Maara

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who takes the time read my story. A very special thank you if you also took the time to vote and comment. Nothing is more motivating than an encouraging word!

If you haven't read chapters 1-6, I do suggest going back to do so, as this chapter starts exactly where chapter 6 left off. I hope you enjoy this installment of Makara!

Part 7

~Makara

He reacted immediately, deepening the kiss aggressively. His hand moved to my head, winding his fingers through my hair and using his grip to pull my lips closer, almost painfully. The urgency nearly set me aflame and my own hands found their way to his chest and waist. He grabbed at my hip, feeling the curve as he ran his hand down my leg as far as he could reach. The tension drained as we melted into each other, enjoying the warmth and intensity of the embrace.

A click of the door reminded us where we were, and Rodan pulled away abruptly. By the time he was an appropriate distance away, the vampire had joined us in the bathroom.

Rodan watched me, never looking at the cause of our disruption. I glanced at the stranger long enough to see his gaze go between Rodan and I, clearly assessing the situation and drawing conclusions. I couldn't look at him anymore, nor could I face Rodan's hard stare, so I looked to the floor, hoping for some way out of this embarrassment.

"Am I interrupting?" The vampire spoke, his words dancing through the smirk on his face.

I didn't see if he finally deigned to look at him, but Rodan spun on his heels and walked out without a word.

"What's going on?"

I ignored him as I sank to the floor, wiping at my lips, still tingling, and covered in saliva. The full weight of what I had just done hit me as the embarrassment washed away the lust.

"I was just trying to give you some semblance of privacy," he began. "I can smell as well as any wolf; I can guess what was happening here. Should I go after him? Or was it consensual?" He finished, in case I had any doubt as to the meaning of his first question.

My head fell into my hands. Maybe if I ignored the situation long enough, it would go away.

He stalked towards the door, muttering something about Alphas and their entitled nature. Vampires had no real authority here, but if there was ever a time to question an Alpha's conduct, it was now.

"Don't," I called after him, stopping him in his tracks. I knew he was going to question Rodan, accusing him of something nefarious and while he wasn't far off the mark when it came to Rodan in general, it didn't apply in this situation. Rodan would deny the accusation and he wouldn't hesitate to tell everyone present that I was the one to kiss him.

"So it was consensual then?" He questioned again. "That was your brother wasn't it?"

My cheeks lit up and I was glad my head was buried in my hands. I wanted to die. At least before today, I could say it wasn't me. It was him who did things to me while I slept, him who hinted at wanting more when we spoke. I couldn't play innocent anymore. I had kissed him. I had wanted it. I knew his proximity had played a big part, but I could hardly have changed that. It really was the same situation as with Silas, I couldn't control myself. Thankfully, at least Silas had pulled away on his own when he put me in a similar position, otherwise it probably would have turned out much the same. I didn't know how far things would have gone if the vampire hadn't come in.

I continued to ignore him, hoping he would take the hint and leave, but instead, he came to sit down next to me. I tensed as he did, unsure of his intentions.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Why would I want to talk to YOU about it?" I started, a little more abraisively than I had intended. "I don't know anything about you, except that you and your friends attacked Cade. I don't even know your name."

"Fair enough. My name's Atlar," he offered. "And for the record, they're not my friends, and I didn't attack him."

"Oh right, my bad. The way you had him pinned against the wall must have confused me."

He smiled, apparently amused by my sarcastic reply.

"I barely touched him, if you'll remember. I suppose my approach may have left something to be desired, but I managed to de escalate the situation, so who can complain?"

"Do you think Cade would see it that way?"

"It doesn't matter how he sees it," he started. There was a tone to his voice I couldn't quite place. "Things would have turned out really badly if I hadn't done what I did," he finished solemnly.

I tried to decipher the statement underneath his words.

"Are you saying they would have killed him?" The thought had occurred to me at the time, but to have it confirmed was something else altogether. My stomach clenched as I involuntary imagined Cade, broken and bleeding on the ground.

"Oh, not a chance," he easily dissuaded my dread. "It takes time for a vampire to build their strength, and those four were freshly turned. Little baby vampires, barely stronger than a human. Cade would have shredded them like paper. But there was four of them, and they could have hurt him in the process. Four dead vampires and an injured werewolf, not my idea of a good time." He smirked.

