by Leia Stone
She was right. Shit. She was so right. What if they found out about him…?
“The cabin,” I breathed. “Sawyer, Sage, and Creek can wait in the cabin and I’ll lure the queen there and kill her.”
The thought of seeing the place where I’d birthed my son again filled me with warmth.
“Would the woods hurt Creek?” Sawyer was suddenly rethinking his idea now that it involved our son.
“No,” Rab and I said at the same time.
“He’s the next Paladin alpha. They will not touch him,” Rab added.
The realization of that seemed to dawn on Sawyer and his eyes widened a little. I felt the shock of it through our bond.
‘How will our son lead two packs?’ Sawyer suddenly asked.
I had no fucking clue. ‘Problems for future Sawyer and Demi.’
‘Agreed,’ Sawyer said, and then looked at the leaders around the table.
“How do we protect the women and children during the fight?” Eugene asked. “We have over a hundred pregnant women.”
“What if we got the women, children, and elderly back into the bunker with a week’s worth of food while this plays out?” I offered.
Sawyer nodded. “That could work, although I don’t expect to be fighting for a week. We need to hit them hard and fast. I want this over in twenty-four hours after we start it.”
I blew air through my teeth. “When do we start it?”
Silence descended on the table. No one spoke, no one moved. How did you decide when to start a war that might possibly kill people you cared about?
“Probably sooner rather than later since they’re looking for all of you,” a familiar voice called from the open doorway.
Luka.
Sawyer stood, grinning. “You missed me, didn’t you?”
Luka rolled his eyes. “You know, my aunt can be a real hag, and I thought you might want some help.”
Okay, their little bromance was adorable.
Sawyer welcomed Luka to the table.
“Bennett and Talon?”
“In Spokane. I’ll meet up with them after I help you.”
I had to admit, his loyalty was kinda hot. My eyes flicked to Sage to see if she was drooling over the sexy vampire, but her gaze was pinned on Walsh.
Of course. I then looked at Raven to see her practically undressing Luka with her eyes and I grinned. She must have felt my gaze, because she looked at me and her cheeks pinked. Hmm, they would make a cute couple.
“Have you fed?” I asked Luka. He looked better.
Luka tipped his head to me. “Yes, ma’am. I met a nice fey-Ithaki in the woods. After she tried to kill me, I had lunch.”
Okay … I was no longer attracted to him and was now slightly terrified.
Sawyer was quick to defend his friend. ‘He doesn’t feed from women without permission. Unless they try to kill him of course.’
‘Of course.’
“Can you compulse?” I asked him point-blank. If he was vampire royalty, the queen’s nephew, he had to have some major power.
He stilled, suddenly unmoving more than he was already unmoving. I’d touched a nerve and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was rude to ask, like the trolls couldn’t talk about their magic.
“Because if you can,” I tried to explain, “maybe you could help us lure the queen into the Dark Woods.”
My compulsion power was still at its baby stage, and I had zero hope that it would work on the queen of the freaking vampires.
He raised one eyebrow. “The Dark Woods?”
I nodded. “They’re cursed. I’ll have a better chance to fight her there.”
“We,” Sawyer amended, “will have a better chance to kill the queen there.”
“She has your wolf?” Luka asked.
I inclined my head.
“And she wants your blood to siphon your power?” he asked.
I looked at Sawyer, who shrugged. He had clearly told Luka everything.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Then you can expect she’ll have already fed on your wolf and be fighting fully juiced up.” He said it so nonchalantly, like it wasn’t the most horrible thing you could ever think of.
Fed on my wolf? Fuck.
My face must have betrayed my shock, because he softened, his strong jaw and predatorial gaze relaxing. “That knowledge will help us to be better prepared. And no one can compulse the queen. She’s above all of us in power, linked to all of us in a way that’s hard to explain. Similar to your pack bonds, I imagine.”
Okay, that was interesting information, and cool of him to share. Maybe this vampire dude wasn’t half bad.
