Once Upon A Midnight

by Stephanie Rowe

I just hope we do it before something happens to my sister.

  ***

  “I don’t think we should leave Rebekah,” Jonas says cautiously as Father looks back at us. “She protects Cyrus, yet you want him to protect her?”

  “Screw you, I’ve got this. How hard can it be?” Cyrus laughs, and for goodness’ sake, he’s as high as a kite.

  “For one thing, if you’re going to protect our sister, make sure you’re not high,” I say, smacking him upside his head. “And two, he can do it, but the extra security will be needed,” I say to Father, and he nods.

  “Already in place. Kurt was very generous when I told him what was going on. He says it’s all the Kelleys, but I worry he is just trying to cover himself. I plan to get to the bottom of it when we go to his house.”

  We’re going to the Conners’ estate? “We are stopping there?”

  He nods, unaware of the excitement in my voice. I could get to see Taegan. “Yes, for a night.”

  I nod as Cyrus says, “Rebekah’ll be fine. Promise.”

  “Maybe we should take her with us,” Jonas suggests. “Just to be sure.”

  “She can’t know why we are leaving or for what,” Father says and I nod. “Nor can I allow her to leave this house.”

  Before I argue that, I look to Cyrus. “She can’t know about Killian being in the house. I feel we need to tell her what he is, but that we killed him.”

  “Fine,” he says simply. “I can do that.”

  “She’ll go after him,” I say, and Father nods in agreement. While I know she’ll be fine, I really don’t want to leave her. But I know we have to. We have to go to each faction’s headquarters, talk to the leaders, and make sure everyone is still loyal to us. Staying the night in their houses, speaking with all who reside there gets the job done, but it is tiring. The only good thing is that I’ll see Taegan, outside of my bedroom. That’s enough to urge me to go.

  “We’ll get this figured out,” Father says for the umpteenth time, but for the first time, I can tell he is nervous. Which makes me nervous. Does he truly believe we’ll figure this out, or is he just saying that to save face? I’m unsure, but I don’t have a chance to ask before the red light in his office flashes and an alarm sounds.

  Which means there is an issue in the Clandestine.

  Usually, I wouldn’t worry. Probably just a fight, but Rebekah is working tonight. We have sent her assassin down into the bastille, and the threat against her is still real. So it’s easy to say I am out of my seat and running down the many stairs to the Clandestine without even thinking. I’m unsure what I’m about to walk into, but I pray my sister is alive and in one piece. Coming through the side door, I enter the Clandestine. Everyone is in motion, visibly upset and panic-stricken, as Rebekah stands proudly, her arms across her chest in a smug way.

  Samuel comes from the left, grabbing Cyrus before they take off outside, leaving me to thank the God above that my sister is alive.

  “Are you okay?” I ask, breathless, but thankful beyond belief.

  “Fine, there was no problem. I took care of it,” she says, grinning from ear to ear.

  “What happened?” I ask, and JJ turns to me. Samuel comes back to stand beside JJ, breathing hard and looking a little like he could die at any moment. He’s getting a lot older. I glance around, making sure no one can hear us, to find that everyone is being ushered out by security.

  “Guy comes in asking for Killian. Rebekah is talking to him, and the next thing I know, she has him on the bar, her knee in his neck. I went over to break it up, but he knocked her off and took off.”

  “So, a shifter?” Jonas asks, his arms crossing over his chest.

  “I guess,” JJ says, sighing heavily. He looks to Samuel. “You couldn’t catch ’em?”

  He shakes his head, defeated. “They were long gone, and Hank didn’t see the license plate, so no help there.”

  “But they got a make and model?”

  “Town car,” Cyrus says, shaking his head. “Could be anyone.”

  “True, but who?” Samuel asks, and everyone is stumped. “Would the Kelleys really try to come in here after their first soldier failed?”

  “They don’t know he failed. They asked where he was,” Rebekah announces, and we all turn to her in surprise. “They are looking for him.”

  I nod, turning to JJ. “We need to keep it that way. No one can know we have him, and if anyone asks, Samuel fired him, and we haven’t seen him.”

