Prophesy 3: His Righteousness by A.E. Via
Adres was sitting at the dining table in Justice’s home talking with Wrath and Belleron as they waited for Taleb and his new mates to come over. It had been almost a week before Taleb decided that he and Henry had healed their omega mate enough for him to come out and meet the pack.
“So, how have things been with you and Mac?” Wrath asked with Belleron on his lap.
“Splendid, my friend,” Adres answered.
“And that expression you just made radiated the word ‘splendid’.” Belleron scoffed.
“Trust me. If he says it’s splendid, then it is.” Wrath grunted, his smoky eyes leveled on Adres. “But don’t expect it to reflect on his face. Hundreds of years of being disguised as evil has its lasting effects, I presume.”
“I see.”
Wrath kissed Belleron on his neck, a puff of steam escaping his lips before he closed his mouth over a mark that looked like a healed third-degree burn. Belleron dropped his head back, his long, inky mane falling over Wrath’s arm as the kiss intensified. Adres got up and silently excused himself, not wanting to be a voyeur to their bond. He was appreciative that Aleksei allowed Wrath to surface so much when he was around. It was nice to have a familiar face at his new home, someone he was positive he could trust besides his cherished.
Everyone was in the living room, and Adres took his seat beside Macauley on one of the leather sectionals. He absently placed a possessive hand on Adres’s thigh while he continued having an animated conversation with his sister. Instead of interrupting their conversation, Adres observed Justice and Wick’s pack enforcers and officers filing into the large, open room.
“So where is he?” Farica asked when there was a break in the various muted conversations. “He’s made us wait a whole damn week already. What’s the hold—”
“He is coming, Farica.” Justice glared. “Be patient.”
“He is here,” Taleb said from the entrance to the living, his masculine, sure voice cutting off the remaining chatter.
Adres didn’t know Taleb Volkov as well as he’d gotten to know his siblings over the past months, but he understood him to be the most intelligent and steadiest of his brothers. Adres had not seen Taleb since before he’d left for the Monstrous Reef. Somehow, he looked older, more mature, in his dark blue jeans and crisp white collared shirt.
There were gasps and other vocal reactions as Taleb reached behind him and took each of his mates’ hands, “Justice, Wick, family. I want you to meet my mates. Henry Fitzwell.” The usually shy vampire stood at his alpha’s side with his head high and his mating mark on full display. Adres’s eyes widened when Taleb motioned for his second mate to come forward. “And Orion Whitefly.”
It was almost comical the way everyone in the room turned their noses upward, nostrils flaring as they inhaled the omega’s amazing scent, which was still as incredible as before, but minus the heat and pheromones, therefore far less trance-inducing. The stunning white-haired man blinked, his long lashes fanning over his violet eyes as he smiled at them as if the pleasure was all his.
“I’ve been waiting to meet you all for so long.” He sounded as if he was a descendant of Apollo, the god of poetry and song.
“We have been waiting too. It is good to see you well,” Farica said, her gaze eating up the handsome omega. “We have a lot of questions for you.”
“That is why he’s here. He has the answers I have been searching for my whole life.” Taleb responded. He motioned for his mates to sit on one of the love seats while he sat between them. “What is the prophesy, and will it ever come to pass?”
“You said you are the prophesy.” Wick stood at the front of the room with Justice, their guards standing directly behind them. “Meaning…?”
“History has shown us that the prophesy will always reveal itself when needed. Vampires and shifters are natural enemies, and it is instinctive for you to distance from each other over time. But,” Orion stressed, “if the divide becomes too great, mayhem, rivalry, and war always follow. And then he will resurrect again.”
“The sorcerer of strife,” Taleb said grimly.
“Yes. Like now.” Orion eyed each of them as he spoke, his voice seeping with emotion that kept them riveted and on the edges of their seat. “Your species has never been more divided before Wick came to Justice.” Orion smiled beautifully. “And so it began.”
“How old are you?” Adres asked, remembering this man. Wrath was correct. Adres had rescued him when he was just a boy.
