by Eva Chase
I had done well by my people—the people I hadn’t even known were mine until eighteen months ago. My alphas and I had accomplished an awful lot in that time. And when I stopped worrying about the future and let myself just look at what was here in the present, all I could see was happiness.
Even if it didn’t last forever, the fact that we had it now counted for something. And I’d do my damned best to see that we had it for as close to forever as I could manage. That was all anyone could really ask from me.
West leaned over when I’d taken my last bite. “Should I tell them to get the bonfire ready?”
I nodded and got to my feet. This part of the celebration that I’d planned specially for the canine kin felt even more appropriate now. Time for all of us to take a little weight off our chests.
“Everyone,” I called out to our guests. “Please join us in the courtyard now for a special bonfire.”
The crowd followed us out to the courtyard. Flames were already licking over the heaped wood, sending tangy pine smoke up toward the darkening sky. The breeze nipped at my ears as I stepped outside, but the blaze chased the chill away as soon as I got close. Its ruddy light wavered over the faces all around the fire.
“It’s been a good year,” I said over the crackling of the flames, turning to take in all of the kin gathered around me. “And I mostly want us to celebrate those good parts. But nothing good comes from sweeping over past hurts. Any of you who was here on this estate or in one of the settlements that came under siege last year had more than your share of pain. So tonight I thought we could let our old fears and angers go. Anything leftover that we don’t need to hang on to, to free up that space in ourselves for the next year.”
I motioned to the containers of tokens and pencils that Kylie and Felix had set out on one of the wooden benches. “You don’t have to share it with anyone else—just write what you’d like to release on one of these wooden tokens and toss it into the fire.”
I picked up one of the tokens myself, a sanded-smooth rectangle about half the size of my palm. As I stepped back from the bench where the containers were sitting, others gathered around. I printed carefully on the pale birch surface.
Doubting that I can be a good leader. Focusing on fear instead of joy.
I tossed mine into the fire. It disappeared into the red-hot depths in an instant, with a sizzle I felt as much as heard. A smile tugged at my lips.
Around the fire, more and more of my kin threw in their own tokens. Their faces glowed now with more than just the reflected firelight. In that relief, I saw all the proof I could have needed that I belonged here.
CHAPTER 9
West
MY FELLOW ALPHAS and I had all grabbed tokens of our own to join in the fiery ritual Ren had suggested. Aaron and Nate jotted down a few words quickly and let theirs fly. Marco smirked to himself as he scrawled something.
I stared at the blank surface of mine, the hot sharp smoke tickling my lungs. My fingers had tensed around the pencil.
“Having trouble thinking of anything to put?” Ren said teasingly.
I grimaced. “No. I know exactly what I most need to let go of. It’s the doing it that’s not easy.”
But I’d committed to this course already, hadn’t I, in a much more concrete way than writing a word on a scrap of wood? My body balked for a second longer, and then I scribbled the letters quickly.
Prejudice.
That covered it in a nutshell. I flicked the token into the flames to join the others.
I wasn’t sure I felt all that much of a release. My gut was still tight when I left my mate and the other alphas to see where Felix had gotten to.
I’d been a little worried I’d find him literally wrapped up in his almost-mate, that friend of Ren’s, but they were just chatting with a few of the staff near the fire. I caught the fox shifter’s eye and motioned him off to the side.
“Should we head out to get him?” I asked.
Felix checked the time on his phone. “He’s not supposed to meet us at the pick-up spot for another half an hour.”
“It’s a fifteen-minute drive,” I said. “I want a bit of time in advance to scope out the lay of the land. He might be acting friendly, but he’s still a bloodsucker.”
Felix shrugged. He was my main liaison to the vampire community in New York, helping keep the peace with them since we’d overcome their attacks last year, but he didn’t dispute my sense of caution. “We can go, then. You’re the one who invited him.”
I glowered at him, and his jaw twitched as he lowered his eyes apologetically. But it was true. I’d invited the bloodsucker. I’d probably have felt a lot better if this whole thing hadn’t been my responsibility.
Kylie ambled over to us. “What are you two discussing all secretively?” she asked, setting her hands on her hips.
“Nothing anyone who doesn’t already know needs to know yet,” I said, and paused. “If Ren starts looking for me, tell her I’ll be back soon.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sure she’s going to be real happy with that answer,” Kylie said, but she didn’t push. “Make sure you bring my guy back in one piece, you hear?”
I shouldered Felix toward the garage. “I think that depends more on him than me.”
Felix gave her a little wave before loping ahead of me to the garage around the side of the estate house. He was already in my favorite car, the engine just rumbling into action, when I came in.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea making this a surprise?” he said as I dropped into the passenger seat.
“It’s not going to be a surprise to the guards,” I said. “They’re all prepared. I’ll handle the rest. I don’t think anyone’s going to be all that happy about the idea without the proper context.”
I couldn’t say for sure they’d be happy about it even with the context, but I guessed that was on me too. This plan had seemed like a good idea when I’d thought of it, after Ren had started on her Christmas obsession and Aaron had mentioned to the rest of us his bright idea of reaching out to the fae monarch.
