Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny)

by Blakely, Noelle

  “That makes a little sense, considering what I’ve heard in the last few days.” The L.T. looked hard at Ryan as if deciding how much to say. In the end, he went on. “I’ve had reports of Vampires being killed in ways that shouldn’t be fatal for them. If the injuries are serious enough, they don’t seem to heal quickly enough to survive. I don’t know how many of their population they’ve lost, but it has to be significant. Also, it appears we are out of the closet, so to speak, with these Hunters and soon, other humans, so we may be forced to cooperate more with the Vampires for the good of all”

  “Alexander Lake left to try and connect with the council and gather intelligence. I don’t expect him back for some time, but I will try to keep you informed as soon as I know anything,” Ryan replied solemnly. Without the horses, he figured he could change and run to the settlement in wolf form in less than a day.

  “Excellent,” the L.T. said. “The Alpha will want to see you sometime before you go.”

  “Tyler told me. I will go to him right away, and I’ll see you again as soon as I have something to report.” Ryan walked into the heart of the settlement. It was afternoon, so it was raining as usual. The dirt roads had become a mire of mud from all the moisture. Despite the rain, some young wolves were training in the center green, practicing their hand fighting skills. Ryan watched them for a minute, feeling a little nostalgic. It appeared they were going to grow up to a world a lot harsher than the one he had known as a boy.

  Ryan approached the Alpha’s home. It was another modest wood structure with a little more of a feminine touch as the Alpha had been mated to arguably the strongest female in the pack for more years than Ryan had been alive. Weres often lived to be three hundred or more years old, if they didn’t die a violent death. By Were standards, Ryan wasn’t much more than a boy. The Alpha pair were somewhere in their mid one hundreds, a mature, but exceptionally strong age for a Were.

  Elvis came to the door himself at Ryan’s knock. He smiled broadly to see the young Were. “Come in, son. Get out of that rain.” He pulled Ryan inside and left to grab him a towel while Ryan took off his muddy boots at the door. After providing a towel, Elvis put a hand on Ryan’s back and pushed him inside and to a cozy kitchen with its own fireplace. He sat Ryan closest to the fire, and he hung a kettle from a hook over the flames. “Old fashioned coffee,” he said. “It’s a good thing I still remembered how to do this.”

  Ryan thought of the technology he’d grown up with and realized he was not as experienced as he liked to think in his survival skills. Guy’s like Elvis had to live this way every day when they were young and never thought a thing about it. It’s all in the perspective, he thought.

  The men chatted for a while, catching up over coffee, even though Ryan had seen Elvis within the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, a lot happened in those weeks. “So, Tyler and the L.T. said you were talking to everybody… What’s up?”

  The Alpha grew serious. “This is a hard thing to talk about, Son, but I need to say it for the good of the pack. As you know, we’re not too secret anymore and becoming less so, by the day. Our population took a substantial hit just like humans and Vampires did. We were lucky that a lot of us were in the settlements, or we would be even more decimated. I know it’s not really my place to get involved in marriages, but I am asking you to consider choosing your mate, even if you don’t marry her. We need breeding pairs to strengthen our pack in the days to come. We have to be strong for the world that is coming.”

  For the second time that day, Ryan’s mouth hung open and again he snapped it closed. “I don’t…that is…I haven’t met anyone that…Look, I’m not around enough to have ever spent any real time with any of our females. I don’t know who would even take me as a mate.” Ryan was feeling a little blindsided by this unexpected and unusual request.

  “Our women are as willing to do what it takes to make us strong as the men are. You won’t have to be here any more often than before, but it would be helpful if you could try to come during the moon cycles for mating. Since you don’t know the women that well, Kate and I have chosen someone we think would be good for you, unless you have any objections to her.”

