anything, but she had not considered her own power. Never would she have imagined that she'd hurt something she had built and nurtured. But she had hurt it. Sheds that had surrounded the plantation were in pieces on the ground. Someone made her do this and that someone needed to be dealt with.
"Gailith, I want you to go to someone."
"Who, Mother?"
Her eyes were flat when she looked back. "The vampires."
He paled and his hand jerked to clench around his shirt. Filth. Everything about him was filthy. "You're human. They'll love you."
He closed his eyes and bent his head.
She smirked. They were pathetic, all of them, which is why she knew the thread holder had been underestimated. She had underestimated the girl, so Jacith must've also.
"You will go to Durres to see the Romah Family."
His body started to shake.
"There is a powerful sorcerer there. His name is Jacith."
Her nostrils flared as she smelled his fear. It wasn't long before his bladder emptied itself. It trickled down his leg and pooled on the floor. His head hung in shame, but he couldn't stop himself.
She could barely keep herself from killing him. Worthless humans. They couldn't do anything, much less refrain from wetting themselves. If she asked this of him, how did she know he'd succeed? Maybe a wolf would be better? But no, as she watched him through narrowed eyes, she reconsidered. A human was a perfect messenger and gift. Jacith would see him as one and that he had been one of her servants would mean something to him. The sorcerer was stupid in that way, but he had his uses. And he was powerful. He would be angry to find out the existence of a thread holder who could use the Immortal's powers. It was his fault. He should clean this mess up himself.
"You need to go and tell him what happened to the Alpha. The thread holder destroyed his precious experiment. Tell him this and then return home, Gailith."
He jerked his head in another nod and bolted from the room.
As she sat back down in her chair, she took a deep breath. Everything would have to be rebuilt.
"You're sending a servant to Jacith? He won't be returning, you know that."
She turned and a smile spread over her face. "Hello, Christian. Did you come to make sure I was okay?"
He was tall and muscular with piercing black eyes. That wasn't what attracted her to him. It was the wolf inside of him. He was the inspiration behind the Alpha. Christian Christane was the reigning Alpha wolf for his family. He had many grandfathers still alive, but he was their leader. A union between her family and his would cement the werewolves' dominance over the vampires. No creature could stand against power such as theirs and Christian was raw power in himself. As she watched, she saw it thriving within his body.
She licked her lips.
"No, Caralie. I came to tell you that my family knows what you did. You took the mate that was supposed to be for my little sister and joined him to another. You should not manipulate magic like that. It's old, older than your family."
"Older than yours too."
"Yes," he clipped out. "Older than my family, this is why the Elders have called a meeting."
He wasn't there to flirt. He never was, but there was gravity in his voice. Her inner wolf stirred. It sensed something that she hadn't yet. She stood and gave him a sultry smile. "What are you saying?"
His disdain for her flared. "The Christane Family will be separating themselves from yours. We no longer have to sit back and let you do what you want. We're going to stop you, Caralie. Your fight is now against us."
Her smile vanished.
His nostrils flared once more. "Good luck."
Gavin helped Emily to a bedroom close to ours. She snored when he picked her up and she was still snoring as Roane and I lay in bed. It was a few hours later and the sound kept me awake. When I rolled over, I saw that Roane was too. His eyes were open and he stared back at me with an arm on my hip.
We hadn't talked much when we got to the room. Both of us had showered and then crawled under the sheets. I had rolled to my side as he spooned me from behind. His arm hadn't moved the whole time.
"Why can't we sleep?" I asked now.
A ghost of a smile filtered over his face. "Because of the adrenaline."
"I bet no one can sleep."
"I wanted to be alone with you."
My heart skipped a beat. No matter how many times he said it, I knew I'd always love hearing statements like that from him. "You don't want to make love?"
"I wanted to hold you tonight."
I rolled over so I was facing him. His arm slipped behind me and he pulled me tighter against him. One of my legs slipped between his and my hand found his to hold. Our fingers interlaced and I closed my eyes. I wanted to savor the feeling of holding his hand.
But I knew it wouldn't last and I asked, "You're leaving tonight, aren't you?"
His arm tightened around me for a moment. I heard the regret in his voice. "I have to go. The Roane Family could've doubled back."
I bit back tears, but I couldn't fight the wave of sadness that washed over me. He was always leaving. "When?"
