Absolution of Fate (Fate Series Book 3)

by S. Simone Chavous

  Jared, who was usually pretty cocky and confident, felt the color rush from his face when he understood Elijah’s meaning.

  Elijah burst into a fit of laughter. “Lighten up, Jared! I’m not so old fashioned,” he said, struggling to be serious again. Regaining his composure, he continued. “Jared, you’ve managed to do something no man has accomplished in centuries. My daughter has let you into her heart. That is no small feat. If she thinks you’re good enough, I won’t argue it and, as it stands, with what I’ve known of you in this short time, I couldn’t wish for a better mate for my little girl. But I have to warn you, she’s never been overly receptive to traditional ideas of family and marriage. What will you do if she says no?” Elijah asked.

  “Sir, when I first fell for Cami she fought it and I told her that I would wait for her for as long as it took. If she refuses my proposal, I’ll ask her every day for the rest of our lives. She’s the one. It doesn’t matter how long it takes her to realize it; I already know.”

  Every hint of joking faded from Elijah’s face and he yanked Jared into his arms. “She’s lucky to have you and I would be proud to call you my son, Jared,” he said, squeezing him hard before releasing him and speeding to the table where sat an excellent bottle of scotch. He poured two fingers in a tulip-shaped glass then inclined the bottle to Jared in a silent question. Jared nodded and Elijah splashed the brown liquid into the second glass before picking them both up and passing one to Jared.

  “A toast; to strong women! My family is full of them and I wish the same joy for your family,” he said to Jared with a wink as they clinked their glasses together. “To strong women,” Jared repeated, and downed his drink in one gulp.

  “Now comes the hard part,” Elijah said, clamping Jared’s soldier. “You have to ask her.”

  ✧

  “I’ve continued to watch for her since the day she was born, but with the blocking charm or without, Chloe’s future has always eluded me,” Josephine replied to Ethan and Alexa’s questioning, “but there was one vision; it wasn’t specifically focused on Chloe, even so, I saw her there, I’m sure of it. And Lucias was there as well. It won’t be of much help and I’ve already shared it with the Commander, but I saw two armies gathered, Lucias’s and The Elite, not far from the compound.”

  “Gracias, Mamá. Thank you,” Elijah said, giving her a quick hug. “Just let us know if you see anything more.”

  “Of course, mi corazón,” Josephine replied as Elijah and Jared reentered the room.

  “What have you two been up to?” Cami asked, sidling up to Jared.

  “Just a little male bonding,” Elijah responded with wink.

  Before Cami could press either of them further, the buzzer at the door sounded. Being closest, Jared hit the button to respond. “Yes?”

  “It’s Commander Claesson. I need to speak with Alexa.”

  Alexa looked at Ethan, andthen flashed to the door. “Yes, Commander?” she queried when it opened.

  “We need you back in the lab.”

  “Already? Can’t it wait? We want to spend some time with our families.” Ethan questioned, his tone bordering on annoyance. Alexa had spent hours there the day before while he had to watch pint after pint of her blood being siphoned from her arm.

  “I’m afraid it can’t. Reports are coming in from the city and it’s not good,” he said, giving William a pointed look. “Lucias is making a move; I can’t say for certain what he’s up to, but we need to be prepared for the worst. That means we need as much antiserum as you can stand to make.”

  “Ethan, we have to do what we can to help, for Chloe,” Alexa whispered to him. He couldn’t argue, so he simply sighed and nodded to the Commander.

  Within a few seconds, the couple found themselves back in the room where they were first reunited. Alexa glanced quickly at the cell where Dante remained with Layla. He was sitting with his back to her, partially dressed in what was left of his tattered clothes, and he was covered in fresh blood. Alexa looked to the Commander. “What’s going on; why are they still in there?” she asked.

  “Layla is still infected,” the Commander replied, “we have to maintain an abundant source of the virus; for now, she’s it.”

  “You can’t do that to them!” she yelled, looking to Dante who was pacing at the front of the cell, obviously pissed.

  “Calm down, Alexa. Right now we don’t have a choice. The virus cycles through your system too quickly and we don’t have the time to figure out how to replicate the process, nor are we even certain we can replicate it,” Dr. Jones interjected.

  “I’m guessing Dante didn’t take that news very well,” Alexa said, looking at her friend with compassion and concern, only to see him staring at Ethan with murderous intent; realizing he might be angry about more than Layla’s continued infection. “Is it safe for him to be in there with her?” she asked, earning a hard glare from Ethan. Clearly, the feeling between the two men was mutual.