Despite the situation, he managed to drag a chuckle out of me.

"Are you guys like together or something?" He motioned to where Rodan had been standing, apparently encouraged by my half invested indulgence in the conversation.

"What? No!"

"So what was all that then?"

I looked over to him, tempted to tell him everything. Despite my first impression of him, he had an oddly comforting presence, now that we were talking. Somehow I knew I could trust him, regardless of what Cade would say. I wondered at the sanity in that decision, I had just met him after all, and I had seen him act rather questionably. But, I did truly believe what he told me. It may not have looked like it at the time, but his actions HAD protected Cade, and the vampires he was with.

More importantly, and irrelevant to how long I had known him, I thought it was better for him to know the truth, than to think I had that kind of relationship with my brother.

He smiled at me encouragingly, probably happy with the eye contact I finally made with him. I steeled myself, taking a deep breath, preparing to tell this relative stranger something so personal.

"I seem to be attracted to basically everyone. I mean, think of the most inappropriate people in my life and I apparently want to fuck them. I don't have control over it, and it sort of takes over when I find myself in...certain...situations."

He chuckled.

"Everyone?" I shrugged. "Well, I already know about Rodan. Who else?"

"Silas, for starters."

"Cade?" He asked, the light in his eyes shining a little brighter as I nodded. "Bash? Amrita? The Betas? Enforcers? The elders?"

"Amrita, sort of. No to the rest." Although my cheeks flared red, I indulged him. I had gone this far, what good would it do to be shy now?

"Me?"

His question caught me off guard. I hadn't thought about it before, at least not willingly. I thought of the image of him standing above me my fevered mind had conjured in the meeting room, and then was blind sided by a flash of memory.

Atlar, standing beside Cade, almost shadowing him to my right. Silas was in front of me, and Rodan to my left, all of them nearly naked. Blinking, the image changed. A figure walked towards me, shifting between the men of my body's desire. First Rodan, then Silas, then Atlar before Cade's face appeared and disappeared, and I was once again looking at the cold tile floor of the bathroom.

Realization hit me like a punch to the face. Atlar was the stranger from my dreams! The one I could see clearly, but never describe or remember. I recalled a dream where a man's fingers had brought me release, burying into me as his weight pinned me down. I had never seen who the man was, and at the time I assumed him not to have an identity. A faceless figure I imagined simply for my own pleasure. I knew now, that the man was Atlar. I could still remember the feeling of his muscles as he pressed against me and my gaze absently wandered to his chest, searching for the hard lines from my dream.

As soon as I noticed where I was looking, I turned my head away, embarrassed that I had stared so blatantly.

I heard him chuckle again, my silence an obvious answer to his question.

"I'm so glad you're amused," I threw at him sarcastically.

"Sorry," he started, still laughing. "I can pretend to be appalled if that's easier for you."

I rolled my eyes at him, but smiled. His reaction was a refreshing change from the outright seduction attempts I was used to.

"Makara, are you in here?" Cade's voice travelled through the door before he did.

He walked in, freezing and tensing when he saw Atlar. He stared at the vampire with unease, frowning when Atlar smiled at him. After a long, analyzing moment, Cade turned his attention back to me.

"They're about to start. We should get back."

"Okay." I pushed myself up from the ground. Cade held the door open for me, and I walked past him into the hallway. I took a few steps before I realized Cade had let the door swing shut behind me, putting the two males alone in the bathroom together. I could hear murmuring through the door, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

Annoyed, I reached for the door, startled when it swung open in front of me.

"Are you done with your private conversation?"

"Yes," Cade answered, and then stormed past me.

His answer surprised me. I was kidding when I said that, I hadn't expected their conversation to actually be private.

I looked to Atlar as he walked casually behind Cade, the question clear on my face. He shrugged and kept walking.

Pretty much everyone was already seated when we entered the meeting room, with the exception of Bash, who was loading a plate with some desserts that had been set out.

