Kamali's Courage [Sisters of the Circle] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Karina lets out a small chuckle at that. “Yes, well, your aunts and mother are still required to follow the traditions that the old ones set before us. That includes your very stubborn mother, who I just had the pleasure of informing that I would take over as your protector. She didn’t take it all that well, and unfortunately when all was said and done, had some very mean but unique names and threats to throw at me. Really! And they call her a lady!”

  Kamali couldn’t help the snort of laughter that escaped her. “My mother is one of those rare people who doesn’t take people’s crap and doesn’t live her life by kissing people’s asses to keep peace. That goes double for people she believes are trying to take over for her or trying to stab her and her friends and family in the back. Plus, add in the way she reacts to change… well, let’s just say she doesn’t take change well.”

  Still chuckling, Kamali recalled an incident when one of her mother’s so-called friends tried to make a move on Maya’s husband. Her mother, having been away at a council meeting in a southern district, had come home to find her mate fending off the advances of woman who she had once considered a sister. Her mother had flipped, setting the woman’s hair on fire, and then tied her up in vines of poison ivy.

  Maya was a spirit user just like her oldest daughter, Kamali. A spirit user could wield all the elements and also control the fifth element of spirit. The elders used to say that only the strongest could be gifted with the power of the fifth element, and that in order for the carrier not to be consumed, then they would have to be pure of heart and have to strength to withstand evil intentions.

  Karina looked at Kamali and suddenly a feeling of urgency washed over the pair. A look of horror appears on Karina’s face and suddenly the beautifully pale woman turns a sickly, ghostly shade.

  “Kamali, you need to wake up now. Something is coming and your mates will need your power.”

  Kamali couldn’t help the gasp that left her throat. “What is it Karina? What’s coming?”

  Kamali watched as the other woman started to slowly fade in a sea of darkness. Right before she was completely clouded by the inky blackness, Kamali heard the two words that had the ability to send shivers of horror racing down her back and had her stomach knot up like an extension cord that had been stored in a shed for twenty years.

  “Your sister.”

  Chapter 10

  Kamali shot up in bed, heart racing and sweating like a racehorse winning the Kentucky Derby. Breathing raggedly, she looked around the room that she was in, quickly taking in her surroundings. She was alone in the master bedroom and the lights were off. Pale light was coming from behind the edges of the closed curtains so she knew it had to be morning sometime.

  Everything that happened in her dream world rushed to the forefront of her mind. Swinging her legs off of the huge bed, she stood and walked to the door. Going out to the hallway, Kamali realized she had no idea where she was going. The long hallway had several doors and at the end of the hallway Kamali noticed there was a stairway. Going to the stairs she quickly descended until she stood at the bottom of what looked like a large foyer. A beautiful chandelier hung from the ceiling and lit the entire room in a beautiful light.

  Kamali walked toward a door that had a light spilling out of it. Walking in, her eyes were immediately drawn to a group of about seven people, who were all sitting before a huge fireplace drinking what looked like wine in crystal glasses.

  Mikel stood from his chair and came over to her, pulling her into a hug that had her rapidly-beating heart calming.

  This is what I needed. His arms around me, holding me and protecting me. Making me feel safe.

  Ezekiel stood behind Mikel and when she was finally released from Mikel’s hug, Ezekiel quickly scooped her up and carried her to a chair. Sitting in an overstuffed, red leather chair, Kamali was held in Ezekiel’s arms, resting comfortably on his lap.

  Oohhh, I could definitely get used to the snuggling, she thought and burrowed deeper into the warmth of his arms.

  Laughing filled her head and she let out a low growl that had every head in the room turning to her.

  “My, she is certainly beautiful, is she not, Josiah?” a low, sultry voice commented and Kamali turned toward two vampires that were seated on a leather love seat together. The woman had rich, shiny black hair that was spiked into what people called a pixie cut. And that was exactly what the woman looked like. Her beautiful blue eyes framed by her hair and her tall, willowy looking body gave her an elegance and grace that one could see even though she was still seated. The man, you could clearly see, was tall and very muscular. He had dirty blonde hair and mischievous looking eyes that were dancing with amusement. Kamali could tell without being told that these two were very old for vampires, at least a couple hundred years old.

  “Yes, Ange, she is indeed lovely.” The man stood from the couch and, with vampiric speed, came to her. He clutched her chin in between his fingers and said in a deep voice, “If you ever get tired of these two heathens, by all means, you may join my own personal harem.”

  Suddenly, she was ripped from his grasp and placed behind two snarling vampires.

  “Back off Josiah, or I will rip off your head and tear out your throat” Ezekiel snarled. Mikel just continued to snarl and hiss.

  It took a moment for Kamali to notice that none of the other vampires moved to help or defend their friend that was about to be killed.

  Ange, apparently seeing her confusion, said in a bored voice, “Don’t worry about them, Kam. They will fight it out, snarl a little more, and then in five minutes be right as rain.”

  “Kam?”

  Ange smiled. “Yeah, since we are bound to be best friends, then I am giving you a nickname. Come over here and take a seat. We can talk about shopping and any other crap load of girly shit we want. I am way overdue girl talk! I live with four of my brothers, and girl, let me tell you, that house has so much damned testosterone that a person can choke on it!”

