by M. L. Briers
“What the hell is going on?”Jill demanded. This wasn’t the Lycan way. This wasn’t how the pack treated its mates. Especially not the mate of an alpha, the elder should be rejoicing that he had found his mate, not looking at her as if she were on the breakfast menu.
“That woman is under a death sentence from this pack…”Rafferty growled out at the exact same moment that Brad walked through the kitchen door. His eyes took in the situation and his body responded to the tension in the room. He’d heard only a small part of the conversation as he walked towards the gathering, but what he had heard had shocked the hell out of him. But the way his alpha was standing there glaring down at his own mate shocked him more, and for a long moment he wasn’t entirely sure that Dale wasn’t going to reach out and take the kill.
“Dale, we need to get her out of here.” He’d spent the better part of the last fifteen minutes trying to persuade their friendly neighbourhood vampire to share what he knew over the phone. Instead he’d got a wealth of cryptic answers from him, and an invitation to visit. Now he knew why. “Jerome wants to meet with us, now seems like a good time to do that.” Brad couldn’t help but eye the woman who was the centre of everyone’s attention, and with good cause.
“Do you have a death wish?”Dale growled down at her from between clenched teeth, but Petra held her ground. Staring back up at him with fresh resolve, she knew two things, the Lycans didn’t like Corbin witches, whoever they were, and she had been mistaken for one, and that seemed bad right about now. Apart from that she was pretty much going to have to wing it unless someone spilled their guts about what the hell they thought they knew about her.
“Look, I have no idea what the hell you people are about. I just hope your kind of crazy isn’t catching…”Petra wasn’t about to cower in a corner right now. They all seemed to have bounced down the branches of the nutty tree, some more than others, but she wasn’t about to take that ride along with them. If she stood accused of something she damn well wanted to know what it was. This might not have been the middle ages and the witch hunts, but it sure felt like it right about then.
Dale took one long step towards her. The way his top lip quivered and the small snarl that tore from his lips was enough to tell her that this wasn’t the time for sarcasm, this was very real. It was only Brad stepping in between them that had her attention drawn from her mate.
“You really don’t want to chew on your mate until we get this sorted man.”Brad cautioned, his words managed to get the alpha’s attention and the wolf within him pulled back slightly, but only slightly.
“Bring the truck around and make sure none of the pack are out there before I bring her out.”Dale growled at his beta. His eyes were fully on his beta now, as if he’d dismissed her very presence and it was only Jill’s hand tightening on her body that stopped her from doing or saying anything more.
“You’ll not kill her in the meantime, because that would be bad.” Brad tried to lighten the moment, but the message in his words was clear. He wanted his alpha to think long and hard and not reacted on gut instinct right now. If he killed his mate he would be damned himself, and Brad didn’t want to see that happen.
“Not yet.”Dale turned from his mate. He couldn’t look at her, not now he knew who she was. And yet there was a big part of him that longed for her, wanted to take her into his arms, his bed, wanted to mate her, but how the hell could that ever happen? If this was fate’s idea of a joke, he certainly wasn’t laughing.
Petra wouldn’t be dismissed so easily. This was insanity on an epic scale, and it seemed that they were all in on it. She went to take a step forward but Jill’s hand tightened again as her friend held her in place. She felt Jill move in against her back and felt her breath against her ear.
“Be still and smart. Let this play out and find the answers you need. Don’t be me. Don’t rush to doing anything, because these guys aren’t playing.”Jill knew everyone in the room would be able to hear her, no matter how low her whisper was, but she needed to warn her friend and she didn’t care who heard her.
Petra didn’t move, she just nodded her agreement and understanding. She could see from the men’s reactions to her that they weren’t playing. She could feel the tension in the room. What she didn’t know was why.