  Everyone nods minus Rebekah; her eyes are wide with disbelief. I can’t deal with her right now, though. I’ll explain later.

  Jonas clears his throat as he asks, “When is the meeting?”

  “Monday,” I say, assuming he is talking about the meeting with the clans.

  “Meeting for what?” Rebekah inquires.

  “Nothing,” JJ replies quickly, but she doesn’t like that.

  “JJ, I just single-handedly took someone down, ready to kick ass until you stopped me, yet you still can’t tell me anything?”

  Everyone looks at each other and then back to her. “Nope. Nothing.”

  With that, JJ turns to leave, and we all go to follow him. We have to. We have to report back to Father and see how he wants to proceed with this.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Rebekah hollers, and I pause. I can’t help it. I can’t leave her in the dark. She just kicked ass, and I owe her that.

  “We are meeting with each leader to make sure loyalties are still intact. Father thinks Killian came on his own, not sent by the Kelleys. But now, with this, that may be different. We just aren’t sure.”

  Her little face scrunches up, and I know she is confused. “So he doesn’t suspect the vampires are working with the Kelleys?”

  Biting my lip, I slowly shake my head. “Killian isn’t a vampire.”

  Her eyes widen more. “What?”

  “He’s a shifter.”

  That stuns her. Without saying anything else, I grab her hand and take her with me out of the Clandestine. I can’t leave her there, not when people are looking for Killian. I expect her to say more, but she doesn’t, and I’m thankful for that because I don’t know what else to say. I’m at a loss for words. Not only for the situation but because I just realized there is no way I can run. This war with the Kelleys, worrying about my family, it’s taking its toll.

  I couldn’t bear a war with the wolves. I’d be terrified for Taegan, for my life, for everything.

  I’d rather she be safe and alive.

  Even if that means she’s not married to me.

  Chapter Twelve

  Nuzzling my nose against Taegan’s chest, I close my eyes and exhale loudly.

  “I would say my excellent lovemaking has worn ya out, but I know that isn’t the case,” she jokes, moving my hair out of my eyes then behind my ears. “A penny for your thoughts.”

  “Hope you have a lot,” I scoff, nuzzling closer. “And while your lovemaking was enough to kill me, you’re right. It’s just some stuff with Rebekah.”

  She pauses her stroking of my hair and looks down at me as I look up. “Is she okay?”

  The concern is apparent. She cares for my sister as much as I do. “Yeah,” I say with a laugh. “She actually took out a guy, not that I ever doubted her strength, but she did it. The Kelleys are out for us, my love, I just know it. They’ve sent in an assassin, but he couldn’t succeed.”

  “How do you know he is an assassin?”

  “He’s a shifter posing as a vampire. You know the guy behind the bar, Killian?”

  She nods. “Oh, okay. Wow, so he’s a Kelley?”

  “We don’t know, he won’t change back. Irvina says he is, but she says he is of Conner blood too,” I say, and then I sit up, looking at her. “Father questioned your family.”

  She seems a little taken aback, but then she nods. “With good reason, I’m sure. But we are loyal. Me more so than anyone else,” she says, kissing my nose, but then she pauses. “He has Conner blood?”

&
nbsp; “Yeah, do your parents have other kids, ones who were made with the Kelleys?”

  Taegan shakes her head quickly. “God, no,” she says, horrified by the thought. “Ma would kill my da.”

  I smile. “Yeah, she is crazy. You must get that from her,” I tease, and she pushes me back into the sheets before covering my body with hers.

  “You love this crazy.”

  “I do, very much so,” I agree, kissing her jaw and then exhaling loudly, everything still weighing very heavily on my heart. “She makes me nervous.”

  “Rebekah?”

  “Yeah, she’s so damn stubborn. She knows what she wants, and it doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks. I’m scared out my mind that she’ll go after this guy. Though she knows it would be a bad idea, she’s just so naïve, wanting to save everyone, even people who are out to kill her.”

  “She’s a good person, a sweet girl,” Taegan says, leaning her forehead to mine. “I think she’s been locked up for so long that she zones in on a problem and wants to fix it because she can’t fix her life.”