Of course, the difference was that during last year’s battle, the fae had stepped up and helped us survive. The vampires had been the ones trying to kill us.
Felix drove the car out through the side gate and along the road that rambled off farther to the northeast. The pines loomed on either side in pointed silhouettes.
We stopped at the crossroads I’d suggested as the meeting spot, pulling up on the gravel shoulder. No one else was nearby that I could see. I stepped out of the car and prowled around the intersection, drinking in the air. Not a hint of that sickly undead smell reached my nose.
No ambush. Everything was proceeding according to our agreement so far.
I was back at our car when headlights gleamed in the distance. A sleek sedan glided into view and parked on the opposite shoulder. The driver got out—I couldn’t see anyone else in the car. We’d asked him to come alone, and it looked as though he actually had. The thump of my heart slowed just slightly.
The vamp who’d come was a tall skinny guy with the usual pale gauntness to his face. He smiled tightly at me, standing as if he wasn’t completely sure he should leave his car.
“Alpha of the canine kin,” he said in a thin but steady voice. “My name is Edwin. I come from the house of the king, and I can speak on his behalf.”
“All right, Edwin,” I said, trying and failing to erase my instinctive gruffness from my voice. “Come on over. We won’t bite.”
His jaw tensed, and I reminded myself that I was supposed to be aiming for diplomacy here. But the vampire envoy did cross the road and allowed me to usher him into the back of the car. I hesitated for a second there, torn between having to sit next to the bloodsucker or sitting up front knowing he was at my back.
A show of bravery and good faith seemed like the better option. I shut the door and took my seat next to Felix again.
“So, Edwin,” I said as Felix started the engine. I studied the vampire through
the rearview mirror. “Why did the king send you?”
“When your liaison extended the request, I volunteered,” the vampire said from where he was sitting stiffly on the aged leather.
My eyebrows jumped up. “And why’s that?” I wouldn’t have thought any of the vamps would be in a hurry to throw themselves in with a crowd of shifters, but I managed to restrain myself from voicing that fact.
“I’ve been pushing for us to make a greater gesture of good will for some time,” he said. “This seemed the ideal opportunity to put my money where my mouth is, as they say.”
Ah. Well, that didn’t sound particularly suspicious. And it was only fair that I gave him a warning. “A lot of my people were hurt during the attacks. Some of the kin who’ll be there tonight lost friends or family. You’ll have to be prepared that not everyone is going to be all that welcoming.”
“I was never led to expect anything else,” Edwin said dryly. He was silent for a moment, his gaze sliding to the dark landscape outside the car window. Then he added, “If it makes any difference to you, I was against those attacks from the start. I didn’t participate in them because at the time they were going on, I was confined in one of the former king’s prisons, awaiting trial for speaking against him.”
Anyone could have said that to try to gain sympathy points, but his tone sounded genuine to me. I swiveled in my seat to look at him directly. “Thank you,” I said, and found I meant it more than I’d expected to. “You put yourself on the line for us—whatever your reasons.”
The tight smile came back. “And my people never should have put any of your lives on the line. But all we can do now is move forward. If anything, I should thank you. It’s quite possible I owe my continued survival to your victory.”
The lights of the estate came into view around the still dancing blaze of the bonfire. Felix moved to turn the wheel, and I shook my head. “The front gate this time.”
“Whatever you say, boss,” he said in a voice that was a tad tongue-in-cheek. I decided not to submit him to another glower. Felix had a mouth on him, but he’d done good work.
The guards at the gate tugged it open. We drove just inside, and I motioned for Felix to stop. If this went sideways, I wanted us to be able to escort Edwin off the premises as quickly as possible.
I got out first and stepped to the back door to escort the vampire out. My kin around the bonfire had let their conversations trail off to peer over at us. Just barely in view beyond the flames, my mate was craning her neck to see. Aaron rested a hand on her shoulder, and all three of the other alphas started heading our way with her.
“My kin,” I said. “We have a guest tonight who will be making only a brief appearance, who would like to take the opportunity during this celebration to make a gesture of trust and peace. He is here on my invitation, and I expect you to behave with that in mind. He has something to say to our dragon shifter.”
I opened the door, and Edwin stepped out. I heard breaths drawn in sharply and a few rough mutters, but no one said anything loud enough that I could hear it.
Ren paused where she’d been skirting the fire. Edwin’s gaze found her and then drifted to the wavering flames. His body went momentarily rigid at the sight.
Fire was one of the few things that could kill a vamp.
Before I had to say anything, he pushed himself forward, toward Ren and toward the bonfire. My kin had drawn back in the wake of the car, leaving him a clear path. I walked just behind him, scanning their faces, offering a show of confidence to reassure them.
“We should toss him into the fire and be done with him!” someone called out, and someone else laughed.
My head snapped toward those voices. “Insult my guest and you also insult me,” I said with a growl.
There was only silence after that.
