Impulsive Destiny

by Cassandra Lawson

“She’s going to be here in three days,” Connor assured her. “I’m not going to lie to you. We’re using this as an excuse to get her out here to warn her about a plot some of the other council members have going on.”

  “Is my mother in danger?” Lexi’s voice trembled slightly.

  “Probably,” Connor admitted. “Your mother is a very powerful leader, and the only way they can stage a successful rebellion is to get her removed from the council or kill her.”

  “My mother is a powerful leader?” Lexi gasped because it was hard to imagine her mother as any sort of leader.

  “She really is something else,” Kyleigh added.

  “You can’t be talking about my mother,” Lexi said firmly. “What’s her name?”

  “Eleanor,” Connor replied.

  “What’s her full name?” Lexi asked.

  Connor and Ian both looked confused by her question, which is when she realized no one had told her their last name. “You must have last names.”

  It was Kyleigh who answered. “In the early days of the vampires, they were stripped of their rights as humans and given serial numbers to further dehumanize them.”

  Lexi’s jaw dropped, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear more about this. Her computer research had revealed very little about vampires.

  Zane hadn’t said anything until that moment, and Lexi noticed that he actually looked somewhat pale. “Your mother is Eleanor?” he finally gasped.

  “That’s my mother’s name,” she hesitantly replied.

  “The same Eleanor my father is fascinated with?” Zane pushed.

  “Wait!” Connor interrupted with one hand up. “Since when is Max interested in Eleanor?”

  “Since the first time he saw her in your conference room and recognized her as his true mate,” Zane replied, shaking his head as if to clear it. “Okay, he didn’t say that, but it seemed pretty obvious.”

  “How does my mother feel about this?” Lexi asked, because it was kind of weird thinking about her mother with Zane’s father. Would that make them step-brother and sister? That was like one of those forbidden love books, and she really didn’t want to have to tell people she was sleeping with her step-brother.

  “She has no idea how my father feels, and I doubt he’ll ever tell her,” Zane answered, still looking dazed. “They both have obligations to their people, and my father wouldn’t ask her to abandon hers any more than he’d consider abandoning his own.”

  “How sad for them,” Lexi whispered, surprised by her own reaction.

  “I can’t believe Eleanor is your mother,” Zane muttered.

  “I can’t believe my mother is still alive. Hell, I can’t believe most of this,” Lexi said. “I guess this explains why you wanted to tell me in person.”

  “We figured it would be easier to tell you this in person,” Connor explained.

  “We?” Kyleigh asked with one raised eyebrow.

  “Kyleigh said we should talk to you in person,” Ian clarified. “I figured we could tell you when Eleanor got here, and Connor figured we could just call you.”

  “Clueless,” Kyleigh muttered, which made Lexi laugh. She had to admit that she kind of liked Kyleigh.

  “I’m going to check on Cam tomorrow,” Zane said out of the blue. “Lexi is coming with me.”

  Based on Connor’s frown, he didn’t like the idea.

  “With everything going on, that would be too dangerous,” Connor argued.

  “Lexi’s not defenseless, and neither am I,” Zane insisted. “She might even be safer in lynx territory since we aren’t at war with your council at the moment.”

  Lexi wondered why he’d thrown in that last part. Had the lynx been at war with the vampires before? Or, were they expecting to be at war soon?

  “She’s also Eleanor’s daughter, which makes her a very powerful bargaining chip,” Connor pointed out.

  “Who outside this room knows that?” Lexi asked, but didn’t give anyone a chance to reply before continuing. “Listen, I get that you don’t trust me, and that you need me right now, but I can’t stay cooped up in this house forever. We’re going to see Zane’s brother. If you forbid me to go, I’ll just find a way to leave here, and I won’t come back,” Lexi bluffed, knowing she’d come back to see her mother but not about to tell Connor that.

  “Fine,” Connor relented. “Claire is planning to go out there tomorrow. I’m not sure who I’m sending with her yet, but you can travel with them.”

  “Why is Claire going out there?” Zane asked, clearly shocked.