  “You’re on to something, for sure,” I agree with a nod. “But I don’t know what to do. I want to protect her. I want to kill them, all of them, for coming after my sister and putting us in this predicament. We are supposed to be a peaceful clan. Why all this fighting? Over a fucking formula for eternal life? What’s the point of it when it’s not even a good life?”

  Holding my gaze, she smiles before moving herself against me. “Not a good life?”

  I reach up, taking her face in my hands. “You won’t be mine in a matter of weeks, Taegan, so, yeah, it’s about to be a horrible life.”

  She leans into my hand, and her eyes flicker with sadness as she nods. “I know.”

  “It sucks, and I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to fight the Kelleys, and I sure as hell don’t want anyone trying to kill my sister.”

  She lays her head on my chest. “I wish I could make it better.”

  “Me too.” I close my eyes, but then she starts kissing down my chest. Opening my eyes again, I meet hers as she takes me into her hands, her mouth hovering only inches from me.

  “Maybe I can?”

  A smile pulls at my lips as I thread my fingers into her hair. “For now.”

  Kissing the tip of my quickly growing cock, she grins back up at me. “A distraction, maybe?”

  “A very welcome one,” I agree right as her mouth takes me.

  And while it is welcomed, wanted, needed, soon it will be missed.

  More than she’ll ever realize.

  ***

  Fighting with Rebekah is not what I wanted this morning.

  It’s the last thing I want, actually.

  It’s been two days since the person was sent here inquiring about Killian. And in those two days, Rebekah has been begging and pestering me for information, but I don’t know what to tell her. A part of me might be trying to protect her too, but mostly it’s because I have no clue what is going on. Which is why Father is having this meeting. We are thinking of what to do next, and truth is, I don’t think anyone knows what we are supposed to do.

  But before we can make any decisions, the door flies open, and there stands my very angry sister.

  And when I say angry, she’s shaking, and the poor guard behind her looks terrified.

  She probably threatened to kill him.

  “Rebekah, what are you doing here? You’re to be sleeping, my dear,” my father says, but even I know that’s pointless. She’s out for blood.

  Glaring, she shakes her head hard as she says, “No, I need to know what is going on.”

  She then drops into the seat at the end of the table, steam basically coming out of her ears as my father asks, “My love, what are you speaking of?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Father. I’m talking about this whole Killian thing,” she says sharply, leaning on her elbows. Man, this isn’t going to go well.

  But I understand her frustration. She wants to know what’s going on. She cares about the guy, and while I hate that, she has a right to know. I don’t think she really understands that we are doing our best to protect her. It may not seem that way to her, but we are.

  Looking around the table, she holds her hands out. “It’s been over two days since his cousin came into the club. Over two days with no answers to my questions. None of you will even talk to me, everyone avoids me while I stew, trying to figure out what is going on. I feel it’s my right as the person this concerns to know what is going on.”

  She seems proud of herself. I know I am proud of her, but my father… I know he sees her a nuisance. “Is that right?”

  “Yes,” Rebekah says, her voice breaking a bit. “I single-handedly took down the guy claiming to be his cousin. I have done what I was told…to an extent,” she adds when JJ scoffs. “And I am old enough, Father. I am not a child. I am a woman. I’m turning twenty in a month, I can handle it. I just need answers before I drive myself mad.”

  I agree in some respects, but my father is toying with her. Looking up at her, he has a snide look in his eyes as he says, “What do you need to know?”

  “Everything!” she exclaims, frustration apparent on her sweet face. “What happened? What do you guys suspect? I need to know what happened from the moment I walked into the back, onward.”

  I clear my throat, ready to explain what is going on, but my father holds his hand up. “But, my love, why? Whatever would that do for you? It doesn’t matter what is going on with all this. What matters is if you are safe. Your need to know things will pass, I’m sure of it.”

  He says it as if she doesn’t even know how to feel. As if she is a toddler and he knows best. Rolling my eyes, I exhale loudly as she throws her hands up, narrowing her eyes. That is until Samuel holds his hand up to her.

  “I think she needs closure, William,” he says slowly, leaning back in his chair. “They were friends, and I’m sure she must feel betrayed.”

