Nothing Stays Buried (Lunar River Series)

12.5 My Mother's Daughter

Iris

A light wakes me from my sleep. I stir a bit at the hard bed beneath me that breathed. I blink a few times to find the moon shining through my window. No, not my window. In fact, not even my room. I look around to find that the hard bed I'm sleeping on is Kristofer's chest.

I lay my head back down and listen to his heart calling my name in rhythm. The last thing I remember is falling asleep in the bathtub. I sit up remembering how we were fully clothed and touch my body to feel what I had on. It felt light and oversized shirt and with the light of the moon shining through I could tell that all Kristofer has on is his underwear.

I lift the shirt to my face and inhale his scent. My lungs fill with the scent of freshly ground coffee and cinnamon bringing me to tears. My sobs roll out of me as if a seal had broken. Arms wrap around me hushing my cries in futile attempts. Kristofer hugs me tighter whispering something to me but I can't hear him.

I can't hear his voice. Instead I hear my mother and things she said. The story that unfolded. The truth that had been buried beneath the lie of who I am. I hated myself growing up because I was always different. I was weaker, got colder, didn't shift as big as the other wolves, and senses lacked the depth and perception that all others had. I simply thought that I was just born with a weak Lycan gland and accepted it as such.

Yet now, now I know it's because I am not just a wolf descendent but and elf one as well. I have nothing against them of course, especially with our kind adopting Ithil, goddess bless Alpha Robert. But this kind of truth, a truth that defines my very being and answers so much of what's happening to me, to only be revealed after the facts...hurts. Liber de Beur. Elf. NOT YOUR BIOLOGICAL FATHER. Binding. The words stir like a chant in ridicule. Mocking my naivety.

"IRIS!" Kristofer calls out to me in panic. I open my eyes to find random objects floating in his room, surrounding us. I blink in shock and they drop causing a load thud to bang throughout the house.

"No, I didn't mean, I-" the words won't form. How am I doing this?

"Shhh... it's okay. It's okay, nothing happened." Kristofer continues to hug me and rocks side to side.

I take deep breaths of his scent to calm down and focus my breathing with his. I takes my several minutes to calm down.

"Better?" He whispers in my ear.

"Yes, a bit." I whisper back with my eyes closed. I don't want to see the mess. The proof of my blood is scattered a mess on the floor and I refuse to acknowledge it.

"Come, lets go back to sleep. I'll make you breakfast in the morning."

Kristofer lays me down and covers me with a blanket while he sleeps on top of it. The warmth of his bare chest sends me to sleep quickly.

Well maybe a bit too quickly, or rather not at all. I open my eyes and find not the room with Kristofer but a lodge by a lake. There isn't a soul in sight. The moon is hiding behind the clouds and a dense fog rolls off the lake and over the grass to my feet.

"Thank you for coming." A voice calls out from the shadows.

"Who are you?" I call out but nothing is moving. No one is there. None of which I can see.

"Only one of the strongest Elves to live." The voice laughed his words as if it were common knowledge.

"I don't know anyone who caries such a self proclaimed title." As brave as my words sound, I'm scared. My feet are glued to where they are while my knees threaten to give out.

Out from the shadows, a tall man with dark blonde hair and eyes black as night, emerges. His grin expressed all ill intent but I could not deny that this man is indeed my father. "Liber de Beur." I announce while I shudder at the bitter taste it leaves in my mouth.