by Helen Scott
I wasn’t thrilled with the prospect that I might be the thing that pushed Nightstone’s strained peace into full out war.
“I will find out what happened,” Christian promised me, “And I will make sure you are safe.”
“I know you will,” I said. My head still ached, and I let myself relax into his arms. “That’s not what scares me.”
“Scares you?” He repeated, and I could tell from his tone he wanted to deal with anything that worried me.
“What are you going to do in the morning, Christian? When the doors unlock?” Despite the ache in my head, there was still a note of steel in my voice, and he looked slightly taken aback.
“Lake and I are going to walk through exactly what happened,” he told me. “And I’m going to find out if he had anything to do with this. I hope he didn’t.”
His voice was low and smooth, but there was a hint of darkness that made me shiver at the thought of what he might do to Lake
“You know Ambrose is going to….” I trailed off, but I could easily imagine the look on his face as he barreled through that door.
“React impetuously? Yes, I’m aware,” Christian said drily. “I understand his protective impulses, even though I hope he might keep that under control. I think perhaps someone is trying to push Ambrose and myself into… conflict. I don’t see any other reason someone would attack you in that way.”
“And you won’t be pushed?”
Christian gave me a faint, sad smile, and the rise of hope I’d just felt shriveled in my chest.
“I’ll try,” he said. “Go to sleep, Nas.”
But I couldn’t stop thinking about how to keep Nightstone from plunging into war, and the night passed fitfully. Worse, when I did sleep, I kept seeing Bane’s many bad endings.
When I jolted awake with a start from seeing Bane’s throat ripped out, Christian held me close and I clutched him tightly.
“What are you seeing, Nas?” he asked gently, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t take no for an answer anymore.
“Bane,” I whispered. “He’s going to die if we don’t….”
“I won’t let that happen,” Christian said. “Even though I could kill him myself for worrying you.”
I laid awake for a long time, and Christian started to tell me stories about the adventures he got up to as a young vampire, a hundred years ago. His quiet, sexy voice lulled me to sleep, finally, because I jolted awake when the cell doors clicked open.
“Lake,” Christian called, his voice thundering down the hallway. He kissed the top of my head as he rose.
A moment later, a big, imposing male vamp--who looked nervous despite his formidable bulk--appeared at the door. “Lake’s not in his cell, Christian. He escaped right before lockdown.”
Christian directed an icy look his way.
“I swear I was watching him,” the man said. “But I know he wouldn’t do something like that to Nas, the food must have been poisoned at the caf--”
“Find him, please,” Christian interrupted, his voice soft. To me, he said, “We’d better discuss this with your wolf before--”
There was a roar in the distance. Christian sighed.
“Before he gets himself bitten forcing his way into the vampire quarter,” he said hurriedly, and I took his hand as the two of us headed through the vamp section. “Well, news travels fast.”
When we reached the entrance to the vamp quarter, Ambrose’s gaze locked on mine. He was surrounded by angry hissing vampires, but he only had eyes for me. We could have been the only two people in the universe.
“Nas,” he said, his voice full of emotion.
Christian called his vampires off as Ambrose folded me into his arms. I pressed myself against his hard body, murmuring, ”I’m fine, I’m fine,” as if I could say it enough to convince him that everything was fine.
Ambrose cupped my face in his hands, studying me with bright eyes, before his mouth covered mine. I twined my arm around his throat, pulling him close to me, knowing he needed me.
And I needed him too.
The two of us shared a long kiss, and I felt him relax just slightly against my body.
When he straightened, he kept his arm around me as he turned to Christian.
“I’d like to know why the hell there’s a damn vamp in the shifter yard,” he said.
12
Nasima
A vampire was hanging out in shifter territory and was still alive? How?
"Is it Lake?" Christian asked quietly from behind me.
I felt more than saw Ambrose nod. Part of me was surprised, I hadn't expected him to know who Lake was, let alone whether or not he was the vampire in the yard. Then again, both alphas probably knew exactly who was who on both sides, it wasn't like Nightstone had a population that changed a whole lot.
"I need to speak with him," Christian said, his voice altogether too calm.
"I'll bring him out," Ambrose said. "The pack is still restless, better not to have the alpha for the vamps roaming around the yard just now."
Christian nodded and there was a strange mixture of relief and disappointment in his eyes. As we walked the vampire's look plagued my mind. The longer I thought about it, the more despondent I became. The only time he'd been outside since he came to Nightstone was when he was with Ambrose. When that thought kicked off a bunch of others, I realized that none of the other vamps had ever been given the option to go outside. What was that like? To live for years without grass and sunlight and the feel of the breeze?
The fact that Christian was the lucky one was both a relief and a worry. He'd had a taste of the outdoors again. I could tell he wanted more, and I was afraid what the cost would be. The shifters had made the yard their sole territory.
My mind twisted and turned as we made our way to the doors that led to the yard. I was not only turning over the idea that no one ever got to go outside other than the shifters, but the fact that Bane had been smuggling supes to Canada. Oh, and that someone tried to poison me. Then there were my visions about Bane dying and that weird glow from the concrete when it had absorbed the guy's blood. Ugh. It was too much.