  “Exactly,” I say, and while that wasn’t what I was going to say, it gets straight to the point. Building off Samuel’s comments, I explain, “As much as JJ and I didn’t want her around him, they worked together. She isn’t a robot, Father. She has feelings, and she does care for people easily, you know that.”

  “Fine, but this boy is nothing. Filth,” he announces with a wave of his frail hand, and that doesn’t help.

  Shaking my head, I hold my hand out to where Rebekah is sitting, vibrating with anger. “To us, yes, because we know the truth. But she doesn’t, so she probably thinks differently.” Turning to Rebekah, I hold her gaze and try to explain. I pray I don’t scare her, but like she said, she is almost twenty. She is a woman. She can handle this. “When you told me what you’d heard about Christiana, I knew no one knew that but her family. Her brother was the one to discover us, so he would be the only one who knew. When I asked Killian about it, he claimed he knew from school. But it didn’t happen in school. It happened after we graduated. I called him on it, and he tried to flee. We caught him, brought him upstairs, and tried to get him to talk. He is very tight-lipped, though, no matter what we do.”

  She just stares at me, almost in disbelief, as I hold her gaze. Clearing my throat, I choose my words carefully. “He won’t tell us who he is, he won’t shift back into his original form, he won’t even admit to who sent him here, to steal you.”

  “Then how do you know he is a shifter?”

  “We chained him up with silver,” Samuel adds. “He burned up like a firecracker. And when we unleashed Irvina on him, she confirmed he was of Kelley blood and he was sent here to kidnap you.”

  “How does she know that, though?” she asks, and I can tell she is trying to find some good in this, but there is none.

  “Truth spell, but he somehow fought most of it off. We’re unsure how, but no matter how many times she cast it, he resisted it. It was a rather magnificent thing to see,” Father says, his eyes sparkling, and it makes me sick.

  “So you�
�re holding him captive because he’s a shifter, and some truth spell read that he was here to kidnap me? He never admitted to it?” she asks, and I shake my head. How does she not see that he is corrupt? “That doesn’t seem like enough to hold him for.”

  “You’re right, and it’s not, but until he speaks, he stays. Well, that was until a shifter came poking around looking for him,” JJ adds, sitting down beside me. “We got the plates off the car he drove off in. It’s linked to Thomas Kelley.”

  Rebekah’s eyes widen as her jaw drops. “So Thomas shifted into a vampire to come ask questions?”

  “Yes, and we feel he’s behind this. We’re going to go meet Frank Kelley tomorrow morning. At that point, we’ll ask if he knows anything about his son’s doings. If he denies it, we’ll ask the son. If he denies it, then we’ll wait, see if anyone else comes around looking for Killian. If they do, we’ll snatch them up. But every day, we’ll push the boy for info. Everyone has a breaking point, and we’ll find Killian’s.”

  When my father’s lips curve in a sinister grin, I’m sure he is thinking of all sorts of ways to torture the kid. I hate that, but it needs to be done. We can’t let anything happen to my sister.

  Clapping his hands together, Father smiles back to Rebekah. “So, see? Nothing to worry that pretty little head about. We have it under control.”

  She doesn’t move at first, doesn’t even agree. Rebekah just stares at us all, calculating in her head. I know she wants more, but I’m sure my father won’t be supplying anything else.

  Clearing her throat, she asks, “Can I speak to him?”

  “Why on earth would you think we’d allow that?” JJ asks before I can.

  “Because we’re friends. I can see where his head is. He trusts me.”

  “No way. No fucking way,” I demand, shaking my head. “I won’t allow it.”

  “You won’t allow it?” she asks with a laugh. “You aren’t the leader of the clan, for one. For two, I’m a grown-ass woman. And for three, I’ll do what I want!”

  That has me laughing hard. She thinks she’s smart, throwing out the fact that the Patchwork isn’t mine, but what she doesn’t realize is I know that, and today, I don’t care at all. All I care about is protecting her. Glaring at her, I yell, “We both know that’s a load of malarkey, Rebekah. You do as we say, and that’s final.”