Daughter of the Tides, Servants of the Moon Book 2

Ainsley sat in her window staring up at the moon, her damp hair hanging almost strait down her back. Del chuckled as she turned down the bed.

“Come to bed, Ainsley, the Moon can speak to you while you sleep and no sneaking out to see your shadow tonight.”

But he came all this way, Ainsley signed.

“Yes, he came all the way across the continent to protect you, but he needs to go back. He doesn’t belong here. You can’t… we can’t hide him here like at the Gate.”

Ainsley’s chin trembled; her luminous burnished golden eyes glistened with tears. Can I see my shadow before he leaves?

Shaking her head in resignation, Del smiled. “Fine. Call him.”

Ainsley grinned and pointed over Del’s shoulder. Larson was standing by the closet door. “Delphi Delilah, please don’t send me back.”

“You’re lucky I don’t send you back to your sister,” Del threatened. “You may stay until the Equinox and Ainsley’s appointment, then you are going back to the Gate. I need you there to watch over Mamó and the witches working there, Margo and Lily are using Mamó’s oil and her knowledge of the old witches to try to figure out how to protect all wolves all the time, not just one at a time.”

“I will not leave my beloved unprotected, I have seen what will happen to this temple.” Larson bared his fangs at Del and Ainsley slapped his hand, shaking her finger at him.

Delilah narrowed her eyes at him. “You are only here to protect your beloved. In a few weeks, you will go back to the Gate.”

“Don’t send me away, Delphi,” Larson begged again.

“Larson, I promise you, Ainsley will be safe until your mating in two years.”

Ainsley giggled when Larson looked shocked, then quickly moved her hands in sign language. The vampire way is to wait until twenty, not sixteen like werewolves. So, you have to live long enough to do our binding.

“What’s a binding?” Del asked.

Ainsley pulled out a sketchbook, in it was an image of two hands clasped, one very pale and the other had Ainsley’s constellations of freckles on the back. A red thread was tied around them both.

Looking at the image made Del’s eyes water, thinking of the joining ceremony she and Luca never had. “I would be happy to, but I don’t know the ceremony.”

Ainsley smiled sadly and her hands fluttered, Mamó can teach you before she crosses the Gate of the Tides.

Nodding and blinking back the tears, Del took the drawing, “Alright, I’ll learn. Sweet dreams, Ainsley. Good day, Larson. Don’t let her talk you into staying up today, she waded the Tides last night and will be doing it again tonight.”

Ainsley dutifully climbed into bed and when Larson sat down next to her with a book Del’s eyebrow went up.

The young vampire shrugged, “My beloved likes me to read her to sleep.”

Ainsley grinned and her hands signed the words, I am spoiled and loved.

“You certainly are, little fox.” Del agreed then she closed the door behind her.

Looking down at the drawing her heart still ached. She went to her room, but as tired as she was, Del couldn’t sleep. So, she laid in bed and listened to Ainsley in the fields of the Moon, talking happily to her mother and Moire about her shadow. Del felt the tug and let herself be pulled across.

She watched Ainsley surrounded by her mother with a bittersweet longing. She had never known her mother beyond the fleeting moments they shared through visions as Delphi’s and, by her choice, she would never have a child of her own.

“Would you really break our bond, my angel?” Luca’s bereft voice made her want to weep but she didn’t look over her shoulder at him.

“It will be as if she was always your mate. It is for the good of…” Del started but Luca grabbed her arm and turned her.

He kissed her with all his love. “Please, don’t.”

“I must. Take care of her.” She sobbed against his lips before falling back into the world.

Breathing out slowly to keep herself from screaming, Del whispered, “I will always love you, Luca.”

Tiny footstep sprinted into her room and Ainsley climbed into her bed, hugging Del fiercely. She whispered almost silently, “Moire says she is sad for you. That you don’t have to do this.”

Del wiped her tear-soaked cheeks, “It is my choice, Ains. I will do whatever must be done. It isn’t fair for Moire to feel her mate choose another. Luca is a very good soul. He will love her, cherish her. Your sister will be happy again.”

And you? Ainsley signed.

“I’ll cross that road when I come to it, little fox.” Del laid back still holding Ainsley in her arms.

Ainsley’s hands made her words, Can I stay?

Del kissed Ainsley’s coppery curls, “Of course, go to sleep, sweetheart, really sleep, not back across the Tides, we had a long night.”

