Chapter 26

Twenty-Six

"Lily!" I screamed and dove towards her.

The power hit her little body and she closed her eyes.

In fear and amazement, we watched as the power absorbed into her, her body glowed with an odd purplish light, and her hair changed color to match the power, becoming streaked with purple and cyan blue.

She started to fall and I caught her in my dive, her body still radiating the power.

"How!" my adoptive mother screamed. "No!"

Caleb teleported with the others beside us and he took a split second to assess the scene before grabbing my adoptive mother in chains he created from the ground, and bound her in them. "What have you done?" he roared in her face. "What is that power?"

"She shouldn't have been able to absorb it," she whispered. "What kind of monster are you hybrids? You're all monsters!"

Cradling Lily in my lap, I stroked her sleeping face with my hand. "Lily, wake up. Please, sweetheart, wake up." Her heart beat and she breathed slowly, but her body was almost burning me to touch it.

Ezio crawled to us in his wolf form, whining, and bumped his nose against her hand that lay limply at my side.

"She's alive," I whispered.

"What was that power?" Caleb demanded.

"A curse to permanently alter personalities," she said.

No! No, Lily can't have absorbed that to protect us. What had it done to her?

"Lily," I said and gently shook her. "Wake up, Lily."

She groaned and her eyelids fluttered open. "Mama?" she asked and whined. "Body hurts."

Hugging her against my chest, I sobbed softly. "I'm so sorry, Lily."

"No cry," she said and patted my back, her voice muffled as I hugged her.

Leaning back, I pulled a strand of her now magically-colored hair forward and showed her. "Your hair changed."

She gasped and pulled as much of her hair forward as she could to look at it. "Pretty!" she squealed, stood, and danced in a circle while looking at her hair. "It's so pretty."

Well, at least she was happy about it.

"How do you feel?" I asked her.

She stopped dancing, pushed her hair back, and said, "Hungry."

"How?" my adoptive mother shouted. "How did she absorb it without it changing her?"

"Lily feels the magic inside," Lily said and patted her chest. "It's warm and …" she thought about it a moment, "… angry, but Lily's not angry. She's happy and has happy family."

"Who else are you working with?" Caleb asked my adoptive mother.

She shook her head. "We were the last." Looking at her dead companion, the man I had once called dad, she sobbed. "We were the last. We were so close to finding a way to permanently destroy hybrids. If only we'd had more time. More resources. More of her blood." She looked at me with such hatred that I cringed back.

"I'm going to teleport her to the mage prison," Caleb informed me. He waved Lily towards him and she obediently skipped over. Squatting down, he hugged her with one arm while the other one still held my adoptive mother in the chains. "When we get home, we'll have Great Nana Kara check you over, okay?"

"I'm okay, Papa," she said and patted his shoulder. "The magic doesn't hurt. Promise."

He scowled and I could tell he felt the same as me, even more concerned for her. "Stay with Mama and no more jumping in front of strange magic, okay?"

She giggled. "Okay, Papa."

Ezio picked her up and tapped his finger against the end of her nose. "You're so naughty. Wasn't the rule to stay back and let us protect you?"

"Ezio was in pain," she grumbled. "And …" her little eyes filled with tears, "… I didn't want to lose another Mama."

He hugged her so tight she squeaked, but she let him continue to hug her.

"Come on, let's get back inside the walls and wards," Branson said, and picked me up in a bridal carry. "Your magic is depleted, my queen."

"I won't be the last," my adoptive mother shouted. "Others will come."

"And we'll defeat them as well," I said without looking at her, letting Branson carry me. "Together, the hybrids will stand and defeat all who oppose us. Just like we defeated you and the H.E."

She sobbed quietly and Caleb teleported them away.

Clark and Stan followed us inside, frowning hard.

Once we were at the bonfire, Branson set me on one of the logs and took a water bottle out of his pack for me.

Lily jumped out of Ezio's arms and ran up to the kids, who all approached and took turns examining her hair. Once they had all expressed their awe, they ran around us playing tag, the horror and drama forgotten.

I wished to be able to live a life like that.

"Eat," Triston ordered me and put a bag of jerky in my lap.

"Are you okay?" I asked Ezio as he sat next to me, eating and drinking as well.

