***I want to thank you all for your patience, and continued support; especially Angel_N_Disguise for her excellent editing skills. It's been a very busy and rocky couple of months, and the months ahead seem just as determined to remain that way. Here is the next installment of our Were-rabbit series, and I truly hope you enjoy it. As always, remember that I love hearing your feedback, your questions, comments, fears and hopes for the continuation of the story line. You have all been amazing, and I hope you continue to follow me as we embark into both the light...and the darkness...of their world. Come, walk in the shadows with me.***
Silence crept over the darkened glade, soothing the chaotic motions and sounds of all encased within its depths. Birds and beasts alike felt its serene shroud settling upon their brows, lulling their frantic movements with a deep calm. Even the merry chirping of crickets and other nocturnal bug life stilled as an expectant hush fell across the surrounding forest.
One by one, small lights began clicking to life. The soft glow from the fixtures spread with a slow and methodical rhythm, illuminating a low stone wall that ran in an arc along the center of the clearing. The luminaries spread from the only break in that border, a majestically hand-hewn arch with a wrought iron gate, and drifted along the paving stones of a long pathway.
The soft glow raced along the stones, casting shadows over the exquisite landscaping that bordered its path. Beautiful blooms, their colors made indeterminate by the looming darkness, seemed to nod in greeting as the light spread. Reaching the end of the stones, the lights split in opposite directions, and morphed into larger fixtures in a semi-circle that paralleled the low stone border.
Large spot lights hummed as light poured from them, the glow spreading across vast amounts of layered stone. The procession finally came to a halt as the last few fixtures clicked on, casting illumination along the entire base of the enormous three-story structure that stood in sharp relief against the darkness. The tall rock walls flowed seamlessly from the cliff behind them, each stone appearing as if it had been molded from the mountain face instead of being hewn by the hands of men.
Over the space of two hundred years, Werehaven Manor had remained a beacon of hope and prosperity for the neighboring towns. Although it had undergone numerous renovations during that time, the aura of serenity it exuded had never wavered. With its lofty parapets, tall columns, and beautifully manicured grounds, the manor house presented an impressive façade. It was, however, more than it seemed; the building's founder, Rhochlan Werehaven, had designed it for a dual purpose.
Many human patrons had frequented its halls and given wonderful reviews of the Werehaven Manor Bed and Breakfast Inn as a secluded retreat. The B&B boasted a fully staffed kitchen that made it possible to offer three home-cooked meals a day; it wasn't unusual for the dining room to be packed at each of them, by both guests and people just walking in off the street. It even offered a gift store that sold hand-made crafts, and a harvest season farmer's market that encouraged young farmers and children to sell their home-grown produce.
Beyond the hustle of the business front, and out of the path of any curious humans, deep hallways pushed back through the mountain itself. The stones in those tunnels were much older, much heavier. They housed a multitude of rooms designed specifically to be used as homes for Weres: shifters, individuals that were as much beast as human. After he lost both his mother and his younger sister during childbirth, and after his father was murdered by a rival Were species, Rhochlan built the Inn to preface a half-way house for orphaned Were children.
As Alpha of the Werehaven rabbit colony, Rhochlan recognized the need to provide a future for abandoned kittens—Were-rabbit children—because their genealogy was a bit different from other shifter species. A kit was born in human form to both parents, but unlike wolves or cats, the beast didn't manifest upon puberty; instead, it was locked from birth inside a cage in the babe's mind. Upon the child's fifth birthday, a visit would be scheduled with the Alpha to unlock the beast, allowing the two halves of the kit's psyche to merge and become whole.
If, for some reason, the cage remained unopened...the consequences to the child were often terrible to behold. In the beast's desperation to be free, the kit's mind would be ravaged; all too often, it was damaged beyond repair. Usually, this was as a result of a family tragedy or extenuating circumstances that removed the kitten from an Alpha's influence and ability to perform the rites necessary. Running a licensed shelter for troubled youth provided Rhochlan with a unique opportunity to seek out those orphaned children who may benefit the most from an Alpha's presence.
There were times when he succeeded, happy moments when he drew the children away from the madness and back into the light. He'd bring them back to the Manor, and the love of his sister and the other Weres at the compound would help them come to peace with their life. When they were ready, they'd make the transition to the rabbit colony, where they would be granted the ability to grow and prosper as a part of the community.
Occasionally, however, there were times when success was no longer a possibility. Exhaustion would force him to leave the minds of those children who were too plagued with pain, terror, and agony to save. There was always the threat of his own mind being lost when he tarried too long in those dark places, drowning in the horror that came to life when a child's Were had been caged for too long. He fought for them, wrestled with their demons, until he risked his very own sanity in his bid for their freedom.
Hard decisions had to be made then; decisions for the safety and security of those around the child as well as the need to preserve the secrecy of their heritage that made Rhochlan sick to his very soul. Only when the child's mind held no hope of recovery would he relent and make the little one's passing as painless as possible. He'd always chosen to ignore the fact that eventually he was destined to fail...refused to accept that there would come a day when a mind he tried to save would bring an end to his own life.
He was the Werehaven Alpha: the failure to try was
not
