Cat's Choice: The Chosen's War

by Jana Leigh

  Orfeo could tell he was worried as he came toward them and stood in front of him. Abaven found his courage . “Sire, did you want something ?” He couldn’t help it. He looked over at Isabella with love in his eyes, then down at his feet.

  “Look at me, man,” Orfeo barked.

  The guard jumped, but lifted his head and looked Orfeo in the eyes.

  “Have you been taking liberties with Isabella? Have you disrespected her?” Orfeo frowned at him. He was beginning to find humor in the situation. Abaven was one of the biggest guards they had at almost eight feet tall, and Orfeo had seen him in training and in battle . The guard could tear Vampire s apart with his bare hands. But now he stood in front of Orfeo, shaking like a small boy who had his hand caught in the cookie jar. “Be honest , Abaven, or there will be consequences.”

  “We did not betray you, Sire . I have not fed from her .”

  “I know you are loyal, Abaven, and you know what I ‘m asking you . Well?”

  “Yes, Sire, I have been with her. It won’t happen again.” Abaven looked at Isabella with his heart in his eyes.

  Orfeo realized he needed to intervene. He was about to when Isabella found her voice.

  “What do you mean it won’t happen again? I like it when you take liberties with me.” She reached over and pinched Abaven on the arm.

  Abaven saw the smile on Orfeo’s face as he stood behind Isabella . Isabella turned to him with her hands on her hips. She was so beautiful in her anger. He couldn’t help it; he wanted to take liberties again. Saucy wench!

  He straightened to his full height, which was almost two feet taller than Orfeo, and frowned down at him. As Isabella stepped back, he gave Orfeo a quick wink. Orfeo caught on and put on a sobering expression.

  “Sire, I lied to you; it will happen again, perhaps very soon. Isabella is my true mate, and I love her, “ s aid Abaven.

  Orfeo tried to appear as if he were shocked and angered by this declaration, but found he couldn’t keep the smile from his face.

  He turned to Isabella. “And do you love him?”

  Isabella looked at her giant adoringly. “Oh yes, Master. I love him with all my heart.”

  Orfeo laughed out loud and slapped Abaven on the shoulder. “Well then, this is great news.”

  Orfeo turned to Isabella. “Isabella, if it is your wish to spend eternity with this overly large reprobate , then I grant you the permission to do that.”

  Isabella squealed and jumped into Abaven’s arms. “Abaven, you have my permission to make Isabella one of us and claim her as your mate. Once this is done, bring her to me so that I can become her Sire and welcome her into the clan.”

  Abaven’s arms seemed to start working finally, as he wrapped her in them, holding her close, “Thank you , Sire , permission to leave my post?”

  At Orfeo’s nod, the big giant kissed Isabella.

  Orfeo decided it was time to get dressed and left the two lovers embracing in the middle of the plane, Abaven holding her, her feet dangling over two feet from the floor. He couldn’t help but grin like a fool at the beautiful love story that just played out in front of him. For the first time since he had woken up, Orfeo was beginning to feel hopeful and excited about the future .

  ***

  The plane didn’t even jostle as at hit the pavement of the runaway. Orfeo’s pilot had flown in WWI against Austria and Germany, and had flown almost every type of aircraft; he could get his hands on since then. Although Vampire s were able to shift their shapes, Aquila still loved to be able to fly as a man.

  As Orfeo looked out the window of his plane to the runway below, he saw a large group of men gathered. Although he knew they weren’t only people but shifters, and from what he could tell, many of them seemed to be quite large in height and muscle. He wondered if they were all guards, and Orfeo’s visit had somehow gone from one of alliance to captivity.

  The door opened to the plane and two of Orfeo’s guards exited first, as was usually the case when guarding the Sire and his family. His parents had insisted on more than the six he brought with him, but he refused because he did n’t want to take a great deal of people with him on the first visit there. If things went well, the others would come shortly after, but not until he gave his word that the Alpha of the New Council did, in fact, want them there. Now he wondered whether he should have listened to his parents and brought more men.

  He shook his head at the idea. That would have meant bringing another plane, and he didn’t want to jump the gun.

  As he exited the door of the plane and started down the long flight toward the runway pavement, he realized he was mistaken by his earlier assessment. There, standing with two men in the middle of the large group of guards, stood two women. One was short in stature with blonde hair; she had plenty of curves that a man could love. The other was taller and slender, with black hair, and she looked to be possibly a biker chick, with lots of tattoos. She was equally as beautiful as the first girl, but Orfeo preferred his women curvier.

