"I'd like to remind everyone, as the only member of the pack who was around the first time these demons were released, that they wreaked havoc on everything they touched for three days. They didn't just go back to their home dimension."
Damn. Theo hadn't known that or Faith could have made them swear they'd return immediately to where they were from.
"They were angry. I would do the same thing. Drag me from my home without my consent and then make me do horrendous things? I'd want to punish the people who did it too. " Azriel's voice rang out into the room. He was usually quiet during group meetings so Theo knew his younger brother must feel very strongly on this point. Not to mention that it made sense to Theo too. He'd like to think he'd be more mature--and probably would be now that he had Faith--but maybe not before then. He might want to feel he laid out retribution to those who had harmed him or those he loved.
"Since we'll be the ones freeing them perhaps this time they'll leave us alone." Ashlee spoke up from her position next to Tristan, who was remarkably quiet. Her pregnancy was starting to show but as wolves they all would have known for days now since she smelled different. Theo hadn't seen her in a while so this was the first glimpse he was getting of his new niece or nephew.
"Are we really going to rely on the good graces and understanding of one of these things that did this to Theo?" Gabriel pointed at his cheek and Theo forced himself not to flinch or look away. Yes, he was scarred and would always be, even if the demons took their essence out of him, but someone, through the good fortune of whoever decided these things, an extraordinary woman still loved him and found him attractive. He wasn't going to hide from his face, his pain, or his experience anymore. Not now when he had Faith, and he had the chance to fix part of the problem and remove the demons both from inside of him and as a tool their father used to attack them.
"The demons explained their reasoning to us for what happened to me. In their minds, it was justified. Not that it makes it okay what happened to me. I'm not going to pretend that it does. Hell, I spent almost a year of my life running as a wolf to try to escape it but the demons see things differently than we do. It didn't seem to react at all to my face. In fact, it looked at what its colleague did as a sacrifice. It's something like a bee. Once it 'stings' you, it dies. I don't believe it wanted me dead."
Michael stepped forward, his eyes narrowed. "Are you seriously defending this thing's actions? How much damage has it done to you inside?"
Theo shook his head. "Look, I'm not going to pretend I enjoy it, carrying the demon inside me. I don't." Silently, he shuddered thinking of his trips to visit with the demon inside of him. If he never had to that again, it wouldn't be too soon. "And I want it out of my mate instantly if not sooner." Faith touched his back and he smiled gently at her. "But that doesn't change the fact that helping the so-called enemy this time helps us too. What is that expression?" He looked at Faith, hoping she'd followed his train of thought.
She cleared her throat. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"That is true." Tristan's voice rang out clear and silenced the crowd. "Cullen? Can you tell us anything about where dear old dad might keep such a thing?"
Nodding, Cullen smiled which surprised Theo. What did the man have to be happy about? "In this case I can actually shed light on the subject, which is nice for a change. The paper you speak of, well this should come as no surprise to me I suppose, Kendrick and I once agreed to destroy it so the demons could no longer walk the earth. This was, of course, after he stupidly summoned them here in the first place. When the demons reappeared that day to try and take Braden, that was the first time I realized that they were still on this plane."
"There were lots of things about that day that changed things." Tristan spoke vaguely but Theo had witnessed enough of the conversation between Ashlee and his brother in the past to know he referred to the mating between Cullen and Ashlee's sister. He didn't know if he also referred to Faith's healing. Had Ashlee shared that with him? They might never know.
"As I was saying..."
Cullen shot Tristan a look that said he didn't like to be interrupted and Tristan rolled his eyes. As the oldest member of the pack and Tristan's closest advisor it always amazed Theo how much leeway Tristan gave Cullen to be rude. Even his own brothers were not allotted that much antagonizing of their Alpha--especially when he was in front of the pack.
"The book where the spell is stored has a gold cover and binding, made of woven gold threads. Your mother," he glanced at the Kane sons, "made that cover. I saw Kendrick grab it before he took off after killing all the mated pairs. Everything was chaos and I was trying, unsuccessfully, to get to him while I fought off three cursed mated males. I noticed it because it struck me as odd that he would have any interest in your mother's book, after killing her."
Tristan shook his head. "Why would our mother make a cover for a book that contained dark power incantations? Doesn't sound like her. She was more likely to shriek and scream that she wanted it out of the house."
"When your parents met, your mother was quite different." Cullen looked down at the floor and Theo actually felt sorry for him. It always seemed to fall to Cullen to deliver bad news to the Kane brothers about their parents. They virtually worshiped their mother's memory. If Cullen was about tell them something terrible about it he knew there would be an eruption, probably led by Michael and Gabriel, but they would all participate.
But not you. After what's happened to you, somehow, you have more of an ability to recognize that people are complicated and nobody is all good or all bad.
Thanks, I think. Theo appreciated his wolf's effort but what did it say about him that he was so quick to believe his mother--who had snuck the unmated shifter women from their beds at night to hide them from her mate and performed the most sophisticated magic ever done on Westervelt to keep them hidden and safe--had a dark side?
Let's face it. That was a pretty devious act. She snuck around for two days arranging that and betrayed her mate to do it. Even if it was the right thing to do--and it was--in no way was it the act of someone pure of soul and without sophistication.
Theo transferred his gaze to Faith. She stood silently and watched the situation unfolding in front of her. It wouldn't shock or offend her sensibilities to hear his mother had been less than a saint. He knew her inside and out and he knew that some of the qualities she considered her finest were those that allowed her to survive, no matter what the situation. If what he believed about his mother was true, then she and Faith were probably a lot alike, in the best possible ways.
"In the beginning, before she had Michael and through the time of Gabriel's birth, she really liked the power. No one was a bigger supporter of your father issuing Alpha-challenges to his older brother than your mother. I think they both knew Kendrick was the true Alpha of the pack. Even with less group support than his older brother, your father easily defeated your uncle and took the position. Your mother stepped into the Alpha mate roll as if she'd been born to do so."
Michael shrugged. "So did Ashlee when Tristan took it. Our females are highly capable and brilliant. Why shouldn't they rise to a challenge?"
"While I appreciate the compliment, Michael," Ashlee's voice filled with laughter, "I would be just as satisfied being nothing more than Tristan's mate and a member of the pack. Given that he is our Alpha I am thrilled to be the Alpha's mate but if I had a choice, I never would have sought the job."
"I will simply say that your father could never have been as successful in his early days if Mary Jo hadn't been there to help him. She was pivotal to his coming into the amount of power he achieved and the swiftness with which it occurred." Cullen stared at Michael as if this was nothing more than a typical conversation but Theo guessed the older man, who granted looked the same age as the rest of them, wished he'd never said anything.