<0><0><0>

Kneeling next to the reflecting pool at the top of the temple, Ainsley Wemyss stood with her head bowed for Delilah to place the veil of an oracle over her coppery curls. She was the youngest of the five being elevate to oracle on this autumn equinox. Two of the others would return to their packs while Ainsley and the sisters, Baenae and Vestae, formerly of the White Mountain pack. Banae and Vestae’s mother had been the oracle of Alpha Marcus’s pack before her death in a house fire. A death only Delilah and Ainsley suspected was a murder by fire witch magic; Oracle Matanae’s soul had never crossed the Tides.

Feeling Nyall’s intense gaze and her Shadow watching from the roof, Ainsley whispered the words of her oath as loudly as she could.

“I, Ainsley of New Wemyss, vow to surrender my will, my ambitions, and my desires, so I may serve only the Moon. I thank the Moon for my gifts and promise to seek Her will and wisdom for Her children. I accept the duties of a Daughter of the Moon’s Tides.”

Nyall sat in a small Ozark Mountain café looking through a mapbook and eating but his mind wasn’t focused. Eight months ago, fourteen-year-old Ainsley had become a full oracle on the autumn equinox and Moire was not there to see it. Nyall put his fork down, realizing he had finished his pie and he didn’t remember what it tasted like. He ran his hand through the short cut of his prematurely graying, tawny blond hair. Tired blue eyes stared back at him in the reflection of the chrome napkin dispenser. This was his world now, the longer he lived mate-lost, the duller everything became. A half decade before he turned thirty felt like almost three hundred under the weight of his life. At twenty-five and a half, he thought he looked older than his father had when he died at ninety-seven.

He tried not to think about how badly he had failed in his duty. He had yet to find the home of the sun-worshippers and worse, four of the ten small packs he and Ketsu sought out had been taken. Like the ones before, the packs were gone and there was nothing the Servants could do but move on. He spent a lot of time training warriors in the small packs they found, and traveling under the false name of Connor. His strong Scottish accent had mostly faded, and most assumed he was a naturalized Irish wolf. The Wemyss Warrior Wolves had faded into werewolf lore and it saddened him to hear talk of the feats of his father’s warriors as being the impossible embellishment of myth. If he had trained them as he was trained, they would not have doubted.

He tried to trust in the Goddess. His loved ones were with Her, and She was keeping them safe now, but he missed them more than he ever thought possible. He regretted every moment without them so, he had thrown himself into work, finding comfort in his duty, and books, and in the beds of the several beautiful she-wolves who offered, and even one vampiress he had rescued from the sun witches before she left for Patmos.

Retired Servant Rick Castling messaged Eliazar that a pair of young Alphas was moving on the backroads recruiting young warriors away from established packs. His mate Violet figured out the route they were traveling. Nyall had come to wait because she believed they were headed toward the café in no-wolf’s land.

Nyall hoped they would be here soon. He had decided he was going to kill the Alphas of Des Rues and prevent the war Del feared from ever happening or die trying. After what happened in Vegas and New Orleans, Nyall was certain he could best Helios if he could catch the apostate without his witches. He truly believed Zane had only failed because witchcraft had robbed him of his wolf. Nyall thought about the bottle of oil in his saddle bag and his finger traced the symbol Mamó made him learn to draw on his forehead like she had the night their pack fell. The Sunwolf’s Witchcraft would not stop him from avenging his pack and all those lost because his Mamó was a witch in her own way.

The door chimed as a gust of wind surrounded him with the smell of temple incense and fresh snow. It startled him on the warm day. He felt Del’s Tidal-form wolf walk up to him and sit by his chair. He could see her moon marks glowing in the air around nothing. His cell phone had no signal, so he didn’t bother to wonder why she had sought him out in this form.

A fancy sports car with two young blond Alphas of Des Rues parked and waited, they laughed and talked. A van pulled in and idled for a moment, then the sports car pulled out to follow. Nyall planned to follow them back to their packhouse which was not in Des Rues territory. Del’s tidal wolf rose to follow, and Nyall followed her, but She went the opposite way of the van and alphas. He was surprised when she led him to a small airport, then sat down under a tree. He gave his name at the small office and was given a simple message by the sweet elderly clerk.

It’s Mamó’s time.

Nyall felt like his heart was going to stop.

“Bad news, shugar?” The blue haired woman asked, her tee-shirt declared her a “Nana Trendista”.