"In a few minutes." He hesitated a moment. "Bastion's been waiting for me. Once I return and learn how things are, I will come back or I'll send for you."
"I can't go back to a normal life, Roane." My eyes searched his. He must know this. "I can't be the college student anymore. Too many people know about me. Pippa, the wolves." Who else?
He nodded and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. "I know. Trust me, I know."
"I'm coming back. I'm going to be at your side. We're stronger together than we are apart."
He held my gaze for a moment, a long moment. The minute stretched into another and then a third. My heart pounded the whole time and I held my breath. Was he going to accept my plea? He couldn't protect me any longer. I had to start fighting on my own. It was time for everyone to learn who I was. I felt it in my bones and I felt the thirst within me. I wanted to fight.
"I know, Davy. You don't have to worry, I'm going back to check on everybody. If the Roane Family has returned, I won't risk my best warriors. I'll go alone. Don't worry. If I need you guys, you'll be the first to know. Gavin and the rest have strict instructions to never leave your side. Think of them as your personal entourage."
"Great," I groaned. "Wren is part of my entourage."
"She's not so bad," he teased. "She might act tough, but she's grown a little fond of you. I can tell."
No matter what he said, that vampire was still tough. She might be happy with Tracey among the group, but I knew if or when things went south between them, Wren would blame me. There was nothing logical about my speculation, just a gut feeling.
"Tracey asked if she could speak with you."
I took a breath. She wanted me to tell her about her mother and sister. Did Talia want me to tell her about the child?
"Roane, do you think I should tell her about Talia's daughter?"
There was silence for a moment and then he murmured, "I think Tracey would be indebted to you for the rest of your life if you did."
"So should I tell her?"
"If you were Talia and you had a child, would you want your sister to be told?"
I closed my eyes as a wave of sadness washed over me. "I would want her to be told."
"There's your answer. And Davy?"
"Hmmm?" I looked up.
He kissed me softly and whispered against my lips, "Can we not talk anymore?"
"Why?" But the sudden darkening in his eyes told me and I felt my own desire leap in response.
"I think you know why," he responded, his eyes half closed already. Then he reached for me and it wasn't long before both of us were groaning.
It was an hour later before we could even move from the bed. When I thought of going to the bathroom, my mind screamed in protest. My bladder didn't agree and I tore myself from the bed to dash for the bathroom. When I came back, Roane was sitting on the edge of the be
d. The blankets pooled around his waist and the Roane tattoo was prominent on his arm.
I traced it as I sat beside him. "You're not a Roane anymore." It felt weird to say that.
He glanced at me and then lifted one of my legs onto his lap. As he caressed my thigh, he murmured, "I'll always be a Roane. I'm just not on their side with this one."
"You think you will be in the future? Can you go back to them?"
"They're wrong about you. I hope they figure that out, but history is filled with moments when leaders make wrong decisions. They rarely apologize."
I was about to say something about how they should apologize, but someone knocked on the door. Roane was across the room in a flash. He stuck his head out and then he looked back. "Gregory spotted a new army approaching. I have to go."
I stood and dressed as he did the same.
He stopped with his jeans in one hand. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to walk you out." And then I thought, 'I love you, Lucas.'
His head snapped up in shock and he was across the room the next instant. His mouth ground against mine and I felt myself being lifted up. My legs wound around his waist and I held on. We couldn't get enough of each other, but then we heard another knock at the door.
He groaned as he pulled back, but whispered against my lips, "I love you too."
Both of us dressed after that and walked down the hallway hand in hand. When we got to a small door, we stepped out and saw a car waiting there. Bastion and Gregory were conversing on the side, but both looked up. They stood at attention, ready for their orders. Roane jerked his head to the side. Bastion got into the vehicle as Gregory ducked his massive head and went into the estate. A moment later Gavin came back outside and waited next to us.
Roane pulled me against his chest for a hug. After we kissed again, he thought, 'I will be back soon or I'll call for you. Stay with Gavin or Wren. They are to protect you from now on.'
'Be safe.'
He nodded and kissed me one last time. His lips lingered over mine as I clung to him. Every instinct in my body told me not to let go. Something bad was going to happen. I knew it. I felt it, and so did Roane. His eyes darkened and I knew he had heard my thoughts, but it didn't matter. He needed to go and be the leader. We had another battle to fight.