“So you can’t help?” My voice was more defeated than I would have liked. I could lure her, like I had before, but I’d be winded by the time I got her to the Dark Woods and I really wanted the element of surprise.
Luka grinned, and it was a feral look of satisfaction, the points of his canines pressing onto his bottom lip. “Oh I didn’t say that. If there is one thing my aunt wants more than obtaining your power, it’s me. She’d like nothing more than to pull my head from my body, but vampire law states you can’t kill another royal lest your entire line be slaughtered, and you lose your reigning position.”
Wow, he was just giving us all the details on vampire society.
‘Told you he was cool,’ Sawyer said in my mind.
‘Okay fine, you were right,’ I acquiesced.
“So, if she can’t kill you, then what makes you think you will make good bait?” Sawyer said what I was thinking.
“She can’t kill me. But her lackeys can. They’ll get thrown in jail for murder and she won’t lose one night’s sleep about it. But she’ll want to be there to make sure the job is done.” He sounded so sure of himself.
“How would the Magical Creature Council even know if it was her or one of her henchmen?” I said. There were so many councils in the supernatural world, but I knew the MCC were involved in sentencing.
Luka looked to Sawyer and something passed between them. They were hiding something…
Sawyer finally nodded, and Luka returned it. “The MCC is made up of one representative from each of the races. The newest witch representative has … a unique power. One that has made court cases and DNA testing obsolete.”
The table started to murmur at that. What kind of power could make an entire court hearing and presenting evidence no longer necessary?
“She’s a human lie detector,” Star said so suddenly I jumped. I’d forgotten she was here. “She can invade your memories, displaying them onto a blank wall like a movie projector.”
Holy. Fucking. What?
“What do you mean? She can replay Luka’s death to see who really killed him and free the queen of guilt?” I asked.
Star nodded, but Luka held up a hand. “For the record, I don’t plan on dying.”
“Right,” I muttered, completely frazzled by this latest development.
It hit me then why Luka and Sawyer shared that look. Why Sawyer’s case and sentencing had been moved up so quickly.
“Sawyer, did she…?” My voice cracked.
His hand slipped under the desk and squeezed my thigh. ‘It’s okay,’ he said, and everyone looked down at their hands as if inspecting their nails.
‘She saw you kill Vicon, but I wasn’t there to show what he did to me, to testify on your behalf, so they sentenced you to death.’ Tears filled my eyes and a deep sense of regret washed over me. ‘Sawyer, I’m so sorry.’ Sawyer spent a year in prison because I’d chosen to go to the Dark Woods and take the alpha trial. I chose the Paladin people over my own mate.
‘You didn’t know I would be captured. I didn’t know either. There’s no sense in living in the past. You got me out.’
My lip quivered and I knew now wasn’t the time for this conversation, but I felt so awful that I hadn’t been there to support him. Shaking it off, I faced Luka again. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
Over the next hour we devised a
plan that accounted for all the parts that needed to be dealt with. The women and children who were not in fighting shape, the queen, the vampires, fey, and witches occupying Wolf City who needed to be expunged. The trolls that Marmal needed to bring in. All of it. It was like a detailed clock with all the cogs and wheels turning. Everything would need to work for this to be pulled off.
In the end, we had a solid strategy. Marmal left with Pearl to fetch the trolls, and the others departed to do their part.
It was only Luka, Sawyer, and me now.
“Once I kill the queen, will you be king?” I asked Luka. Thinking of ripping her head off gave me satisfaction, but I wanted to know what would happen after, politically.
I wouldn’t be opposed to that. He seemed cool, and we could all work together for a more peaceful future between the vampires and werewolves.
He chuckled. “I wish it were that easy. The Drakes are many. The queen is one of sixteen siblings. I have dozens of aunts, uncles, and cousins who will all be vying for the position. Only the most powerful can be crowned, which of course is me.”
Of course. Luka wasn’t lacking in self-confidence, that was for sure. “How are there that many of you if you can’t reproduce with each other?
