Chapter 39: Reunited

Elinn Carter tensed up at first as if unsure if this was real as if I was the one doing this. I dragged my hands up his arms and into his hair pulling at it slightly. The action caused him to moan and he pulled me closer to him. His body was a solid unbreakable force against mine and I clung to it with everything I had pressing myself against him. "If you two are going to start canoodling I would ask that you please take it somewhere no one else will see you. I really don't want to know what Carter looks like naked." I pull back slightly at Nathan's words and the rest of the room's occupants chuckle murmuring their agreements. "Especially with her father present," I turn to Zayden and smile up at my father. I have missed him, I remembered him and I could not explain how much I longed for his fatherly affections. But, I couldn't force myself to move away from Carter, not when I had finally found my way back to him. "I missed you to Daddy," I tell him and his smile grows even brighter though I notice that Ecstan's dims at our words. I ignore him and turn back to Carter nuzzling into his chest, wanting to forget about the others in the room. Before anyone else can say anything I feel a small pair of hands tugging at my pant leg and glance down. Annelise stands there with a small girl I do not know just a few steps behind her. Sam and Kayten keep a vigilant watch over Annelise and I wonder if one of them might be her mate. Was it even possible for someone to have more than one mate? "Elinn, is that you are you back?" She asked gripping me tightly hiding her face in my leg. I reached down pulling her into my chest wondering what had her so upset. "Anneliese, I'm okay, I'm right here what's wrong. Did those boys do something to you?" I glare at them accusingly. They puffed up and growled at me as Annelise shook her head never lessening her tight grasp. "You promised you wouldn't leave again. You promised me," She whispered but still loud enough for everyone to hear. I pulled her closer to my chest and felt tears well up in my eyes. "I was here the whole time Anne, I never left you. I was merely sleeping while my wolf and her friend took care of me. I never left, I would never break a promise." I assure her as she continues to hold me like I might disintegrate into nothingness. I feel another small tug on my leg and look down to find a child I don't know staring up at me. She looks a little bit like Nathan and Jennifer so I can only assume that it's their daughter. "You aren't Demi, where did Demi go? Can Demi come back to play with me?" Her innocent question has me stiffening with a barely controlled rage. "No, Demi won't be around for a while. She has been a very, very bad girl and I don't think she will be able to play with you for a long time." The little girl nods solemnly and rushes back to her parents fear filling her eyes slightly. "Elinn, I know your upset but you are going to need to calm down. Can you do that for me?" Carter moves towards me slowly and reaches to take Annelise from me. "I am allowed to be upset! They locked me away in my own mind. I was a slave to their wills and they gave no thought to the consequences of their actions. They are both going to suffer for what they have put me through!" I snarled and I felt a familiar caress move down my back. It was as if the shadows I had spent so much time with were still here, bending to grasp me and pull me into them. I felt their presence around me and almost shuddered in relief at their cool comfort. I was their master know, they bent to my will and would do whatever I asked of them. "Elinn, I really need you to calm down. You have the right to be upset, what they did to you was wrong, but they were trying to help you. They wanted to show you that I wasn't what you thought I was, you can't hold that against them. They were doing their best to try to bring you back to us." Carter tried to reason but I was having none of it. "Don't try and justify their actions! They had no right, NO RIGHT, to throw me into the darkest pit of my mind and leave me trapped there waiting for them to let me out. They aren't the ones in charge here, I am in control, they are meant to listen!" I growl and I wish the shadows could wrap themselves around those in the room to give them a small taste of what I went through. As if they could hear what I had thought the shadows began to move. They grew and spread heading towards the others, reaching wraith like fingers towards horrified faces. "Elinn, stop. You're going to hurt someone." I looked around realising that everyone else was seeing the shadows as well. They were here in the room and they had been following my directions. Immediately I called them back while I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening. "There is no need to get so upset Elinn, it's perfectly normal. You'll learn to control them soon enough, it is in your nature." The voice wasn't one I recognized. I turned to find a women who liked similar to me standing in the room. "How could you possibly know that?" I ask her apprehensively. "Because Elin, I am your mother."