It was a large mansion house. The type that screamed of old money and older attitudes to life, and as Petra eyed it on the way to the front door, she found a small niggle of déjà vu that she couldn’t dismiss, but she didn’t understand it. Nothing made sense to her right now, and that wasn’t ok, she liked to be in control of a situation, but since she’d met her damn mate that hadn’t been the case. Now even the house they were heading towards made her feel uncomfortable with its familiarity, and yet intrigued to know more. Perhaps these walls would hold the answers to her questions, she could only hope.
The way that the alpha hammered on the front door was akin to a battering ram on the drawbridge of a fort, and it didn’t ease her tension any to watch him take out his anger on the damn wood. Still, while he was battering helpless inanimate objects he wasn’t scowling, growling or glaring at her, which she found an added bonus. But he didn’t let up until the door started to swing open with an ominous squeak from the ancient hinges.
The sight of the vampire wasn’t unexpected in itself. She hadn’t been told who they were travelling to see, but she got the general idea that it wasn’t going to be her fairy grandmother. Hell, she didn’t even know who her grandmother was, but it was odds on the woman had been a witch, and from the way the vampire’s face looked on her with recognition, it was a sure bet that he’d know her.
“I can never get over how much you look like your mother.”Jerome’s melodic tones swept over the group and brought her a small amount of soothing comfort. The same couldn’t be said for the alpha as he growled long and hard at the vampire, a warning perhaps? But the vampire took a long step back and motioned for the group to enter, and Petra found herself more comforted by the vampire’s presence than her mates.
“You knew she’d returned?”The accusing tone of the alpha’s voice wasn’t lost on any of them as they stepped into the house and Jerome swung the door closed. The sound of wood on wood echoed through the large hallway and through Petra’s body as she turned to see the alpha step up to the vampire, a challenge of sorts…
“Step back, alpha. Let me offer an explanation, and then if you still want to try to rip me limb from limb we can take this outside. I do so hate to get blood on the rugs.”Jerome didn’t put too much sarcasm into his voice. He could see that the alpha was holding onto his beast by a very thin thread and he didn’t want to start a war here today. But it was about time that Petra knew the truth, even though Jerome had vowed never to tell it to her unless she somehow reappeared, which he didn’t think was likely, but this was magic they were dealing with, and he shouldn’t really have expected anything less.
Dale didn’t answer the man with words, just a grunt of annoyance. He’d know Jerome all of his life, a short life compared to that of the vampire, and he felt he owed him a chance to explain before he took the next step. Not that he had any idea what that step was going to look like, not under the circumstances.
Jill could have been mistaken for a Siamese twin the way she stuck to Petra’s side. Common sense might have caught the bus out of town on numerous occasions where Jill was concerned, but she did have the loyalist streak that ran through her body that Petra had ever known, and she was more than grateful for that now. Her presence was more than comforting as they followed the vampire and the Lycans through the house and into the large living room that screamed even older money with its décor. Antiques and musty old books, and with the light from outside blocked by heavy drapes, it was if they’d been transported back in time, just with a few electrical mod cons scattered around.
“Take a seat. You’re going to want to be seated for this, Petra.”Jerome offered and Petra felt the urge to cross her arms, straighten her backbone and demand answers, bu
t she just didn’t have it in her to do that. Instead she went with his suggestion and dropped down into the feather filled cushions of the large sofa, happy to have Jill sitting right next to her.
“I say again, you knew she was back?”Dale was almost itching for two things. The first was answers and the second was to plant his fist into the vampire’s damn face. The latter he would try to hold onto as long as possible, but the answers were a burning topic that he wanted cleared up, and fast.
“I was informed…”Jerome admitted.
“By whom?”Dale countered quickly.
“By me.”The figure appeared above them on the balcony that ran the length of one wall, a moment before he swung his legs over the railings and dropped to his feet a short distance from Jerome. Both Lycans recognised him immediately as the vampire in the alleyway last night, and both men took his presence as a danger to their mates. Moving quickly Dale and Brad took up protective positions in front of their mates, before Jerome could wave them off.
