Balance (4 page)

                “No!”
I roared and the window next to the bed shattered spraying glass all over the
floor.

                The
witches told me that because I had two affinities it marked me a Devi. That one
affinity was mine and one was the Devi. I had a hunch that I was the seer and
the Devi was the healer.

                ‘Devi,
I need you. I know you’re the healer. I know it! If Emma dies, I die too! I
won’t help you kill Layla. So you need to help me now. Please!’
The second I thought it, mist poured from my
hands, saturating Emma’s body. I was brought to my knees panting as my skin tingled
like my blood was filled with carbonation. Black spots danced across my vision
and I felt faint. Suddenly, Emma gasped, taking in a huge gulp of air and
that’s when I passed out.

*

                “Her
hair!” I heard Diya’s voice.

                My
eyelids flew open and I groaned.

                Emma
was sitting up in a chair, nursing the baby, and I lay on the couch in the
living room. Kai was hovering over me with yellow eyes.

                “Still
with us?” he ground out.

                I
had a raging headache and felt hungover. “Yeah,” I croaked.

                “Her
hair,” Diya said again with fascination.

                Kai
eyed my hair and shook his head in disbelief.

                “What?”
I touched my hair.

                Diya
handed me a mirror and I gasped. A black chunk of hair streaked my bangs as I
looked at Kai in shock. He was pissed and I could only shrug.

                “Witches,”
Kai mumbled.

                Emma
cleared her throat.

                I
sat up quickly and grabbed my head again. Kai put a strong hand under my elbow
and helped me walk over to Emma who had finished feeding and was now gazing at
her daughter.

                Squeezing
my hand, Emma looked at my hair with fear. “Thank you,” she told me.

                I
nodded. “What’s her name? Can we repaint the nursery pink now?” I asked and
everyone laughed.

                Emma
looked down at the baby. “Avery. Devon wanted that name if it was a girl.”

                I
nodded. “Avery.”

*

                Kai
made me shift to my werewolf form and fed me raw steaks. My vegetarian side
would be repulsed, but I let my wolf come to the surface and I knew I needed
the steaks to replenish the blood I gave Emma. That was a scary thought. I
gave
Emma my blood. Somehow, magically. Now I had this black chunk of hair that
wasn’t going away.

                Emma
was asleep and Diya was watching baby Avery. We had all decided to take shifts
to help her out. Alek and the kid, Jeremy, had spent last night in the basement;
Jeremy in a cage, Alek on a couch. Layla was hell-bent on kidnapping female
werewolves to use as baby incubators, and my best friend almost died during
labor. It was officially the longest day ever.  The second my head hit the
pillow, I was out.

                The
next day I awoke in excitement. Last month, Sylvia and the coven had formally
invited me to an exclusive event called the witches’ ball. It was a black tie,
witches only, ball where you could mingle with all of the witch covens, buy
rare and precious magical items, get psychic readings, and God knows what else.
Even with everything else going on, I was so stoked! Kai? Not so much.

                I
rolled over and let my gaze roam over my mate, moaning lightly. Serious eye
candy. He was lying on his back, one arm behind his head, shirtless. I must
have done something really good in a past life to deserve to sleep next to this
gorgeous man every night.

                Suddenly,
he popped one eye open, a yellow eye. His wolf came to the surface for two
reasons: when he detected danger, or when he detected sex.

                I
ran my fingers along his chest down to the V-shape of his lower abdominal
muscles.

                “Good
morning,” I purred. “I thought you were sleeping.”

                He
rolled over and quirked one eyebrow. “I was until your naughty thoughts
filtered through the bond.”

                I
laughed and then crawled on top of him. “The witches’ ball is tonight. I am so
excited!” I told him, leaning in for a kiss.

                He
groaned and pulled me off, sitting up quickly, eyes suddenly brown. “Tonight?
Wait, I thought it was next week. You’re not seriously going after hearing
about Layla wanting to capture female werewolves, right?”

                I
sat back. Mood kill.

                “Kai,
it’s tonight.” Was he serious? I told him about this a month ago and then
reminded him weekly.

                He
looked worried. “I should be able to go. I’m your mate.”

                I
sighed. Not this again! “You’re a werewolf. It’s a witches only thing. I will
be perfectly safe with Sylvia and the coven.”

                He
didn’t think so. I could tell by his look.

                I
stroked his hair. “It’s in Portland, well into our territory. It’s going to be
fine. Don’t ruin this for me,” I pleaded.

