“Is Cam moving to the island settlement to live with you?” Zane asked, finally giving in to his curiosity.
“I don’t know yet,” Claire responded. “I’m going to talk to Connor and see if there’s a way I can stay at the shifter community half the time.”
Danny laughed.
“What is so funny about that?” Claire demanded.
“You seem a little too uptight for the shifters,” Lexi answered for him.
“She’s right,” Zane agreed.
Claire looked like she was going to argue, but ended up letting out a sigh instead. “It’s definitely going to be an adjustment, but Cam needs to be there, and so will the baby.”
“I still can’t believe you finally gave in,” Danny said with a shake of his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I always figured you’d eventually let Cam mark you, but I assumed he’d be the one making all the compromises.”
“You really think I’m that big of a bitch?” Claire demanded.
“Not a bitch so much as a control freak,” Danny explained. “That’s been your problem all along. You’ve been terrified of giving up control.”
“Losing control is scary,” Lexi said softly.
“Yes, it is,” Danny agreed. “But some things are worth giving up everything for.”
Claire’s wistful sigh was so out of character, Zane nearly laughed. It was pretty obvious that his brother had made good use of his hours alone with Claire.
“Shit!” Danny shouted, swerving the jeep to the side of the road and narrowly missing the female who ran out in front of them with two males chasing her.
Danny grabbed two knives, and Claire grabbed a handheld crossbow.
“Wait!” Lexi called out urgently. “It’s a trap!”
Her warning came too late; Danny and Claire were already out of the jeep. The female turned and hissed at them, saliva dripping from her fangs. The males just laughed. “You can eat them now,” one of the males told the female, and she lunged toward Claire. Cam jumped from the brush in lynx form, knocking the vampire to the ground and tearing out her throat.
Four more vampires joined them. Luckily, none of them appeared to be armed, but they all seemed vicious and without fear.
“How do I kill them?” Lexi asked Zane.
“Stab them in the heart,” he told her before grabbing a knife and joining the fight.
Lexi didn’t hesitate. She jumped out of the jeep, armed with only the modified eskrima sticks Raven had given her, and hit a vampire who’d just kicked Cam. Claire saw the kick, too, and Zane heard her curse before she kicked the vampire back and shot him in the chest with the crossbow.
Danny was struggling with two vampires, so Zane grabbed one and tossed him against a tree before slamming a knife into his heart.
The two vampires who were coherent seemed to be staying back from the fight, and Zane decided to take them out since they appeared to be calling the shots. Cam must have thought the same because he leapt through the air, taking one down and tearing out his throat. Zane followed up with a knife to the heart.
“Try to keep one alive!” Claire shouted, and that’s when the remaining one obviously picked up on the fact that he was seriously screwed.
“Don’t let them follow me!” he ordered the feral vampires, and six more emerged to pen them in. When they were all too busy trying to stay alive, the leader ran into the woods.
Zane was seriously impressed with his mate’s fighting skills. It was one thing to handle yourself well when sparring, but a totally different matter to handle yourself well in a real fight. Not once did Lexi hesitate. When they were safe, Zane looked around.
“I don’t think we’re going to find the one that got away,” Danny said in frustration.
Cam was already scenting the air.
“Don’t even think about going after him alone,” Claire warned, and Cam cocked his head to the side.
Zane already knew that’s what his brother wanted to do, and he was tempted to hunt with him.
“She’s right,” Danny agreed. “We have no idea what kind of backup he has out there. I’m pretty sure I don’t need to ask this, but could you tell what kind of vampires they were?”
Zane nodded. “They were definitely infected with the new virus.”
Cam was still scenting the air and pacing back and forth.
Claire finally let out a sigh and opened the cargo area of the jeep. “Get in the back, so I don’t have to worry about you giving in to the temptation to hunt him down alone.”
Cam hesitated for a moment before climbing into the back, and Zane knew he wasn’t happy about it.
“See?” Claire said to everyone. “I can compromise.”
Zane laughed. “Aren’t you going to make him wear a seatbelt?”
“Behave,” Lexi warned.
Zane hugged her close. “You are so hot when you kill vampires.”
Lexi just wrinkled her nose. “I would say it just makes us stink like rotting flesh. Seriously, that smell is foul. They’re vampires, not zombies, so what’s with the funky smell?”
“They died,” Zane explained with a shrug. “Most can’t even smell the rotting scent with vampires turned using the new virus. The undead ones don’t have three days to decompose like they do with the original virus.”
“You must have a really good sense of smell,” Danny remarked.
“Not really,” she said. “I want to go look for them. I’m angry about them trying to hurt Claire, and I want to kill them all.”
Zane laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Lexi demanded.
“It would seem that you’re experiencing Cam’s emotions,” Zane explained. “Shifters hate the smell of undead turned vampire blood, no matter what virus they were infected with.”
“Are you telling me I’m also experiencing what Cam can smell?” she asked, staring at Cam in the back of the jeep.
“It would seem so,” he replied.
“Ugh! This is the most disgusting ability I’ve picked up so far,” she complained. “I need my meds back. This is just not okay.”
