Page 30 of Bound By the Moon

“Or what?”

“People, like that woman there, drag them kickingand screaming to another place.” I turned as the words left myaunt’s lips, and I saw that the other white wolves and the womanwho had been arguing were now looking at me. None of them appearedhappy about it, except the strange woman.

“Well, that can’t be good.” I managed before thewhite wolves beckoned me over to them.

***

ANOTHER WORLD

“Jessica Marie St. Marks De’Lune.” The woman intonedas she looked me over. “What would you give to get a second chanceat life with your mate, with your real child?” She looked down atthe baby in my arms with disdain, but didn’t wait for me to answer.“Would you give up your soul in the end, if you knew you’d get afew hundred years with them?”

This woman was dangling a big carrot on a stick infront of me. I would give up a lot to be with my family again. Iwould give up everything, although, I’d at least take a minute toprocess the loss of my own soul first. “Are you telling me you cangrant such a request?”

“Me? Heavens no. Why would I do that, even if Icould?” She eyed me again, as if I were a much lower being. “Idon’t have a lot of time, so let’s not play games here. You are aconundrum to me. On the one hand, you are responsible for my oldestdaughter’s death. On the other, you seem to single-handedly bebringing my other girls together. I had hopes that they would bethe first of the witch families to understand that a coven offamilial witches was the strongest power source there is on Earth.”A particularly bright twinkle lit her eyes up from the inside-outas she spoke. “If someone were to, perhaps, tip them off to that…then maybe you wouldn’t have to carry the burden of being the onlywhite wolf left. Maybe they could help make new species that wouldtake the heat off of you, so to speak.” Her ambition washed off ofher in waves. “You will do that, won’t you? I might be swayed then,to forgive you for Sophia.”

“What is she talking about?” I asked of my whitewolf ancestors.

“She’s talking about a chance for you to goback.”

“To go back?”

“To live again, Jess.”

“What? I thought you said there wasn’t a way for meto go back to the other side?” My ancestors looked pained as thewoman beside them smiled, and anxiously awaited theirexplanation.

“The devil is in the details, is it not, Kezia?”Aislynn tossed the accusation back at the woman in question. Inorder to gain access to the other side again, to return to the lifeyou once knew, it requires great sacrifice. A dual sacrificeactually.

“Why must everything require sacrifice? Isn’t thatwhat got me into this mess to begin with? Seriously, I alreadysacrificed myself, and baby Jack, what more could the beings incharge possibly want from me?”

“They want nothing from you.” Aislynn scoffed in mydirection. It was the first time I heard her be less than kind tome.

“Watch it Aislynn, dear, your true colors areshowing.” Kezia laughed as she spoke. And while there was a crueledge to her tone that was never present when Serena spoke, Kezia’svoice was almost indistinguishable from her daughter’s.

“What do you mean they want nothing from me? How inthe hell can I sacrifice what I don’t have to give? If they wantnothing, then there’s no way to get back to my life.”

“Oh, but there is, sweet child,” Kezia cooed. “Itjust won’t be you who does the sacrificing this time.”

“I still don’t understand.” I looked back and forthbetween the two women, trying to figure out just how much crazyactually ran in my bloodline. Actually, I decided it was probablybest not to know the answer to that particular question. I waited,instead, to hear what these two sacrifices would entail, but no oneseemed willing to answer my question. Aislynn stood there, lookingfrom one white wolf to the next, as if they were communicatingsilently among themselves. You would think, if that were the case,that I would be able to hear them too. After all, I was a whitewolf in life, so now I should belong to the club or something sinceI was technically dead.

***

CONVERSATIONS WITH THEPAST

“The first sacrifice is ours to make, Jessica.”Aislynn referenced herself and the rest of my white wolf ancestors.“Nearly all of our line were born on the heels of anothersacrificing herself for the next in line. We were only supposed tobe born every 200 or so years, just like the witches. I think youcan do the math as well as I can. There are almost twenty of ushere, in our little ancestral pack. When a white wolf dies, itre-sets the clock, so to speak. Instead of just carrying on thegene until the 200 years have passed, a new white wolf is made onthe heels of the last wolf’s breath. In other words, when you died,your daughter’s white wolf gene was activated. She will grow to bea white wolf, just as you are.”

“I suppose she should have said, just as you were.”Kezia teased.

“Willow…” my heart ached at the mention of mydaughter, but I had to get to the bottom of this. “If I go back,will it be undone?”

“We don’t know. None of us has ever gone back tofind out. There is a reason we have never gone back, Jessica.” Herhead dipped, as she hesitated telling me. “Our leaving this place,and living again, it is possible, but it comes with a price. As faras we know this can only be done once, and only under certaincircumstances. Apparently, this one, had something to do with thatlittle after-death fail safe.” Aislynn pointed at Kezia then, whoactually giggled and made a little clapping gesture with herhands.

If I didn’t know before that she was such a horribleperson in life, I might have been amused by her antics. Baby Jacksquirmed in my arms again, and I was honestly afraid that he wouldpull away enough to break out skin to skin contact we had going on.I stopped what I was doing, and held my question until after Isituated Jack to ensure our skin stayed in contact. “I’m assumingmy case meets all the specified criteria?”

“Yes, it does.”

“And what about little Jack here? Will he be able togo with me?” Aislynn’s grim look was all I needed to know that itwouldn’t be possible. “What if I sent him in my place?”

“You would send him back to die of starvation in acavern long forgotten by all, but one ally, and who knows how manymonsters?”

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