  “Why do you think?” Ian asked dryly.

  “Then we definitely have to go.” Zane looked excited all of a sudden. “This should be good.”

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Claire was more than a little anxious about seeing Cam, and as a result, she’d been snapping at everyone. Zane and his mate, Lexi, were traveling with her, along with Danny. It was really annoying being stuck with Zane and Danny on a good day, but today was not a good day, so she was ready to kill one of them. She should probably say she was ready to kill at least one of them. Killing both wasn’t out of the question.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I think they’re doing it to distract you from what’s bothering you,” Lexi whispered, which made Claire laugh.

  “It’s funny how you keep forgetting they can hear everything you say,” Claire told her.

  “Yeah, well, we didn’t have vampires or shapeshifters where I’m from,” Lexi pointed out.

  “There were shapeshifters,” Zane argued. “The cougars were already in this area before the initial Moon virus outbreak. From what I heard, their leader, Cord, even worked with one of the groups fighting to preserve the parks.”

  “Since I didn’t know about them, it’s the same as them not existing,” Lexi insisted.

  “I can still remember a time when Zane didn’t exist in my world,” Claire said wistfully.

  “You’d miss me.” Zane looked over his shoulder to wink at Claire.

  “He’s right,” Danny added. “Zane kind of grows on you.”

  “So does a fungal infection, but I’m not exactly dying to get one of those,” Claire huffed. In all honesty, she didn’t mind being around Zane, but she wasn’t about to tell him that and encourage the copious amounts of cuddling that came from being around Zane. Actually, she suddenly realized that Zane never tried to cuddle with her. “How come you never climb all over me like you do everyone else?”

  “Do you want me to?” Zane asked, looking over his shoulder at her so she could see his playful grin.

  “No,” she answered quickly. “I’m not much of a cuddler. I was just wondering if I was considered off-limits because your brother decided he had some sort of claim on me.”

  “That wouldn’t be a good enough reason for Zane to leave you alone,” Lexi remarked.

  “She’s right,” Danny agreed.

  “You don’t like it when anyone other than Cam touches you,” Zane explained. “I’ve watched you with Nate, and you put up with him touching you some, but not much. Touch is soothing for me, and it expresses how I feel about those around me better than words. I’m kind of bad at expressing things in words. Usually, I just end up sticking my foot in my mouth, but when I cuddle up to someone, they know I care. With you, I give you space because it’s what you need.”

  No one spoke at first. That was more insightful than she’d expected from Zane.

  Danny was shaking his head in the driver’s seat. “Damn, Zane, you must really be trying to impress your mate with how mature you can be.”

  Lexi laughed.

  “Are you laughing at the idea of me being mature?” Zane asked, slipping out of his seatbelt to lean over the back of the seat.

  “Put that belt back on, now!” Claire shouted at him.

  “In a minute,” he promised, reaching back to try to tickle Lexi, who was giving him a stern look. Zane’s eyes took on a playfully pleading quality.

  “Sit down, and put your seatbelt on,”
Lexi ordered with narrowed eyes.

  “What do I get if I do that?” Zane teased.

  “You’d do better to think about what you won’t get if you don’t,” Lexi warned.

  Much to Claire’s surprise, Zane quickly slid back into his seat and buckled the restraint, but that didn’t mean he was suddenly about to behave.

  “Don’t think I don’t realize this is all about you wanting to restrain me,” Zane told Lexi.

  “If you behave, I promise to tie you up later,” Lexi cooed like she was soothing a child.

  “Deal,” Zane happily agreed, and folded his hands in his lap with a grin.

  “Okay, you are perfect for Zane,” Claire said in wonder. “He never behaves, yet you’ve got him sitting quietly in the front seat. Even if that only lasts five minutes, it’s a miracle. Never leave him.”

