What does this mean? It means you may have found the love of your life already. You might have felt an irresistible urge to sink your teeth into his flesh and claim him. Or if you’re lucky enough to have met another shape-shifter, he might have already claimed you. If not, if you’ve gotten married already before you read this and you think you’re in love…don’t be surprised if some day you are swept out to sea by the strength of emotion you randomly feel for someone you meet. They are meant to be your One, although in my family’s Clan, the Code of the Ancients prohibits taking someone who already has a mate.
There is so much I wish to tell you and teach you, and so much I cannot because I’m not there with you to answer your questions. If you haven’t met with any other shape-shifters by now, you need to track down the Lyall brothers. They used to live in Arcadia, Florida. Their names are Aindreas, Brodey, and Cailean. Their parents used to help other shape-shifters. Your father met with their parents, Charles and Ellie, to arrange help for us. Unfortunately, we suspect someone killed them because of that, to keep us from getting to safety.
As far-fetched as this sounds, there’s this thing called a blood oath that someone in your father’s family swore to centuries ago. In exchange for letting a woman marry her love, her family wanted the groom’s family to turn over the first daughter born to an Alpha male in the line. Meaning you.
Needless to say, no way in hell were we about to turn you over to anyone. Especially those creepy jerks.
You need to be very careful. There are people out there who will try to get to you, to use you, or maybe even abduct you to satisfy the damn oath. We want nothing but happiness for you, with the person you choose, or who chooses you.
I want you to find the Lyall brothers. Talk to them. Tell them your mother is Maureen Alexander. I’m a cousin of their mother, Ellie. Tell them your father is Liam Pardie. Hopefully they won’t hold it against him that his Clan had the blood oath with the Abernathy Clan. The Abernathys are the ones who wanted you. Needless to say, stay away from those guys. If you cannot find them, then search in Maine for a man named Jocko Connelly. He knows my family. He is a shape-shifter, too. He can also help you. I have two brothers who are, as of right now, still alive. That’s not to say they’ll still be alive, or even living under the same names when you eventually get this letter. They are both Alpha shape-shifters, too. I don’t recommend finding them because of the Abernathys.
Under no circumstances should you attempt to locate or contact anyone in your father’s family, even if you find them. To do so could lead to you being kidnapped by them.
I wish I could have been there to help you through all of life, the normal hurdles and the shape-shifter ones as well. I love your father with all my heart. I know it’s soul sickness taking me now, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I love him so much, I can’t live without him. He’s as much a part of me as I am a part of him. I fell in love with him at first sight. It’s not just fairy-tale nonsense. He looked so handsome. He was working at a restaurant in Spokane as a waiter, and I knew the second I laid eyes on him that he was my One, and that he was a shape-shifter. I dragged him outside into the alley behind the restaurant. I don’t know who was more shocked, me or him. But right there I marked him and we went home to my place. We got married the next day. I’m giving my rings to Carla to pass on to you. They belonged to your father’s mother and were the rings he placed on my finger.
One day, hopefully, Liam will be able to find you, if he hasn’t already. Please don’t be angry with him. He did what we thought was best to protect you. I love Carla like a sister, and I know she loves you and will be a good mother to you. I couldn’t ask for a better person to raise you since I can’t be there for you myself, and I can’t risk finding someone in my family to give you to. They might feel beholden to the blood oath and give you to the Abernathys. Please tell her when you read this, or let her read it yourself if you want, that I cannot begin to tell her how much I appreciate what she’s done for us, and for you.
As I lie here writing this, you’re lying on the bed next to me, only six days old. You are a beautiful baby. I hope your blue eyes don’t change color. I can see your father in your face, although Carla says you look like me. I think she’s angry with your father, because she refuses to talk about him. He did what he had to. Although Carla doesn’t believe it, I am ninety-six years old as of two months ago, although most people think I’m in my late twenties. Your father was one hundred and sixty-four six months ago. He looked like he was in his thirties. I was born here in the States, in Maine, at our Clan compound. Your father was born in Ireland. I tell you all this because you will notice your aging start to slow down. Everyone will envy you, how youthful you look. But the truth of the matter is, as a shape-shifter, even if you don’t shift, you will have many of the characteristics, the physical strength, keen senses, and long life. Please avoid getting any bloodwork done. It could raise questions about you, draw notice from the wrong people that you need to avoid. You most likely rarely got sick as a child.