  He caught the eyes of the blonde one as he neared the group and smiled charmingly at her. Knowing he was able to charm most women, he wasn’t surprised when she slowly started to smile back, but then he heard a growl coming from one of the two men standing in front of him. He turned toward the man in question and saw his angry scowl and knew immediately that he had not made a great first impression by smiling at one who appeared to be the Alpha’s mate.

  “Buono sera, my friend s , I am Orfeo Am b rosetti,” h e reached out his hand, gesturing for the man to shake it.

  At first, the man just glared at him, but then he grasped Orfeo’s hand, gripping it as tightly as possible. He knew the Alpha was giving him a warning with his vise-like grip, but he couldn’t help the laugh he had to suppress.

  “I am Quin, Alpha of the New Council.” He looked pointedly at the blonde woman standing next to him, putting his arm around her possessively. “And this is my mate , Cami.”

  The other man, equally tall who stood next to the Alpha, came to stand on the other side of her and put his arm around her as well. “Our mate.”

  The woman looked confused for a moment, then angry, as she growled at her mates and pushed them off of her. “Stop being possessive beasts. Next thing I know you both are going to take turns pissing down my legs to mark your territory.”

  Orfeo chuckled to himself and decided right off that he would enjoy the little spitfire that was the Alpha Female. She looked at him and stepped toward him with her hand out for him to shake it.

  “I’m sorry about that,” she said smiling demurely at him. “I’m Cami, the Alpha Female of the Pack.”

  Orfeo couldn’t help but goad the other two men on a bit and turned her hand, lifting it to his lips, and pressing a kiss to her fingers. “It is my pleasure to meet a beautiful woman such as yourself. I am Orfeo Ambrosetti, Sire to the Clan Ambrosetti.”

  He smiled down at her charmingly again, and she almost sighed, but then her eyes grew wide as she looked at his mouth. He realized she must have seen his fangs and went to back up, knowing they frightened most people. But she gripped his hand and pulled him to her level, jarring the air out his lungs with the power of her force. For a small thing, she was strong.

  “Hey, I didn’t see any fangs,” she sounded like a child who had just lost a new toy. “Shouldn’t you have fangs? How do you drink blood without fangs?”

  By the glean in her eye, he wondered if she was going to force his mouth open to inspect. He didn’t fancy having his jaw broken just so the woman could see his fangs. So he quickly let them down and gave her a big smile, so she could see .

  The second man who claimed to be her mate pulled her away just at that moment, forcing her to let go of his hand. “Okay , sweetie, maybe we should just let him keep his hand for a bit longer and perhaps later he will let you see his fangs.”

  She smacked the man’s hand away. “Stop that, I’m not a child, Jaden .”

  Orfeo couldn’t help but grin. Oh boy, those men h
ad their work cut out for them. He looked at Quin, the Alpha, who was frowning after his mates, who were walking back to the car, arguing all the way.

  Quin turned to Orfeo and smiled a bit sheepishly. “Sorry about that. She gets excited when she meets new magical creatures.”

  Orfeo chuckled then waved his hand reassuringly. “That’s no problem. Your mate is a very charming woman. You should be proud.”

  Orfeo immediately saw jealousy flicker through Quin’s eyes. But then the man pasted on a polite smile and said, “We are very proud that she is our mate.”

  Orfeo heard the emphasis on ‘our’ and felt it was time to smooth things over with the one who he hoped would be his ally. “I am envious of you. I am in search of my mates as well. I am destined to be mated to both a man and woman, as you are. I can only hope that my mates are as exquisitely beautiful as you and your mates are .”

  Quin blushed and cleared his throat. “Yes, well, thank you.”

  The other woman who was standing with the group came to stand near the Alpha. “Quin, we should probably get back to the compound now and discuss business there.”

  Quin looked from Orfeo. “Huh? Oh , yes, we should go now.”

  Quin gestured for Orfeo to follow him to the line of limo’s waiting for them at the side of the runway. As they neared the one that was third in line, a large man opened the rear passenger door to let them in.

  Quin stopped and looked back at the entourage that had arrived with Orfeo, and gestured to them. “Your group will have to ride in the other cars. There is very little room in here for everyone.”

  Orfeo felt the large palm of Abaven touch his shoulder. He knew it was him because since the scene on the plane, Abaven had swor n to become Orfeo’s personal guardian and s tay at his stead no matter what. “Sire, I do not feel it is wise to travel alone with no guards.”

  Orfeo could feel that Abaven truly was just worried about his Sire and was not trying to tell him what to do. He patted Abaven’s hand an d gave a reassuring smile. “It i s fine , Abaven. I will come to no harm with them. Besides, don’t you have someone else needing your attention?”

