Chapter 17: Razbin the Djinn

A shock wave exploded from the tub, sending the mixture of blood, alcohol, and bits of soil and glass out at the wolves and the Oracle.

As bits of glass and soil continued to fly from the shimmering bathtub, Desmond grabbed Sasha and Alexandra- tearing them away from the flying scraps. With his back facing the tub, Desmond wrapped his arms around the two females, shielding them from the downpour with his body.

Seconds, then a minute passed by just standing there, holding the she-wolf and his mate in front of him. Even when the shards of glass and particles of soil and blood stopped slamming into his broad back, he held the females against him.

Desmond looked down at the females with glowing eyes, checking over them, making sure they weren't harmed in any way. Dark brown and golden eyes met his in a silent form of gratitude. They didn't need to say anything, hell, they didn't even need to thank him silently. He would've done it again and again for any female or pack member. Females in the supernatural world were protected and cherished at all costs, and it was his duty, as a male wolf and a dominant male, to protect those around him.

Turning his head away from the women, he looked over his shoulder at the bathtub. His glowing green eyes widened in shock.

The bathtub was shimmering... glistening.

Turning his body around to face the shimmering beckon, he spread out his arms, holding back the curious females.

Not safe. His wolf growled. Protect. Defend. Shelter.

"Desmond," Sasha started, placing a hand on his muscular arm. "its okay."

Slipped out from under his arm, the little Oracle looked at him with soft eyes. Through their bond, Desmond knew that his mate could feel his restlessness and uneasiness. Walking over to him, Sasha stood up on her tiptoes and gripped his shoulders. Desmond's wolf growled in satisfaction as his mate leaned up to his mouth, and pressed her lips firmly to his. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he tilted his head to the side, deepening the kiss. She submitted to him eagerly, running her fingers through his thick reddish-brown hair.

His wolf purred, not caring in the least that there was another wolf in the tiny room.

Pulling away, Sasha looked into his darkening eyes. "Better?"

Desmond nodded, "Much. I... my wolf and I are much better."

His wolf was better, but his thoughts were no longer focused on protecting his mate, but instead, they were geared towards bedding his mate.

Mate. Take. Bedroom. Now. His wolf snarled.

No. Desmond answered his horny beast. Later, but not now. We have things to accomplish, places to be.

His wolf's response was, in no way, complimentary.

Pressing his lips to hers one last time, he turned to the Luna who was looking at them with a small smile.

Sasha smiled sheepishly with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. It's just that Desmond needed-"

Alexandra waved her hand in dismissal. "No need to be sorry. It's nice to see couples in love." The Luna smiled, but it looked a little sad. Before Desmond could say anything, she turned her attention to Sasha.

"Ready?"

Sasha nodded with confidence, looking over at the glistening pool of ever-changing color. Desmond frowned at the still body of water. It didn't move, no churning, no twisting, no sloshing. It just sat at the bottom of the tub, changing from swampy greens, blues, greys, purples, and pinks. It was the opening to another realm, the galaxy that allowed Desmond, Sasha, and Alexandra to enter its hosts.

Stepping forward, Sasha looked back at them. Her golden eyes trained on Desmond.

Following after her, Desmond grabbed a hold of his mate's small, fragile hand. His hands were so much larger and stronger than hers, but they were never used against her. There was a time when he was violent and angry with those around him, but he had never laid a raised hand or fist to her. Men who struck or abused their woman, supernatural or not, were cowards and nothing more than the dirt under his feet. In the wolf world, harming a woman, verbally or physically, was often a death sentence for the abuser. If the woman had a mate, then her mate would rip apart the scum piece by piece, but if the woman was mate less, then her alpha and all of the other males of her pack would deal with the lowlife. Since joining the Western Pack, Desmond had only seen one punishment, but the stupid pup's parents saved his ass from a more severe, more deserved punishment. Desmond could still hear the pup's howls of pain as the Alpha gave him fifty whippings from a leather belt, five for each crude words he said to a young female, and ten for every time he touched her.

