CALIFF
Shadow sensed my anxiety.
“Will you calm down?” she said to the link.
“Why are we really here, baby?”
She ignored me. Instead, she asked my dad. “How are you feeling?”
“I haven’t apologized, and I know it won’t make up for it. What I did was horrible. All those innocent people, I haven’t forgiven myself either. I was consumed by ego and greed, and when the opportunity struck, I took it.”
“It’s already been thirteen years. It is still fresh in my memory. Sometimes, I still have nightmares, but I have to learn to let go. I could have killed you last night, but I thought of your son. I can’t hurt Califf. I can’t kill his father, who raised him, and I can’t look at Elder Eleanor in the eye, and it would kill me to see Califf mourning for you because of what I did. Yeah, it won’t bring back my parents and those lives in that pack, but I can’t live in the past. I have to move on and start a life with your son.”
I gripped her knee and kissed her head as my way of saying I was grateful.
Dad nodded as he looked down. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. May I see the scar from the bite?”
Dad lifted the hem of his pants, showing Shadow the scar on his left leg. It looked like there were dead veins around it in black and dark blue as if it was poisoned. “It’s been like this since it healed.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Not more than the pain from the rare disease. I called a fairy, we’ve tried medicines and herbs, and my son talked to a witch, but they said the same. No cure. Spell or fairy magic won’t help it, so I accepted my fate long ago. Maybe this is the punishment I got for what I’ve done in my entire life.”
“Only Lycan blood.”
“What?” My mother asked.
“I can try.”
“What do you mean?” My eyes lit up. Somehow I got my hopes up. If what she said was what I thought it was, maybe there was a slight chance she could heal my father.
“What do you mean you can try, honey?” Mom asked. I felt hope in her voice.
“I’m not certain I can, and my witch side is not strong as my mother, but I got the ability from my mother. If it doesn’t work, I’ll try to give him my blood. Though Mom has other abilities, which came from practice and spells, she had pure witch blood. Her father was a warlock, and her mother was a witch.”
“I don’t understand,” my father said.
“You know her mother was a witch, my love. So maybe Shadow has abilities that she hasn’t explored.”
“She can heal, Mom.”
My mother’s eyes widened in awe.
“I can’t do magic, or I don’t know how, and I don’t want to get in trouble with witches. Zarah will also be in trouble if I do, but I’ll try to heal Elder Waylon. If you will permit me.” She looked at both of them, waiting for my parent’s approval.
My father chuckled. “I’m dying anyway. We’ve explored different ways, but none of them works. I mean, what could do worse when I’m already in deep.”
“I don’t promise anything.”
“Shadow, this is everything.” I kissed the side of her head. “And you offering it to my father makes me happy.”
“Maybe I want something in return, Alpha.” She looked at me sternly, and her tone changed.
“Anything.”
“Anything?” She raised a brow.
“Yeah.”
“Just kidding.”
I heard Mom sigh to my right while Dad seemed to have accepted his fate.
“Can you assist your father to bed?”
“Didn’t you say it hurt?” I asked her as I went to my father to help him to his feet.
“It’s just a pain, Alpha. I can handle it,” she said confidently.
“Do you need anything else, honey?”
“I’m good. I just need to sit. If this works, I may become weak and fall.”
Once I put my father to bed, I held Shadow. “Baby, you don’t have to do this because of your rank. You can’t save everyone.”
“Alpha, you told me the possibility of your decision. I want to do something for them. Also, I will tell you now, and you may not like it.”
“What is it?” Now, she made me worry.
“I wanna be the bridge between my other kind, your kind, and the witches. It may take a while, but it’s worth the try.”
“You wanna find Lycans?” I felt someone crush my heart, and I suddenly remembered what Zarah told me.
“Yeah. I may have ideas on how to find one of them.”
“Zarah.”
“Yeah. How do you know?”
“You have a long phone call with her, huh?”
“No, but do you have a problem with that?”
“No, but she called me and said she didn’t know where you were.”
“Because she doesn’t.” Her tone became slightly defensive that she might be hiding something from me.
I grabbed a chair and put it beside the bed. “Sit.”
“Bossy.” She sat anyway. “May I have your hand?”
Dad extended his hand, and Shadow gripped it.
“No matter what happens or what you see or feel, don’t let go.”
“Okay.” He nodded without hesitations.
Stay beside me, big guy. I may need you.”
“Always.” I kissed the top of her head as I sat on the arm of her chair.
She drew a deep breath, then another long breath before she closed her eyes and gripped my father’s hand tightly as she braced herself.
Then, I saw what looked surreal. Shadow’s forearm started glowing, running in her blood vessels and gliding through her hand.
“Oh, my Goddess,” Mom saw the glowing on Shadow’s veins and nerve endings, like roots moving on my father’s arm.
Our connection became stronger. I felt her energy rushing through her, and a sudden faint pain lanced through my arm. I felt her struggle through my thoughts. She whined as the pain intensified, and I only got a tiny of her struggles, and tears began spilling down her cheeks.
“It hurts! Califf!” she screamed. Her body was shaking, and the muscles on her arm holding my father were constricting as that somewhat infection or what was causing my father’s pain ran through her. She began sweating, gritting her teeth, yet she was determined to finish the task of healing my father.
I couldn’t be prouder of what she did to my father. At the same time, I didn’t want her to get hurt.
“Enough, baby. This is too much. I can feel you hurting.”
“Don’t! I can do this!” Her gleaming eyes shone silvery white as she growled at me. “Hold me tight, Califf. Don’t let go.”
“It’s okay, honey. Just let his hand go,” Mom said.
“Shadow, it’s fine.” My father unclasped his hand, but Shadow wouldn’t give up on him. She clasped her other hand on my father’s, tightening her grip.
“No! Califf, hold me!” She snapped her head at me with eyes glowing, making me gasp.
I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight, letting my eyelids flutter close as she screamed at the top of her lungs until she sagged against me and fell unconscious.