Adeeana's Mate Ch. 03

"Where am I?" She asked surprised at how rough and foreign her own voice was.

"Are you the healer?" The boy asked warily trying to block as much of the bed from Adeeana as he could with his slight form.

Healer? "Yes." She heard herself answer and she knew it was true. She was a healer of Dramulus. She could heal with her touch but she shouldn't. She shouldn't because....the thought was gone again as quickly as it had come.

"Will you heal my mother?"

Adeeana walked haltingly toward the bed her mind caught in a dream. She stared down at the slight woman who lay in the bed, her breath coming in shallow gasps and then at the little boy who looked at her so pleadingly. Is that why she was here? Her mind blurred the edges of what had been and what was. A little boy in an orphanage with dark hair and defiant eyes. A young woman, a princess of sorts, sick and in need of help. Adeeana's help.

"Trish?" Adeeana whispered laying her pale hands on the woman's arm. Instantly she was seized with power. The woman was desperately trying to tell her something but Adeeana was too far gone to know what. The power began to run through her clearing away the last of the drugs from her before it did the same for the strange woman. She felt the agony of the woman trapped in a body that would not respond to her, saw flashes of a man touching her while she slept, his eyes full of hate. Then she saw the boy. "No!", Adeeana screamed starring at the child sitting close to her as the back lash of healing brought on her hunger of the beast. "Oh Stars, No!" she pleaded.

Sheron had no sooner hit the ground near the council chambers and watched Brom take off when he was struck by a force so strong it knocked him off his feet. His body went through the change lengthening and bending itself until he was more beast than man. His muzzle filled with razor teeth and his senses opened to that of his other self. His attacker was smaller then he but fast. Before Sheron could gain his feet his assailant delivered two sets of slashes to his torso. The false scent of Adeeana was upon the creature and it sparked Sheron's barely banked anger. This was the betrayer.

She had to stay away from them but the room was so small and the animal in her would not be quieted. She reached for Sheron to calm her nerves but in his mind she only read death. Her claws lengthened and she curled her hands into such fists that she knew her palms would always bare the scars. She went to the darkest corner curling up with her back to the room praying to anything that would listen that the woman would take the child away before she lost control.

"Mom?" Tam asked as he saw her blink her eyes and felt her fear in his mind. Her violet eyes blinked open and she looked around wildly for some unseen enemy before finally spotting her him.

Tam?

I'm here Mom! I knew she would heal you!

Nia sat up slowly her body feeling tired but otherwise fit. The last thing she remembered was her brother Kempoe demanding that she destroy her son and leave her mate to be with him. He had invited her for some wine and she had realized to late what was happening. For these long weeks she had been trapped inside herself unable to answer her beloved or her son, knowing that Kempoe was looking for a way to kill them but unable to warn them. She wrapped her son into her arms with a little cry of relief kissing him everywhere she could reach.

"She made you better! I knew she would make you better!" He cried his arms so tight around her throat she thought he would strangle her. The hair stood up on the back of her neck as she sensed the other presence in the room. Her eyes found the back of a woman Garu. She was too small to be full blooded but the sounds that came from her were terrifying. Though Nia had seen her husband change a hundred times she knew that this creature had no bond to her and might not recognize her in a change. She remembered the confusion in the woman's touch as she had driven the poison out of her body...no their bodies. She left her son on the bed putting herself between them.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly.

"Get him away." The Garu growled. Her breath came in gasps,"You must g-g-get away from me."

Nia scooped up her son and headed toward the door. Her sudden movements caught the Garu's attention and her head jerked up. Nia saw that there was no recognition in her face only death. She reached behind her keeping her son as far away as she could and grasped for the door knob. The Garu began to stalk toward her. She gave the knob a vicious yank but it would not open. The Garu seemed to stare right through her to Tam.

Merrik?! Nia reached for her mate to beg him to help but she feared it would be to late.

Adeeana knew she was loosing control. The woman's fear excited her senses and in her fear stared directly into Adeeana's eyes. The bitch in her roared at the direct challenge but the woman's eyes only widened and she did not back down. Her last human thought before the wolf took over was focused into one plea for both help and forgiveness. Sheron!

