Chapter 86: Old Enemy, New Ties

Dane POV

Marieke and Melisande looked as deeply asleep as they'd been last night. With the ring on Melisande's finger, Hades was trapped inside the body he'd invaded.

Lilia looked at them both with compassion. "They seem so frail."

Dane rested his hands on Marieke's arm. "She seems stronger." 

He gently brushed the hair back from her face. He didn't want to touch Hades.

A woman's voice responded warmly. "She knows you're there. Just your presence is a comfort."

He turned, curious, to see the pregnant, attractive blonde woman with green eyes. Immediately, he sensed something. A shifter baby growing inside her. Yet she was human.

"I hope she does," he said in his deep voice. "Marieke is family, after all."

She wrinkled her nose. "But she's human."

"Well, so are you, and you carry an Alpha pup in your belly," Dane told her, smiling.

A dark-haired, blue-eyed man dropped his hands on her shoulders and grinned possessively. "That she does. And she carries it so beautifully."

With a slight bow, Dane said, "Alpha." He sensed the blood inside the man.

The man froze, then smiled tentatively. "I have Alpha blood, yes." He shook Dane's hand. "Lord Talon Blackthorn. This is my mate, Lady Kelara Blackthorn. Mother of my pup-to-be, Logan Padraig, and also the mother of my son, William."

"Alpha Dane Cresta, and thank you for saving us on Abandonnado Island." He nodded at Lilia. "My mate and my Luna, Lilia Rolfe Cresta. Mother of our triplets, Kodi, Bentley, and Tau, and also another pup on the way."

Lord Talon Blackthorn smiled more broadly. "Ah yes. Ravyn, who we met earlier, is your mother-in-law."

Lady Kelara Blackthorn added with awe, "I got to meet THE Ravyn Rolfe."

Lilia beamed at her. "It's insane how impressive she is."

Dane smelled wistfulness in Lady Blackthorn when she said, "You're incredibly lucky. I lost my parents when I turned twelve."

His heart squeezed. "We lost ours when my youngest brother, Dirge, turned ten."

Lord Blackthorn's eyes widened. "William is ten. He's my son from my first marriage. Obviously, I got married young. Probably too young, but political alliances wait for no one."

Dane grunted in sympathy, recalling what Odo and Giselberthe had said about Lord Blackthorn's first marriage. "But you found your fated mate the second time around."

The couple broke out in smiles. "You can tell?" Lady Blackthorn asked in her musical voice.

Lord Blackthorn reminded her, "Shifters can always sniff out a mate. It's one of the things we excel at–even those whose blood is watered down."

Dane snorted. "Alpha blood is still very powerful. You have the blood of the Sinsworth Alpha line in you. When my brother Jiro and his mate Garnet are finished helping the king and queen, they'll want to meet you. And they'll sense the Sinsworth royal blood immediately. I could smell it right away, Alpha Talon."

"Just Talon." The man smiled charmingly. "Jude said it was a strong shifter name."

"It is," Dane confirmed. "And call me Dane."

"Lilia," his mate said, smiling warmly at Lady Blackthorn.

"I'm Kelara," the lady said, looking at Lilia in fascination. "Daxius, your father, was telling us the most incredible story about being lured away from you and your mother when you were young. Lured away by this Dark Goddess and the society we call 'The Dark Hand.'"

Lilia's eyes widened. "They're real?"

"Oh yes," Talon assured her grimly. "They meddled in my life, taking advantage of my broken marriage, keeping me away from my son for four years, and nearly causing a costly war with one of my boyhood friends … had it not been for my wife, they would have succeeded. And we fell in love as a result. But the Dark Hand and the Dark Goddess still want to destroy us."

Dane's eyes narrowed. "And to think all I thought we had to worry about was Hades' cult. What is this Dark Hand?"

"You don't want to know," Lilia muttered, her face ashen.

He gave her his most fearsome look. "Yes, I do. I most certainly do. Especially if they put that look on my mate's face."

Kelara lowered her head, and Talon's arms tightened around her protectively. "They serve your Dark Goddess. They … they killed my parents when I was twelve. I was supposed to die, too … I was at a friend's house when they burned ours to the ground."

Lilia gasped, horrified. "You poor thing."

Dane felt a chill, and he reached out and held Kelara's hand. "I'm so sorry."

Through trembling lips, Kelara murmured, "Thank you."

Talon clasped his mate close, kissing her gently on the forehead, like a good mate. "You're safe, my love, my heart, my everything."

Over Kelara's shoulder, Talon and Dane exchanged a glance full of respect and understanding. Dane nodded approvingly. Clearly, Talon Blackthorn was a man Dane could relate to. 

Dane said solemnly, "My sister-in-law Garnet's parents were killed, too. Their deaths were–"

"Manipulated," Kelara spat, turning in Hades' direction. 

Lilia's amethyst eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"My mate senses things," Talon said with pride. "She sees the past, present, and future … she can look into people's hearts and size up the truth of a situation quickly."

Lilia whistled. "A Seer."