  Kamali was shocked. “You have four brothers? I have sisters but no brothers. I can’t even imagine being surrounded by all those guys.”

  Ange cracked up laughing and said between gasps, “I actually have five brothers total. You are mated to one of them.”

  “What really? Which one?”

  Slowly coming out of her laughing hysteria, she gasped, “Mikel. He is actually our oldest brother. Then there is Kris, Josiah, Raymond, and then finally Quaid. I’m the youngest of the bunch, and unfortunately the only girl, too. But with you now mated to my brother, I finally get to claim to have a sister!”

  Kamali laughed at the other woman and said, “Well, it is always nice to have another sister. I have plenty of practice, so you are in good hands.”

  The men in the room had been staring at the two crazy females in awe.

  “It’s like they have been friends forever from the way they talk and act,” Mikel muttered under his breath to his brothers. Ezekiel just laughed and pulled Kamali back on his lap, wrapping his arms around her in a safe cocoon of warmth.

  “Love, what are you doing out of bed anyway? You were pretty sick earlier and we just wanted you to get some rest.”

  Suddenly Kamali’s dream came rushing back to her and everything that Karina told her invaded her mind. With a yell, she jumped up from her mate’s lap and ran to the desk that held a very old-looking phone on top of it. Picking up what looked like the receiver, she looked in confusion at the buttons and the spinning things in horror. Kamali started pushing button after button, until a hand clamped down on her shoulder, yanking her away from the stupid old contraption. Turning around in her captor’s arms, she laid into the closest person.

  “Why the hell can’t you get a normal phone?” she exclaimed. “You know, one that a person can tell what numbers are where and how to even hold the stupid receiver!” It felt like the room was closing in on Kamali and she started to hyperventilate.

  Ezekiel, being the unfortunate one to be holding her, raised his hands in s
urrender, as if she was holding a gun pointing straight to his heart.

  “Sweetheart, please calm down. Take a deep breath. In and out. Very good, one more time. In and out. Now will you please tell us what is going on?”

  “I had a dream. Well actually it wasn’t really a dream. I met with my circle guardian for the first time while I was sleeping. Her name is Karina and she told me who was coming. I have to contact my sisters and my mother! They have to know what’s coming.”

  Mikel stepped forward and took her hand in his because Ezekiel was still holding her tightly in his arms. “Who’s coming, sweetheart? Whoever or whatever it is, we will handle it as a family. No one will ever hurt you.”

  Ange, watching the scene unfold piped in. “That’s right, Kam! I finally have a sister and no person on this Earth will take that away from me, damn it! I will tear their throat out with my freshly-manicured, perfectly painted, pink princess nails if I have to!”

  Everyone in the room just stared at her before turning back to Kamali. She sighed, knowing that the next few minutes were going to be terrible, considering no one had ever told the secret that was about to be shared.

  “Alright everyone, listen up. You all know about my family and how I have four other sisters, right? Well, the thing is, there is actually another sister, a sixth sister.”

  Everyone gasped and looked at her in shock and disbelief. They all knew that the circle only had five daughters. Not once in known history had there been a sixth daughter been born.

  “What’s that mean, having a sixth sister?” Ange asked.

  “Well actually, the sister I’m speaking of is the third-born daughter. It was known on the day of her birth that she carried no element and, in fact, wielded a power that was much darker. One could tell hers was a more sinister aura, especially when in comparison to the elemental magic that was practiced throughout my family’s history.”

  “Who was she? What was her name?” Mikel questions.

  “Her name was Umbra, which in another tongue means darkness. She was such a little baby compared to me and my sisters, almost too fragile. I remember when she was born, my grandmother held her for the first time and suddenly had the vision that would shape Umbra’s life forever. She said she saw the darkness that would shape her, make her become the very creatures that we as circle members fight off. My grandmother said that if she was allowed to take her place as a circle member, all of my sisters and I would die by her hand. She would sacrifice us to become what the elders refer to as ‘A Living Goddess of the Night’”

  Kamali looked around the room at the various people surrounding her, suddenly looking much sadder and frail than she actually was. “She was just a baby and suddenly everyone in the coven treated her as if she had already committed an unforgivable sin. I never agreed with how my mother and the circle dealt with her, sending her away to live with a distant relative, instead of raising her themselves. To this day, I still believe that she could have been put on a different path. It was that stupid vision that changed everything.

  “A few years ago, Jamina, the woman who was given Umbra to raise as her own, turned up dead. It looked like she had been murdered in some kind of power-raising sacrifice. What my mother and aunts believe happened is that the darkness that was foreseen years ago has finally taken root in my sister’s soul.”

  “What does the circle plan to do about her? Is there a chance that she can be saved and somehow rehabilitated?”

  Kamali met Ezekiel’s eyes and said the one thing that has her heart both breaking in heartache and quivering in fear.

  “The only thing that can be done is to kill her. My aunt’s vision was quite clear. Umbra is very powerful and she can only be taking care of by the council. Damn the luck that now was the time that my mother passed the circle seats to her daughters instead of being made to face what she had created.”

