She stepped on the table and yanked a table leg off of it, amazed at her own strength, or perhaps the flimsiness of the own table and cracked it on the floor, splintering it in two, creating a sharp edge. She had watched a few movies on vampires, if a wooden stake could kill him, she would kill him.
"What's your name, vampire?"
"Cain." he stopped at the steps leading up to his throne.
"Pledge your loyalty to me Cain, and I will leave this room without these men."
He looked down at the bloody mess that she had left one of the elders in and back up at the bloody fae who was running out of patience, he had never fought a fae, but if she killed off the only men who knew about him, there would be no one to feed him anyways. "What do I get for this loyalty, my little bloodthirsty girl?"
She was tired and breathing heavily, she pointed at the remaining seven men in the corner "payment upfront, and payment afterwards of human sacrifice, no longer wolves."
"and what does this loyalty reward you?" the vampire looked skeptical.
"This," she gestured to the room "becomes mine."
He looked around and back at the small army huddled in fear of him at the far corner and the short girl who was standing near his throne. "Tch, fae. Let’s take this deal as a day by day basis. I will accept your terms for now bu-"
"Forever!" she replied unable to comprehend that she was in the middle of a fight with a vampire
"Forever, forever." he sighed and bowed dramatically at her "I am but a humble servant."
She tossed the wooden stake on the ground with a clatter that echoed off the walls and walked passed the regal vampire "and if you're sick of the lodging down here, you're welcome to join us surface dwellers." she said as she walked past him "it stinks in here."
"Rude," he replied watching the fae walk out the door followed by a shocked and silent procession of werewolves and sages. It was quite possibly the strangest thing he had seen in two hundred years.
Chapter 18
Philippe yawned and flipped another page, absentmindedly stroking the head of sleeping blonde hair on his lap. George was sitting across from him writing a letter or doing some numbers and the fire crackled in the silent winter evening. Catherine was lightly dozing after a long day of helping out with repairs. It had been a little over a month after the elder council had been abolished and she claimed that Peter would rule over the wolves as king. She did not name herself anything power but instead elected to live a quiet life with her mate, drifting between helping resurrect things that she had broken, or tend to the forest. Fae after all were creatures meant to be unseen, however it was always easy to see where she was as the forest bloomed excitedly in her presence. She yawned and turned over in his lap so that she was on her side and Philippe adjusted himself to the new position and resumed gently playing with her hair. For such a fearsome creature after her changing she seemed to be docile afterwards, electing to spend afternoons when Peter was busy with him instead. The sages visited them every so often and sometimes she would head down to their compound instead of staying holed up in hers. The snow was thick on the ground and the days were growing shorter, the winter solstice was but days away.
"Philippe?" a small voice called from his lap and he took another sip of brandy before responding "Yes?"
"When is dinner?" she whined stretching on his lap before sitting up, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
He looked over at the clock, she had slept through dinner already, but "George, go fetch the food." for the forest fae anything could be hers.
George grumbled and got up to rouse the kitchens for a second dinner. Philippe who was wearing a red sweater and black pants handed her the brandy glass and she took a small sip, looking over the edge of the glass at him. Everything was truly back to normal. "Has Peter dropped by yet?" she asked looking out the window onto the snowy forest.
"No, you know he is putting the new skylight in today so we can use that room again." Philippe replied taking the glass from her and setting it back on the side table.
"That glass took a long time," she said laying back down on the other side of the couch, her head on the armrest.
"I don't believe it is easy to find someone able to make a pane of glass the size of a room, ma petit chiot." he chastised her and she huffed.
He continued to read his book in silence while Catherine stared out the window watching the snow pile up on the sill, waiting for dinner to arrive. It was a half an hour later, when she had almost fallen asleep again, that George returned with the meal cart. Setting plates out on the table for his alpha and the sleepy fae. She sat up eagerly and watched as George set the table for a third. "are you eating with us?" she asked and he shook his head.
"I saw head alpha peter on the way out of the kitchens, he'll be here shortly."
