by Milly Taiden
“He has been,” she said. “But now that all the fall-out has settled, it’s time to bring the clan up to date with the modern world.”
“What if we want the old-fashioned challenges where the strongest wins. That proved well for lots of clans.”
From the first row, Aria heard Maree call the speaker a nit. “He couldn’t pour piss from a boot if the directions were on the heel.” No need for translation. Aria agreed.
She hid her smile with her hand. “So what you’re saying is for all the strong guys to kill each other so only one is left? How does that bode for the strength of the clan overall?” The large group grumbled among themselves.
This was getting old. If these people wanted to be stupid, could she save them from themselves? “All right. If you insist on having one leader, then you all get to vote on who that will be. And pray that you’re right and he doesn’t take all the power to his head and do stupid shit that could get you all destroyed like Filip almost did.
“You better hope like hell this one person doesn’t pick favorites and give those people more than they give you. Or protect them and send you to wolves. Be sure you pick the one who will always look out for your best interests, not his own.
“You want this person to listen to your complaints, all of them, and do something about them. Then, of course, they need to run the clan fairly and keep it strong against those who would take it over and enslave you.” She looked around the room for the second-in-command.
“Damon, since Filip has been AWOL, how much time do you get to see your family?” Before he could speak, a pretty brunette stood.
“I’ll answer that. None. He’s at the clan house working from sundown to sunup. His child doesn’t even know him well enough to call him da-da.” Her last words wavered and she gave a little sniffle.
Aria looked to Damon then back to the lady. She saw the love between them, but also the sadness. Hell, if this didn’t convince the clan to have a group of leaders, she didn’t know what would.
Then she realized something that had never rolled around in her head. She could be in Damon’s place, and that woman standing alone in the middle of a sea of faces could be her mate.
How would she feel if their child didn’t know or love her enough to call her mama? Trev—her mate would take care of the child, seldom seeing her. She thought back to her parents when she was little. How was her childhood? Was she really happy?
Her father always seemed to be working and seldom around. But she had her mom and that was fine. They did family vacations and fun stuff when they could, but Dad always did work and was on the phone then, too.
Then Penelope’s constant badgering about having children crept in. Aria had always planned to have a family, in an ethereal sense, anyway. She never gave much thought as to how things would really work. Her three ex-advisors, Chantal, Anton, and Claude, had helped with the workload balance, but she worked the same as Damon: from dusk to dawn.
She needed to sit and analyze her lifestyle. She had a bloodmate, but he was gone, out of her life. That meant she wouldn’t love another. Did she want a child, want to be a single parent her child never saw? If she’d never been able to spend as much time with her mother as she did before her parents died, she wouldn’t have been happy. Great time to think of this. The thought of Trevan out there, wanting him, wanting that bond mates shared and the family she’d secretly been thinking of since she laid eyes on him, but knowing it wasn’t happening…it broke her heart.
“Aria?” She heard Maree say her name, bringing her back to the meeting. The audience was quiet, staring at her.
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” She scrambled to get back to where they were. “The council, right. Tonight, everyone should give thought to serving on the council. It will be a paid position, full-time, and require a lot of energy. I want females on this board, too. So ladies, don’t think you’re excluded. Ever.
“This is your chance to take the clan in the direction you want it to go. And I do suggest that Damon highly consider running for one of the positions.” She glanced at him. “You won’t be working as much, and you’ll still be a leader in the community.” She looked at her watch. It was getting late. Just a short amount of time before sunup.
“All right. Everyone go home and think about all I’ve mentioned. Tomorrow I will pick a delegation to setup and run this first election and get your lives back to normal. If anyone has questions, hold them until later. We’ll meet here at one tonight to give you time to talk things over after rising. Good day, South clan.”
As Aria stepped off the stage, headed for Damon, her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She glanced at the ID. Penelope. Shit. Her stomach churned as she pressed the talk icon.
“Aria, I have bad news. We need to talk at once.”
SEVEN
Aria paced the space between the combined kitchen living room area in the guest quarters next to the clan leader’s house. She pressed the phone to her ear. “Penelope, that is the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard.” So much anger built in her, she wanted to tear down the entire building with her bare hands.
“Calm down, Aria. It is what you say, but it could be worse,” Penelope said.
“How could it be worse?” she questioned, immediately hating the attitude she gave the other woman.
“They could arrest you, right now, and destroy you without further investigation.”
Not fucking likely. It would take a lot to destroy Aria. And even thinking of it wouldn’t go without consequences.
“They will not.” Her hand fisted. “I will fight them to my death. There is no question of innocence on my part. Filip trafficked humans.”
Penelope gave a soft sigh. “Yes, dear. I know.”
“Then what is it going to take for them to fucking know the same thing?”
Her beloved mentor cleared her throat. “Aria, we need proof of his actions. They need to see a history. And motive.”
“Well, motive isn’t difficult. It’s obvious why any vampire would want a blood slave.”
“That’s not enough, Aria. They want something specific to him. Not generalizations.”
