"We can't give you permission to do that. Not officially. The three of us will accompany you to the pack where you'll confront him without violence. After that, what you choose to do is on you as long as you don't cause a war."
I knew what they were saying, even though he couldn't ever tell me to go kill Novak on my own. We couldn't risk a war and he would never let one be traced back to him. If I wanted Novak dead, that was on me. And I did. I wouldn't settle for anything less. He'd hurt my family. He'd tried to kill my child. He had to die and now I knew that I had the council's understanding, if not their exact permission, to kill him.
"When would you like to go pay him a visit?" I asked.
"Is Tad well enough for you to come with us tonight?"
I turned and looked through the windows to check on him. He'd barely moved. He was still perfectly asleep in our bed. Ainsley was on the computer, watching videos. I hoped they were work related in some way. Actually, no, I didn't care. I needed him to stay there with Tad until I got back later. It might have been morning before I actually came back.
"Tonight would be good. I'll be ready in ten minutes."
"Good. We'll see you then."
I hung up with him and then went into the office to talk to Ainsley. "I'm going to go with the council to go see Novak. Can you stay here with Tad?"
Ainsley grinned and then, he licked his lips. It was the slightest movement, just his tongue flicking out. But it was enough to tell me that he wished that he could go along too, in case things got bloody. "The council has told me that we won't be going there to kill him tonight. They don't want this to start a war between our kinds."
His expression changed instantly. "Shame. It could have been fun. But yeah, I can stay here. You aren't just going to let this go though, are you? That's not like you at all."
"No, I'm not going to let Novak get away with what he did, but I won't have all of us blamed for what I'm going to do to him either. This was one werewolf and I won't bring every other werewolf into this." I rubbed my forehead. "I can't believe he did this. Not to his own son."
Ainsley nodded. "I can. He's a horrible person. No wonder Tad was so desperate to get away from him. I would have been too. Hurt him for me too, okay? I like Tad. I don't like his father."
"Sure." I thought of Tad, and how I should have woken him up before leaving. But I didn't want to let him worry about me. I knew he wanted this too. He hated his father and I knew that I had his permission to seek revenge for both of us, and our child. "If Tad wakes up before I'm back, will you let him know what's going on? The whole truth, or whatever he wants to know of it. Just no lies."
Ainsley looked surprised. "Sure. I guess. You really want him knowing that you're going to kill his dad?"
"Yes." I didn't want there to be any secrets between us, but I also didn't want him to wonder if his dad was still out there somewhere, still hating who he was, and that we were together. "It's better this way. Just tell him the truth. If he asks."
"Oh, I'm sure he'll ask, but yeah, I'll tell him what's going on. That's really good of you. And fair. I wasn't too sure about all of this, or him, at first anyway. But I like that you two are together. It seems to be working out well for both of you."
I patted his shoulder as I walked past him. "I'll see you later, Ainsley. I have my phone if you need me for anything, or if he does."
"Be safe," he called back to me, then I was gone, walking out of the office, and then, a minute later, out of my front door as well. I locked the door behind myself then walked to the waiting sedan.
It was raining as the councilman drove us. There was no sense in giving directions to him. We all knew where the pack was. And it didn't take us long to get there, not with how he drove. I sat back and focused myself on what I would say. I had to control myself at this point in the night, but if I saw an opportunity to kill him tonight, then I would be taking it.
As we pulled up to the main house I reminded myself that we weren't there to start a war. I was there simply to give my formal complaint on how a vampire I cared about had been treated. With the council behind me my complaint would have some more weight, but really it was up to the werewolves to decide on how they wanted to proceed from here once they heard what Novak had done.
We were lucky in that a lot of the pack was still awake when we came to the front door. I saw children playing in the yard nearby, and curious teenagers looking at us from behind the trees. It was Novak though who had my attention as he opened the door.
"What do you want?" he snapped at me.
I had the council around me and I lifted my chin as I met his gaze. He had steps going up to his front door, which put me nearly an inch shorter than him, but I wasn't about to let him claim any power over me because of our height difference in that moment. "You tried to kill my husband and our child. As I'm sure you know, Tad is pregnant. Thankfully he and our child are fine. But you tied him to a tree and left him there." I was having a hard time controlling my anger and I was glad that the older councilwoman stepped in front of me before I went after Novak myself.
"Novak, this is a formal complaint from the vampires against you. You are hereby barred from any more contact with Tad. Do not try to reach out to your son again."
A few of the werewolves grew closer I looked at a few of them. They were worried and confused. I wondered how many of them had no idea what Novak had done.
"My husband is Tad," I called out to all of them. "You used to know him as Caroline." I hated using that name of his. "Today Novak kidnapped him, hit him, and tied him to a tree. My husband is pregnant with our child. What Novak did was cruel and inexcusable."
"It's just a vampire's child," Novak snapped at me.
I lifted my lips, baring my fangs at him. "Your son--"
"Caroline is my daughter, not my son."
I needed to punch him. The councilman pulled me back before I could.
