Alliance of Shadows: NEIL

Startling Encounter

“So, when did the badass of the family get a girlfriend?” A familiar male voice dragged me out of my thoughts. I turned my head only to come face to face with Dreson – all five-foot-seven of him. He had been my best friend since we met during one of the Alliance’s many Child Trades.

Lemme explain before anyone decides to pitch a Karen fit. You see, once children in the supernatural alliance reach a certain age, each faction in the area would send their children to each of the other groups. Sorcerers were listed under the same banner as Witches, seeing as they were the male version of their female counterpart. We all upheld a standard of balancing the power between us and keeping the traditions as sacred as possible.

Sent to live with the families of the children leaving, we were taught their ways in an attempt to create a peaceful, bountiful, united front. With us all learning from each other, we kept up with the spellcasters and often learned how to use common ground to work together during practise fights. A Witch’s celestial magic, coupled with the speed and strength of a Werewolf and the earth-bound magic of a Druid could only spell danger for anyone stupid enough to launch an assault on the Alliance.

Dreson, or Dre, was one of the children sent from the Druids back when we were seven. Since we'd met, we had become close. Though we were nothing to each other by blood, he would always be the brother I never had. Slim, yet with a solid build, he appeared soft at first, but this was a guy that could take down a wolf without his powers. His deep blue eyes and…

Mother effer… I hope I wasn’t right about my assumption. Maybe him sharing features with my girl was a… a coincidence. Yeah, that’s it. Nothing but a coincidence.

“Dude, where the heck have you been hiding,” I asked as I rose to my feet and grinned. He offered a handshake, but I raised a brow before pulling him into a big ol’ man-hug. “I mean, it was great to hear from you earlier, but I haven’t seen you in quite a bit.”

He slid his eyes over to Izaria, and I watched as they widened slightly with something akin to recognition. Though I felt like I was out of the loop somehow, I couldn't help smiling when he said, “She’s beautiful, Neil. What in the world is a gorgeous girl like that doing with a doofus like you?”

I watched as she slowly rose to her feet while hitting pause on the remote before walking over to us. There was a confusion in her eyes, but there was also something else, something I didn’t quite recognize. “Neil, is this a friend?”

Dre must have sensed that something was off because he took a few steps away from me. Leaning casually against the display cabinet, he grinned at her. “I’m his best friend.”

She slid her arms around my waist, resting her head over my heart. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion before she muttered the words that made me go cold. “You’re a Druid.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I looked down at her as an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. There was no way she could have known. No one had told her anything, but she seemed to just know somehow.

I saw Dre pale slightly before quickly regaining his bearings. Smiling warmly, he said, “You got me. I am a Druid.”

Something flashed in his eyes as he gauged her. He glanced at me, and I glared at him, but he laughed it off. Izzy gasped as he pushed off the mantle and moved closer to her. Growling out his name as he approached her. My jaw clenched, and my body tensed when he held out his hand.

"I'm Dreson Cage," he said, formally introducing himself. I could feel the crackle of his power in the air around us. He held her gaze with his as he asked for her name.

“Izaria Wilkes," she replied softly. "But everyone calls me Izzy.”

He smiled, “That’s a beautiful name. Translated, it means “noble star”, however, Izzy also holds a special meaning as “gift of Isis”. If you don't mind me asking, what Star were you born under?”

She tilted her head to the side before she realized what he was asking her. The confusion seemed to clear a little as understanding washed over her. It was as though she suddenly knew the answer to the question he was asking. “I was born under Sirius in the Canis Major.”

A light glimmered in my friend's eyes. He knew something I didn’t but making him spill the information would be like getting a vegetarian to eat a grilled steak. He was always the tight-lipped type, and his resolve was practically unbreakable. His lip twitched as he fought a grin. “Tell me, Izzy, what do you see when you look at me?”

Having learned about a Druid ability called omen reading, I knew what those symbols meant. The sword fit perfectly for Dreson, seeing as he was in a position of authority, a pillar of strength in his family. The crown also fit seamlessly, again, as he was the Crown Prince (yes, for those wondering, the Cage family were the absolute authority in the Druid world). Then there were the linked rings – a sign that was clearly obvious as he’d already met his Mate.

After meeting Leif, I knew right away that he was Dreson’s Mate. I hadn’t cared all those years ago, and I wasn’t about to start. I also knew that Leif was a year or so older than Dre, meaning he knew they were Fated before my best friend did.

Then I watched as his eyes hardened. He mentally advised me that he was directing his power to her mind and not getting through. That he was this angry about it didn’t surprise me in the slightest. Releasing her hand, Dre respectfully asked if she minded letting us talk alone for a minute. Something more was going on for him to ask that, but she didn’t seem to mind.

Hoping to ease her mind, I grinned at her. Giving her a light kiss on the forehead, I said, “No worries, Baby Girl. We’re just going to catch up for a minute. Just relax for a beat, okay?”

Seeing her nod, I followed him into the kitchen, “Spill.”

He turned to me with an unreadable expression on his face, but I knew this man as well as I knew myself. He wasn’t emotionless or emotional. He was planning, and it involved my soulmate. Finally, he said, “It's not right."

"What's not?" I asked, popping open a beer.

“What happened to her? She should be stronger than me at her age, but she's not."

"She was abused pretty badly by her mom and stepdad before she came to live here," I replied.

Nodding, he said. "I can see you've been on the ball. Compared to what Godfather said, she was a completely different girl when she got here. You did great getting her this far, man, but she needs someone with magic expertise to help her heal fully.”

Now that was a twist not even I saw coming. In hushed tones, I told him everything I’d learned about her. When I was done, I asked, “What aren’t you saying, Dre?”

He turning to look out the window, blinking as he processed what I’d told him. He was always a thinker, never really a doer. In fights, he could hold his own in a way that left him untouched, but his opponents tripping over their own feet. Then, “I need you to bring her to Sacred Heart. The Elders may be able to help realign her inner balance.”

Makes sense, but... “You’re not done, are you?”

And there it was, that little flicker of hope that helped ease the rising ache in my chest. “Neil, she’s an Omen Reader. I can sense some traces of Witch in her, but the Druid is clearly stronger, and that’s a powerful rank, a rank wherein only a handful of people survive to adulthood. There’s something else you need to know.”

I nodded. "If she's suffering because her powers are in chaos, then I'm game for a visit. Maybe we can pick at Kaden while we're there, see if I can't get my False Omega riled up. Now, what’s the something else you’re hinting at?"

He laughed, taking the bottle, I handed him. "You found what my family spent years looking for. Legit, years. She’s, damn this is harder than I thought. Look, Neil, we’ve been friends since we were seven and this is probably going to shock you a little, but your girlfriend is my cousin."

Honestly, had I been in my right mind, I probably would have noticed the similarities between Dreson and Izaria. Not to mention that both of them had rare names. “We always said we were family, bro. I guess the Gods heard our jokes and made it real.”

“No kidding,” he said as he barked a laugh.

I thought back to when I was trying my hardest to figure out what his name meant, as we’d been conversing on the fact, and he’d sat there, composed and calm. We’d gone through our names one by one, starting with mine, meaning champion. Colton’s meant strength, and Kaden’s was taken from his family’s Gaelic roots that went back hundreds of years. It meant “fighter”.

As the tension built, and Colt started eyeing the movie selection to find the scariest video, Dreson broke the silence around us with two words. “Warrior’s child.”

Even the joker of our crew stopped, his eyes snapping up with a curious light. Colton finally blinked, “Um, what?”

Licking his lips, my best friend opened his mouth to explain. “The meaning of Dreson comes from the ancient Druidic times, and it means warrior’s child.”