Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Thank God for Seb and Lily being so close. It seems they were even into each other. She couldn’t be sure but she knew that it looked so. Erin was in over her head and had no idea what to do for Julian, but he'd built a family and friends around him who could help. With a sniffle, Erin wiped her damp lashes with her shaking knuckles and made her way into the kitchen. Supplies gathered, she bolted for Julian's room as fast as the giant bowl of water allowed without sloshing out the sides. When she returned, Erin had been banished to a corner chair, and Julian was pacing in front of the window panels he'd opened. Outside, the starry sky stretched on forever. The forest in front of them was bathed in hues of purple under the half moon.

"I don't understand why he's waited all this time," Seb murmured looking very confused.

"Because he was waiting for her," Julian gritted out, more growl than words. "He's been waiting for Chlorine's line to produce a doppelganger. You know how that kind of thing that happened with Elena and Damon and stefan in the vampire diaries. He planned it well. He created the line of doppelgängers. And not just any doppelganger. There could have been tens of them, but I wasn't interested. He could've put a kill switch in all of them for all we know. From birth! All he needed for me to do was to find her, so he could rip her away. And he almost succeeded!" he yelled in a booming voice. "I could've lost her!" Julian spun around, and his gaze collided with Erin's. His voice dipped lower. "I could've lost you. Erin. Imagine If I wasn't fucking sleeping right beside you-"

"But thankfully you were, and I'm okay because of you. Don’t... don’t get mad, Julian please"

Julian growled out in annoyance and shook his head, back and forth, back and forth, and something flashed through his eyes for just a moment before it was replaced by fury again. Fear? Erin couldn’t decipher what it was but she knew that he was feeling so angry and tormented.

"You don't understand," he whispered. "If anything mistakenly Happens to you Erin. If I lose you, it will be the middle ages all over again. The whole will be completely destroyed, and I won't be able to stop myself. It's the only way the warlock in me knows how to mourn."

"Julian," she said on a breath.

"Dangerous Erin," he said. "You weren't ever just a danger to me." He gestured toward the open window with his good hand. "You were a danger to them as well. I'm not ready to lose you." His dark eyebrow arched, and his voice turned to steel. "I won't."

She believed him.

Oh, Julian’s father was coming, and he was going to bring hell with him.

Her intended death by dragon's fire was meant to let Julian know he was still alive.

Running was pointless.

Hiding wouldn't work.

But if the death-bringer look in her mate's eyes was anything to go by, his father had just called Julian's animal to war.

And if Julian failed to rid the world of The king of the sunshades which was now the dark realm once and for all, it didn't matter whether Erin lived or died.

The earth would be destroyed, anyway.

***

A booming knock sounded down the hallway. Erin looked up from the floor outside Julian's office where she'd been throwing tarot cards and frowned, waiting. Seb was in the office with Julian, but would get it, surely. He got frustrated if she stepped on his duties, so she'd learned to just let him do his running-of-the-household gig and steer clear.

With a sigh, she looked back down at the three cards she'd just drawn for Julian. He hadn't shuffled them like she usually did with paying clients, but she'd perched outside the office he was working in and focused on him when she'd shuffled and cut the deck into three piles.

She'd drawn for his past, present, and future twice, just to make sure, and for the first time since she'd been doing tarot card readings, she'd drawn the exact same card twice.

For his past, 8 of Cups made sense. He had chosen to live in a situation that hadn't worked for him. Perhaps he hadn't chosen immortality, but it had been his choice to harden his heart to everyone to protect himself.

For his present, the card she'd drawn also made sense. The Hanged Man. His life was at a crossroads, and there was something he needed to let go of. Cough, cough, Chlorine's paintings.

But twice now, she'd drawn a card for his future that made the blood drain from her face and limbs. A black armored rider atop a pure white horse with a woman turned away, and a child offering him a bouquet of wilted flowers.

Death.

Now, Death rarely actually meant that someone would die, and more often indicated the need to be open to change. It was more of a transformation card. But pulling it twice in a row on Julian's future had her hair standing on end.

The resounding knock reverberated down the marble hallway again, so she scooped up the cards, shoved them into her back pocket to think about later, and jogged toward the front entrance. "I'm coming!" But before she pulled open the door, she wised up and asked, "Who is it?" Because she sure as hell wasn't dumb enough to just open the front door for Fuck Face Marcus.

"It's Your Estaters and the other alphas, here to meet with Julian at his request."

With a grunt for her efforts, Erin pulled a giant potted plant across the floor, and in front of the door stood on the pot and stared out the stupidly tall peephole. Sure enough, five men stood outside, and two of them she'd met before.

When she finally pulled the heavy doors open, they greeted her with somber smiles and Creed introduced her to the striking blue-eyed alpha of the Ashe Crew, Sagan, and the dark-haired alpha of the Boarlanders, Harrison, and lastly to a giant of a man with shoulders as wide as a redwood. His dark eyes crinkled as he offered his hand for a shake. "I'm Kong of the Gray Backs and the Lowlanders."

"Kong?" she asked through a grin as she shook his hand. He just about rattled her bones. "You don't smell like a bear, King Kong."

"Gorilla shifter," he said with a nod, confirming her suspicion.

Oh, she bet he was a beast when he Changed. "You're the first gorilla shifter I've met," she announced. "Julian is straight down that hallway on the left. He and Sebastian are in the office."

Creed gave her a sideways hug as the others stepped into Julian's house. "How are you holding up?"

Apparently word spread quickly when anything dramatic happened in these mountains. "I'm okay. Just worried about Julian."

"Your mate?" he asked low.

Heat flushed her cheeks, and she hugged his side tightly and nodded. "My mate."

“Glad to see that you actually care about the man.”

"Why wouldn’t i care for him? Weird. I love him with all of my heart and if i could stop him from feeling the pains he felt, i would.”

The man pumped his fist and hissed, "I understand. The man loves you too. It’s really beautiful to see.”

With a laugh, she swatted his arm and told him, "Go to your meeting before Julian eats you."

Her chest rose and fell deeply as she watched the four alphas saunter down the hallway. Sagan made sure to splash the others with the fountain water that spewed from the naked Grecian man's penis as they passed.

Erin turned to the final visitor, who lingered at the threshold. "Hi Mr doctor."

He ducked his head respectfully. "Mate of the vampire dragon warlock."

The title brushed over her skin, lifting gooseflesh in its wake. "Do you want to come in?"

"In there?" he asked, his dark eyebrows jacked up and his eyes blazing an inhuman seafoam green. "Fuck no. Too many ghosts."

Erin turned and narrowed her eyes at the shadowy figures who lined the hallway. Honestly, she'd gotten used to their presence as she imagined Julian had gotten used to them over the centuries. That or Julian couldn't see them. But apparently, the doctor could.

"You see beyond the veil, too?"

He backed away from the door. "Like my Mom did. I have a gift for you."

***