There was no room for disrespect in a pack.

"Hold onto my hand," Sasha told the she-wolf. "We can't get separated if we're holding onto something."

Alexandra stepped up to the Oracle, her dark eyes beginning to glow. Slipping her hand into Sasha's, the she-wolf looked down at the seemingly endless pit of shimmering liquid. Desmond couldn't even see the bottom of the tub. The shifting colors seemed to go beyond the barriers of porcelain, beyond the floors of the mansion, beyond the layers of ancient earth below them.

Beyond the passages of time.

Desmond looked over at the Luna, and he could see right through her confidence, dominance, and sternness. All he could see now was a desperate mother trying to fix her broken daughter.

The Luna met his eyes with a slight nod of trust. She was trusting them to bring her through the portal... and, after getting the answers, back to Earth.

"For Adeline," Sasha said, squeezing both of their hands in reassurance.

"For Adeline," Alexandra repeated as they stepped up onto the side of the bathtub, and jumped into oblivion.

????

Alexandra prayed to the Moon Goddess for the first time in weeks. She prayed so loudly and so fervently that she was sure even Diablo, sitting on his throne of souls in the depths of Hell, could hear her. She prayed for her way out of the portal, for her daughter, for the Oracle squeezing her hand with the force of a constrictor

Her body was weightless, but her stomach was heavy with bile. Squeezing the hand around her own, the Luna looked to her left but had to squint her eyes to identify the hazy form. Sasha.

Golden orbs peered back at her, flickering in the dark haze surrounding them. The women stared at each other in the darkness as they plummeted towards the opening; wherever that may be.

Alexandra anchored the Oracle, and, little to Sasha's knowledge, she anchored Alexandra from giving into her wolf's panic.

????

Just as quickly as they had entered the portal, they exited it.

Practically flying from the opening, the Luna hit the hard earth with a snarled curse. Pain flared up from her chest, abdomen, and knees as she slowed her skid across the dusty dirt. Digging her claws into the ground, she grunted as her body halted.

"Dammit," She hissed.

Two more curses answered hers.

Slowly getting to her knees, Alexandra dusted down the front of her shirt with scraped and bloodied hands. Great. Just great. Now how was she supposed to calm down Dillon when she returned? He was calm and collective, but he was a Lupis male. It didn't matter how injured their mate was, even if it was a paper cut-- injured mate equaled pissed off male.

For Adeline.

This was for Adeline.

Turning towards her two companions, Alexandra burst into a full-body laugh.

Apparently, the portal didn't really care where it dropped off its hosts.

Desmond groaned out in pain, but it was muffled by the tree his head was currently in.

Alexandra was laughing so hard that her stomach was hurting. It didn't help when the Oracle saw where her mate was located. Alexandra could only laugh harder when Sasha practically fell to the floor, tears streaming down her face and her body convulsing with laughter.

Desmond cursed again, he was well aware that he had been discovered.

Placing his hands on either side of his head, Desmond pulled out of the tree. Alexandra watched as the large mate turned away from the hollowed tree, and turned to his mate. Alexandra calmed down a bit as she watched the hallowed tree close the hole where Desmond's head had gone through. The tree repaired itself in a span of a few moments. The tree's pasty whitebark rippled over the hole, like soft, human flesh.

Sasha let out a snort as her mate scowled down at her, crossing his thick arms over his chest.

"You embarrassed, Des?" Sasha taunted, walking over to her pissy mate. Reaching up, she dusted off some cobweb that had been caught in his short hair.

Alexandra almost fell into another fit of laughter, but a sharp look from the Oracle had her containing it. As she tried to gather herself, Alexandra's once humorous face, dropped down into a frown.

Usually, she was in control of her emotions. Sure, Desmond getting his head stuck in a tree was hilarious, but normally she would've given a good chuckle, but that would've been it. Her emotions were out of whack, and it frustrated her; no, it enraged her.