  “Easy, tiger. He’s a friend, remember? I just don’t want him to get hurt,” she added, stroking Ethan’s well-muscled chest, which seemed to calm him down just a little. He’d managed to hide his jealously in front of their families, but with Dante in the same room, basically provoking him, there wasn’t a chance in hell that he could hold it back.

  “Safe or not, he wouldn’t come out even if we could find a way to get him out without risking Layla escaping, but something good has come of that” Claesson replied. “As you can see, Layla has fed from Dante since he was cured, yet he shows no signs of infection; proof that the effects of the antiserum are permanent. That’s excellent news for us. Once we cure one of Lucias’s men, he can’t reinfect them and we’ll be able to vaccinate our civilian population, rendering what has been Lucias’s greatest weapon all but completely useless.”

  She looked up at Ethan. He shrugged his shoulders. It wasn’t really a choice, but something else weighed heavily on his mind.

  ‘I’m not so sure the virus is his greatest weapon anymore,” Ethan added. “He has Chloe now; we don’t know what she’s capable of, or how he might use her in his fight for power.”

  “Of course, I’ll do whatever I can to help, but Ethan is right; what about Chloe? Are we any closer to finding where he’s keeping her?”

  “We’re working on it. Ethan’s information really helped, but this antiserum will give us the advantage we need to move on that intel a lot sooner than we’d originally anticipated.”

  “I still think if you let me go out with the next team, I will be able to help more. Seeing the areas might trigger some other memories of the location where he held us.”

  “I appreciate that, Ethan; we might take you up on that at some point, just not yet.”

  “And what about my other request?” Ethan pressed.

  “You know I’m all for it, but it’s not just my call. I’ll keep working on it, but I can’t make any promises,” Claesson replied, inching towards the door; eager to move on to other business now that he had delivered Alexa to Dr. Jones.

  “What other request?” Alexa asked, looking to Ethan, then the Commander. She hadn’t heard Ethan ask for anything and she’d been by his side practically every moment. Claesson took that as his cue to disappear.

  Ethan figured it was as good a time as any to tell her. “When the time comes, I want to fight, but your father is against it because of you and my history with Lucias.”

  “No, no way!” Alexa said, shaking her head. “Thank God for my father. I’ve lost you to that monster once, and he has my daughter. I’m not going to let you walk right back to him to satisfy some macho need for vengeance. Let the soldiers fight so that when we finally get Chloe back, it won’t be at the cost of her father’s life. You can’t do that to her. You can’t do that to me.”

  “Amor—” Ethan started, but stopped. She was right; he was driven by a need for vengeance and there was nothing he could say to make her understand. “You’re right; I’m sorry, it was a foolish request.”

&nb
sp; Alexa stared at him, searching through their bond to be certain that he meant it. Ethan gave her a sexy grin and slid his arms around her waist, lowering his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss that stole her breath.

  Dr. Jones cleared his throat. “We really should get started,” he said without looking at the couple still in each other’s arms.

  When Ethan released her, Alexa looked up at him through her lashes, with lust burning in her eyes. “Just because you can kiss me senseless doesn’t mean I’m going to forget about this,” she said as she moved towards the doctor. She knew Ethan far too well to believe he would give up so easily, but she didn’t want to fight, and instead resolved to keep a close eye on him. If he wanted to fight Lucias, she probably couldn’t stop him, but he would think twice if she insisted on going with him.

  ✧

  “There’s no way I’m leaving, Amor. If he’s just a friend, why does he keep eyeing me like he’s jealous, like he wants to rip out my throat every time I get close to you,” Ethan asked, storming around the containment unit while Doctor Jones was getting set up.

  Alexa looked toward Dante again. There was no denying that he was not a fan of her mate, but she suspected that the reason had nothing to do with her.

  “Trust me, my love; it doesn’t have anything to do with me,” she said, taking Ethan’s hand and holding his gaze while she kissed his palm. “Dante is a mirror.”

  “What does that have to do with it, Alexa? You kissed him and it clearly meant more to him than it did to you. Look at him!” Ethan yelled, pulling his hand away and pointing at Dante, who was indeed staring at Ethan with eyes full of hatred.

  “I think he saw; I think he knows,” Alexa whispered. Ethan looked at her and raised his hands in question. “About you and Layla,” she continued in answer, feeling her stomach flop at the mention of it. “He’s absorbed my telepathy before. I think it gets easier every time and, when I bit him, I had just been thinking about it; you were probably thinking about it. Maybe she was, too. He could have seen it from any of us.”

  Ethan looked at Dante again, then at Layla sprawled out on the floor behind him and, though they couldn’t hear him, Dante let out a growl when his eyes were on Layla.

  “Well, shit,” Ethan said, turning away.