He attacked grabbing the stranger by the shoulder and sinking his teeth in. His first thought was to kill him but reason warned him that this could be his only link to Adeeana. The man wrenched himself away rolling to his feet and cradling his injured shoulder but he did not retreat. He began a series of cat like pouncing moves that forced Sheron back into a corner. Sheron watched to find a pattern taking another series of slashes for his efforts but finally he knew he would win. Two forward attacks and one back. Sheron blocked the two forward leaps and on the strangers next back slash Sheron whipped around and sprung. His great jaws closed around the other man's throat holding him so tight that he could only gasp for air. When he again attempted to strike Sheron gave him a vicious shake that would have broken a smaller creatures neck. They heard their mates at the same time. Sheron shifted back into a man's form his chest and back feeling like ribbons holding back a flood. He trapped the Garu against the wall using his forearm against his neck to keep him still.

"Where is my mate betrayer."

"You are the assassin."

The man gasped his eyes rolling as Sheron increased the pressure. "She calls to me in fear betrayer and it is not fear for her own life. If you do not tell me where she is she will kill before either of us can stop her."

The man's nod gained him breath. He did not fall to the ground a fact that earned him no small amount of respect from Sheron.

"She was brought here to heal my mate. She was poisoned by a gift that you sent counselor Kempoe." The man growled leading Sheron as fast as he could mange toward Nia's room. His shoulder ached like wild fire and he knew that had it not been for the healers call he would be dead right now. He tried to find the despair that had been there before but it had been replaced by hope. So pure and blinding that it almost crippled him. He had heard Nia call to him. Strong but afraid. He would not fail her a second time.

"I knew nothing of Kempoe until yesterday when you took my mate. I want nothing to do with the human council or its members. I am here only for Adeeana."

Merrik tasted the truth in Merrik's words and found himself at a loss. If there was no assassin then that left only one person who could have poisoned Nia.

"I am a fool." He whispered before shifting to reach his wife's room at a faster speed Sheron close at heel."

The Garu female stalked closer to Nia growling deeply and angrily. She tried to move away but the female would not let her. She watched in horror and she drew to her full height baring her great teeth in threat.

"Get down!" Tam yelled yanking her to the floor. She was surprised at how strong he had become. "You have to cast your eyes down and drop close to the floor. She thinks you are challenging her." Nia cursed her own stupidity as she recognized the truth in Tam's words. She pulled Tam under her and dropped to the floor in a submissive posture. She felt the female circle her, snuffling her hair and her clothing. It growled close to her ear daring her to challenge again but when there was no response she lost interest and began to search the room. Nia watched the female her heart pounding in her throat. How long would the female ignore them? She was across the room again sniffing at the windows as if she too only wanted out. Who was she? Nia reached slowly behind her again to grab hold of the door knob despite of Tam's muffled warnings but the straightening of her posture caught the Garu's attention again and this time she would not be talked out of the fight. Nia gave the door another viscous yank and to her relief it opened. On the other side stood the biggest warrior she had ever seen. There was no mercy in his eyes or in his posture and for a moment she had the most insane urge to close the door again. The female behind her roared in agitation and before Nia knew what was happening she and Tam were in the arms of Merrik and the door was closed. Merrik looked as stunned and confused as Nia but they did not question their good fortune. Merrik let out a cry of joy as he crushed Nia and Tam to his battered chest.

"What is going on here?" Nia asked between fevered kisses. "Should we help them?" She asked gesturing towards the door.

"That is a lovers reunion we want no part of beloved." Merrik said herding his family towards their quarter. He would brook no arguments from Nia. They would move within the Garu Kingdom until Kempoe could be charged.

The female stopped her stalking when confronted with this knew challenge. Though his scent was familiar her mind clung to thoughts of dominance and of challenge. She sprung at him lithely intending to push him to the ground but he was faster then he appeared. He side stepped her neatly and turned so that she was not sure who was stalking whom.