  Ryan’s head was spinning. Elvis was talking about picking out a mate for him as if he were picking out a suit. He felt trapped, but he knew he could not refuse his Alpha in this, nor would he want to disappoint the man who took him in and treated him like a son. “Who…”

  Elvis interrupted quickly, “Kate thought that you and Lily would get along perfectly, and she isn’t going to demand marriage or even that you stick around more. Lily is very independent and has become one of our best healers. She is always busy, but she is willing to do what needs to be done.” He talked so fast that he had to pause to take a deep breath. When he finished, Elvis was grinning again.

  “Do you think I might rest and meet her tomorrow?” was all a resigned Ryan could manage.

  “Of course, you can and Kate would have my hide if I didn’t have you stay here with us. You know where the extra rooms are where you can bunk. You just come on down here if you get hungry later. Kate will want to see you, but she is out right now.”

  Ryan lay on the bed in a guest room trying to figure out how an orphan could have so much family drama in his life. A mate, what would Sara say? He decided that was something he could deal with later. He slept fitfully and woke up long enough to eat a late supper with Kate and Elvis. Kate couldn’t quit gushing about Lily and how much he would like her. He finally made a polite exit and slept a little more.

  At dawn, he rose, but Kate was already up and making breakfast. “I’ll take you to meet Lily when we’ve eaten,” she said. Ryan was rapidly losing his appetite. It was pretty clear that there was going to be no way out of this match.

  So he followed along with Kate and Elvis after the breakfast dishes were done. Kate led him to a small cabin at the edge of the settlement. Tarps were strung on top of poles, trying to shelter some of an extensive herb garden. The mud and standing water between the delicate plants explained the rickety looking set-up. It also looked as if someone had gathered supplies and was starting construction on a sizable greenhouse. Ryan watched as a young woman came around the side of the house, with a tub full of dirt that she had apparently been using to transplant some of the half-drowned plants into. Her hair was dripping wet, and she looked a little half-drowned herself. She started when she saw them, and Ryan didn’t miss the fact that her mouth drew into a tight, thin line when she realized who it was. Kate and Elvis didn’t notice or chose to ignore the look and were smiling broadly, wrapping her in hugs that nearly made her drop her tub of transplants.

  Kate made the introductions and both Ryan and Lily muttered unenthusiastic greetings without actually looking at each other much. Without giving the young people a chance to protest, Elvis made some excuse for a hasty departure and Kate suggested Ryan stay to get to know Lily a little better. The Alpha pair hurried off with their heads together, whispering.

  Lily gave Ryan a look of resignation and without saying anything carried her tub to the back door of the house where she left it on a covered porch and kicked off her muddy boots, before holding the door open for him to enter. The back door opened into a kitchen, and Ryan noticed that there were dozens more containers of all types scattered around the room with sad looking little plants growing in them.

  Lily noticed Ryan’s perusal of the room, and she explained, “It took me four years to get that garden the way that I wanted, with most everything I use regularly. Now, this weather is killing all of my hard work. I’m afraid that this is the best I can do until the greenhouse is completed.” She waved her hand vaguely around the room, indicating the clutter of makeshift planters.

  Ryan tried to look sympathetic to her situation, and he actually was but, he was so uncomfortable that he didn’t know what to say. He resorted to the obvious. “So, you are a healer.”

  “And a midwife,” she added, but seemed far from interested in having the conv
ersation.

  He looked at her and found that she was frowning at him and had her arms crossed in front of her. He felt a little irritated that she should act as if he had anything to do with this set-up. He was as unhappy with the arrangement as she seemed to be. It wasn’t personal, but he didn’t feel like he was ready for this type of commitment. Most wolves mated for life and even though it wasn’t set in stone, it might even be expected that they would remain together.

  Ryan checked out the woman he was expected to be mated to, truly looking at her for the first time since he arrived. She was not unattractive but, not classically beautiful either. Her hair, which was wet at the moment, was long and pulled back in a loose braid. He guessed that it would be a few shades lighter when it was dry, making the color a dark blond. Her eyes were a warm brown, but had just a little fire in them when she was put out as she was just then. She was of medium height with a slender waist and curves that suggested healthy child-bearing.