                He
still had that worried look on his face. I decided to distract him by peeling
off my shirt and exposing my braless chest. His eyes went yellow and he grabbed
me hard, pulling me into his body.

                I
chuckled. Men were so easy.

*

                After
showering and getting ready for the day, I came out to find Kai and Alexa in a
heated discussion.

                “I
don’t trust the government, Kai!” she shouted. Dominance oozed from her.

                Kai
put a possessive hand on her shoulder. “I would never let anything happen to
you. It’s just a meeting, you would be our spokesperson.”

                I
cleared my throat as Kai turned to me, looking strained. Alexa had her arms
crossed, chewing her cheek. I still had trouble looking at her and not thinking
of the blood that dripped from her neck. The way she forced me to change her. I
shook off the thought.

                “What’s
up?” I asked. I knew the government was having a lot of phone conferences with
Kai, trying to soothe the fears of the humans. The militias had united with us
and were keeping a tally for every vampire they killed. There were vampire kill
websites and everything. The government was trying to publically make it look
like they had also united with us, and that Kai’s announcement of our kind
looked like a planned controlled thing.

                Kai
placed a hand on Alexa’s back. “Being that Alexa used to work for RAIDOS, I
feel she is the best person to be a liaison between the werewolves and the
CIA.”

                I
cringed. When RAIDOS (Research and Intelligence Division of Supernaturals) went
rogue and suddenly took it upon themselves to do their own thing, Alexa barely had
gotten out with her life. She was right not to trust them.

                “RAIDOS
isn’t the CIA, right? They are separate?” I was trying to be neutral.

                Alexa
sighed. “They were a super-secret branch of the CIA. I wouldn’t exactly call it
separate. Listen. Every single thing that we tell him will be recorded and put
into a file somewhere so that one day when they decide they don’t like the
werewolves anymore, they can use it all against us.”

                Her
surety gave me chills.

                “What
would you have me do?” Kai roared. “Ignore their attempts at peace? Let them
drop bombs on this mountain and wipe us all out in our sleep?”

                Alexa
balled her hands into fists. “I don’t know! No, but I don’t trust them. I don’t
want any part of it!”

                Kai
looked murderous. “I’m not asking you to trust them! I’m asking you to talk to
them for me. To be my in-between person. They use language that I don’t
understand, they ask for figures I don’t have, and sometimes I want to scream
at them to back the fuck off!” Alpha power radiated from Kai and Alexa went to
her knees in submission, whining. Hell, even I bowed my head. Kai had
officially lost it and he never lost it. I came up behind him and put a hand on
his shoulder, sending calm energy through the mate bond. Kai sighed.

                Alexa
looked scared; she stared at the ground, panting. She didn’t want to upset him
further. Neither did I. Kai told me once that he prided himself of running a
clean pack. He was Alpha, yes, but he wasn’t a bully. I didn’t know how much
this government issue was stressing him out until now.

                Kai
swallowed, getting himself under control. Slowly, his eyes returned to brown
and he pulled Alexa to her feet and met her eyes. “Alexa, I’m sorry I yelled at
you. I’m under a lot of stress to keep this fragile relationship with the human
government stable. I will figure it out on my own.”

                He
turned to leave but she reached out and grabbed his arm.

                “No,
I’m sorry. You asked for my help and my answer is yes.” She gave a weak smile.

                He
smiled back. “You sure? Not just because I yelled at you?”

                She
shrugged. “A little because you yelled, but yeah, I’m sure.”

                We
all laughed and she gave him a quick hug. Pulling away, she placed both hands
gingerly on his shoulders and looked him square in the eyes.

                “But
there might come a time when we regret being so friendly with the human
government. Coming out to the humans was bound to happen, but continuing to
give them information may be a mistake.”

                Her
ominous voice worried me. RAIDOS had originally been keen to partner with us.
After finding out that my blood could make vampires pregnant, well, that
partnership ended. Now they were a rogue organization not even backed by the
government and they wanted me dead.

                She
broke eye contact and dropped her hands to her sides. Now it was Kai’s turn to
grab her shoulders.

                “Thank
you for the wise counsel. We will be guarded with the information we give them
and no one will hurt this pack. Not now, not in twenty years, never.”

                She
looked unsure but nodded and left. 

                Meeting
Kai’s gaze, I reached out and took his face in my hands, kissing his lips.

                “I
love you,” I told him. He dealt with so much for this pack, for me. I didn’t
realize how much until now.