“You remember me now, dark warrior.”
“I do.” Adres frowned, trying to understand.
“I am two hundred and forty-six years old.”
“How is that possible? Shifters, especially omegas, don’t live that long,” Justice said.
“There’s a couple reasons for that, Alpha. One, there is no growing old and weary in the fairy lands. And two, most of all, I am ageless, because the blood of a Titan god courses through my veins.” Orion motioned towards Adres.
“Everything that has happened has been with a specific purpose. My parents were the leaders of the NorthStar pack. My father was an alpha, and my mother a fairy omega. One of the few that were left in the world.” Orion’s tone dropped several octaves, and so did the entire mood of the room. “I was only twelve when my home was raided by a rogue coven of vampires. My entire pack was being murdered before Adres and his brothers appeared.”
All eyes were on Adres, but he was focused on Orion. Now that Adres was whole and had his memories back, he remembered that night as if it had happened yesterday. The curse in him at the time was only a hundred years old, still fresh and wreaking havoc on his life. But Adres had wielded his magical plague like a weapon and had gone after feral and corrupted vampires without mercy.
How could he have forgotten those eyes and the hope and freedom that radiated from Orion’s core when Adres had shoved the small, bloody wolf under his cloak and protected him with his shields? And even though Adres couldn’t pull from his goodness and light at the time, he just knew without question that he had to save Orion. “He was beaten and wounded when I found him. His entire pack was killed, so therefore my brothers and I thought he was as good as dead. Even around the wickedness inside of me, something deep within told me to save him.”
Against his brother’s wishes, Adres had bitten into his wrist and placed it to the pup’s mouth and let him drink. “I healed him with my blood enough to survive the ride on Război’s back all the way to the Monstrous Reef and beyond.” Adres could feel Macauley in his mind reliving the memory with him. He gripped his beloved’s hand for his strength. “I gifted the omega back to the fairies, and in return, they gave me back part of my light that had been shaded by the sorcerer.”
Before Adres had left the fairy lands, he recalled how Orion had reached for his soul with his—perhaps so he’d be able to find him again—but he’d come up empty. The small wolf had whined for him not to go, but Adres didn’t turn around, knowing he would never be permitted to stay. “I prayed he would be safe and that the fairies would give him a good life.”
Now there he was. Strong, gorgeous, mated, and magical.
“If it was not for a horseman, I would be dead by now. He took me to the only place I would be safe. I had already gone through puberty, so my scent would have gotten me killed or taken long ago if I wasn’t hidden away.” Orion touched Taleb and Henry’s cheeks. “I did not know it then, but the prophesy had already begun. The fairies had never seen a horse god, a vampire, risk their life for a shifter. We prayed to the Mother, and it was almost a year before she came and told me my destiny.”
“Which is…” Justice baited.
Orion stood, his eyes alight with magic. “You, Justice, are the alpha, who started it all, and I… am the omega.”
“The end is here, brothers,” Taleb told them.
Macauley held Adres’s hand as the worry and emotion of what he’d gone through to save Orion that day bled into his mind. There had been so much darkness and rage in his mate back then, yet he hadn’t been able to leave a hurt pup to die alone amongst carnage.
He wanted to pull Adres onto his lap and enfold him in his arms, but he would not humiliate his strong mate in front of everyone. Instead, he eased the sensation of his tight embrace inside him, and Adres released a quiet sigh as he leaned towards him.
“So, what does this mean?” Farica glanced back and forth between Orion and Justice. “What do we do?”
“We power through with the plan.” Justice didn’t hesitate as he took Wick’s hand. “We continue to unite the species as the prophesy tells us.”
“My people are starving, please. We have to move forward.”
“We need to proceed with the blood drive,” Justice demanded. “Vampires have been saving us for centuries, it is far time we return the favor. The prophesy is centered around karma. It is time that we do unto others, as the vampires have done for us.”
Orion nodded as if he agreed, then glanced in Adres and Macauley’s direction. “When evil comes for us, do not fear… this time our warrior will be ready.”