His gaze flicked to Sawyer’s, and he swallowed hard. Again, I’d touched a nerve.
‘He has a dark past. He’s been through a lot,’ was all Sawyer said.
Shit. Now I felt bad. I was about to change the subject when he spoke:
“My family is a legacy family, purebred, obsessed with genetics. That means they stay human and purposefully keep having children and then change us when we reach the age of twenty to forty, freezing time in our bodies forever.”
My mouth popped open. Legacy family? I’d never heard of such a thing—wait, so that meant…
“There are human Drakes?” I gasped. They were popping out little Drake vampires like farm animals! It was one of the craziest things I’d ever heard, and also kind of genius if you were concerned with royal lineage.
He just nodded, a deep sadness washing over his features before it was removed by a calm and stoic expression.
“So once the queen dies…?” Sawyer brought both of our attention back to the task, and my cheeks heated with shame that I’d made his friend relive something dark.
“Once the queen dies…” Luka seemed to enjoy the topic change. “There will be a month of mourning. No leadership talk can even happen until that’s over. And during that month all the cousins and uncles and aunts will be trying to assassinate each other so that they can be chosen next.”
I sputtered in shock at his words. “That’s quite the dysfunctional family,” I offered, and then regretted my words.
“You have no idea,” Luka said dryly, seemingly unperturbed by my bluntness.
“So you’ll hide out in Spokane for the month, take your chance with the hunters?” Sawyer said.
Luka reached up, stretching his arms over his head. “That’s the plan.”
Were we really doing this? Taking back Wolf City, killing the queen? Could life go back to normal somewhat? I’d been in survival mode for so long, I didn’t even know what normal looked like anymore.
“As soon as Marmal gets back with the trolls … we attack,” Sawyer announced. “The queen knows we’re out of prison. She’ll be expecting retaliation, and I don’t want to give her the time to plan.”
I nodded in agreement. The first war we’d lost because we’d relied too much on technology and guns and helicopters and fancy modern things. All of which the witches had brought down the first day. This time we were smarter, this time we would bring down their guns, and fight them with brute pack strength.
You couldn’t really ever prepare for war. You were never really ready to risk your life and rush into battle willing to kill someone. There was a deep place inside of all of us, that place where the fight or flight response came from, that prepared you as much as it could, but you had to push yourself the other half of the way. I stood at the open gates of Paladin Village, bringing myself the other half of the way, readying myself for war, where anything was possible.
Marmal had just shown up with over two hundred troll volunteers, all ready to defect from Troll Village, which was currently battling a famine, and live in Wolf City once we restored it. Sawyer had agreed that the future of Wolf City was a shared space where everyone who helped to liberate it was welcome. Witch, troll and werewolf, both Paladin and city, would live in harmony and create a new future that was hopefully unbreakable.
“I’ll go in the front lines with the trolls as they disarm the vampires of their technology,” Walsh said, snapping me from my thoughts.
Sage and Walsh had been slipping each other awkward glances, and I knew they still hadn’t talked about whatever it was that was still between them. Now just wasn’t the time.
“Willow and I will accompany the women and children into the bunker,” Arrow said, Willow standing beside him with Daisy slung in a cloth pouch around her neck.
Sawyer and I nodded at them both.
Rab stepped forward. “Eugene and I will lead our army behind the trolls and decimate the vampires with fist, teeth, and bow.” He grinned, looking feral, and I felt so much pride. My pack was wild and fearsome and un-fucking-stoppable.
“Sage, Sawyer, Creek, and I will be in the Dark Woods, awaiting the queen’s arrival,” I said.
It felt slightly cowardly to just go and hide in the woods while a war was being fought, but we’d explained to the pack what our plan was and everyone agreed that if we could just take out the queen, the mastermind, we could end this war. Her son Vicon was dead, her husband the king was dead thanks to Walsh, and if I could bring her down it would throw the entirety of Vampire City into an uproar. Cause them to mourn and shut down for thirty days just like Luka said. In that thirty days, we would strengthen our borders and secure our land.
