The Phoenix Wolf and his Luna

Secrets

Broadway’s POV

I hated keeping this a secret, especially from Ian. We never had secrets, not since my father had died. It’s just this wasn’t my secret to tell.

“Vlad, can you heal her?” I asked as we drove to Titan. I had heard the fear and desperation in Ian’s voice. He had marked her, so if she died, he would too. I knew he was calling to make sure that DJ would be taken care of, but with Noelani pregnant he wouldn’t ask.

“It’s not so cut and dry.” Vlad sighed, “Yes, I am a phoenix and I do have healing properties, but there are exceptions. One, I either have to cry the tears of fire, or rip out a down feather from my wings, which also burns.”

“You don’t cry?” I asked, bewildered.

“It’s tears of fire. Not normal tears. I’m a f*****g fire bird, not heartless.”

When I had overseen him walking to a den that was just on the other side of the human town he lived in, I followed him. Not many could just walk into a den and have no fight. Foxes were smart, their dens very well protected, more so than that of a wolf pack. Foxes also believed in the legends of the kitsune. One was born to a random pack every few hundred years to defeat an enemy with the help of the phoenix. As they were even more rare than kitsunes, they were hunted. Anyone who stood in the way of the Hunters would die.

In most cases, the Phoenix can find his kitsune immediately after its birth, but as my sister moved around from country to country, Vlad had a harder time. So, he found a person who could get him close. As one of his powers, he could sense bonds, so when he found Gwen and Harvey, he knew that it would lead to Fallon, who would be mated to Cillian, who was then related to Jilly. It was complicated and I made him repeat it about 5 times before I finally understood.

“Vlad, can you heal her?” My Flower asked him softly.

He sighed again, “I’ll need the room. The fewer wolves that know about me the better.”

“We’re wolves.” Noelani pointed out, “How are we going to explain how Fallon miraculously healed?”

Vlad just shrugged, “That’s not the concern, I mean her doctors, the nurses, and even his Beta and Gamma. It’s unavoidable to have Alpha Cillian find out, as with my healing, a mark will appear on her skin.”

“You’re going to mark a marked female?!” I growled out, “My sister?”

Vlad rolled his eyes, not answering. His eyes looked out the window as we sped over to Titan. It was typically a 3-hour drive, but I had broken every speed law, both for shifters and for humans. We made it in under an hour and a half. I pulled into the large hospital’s parking lot pulling my Alpha blood and parking closest as I could.

I had figured my brother would remain by her side no matter what, and his head was swimming in his guilt. He wouldn’t have eaten, and it was the perfect excuse to give Vlad a moment to heal our Luna. I pulled him to an empty room with a bag I had already packed, shoving him into the bathroom. He shuffled his feet, but I gave him my best stern face, and he showered. Stepping out of the bathroom, he wore a pair of shorts, and his hair was still wet. He no longer smelled like old sweat.

There was his favorite meatball sub from the packhouse kitchen delivered, along with bottles of Gatorade and water. I knew he would need answers before he went back to his mate, finding a new mark somewhere on his skin.

“Cillian, I have something to talk to you about.”

His eyes swiveled to mine, still shoveling meatball sub in his mouth.

“It’s about Fallon.”

He shot up, rushing to the door, the sub thrown to the floor.

“Ian, she’s fine. She’ll be more than fine. Just sit down, alright.”

He swallowed the food in his mouth, “Henry, what is it?”

I explained everything I had learned over the last two weeks. Vlad had shown us his true form, standing somewhere between 8 and 9 feet tall. The phoenix was a bright red bird with a rainbow-colored tail, which was always aflame. His sole purpose in life was to find the kitsune and bring along the next generation. His kind had been a guide to the kitsune since the beginning of time.

There had been a point in history where the kitsune was the Queen of the shifter world, as she was the most powerful shifter of all, with the phoenix as her advisor. Left unchecked, a kitsune could become a force of evil, which was the ultimate plan Father had for Jilly when she had shifted just days after her birth. The last kitsune had to be killed by Vlad himself because she went mad for power, wanting to create a kitsune/ phoenix hybrid, which would not only control the shifter world, but the human one as well. There was only one way to kill a phoenix, and naturally Vlad decided not to tell us. Once he was able to find his charge, he would train her and guide her to defeat her enemies, then his job was done. He would burn and rise from the ashes, living in solitude until he was needed again.

Ian’s face grew more and more angry as I explained what was going to happen. I could understand that. I wouldn’t want a mark anywhere on my Flower, especially not that of another man, whether he was able to mate or not. As there could only ever be one phoenix, Vlad was infertile, unable to produce an heir of his own. His soul would be reborn after each burning. His soul had been alive longer than anything I had ever heard of.

“So that’s why he always smells like something’s burning? He literally is.”

I nodded, “It’s his tail, and apparently his down feathers. The fire only comes to the surface of his body in danger. Since no one remembers how to kill him, he doesn’t feel like he’s in danger.”

“Can he heal her?” Ian asked, quietly, “I don’t care about a mark, or even his scent, I need to know if he can heal her.”

“He said he could, with tears of fire or a down feather from his wings. We just have to keep the Doc from finding out how she healed. The fewer people who know about Vlad the better.”

It’s done, my love. My Flower’s voice echoed through the mind link.

“He’s done, we can go to her now.” I explained.

Ian didn’t take a second before running from the room. Finding Fallon’s room, she was sitting up, looking at Vlad wide-eyed. It was shocking to see his form, to say the least. Her eyes roamed around to Noelani, to me, finally settling on Ian. They filled with tears, as he moved slowly towards her. When he finally made it to the side of her bed, his nose scrunched in disapproval. I could smell the burning sent from here.

“Buttercup, you scared me.” He whispered.

“I’m okay now. What happened?”

It was only then that I noticed that the scar that had marred her face for many years had disappeared.

“Fallon, what happened to your scar?”