by Amy Star
As one, both Parker and Thearon turned toward the hospital room. Sure enough, amid the tumult of their fight, the beeps had started a new rhythm and Lavinia’s beautiful eyes were fluttering open.
*
Octavius looked around the cramped room with irritation. True, he was in the penthouse of one of the oldest hotels in the French Quarter. It was appointed for royalty, but it was also noisy and disgusting. thanks to the twenty-four hour party that was Mardi Gras. They weren’t supposed to be here still. Octavius hadn’t come to New Orleans to throw cheap beads at women for a flash of their breasts, though some of the members of his team were choosing to look at that aspect of the situation as “the bright side.” Octavius thought it meant that there needed to be a larger culling of the species before they were through.
The point of this mission was to incapacitate the ruling structure of the LeKing Tribe. To prove that their belief in a polygamous marriage was not fate, but an immoral structure that pandered to their beastly natures. Right now, the bride should be dead and the fate of the LeKing Tribe collapsing in upon itself. The whore was the lynchpin of the entire royal unit—without her, their current structure failed to work.
They would be forced to accept that each of their leaders needed a single wife because gods knew no other woman would want to take the position on short notice. Their damn Queen needed to be trained for almost fifteen years of her life to deal with the emotional and societal ramifications of having two husbands. That alone proved how disgusting their marriage was.
Octavius looked around the sitting room of the penthouse, watching the other Weres catch up on their royal business. None of them were essential to their tribes, not even Octavius. They were a group of second and third sons. In the past century, they would have been relegated to church or tribal military positions. However, in the information age and an age of medical advancement, they weren’t needed as alternate leaders of their tribe, or for other figurehead positions.
It’s true what they say though, in every event there is a silver lining. Finally, in this day and age, the second and third sons were perfectly aligned to take down the cancers that plagued the Werebeast society. Those individual Werebeasts and Tribes were holding their elite species in the shadows of the world.
How humans, with all of their weakness and disgusting traits, were able to hold sway over the world was beyond Octavius. Werebeasts in general were healthier, stronger, and smarter than the humans as a whole, and for Werebeasts to live cowering behind the human society—to live on the fringes of the world—was simply not right.
It was true their first mission on New Year’s had been a failure. They had sent emissaries to do the work of royals and the common Weres had botched the entire thing. They wanted to kill the future king of a Werehorse tribe who was handicapped. The boy couldn’t walk without assistance, and furthering his blood in the royal arena was yet another cancer that would slowly eat at the strength of Werebeasts as a whole.
When the mission had become national news in both the human and Were community, it was already too late to turn back. Plans were already in place for their second strike, the LeKing Tribe’s polygamous royal union, and it was too late to turn back.
Octavius knew that the kings of their tribes were not happy with the result of the shooting. Some of the others on the team were hopeful that the bride would simply die in her coma, but Octavius could feel in his gut that she was going to live, and be harder to kill because of it. Now, they were behind schedule and stuck in this ghastly ornate hotel; the scent of beer, bourbon, and sex wafting up through the open windows. They needed a new plan of attack and they needed it fast.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lavinia pulled her sunglasses in place as the town car slowly came to a halt in front of the royal palace. She didn’t want the staff to see the bruises that were still fading from her fall, and she didn’t want to admit that she felt safer wearing them. Hiding in the dark had become Lavinia’s favorite thing to do, lately.
She looked up as the doors of the car unlocked with a muted click, the door itself swinging open to reveal Parker standing over her, surrounded by a halo of large Werebear security guards dressed in black. The Alpha looked like an avenging angel among the fallen. Still, Lavinia felt her hand tremble as she reached out for Parker.
Pulling Lavinia out of the car, he leaned down close to her ear, “It’s fine, my Queen. We’ve got you.” Parker tucked her now-frail body into his side and leaned down to keep a steady stream of distraction going for the short walk into the building. Each step felt like a mile to Lavinia and all she wanted to do was be inside the thick walls of her childhood home.
“Your room is all ready, my Queen, and I’ve asked that a warm bath be started as soon as your car arrived. They have the special soaking salts the doctor prescribed for relaxation and to help you sleep. After the bath, you’ll have a little bit to eat and then you should be ready for bed, according to the schedule the hospital had you on. The doctor said it would be best for you to stay as close to that as possible until your check-up at the end of the week.”
Parker paused to say hello to the footman who had just joined their crowd. Leaning back down, he continued, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the flowers are starting to spring up. Now that we’re almost to Easter, the city is finally clean and calm. It’s as if all the seeds decided that the party was over and that now it’s safe to come out for spring. I’ve had some beautiful new blooms placed around your suite. I think it will help to clear the air for you, to give you something beautiful after all of those days alone in the hospital room.”
Lavinia smiled up at Parker and patted his hand, she didn’t trust herself to talk until they passed through the doors of the Palace. To be honest, what was most beautiful to Lavinia was the circle of armed guards who surrounded them. If her wounds could have withstood the bullet protection of kevlar, Lavinia would have worn it.