“Relax, he’s with me.”Jerome offered with a theatrical wave of his hand, but neither man made an effort to move away from their mates.
“Define, with.” Dale demanded on a growl of a warning aimed at the second vampire.
“Actually, it would be more accurate to say that he’s with her.”Jerome pointed a finger towards where he knew Petra to be sitting, even if the bulk of Dale’s torso was blocking out the sight of her. And when the alpha turned his upper body to stare down at Petra, all she could do was shrug her shoulders. It was the first she’d heard of it.
“Tell me more.”Dale demanded as he turned back towards Jerome. This was becoming more complicated by the minute with more questions being thrown up than answers given, and he wasn’t satisfied with anything that had happened yet. Apart for the fact that he’d found the other vampire and it seemed the man wasn’t a threat, yet.
“He’s like a guardian angel, only not so much the angel.”Jerome offered and Dale took a step towards him on a low growl of annoyance.
“Save the cryptic answers for another time and get down to what the hell is going on.”Dale warned and Brad took a long step towards his alpha. He felt the beast within the man baying to be released and knew that if that happened they would be fighting two on two with the vampires, probably not something they would walk away from, but he had his alpha’s back.
“Yes, she’s a Corbin witch. No, she has no idea about any of that, and yes my cousin Wesley is her protector.”Jerome thought he laid it all out rather nicely in words that the alpha could understand, but when the big guy twisted his head on his neck and stared back at him, questioning his sanity by the look in his eye, he knew he needed to backtrack.
“Jerome…”Dale growled out another warning and the vampire held his hands out in front of him in what looked like surrender, but Dale knew better, the vampire would never have been so placid. It was a sign for him to hold off with whatever urge to rip the vampire apart he felt rush through his veins. There was a smirk on the dead guy’s lips and an amusement in his eyes that left Dale wanting to act impulsively where he was concerned.
“You said get to it, so I did. Bet you’d like a little filler with the facts right about now.”Jerome looked smug, too smug, and he knew it when the alpha took another long step towards him. “Fine. Back off and I’ll tell you what the hell is going on.”Jerome added quickly. On a one to one basis, taking on the alpha in whatever form he chose shouldn’t pose that much of a problem for him, but he considered Dale a friend, and you didn’t rip off the heads of your friends, even under extreme provocation, at least not in his book.
“Make it fast facts.”Dale warned again. The flash to anger in his eyes made Jerome want to chuckle, but he held onto it.
“Fine. The idiots guide to the Corbin witches.”Jerome offered. His sarcasm was something that he couldn’t bit down on. It was harder than resisting a vein offered to him so freely, and a free meal was never something to sniff at.
“Christ, Jerome.”Dale bit out as he whirled away from the man before he did something he would regret. He’d hate to put a blood stain on the antique rug, and he’d hate to put his fist through Jerome’s face, but damn it the man was playing on his last nerve.
“Eighteen years ago Petra’s mother made me promise to take care of her should anything happen…”Jerome saw Petra fly to her feet…
“Wait you knew my mother?”Petra felt the room spin about her. She wasn’t sure if it was due to the fact that she’d got up to fast, or the fact that every bit of blood felt as if it had drained out of her body, and she dropped back down into the cushioning again as her legs quivered beneath her. Better that than end up face down on the ugly old rug.
“Ah, yes, sweetheart. I did. We were… intimate.”Jerome was never one to mince words, but he was also from the old school, and he didn’t much believe in sullying a woman’s reputation, but it couldn’t be helped now. Clarissa’s daughter needed to know where she came from, and it had been a long time coming. He felt the rush to guilt that tore through him. He’d been the one to take her memories away, and now he was the one who would need to explain why.
“Vampire step daddy, perhaps ignorance is bliss.”Jill muttered, and the only person that didn’t hear her was Petra. With the rushing of her own blood in her ears as it coursed through her veins, pumped faster and harder by the erratic beating of her own heart, she was pretty much oblivious to most things right now. The cool look she received from the vampire made Jill want to bite down on her own tongue.
