by Lexi Blake
“Do you think I don’t know that, Zack?” Daniel said bitterly. “Do you think this isn’t costing me? I know everything I owe Lee Owens. Even as we speak, Dev is trying to calm Z down because she is so pissed off at us she’s threatening to kick us out if anything happens to her. Damn it, my son is named for her father. Do you honestly believe I want to hurt her?”
“Then allow me to take her place,” Zack said.
“No.” He had a wife and a little girl. I remembered him talking about her. I supposed she was my cousin. If this guy was such a badass, I wasn’t going to let someone with a kid take my place. “I’ll meet him.”
“No, you will not.” Marcus turned to the king. “Can you not see that she is devastated? She will use this as an excuse to commit suicide. She’s at a delicate stage. I have more experience with Hunters than you do. They’re emotional creatures. You dealt her a blow today that she hasn’t even processed yet. If you allow this to happen, you are killing her.”
“I have no choice,” Donovan said with a sigh. “If she won’t publically take back her accusation, I have no option but to allow the ritual. Kelsey, please, take back what you said. I’ll put everyone I have on digging up evidence and then we can go after Castle. I promise you, I will bring him to justice.”
In this, the wolf inside me and I were of the same mind. There would be no retraction. I wasn’t going to lie. “No. He did it. If he wants to try to kill me, then good for him.”
“You’re so stubborn,” Donovan cursed under his breath. “Do what you can to get her ready, Marcus. This takes place in two hours. Is there anything I can get you?”
I thought about it. There was really only one thing I wanted. “Bottle of tequila?”
Donovan rolled his eyes. “No. I won’t send you in drunk.”
“Then you’re worthless to me, Your Highness.” I sat back and closed my eyes. “I’m gonna take a nap. Wake me when it’s time for my execution.”
Donovan cursed again and I heard the door opened. “Fix her, Marcus. Zack, I need you with me.”
The bed dipped again as Marcus sat back down. “Kelsey? Kelsey, is there anything I can do to talk you out of this?”
I didn’t bother to open my eyes. “Nope.”
I was ready for it to be over with. There wasn’t much to look forward to anyway. I wouldn’t see Gray again. Nathan and Liv had sold me out. The way I saw it, it didn’t matter what Castle did to me. If Castle killed me, then I didn’t have to rot in a cell so it might be a win for my side either way.
“I’m going to speak with the wolves. Perhaps I can talk some sense into McKenzie. I will return. Please reconsider.”
The door hissed open and all was blissfully silent once more. I shifted and let my head find the pillow. Sleep seemed like a really nice thing to do, but it wouldn’t come. I lay there thinking of Gray. I’d been so happy with him. He’d made me feel like I had something to offer a man besides a quickie. Nothing ever felt so right as lying in his arms. It was really hard to believe that it was a lie.
I went over every moment of our time together in my head as time passed. I remembered every touch, every glance, every time I made him crazy. Even though he’d lied to me, I wondered where he was. Was he as lost as I was? He wouldn’t be waiting for me in the parking garage this time, or at least I hoped not. I wasn’t going to come out of this place, it seemed.
I was going to die here. Would anyone tell him? Would he mourn for me?
The door hissed open and I sighed because I didn’t want to listen to Marcus beg me again. I tried to pretend to sleep.
“Lady,” a voice several octaves higher than Marcus’s said.
I opened my eyes and Lee Quinn stood there holding a key card and a bottle. Despite the seriousness of my situation, I had to smile. “You’re a good little thief, aren’t you?”
He grinned. One of his teeth was missing. He was going to be a looker when he grew up. Now he was one sweet-looking boy. “That’s what my granddad says.”
I sat up and studied the kid. I should call his dads. Neither one of them would want their baby boy in here with me, but I found myself curious. No grand desire to pummel the child rushed through my veins, so I thought we were safe. “Who’d you steal the card from?”