  Claire instantly realized her mistake when she saw a panicked look in Lexi’s eyes, and she felt bad. She’d been assuming that Lexi and Zane had everything worked out between them. When they’d come to meet her at the jeep, she’d watched Zane play with the mark on the back of Lexi’s neck, and she’d been oddly jealous. It wasn’t until that moment that she’d found herself longing for Cam’s mark, her fear having been replaced with anticipation. Now, she was suddenly craving that intimacy. Maybe it had to do with her finally accepting that she and Cam belonged together. Whatever the reason, she hoped she wasn’t too late.

  “Are you sure Cam will go for what you’re suggesting?” Danny asked.

  Everyone in the jeep knew what she had planned, and she was also going to explain it to Max before she saw Cam.

  “He’ll go for it,” Zane answered for her.

  “I hope so,” Claire said, not nearly as confident as Zane. Then again, she wasn’t sure Cam was going to be thrilled about seeing her. It was always possible he’d believe she was just playing games with him.

  “You’re afraid my brother will turn you away.” Zane’s voice was soothing. “He won’t. He can’t because you’re his mate.”

  “When you put it that way, it makes it sound like he has to be with me, not wants to be with me,” Claire muttered.

  “It’s both,” Danny assured her. “Yeah, I know it’s confusing for those of us who aren’t shifters. When I was around Quinn at first, she was like a crazy obsession. Not gonna lie, it scared me a little, but I still couldn’t stay away from her.”

  “You act more like a shifter,” Claire argued, and then she looked at Lexi for help. “How do you do it? I mean, how did you let Zane mark you that first time? The whole thing has terrified me from the beginning.”

  “Doesn’t smell like you’re terrified of it now,” Zane drawled.

  “That’s the kind of stuff shifters do that weirds me out,” Claire complained. “It’s rude to talk about smelling someone’s arousal.”

  “I agree,” Lexi added. “Actually, I guess it’s kind of hot sometimes.”

  Claire said nothing because she felt the same at times, even if she was a little embarrassed to admit that. It was no lie to say she’d been afraid of getting involved with Cam from the beginning, but she’d still been drawn to him. Staying away from him had always been a fight, and she now found herself wondering why she’d felt the need to fight him in the first place.

  Jase met them as soon as Danny parked the jeep about a mile away from the shifter community. It was still on their land, but they’d have to walk the rest of the way since the roads weren’t safe to drive on anymore.

  “I can’t believe you actually came here,” Jase remarked with a shake of his head.

  “I’m having trouble believing it myself,” Claire murmured.

  Claire looked around nervously, wondering where Cam was. While she wanted to see him, she felt it was best to get approval for her idea from Max first. This affected the entire clan, and he might not like it.

  “Cam’s moping in his house,” Jase told her, as if reading her thoughts. “Do you want me to take you there?”

  Claire shook her head. “Not yet. I actually need to talk to your father first.”

  “My father?” Jase asked, looking confused.

  Zane grinned. “Wait until you hear what she has in mind.”

  Jase laughed. “I guess we can kill two birds with one stone. My father is definitely going to want to meet Zane’s mate. Let’s go see him now, and then you can do something about getting Cam out of his piss poor mood. It’ll also get our father out of his meeting with Cord.”

  “Why is he meeting with the cougar leader?” Zane asked.

  Jase shrugged. “You know they need to have a monthly pissing contest now that they’re almost friends.”

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Lexi took in her surroundings as she made her way toward Zane’s father’s home. She’d been told his name was Max, and that brought her to the realization that almost all the shifters she’d met so far had single syllable names. Zane had his arm wrapped protectively around her, and he seemed to growl at some of the males they passed.

  “Do most shapeshifters have single syllable names?” Lexi asked quietly, before remembering everyone had great hearing and whispering was ridiculous. “So far, Layla is the only one I’ve met with a two syllable name.”

  “Layla didn’t know she was a shifter until her twenty-seventh birthday. She grew up at a human settlement, so she doesn’t count,” Danny told her. “I have to admit, all the shifters I know have one syllable names.”

  Zane thought for a moment, but it was Jase who answered. “Not all do, but the ones with more than one syllable all have nicknames that are one syllable.”

  “Why?” Lexi just couldn’t stop her curiosity.