One of the werewolf women came up to us, and we stepped back for her. "It's true. I saw it. She was there, crying, tied to that tree, and she was pregnant."
"Shut up, Helen. You don't have any idea what you're talking about," Novak sneered.
But now more of the werewolves were coming closer. They pushed Novak, demanding answers, and I stood back with the vampires. My job was done here and now I was there to witness the aftermath.
"Are you coming back with us?" the councilman asked me as we headed back to the car. Novak was being thrown out, despite his protests. The werewolves, it seemed, had a clear code of honor where children were concerned and intentionally risking their lives wasn't something that the werewolves were on board with.
I shook my head and he smiled at me, as if he knew what I was thinking. "Don't get caught," he told me as he and the others got back into their car.
"I'll be careful," I promised. Then I went to the woods across from the house and I waited there in the dark for Novak to get his things together.
It took nearly an hour, and I was steadily growing more impatient, but eventually he did come out with multiple bags. With no one in the pack watching him, I made my move as he loaded his bags into a small car at the edge of the driveway. There were no lights there to bother us as I walked up to him.
"You tried to kill my husband, and my child," I accused him.
"They both deserve to die. They--"
He didn't get to finish that thought. Not before I'd grabbed his head and twisted, breaking his neck instantly. I felt relief at his death. Relief not only for myself, but also for Tad. He had deserved better than Novak as his father.
Chapter Sixteen
Tad
I wasn't sure what to think about Vallen going after my father. Part of me had wanted to be there, to tell him just how much he'd hurt me over the years, and how much I wanted him to suffer for what he'd try to do to my child. But the bigger part of me knew that telling him any of that wouldn't change anything between us. It wouldn't erase what he'd done, and I was sure that it wouldn't have made him suddenly realize
all the wrongness that he'd added to my life.
I knew my father was dead when Vallen came back home. I'd been playing a game on my phone. Ainsley had been watching videos on his. But when Vallen came back we both stopped and watched him.
"Tad..." He looked tired, and sorry, but I hoped not for what he'd done.
I got off the couch and went to him, happy to hug him. Happy to have him back home with me. "I'm glad you're safe. Thanks for taking care of us."
He kissed me and that was it. We didn't need to talk about how he'd killed him, or anything else. It was enough for me that it was all over now.
I spent the rest of the night, and most of the next day, thinking about the vampires, and the packs, and wondering if there was any hope for us all to come together. I didn't think there was. And, after dealing with my father, I wasn't sure that I wanted there to be either. In less than two weeks I'd gone from being a pack member, even though I'd hated my life there, to being a full member of vampire society and I had no problems with that. I wasn't looking back and I didn't expect anyone in my old pack to understand.
But the truth was that I was done with them. I was a werewolf only by birth. I didn't identify with the pack anymore and I wanted nothing to do with them either. Sometimes, when I was really angry about all the years that I'd been mistreated by those werewolves who thought they were better than me because I was born with a uterus and they lucked out and got a penis, then I didn't care if the vampires one day decided to wipe them all out. But those moments were rare, and I wouldn't do that to the children or to the mothers.
Vallen was in the shower when I decided to call the council. I was dreading this conversation, because I knew that it meant that I was throwing away the future that they'd offered me, but I couldn't bring myself to take part in that future at all.
"Hello, Tad," the councilman said as he answered the phone.
I swallowed thickly. "Hi. I...uh... I don't think I can do it. I can't bring the werewolves and the vampires together. I'm sorry."
He was quiet for a long moment and I wished he'd just say something. Just be mad at me for failing already, instead of making me wait to get yelled at while his silence lingered and stretched and made me more and more nervous every second that it went on.
"Are you saying no because you don't think you are able to?"
It was that, and it was so much more. "No, mostly because I don't want to. I'm not sure what Vallen told you, but my father tried to kill me and our child. And there were wolves who helped him, who knew that I was pregnant and did nothing to go against him. I don't want to spend time with people like that. Maybe someday they'll change. Maybe things will be different in the future, but if my education, and my career after, are based on my ability to make a bunch of werewolves who don't even see me as someone worth respecting or my child as someone worth protecting suddenly want to work with me, then I don't think it can be done that quickly and I don't even think that I want to try. This morning I wanted them all dead and I've never wanted that before, but I just kept thinking about how not a single one of those men in charge of the pack stopped to question my father. None of them had the guts to say hey, we can't kill a child, no matter who their father is. And that's something that has never happened in the packs. I grew up with this idea that children were everything and my whole job in the pack was to create more of them. But none of those men seemed to think so and so I think that they're a lost cause."
He chuckled and my cheeks flamed as I wondered what could possibly be so funny. "Tad, your backbone is astounding. Do you know that any vampire we had asked that same task of would have struggled for years just to please us, even though they wouldn't have wanted anything to do with the werewolves at all? We still have a use for you, not to worry. Nothing has changed. I think you'll make a fantastic assistant for the council, if you want to be. The same offer applies, and you will still be working with the werewolves, but after your father's display I believe you're right. We had hope for them because of you, but he has shown us differently. Will you consider our offer?"
