The Second Covenant

The older men all gaped and then recovered very quickly. And took the news…admirably well. “We need to get out of here.” Dax said tightly. “Before someone notices were gathered.” Grandfather Lucas looked over my shoulder. “And them? Who are they?”
“Aria’s kin.” I answered and Lucas gulped. “I see. My home is the safest, it is in Ipswich so we must transport ourselves from here.” I nodded and we walked into the trees, taking the hands of my fellow wolves to smoke them from the woods in Salem, to Ipswich and into the back yard of the colony house. It was beautiful in the moonlight, I’d always thought so. The others materialized beside me and together, we walked into the house.

The wood floors were new, not a speck of dust in the whole place and we were ushered down into the basement, into our Coven seat. Once John Putnam had secured the hidden the door, we were in the round stone room. The fire leapt to life and I held my own arms and the men took their seats around it. “Explain.” Lucas said and I nodded, I explained from the point where I had first encountered the shadow that was Mason Shaw, and what seemed like hours later, I finished with the death of my mate. But I didn’t say mate, I said friend. “I brought him to the room you have behind the wall, Aria’s room and put a spell on him that took his body out of time, so it wouldn’t…” I gulped down the fresh wash of pain and went on. “So he could be safe from the ravages of time.”

Alsdair Garwin leaned forward and braced his hands on his knees. “How are you able to use so much power and not age? How is it possible at all that you, a female, can possess the Power?” I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know.” I didn’t say that I was a hybrid of witch and wolf. We couldn’t change the future, bad things always happened in the movies when you gave away all your secrets. “Why have you risked our exposure?” John asked and I looked at him, an intensely handsome man with bright green eyes. He was striking. “Because that shadow I spoke of is the reason why so many witches are being burned at the stake. I trapped him in a mirror in my time. But to destroy him, I had to come back to the source.”

I unbuttoned the sleeve of my sixteenth century dress and showed them all the mark. “When I trapped him, my arm burned and this appeared. Upon later questioning, the Shadow told me the witches who imprisoned him were called the Phoenix, and they bore this mark. I need to find them, without getting caught and outed as a witch.”
“I can help with that.”
The voice came from the shadows behind Lucas, and I knew that voice. I knew it and my heart shuddered, my body grew cold and then hot. He stepped from the shadows and I pressed my hands to my mouth to still the cry that rose. “Oh my god.” Dax said hoarsely from beside me. “Druex?” Daire said and I swayed, lucky for me, Riley was there to catch me. “Drustan actually. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said to me and my tears blurred my vision enough that I was able to pretend, just for a minute that I was looking at Druex.

The man looked exactly like him, down to the smallest detail. But it wasn’t him. “You didn’t scare me.” I whispered, swiping at my tears when he frowned at me in concern. “You um, you just look like someone I…” I blew out a breath and inhaled, and frowned, taking another breath. “Dax, he smells the same, I mean like…”
“I know. But it’s not possible.”

God it hurt, it hurt so much that I could barely stand on my own. I closed my eyes and turned away, letting Riley hold me, letting my tears fall against his shirt. I heard someone clear their throat. “How much did you hear Drustan, I do not think she shall repeat herself.”
“I heard all my lord.” Peyton responded and he sounded shell shocked. “You know of the coven called the Phoenix?”
“I do. One of the witches likes to pet my tail while she reads.” My thoughts flashed to last night, to early this morning when I lie in bed with Druex, stroking his tail as I read my book and I couldn’t stand another moment, I needed to get outside to collect myself. “Excuse me, I’ll…I need to go outside for a moment.” I said and then pretty much ran from the room. I burst outside and couldn’t quite catch my breath. I left the yard and went into the forest, dropping to the ground beside a boulder and finally the sobs I had held back burst free.

It was Peyton who joined me first and drew me into his arms. “I’m sorry.” I sobbed. “It’s my fault. Me and my stupid big mouth, he died for me Peyton. He died!” He hugged me, rocked me and let me cry. “It wasn’t your fault, Cherish it wasn‘t. I‘m sorry I didn‘t understand before, about you being with him. I‘m so sorry.” He stopped and I felt his muscles tense. “Forgive my intrusion.” Drustan said softly and the leaves crunched under his shoes. “I did not wish to say in front of the others, because you did not, but you, Cherish,”

Just to hear my name from another man’s lips that spoke with Druex’s voice broke what little left I had of my heart. “Are not just witch. You are Lukoi.” I nodded against Peyton’s shoulder, but didn’t look up. “She is a Lupa.” Peyton said and Drustan. “I see. It was your mate you lost.”
“Yes.”
“Why does it pain you to look at me?” I gulped down the next sob and answered softly, a bare whisper. “Because you could be his twin.”
“I am sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” I sucked down my pain and locked it tightly away. “How soon could I speak with the Phoenix?” I asked, wiping at my face and sliding off Peyton’s lap to sit on my own, praying that I could stay strong long enough to survive this.

The pain was only temporary. When I went back to my own time, Druex would be alive and waiting for me. Looking at Drustan still hurt and made my heart flinch, but I did it. “Tomorrow, the moon will be nearly dark and the sisters will gather. I will take you.” I nodded and stood up, leaning back against the rock, seeing how the pale sliver of the moon shone down onto Drustan’s hair, turning it to spun silver. God, what were the odds that Druex’s great grandfather looked enough like him to rip me to shreds. I looked down into his eyes and felt that same burning in my stomach that I had felt when I had first looked into Druex’s eyes at the pharmacy. “Even your scent is the same, I don’t get how that’s possible, no two people share the same scent markers.” Drustan looked at me with narrowed eyes, his own nose flaring as he inhaled my scent. “We should return to the house for the night. One never knows who may be listening.” He said softly and I nodded, walking between them, and even though it wasn’t Druex, I was comforted.