  “Wait, so you blame your mother for having your sister in the first place? You’re not blaming your sister for her own actions?” Ange asked.

  “No,” Kamali stated, “that’s not what I’m saying at all. I understand why my sister is so angry. She was abandoned by her coven, her family. She was only a baby and still she was thrown out like a disease that the elders feared would spread through our people... Honestly if I had experienced what she had to and how she grew up, I can’t say for sure if I wouldn’t haven’t ended up just like her. I’ll never know for sure, but a person can always wonder about ‘What ifs’ and speculation.”

  Kamali took in a deep breath and let it out.

  “Now I have to do something that will stain my soul forever, committing one of the most unforgivable sins that was ever committed on Earth. I fear that it is just a repeat of the story of Cain and Abel that happened so long ago, reappearing in what people knew today as the Bible.”

  “Sweetheart, what are you talking about? What do you have to do?” Mikel asked.

  Kamali looked him straight in the eyes and said the six words that shattered her heart into a million pieces.

  “I have to kill my sister.”

  Chapter 11

  Sitting in the middle of the giant bed in Ezekiel’s master bedroom, Kamali contemplated what must be done. She had always been the strategist, the planner that had to have a bunch of lists in order to feel like she was making any progress on a certain troubling event. Being the head of an entire coven, let alone one the size and as powerful as hers was, would make any person stress. Bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, she closed her eyes and thought about all of the people who were counting on her.

  To kill someone. And not just someone.

  To kill her own sister.

  To kill her own baby sister. Her blood. Her family. The one child that had been thrown out because of some woman’s vision saying she was going to be an evil creature of darkness.

  Oh Umbra, what happened to you? Why did you do it? What are you feeling? I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I am so sorry, my sister.

  Kamali opened her eyes when she felt arms wrap around her from both sides. She looked up at first one mate and then the other.

  “I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I just don’t know.”

  Kamali could see the sadness in her mates’ eyes as Mikel took her hand in his and said, “I know, love. I know. We will help however we can. Maybe there is a way that she can be helped. We just need to find it.”

  She felt the tears flowing down her face and hated how she acted.’

  “Please, make love to me. Please, I need both of you. My mates. My loves.”

  They looked at each other before Mikel answered with a simple, “Whatever you need love, that is what you shall have.”

  Mikel pulled her close for a demanding kiss, not allowing her to think about anything but what was happening in that moment. Mikel’s tongue danced with hers, becoming more forceful and arousing in the intensity.

  Moaning, she leaned back and started to undress. Her fingers were shaking so badly they reminded her of a junkie, looking for their next fix. And that was exactly what they were. Her own brand of heroin. She had become so quickly and so thoroughly addicted to them that should either walk away from her, she would essentially be destroyed. She knew that losing one or both of them would cause her to fully give up on life, and that would send her reeling into a life of darkness.

  Hearing her thoughts, Ezekiel took her chin in his hand forced her to look him in the eyes. “We will never leave you. Not now and certainly not when the going gets tough. We will be your strength when you feel like you’re too weak for what’s happening. We will be your eyes when you feel like you can’t see clear of the darkness anymore. We will be your ears when you feel like all you hear are lies and corruption. We will be your heart mates, you beloveds, and your forever faithful mates. That is our pledge to you, my sweetest love.”

  Kamali smiled a watery smile and quickly finished undressing. By the time that she turned around again she noticed that they had already undressed
and were standing there looking like the gods of the myth and folklore stories that Kamali loved to read about. They were truly that, and so much more if she was going to be honest with herself.

  “I want to feel you both inside of me. Together. I want to feel you taking complete control of my body, claiming me so that none other may question our bond. Can you do that?”

  Mikel smirked. “Baby, I can personally say it will be an honor to fuck you so hard that everyone will be able to tell whose you are by the way you walk.”

  Ezekiel nodded his head in agreement. “Love, Mikel will be in your pussy first because he still has to bite you. Since I have already gotten that pleasure, I am going to take this delectable ass. Mikel, go lay down on the bed first so we can get her into position.”

  Mikel did as Ezekiel said and lay down on top of the soft comforter. Stroking his cock with one hand, he motioned for Kamali to come to him. Kneeling next to him, she looked on in wide-eyed wonder at the beauty close up.

  “Holy crap! You are even bigger than Ezekiel, and I thought he was going to rip me in half!” Reaching her hand toward him as if she couldn’t stop herself, she pulled back long enough for her to ask “Do you mind?”

  “I don’t mind at all, baby. But why don’t we get you ready while you have fun with me? Spread your legs for Ezekiel, baby, and let him play with you while you play with me.”

  She did as instructed and widened her legs. She felt Ezekiel behind her and just the excitement of what he was about to do combined with the cold air in the room had bumps and shivers overtaking her body.

  Reaching up, she took Mikel into her hand and squeezed.

  “Shit! Holy Fuck!” he screamed and suddenly her hand was covered in pearly liquid. He let out a loud groan as more and more cum kept spurting from his still impressive erection until finally he calmed down some. His coming so fast and unexpectedly had her biting back a smile. He saw it anyway and let out an embarrassed laugh.