I didn't need to consider it. I figured that, as their assistant, I'd be doing a lot of the same things that Ainsley did for Vallen, and I was okay with that. I could work for them, and do what they needed me to, without question. I just couldn't make myself all about liking werewolves and wanting to make them better at this point in my life. "I'd like to come work for you three."
"Don't rush into this," he cautioned me.
I wasn't. I'd rushed into a lot over the last few weeks, and I had no regrets about the choices I'd made, but I wasn't rushing into this. "I'm not. When do I start work?"
"How about tomorrow night?"
I turned as I found Vallen coming out of the house toward me. "That's perfect. Thank you."
"We'll see you then." He hung up on me and I went to Vallen, excited to tell him about our future together.
A week later we were hanging out at home, my feet in Vallen's lap, and a movie playing on the TV. We had a few hours before he had to get to work, and the council didn't generally send a car for me until close to midnight when they started work. I liked working there with them. They mostly just had me answering calls, taking messages, and setting up meetings, but it was good work and it kept me busy. And, even better, it kept me close to what was happening in the vampire world. I knew everything that the council did. Or, almost everything at least. I knew they had their secrets, but I also knew who was dating who within the vampires. I knew where everyone lived. And I was starting to learn what they all preferred to drink. Or, rather, who.
He got up to finish getting ready for work and I sipped my glass of milk. I was off soda, caffeine, refined sugar, and nearly everything else that was delicious that I was craving. But it would be worth it for our child.
Someone rang our doorbell. My ride wasn't supposed to be there for hours and Vallen had one of the council's car so he didn't need a ride.
"Are you expecting Ainsley or something?" I called out.
"No. Are you?" he yelled back.
Laughing, I got up and went to the door. I was happy. Really, honestly happy, and I was looking forward to my life with Vallen and our child in this new world we were building together.
The woman at the door smiled at me, but she also looked scared.
"You're the one who helped me escape when I was tied up." That didn't explain what she was doing at our house though.
Vallen came up behind me and I turned to look up at him. "She's from the pack," I explained.
"She backed the council and me when we went there to confront Novak."
That had taken guts. "Thank you for that," I told her.
She stepped toward me and I backed up, but not fast enough for her to not be able to grab my hand in hers. "With Novak leaving, and then someone killing him, the pack his in turmoil. A lot of us simply left, and with the men all focused on what their next move was, no one was paying attention to me. Caroline, no, I'm sorry. Tad. I'll get better. I promise. I wanted to come talk to you. To my son."
Vallen had his arm around me in an instant as I stared openly at her. "You're my mother?"
She nodded and I went to her. I hugged her as tightly as I could. I didn't need any proof. I had no reason to believe that she would lie to me about that. She hugged me back and then I closed my eyes as the tears came.
Chapter Seventeen
Vallen
One Year Later
Rory was born in June. My perfect summer child. I loved her toes and her fingers and her squishy belly and every little human part of her. I loved that she laughed all the time and I loved that she smiled whenever she saw either of us. For the first month of her life I'd hardly been able to put her down.
Now, a year later, I'd seen her grow so much. She was walking and playing now. And talking. It was only a few words, but they were still there, crystal clear and perfect. Just like she was. I kissed her cheek and held her on my lap, even as she squirmed. We were at the water's edge, watching the moo
n shine over the dark surface. Well, I was watching it. She apparently just wanted to get back to playing.
The back door opened and I lifted her into my arms and got up as Tad came out to join us. He'd had surgery a month ago, and I saw the happiness grow in him a little more each day. I'd been waiting for this moment though. He only had on a pair of shorts. No more bandages. No more hiding who he was.
I didn't like seeing the scars on his chest or stomach, but I understood what they meant to him. He was himself now. His hair was even shorter than mine and shaved all the way up the back. His chest was flat and he smiled a lot more now than when I'd first met him. I loved seeing that change in him. I loved knowing that I'd been able to help him get to who he was now.
"Hey you two, it's cold," he called out to us from the deck.
"We're coming in," I promised.
He laughed and come down to meet us instead. "I know that lie. You say you're coming in, then I find you out here for another hour." He gave me a quick kiss before taking Rory from me. She grabbed at his face, and his hair and then she did the thing that always made him smile brightest. She called him Daddy.
"Your mom texted while you were inside. She wants to know if you want any of the cookies that she made for the humans at the Blood Bar. They're peanut butter this week." I rubbed his hair and then trailed my fingers down his back. He was beautiful. He'd always been that way to me.
"Sure. I'll take some. Do you think she's still liking her job there? It's been what? Eight months now since she started?"
We turned and headed back inside. I kept my hand on his back as we walked. "I'm sure she is."
We had the night off and I happily settled in for a movie with my husband and our daughter.
The End
Caitlin is a panromantic author of over one hundred queer romance books including some Rainbow Award winners. When she's not writing she enjoys gardening, hanging out with her dogs, and watching movies with her husband. She lives on a small farm in Missouri.
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