“Who was she?”Petra couldn’t get that thought out of her mind fast enough. Finally coming face to face with someone from her past was like hitting a brick wall at eighty miles an hour, and yet she desperately wanted to know. It had been a closed door to her for all of these years, even with her own gifts she somehow couldn’t see her past, her ancestors, now the door was creaking open a crack she wanted to throw it back and embrace the truth, only from what she knew so far, that truth might be her downfall.
“What do you mean who was she?”Dale turned to look at his mate. His eyes narrowed on the erratic pulse in her neck and the sound of her breathing as she fought to control her racing heart. He wanted to go to her and sooth her with his words and actions, and yet she was a Corbin witch…
“Perhaps if you both wait a moment, I can explain.”Jerome offered.
“Would you hurry up before her heart bursts from her damn chest?”Jill snapped up at him, and for a long moment he glared back at her, but then he tipped his head in acknowledgement.
“The Corbin witches were a dynasty around these parts…”Jerome offered to Petra and he saw her eyes soften as she drank up his words.
“I’m a Corbin?”
“No. Your mother was part of the Corbin circle; she was a Blackwell witch, one of two sisters that were part of the Corbin coven.”
“I have an aunt?”Petra felt the rise to excitement within her, but from the look in the vampire’s eye, it was false hope that she was harbouring.
“Had. Your aunt died alongside your mother when the coven was killed…”Jerome’s eyes flicked towards the alpha, accusingly, and yet he couldn’t really blame the alpha for his packs actions when the man had been but a pup himself. But that didn’t stop Petra from noticing the moment and rushing to judgement.
“You killed my family?”She demanded of her mate. Her eyes were wide with the shock that hit her heart like a mortar going off inside her chest. Her magic rushed up within her and she felt the overwhelming urge to dispel it towards him.
CHAPTER SIX
In a heartbeat both vampires were in front of her. Jerome was facing her while Wesley faced the Lycans, protecting the witch from attack should she release her power on them. Dale and Brad both reacted immediately, unsure of why the vampires had moved around their mates, both men allowed their fangs to descend as they flicked out their claws. The sound of deep warning growls tore through the room.
“Relax, alpha, it’s as much for your protection as it is fo
r theirs.”Jerome cautioned quickly, reaching for Petra he brought her to her feet, his eyes locking with and holding her gaze as he tried to sooth her. “Push your magic back, Petra. Hear the rest of the story before you judge anyone.” The growls of the alpha were more than annoying to Jerome as he tried to sooth his charge, but as soon as Petra was more settled he sat her back down and slowly moved away.
Dale was still sizing up the situation, how best to attack the vampire’s as they surrounded their mates without hurting the females, by the time he had it was all over and the vampires were slowly easing away from them. He wasn’t used to feeling this protective of anyone but his pack, but then the mates were his pack now. And that was the problem. His mate was the enemy to his pack and that was something he couldn’t quite get his head around just yet.
“Dale wasn’t alpha then, Petra. In fact he was a pup himself, much like you were. You were five years old when your mother died, and knowing she might not live through what she had to do, she made me promise to protect you, which I did. Which I’ll keep on doing for the rest of your life.”Jerome assured her. The rush to guilt within him for his own failings that night. He should never have let her go to her fate alone, but he’d been charged with protecting Petra and he’d done that as best he could.
Petra wanted to slam her head against the wall until it cleared. This was insanity. It was like putting a damn puzzle together without a picture on any of the pieces. Impossible.
“I don’t understand.”Petra felt the frustration well up within her, dispelled in an instant when the vampire knelt on one knee before her and took her hand in his, soothing her back from the edge. His actions caused Dale to growl out another warning from behind him, but the vampire wasn’t about to heed it the way the alpha hoped.