Chapter 70: The Rare Among Rarities Pt. 2

Merari smirked as her gaze averted from mine again, but not in shame. I suddenly became even more uneasy about this Dronnigan bastard. Of all of those sitting before me now.

“Is it me or have we just obtained a new potential threat?” asked John through the telepathic link.

“We’ll keep an eye on them.” I replied.

“You’re damn bloody straight we will!” hissed John before speaking out loud. “So, you’ve been going around feeding on inhumans, is what you’re saying.”

Merari watched him, her lip twitching as if trying to fight off a grimace before she finally spoke again.

“Could you imagine the looks on their faces when they saw that they could die just as humans could?” There was something triumphant she sighed and then shrugged. “We went from state to state, country to country…everywhere…living off of the blood of inhumans,” she said.

I was so…shocked by Merari’s confession of her past. What was even more disturbing was the fact that I had to almost wonder if she missed those days.

“I wish I could say that it took him a long time to convince me to go along with his plan of pillaging , feeding on, and murdering those who did the same to us, but…as you could imagine, I had already been fueled with my own type of rage and need for revenge.”

“With our daughter?” I had to ask. Nothing else mattered to me but whether Valene was around during that time. The idea of a baby…being around that. “You…didn’t..”

“No, I did not, Alastair,” she hissed, almost seeming offended that I had asked the question in the first place. “Not for long, at least,” she added shamefully. “ I was hardly a month in ... .when I realized that I was changing. I had become not only someone that I did not recognize but someone that could hardly stand to look at in the mirror. I couldn’t stop though, because he had convinced me…that we were on a mission for the greater good. Still, I didn’t want my baby girl to be a part of such an unstable, and dangerous life. I…had decided then that she would be best with you,” she confessed the real truth. “I swore to myself when I was done with ridding the world of those who carelessly killed, that I would return, and I would take my daughter, and I would rip your murderous lover’s throat out in front of hers.”

Tears began to fall from her eyes as she said this aloud. It seemed that even Merari realized how…insanely monstrous her line of thinking was back then.

“It was around that time that I realized that I was losing myself, that maybe I was way…too…angry. How could I be a true mother to my baby girl if I was harboring so much hatred? If I was so ... .hell-bent on revenge?”

“You couldn’t,” I said softly. For a moment, I had forgotten that there were others in the room.

She exhaled. “I wanted to stop. I didn’t want to miss my daughter’s life. So…I…I went to Dronnigan and…I talked to him. He wasn’t happy. He swore that we were doing this for the good of our kind. That we were the new dominant species. That we had to get rid of them all. He wanted me to bring Vale back, and he wanted to groom her into me…so that she could fight the fight. He had already seen that she was special.”

The idea of that bloody bastard being in arm’s reach of my daughter almost sent me over the edge.

“If there was any doubt before then, I knew at that moment that it was time to get out. It was about that time that I found out that Dronnigan had truly lost his mind. He had begun turning against his own pack. I was not the only one who was tired of aimlessly killing. Those who made their grievances known started to disappear. He…he started killing his own people.”

When Merari looked up at me again, I saw the tears falling down her cheeks. She was profoundly hurt by this. She must have truly trusted this Dronnigan fellow.

“I escaped with a small pack of like-minded individuals,” she said, wiping the tears away. “He’s been searching for me ever since. Now that he knows that Vale is grown…he wants her as well.”

“Well, he won’t get her!” a guttural growl emanated from my throat in anger. “Or you.”

“Somehow, Dronnigan cannot enter Shadow Veil. He never could-not even the surrounding towns near it.. I do not know why, but…it’s the safest place right now.”

“He can’t get in? Is that why he’s sending ferals through the border?” Toran asked.

“Yes,” she said. “And he knows that these ferals cannot hold a candle to me or Valene,” She said. “Seeing Tobias…I don’t know,” She said. “I fear he has something planned. He’s plotting on a way to get inside. Or get Valene outside. I…think Tobias may be the key.”

She didn’t look at me this time, but Toran. There was concern and sadness in her eyes.

“I do not want to,” she said. “I am fond of the boy, but I will kill him if I have to, beta.” She did not mince words.

“I would do the same if I was in your shoes,” he said. “But understand that if I can save him…I will.”

“I would not expect anything less from you beta,” she said. “I sincerely hope that you can.”

I too wanted to save Tobias. He saved Valene’s life. Still, I agreed wholeheartedly with Merari. If it came down to it, I would not hesitate.

“We need to find Tobias. Now.”

The meeting dispersed. I had offered the Rogues room and board. I had expected them to accept but it seemed that these inhumans seemed to prefer lying amongst the stars.

Fortunately, there was a clearing not too far out where the pack would settle when we were on the hunt. In our beastly forms, we’d stay out and just rest. When it was settled that that was where they’d be staying, they quickly departed.

“They don’t speak much,” I said to Merari as she hung back.

“Not much to say nowadays,” she replied. “Is there?”

She turned around and faced me. “You really don’t trust me.”

“You’ve been so closed off, Merari, and…well, you have every reason to want revenge so-”

“Exactly!” she cut me off. “I have every reason not to trust you, Alas. You…pulled me into a life of complication, drama, death! Then you left me! So, no, as much as I am trying, I do not trust you, but I…I have never given you a reason not to trust me.” she exhaled.

“Merari, I-”

Before I could finish my sentence, she disappeared into the night without another word.

She was right, I was the one who pulled Merari into my world. I was the one who got her killed, and I was the one who ran her into the arms of another man. A dangerous man.

I had to fix it. “I swear it, Merari. If it is the last thing I do…I will fix this.”