Well, fuck. She’d give them generalizations. Right up their asses. She wiped a hand over her face. Marxius came around the kitchen bar, glass with swirling red liquid between his fingers. He motioned for her to sit in the upholstered chair. She plopped down with a growl and took the cup from him. She mouthed thank you and took a gulp.
“Will the council accept eyewitness accounts?” Aria asked.
“They might. Depends who it is.”
“An alpha wolf and his mate.”
Penelope groaned. “Aria, you know our relationship with shifters. Especially wolves.”
“Everyone else involved in the ring we killed. What do they expect?” she asked.
“Yes,” her mentor said, “that does present a bit of a challenge.”
She snorted. “You think?”
“Aria…” A sigh reached her through the speaker. She knew Penelope was only trying to help. The woman was on her side, but frustrations ran high with such aggravation. She took another gulp of blood then laid her head against the back cushion.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re there to help me.”
“I’m glad you recognized that, child. Now, on a different note. Have you spoken to our lovely Maree?”
She laughed, thinking back to the conversation. “I have. I’ve dilled her pickle.”
“You’ve what with her pickle?”
Aria laughed again. “Translation is she’s happy to see me again.”
“Oh, good then. She’s the only woman I can have a conversation with and walk away understanding nothing said. But I love her to death.”
“You should see her, though, Pen. She’s really aged in the last hundred years.”
“That’s what drinking from humans when young will do.”
Aria wondered if she should mention all she shared with the clan earlier in the meeting. “Is Julian all right with others knowing how
old he is?”
“I guess he’s fine with it. He’s never said anything about keeping it secret. But it’s best not tell too many others,” Penelope replied.
Shit. “Why not?”
The line remained silent for a moment. “It’s just another secret of our society. Same as the not talked about effects on our bodies of drinking fresh human blood. Those who know keep it to themselves.” Penelope was quiet for a second, then asked, “Aria, why did you ask?”
She cringed in the chair. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
“Aria, how many vampires did you tell?”
“Who said I told anyone?”
“You did, by asking me the question. Now, how many?”
“Maybe the whole South clan.”
“Aria! You did not!” Penelope didn’t sound the least bit happy.
She cringed even tighter. “Okay, I didn’t.”
Penelope groaned. “My god, child. Shit is going to hit the ceiling.”
“It’s fan, Penelope. Shit hitting the fan.”
“No, child. You done blew the fan off the wall. Anything else you care to tell me you ‘mentioned’?”
Aria glanced at her watch even though Penelope couldn’t see the movement. “Well, would you look at that. The sun should be up any second now. I gotta go, Pen.”
“Aria—”
“No, really. I’ll call you later. Sometime. Thanks so much for everything. Bye.” Her red-tipped finger slid over the red button on the phone’s screen. She was so fucked. Actually, being fucked would be a great thing right now. Her blue-eyed stud muffin came to mind.
His wide shoulders, rolling with muscles with every movement. His slick chest she wanted to lick and taste. Fuck. Now she was getting all warm below the belt. Speaking of warm, the man smelled like chocolate chunk cookies fresh from the oven. Her favorite.
Marxius stood in the hall and cleared his throat. No doubt he smelled her. Shit.
“Yes?” she asked, trying to hide her burning cheeks.
“Wynther and I are ready to go down. Are you ready?”
Ready? Yes. To go downstairs? No. “Uh, I’ll be down shortly. I just want to get a bit of fresh air.”
Marxius came into the room and held out a hand to help her stand. “Do you want to go now? I’ll stay with you while you’re out.”
“Oh,” she started. Him following her defeated the whole idea of escaping to cool her embarrassment. “You don’t need to. The sun’s almost up. I’ll be fine. No one here can day walk.” Her devoted guard scowled. “Marxius,” she pointed a finger at him and feigned being boss. “Don’t give me that look. Didn’t your mama tell you your face might freeze like that?”
Marxius’s frown broke into a laugh. “She did. Your mother told you, too. Every time you didn’t get what you wanted.”
She rolled her eyes. God, she was such a petulant child, and spoiled beyond rotten. But she loved her childhood. Aria gave him a playful shove. “All right, my eternal guardian, the sun is up. Go before the rays get through the windows. I’ll be back shortly.”
He gave her a you better be look then hurried into the hall. She chugged the remaining blood in her glass and set it on the granite bar. This would be the perfect opportunity to snoop around with no one seeing her. If this clan had blood slaves, she would find them and destroy the vamps. Of course, Maree would move into the northern clan house. The woman was an angel, when she wasn’t talking.
She headed out the door, ready for whatever came next.
Or so she thought.
EIGHT
The drive south was longer than Trevan remembered. Though, it had been quite a while since he’d ventured anywhere close to home. The South clan was as close as they could get, seeing that part of their land was his rightful home.
He wondered if Alain and Roen were purposely not saying anything about going back, or if they didn’t think about it anymore. Fuck. He wished he could stop thinking about it. It’d been the only thing on his mind for over eighty years. The images from that day were burned into his brain.