He plopped down on the chair his dad had previously occupied. He was surprisingly self-possessed for a kid his age. “I swiped it off Trent. He can be easily distracted. I stole this from the bar down in Ether. I just grabbed it, though, so it’s not tequila. Is rum okay?”
I laughed, the first amusement I’d found in anything all day. “What do you do? Eavesdrop?”
He passed me the rum, which would work nicely. I held it in my lap as he replied. “I snuck into the security room. Almost every room in the building has cameras in it. Lots of people say Papa is paranoid, but I don’t know what that means.”
“It means he’s careful. It has to be getting late. Shouldn’t you be in bed? Tomorrow is a school day.”
Lee set his feet up on the coffee table and stretched his arms out behind his head. “Don’t have to go. Got suspended.”
He said it with no small amount of pride. His parents were going to have so much trouble with him.
“What on earth did an eight-year-old do to get suspended?”
“Punched a guy in the face,” Lee admitted. “He called Mia fat and made her cry. Mia’s my friend. I had to stand on a chair though. He was a lot taller than me. I’m in third grade. He’s in fifth.”
Oh, I liked Lee. “Sounds like you had good cause. Did he punch you back?”
“No, I was faster than him, but not faster than Mrs. Nichols,” he allowed. “Actually, I am faster than Mrs. Nichols. She snuck up on me. Are you going to drink that? Papa always drinks when he gets really upset. He calls it Papa juice, but Mama drinks it, too. I think it’s one of those things adults say when they don’t want you to do something because you’re a kid.”
I nodded. “I think you’re right.”
He got very serious. “I’m named after your dad. He died saving my mom and my papa.”
No wonder he was practically a saint to these people. “Lee is a nice name,” I said because I didn’t know what else to say.
“Are you gonna fight the alpha?”
“Yes. He did something really bad and I know about it. I could lie and then I wouldn’t have to fight, but he would get away with hurting some girls.”
Lee’s little jaw firmed. “He killed them. He should pay for that. My dad thinks you shouldn’t fight him though. Mama is mad.”
“Sorry.” I didn’t much care about Quinn and Donovan, but I liked the kid. I didn’t like causing him trouble. It was hard enough being eight. “I think she’ll probably get over it.”
“I don’t know about that,” a voice said from the doorway. I looked up and the queen stood there. A harried looking Trent started toward Lee, but the queen put a hand out. “Stop that. She’s not going to hurt Lee.” She gave me a wry smile. “Are you?”
“I think he’s probably safe. He brought me liquor after all.” I showed her my pilfered rum.
The queen held up her own bottle and I noted it was a damn good tequila. “He’s not the only one.” She walked into the room and affectionately ruffled her son’s hair. “Go to bed, little ruffian. You might have gotten suspended, but Papa found you a tutor. He’ll be here at 7:30 in the morning.”
Lee sighed. I got the feeling he was used to being outmaneuvered by his mom. He stood up and walked to her. He threw his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly. “Night, Mama. I love you.” He turned back to me. “Bye, Kelsey. I hope the alpha doesn’t kill you.”
The queen watched her son walk out of the room. “Trent, why don’t you follow my baby boy and make sure he doesn’t stop anywhere along the way?”
Trent eyed me like I would murder someone the minute he turned his back.
The queen arched a regal eyebrow and Trent sighed and walked out the door. She turned back and took a look at the bottle
in my hand. She shook her head. “No, that won’t do. Let’s drink this.”
The Queen of all Vampire sat down across from me and pulled the cork on the bottle of imported tequila. She didn’t wait for me to tell her I didn’t have any glasses much less an actual kitchen in my crappy cell. She took an extremely long swig from the bottle and passed it to me. She didn’t look very queen-like in jeans and sneakers and a black sweater. It was similar to mine, and I figured out where I’d gotten the clothing from. She filled it out better than I did. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
I took the bottle and matched her. “You’re not what I expected.”
“I rarely am,” the queen replied. “Let’s talk, you and I. First off, I am so sorry my husbands are dipshits.”
“I’m sorry, too,” I replied, unwillingly liking the woman.