I noticed Cade had taken the seat beside Silas, leaving me between himself and Bash. He had seen Silas' hand on my leg earlier and I knew I hadn't convinced him I was comfortable in that moment. I wondered if Cade had chosen that seat on purpose, to stop Silas from doing it again, my question answered when Cade gave me a subtle nod.

I was grateful. Silas had set off a chain reaction of feelings and thoughts that I had almost lost myself in. That much desire building up with nowhere to go, surrounded by everyone who made me feel vulnerable, and having them all know exactly what I was thinking about, was akin to hell. It was overwhelming, almost to the breaking point and I didn't revel an afternoon of the same.

Walking over to the table, my nausea returned almost instantly and my head was pounding. I wondered if my headache had ever actually gone away, or if I was simply too distracted to notice.

The closer I got, the worse I felt and my vision began to blur at the edges. Suddenly aware of the structure in front of me, I leaned my hands on the table for support, dizzy and struggling to maintain my balance. A quick look around the table told me all eyes were on me, most filled with detached, but concerned interest.

Rodan and Atlar watched me from across the table with worried glances as I clenched my teeth, pain starting to manifest from every inch of my body. It was worse in some places than others and I tried to concentrate on something, anything else as my right hand felt like it was being crushed against the wood surface.

I wanted to leave, to run somewhere no one else could see me, but I didn't trust my legs. So I stood there, every muscle tensed and ready for the sting of pain. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to concentrate on breathing through it, hoping it would die down. But it continued to intensify, an aching burn combined with sharp stabs of agony.

"Makara?" Cade spoke, the concern clearly evident in his voice. Fire flared in my arm as I thought I felt his touch, but when I looked at him, he had his hands decidedly to himself and was looking at me as if I was growing horns.

My vision went almost completely black, and all I could see were the hallucinations of my mind. Silas, standing triumphantly, presenting two severed heads, held by the hair in one hand, another laying a few feet away, rocking back and forth sickeningly, as if it had just fallen. Two young boys, one with an angry gash on his back, clung to Silas' legs.

The moon appeared over him, growing larger and larger, until it was the only thing I could see. It would have been a beautiful sight, if not for the blood that dripped over the face of it. It flowed straight to the ground, spilling over the edge of a cliff before settling in a stone pool at the bottom.

"Are you okay?" Cade's voice snapped me back to reality.

I tried to excuse myself, turning to leave as my vision still faded in and out of blackness.

My leg felt like it shattered and I screamed as it collapsed under my weight, not caring about the impending impact with the ground. It never came.

Bash caught me, his plate of treats now laying forgotten on the ground. He tried to help me stand, but my fractured bones wouldn't hold me, so he scooped me up, supporting me with an arm around my back, and one under my knees.

My body vibrated in agony, and it was all I could do not to let out a continuous scream.

"Is she alright?" I heard a voice, I thought it was Atlar's, ask.

"She's shifting," Silas answered him calmly. I should have been shocked. But nothing was as important in that moment as the fire in my veins, and the absolute torture I was going through. "I think it's best if she's taken upstairs."

"I'll go," Cade offered, rising from his seat. Atlar and Rodan also stood, although I wasn't sure why, as they could do nothing from across the table.

"No, she's my sister, I'll take her," Rodan was very adamant.

"Neither of you will go. Your presence is required here, we have important things to discuss." Both men made to protest, but Silas continued before they could. "Bash is perfectly capable of handling this, we'll apprise him later."

I clung to Bash's neck, grateful that I wasn't responsible for my own weight. My skin was hot and I started to sweat.

"Girl," Silas called out, motioning to the human server I had noticed earlier. "What's your name?"

"Oh my god," she whimpered, sounding terrified. "Umm...Tracey," she finally answered him.

"Tracey, go with Bash, help him with whatever he needs."

"Okay," she answered nervously and came to stand beside us.

Another scream erupted from me as I felt my shoulder come apart. Tracey flinched, but followed Bash as he hurried into the hallway.

I groaned, Bash's jostling movements exacerbating my discomfort.

"Don't worry, Makara," Bash spoke quietly, directly into my ear. "Pretty soon you'll pass out from the pain. Let it happen, it'll be easier for you, trust me."