He nodded. "You cured me before the curse could full take effect. Thank you. I felt an urge to kill you all and was fighting it, but I'm not sure what would have happened if you hadn't acted so quickly." He glanced at Lily. "It was terrifying to think it could force me to harm her."

I set my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "We've experienced this a few times before. I'm glad I could cure you before something happened."

"I know I'm a werewolf and not part of your clan, but call me anytime and I will come." Looking over at Lily where she was wrestling with another little girl, he added, "Especially if it concerns her."

"It sets my nerves a bit to know that she has people like you who will be there for her … if anything should happen."

Riddick growled at me as he sat down on my right side. He linked our hands together and rubbed his face against mine. "You scared me again."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"I still can't believe they had clones," he whispered. "That's terrifying to consider."

"What if there are more?" I asked.

"Then we will take care of them when we find them. No need to worry about something that may not come to pass," Caleb said as he teleported back behind us. He pushed Ezio over so he could take the spot beside me. "You sure you're okay?"

I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder.

Paul and Mercy sat across from Caleb and I.

"You can return with us and live in our clan's territory," Caleb said. "Or, you can stay here since this is also part of our territory. The decision is completely up to you."

"The mages are gone?" Mercy asked.

We both nodded.

"They called you, ‘daughter,'" Mercy whispered.

"They were my adoptive parents, but they abandoned me when I was young, sending me to a boarding school, and then they gave me a house in the woods, never talking to me. It wasn't until recently that I learned they were in charge of the Hybrid Eradication organization. We'd thought we killed them, but apparently it was their clones. Now, they won't be able to hurt us ever again."

"We don't know much about the outside world," Paul said. "I'm not sure we would do well there."

"You could come live on our clan lands, learn from the others of our clan, and slowly acclimate yourselves," I suggested. "We could talk to the Werewolf King about your kids going with Lily to the werewolf school, too."

Paul and Mercy looked at each other and frowned.

"You don't have to decide right now," Caleb advised. "We wanted to give you the option so you can discuss amongst yourselves and decide. Also, are we still able to stay the night?" He looked up at the darkening sky.

"Of course," Paul said immediately. "We're going to help with food. Please excuse us."

"Thank you," Caleb said.

Lily ran over to us and asked, "Can we stay the night?"

"Yes," Caleb nodded.

She gasped, spun, and shouted, "They said yes!"

The kids all cheered and she ran back to play with them.

"She seems okay," I whispered, "but I'm still worried."

"Same," he whispered.

"A curse to alter your personality," I whispered. "It sounds more like a siren's ability than a mage's."

"I was thinking that, too," Caleb said and leaned his elbows on his knees then set his chin in his hands. "Perhaps we should speak to Auntie Leona."

"Agreed."

"Although I am worried about Lily, I am really glad that it didn't hit you," he said and turned to look at me. "I'm not quite sure what I would have done if you went on a rampage. I'm not sure I could stop you."

Smiling, I asked, "Are you flirting with me, sir? Because that type of compliment really goes to a girl's head."

He brushed a kiss across my temple. "Speaking the truth. You are extremely powerful. Not just from your own power, but from being able to harness our powers as well. Plus, there are limits to how much you can do when you don't want to kill someone."

Riddick pulled me against his side and asked, "Can you stop getting into trouble when I'm not with you?"

Chuckling, I snuggled into him closer and kissed his cheek. "I'll try."

"I understand now why Rhys and Jolie's other mates were always stressed when not with her," he whispered. "The thought that your mate could be in trouble and you're too far away to help is terrifying."

"Let's hope we've had enough terrifying for the rest of our lifetime," I said and yawned.

"Come on, let's get you to bed," Triston said and held a hand out for me to take.

Caleb stood. "Yes, it is getting late." He looked over at Lily sleeping on a blanket next to the bonfire with the other children. Her hair was no longer glowing, but seemed like it was going to remain purple and cyan. "I think we can leave our little savior here with her friends for the night."

"I agree," I said with a nod. "She's earned some bonding time with the other children."

Caleb put his arm around my shoulders, leaned his head down until his lips were right beside my ear, and said in a lower voice, "You've earned bonding time as well."

A shiver of delight went up my spine. "Well, let's not delay any further."

He chuckled and nipped my earlobe. "As you wish, my queen."