“And I,” Luka addressed the crowd that stood in front of the Paladin gates, “will lure Psycho Auntie through Paladin Village and into the Dark Woods, where she will meet her untimely death.”
The crowd cheered and I grinned at his term, Psycho Auntie. I had to admit, Luka had grown on me … for a vampire.
“Alright, say your goodbyes!” I yelled to the crowd. “We will celebrate when this is all over.”
Sawyer nodded. “I owe my wife a proper wedding and you’re all invited!”
That got some chuckles and cheers. It was amazing how at ease the city wolves were with the Paladins now. Coming here to this land had bonded them and taken the stress off of the two tribes who’d been pitted against each other for centuries.
A male city wolf worked his way through the crowd, as warrior women hugged their children goodbye and husbands their pregnant wives.
He looked so familiar but I couldn’t place him. It took me a moment. He was the werewolf representative for the freeloaders, or whatever the hell they called themselves.
He tipped his head to me. “We would like to help, if you can use us.” He held a samurai sword in one hand and a sharpened spear in another.
Well, well, look who finally had taken a side. Instead of gloating, which I really wanted to, I returned the nod. “You and your people can go with Rab and help fight in Wolf City.”
He nodded his head in understanding and then disappeared into the crowd, a small contingent of people following him.
Sawyer looked confused so I said, ‘I’ll tell you later.’
When I turned, my mother and father were standing there with Sawyer’s mom. Creek was asleep in my mother’s arms; her eyes were filled with tears. “Are you sure I can’t take him with me into the bunker?”
Sawyer shook his head. “We need to stick together. The queen will exploit any weakness, and we can’t leave that to chance.”
My mom tearily handed Creek over to Sawyer, who slipped him into a sling that Willow had given him. Seeing a shirtless, heavily tattooed male wearing your child was basically the hottest thing ever. P
ulling my attention away from my sexy husband and child, I stepped over to my mom and dad and let them pull me into an embrace.
My mom burst into tears, shaking against me as I tried to calm her by patting her back.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” I told her.
We wanted this to be quick. And whether we won or lost, I thought it would be.
After a lot of tearful goodbyes, Arrow and Willow set out under the cloak of darkness to hide our people who couldn’t fight in the bunker. That was nearly half of our force, but still left us with a little over ten thousand warriors.
As we waited, I started to get nervous about how all the pieces of the puzzle would work.
I pulled Sawyer aside and took in his stressed appearance. He looked tired. His hair was messed up in a cascade of dark strands that fell across his forehead. I could sense the anxiety between our imprint. He wasn’t sure this was going to work, and neither was I.
I couldn’t be sure of anything anymore, but we had to try.
I reached up and smoothed his hair. “I just wanted to tell you that I love you and you owe me a new wedding ring.” I kept it light and he smiled, seemingly grateful that I didn’t go too deep or try to say goodbye.
“I love you too, Demi, and I owe you a lot of things.” Leaning in, with Creek pressed between us, he placed a kiss to my lips, causing an ache to form in my heart. We’d been through so much together, I just wanted a happily-ever-after. Was that too much to ask?
I was about to say something else when a searing pain sliced up my back and I cried out, falling to my knees.
“Demi!” Sawyer yelled.
I screamed, the pain reaching epic levels as I felt a pull of power from my wolf.
No.
‘I’m so sorry I left you,’ I sobbed as the pain wracked my body in waves. What were they doing to her? I couldn’t sense anything but agony.
‘It’s … okay,’ she huffed out, and I knew in that moment that the queen had just fed off my wolf. I just knew it.
‘Where are you?’ I asked, sending out my sensations to try to see where she was, but the brief link to my wolf was quickly gone, clamped down as if she’d been torn away. They’d recuffed her. The queen had removed her cuffs, fed on her, and then locked her back up.