                His
eyes roamed the length of my body. “I love you, too, but don’t bring Luna in
our bed anymore. It stinks.”

                My
eyes widened.

                “Busted,”
Kai told me.

                I
laughed. “Sorry. I’m going to go see Diya.” I kissed his cheek and left before
he could talk more about Luna.

                I
walked to her house slowly, letting the sounds and smells of the thick forest
soothe me. The fresh dew, the bark chips crunching under my shoes, the varying
shades of green. God, I loved this mountain. I would never leave it. I felt that
Alexa was right to warn Kai, but I also knew he had done the right thing in
coming out to the humans. Our fragile numbers were now strengthened with the
human militias willing to fight the vampires with us but still. Humans
outnumbered us all. When they realized that and if they wanted to … I shook my
head, refusing to think about that.

                When
I came upon Diya’s house, I saw that she was on the porch drinking tea with
Trent. Her belly was getting big and she had one hand resting on it. I smiled,
approaching them.

                “Hey,
Mama.”

                She
smiled in return. “What’s up?”

                I
gestured to the black streak in my hair. “Can you dye this for me? I have a
witches’ ball tonight and–”

                She
scrunched her upturned nose as if she smelled something bad. She didn’t like
witches. “Witches’ ball. Does Kai know?”

                I
rolled my eyes and glared at her.

                She
lowered her gaze. “Yeah, I can dye it, come in.”

                Trent
stood. “No way. You’re pregnant!” He put his hands up in the air and looked at
us like we were crazy.

                Diya
rolled her eyes. “I’m going to wear gloves and a mask. Besides, I’m a werewolf.
Some bleach fumes aren’t going to harm our baby.”

                Trent
looked at me. “Sorry, Aurora, but no.”

                Diya’s
mouth opened in shock.

                Well,
shit. “I understand,” I told him.

                 Diya
grinned like she was up to no good. “Well, if I can’t do it, then you have to,
Trent.”

                Trent
looked mortally offended. “I’m
not
doing my Alpha’s mate’s hair!”

                I
grinned, too.

*

                Thirty
minutes later, Trent stood in the bathroom wearing pink plastic gloves and a
mask, holding a brush with cream bleach.

                I
was trying to contain my laughter. “We have to get a picture of this,” I
stated.

                “Shut
up,” Trent grumbled as Diya barked orders from the doorway.

                “Now,
carefully paint it on the chunk of black hair. Don’t get it on her skin.”

                He
rolled his eyes at his mate and started painting it on. I closed my eyes
against the hard fumes and tried not to breathe it in. With my werewolf nose,
these fumes were ten times as strong, it was probably a good idea Diya hadn’t done
this. Yuck. After finishing and wrapping my hair in foil, I sat around and
chatted with Diya about how Emma was doing.

                “Okay,
it’s been twenty minutes … that should be enough time,” Diya instructed.

                Leaning
my head over the sink, I pulled off the foil and washed my hair in the sink
with shampoo. The second I rinsed the soap out, my stomach turned at what I
saw. Jet black. It hadn’t lightened even one shade. Shit.

                I
dried it off and noticed Diya was staring at me in fear, chewing her lip. Why
was everyone looking at me like I was dying? It was just a freak witch thing,
right?

                “It
should have at least been orange. Not black. What does it mean?” she asked.

                I
didn’t know, but I assumed it wasn’t good. “Don’t tell Kai we tried to dye it,”
was all I could say.

                She
looked reluctant but nodded. I said my goodbyes and headed back to my house to
change for the ball. I had to meet Sylvia and the coven in a few hours. A
witches’ ball! I grinned. A year ago if you told me I would be a half-werewolf,
half-witch and on my way to a witches’ ball, I would have thought you were bat
shit crazy. I wasn’t going to let the current drama in my life ruin this
awesome night. The second I walked into the house, I saw that Kai and Max were
sitting there waiting for me.

                I
groaned. They better not be here to try to lock me in the basement with Jeremy.
Kai stood and came closer to me but stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. “Why
do you smell like chemicals?”

                I
sighed. “Long story. Don’t ask. Are you guys here to tell me not to go to the
witches’ ball … because I’m going.” I crossed my arms and prepared for a fight.
Max grinned like a lunatic in the background. He loved a good argument between
Kai and me. I shot him a glare and his smile fell.

                Kai
sniffed me one more time and then took my hand. “No, I just wanted to tell you
that Max and I decided to go out for a beer tonight. We will be at McMenamins
right across the street from the venue the ball is being held at.”