She began to eat some chicken and hummed "French food is still the best food"
Philippe laughed and began to pick at some vegetables "The cook is always happy to make meals for someone so important, even if it is at odd hours."
Catherine looked over at the clock, she had slept most of the evening and it was almost eleven. "Oh I didn't realize the hour," she replied, feeling bad for making him cook a meal so late, she felt a hand on her shoulder and a gentle kiss on her head
"Someone is up late, or perhaps only just woke?" Peter said sitting on the floor next to the table and grabbing a huge piece of meat. He was dressed in regal robes, as was usual now that he was head alpha.
"I was tired!" she protested, and the two men laughed
"You're always tired Catherine." Philippe shot back
"It's winter! I'm a creature of nature, I should be hibernating" she said between bites of bread
"Oh and it's more comfortable to hibernate with this dog than your alpha?" Peter asked pointing at the Frenchman who had a mouth full of chicken. The scholar looked offended and pointed his fork at Peter
"She is a lady of good taste to sleep with a purebred instead of some mutt!"
This was the usual now, she reminded herself, laughing as she kissed Peter on the head. She barely thought of the family she left, or the werewolf powers she could never have, as long as people like this could constantly surround her.
After dinner Peter took her hand and bid Philippe good evening, leading his mate through the dimly lit chilly hallways of the castle. "I have something to show you, my Catherine." he whispered as if someone, who she did not know, would hear them.
He opened up a new set of doors that she had never seen before and saw the round room where the elder council used to hold meetings, and she looked up to see a new pane of glass that looked like it wasn't there, the winter moon high in the sky and shining down through a light dusting of snow. "It's complete, everything is fixed. Your castle is pristine."
"Your castle is pristine, I just happen to live here." she shot back and the large wolf looked down at the small blonde who was shivering in her small shift dress. He gathered her into his arms and kissed her gently, his lips tracing hers before slipping into her warm mouth. She moaned in response, her alpha was always one for romantics. He growled and pulled her small body against his large warm one, enfolding her in his cloak to keep him warm.
"I waited for you, my mate, and I know why now" he whispered against her lips.
Catherine looked up into his dark eyes, "and why is that?" she asked, snaking her arms around his waist.
"You were fate." he kissed her again, this time with less of his gentleness and more need. She gasped against his lips as he picked her up to his height.
"How touching," a voice said from the other side of the room causing Peter to growl and break the kiss.
"Just because she said you have free range of the castle doesn't mean she meant to eavesdrop on everyone" Peter grumbled setting his mate down on the ground.
"Cain, have you seen the new glass?" Catherine asked pointing up at the skylight
"That's why I'm here, I heard the restorations were complete. It looks better th
an the last one." He walked over to the couple, his boots clicking on the marble and looked up. "A new era for this castle, ruled by some little girl instead of a nice fearful vampire, how times have changed."
"I don't rule anything," she said, playfully shoving the vampire who acted mockingly hurt at her actions "I just want to live here."
"Oh I see, the bloodlust and murder spree were all so you could give it up to me again?" he asked knowingly.
"You're not using it anyways," she waved him off and looked over at her irritated mate, upset that he had a third party in the room. "Let's steal some brandy from the kitchens then." she walked back towards the doors.
"That wolf is turning you into an alcoholic," the vampire warned following her out. "however I'd be glad to"
Peter followed the odd couple out, wondering when he would ever get his small little fae to himself with wolves and vampires and sages always pestering them.
The cook was gone and she lit the lamp to the kitchens, fumbling around for some crystal. She uncorked the bottle of brandy with some difficulty that the vampire laughed at before taking the half full bottle out of her hands to open it, handing it back to the fearsome fae. She poured three glasses and handed it out to the two men she was with, before grabbing her own.
She held up a glass "to a new era of strange friendships"
The vampire reluctantly held up his glass "and to little girls with too much power"
Peter looked between the two of them "and to many more years of this shit!"
The crystal clinked in the dim room and the three drank big sips of the fiery liquid.
Table of Contents
Prologue:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Destined for the Alpha Page 16