Lexi continued to grumble as she climbed into the jeep.
“I’ll call Connor on the way back to let him know what happened so he can get a team out here to search the woods.”
Cam shifted in the cargo area.
“I’m not letting you out, so you may as well settle down,” Claire warned him.
Zane figured Claire’s orders must be distracting his brother when Cam started purring.
“Ew!” Lexi said before turning back to Cam. “Bad kitty! Do not think about sex with Claire until I’m far away from you. I do not want to have those feelings about her.”
Zane couldn’t help but laugh at his poor mate’s distress.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Talon watched from the shadows as Eleanor made her plans to leave. He already knew where she was heading. She claimed that she and several of her guards were going to visit a vampire settlement up north. It was a good lie since communications in that area were so bad. The council had argued against it, insisting that the risk was too great and they should send lower-ranking council members, but Eleanor was not to be dissuaded.
Soon, he would be free of this place. His Fae spy had been watching Eleanor. Talon would have preferred to have him watching Alexa, but his spy had refused to get close to Kyleigh and her friends for fear of suffering Oriel’s wrath. The Fae were forbidden from getting near them, so he’d figured he may as well put his spy to use on the plot in Fangri La.
Talon never would have guessed how intertwined these plots were. His spy hadn’t told him the name of the whore who’d bore Arawn’s child. Now, Eleanor was heading off to see her half-Fae daughter.
“We should kill Eleanor while she’s away from Fangri La!” Carmen’s excited voice pulled him from his musings, and while he was tempted to tell her to fuck off, she actually had a good idea.
Killing Eleanor was no longer a priority, but he liked the idea of going after Ale
xa now, and this might give him that opportunity while Carmen got her wish.
“Just what I was thinking,” he lied. “We’ll need to make more of the new vampires along the way.”
“Why?” Carmen whined. “She’s going to a settlement with no real defenses. They don’t even have weapons there. We can take them with only a small group of guards.”
“She’s on her way to Connor’s territory,” he told her and watched as Carmen’s face flushed with rage before all the color drained from her cheeks.
“Do you think she suspects what we’re up to?” Carmen barely whispered. “We should talk to Richard. He’ll be back in a couple of days.”
Talon didn’t believe Eleanor suspected either of them were a real threat, but he decided that fear might help motivate Carmen to act.
“Yes, she’s on to us, and if she makes it back from Connor’s territory, she could destroy us. It’s time to build an army and kill her.” His eyes locked with Carmen’s. “We should leave immediately so we can get there first to set our trap. Our vampires in that area have already escalated the violence. Connor is probably convinced Abram and his followers are behind the recent attacks. That means it won’t be long before he attacks Treasure Island. From everything I’ve learned about Eleanor, she’ll insist on talking to Abram while she’s there. That’s when we need to act. This will give us the opportunity to put more pressure on Abram to join us, by threatening to tell the council that Abram and his followers were responsible for Eleanor’s death.”
Talon decided against telling her his real plan. In truth, he planned to use Eleanor’s death and the threat of action from the council to get Connor to hand Alexa over to him. It was a pity to let Eleanor die before he got a chance to seduce her in his real form, but it was unavoidable.
Carmen nodded and licked her lips nervously. “I’ll call Richard to see if he’ll send some of his guards with us.”
Talon nodded, effectively dismissing Carmen. He honestly couldn’t care less if she got the extra guards or not. If he had to guess, he’d say Richard would only send expendable guards who couldn’t be tied to him. After Carmen’s outburst at the meeting, Richard had done his best to distance himself from her. Even if Carmen survived this trip, Talon was pretty sure Richard would arrange her death before she could turn on him.
Walking over to the cage where Alistair was kept, he grinned down at him. “Soon, we’ll both be back to our own bodies. Sadly, you’ll likely be executed as soon as you get your body back, but I suppose it’s better than being snake food.”
Chapter Seventy-Three
Lexi was almost numb at the prospect of seeing her mother today. She was also seriously regretting her decision to meet her mom without Zane, but for some reason, she’d felt like she should do this alone. Now, of course, she also felt guilty for shutting Zane out.
The woman she was about to meet wasn’t the same woman she’d known all her life. This woman was a powerful leader among the vampires. The woman she was about to see had suffered unspeakable horrors at a vampire reservation. So far, everyone refused to talk to Lexi about the reservations, but she’d been given enough information to paint frightening pictures of abuse that would make her time in the mental institution seem like a spa day.
What she didn’t know was how her mother had ended up in the area that was once known as Las Vegas.
“Are you doing okay?” Raven asked for probably the tenth time since Lexi had arrived at Connor’s house.
While she wasn’t okay, Lexi didn’t say that. “I’m fine. Like I told you before, I’m just a little tired today. Maybe I’m coming down with something.”
“Have you ever been sick?” Raven asked suspiciously.
“No,” Lexi admitted. “Okay, I’m a little nervous, which is crazy since it’s been less than two weeks since I last saw my mom.”
“It’s been more than a hundred years since she saw you, and Eleanor is not the woman you knew,” Raven added.