“My Mamó, um, my grandmother is dying,” he answered shakily.

“Oh honey, well, ya’ll’s family is sending a plane for ya. It’ll be here in an hour, can I get ya anythin’ while ya wait? Ya’ll look so pale, darlin’.”

“Can... may I use your phone? Mine isn’t getting a signal,” He begged.

“Sure, darlin’, those cell phones are useless.” She rolled her eyes, “You gotta get outta these mountains to find a signal.” She set an old-fashioned rotary phone on the counter and let Nyall call.

Essie picked up on the first ring, “Just come home, Nyall.”

“Essie, I found them. I can still catch their trail.” He didn’t want to believe the bad luck of the timing of it all.

Essie began talking so fast he only caught half of what she said, ending with, “Nyall, you need to come home by tonight. That’s an order from the Delphi.” And she hung up.

The old human looked up at him sadly, “Your sister sure talks fast when she is upset.”

Nyall stared at her oddly then realized she meant Essie. “You have no idea. Thanks for the use of your phone, ma’am. When did you say the plane would be here?”

“About two hours, it was already on the way when ya’ll showed up.” She raised an eyebrow at him, “How’d you know to come here, we ain’t exactly a well-known airport?”

“I got a message to come here before my phone lost signal, but it didn’t tell me why. I guess they didn’t want me driving upset,” He answered.

“Were you and your grandma close?”

“Aye, my mother was murdered when I was three. Mamó loved me like her own for my whole life.” His throat tightened uncomfortably.

The kind woman patted his hand, “I am sure ya’ll will get home in time, she’ll wait for ya.”

He swallowed before answering, “Yes, ma’am.” As he thought about what to do with his his bike, the elderly lady said, “I’m Madge, not ma’am. I appreciate the manners, but it makes me feel like my mother-in-law.”

Madge rented Nyall an empty hanger bay to keep his bike in until he returned. He took only his travel bag and a saddle bag of books.

“Excuse me, do you mind if I just sit out under one of those trees while I wait?”

“Ya’ll just have a seat and I’ll be here if ya need anythin’.” Madge gave him a sweet, sympathetic smile.

“Thank you, ma’am, I mean Madge.”

Del’s wolf waited for him out by the tree, and he felt her put her head on his leg. He put his hand next to her head, he couldn’t touch her, or see her in the bright light but he could feel her with him for a while, then she faded away.

Thirty-five minutes later, he watched Seeker Malcolm landing. He greeted his fellow servant with a sad, knowing smile. “Hello, Nyall.”

“Hello, Malcolm.”

“You got her pretty fast,” Nyall commented as he stepped into the small, fast plane.

“Delilah sent me out hours ago. We need to stop for fuel, but we’ll be back to the Eye in three hours. I’ll try to get you there to say goodbye to Oracle Tiene. Get the door.”

“Much appreciated.” Nyall looked out, then closed the door. He would hunt the Des Rues another day.

~~~~~

Malcolm landed the pontoon plane at the docks of the temple. Nyall climbed out with a heavy heart, surveying the lake the wolves called the Eye of the Goddess. Mamó was going to the Moon tonight. Ainsley rushed to meet him, she had grown taller than Moire had been at fourteen and looked so much like her it made Nyall’s heart ache. She still rarely whispered but usually she signed to communicate. Ainsley usually delivered her prophesies written or drawn. Mamó had held on long enough to see her take her vows as an oracle. As they walked toward the temple, Nyall wondered when the oracles would head north again to Moon’s Gate. Every year, more and more failed to infiltrate the temples. Kaiyou’s protectors defended the islands with fatal fierceness and, as he had discovered in the Moon’s Void, there was a shadow-walker protecting the hidden way into the Moon’s Gate. The Sunwolf’s followers had even dared to try to kill the Delphi Oracle a half-dozen more times since winter began. More if one counted the dead in the Void of the Moon… None captured ever revealed who had put the bounty on the oracles, only that it existed. But the Servants all suspected it was the Des Rues, just like they had put a bounty on the vampires. Most of whom had been sent to safety on other continents.

“How is Mamó, beag sionnach(little fox)?” he asked softly.

Ainsley’s wolf whispered her reply, “She is old and tired and ready to go home to be with our families, she was just waiting for you.”

Comhnyall nodded as he followed to Ainsley and Mamó’s rooms. He wasn’t ready to spend a last few hours with the great-great-grandmother of his lost mate.