After she woke up from the coma that had kept her under for three days, Lavinia had been unaware of what had happened. In the seconds between her eyes opening and Thearon and Parker entering her hospital room, she had wondered at the multitude of tubes and sensors attached to her skin. Never in her life had she felt so monitored, and for the moments of blissful ignorance before reality rushed back in, Lavinia felt gloriously constrained by the beeps of the machines, the urge to rip through all of the claustrophobic amenities was overwhelming. It was the last time Lavinia remembered feeling safe and secure.
As Parker and Lavinia walked into the foyer of the Palace, three of the security guards dropped off and left two trailing the Alpha and the Queen. Thearon walked into the circular space in a hurry, trailed by a guard of his own who was following the Omega at a speed that was just short of a run.
When Thearon’s muscular build suddenly stopped in front of Lavinia, the guard trailing him ran into his back. Thearon closed his eyes and clenched his hands as if he was counting to ten. When he opened them again, they were a blue that was crisp as steel. For the first time in their marriage, Lavinia wished that she had a little more of Thearon’s personality in her. A little hardness wouldn’t hurt when every part of you felt as fragile as an egg.
“My Queen, I can see you’ve already been paired with your guard,” Thearon said with a bow.
“Omega,” Lavinia responded thinking t that was the reason two of the guards had continued to follow Parker and her into the inner palace. Looking back up, she noted that Thearon’s eyes lost a bit of their edge as concern warmed their depths. Lavinia took a shaky breath, her voice had not been as strong as she’d wished.
“How are you feeling?”
Clearing her throat Lavinia tried again, “I’m moving a little slow, but moving more every day. Parker here has promised me a bath.”
Thearon recognized a dismissal when he heard one, “Well, I don’t want to keep you from your routine. I know that the salts are important to your recovery.” Thearon took half a step forward to continue on his warpath befor
e turning awkwardly back to Lavinia and reaching out to pat her on the shoulder.
Lavinia didn’t even flinch at his touch, so surprised was she that Thearon seemed to be as intimate with her needs as Parker. Thearon had never seemed so concerned about her. Not once in their marriage thus far had he approached her without something to gain. The change was almost shocking.
Parker gently nudged Lavinia and she felt her body jump again. Both she and Parker shared a small sigh at the reaction. Lavinia wondered how long it was going to be before she felt comfortable in her own skin again.
***
The bath had been heavenly. The hospital’s tub had been serviceable, but it was not the multi-jet soaker tub that existed in the royal suites. With the armed guard stationed outside the door and Callia sitting on the other side of the bathroom, Lavinia felt relaxed enough to let herself really enjoy the soak.
What felt like seconds later, Lavinia awoke to Callia’s insistent voice, “Vinny, Vinny you need to wake up now. You might want to wash off before you turn into a raisin.”
“Oh, yes.” Lavinia searched under the layer of salty bubbles for the loofa. “I’m sorry Callia, I hadn’t thought I was that tired.”
Callia fished out the pink ball of netting by its string and handed it to Lavinia, “Well, I’m glad you’re getting the rest that you need. Hopefully, you’re feeling a little more refreshed?”
Lavinia nodded as she reached for the soap.
“Great, they’ll be here with the food soon and Thearon is waiting outside to talk with you.”
Slowly soaping up a loofa, Lavinia wondered how much time she could waste in the safety of the bathroom. Moving the soap over her arms first, she felt the tug at her side where the bullet had lodged itself in her organs. She knew that logically, the stitches were already healing and the pulling was most likely in her mind. But she was almost physically adverse to thinking about or touching the wound in her side. If she ignored it, it was yet another way to pretend nothing had happened.
Suddenly ready to be out of the bath, she quickly washed the rest of her body, rinsed with fresh water and, with Callia’s help, stood up to towel off. Wrapped first in a pair of soft pajamas and finished with her tatty old robe, Lavinia was feeling a little bit more like herself. Moving out to her bedroom, Lavinia was struck with the twin smells of chicken noodle soup and the fresh scent of man.
Thearon looked huge in the sitting room surrounded by the delicate antiques and ornate place settings laid out for dinner. Lavinia noted as he turned his cool blue eyes on her that the table was set for two.
“I hope you don’t mind my Queen, dinner was my only free time today and I wanted to see with my own eyes that you are settled and recovering.”
As Lavinia approached her massive husband, she felt her heart quicken in anticipation of his touch. Her body always betrayed her when it came to Thearon.
“I’m so settled that I fell asleep in the bath. I’m pretty sure Callia saved me from a near-drowning, but I feel rested at the moment.”
“I’m glad, I was hoping to have a conversation with you tonight, but I didn’t want to push if you weren’t feeling up to it.”
Thearon pulled out Lavinia’s chair and then took her arm to slowly help lower her onto the cushion. “Thank you,” Lavinia said softly as she draped a pale pink napkin across her lap.
Thearon moved to the other side of the small table and flicked open his own scrap of pink laying it across his expensive gray suit. “I wondered if anyone hastalked to you about safety.”
Lavinia swallowed hard and shook her head briskly. No, people were talking to her of rest and recovery and flowers. No one was talking about the one thing she desperately wanted more information about—how they were to be protected now and in the future..
“Well, I can’t be anything but honest with you. Our reports show that the addition of a single guard assisting you and Parker out of the restaurant that night, as was the protocol, would likely not have made much of a difference.”