"Not quite," Kelara said, her eyes still on Hades. "I'm just a beginner. And is THAT man responsible for those deaths?"

Dane sighed. "Yes. Hades is. He was trying to create the perfect acolyte, my brother-in-law Cyran Sinsworth, who took his parents' deaths very hard."

How could he tell her Hades was part of Talon's family and her family?

Talon's eyes narrowed, and his fangs showed. "And THIS is the man you want to keep alive?"

"Not my first choice," Dane spat, his admiration for Talon growing.

Lilia flashed her own teeth in a defiant grin. "But he's our best tool to defeat the Dark Goddess–and avenge our fallen family, including yours, Kelara."

* * * * *

Lilia POV

Even as a healer, Lilia wanted to rip Hades apart. He'd embraced the Dark Goddess and caused all this suffering. And maybe he was stuck, never being able to truly find eternal rest, but everyone else was trapped, too!

She couldn't react in anger, though. Looking at Kelara's expressive green eyes and seeing Talon's rage sorely tested her self-control.

Kelara glared at Hades. "Who is he, really? 'Hades' isn't his name. It just sounds like an alias. I know it isn't his real name. Please tell me we're not related to him by blood."

Goddess Brigid! Lilia hadn't even thought about that.

Lilia nudged Dane. "Get Patch and Anneliese here. They're not related by blood."

Dane nodded and left.

Paling, Kelara looked like a porcelain doll instead of the strong warrior Lilia judged her to be. "You mean …"

Talon growled, a low, menacing sound that made Lilia check to see if her throat had been cut. "You should have told us–"

"We didn't think of it," Lilia said, exposing her throat. "We just discovered you're Sinsworths."

"I'm not," Kelara protested.

Talon growled. "Moon Goddess, woman! You carry my child."

"OH." Kelara's mouth formed an "O." 

Lilia smiled sympathetically and escorted them both out of the private room. "You should stay away from Hades for the moment until we have a chance to set some ground rules and figure out a way to keep him from jumping into your bodies. That ring that he wears will keep him in his current body, but he wants a shifter body. Probably one carrying a shifter baby would do."

Talon grumbled, "We are going to have words about this."

"TALON. She realized the error quickly and responded as fast as she could." Kelara clung to his hand, murmuring softly in his ear, words that Lilia couldn't make out.

They seemed to have the desired effect. Talon's scowl smoothed out, and he looked vulnerable. "You are EVERYTHING," he said fiercely. "You and our children."

"You are, too, my Alpha."

There seemed to be a hidden meaning in Kelara's words, something Lilia couldn't quite figure out. Most likely something known only to the two of them. Whatever it was, it soothed Talon further. He held her possessively, a look of defiant arrogance on his face. An Alpha look if she ever saw one. And his devotion to his mate was endearing.

"Dane would be exactly like you," she said to Talon. "Any of the Cresta men would be. And Jude as well–he's Cresta, too, now. You have a huge family waiting for you."

Patch's cheerful voice echoed in the Healing Wing. "Did I hear we have a mutt in the family? OW! Annie!"

Anneliese scolded him, "You do NOT call a fellow shifter a mutt! Even I know that."

Dane stormed toward Hades' private room. "He knows. He just doesn't care."

"It's a term of endearment in my book," Patch drawled, popping up to shake Talon's hand. "A half-human shifter is just what our family needed. Patch Cresta, fake Duke of New Moon, fourth Cresta brother, Evenhide Intelligence Chief, and all-around troublemaker. I'm the fun brother. Welcome to the family, mutt."

Talon's head went up, and he glared at Patch. "Brat. I knew you were trouble when we met a few months ago."

Dane groaned. "Fenrir's guts. You've encountered this rascal before?"

Patch announced cheerfully, "He owes me fifty gold pieces after an unfortunate card game."

"I do not!" Softening, Talon added gruffly, "It's twenty."

Patch snickered and looked at Anneliese, whose face was as pink as her hair. "And here I was running out of serious older brother types to rile up. Even Cyran is halfway mellow these days. I've been looking for a new victim."

Kelara burst out laughing, charmed, like most people were, by Patch's devil-may-care manner. His golden good looks and his duke's outfit made him appealing as well. "You are a brat." To Talon, she said, "William is going to LOVE him."

Groaning, Talon covered his face. "Moon Goddess, give me strength."

Patch continued. "But, since you, a born shifter, couldn't tell another shifter when we met, I'll forgive the debt. It wasn't a fair contest."

"YOU probably masked your scent," Talon sniffed. He tossed a small pouch of gold to Patch. "I always pay my debts. I just couldn't find you."

Anneliese hugged him spontaneously. "Our target was on the move. We had to leave quickly. We never knew your name. I'm Anneliese Chalice Cresta. I like you both already. We'll talk later." She hugged Kelara, too. "We're on Hades duty."

Anneliese, Patch, and Lilia proceeded to Hades' room, where Dane pinned Hades to the bed, snarling, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Lilia noticed what had enraged Dane. Melisande was holding Marieke's hand, and red energy flowed between them. Hades was trying to jump into Marieke's body!