I tried to listed to him, hoping he was right, desperately wanting to be free of this.

"What exactly is happening to her?" Tracey asked as we entered into the elevator. "Why is she in so much pain?"

"Her bones are breaking, reshaping into the bones of her wolf. But according to legend, we're being punished, and we're not permitted to be in our wolf form. So once her bones settle into her shifted form, they can't stay there, so they'll break again, shifting back."

"It sounds awful."

"It is at the time. But it doesn't usually last more than a few hours, and once it's done, you're paired with your wolf, and there's few things more amazing than that."

The elevator dinged, almost as if it was a timer for the shift, as my back and ribs flared in pain. I cried out, having no other release and looking for anything to help take the pain away. Then, just as Bash promised, it was too much, and I drifted out of consciousness.

•°~~****~~°•

I was hot. So hot that I could barely stand it, but at least the pain had lessened. It was still there, but distant. I could almost pretend it wasn't real.

Blurry images floated around me, and it was hard to get a grasp on any of them. But they all felt strange, as if they didn't belong to me. I could hear, more than see the scenes before me.

Shouting. Terrified yelps and sobbing.

"Why are you doing this?" A woman asked. I didn't recognize her voice.

Nobody answered her, and the shrill scream that ripped through her throat a minute later, quickly cut off by a bubbling gurgle, told me no one ever would.

My heart broke for her, introducing a new form of torture to go with the agony of my bones.

I fought to open my eyes, my heartache too much to take, but they were stubborn. I couldn't manage to lift my heavy lids, but I did feel myself easing closer and closer to waking. The noises and foggy shapes of my dream like state slowly disappeared. The pain got worse the closer to reality I got, but it was manageable compared to how it was before. It seemed I was still protected by the shield of my subconscious.

"She's burning up. Get me some wet towels, and ice," Bash called to someone, presumably the human that was sent to assist him.

The concept of passing time escaped me in my current state, but at some point I felt a gradual coolness spread over me, taking the edge off the fire in my veins.

I felt a shooting pain in my foot and tried to cry out, unable to summon the strength. Although I couldn't see it, I could tell that my ankle was jutting at an angle it shouldn't have been, and dreaded when it would snap back into place.

As if in answer to my distress, I was drawn quickly back into silent darkness. With nothing to look at, my emotions flared out of control, swirling around me, flooding me with distinct, but foreign feelings.

I felt superior, more so than I had ever felt before, and while the confidence was invigorating, I was disgusted. It didn't fit me, but clung to me like a second hand sleeve, dripping with toxic arrogance. An odd mixture of anger, excitement and sadness pushed through, and I had trouble focusing on just one.

Startled by a flash of colour, I was shocked to find myself staring back at me, completely expressionless until a slight smile appeared on my face.

My emotions softened, for some reason, easily calmed by the sight before me and I felt only desire, need, love.

"Silas," the mirror image spoke. Her lips continued to move, but I couldn't make out what she said as her volume was over powered by another, disembodied voice.

"How is she?" The voice said and I knew immediately it was Tal.

The pain, increasing in intensity, told me I was, once again, just below the surface of consciousness.

"Not great. It should be starting to let up by now," Bash answered her. His tone should have worried me, but I kept listening, unaffected by his words.

"Why is it taking so long?" A new voice spoke, the human's. I looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was happening and tried to open my eyes with no success.

"Her wolf must be very strong." There was a pause in Bash's explanation, and I could almost imagine the question on Tracey's face. "The shift is a confusing and hazy thing to go through. Stronger wolves have a harder time accepting the fact that they can't shift to their fur form. Sometimes they'll push the shift five or six times before realizing how much pain they're causing."

"Her own wolf is doing this to her?"

"Not on purpose. It's just instinct. If her wolf is still pushing the shift they likely haven't even had contact yet."

"It all has to do with how much of the Goddess' influence she has in her," Tal continued in place of Bash, "and it seems Makara has much of it."

At the mention of the Moon Goddess, I fell back, feeling like the floor had fallen out from under me. The conversation I had been listening to became distant mumbles, before silencing completely. Although I had wanted to listen some more, I was grateful for the reprieve from shattering bones.