"Get a grip," Alexandra whispered to herself. Sucking in a deep breath, she shoved down her overreacting emotions: they were not needed.

"Alexandra?" Sasha asked, probably sensing some of the she-wolf's uneasiness. Glowing brown eyes met gold ones.

Sasha immediately understood the Luna's struggles, as if she were experiencing them herself.

"It's the magic. It's Razbin." She told Alexandra. The she-wolf nodded her head, a muscle feathering in her jaw. "Razbin has control of his domain, and this is a way of keeping others away from him."

Alexandra's wolf struggled for control, wanting to be let out. The animal was confused and agitated, and in its mind, the best way to deal with its emotions was to go kill things. Kill a lot of things.

"With knowledge, comes emotion," Sasha advised, "it's just up to you to choose how you use it."

Alexandra nodded again, her wolf calming slightly.

The Oracle smiled, her dark skin glistening in the low light. Alexandra looked at the pair, so different in so many ways, but brought together by the Moon.

In a blink of an eye, the Oracle in Sasha pulled away, leaving the stubborn, fierce woman that had surprisingly grown on the Luna.

Rubbing her hands together with a grin, Sasha turned away from the wolves and looked into the magical trees, her head rising to their tops. There, as if the sky were cloaking it, a tall tower loomed over them.

Magic was a strange thing. Strange and deadly.

Alexandra knew that if she had been here alone, she would've never seen or located the pile of rubble. It blended in with the trees surrounding it and melted into the blueish green sky. But now, as if it were sat down next to a flickering candle, the gray and black stones were visible. But just as quickly as she saw the true colors of the tower, it melts back into the surroundings.

Magic indeed.

"Looks like we aren't in Kansas anymore," Sasha whispered. Alexandra mirrored Desmond's nod.

"You're not in Virginia anymore, either." A cool, deep voice rumbled from behind them. Alexandra spun around instantly, her canines bared and her claws lengthened.

The impossibly tall male held up a smooth, dark hand, his amber eyes glistening wickedly as if he knew something they didn't. Alexandra immediately disliked him.

"I am no harm to the Oracle or the Tree Wolf." The Djinn said, his impossibly white teeth flashing in the light. Alexandra bared her own in a snarl.

She felt a mixture of rage, sorrow, love, determination, and other emotions flowing over her like an endless stream of feelings. He was messing with her emotions again.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Desmond couched protectively in front of Sasha, his teeth bared in his own promise of violence if the Djinn should make the wrong move.

He cocked his head and raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, his arrogance was practically written across his forehead with a sharpie.

Taking a step forward, the Djinn looked at the two wolves with another unimpressed grin. Staring at the sneering Oracle, then at her tense wolf, the Djinn stopped his lazy stroll to look at the Luna.

His amber eyes glowed at his own canines lengthened and sharpened, his pointed ears becoming more pronounced.

"I suppose you're here for Adeline?" He drawled, his eyes roving over her body. Alexandra wanted to scoop out his eyeballs with her claws and shove them down his throat.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

"I can help," Razbin confirmed, "but its all at a price."

His eyes zeroed in on her neck, focusing on the gold chain peeking out from under her shirt.

Alexandra immediately knew that he wouldn't be much help if he wasn't paid for his "services". She lifted a lip at him in a snarl as she brought her hands up to her neck, and unclasped the necklace that her mother had given to her right before she passed.

Please forgive me, mama. Alexandra thought as she pooled the pure gold necklace into her free palm, and held it out to the Djinn. The crescent moon charm dangling in the dimming light.

Somehow, she knew that her mother didn't really care. In fact, as the Djinn pulled the necklace out of her palm, a warm wave of pride danced down her spine.

Pocketing the necklace into the pocket of his surprisingly modern leather jacket, Razbin stepped back, a cocky grin pulling at his plump, sensual, full lips.

"Follow me." He said, spinning on his heels and disappearing into the forest, his tall form blending into the shadows.