As he stepped back, Roane shared a look with Gavin. They both nodded and then he was in the vehicle and it pulled away. The night air had a chill that I hadn't felt before. It wrapped around me and I hugged myself as a shiver wracked my body.
Gavin touched the back of my elbow. "We should go in."
I nodded, dazed. Roane had gone. I knew he had to, but it was different when I felt it. He urged me inside and the door shut behind us. It seemed to slam with extra force, but Gavin didn't react. I stumbled.
"He'll be fine."
I looked up. Gavin watched me with concern. He said again, "Roane's the toughest ass I know. If anyone is going to be fine, it's him. He's just gone for now. He'll be back within the week."
That didn't reassure me. It should've, but it didn't. Then we walked into the kitchen and found Gregory in the kitchen. Brown was slumped down at the table. She gave me a sloppy smile. "Heya, Davy. I still can't walk."
"Big man." Gavin slapped a hand on the Viking's back. "What are you making?"
"Pancakes and scrambled eggs." Both of the vampires grimaced in disgust, but Gregory shook his head. "Sarah insists this is appropriate food for humans. This is what she wanted."
Brown laughed. "It's the middle of the night and I feel like we just had a rave party. That food is what we need. Right, Davy?"
My eyes danced in delight. "What else would we want to eat?"
"Blood," Gavin and Gregory spoke at the same time.
I rolled my eyes. "We're not vampires. We're human."
"Speaking of vampires and humans," Brown spoke up. "What's going to happen with school?"
"What do you mean?"
"I was excited to go back to college, but then I was thinking about all the vampires coming to town. There's going to be a huge fight, right? I mean, there was already one with those werewolves in the park. How are the humans not going to know what's going on? Isn't it going to be too big to hide?"
Both vampires became still at her question and that was when I knew the answer. "It won't be hidden."
Gavin turned apologetic eyes to me.
I gulped. "Benshire is going to be destroyed, isn't it?"
No answer again, but that was my answer. A part of my heart fell. I had wanted to think a small part of normalcy wouldn't be wiped away, but that didn't seem to be the case. My life wasn't the only one that would change. Everyone's life was going to change.
Then Kates walked into the room. She moved in a stiff manner and had an odd expression on her face. Her eyes found mine, but she turned away quickly. When her jaw clenched and moved back and forth, I saw that her teeth were grinding against each other. She did that when something was wrong.
I sat up straight. "What is it?"
Gavin's head snapped up. Gregory paused in his cooking and Brown grew quiet.
Kates' eyes darted between all of us and she jerked her head. "What are you talking about? What are you guys doing?"
I narrowed my eyes. Something was wrong, very wrong. I stood up. "What did you do, Kates?"
Suddenly there was an explosion in the air, except there was no fire. Nothing blew up. No one was thrown backwards and no smoke filled the air, but I knew it was an explosion. I felt it and it staggered me. I fell backwards, but no one else did. They looked at me. In slow motion, I saw all of their different expressions. Gavin started to reach for me. Brown's mouth started to open and Gregory's eyes shifted over my shoulder. Kates never moved. She already knew. I turned my head slowly.
Roane walked into the room with a cocky swagger. His mouth was twisted in a smirk and his eyes held an evil glint. His hair was long. It reached below his ears and was tucked back. There was no fear in his eyes. There was nothing in his eyes. Then everything clicked in my brain.
This wasn't Roane. This was Lucan.
My eyes whirled back to Kates' and she looked away. She bit her lip and ducked her head down in shame. Then Lucan threw his arms out wide. "Hello everyone! It's good to see you all."
"What?" Brown looked at Gregory for explanation, but he and Gavin both couldn't move. They seemed frozen in place. As I tried, I found that I couldn't move either. Whatever had exploded in the air worked magic on all of us. Brown started to lift her hand, but I shot her a pleading look.
'Brown, don't move.'
Her eyes went wide. 'Holy crap, I can hear you!'
'Don't move.'
'Why? What's going on?'
'That's not Roane. It's his twin brother, his evil twin brother.'
'This is like a soap opera.'
'He used magic. None of us can do anything.'
'I can.'
'I think it's because you're human. So is Kates.'
'Davy, what should I do?'
'Nothing.' This was important for her to understand. 'He can't know that you have magic.'
'I don't have much. I think I used it all up.'
I closed my eyes in frustration for a moment. I couldn't tell her that the box inside her had closed again. 'Brown, this is really important.'