  The black-haired woman, who stood off to the side while Quin entered the car, stepped toward Abaven. “My my, you are a big one. If you would like, you can ride in the front of the car , so that you would be closer and better able to react if you need to.”

  Abaven nodded his acceptance, so Orfeo climbed into the car. He heard Isabella’s small voice questioning Abaven for a moment and knew that she was probably afraid to be left to another car without him. Orfeo stuck his head out the door and gestured toward the woman in black, “Pardon me , madam, but these two here are about to become newly mated, and I fear that my guard grows anxious separate d from her for long . Would it be any bother if they rode together?” he asked.

  The woman smiled at him for the first time since he had exited the plane. It softened her features and made her look years younger. She could tell he was teasing his guard. She looked at the two lovers and waved her hand, “By all means; we means, we wouldn’t want him to be anxious, who knows what would happen then.” Orfeo gave her a wink as Abaven rolled his eyes, then tugged Isabella along beside him to the front car, a large SUV—like limo .

  Then the woman climbed in the car with Orfeo and the Alphas and sat across from him. Orfeo smiled at her and reached out his hand for her to shake it. When she grasped it, he pulled it to his lips like he had the Female Alpha’s and kissed it. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Orfeo Ambrosetti, and you are?”

  He knew that even the most bad-ass of women still succumbed to charm every now and then, and could see evidence of it when her cheeks reddened a bit, and she gave a small smile before her expressions turned serious again, and she pulled her hand away.

  “I am Cloe, the Pack Beta. And the Council Doctor.”

  Orfeo just smiled, more to himself than her. “Ah, well Cloe, I would like to thank you for being so gracious to my two servants. They are true mates, and I have just given them permission to consummate their mating.”

  “Do they always have to ask your permission for that?” Cami asked, seated between her two mates.

  Orfeo looked at her. “No, not all the time. But Abaven and Isabella were special circumstances.”

  “What kind of circumstances?” It was Cloe’s turn to ask.

  Orfeo could see that he had peaked the women’s curiosity and thought to himself that telling them about Abaven and Isabella’s story may be a good way to break the ice. He could feel from everyone that they were tense and unsure of what to make of him, and he figured if they saw that he was a kind and considerate leader, they may not be so standoffish towards him.

  “Well, you see; Isabella was one of my personal donor s , like a personal servant, and as such, was not allowed to give blood or consort with anyone.”

  “Why?” said Cami.

  “These people are held in high esteem and must be protected. They gi ft us with their life’s blood and others could weaken or contaminate them.”

  “What happens when someone breaks the rule?” Cloe asked.

  “Well, if one of the Vampires of the clan is caught consorting with the servant of an Elder or one of the Sire’s family, then they are usually banished and very rarely can be put to death. Punishment may be on both the servant and the Vampire , depending on circumstances .”

  Both women scoffed at the same time. “That’s horrible,” Cami said indignantly.

  Orfeo nodded. “Yes, well, that is the way it has been done within the clans for thousands of years. It is a n important safety precaution for the clan leaders . If a Vampire wished harm on the Sire, Elder Council, or the Sire’s family, all they would have to do is try to convince the servant to help them, or even poison the servant’s blood so when the intended target drank from the servant, they would die.”

  Jaden cleared his throat and patted Cami’s hand. “See , honey, it’s just a safety precaution.”

  Orfeo smiled as Cami batted her mate’s hand away. “Still, that ‘s still not fair. What if they weren’t trying to kill the Elder or Sire or whoever ? What if they were just truly in love?”

  “Yes, well, that is what Mama said too the first time the situation arose in our clan. She convinced my father to hear out the two guilty parties before giving his judgment on the matter.”

  “And what happened?” Quin asked, appearing to get into the story as well.

  “Well, the servant, a human woman, and the Vampire , the blacksmith of our clan, were indeed in love and the woman was pregnant with their child as well. This is how we came to know about it. You see; a human woman can ‘t carry our children without special care. Because when the child gets to the end of its gestation, it will begin to drink away the mother’s blood, killing her and the child.”

  Everyone listening gasped at th at revelation .

  “Please tell me the woman was okay,” Cami almost begged.

  “Oh yes, she was fine. They had explained to my father about how they loved each other and had been planning to run away in order to be together. My father became angry at the blacksmith for putting his mate in danger like that , and then made them stay within the manor house until the child was born. So we could help her through the pregnancy and birth.”

  “Oh thank the gods; you almost had me upset there for a minute, ” Cami replied.

  “So how does this apply to that guard and your servant?” Jaden asked.

  “Well, before we landed, I relieved Isabella of her donor status because I know I am to find my mates soon. When that happens, all urges to take blood from others leaves us.”