  Lily noticed his scrutiny and seemed to get even more agitated. She raised her hands in the air and asked him, “Would you like me to turn around so you can get the full view?”

  “Look,” he answered, “I don’t know what you want me to say. None of this was my idea.”

  “Fine, so it wasn’t your idea,” she announced while starting to shed her wet clothes right in the middle of the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?!” Ryan felt as if his mouth had been hanging open the entire time he had been back to the settlement.

  “The timing is right, so let’s just get this over with, if that’s okay with you,” she looked anything but happy about the suggestion, but she was standing naked in her own kitchen with gooseflesh rising on her wet skin and her nipples hardening in the cool air.

  “What?” Again Ryan’s words failed him.

  Lily walked straight up to him and started undoing his belt and jeans. “Do you need a little help to get started?” she asked in all sincerity. The look she gave him was all business, and she had his pants around his knees in seconds. Without another word, she dropped to her knees and pulled his mildly responding member into her mouth. He almost fell over in his shock and his pants bunched around his knees didn’t help. He wasn’t sure he wanted to enjoy this, but his traitor cock was responding to Lily’s attentions with growing enthusiasm. As soon as she held him, hard and ready, she stood up and faced him for a moment with an expression that said she was trying to decide what to do next. Abruptly, she turned her back to him and leaned over grasping the back of a chair that was nearby. Her soft, round backside was pressed up against him, and he groaned with the sweet ache in his swollen shaft.

  Ryan grasped her hips and started to push her away from him. “Lily, we don’t need to do this right now,” He found himself saying.

  “Please! Just do it!” Lily almost shouted, and Ryan could hear her on the verge of tears. “I want you to do this, now,” she said more quietly.

  Ryan wanted to continue his protest, but he wasn’t sure if he would hurt her more by rejecting her or by accepting the situation as she had. She leaned back against him harder, and he guided himself to her soft folds, parting them to find her slightly moist and ready enough to take him as he pushed his way into her tight, warm depths. They quickly found a gentle rhythm, and if she wasn’t enjoying it, she at least relaxed into the motion and grew wetter as he filled her.

  Part of Ryan wanted to end this quickly for both of their sakes, but his mind was racing and confused and he wasn’t even close to climax. He wanted to finish, but he also wanted, at the very least, to make the experience pleasant, if not passionate, for her. He tried to put the circumstances out of his mind and give himself over to the sensation. He ran his fingers across her smooth back and around to cup and gently massage her firm ripe breasts. Her taut nipples teased against his palms, and he let his thumbs flick over them, making them pucker and harden even more. He pinched them softly and squeezed the swelling breasts underneath. He heard her breath catch and he knew she was responding to his touch. He felt her tighten around his slick hardness, and he let a hand slide down to find her hidden bud with his fingertip. He circled it, gradually moving faster until she was hard and panting, pushing against his stroking fingers. They moved together, breathing hard and taking their pleasure. He felt her climax and, for a moment, felt regret that they had not done this face to face so that he could have seen the rapture of her peaking. He gave himself over to the physical and felt his buried manhood pulse with his own climax.

  Lily rested her forehead against the back of the chair as she caught her breath. She had not expected to enjoy any of this. She resented the interference of the Alphas in her love life. What love life? My love will never be mine. She felt the tears gathering again in her eyes. She loved someone, but he was already mated and while she knew that he admired her, she also knew that he would never be with her.

  Ryan withdrew from her, and she could hear him pulling up his pants and buckling his belt. She felt a little guilty for not paying more attention to the rest of him, especially after he made a point to please her. They never even kissed, and now the silence between them was awkward. She straightened up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

  “Lily, I’m sorry about this,” Ryan seemed flustered and uncomfortable.

  “None of this is your fault,” she replied. “But, if it is okay with you, I’d like to be alone now.” She picked up her clothes off the floor and walked out of the room, leaving him standing there feeling stupid and powerless.