That morning long ago had started off nicely. Alain, Roen, and he had spent the past several days camping and scouting the area. Even though they weren’t true enforcers, they trained and took on enforcer duties so they’d be prepared when they graduated high school next year.
This particular assignment was to learn and memorize every inch of the land, including what lay beyond the borders. This was the mountainous side of the Stone Mountain wolf pack. Not the Stone Mountain with the theme park and rock sculptures, but a more private group farther west. Rough terrain and forested hills dominated their northern landscape. The east side faced a large city that would one day spread far enough to encompass the territory.
The west side consisted of more vacant land settlers hadn’t claimed and probably wouldn’t for a while. He knew there was a vampire clan off to the west. How did he know? Because his brother, the alpha of the pack, had more than one run-in with vamps crossing their land to drag humans to their clan.
In the 1800s, roads were muddy paths that went from city to city. Humans hadn’t the mindset yet to travel the wilderness much. But each year, that became less true as the city grew and expanded its territory.
His brother talked a lot about assimilating into human society. He said if they blended in, they wouldn’t stick out. Sticking out gets your head chopped off. Trevan had no problem with that. He actually liked most humans he’d met. They weren’t his enemy like the vampire became.
Before the three boys reached the pack settlement coming back from camping, they knew something was wrong. The air was saturated with the stench of rotting meat. Only one thing could’ve made that big of smell: a massacre.
His first thought was the natives that lived in the area had attacked the pack. Wolves could take down humans easily. Humans were fragile with nothing protecting the covering that held their blood in. Wolves’ fur was thick enough to survive winters in the mountains.
When they reached the cluster of cabins, they stopped. He couldn’t breathe, his body and mind in shock. Corpses littered the ground: men, women, and children. This wasn’t a massacre; it was pure evil. Whoever did this had no respect for life.
Bodies lay haphazardly as if thrown to the ground, discarded like trash. Cabin doors hung open. Some had people blocking the entries, several with belongings strewed across the porches.
Dead wolves scattered into the mix. Very few things could kill a wolf at that time. Most looked like their necks had been snapped. That was impossible. Indians weren’t capable of the strength required.
Each boy went his own way to find his family. Trevan’s loved ones had the same fate as all else.
He couldn’t fathom what happened. It seemed as if the attackers killed everyone then left, walked away without taking anything. Why? What was the purpose? The boys huddled around a dead campfire in the center square. None spoke for a long time until Roen said, “Something is off. Why doesn’t this look like a killing field?”
“Because,” Alain started, “there is no blood anywhere: the ground, on clothes, on hands. Nothing.”
Trevan looked around again. Alain was right. It looked as if everyone was asleep on the ground. Just passed-out. A few people had the side of their neck ravaged. But the lack of heartbeats in their ears told the truth.
At that point, he knew the vampires to the west had done this. But why? They’d lived alongside each other peacefully for over a century. Well, peacefully except when caught in wolf territory. Even then, his brother just gave them a hard time to remember whose property they were on, then let them go.
The vamps wouldn’t have done this to take over the land, would they? No, that wasn’t a good enough reason to kill his family. Over fucking dirt? Just to be closer to the human population?
A hardness settled in Trevan’s heart. He would get revenge for the injustice done to those he loved. He would hunt down the vampire who led the attack, tie him up, and watch him bake in the sun. Then the rest of the cl
an would follow.
The boys gathered the bodies to the center then set the village on fire as they walked away, never to return or see their families again. They planned their own vengeance attack for a few days later after the creatures were forced to escape the sun.
As soon as light spilled over Stone Mountain, the three hiked the woods to where the vampires roosted. Trevan didn’t know what he expected to see when they arrived, but it wasn’t what lay before him now.
The patch of ground the killers called home was little more than several abandoned-looking one-room shacks with a structure resembling a cabin at the end of the dirt path. He didn’t understand why they hadn’t developed the area like his parents did the wolf settlement. And where did they hide from the sun?
They searched the shacks and stumbled across a trapdoor in the dirt. It opened to stairs leading into darkness. That was where they were. Fine by him. He set the stairs on fire and then the shack. The others met the same fate as the first.
When they approached the cabin at the end of the lane, a girl dressed in the fashion of the day stood out front. She couldn’t be a vampire because she was in the sun. So who was she? A terrifying thought crossed his mind—maybe this wasn’t the vampires’ hide out.
The boys stopped a few feet from the girl. She was around thirteen, he guessed. Definitely not a threat to them. A frown marred her face, but she had the most beautiful violet eyes he had ever seen. Actually, the only violet eyes he’d ever seen. Her dark curly hair draped over her shoulders.
She crossed her arms. “You better get out of here before my father gets upstairs. He’ll be mad at you for burning the houses.”
Trevan didn’t smell a lie from the human, but there was something different in her scent. He liked it. A lot. He shook his head to clear it from such stupid thoughts. He asked, “Is your father the one in charge?”
She raised her chin as if in defiance. “Yes, he is. The only leader.”
The girl was cute. He liked her spunk. “What’s his last name?”
“Valderi. Don’t forget it,” she yelled.