  “I’ll explain it to him; he’ll understand,” Alexa stated, realizing that no amount of explanation would make Dante feel any better about Ethan and Layla fucking. Ethan seemed to know it as well, based on the cynical look he gave in response to her statement. “Okay, maybe he won’t understand, but I’ll help him deal with it. I’m not going to be able to do that with you here hovering behind me, growling at every turn as a constant reminder. It’s bad enough I have to deal with her listening to everything we say; even if she might not care now because she’s infected. Once they’ve collected enough antiserum, she’ll be cured and we’ll all have to figure out a way to deal with what happened and move on. This is the first step. So please trust me and just give me five minutes to speak with him,” Alexa pleaded, placing a hand on Ethan’s cheek.

  “Five minutes; not a millisecond longer,” Ethan agreed reluctantly. Alexa stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I love you, Ethan,” she whispered before she spun him around and started ushering him to the door.

  “I truly do not like this,” Ethan said over his shoulder.

  “But you love me, and you’re doing this for me,” she replied, giving him a little wave before the door closed between them.

  ✧

  “I don’t understand how you’re so calm about this,” Dante gritted out through the intercom at the front of the cell he shared with Layla. Luckily, she was asleep in the corner, still blood-drunk from her last feeding. In order to draw enough samples to produce the antiserum, Dr. Jones was granted most of the remaining blood stores on the compound to feed Layla. It had taken a while, but thanks to the collection system the doctor was able to rig up and the preternatural healing of the vampire body, after this round of extraction they would have more than enough blood from Layla to generate sufficient antiserum to cure the whole of Lucias’s army and then some. While the ultimate goal was to continue production until the whole vampire population was vaccinated, the research team was confident that they would be able to synthesize the virus long before they ran out of samples from Layla. Unfortunately for Alexa, they still weren’t able to pinpoint what it was in her blood that allowed her body to generate the antiserum, so she would remain integral to the process for the foreseeable future.

  “Because it was beyond either of their control, and you know it. Besides, if we’re being honest, you and Layla weren’t even a couple at the time. If I recall, there was something about a human in that bar the night she went missing bouncing around in that head of yours, too, so don’t be such a hypocrite.”

  Dante’s eyes shot to Alexa for a moment, his expression shocked, then ashamed. She was right; he’d had no claim on Layla at the time. Ethan was her bonded mate and she’d somehow found a way to deal with the situation; at least that’s what she claimed. She might feel differently when Layla was cured.

  “I know it’s hard, Dante, but I’m just asking you to try. In a few minutes, Layla’s going to be cured and you’ll both be out of here. Try to focus on that; the second chance you’re about to get to make things right with her. You’re important to me; I want for us to remain friends. I want all of us to be friends, but that is going to be impossible if you’re growling at my mate and giving him the evil eye every time you see each other. It’s hard for him, too, knowing there was something between us, even if it only turned out to be friendship; all he can think about is that we kissed.”

  “Okay, I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises.”

  “And what about Layla? What are you going to tell her about everything? Will you tell her that you know?”

  “Yeah, I have to. Like you said, this is my second chance to make things right. I can’t start out keeping secrets.” The shame she’d seen in his eyes before returned. “She’s had to deal with me and other women before,” he whispered, “I just hope she can do it again, because I swear it’s the last time. She’s all I want now.”

  Alexa smiled at him, her eyes full of understanding. “She’s a lucky woman.” Alexa turned to the door then stopped. “So we’re clear, there will be no growling, chest puffing, or muttered threats directed at my husband when you’re out of there, right?” she asked a teasing edge to her voice, though it was a legitimate concern.

  “I said I’d try. I’ll give you the growling and chest puffing, but you have to let me keep the muttered threats,” he joked back.

  “I guess I’ll take that,” Alexa said with a triumphant smile.

  “Seriously, though, thank you, Alexa, for everything. I don’t know what I would have done without you. You saved me; you saved all of us,” Dante said, pressing his palm to the glass the same way Alexa had done when she first came back. Alexa’s eyes welled up with tears as she placed her hand over his and nodded; too choked up to say anything else before she released the button and sped to the door.

  ✧

  Alexa smiled up at Ethan from her semi-supine position. Dr. Jones had managed to get a recliner dragged into the lab for her to relax in while her body did its magic.

  “I’m proud of you,” she said, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand that was linked with hers. “You didn’t even look at Dante when you came in. That’s progress,” she teased.

  “Amor, I will always do whatever I can to please you,” his words were sweet, but the look in his eyes gave them a more delicious meaning. Alexa groaned. “Ethan, you’re such a tease,” she whispered.

  He responded with a soft, slow kiss.

  Dr. Jones cleared his throat behind him. It seemed he had to do that a lot when he was around Ethan and Alexa. “We’re ready to begin.”