"Adeeana?" He said but the word had no meaning to her. She sprung again and again he side stepped her. She growled in frustration and turned to circle the other direction.

Sheron was unsure of how to deal with her. He didn't want to hurt her or to be hurt by her but she was making it impossible. Any move he made toward her was answered with threatening growls that increased in volume if he moved away from her. He bowed his head as if to submit to her and waited for her to pounce. Before she was mid-leap he had made the change and leaped for her. He used her momentum to roll her under him pinning her body much the way he had when they were children. He trapped her arms above her head and forced his greater body between her legs. When she pushed against him to try to get up he answered by pinning her more forcefully, by probing her entrance with his member. She let go of the Garu form but not its nature. Her eyes were still gold, her nails and teeth long but her body was again human. Sheron followed suit growling soft endearments to her in a language only they understood. She wrenched her wrist from his grasp just as she had when they were children. He stilled himself for her assault but she used her hand to caress the pattern of the scars across his cheek. Her claws were replaced by her delicate fingers and her teeth returned to their normal state. The gold in her eyes faded from animal aggression to human need.

"Sheron?" She said confused.

"I am here Imaria." He answered nuzzling her neck and pushing the clothing that separated them off. He needed to be close to her, inside her. He needed to know that she was alright and that she was his. he buried himself deeply into her body loving the gasp of surprise that he drew from her lips. He rocked again and again into her body wanting her release knowing that it was the only true way to quiet the animal in both of them. She wrapped both her legs and her arms around him clinging to him as if nothing else in the world had to make sense. It was short and rough but in its brutality was true love. Adeeana knew now what Sheron had meant when he said that there was no life without death but she would teach him that there was no death without life.

Epilogue

Sheron held a letter in his hands and tried to ignore the fact that his quarters were being completely turned upside down by his mate. She had been there less then 8 months and already she had rearranged their bedroom, their living room, their bath room and finally the kitchen. Just when he thought there was nothing else she could disrupt or move she had come into his office with that look on her face.

"We have a letter from Merrik." He said watching her eyes his space. The statement distracted her temporarily.

"Are they okay?"

"They have been granted passage and living quarters on Garu grounds. They say that there is still no sign of Kempoe but that the search of his private computer and quarters has revealed the truth about the human/Garu marriages. The council will lift the band immediately and is offering compensation to those who have already been victimized by him."

"It's a start, but I think the wounds are deeper then we think." Adeeana breathed throwing herself into Sheron's lap with a long sigh. He grunted and adjusted to better make her comfortable.

"Nia says that Tam has taken an interest in Dramulus."

"No thanks to me." Adeeana's said taking pointed interest in the floor.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of Imaria. If it were not for you Nia would not be able to say anything." Adeeana nodded but her eyes did not come up from the floor. Sheron let it go. She would welcome the beast in her one day, but it did not have to be today. He settled for changing the subject.

"Brom also sends word. He says that if you do not take Trish somewhere, anywhere, before the next moon rising that he is going to pack his stuff and move in here."

Adeeana laughed. Poor Brom had been getting the "royal" attitude for the last quarter of Trish's pregnancy. "Tell him he sewed the seed and now he can reap the rewards. The last time I tried to take her to the shopping center she stopped to pee three times and then burst into tears when we passed through the womens clothing selection. There is no way I am doing that again." But they both knew she would.

"She wants you to deliver the baby." He said softly. Since her kidnaping she had not touched any of her medical equipment. Word of her abilities had spread like wild fire but the "rumors" of her gifts where squelched just like the rumors of the Royals psychic ability. For the last month she had been driving him nearly insane with all of her pent up energy.

"What should I do beloved?" She asked.

He arched a brow teasingly, "Rearrange Brom's home and leave my study be?"

Adeeana hit him in the shoulder with a scowl that sent him into gruffles of laughter. She was about to get up and storm out of the room whe Sheron captured her pulling her back into his lap for a kiss.

"Deliver the baby Imaria. Bring life back to this world." He smiled wistfully, "It is your way."

"No," She said wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again soundly, "It is our way."