"You coming, Nas?"
My head jerked up at the sound of my name and I saw Ambrose holding the door, staring at me expectantly.
"Uh, I'm still not feeling great so I think I'm going to stay here." It was a lie, and each of us knew that, but I didn't have the mental capacity to deal with the shifters in that moment.
I didn't miss the concerned look that Ambrose shot Christian. Those two really weren't as slick as they thought.
Once the door swung shut behind Ambrose, Christian turned to me and said, "Would you care to tell me why you just lied to us?"
I could swear I saw Ambrose's steps falter out of the corner of my eye, and it made me wonder just how good shifter senses were. Could he hear us through the glass door and across that distance? If so, it was impressive. It wasn't that I had anything to hide from him, but I didn't want him to think I was uncomfortable talking around him so I waited a few moments before responding, just in case.
"Because I'm exhausted. I've been on the run most of my life. But ever since I came to Nightstone, it's just been one thing after the other.” I rubbed my hands across my face and went on. “I knew prison would be hell, and yet even so, I thought it would be easier than this.”
“Just keep my head down, try and deal with my visions, nothing crazy, but it's been anything but that. Nana tried to kill me, for some reason you and Ambrose are both interested in me so I'm potentially uniting the vampires and shifters, Bane is here and being an asshole like only he can, and now some mystery person is trying to kill me." I slumped when I was done talking, tired just from the list that had left my mouth.
Before Christian could even respond I added, "I mean the two of you shouldn't even be attracted to me. Vamps and witches don't mix, neither do shifters and witches, so why? Why am I the one that is getting put in the middle of all this? Why am I supposed to bring together two
factions that hate each other?"
Christian watched me for a moment, eyes wide, as though he was waiting to see if I would say more. When I didn't he seemed to settle down and go deep into thought. We both just stood by the doors in silence, watching each other and occasionally glancing outside. To say it earned us weird looks from the other prisoners would be a massive understatement. A burly prisoner jeered at us, and Christian hissed back; Mr. Muscles immediately fled.
"We should talk to Ethel,” Christian suggested, his voice so polished it was hard to believe he’d just hissed to scare off a prisoner. He went on, “She might have some insight to offer."
"Who the hell is Ethel and why are you only just telling me about her?" I demanded.
Christian's gaze narrowed as he stared out of the door. When I turned to look I saw Ambrose walking with what I could only assume was an unconscious Lake tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and blood caked on his knuckles.
Fuck.
Whatever had happened they were both going to be pissed now. Ambrose had clearly had to hurt Lake to get him to leave the shifter yard, but why? What did Lake have against me or was he just the delivery mechanism for the person who really wanted to poison me? And if he was hiding out in the shifter yard did that mean that the person who really wanted to hurt me was a shifter?
The sad truth was it wouldn't surprise me.
None of them had liked that I was involved with Ambrose, except for Tisha. Then they liked me even less after Annisa's death. I wasn't the one that killed her, hell, I barely survived her, but that didn't seem to matter to any of them.
When the alpha wolf shoved through the doors he practically threw the kid at Christian, who, of course, caught him effortlessly.
"Did you have to knock him out?" Christian asked with a sigh.
"Bastard wouldn't come out so I had to go in and get him. I think he might be having an affair with one of mine." Ambrose's news dropped like a bomb into our little trio. A shifter and a vampire consorting? Plotting to kill me? Things were worse than I thought.
"What are you going to do with him?" I asked.
"Take him back to the vampire quarter, clean him up a bit so he doesn't... stink quite so strongly of shifter, then when he wakes up I'm going to find out what he knows." There was no hesitation in Christian's voice, and I didn't blame him. If someone tried to hurt one of these two I would be just as angry and determined. I knew the vampire alpha would do what he felt was necessary to find out the information he needed.
"And what about the shifter he was 'consorting' with?" I asked, unable to suppress the grin that tugged at the corners of my mouth.
Ambrose didn't smile back though, his face was grim. "I need to go find out what exactly has been going on behind my back. The fact that one of my shifters has become involved with a vamp without me being aware of it is disconcerting."
"Couldn't they just actually care about each other?" I asked.
"Sweetheart, in here most people make deals to survive, those deals generally don't involve feelings," Christian said.
"Plus, vamps love shifter blood. When they can find a willing donor? It's like Christmas and their birthday all rolled into one," Ambrose added.
"Oh, okay." I shouldn't have been naive enough to hope that I wasn't the only one to see past their differences and love both a shifter and a vampire for who they were not what they could do for me. "Go take care of business." I shooed them both away.
"We'll be leaving you unprotected," Ambrose said, sounding uneasy.
"I'll send a vamp I trust to hang out with her," Christian said.
"I'll send Tisha as well."
"Guys, I'm fine. I don't need a babysitter. I'll just hang out in my cell. No big deal," I argued.
"Someone tried to poison you. They--"
"They could be shifter or vampire. We don't know who to trust which is why we are sending both," Ambrose finished.
"Fine, but I'm going to see Bane tonight. Don't try and stop me," I replied, doing my best alpha impression.