  He left and went immediately to gather some supplies and load the horses. The sooner he was headed back, the better.

  Twenty-four

  Alex and Reginald arrived in Syracuse without further incident. It didn’t take long to find out that the elder Vampire they were seeking was Samuel Gates. Alex could scarcely believe that it had only been a few weeks since he had been socializing at a reception with Gates. Alex knew that it was the night of the Solar Storm, but the memory of a formal party was so out of place now that it made it seem like an age ago.

  Gates and most of the Vampires that had taken up residence in Syracuse were staying in upscale homes in a gated community. Several of the homes had been destroyed, but many were in decent enough shape to repair and inhabit. Alex felt a little put out when he had to identify himself to a Vampire guard at the gate house and be cleared to enter before anyone would tell him how to find Gates. This process took a while since they had no phones or radios and they sent a messenger on a bike. If Alex had ever forgotten how he disliked Gates, this was a terrific reminder. He could have thought of at least a dozen other elders he would have preferred to see in charge.

  A uniformed guard, armed with a sword and a crossbow, arrived at the security gate in a pedi-cab driven by an obvious subordinate. Alex found the sight to be so out of place as to be comical. He waved an impatient hand at the guard to lead the way, and he and Reginald followed on their mounts. When they reached a large columned home, Alex handed the reins to the pedi-cab driver and told him to wait. The guard frowned at Alex’s presumption of authority, but didn’t dare say anything to a Vampire as old as Alex was. He escorted Alex through the columns and to the front door. Alex noted that one of the columns was cracked and crumbling, and he wondered how well the others would stand if the one gave way. He entered behind the guard and Reginald followed behind. They were taken to a gigantic marble floored room that must have been a ballroom at one time. At the far end of the room, opposite the extremely tall double doors, was a long table, set sideways so that the man sitting behind it appeared to be seated at an oversized desk since there were no other chairs around it.

  Alex didn’t wait to be invited or directed. He strode purposely down the length of the chamber until he was standing directly in front of Gates, seated on the other side of the table.

  “Alexander. How wonderful that you have survived and are here,” Gates managed to sound smug. “I hope your lovely wife has fared as well.”

  The last time
Alex had seen Gates, he was lusting after Aurora, like a lecherous cretin. “Aurora is fine.” Alex did not offer up any details.

  Gates gestured to another guard standing against the wall to the side of the room. “Get Mr. Lake a chair and be quick about it.” He managed to make it seem as if the lack of seating was some kind of unplanned accident and was most likely the fault of some incompetent underling. He certainly did not offer any kind of chair to Reginald and barely looked at him, still standing quietly behind Alex.

  Reginald looked at Gates, however, and was surprised to see the very elder that he had told Alex about as having visited Devereux and rescuing the Witch from Salem. He wanted to be able to whisper the information to Alex, but held his tongue as he could not reasonably do so, without acting a fool. Besides, it seemed that Alex already had the Vampire’s measure and didn’t care for him either.

  Alex always began to feel dirty after too long in the presence of Samuel Gates. Gates was only eleven hundred years old to Alex’s two thousand and Alex had sat on the council much longer. It was within his authority and perfectly acceptable for him to make demands of Gates as he wished. He did not wish to wait for his chair to be fetched so that he might sit across the grand desk from Gates like a supplicant.

  “I would like someone to arrange someplace, other than here, for us to stay. I would also like to be taken somewhere here that I may freshen up. Then I will be happy to meet with you privately where you can give me a full report of what you know. I will send your man back to you to let you know when I am ready for you.” Alex examined the dirt under his nails as he spoke. There was no question of him being obeyed.

  Gates looked as if he had swallowed something sour, but he only answered with, “Certainly, how rude of me not to notice your weariness.” He said the word like it was weakness. Alex let it pass, and Gates called to the guard that just reentered the room with a chair and relayed Alex’s instructions.