Jory Strong: Healer's Choice

It wasn’t the way Aryck had meant to tell his father. If he’d wanted to avoid doing it face-to-face, he could have done it mind-to-mind instead of coming here. But Caius hurt too, and so Aryck knelt in front of the cub, pausing for a moment to look at the alphabet spread out between them. “I’m leaving for Oakland now. I’ll tell her you’re practicing. It’ll make her happy.”

“Are you going to bring her back?” The cub’s face and voice held a wealth of hope.

“Maybe not right away, but in the future,” Aryck said, ruffling the boy’s hair before standing and facing his father and Nahuatl.

As if his father had been expecting it all along, Koren said, “You’ve made your choice. Go.”

THE Were might yet live up to the expectations of his ancestors , Addai thought. He hadn’t been certain the enforcer would follow Rebekka.

Of course, now that the Jaguar had finally made his choice, time worked against him. It was entirely possible he would arrive in Oakland only to find Rebekka dead.

Into the silence following the enforcer’s departure, the shaman spoke, delivering lines crafted for him but forbidden until this moment. “If Aryck returns with Rebekka, it is because he has been judged worthy to serve more than a single pack. He is meant for greater things. The ancestors speak of a war coming for rule of the Earth. If the Weres are to survive it, there must be those who will lead us in a new direction, away from the past and into a future where we are united. The alliance with our neighbors is just the beginning, as is change when it comes to dealing with the outcast.”

Addai smiled, satisfaction filling him, though this had yet to finish playing out. With Caphriel gone, and the delivery of the ancestors’ message witnessed, his business here was done.

His focus shifted to the city. But unlike the Were’s journey there, for Addai, Oakland required only a thought coupled to his will.

He chose the brothel, curious as to whether Rebekka remained free, or if the last of her father’s testing had finally claimed her life.

He chose to wear flesh because it amused him to wander unstopped and unmolested among the prostitutes and their clients. And because the hot energy of the Were reminded him of what it had been like to live among Sajia’s people, Djinn who were mārdazmā , able to change shape but who had no noncorporeal form.

On a catwalk above the dungeons Addai stopped to watch a scene unfold. A Were female was led into one of the open playrooms on a leash.

She wore nothing but a collar and tight clamps attached to her nipples. Luxurious black hair shimmered in waves down her back, not stopping until it curled around her buttocks and brushed against her bare mound.

The man who’d paid to own her for the session was wealthy. The cut of his clothing and the rings on his fingers made it evident.

He ordered the female onto a piece of equipment allowing him to bind her spread-eagled so he could step between her open thighs and fuck either orifice, or position himself next to her head and command her to take him into her mouth.

The slap of his hand against her bare cunt sent a door crashing open in Addai’s mind. Memories flooded in and he hardened in a heartbeat, his cock swelling along with his need for the woman who had once been his.

Thousands of years should have made it easy to keep her from his thoughts, but now that he was close to possessing her again, she was never far from them. A hot wash of anticipation slid through him at the prospect of meeting her for the first time, of their being strangers again. It built as he imagined seeing a hint of fear in her eyes, instinctual on her part at being given over to a being who was her natural enemy.

Those feelings would soon be turned into something erotic. She would grow wet and ready as she knelt at his feet, her hands clasped behind her back, long black hair caressing her dusky buttocks as she looked up at him, pleading silently for him to allow her to worship him with her mouth.

Fantasizing about her was a sweet torment he knew better than to indulge in, a distraction he didn’t need as this thread woven to solidify alliance grew close to being judged a success or a failure. He ached for her, dreamed of her, but in the end, there was no hurrying her arrival in his life. It would come, soon, and he would never allow her into the presence of danger again.

With great effort Addai closed the door opened by the carnal scene taking place in the dungeon beneath him. He forced his thoughts away from Sajia even as his gaze lingered on the darkened, flushed skin of the prostitute’s bare mound before moving up to the still-clamped nipples.

His will betrayed him with the memory of other nipples, gripped long ago by delicate clasps shyly left for him to find. His cock throbbed, begging for relief.

He turned away from the sight of the dark-haired Were and left the catwalk, knowing he would seek neither companion nor even a release granted by his own hand. Only Sajia would satisfy him.

In the corridor between brothels Addai gave up the illusion of flesh and the temptations that came with it. He used his will to move to the building Rebekka lived and did the majority of her work in.

He sensed the hushed excitement immediately and saw the Lion, Levi, soon after. His manner said Rebekka was well, and though Addai could not see the Were’s soul as some of the Djinn were said to be able to do, he could feel its completeness, its binding to a place even the angels given charge over the spiritlands didn’t enter.

She’d healed him, as she’d been created to do. It won’t be long now , Addai thought, watching Levi move among the outcasts. A touch here, a nod there, the signs as subtle as the slow exodus of the chosen. By his reckoning, Levi and Rebekka had been back at least a day or two, and if they were smart, the first to be freed were those who’d earned time off and wouldn’t be missed for a while.

He wasn’t the only one to notice. Two others did as well. Addai watched as Dorrit, the madam, busied herself, turning her attention to other matters, ignoring those who were slipping away. Far more interesting was the Lioness, Kala, who found a reason to be near Levi as he made his rounds through the brothels before exiting himself.

Addai lingered outside, curious to see if Kala would emerge after Levi had disappeared from sight. When she did, a small smile formed on his lips at having guessed from the outset she would be the one. Betrayer.

No doubt she would scream in fury to know she served the very ancestors who’d seen the darkness in her heart and marked her as outcast. Or perhaps the Djinn had a hand in her making. Addai didn’t discount the possibility.

He followed the Lioness as she tracked Levi by scent, and wasn’t surprised to find the trail led to Araña’s boat. Rebekka stood on its deck, greeting each of the outcasts by name as they climbed aboard. Her friend, Feliss, jumped easily to the dock, going to Levi and shyly taking his hand.

Nearby several of Rimmon’s men watched without interfering. Another smile played over Addai’s lips with thoughts of the vice lord.

Oh how the mighty had become Fallen , and for a far lesser sin than he himself had committed in loving a Djinn. It would be amusing to watch Rimmon fight the net so carefully crafted for him with the birth of his Finder daughter, Saril.

In the end, he would be named ally or enemy. Neutrality was no longer an option.

The last of the Weres boarded. Rebekka motioned toward the cabin, sending one of them inside before entering and closing the door behind her.

Addai expected Levi to remain on guard, or return to the brothel. Instead Lion and Deer walked away hand in hand, as if going off to lie together.