"We'll talk about that later," Ambrose said before dropping a kiss on my forehead and turning away toward the door. He paused and turned back, "Try to stay out of trouble."
"I do!"
Christian snickered next to me. "Sure you do. Seriously though, you'll only be alone for a moment, just don't... interact with anyone or anything in the meantime, got it?"
"Yes, sir," I snarked, but the way his eyes darkened reminded me how much he liked that. He kissed me for a brief second before he was gone. I hadn't even managed to get my eyes open after the kiss before there was no sign of him.
Suddenly I was alone for the first time in a while. Although I would never admit it, I felt a little scared. After all, they were right. Multiple people had tried to kill me recently. All I had to do was make it to my cell and hang out there till dinner without getting in trouble. Easy, right? Right?
13
Nasima
Waiting for dinner felt like I was watching paint dry. I was starving after everything that happened and I was anxious about my plan for the evening with Bane. The combination made for a very unhappy Nas.
When the bell rang to let everyone know the cafeteria was opening I hopped up and started to leave my cell, only to be blocked by Tisha. "Where are you going, girl?"
"To get food."
"Where do you think Sasha went?" Tisha raised an eyebrow at me as she crossed her arms over her chest.
I looked around and hadn't even realized that Sasha had moved. When she arrived she'd said all of five words to me. "I'm watching you. No trouble."
Apparently, she and Tisha had already made dinner plans for me, which I didn't particularly appreciate. It wasn't like I could really complain though. The two women were there to keep me safe. It wasn't like we were friends either. They were there out of respect for their alphas, though I was closer to being friends with Tisha than anyone else in Nightstone. I sighed, the last thing I wanted was to make this harder on them or on the guys.
Before I had even responded to Tisha, Sasha was back in a gust of wind that I'd learned to expect when it came to vampires. She held three trays of food.
"No one would know which was for you and which was for her, so food should be safe." She nodded as though to emphasize her point, or maybe to show that she was proud of herself for thinking of a way to fool my potential poisoner.
"Thank you," I said quietly as I took one of the trays on her arm.
Sasha had grabbed herself a bag of blood, and we spread out around my cell. The three of us dug into our food.
It was the first time I'd seen a vampire eat from a bag like that, and I'd expected it to be weird, but it was just like she was drinking a smoothie, a very red smoothie. It wasn't like she turned into some weird, feral monster hunched over the bag of blood in the corner whispering "My preciousss." She just sipped on it like any other person.
“So how are you guys doing?” I asked, feeling awkward, eating in silence.
“About as good as I can be, considering,” Tisha replied.
“Fine,” Sasha said between slurps of blood.
“Do you think Lake is responsible?” There, it was out in the open.
“Unlikely. The boy is a cinnamon roll. I bet he only ever took voluntary feedings before he came to Nightstone,” Sasha said, sounding disappointed in Lake’s behavior.
“Well, some vamp did it based on the neck wounds,” Tisha mumbled.
“Maybe that’s just what they wanted you to think.” Sasha voiced my own thoughts and I was grateful that someone else saw things the way I did, even if it was only for a brief moment.
“It doesn’t matter what I think, but the pack overall isn’t exactly Ambrose’s biggest fan right now. He’s supposed to be getting vengeance for Jonah’s death and instead he’s working with Christian and the vampires.”
“Isn’t keeping the peace important?” I asked between mouthfuls of what I thought was supposed to be mashed potato.
“Sur
e, but so is not being walked all over by another faction,” Tisha replied.
“I want you guys to get your vengeance,” I said, surprising myself. “I just want to make sure that the vengeance is dealt to the right person. I don’t understand why that’s so bad.”
“Because shifters think with their instincts and they’re in pain from their grief so they want to lash out. They want justice now, not later, it doesn’t matter if it’s the right or wrong person,” Sasha said.
Her response earned a glare from Tisha, who opened her mouth to reply but before anything came out she closed it again and sighed. “I don’t want a faction war. I do want vengeance but you’re right it should be taken against whoever actually murdered Jonah, not just a random vampire.”
After Tisha’s epiphany we all grew quiet, lost in our own thoughts. Mine revolved around who would actually want to kill Jonah, and how to figure it out.
Dinner passed. Soon I could feel the evening coming on, as the lighting of the prison changed, and my heart sped in anticipation. I needed these women to let me go, and I was worried that without direct orders from Christian or Ambrose, they wouldn’t.
I cleared my throat and both women looked at me with panic flaring in their eyes, as though they expected me to suddenly be reacting to poison. I wasn't sure what the alphas had said to them but the two of them were watching me like hawks. "So I need to spend the night somewhere else, and I need the two of you not to stop me from going there, okay?"
"No," Sasha said immediately. "Christian said to protect you in your cell. If you leave, I can't protect you."
"I agree with Fangy. You need to stay put."
Oh, look at that, vamps and shifters were uniting, just to be a pain in my ass. "Sorry, but that's not going to happen. If you don't let me go, then I'll... tell the alphas that you wouldn't let me eat or even get off my bed all day."