“Sometimes I think they make each other worse,” she mused. “They have a mutual admiration society for each other’s Machiavellian plots. They enjoy intrigue far too much. You should have been told what you are right off the bat. If I’d been doing it, I would have invited you to dinner, explained what you are, and offered you the training to control it.”
“That probably would have worked better,” I allowed. “If the dinner was really good, that is.”
She smiled. “Oh, it would have been good. I know the way to a wolf’s heart.”
“I’m not a wolf.” The denial was automatic. Even as I said the words, I knew I was lying to some extent.
She took another swig. “Not fully, but I think you’ll find you fit in well with wolf society, probably much more so than you ever could with humans. If you give it a chance, you might be able to find a home here.”
“I don’t need a home.” I felt surly. A couple of hours before I’d been moving into my new home, the one the man I loved had bought for me. Now I had a fucking cell.
“Spoken like a true loner,” the queen said. “Your father would have said the same thing.”
“Don’t call him that,” I shot back. I was starting to get emotional again. Twitchy. It was the only way to describe it. I couldn’t help but think about the dreams I’d had since childhood. They’d been just that—dreams. I’d had no loving father. Apparently he’d been here, busy taking care of the queen. “He was some promiscuous asshole who knocked up my mom and went on his merry way. There are probably ten more like me out there.”
The queen’s hazel eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’ll ignore that because I know what it feels like to be where you are, but understand your father would have loved you. He would have done anything for you had he known you existed. If Lee Owens had lived and discovered who you were, he would have come for you and nothing would have stopped him.”
I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe someone wanted me. “How did he die?”
The queen sighed and it seemed the memory hurt her on a fundamental level, but she talked about it anyway. “It was right before Daniel took over. We were betrayed by a demon. He gave up our location to the head of the Council. Zack managed to get Daniel out of there, but Dev, Lee, and I were left behind. The vampires knew Lee would never allow them to take us, so they filled him so full of silver he couldn’t move. He fought so hard. I begged him to take vampire blood and save himself. I begged him to run, but he wouldn’t. He said he couldn’t. Are you going to use this fight with Castle to kill yourself?”
Sneaky queen. I was still thinking about the man who fathered me as I answered the question. “No. But if it happens, it happens. I won’t take back the accusation, Your Highness. I’m right and he’s wrong. If I die because of it, then I do.”
The queen sat up and leaned forward, tears shining in her beautiful eyes. “He would be proud of you. I really hope you don’t die, Kelsey Owens. I would really like for you to get to know my son.”
The door opened again and I was glad to see Marcus walk in. The talk with the queen made me anxious. It ran across my nerves, bringing up all sorts of feelings. I’d managed to shut out so much of what I was feeling, but she and that boy were bringing it all up again.
I wouldn’t have a son because Gray was gone, my mind raced. I didn’t have a family anymore because they’d all lied to me, including my mother. Jamie hadn’t lied, but I didn’t feel like being fair at that moment. I didn’t have friends because who would want to be friendly with some freak. I didn’t fit anywhere. I wasn’t a wolf and I wasn’t human.
My eyes started to well with tears and my hands started to shake. Marcus cursed impatiently and crossed to me. His hand slid beneath my hair and rubbed the back of my neck gently. It was like someone had turned down the volume. I sighed and leaned against his hand.
“I do not leave her alone for more than half an hour and one of you is in here again, riling her up,” Marcus said, looking at the queen.
She frowned. “I wasn’t trying to hurt her. I just wanted to meet her. She’s Lee’s daughter. I was curious.”
“Don’t you think your family has done enough to her for one day?”
“Marcus, you have to know I had nothing to do with this,” the queen protested. “This is one of those things Danny and Dev don’t bother to tell me about. If I’d known, I would have stopped it. I understand she has to be trained, but it could have been handled differently.” She stood up and paced as she thought. “I certainly would have brought her in before she got involved with that demon. That’s what makes me crazy. Daniel knew, but he let it go on. She should have been brought in the minute he got that DNA test back.”