“She used to go by Ellie,” Lexi mused more to herself than anyone else. “It suited her. Even though my mom was strong in many ways, she had this innocence about her. Sometimes, she made me feel old because I was never able to see the good in things like she could.”
Raven let out a sad sigh. “A lot can change in a century.”
“No shit,” Lexi agreed with a laugh.
They were meeting at Connor’s house, even though he usually met with council members in one of the conference rooms at the training center. Meeting here had been Raven’s idea. She seemed to think they needed a more intimate setting for their reunion.
The sound of the key in the front door had Lexi tensing.
The woman who walked into the house looked only vaguely like her mother. She appeared about twenty years younger than the last time Lexi had seen her. Her mom’s brown hair had grown longer, and it was pulled back from her face, revealing the vicious scar on her forehead. Her mother took a hesitant step toward her, lifted her arms, and then let them drop to her side, as if she weren’t sure if she should hug her or not. That strange reaction left Lexi unsure of how to approach her mother.
“Alexa.” Her mom’s simple greeting held such sadness that it nearly floored Lexi. In that moment, she saw the woman who’d tried hard to protect her growing up. Her voice held such longing that Lexi was drawn to it. That part of her that was now called to people’s needs, responded instantly to her mother’s plea, and on shaky legs, she walked toward her.
Lexi’s hug seemed to shock her mom, and the hug she received back was awkward, making Lexi wonder when her mom had last been touched. Sensing her mom’s discomfort, she pulled back. “I can’t believe you’re still alive, Mom.”
Her mom laughed nervously. “Imagine how I feel since I watched you die. I thought I’d forget your death if you were brought here before it happened, but it’s still in my memories.” Her fingers brushed her forehead. “The scar I got trying to save you is still here.”
“Kyleigh said something about time not being linear,” Lexi mumbled, not sure why this was so awkward.
“As much as I understand your need to reconnect with your daughter, I’m afraid that was just an excuse to get you up here,” Connor interrupted.
Her mom frowned at Connor, and Lexi suddenly saw the leader who others respected and feared. “This had better be good.”
“We’ve gotten word from some of the other settlements, particularly in the south, that there are members of the council in Fangri La trying to start an uprising,” Connor explained.
“And how exactly did you come by this information?” her mom demanded.
“Ian traveled down south on reports that his sister had been located,” Connor replied. “Naturally, he stayed at a couple of settlements during his travels, and they all reported similar stories. Then, we found out that Abram had also been contacted by the rogue council members.”
Her mom looked skeptical. “If this is true, then why has no one contacted me? Or, are you trying to tell me that they’ve aligned themselves with the traitors in the council?”
“From what we can tell, communications have been compromised,” Connor told her.
A thoughtful expression came over her mother’s face. “That actually explains a few things. So, tell me how you learned that they’d contacted Abram. I’m assuming you’re still not on friendly terms.”
“You assume correctly,” Connor said with a snort. “We’ve had some new attacks in this area, and everything pointed to Abram as the guilty party, but I had a hard time believing he’d be that careless, knowing we could destroy him. This may sound farfetched, but I think whoever is involved in the council problems somehow managed to get access to the new Moon virus. The attacks in this area can be traced back to turned vampires infected by the new virus. That’s one of the big reasons we questioned Abram.”
“Just because he denied it doesn’t mean he’s not guilty,” her mom reminded him.
“True,” Connor agreed before continuing, “but Abram told us
about the council trying to contact him to enlist his help in taking over this area. The information he gave us was enough to make me believe he’s telling the truth.”
“Which members are involved?” her mom asked.
“We’ve only been told about Carmen, Alistair, and Richard. From what we’ve heard, Alistair and Carmen started all of this,” Connor replied.
“That doesn’t make much sense,” her mom mused more to herself than anyone else. “It’s not that I’m entirely surprised Alistair or Carmen would consider starting a rebellion of some sort, but neither could pull off something this elaborate. I’ve had my own suspicions they were plotting something minor, but I expected it to be more of an annoyance than a genuine threat. Richard has been involved with them, but that’s a recent alliance that seems to have started after Leland’s murder.”
“Leland was murdered?” Connor asked.
Eleanor nodded. “Yes, we are having some very serious problems in Fangri La. I should also tell you that we have samples of the new virus in Fangri La.”
“That could certainly explain the attacks up here.” Connor sounded annoyed with this new information.
“Perhaps I should go out to Treasure Island to speak to Abram,” her mom mused. “I’m not convinced Abram isn’t involved in this plot somehow, despite what you’ve said.”
“I’ll go with you,” Lexi jumped in.
“Absolutely not!” her mom said. “Even though you’re a good fighter, you’re still new to this world, and things are rough here. Abram also has some vampires living there that are dangerous to be around.”
“I agree. It’s too dangerous,” Connor added.
“If you’re both done worrying about my safety, maybe you should listen to why I need to go with you.” Lexi stood and put her hands on her hips. “One of the things I’ve discovered is that I can sense people’s emotions, and sometimes even see into their memories. I may be able to tell you what Abram is up to—if he’s up to anything at all.”
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