Page 5 of Bound By the Moon

“Mikael!” I yelled in mock-outrage. “You will notwish whiskers upon my child, unless she has completed the changeand is in wolf form.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He bowed slightly towards me whileEvan made the sound of a cracking whip. “Yeah, well, I’m okay withbeing whipped, brother.” After seeing Natalia walk up, and peeraround his arm at the baby, Mikael added, “Looks like I’m not theonly one.” Evan just shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

“I can’t believe how tiny she is.” He whispered tono one in particular. “It’s crazy, I feel like I might break her ifI breath too hard.”

“Well, do try not to do that. I’d hate to have tokill you today.” Mikael said through his laughter.

“May I?” Natalia asked, as she approached Evan andWillow.

“Of course.” I smiled at her as she took Willow inher arms.

“She truly is beautiful.” Natalia offered. Then shebegan to chant in an angelic voice.

“Lumina sa straluceasca in jos

Si sa binecuvanteze acest copil

Un viitor luminous, cu bucurie si rasete

Poate spiritele luminare uita mereu dupa

Si sa binecuveanteze acest copil frumos.”

By the time she got to the end of whatever she waschanting. There was a warm white light surrounding both her and mybaby. I panicked, and snatched Willow from her immediately. “Whatthe hell are you doing?” I looked Willow over to make certain shewas still okay. “What the hell were you doing to my baby? What wasthat light?”

“Jess, calm down.” Evan stated.

“What the hell was that, Evan?” Mikael asked.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” I screamed at Natalia.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized in her thick Romanianaccent. “It was a blessing. Nothing more.”

“Nothing more?” I questioned. “There was lightaround the both of you.” Natalia looked startled by what I said,and now she looked just as panicked as I felt. That did nothing tocalm my nerves. I turned to Evan then and demanded, “explainthis!”

“Let’s all calm down a little bit, first.” Mikaeloffered, which surprised me. “Jess, she gave a typical lunarblessing to Willow. It’s one that is given to all the babies thatare born to our people. At least, it’s the blessing our pack alwaysgave to babies when they were born. I’ve said it to her myselfsince she was born.”

“I never heard you.”

“Probably because I say it to her when I’m up withher while I let you sleep. Really, the words were all the same.Roughly translated, it is: The light shine down and bless thisbabe. A future bright with joy and laughter. May the spirits alwayslook after and bless this beautiful baby.”

Mikael turned from me to Evan and Natalia then.“Now, what we need explained is the light that actually shined outfrom Natalia to surround Willow.”

Natalia was no help. She simply mumbled, “I’m sosorry,” repeatedly.

Evan sighed before answering. “Can we all just sitdown for a minute, calmly, while I explain. I promise, nothing badhappened here.” Suddenly, the dark circles under his eyes took onnew meaning, as I gauged the fact that this was not a first timeoccurrence. He blew out a breath, getting ready to speak again,before I interrupted to make it clear that I didn’t want him tohold anything back at this point.

“Evan, my track record with your pack, your familyin specific, hasn’t exactly been all roses. So, excuse me if Iworry when one of your people starts glowing my baby up withmystical light.” I retorted hotly. “If you hold back at this point,and I find out later that there was something we needed to know, Ipromise you I will rip through heaven, hell, earth, and anyplacein-between to find you and dole out a justice I find befitting.”Natalia’s eyes grew wider as I let fly my promise for vengeance ifher mate lied to me.

“I know, Jess. I promise you, Natalia meant no harmto you or Willow. Just listen, please.”

“Fine.”

“You know we left, after Malachai was killed and thegirls were captured and put in the locks.” I nodded my head inagreement. We had been worried at the time that he would takeAsriel with him, and that Ashley would have to make the choice togo or stay without him. I don’t know what sort of deal they workedout, but Asriel ended up staying behind with Ashley, and workingfor my father, while Evan and Natalia left town. “I took Nataliaback to Romania when we went away. We went back there to see if wecould find Natalia’s younger sister. When she was taken to be apart of the King’s harem her sister hadn’t gone through all thetransitions yet, so we thought, maybe she had never gotten suckedinto that life.” Evan shrugged and looked for Natalia now juststared at the floor. “We didn’t find her, but we did find theirfather who swore the King took both girls the night he came forNatalia.”

“That’s insane!” I noted before Evan continued.

“Yeah, well, we all know where my father and brotherstood on the sanity scale. Anyway, we didn’t find Claire, but whenwe saw evidence that she’d been there all along, one room down fromNatalia, she lost it.”

---