“I believe he would tell you he wasn’t sure she was a Hunter,” Marcus explained. “She could be Lee’s daughter and still have merely been human. According to Daniel, she’s shown nothing of a Hunter’s skills in the past few years.”
“What’s different?” Without really thinking about it, I leaned toward the vampire.
“I believe this case you have worked on pushed you over the edge. It triggered the instinct to burst forth. Meeting Lieutenant Sloane was also an emotional experience. The two combined have forced the beast into the open. Have you ever felt it before?”
I told him about the night with my father. I didn’t candy coat it the way I had with Gray. I told him about running afterward and how I survived the cold. He took it all in with an academic nod.
“The killing of the wolves would have been a trigger,” Marcus explained. “I’m surprised you managed to contain yourself then. It could have been much worse, Kelsey. You could have stood your ground and tried to kill any wolf who entered your territory.”
“Yes, my territory. That’s why I attacked Quinn. He came into my territory.” I hadn’t liked it.
Marcus brought my hand into his lap and rubbed it gently. “I can teach you to control that beast. I can train you to integrate the wolf into your personality. She’s a part of you that you can learn to tap into and use for protection. Right now, the wolf is close to the surface because you’re emotional. We need to keep you calm until I’ve taught you to control your instincts.”
“You’ve trained a Hunter before?” the queen asked. Her eyes were on the place where Marcus held my hand. He’d taken one of my hands in both of his and was rubbing long strokes up and down my arm. It was a little like petting, and I knew I should stop him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It felt too good.
Marcus nodded. “I have, Your Highness. The Council trained Hunters long before I walked the night, and always it is an academic who handles the Hunter in the beginning. Hunters and academics have a long history of partnership.”
“Because of the persuasion powers of the academic?” the queen continued her questions.
“This and the fact that academics are able to bond to females in ways the other classes cannot.” Marcus’s fingers almost absently tangled in mine. “Though we sleep, we do not go into a fugue state the way other vampires do. If a Hunter needs her mentor during the day, only an academic can be there for her, but it goes far beyond that. I can go into her dreams, as you very wel
l know. I can sense her emotional state. If we…got close, I would be able to taste the food on her tongue, to sense when she’s in trouble. An academic can have a very intimate relationship with a female. It helps the Hunter to bond with her trainer. It helps her trust him and allows her to form other relationships later on. Without training, Kelsey would more than likely be alone the rest of her life. She would push people away and never truly understand why.”
“By close, I suppose you mean sleeping with her,” the queen deduced with a wry smile.
His hand squeezed mine while he spoke to the queen. “It’s where the relationship usually goes. It’s difficult to stay apart when properly training a Hunter. You have to know her inside and out. Unless the female is simply ugly on the inside, you discover her true beauty. A certain affection will always spring from that.” He looked down at me. “I would never force you into anything, cara mia. I doubt I will be allowed to train you. Please remember whoever the king chooses must respect your wishes concerning your own body. You do not have to share yourself with anyone.”
“He’s talking about Henri,” the queen offered.
Marcus huffed and cursed under his breath. “You must talk sense into him, Zoey. Henri has never trained a Hunter before. He should allow Hugo Wells to try. Hugo is older than Henri and he’s unmarried. For the first three months, she should not be allowed out of his sight, and that includes during sleep. She needs to remain in the room with him.”
“I doubt Kim is going to like that.” Zoey’s eyes widened. I thought she wouldn’t much like that.
I pulled my hand out of Marcus’s. I better get used to trying to calm myself down. I wasn’t letting some other vampire do that to me. Marcus was different. I’d felt a connection to him even before we’d met, but I wouldn’t let some vampire I’d never seen before touch me and keep me like a pet he was trying to train.
“Cara,” Marcus began.
“No,” I said, moving away from him, turning to the queen. “Tell your husband he can go to hell. I won’t be treated like a dog. He can’t order someone to adopt and housebreak me. I’ll stay in this fucking cell or he can put me down humanely, but I won’t go with that Henri person.”