Lavinia shivered at the knowledge. “I would have thought a guard would have shielded us from attack.”
Thearon took a sip of his soup. “Perhaps, had the guard been in exactly the right place, he could have interfered with the shooter. However, judging by the angle of the shot and the type of bullet you were shot with, we’re dealing with a professional gunman. It’s more likely he would have dropped anyone who was in the way and targeted you anyway. The situation was actually most affected by Parker’s quick reaction to shove you to the ground. It’s what saved the shot from doing too much damage.”
Lavinia’s hand trailed up to the area around the stitches on her side. She wasn’t even aware of the action until she saw Thearon’s eyes flick to the movement. Dropping her hand, she asked another question. “So we’re screwed then?”
Thearon considered the flip question. “No, no more than we were before.”
Lavinia let her spoon drop to her bowl.
“My Queen, I am not leaving this table until you finish that soup. You’re far too thin and weak right now. If you eat, I will continue to talk.”
Thearon waited a long moment in a staring contest with Lavinia until she reluctantly picked up the spoon. Thearon nodded approval and continued. “Assassination is always something we’re worried about. It's something that, in this day and age, can be difficult to predict and protect us from. The attack showed me that it’s not just our procedures that need to change, but also the need to rigorously follow those already in place.”
Lavinia sipped her soup and listened intently.
“We’ll be posting more guards during outings and assigning each of us with a rotation of personal guards whose schedules change on a daily basis. This will make it more difficult to infiltrate our intelligence. Finally, I want to see that you have defense training.”
At this Lavinia’s eyes shot up to Thearon’s and she sputtered, “I need to be protected, not trained to protect.”
Thearon’s eyes softened and he reached out to her in a gesture that spoke of caring. “Lavinia, what you need is to be a weapon yourself. What I’ve learned from that night is that we have to be active participants in our own defense. That’s one less weakness we can give to our enemies.”
Lavinia was frustrated with the plan. She just didn’t see how she was brave enough to leave this room again, much less the palace, and Thearon sat there, expecting her to put up a fight on her own. The very thought of it left her exhausted again.
Dipping her spoon in the last bite of her soup Lavinia took the sip and stood. “I’m sorry Omega, but I believe all of this talk has tired me. I don’t think I’ve spoken so many words in a row in the last week. Thank you for all that you’ve shared with me. Security is all that I can think about at the moment.”
Thearon stood himself and kissed Lavinia’s hand. “Rest well, my Queen.”
Lavinia nodded her thanks and slowly walked back into the dark comfort of her room. The bliss of watching the guard check and secure the windows and door enough of a comfort to send her off to sleep.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Boom! Lavinia heard the gunshot louder and louder every time it recurred. This time the sound was enough to eject her out of sleep with a rush. Sputtering incoherent phrases about pain and need, Lavinia felt two large hands wrap gently around her from either side.
“Shh... It’s okay,” Parker murmured at the same time Thearon asked, “What’s the threat?”
Parker gave Thearon a dirty look over Lavinia’s naked form and Thearon seemed to shake himself from sleep.
“Oh,” the Omega muttered, “Sorry, I was deeply asleep. I can’t help it if I wake up ready for action.”
Lavinia felt the hard presence of his erection against her left butt cheek. The man didn’t lie. Scrubbing at her own face she apologized, “Sorry guys. It was just the dream again.”
Parker gave Lavinia an understanding smile and pulled the covers back up as Thearon got out of the bed. Lavinia snuggled deeper into
the warm recesses of the blankets and waited for the safe presence of Thearon to come back and block her from the open air. She loved being pressed between her two husbands, their bulk giving her the security she needed to fall asleep.
Lavinia watched as Thearon came back to the bed with two water bottles. He got back in, handing one to Parker. They seemed to have a conversation with their eyes, one that ended with a resigned nod from Parker. Lavinia was just letting her heavy eyelids fall again when Parker cleared his throat.
“Lavinia, Thearon and I wanted to talk with you about something.”
Lavinia’s eyes opened again and she glanced at Thearon’s side table for the time. The clock face displayed 3 a.m. “Uhm, is it something that could wait until morning? I didn’t mean to wake everyone up, but I’m still very tired.”
Thearon sighed, “Vin, you’re always tired. We’ve been wanting to have this conversation during the day for a week or so, but you always seem to be resting or napping. Frankly, you’re sleeping much more than both the doctor and we would like to see.”
Lavinia frowned, “I was shot, Thearon. It was a traumatic event for both my mind and my body. I just need time.”
Parker ran a comforting hand over Lavinia’s back as Thearon huffed a sigh of frustration. Parker jumped into the conversation before the Omega could continue, “We just think that you might feel better if you were more active. You were fully cleared for physical activity over a week ago by the doctor.”
Lavinia shifted further beneath the covers. “I think I still feel the wound pull a bit when I move.”
“The doctor said that was scar tissue, and with exercise and some physical therapy it would go away. You need to build your strength back up. I think you can’t make it through a day without multiple naps because your body isn’t strong enough. You need to join the world again, Lavinia. We miss you.”