  “Sometimes, stress can make it hard for us to communicate. That’s usually when we’re struggling not to change. It’s a lot harder to shout help, Gwendolyn than it is to shout help, Gwen,” Jase explained, stopping outside one of the cottages.

  Lexi didn’t need super-hearing to pick up on the angry shouts coming from inside the cottage. “It sounds like this might not be the best time to meet with your father.”

  Both Jase and Zane laughed at her reaction.

  “If you avoid my father when he’s pissed off, you’ll have to avoid him for the rest of your life,” Jase told her.

  “Yeah, my father is angry more often than not,” Zane added.

  “From what Cam said, it’s usually Zane he’s mad at,” Claire muttered.

  “He also spends a lot of time pissed at Cam,” Danny said to Claire.

  “Get in the damn house!” Max roared.

  Lexi wasn’t easily intimidated, but she was seriously tempted to make her way back down the hill and wait in the jeep.

  “He won’t bite.” Zane gave her a reassuring smile and guided her in with a hand on her lower back.

  The angry shouts had been deceptive, and Lexi had expected to walk in on Max and several other people. There were only two men, and both stood when they entered the room. One of them looked so much like Zane, with tawny hair and amber eyes, that he had to be Zane’s father. The other man was slightly taller than Max, with longish brown hair, bronzed skin, and blue eyes. When the other man grinned, Lexi saw the hint of a dimple.

  “Introduce me to the lovely female,” the man in the room with Max coaxed, moving closer to Lexi until she heard the rumbling growl coming from Zane’s throat. One sharp look from Lexi and Zane stopped growling and flashed a sheepish smile, which had the other man laughing.

  “I’m Cord,” the man introduced himself.

  “Lexi,” she responded with a curt nod.

  “Are you being short with me so you don’t upset your mate?” Cord asked.

  Lexi snorted. “Are you flirting with me to piss Zane off?”

  “Of course not,” he assured her. “Pissing Zane off is just a happy coincidence.”

  “Enough!” Max barked at Cord and Zane, before his voice gentled and he spoke directly to Lexi. “Forgive these two for acting like idiots. I’m glad you’re feeling bette
r.”

  “Thank you,” Lexi responded nervously.

  “We’ll discuss this again later,” Cord declared as he moved toward the door.

  “There is nothing to discuss,” Max replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

  “Fine, be an idiot,” Cord snapped before storming out of the cottage.

  “What the hell was that about?” Zane asked.

  Max hesitated for a moment before replying. “Cord wants permission to choose a mate from one of our females to solidify the truce between us.”

  “That’s barbaric,” Lexi gasped. “You can’t just give him a woman.”

  Max chuckled. “You don’t know much about how we do things, do you?”

  “Apparently not,” Lexi muttered.

  “Any number of females would be willing to volunteer,” Zane assured her. “My father wouldn’t need to force one.”

  Jase nodded. “That’s true. Even if part of our followers hate Cord, most don’t have anything against the cougars, and it would put the female in a position of power.”

  “The biggest problem is that part of the agreement would involve me taking a cougar as a mate, and I have no intention of taking any mate.”

  The whole situation seemed ridiculous in Lexi’s opinion, but she decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

  “I’m surprised to see you here today.” All warmth left Max’s voice when he spoke to Claire. Lexi wouldn’t say he looked angry, but he definitely didn’t look happy to see her.

  Claire, obviously not easily intimidated, gave him a sweet smile. “Guess you were hoping I’d just let him go. Sorry to disappoint you.”

  That comment earned Claire a booming laugh from Max. “You have a lot of spunk,” he mused with a grin. “What I meant was that I expected you to show up right after I sent that message with Jase. Why did it take you so long to get here?”

  “She can’t just take off whenever she wants,” Danny answered for Claire. “Connor is still her leader, and he didn’t give her permission to leave until today.”

  If Lexi wasn’t mistaken, Max was working hard to get his temper under control, and she definitely heard him grumble, “My son’s mate should only be under my authority.”