The fire crackled and snapped as Edwin approached my mate. Sparks drifted in the air near him. He winced, only a few feet away from those flames now. After another step, he sank down onto one knee with his head bowed before our dragon shifter. Aaron, Nate, and Marco stayed at her flanks, poised to protect her if need be.
But there was no need. “Dragon shifter,” the vampire said in a strained voice, “I’ve come here tonight because I want to show how committed my people are to ensuring the peace between our kinds continues—and strengthens. We’ve kept our distance out of shame and reluctance for far too long. We should be the ones to come out and meet you on your ground, to prove your forgiveness matters enough that we will lay our lives in your hands for the opportunity to receive it. Knowing what I do about what happened here and elsewhere at my people’s hands, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had ordered me tossed into that fire. I thank you for your mercy.”
Ren stared at him, looking momentarily speechless. Then she drew up her chin. “Did you come all the way out here just to say that?”
It was haughty, but that was the attitude my kin needed to see. They needed to know she wasn’t immediately softened by his words. Pride swelled in my chest. This woman had grown into her role so well, so quickly. With the firelight washing over her, she looked every inch a queen.
“No,” Edwin said quietly. “I am merely an envoy. My king wishes to express that if you would have him, he would attend to you to make apologies in person and to discuss how we might proceed in greater harmony, in the place and at the time of your choosing.”
Ren’s eyes widened. Even I was a bit flabbergasted at that offer. The king of the vampires was lowering himself to being at the dragon shifter’s beck and call? I couldn’t think of when that had ever happened in any history I’d been taught.
But then, they’d never before had such a horrifying crime to atone for.
Ren’s voice softened in turn as she gave her reply. “I thank you and him for that offer. I’ll need some time to decide what would suit me best, but I will take him up on it. And thank you for coming to show there can be trust between us.”
Edwin eased himself to his feet. “I’ll take my leave of you, then,” he said, “and convey your thanks to my king. I have no wish to disrupt your kin’s celebration any more than I already have.”
He slipped back to the car, and I nodded to Felix. Enough tension had left me that I could watch the fox shifter drive the vampire back to his sedan without any emotion other than relief.
When the gate had closed behind them, voices rose up again, most of them falling back into the same sort of chatter as before.
“Hey!” Marco called out. “Didn’t I hear something about some glorious singing we were going to get to hear?”
A few nearby shifters laughed, and several carolers assembled by the fire. They launched into a rendition of “Silent Night,” punctuated by howls from a couple of wolves who’d shifted. Ren sidled over to me and leaned against my chest when I tucked her into my embrace.
“Well, that was definitely an unexpected present,” she said.
“But a good one, I hope?” I said.
“Yes. Very good. That is—” She looked up at me. “Do you think he really means it? The king?”
I thought about the way Edwin had talked in the car. The fact that he’d shown up here at all. “Yeah,” I said. “I do.”
A smile crossed her lips, so sweet and delicate I wished I could hold it and this moment close forever. Her hand dropped to her belly. For a minute, we just rocked gently from side to side in time with the singing. Then my mate’s shoulder tensed against me.
“What?” I said, tensing in turn.
She gazed down at herself, her hand completely still. Her fingers twitched. Her eyes shot back to me.
“She’s coming soon,” she said with a faint tremble in her voice. “I can—I can feel it. We need to leave for the dragon estate now.”
CHAPTER 10
Ren
WEST’S HEALERS checked my pulse and my belly and down below, despite my faint protests. “I’m not having contractions yet,” I said. “It’s not happening right now. I can just tell it’ll start
soon. If we leave now, we should be fine.”
But I understood why they wanted to check first. It wasn’t as if I had any desire to give birth on a plane in flight, as appropriate as that might have been in a metaphorical way. I really wasn’t in labor, though. What I felt from my daughter was a sort of hum of energy, slowly heightening, that I recognized even if I hadn’t known to expect it and didn’t know how to put it into words. As if she were gearing up for her main appearance.
“Are you sure we should risk it?” Nate asked. All four of the alphas had gathered around me in the healers’ room.
“It’s only a two-hour flight,” I said. “A couple of the healers can come along if you’re worried.” I glanced around into my mates’ nervously excited faces. I couldn’t keep a quaver from coming into my next words. “I want to be home when she comes.”
I didn’t know if it would sound silly to them. The dragon shifter estate had only been my home until I’d been five years old, and then for the last year and a half since I’d returned. And in that year and a half I’d spent more time traveling between my alphas’ estates and to other shifter settlements than actually there. But it sounded less silly than the desire that was really ringing through me, which was, I want my mother.
I couldn’t have her. I’d lost Mom years ago. But the dragon shifter estate was the only place we’d been together while we were really ourselves, no secrets, no suppressed memories. Fragments of her presence lingered in the halls and the rooms.
More than anything, I wanted that presence with me as I took this final step to becoming a mother myself.
My mates gazed back at me, their expressions softening. West looked at the others. “The jet here can leave almost immediately. The healers confirmed that she isn’t in labor yet. If this is what she needs…”