Decebel felt his muscles twitching as he stood waiting for Cypher to join them. He hadn’t slept since before Jennifer had left and he barely had an appetite. His insides were a constant knot and anything he put in his stomach seemed to want to crawl right back up his throat again. He could feel her, just barely, but she was still there. He missed her with such fierceness that his bones ached with it. Every minute was a relentless battle with his wolf and he knew that he was walking a very fine line when it came to keeping it under control. The hardest part for Decebel wasn’t that Jennifer was not by his side. The hardest part was knowing that she was in pain, just as he was, and he was the cause of that pain. Their bond had been so very strong, and as it grew weaker with every passing hour. He could feel the life being leeched out of them both.
The Great Luna assured him that their child would be safe, but as he bit his tongue to keep from snarling out in anger at the pain he felt pulsating through his veins, he wondered if the goddess knew just how excruciating this process was truly going to be. Jennifer was tough, he didn’t doubt that, but even the toughest of them had limits. Jennifer had a limit and he was terrified that he was very close to pushing her past hers, and that once he had, it would be too late for her to come back.
The door to the library opened slowly and the room began to quiet. Cypher stepped through and calmly looked around, giving slow nods to each male. Based on the tense and nearly painful looks on the faces of the wolves, he knew something bad had happened.
“I’ve come in peace, Vasile, to honor our agreement as allies and to help in any way that I can,” Cypher told the Romanian pack Alpha calmly. His voice was strong and carried out to the walls. It almost seemed to push away the angst and worry. He took in a deep breath, attempting to use all of his senses to see if he could understand what had happened to make the usually very forward wolves hold their tongues.
“We welcome you Cypher, King of the Warlocks. You are accepted as our guest and under our protection,” Vasile responded formally. “Have you come alone, King, or did you bring your mate?” Vasile knew he should probably leave it alone, but he found himself to be in a mood and decided to start the meeting with a little prodding. His lips twitched as he watched the usually calm and confident Warlock King squirm under his scrutiny.
“I have come alone.” Cypher said no more and he continued into the room and took one of the empty seats.
Vasile motioned to the other wolves in the room and, one by one, they took seats, all except Decebel. Vasile made eye contact with him briefly, an unspoken message that he was aware something was off with him. Vasile was about to speak when the library door was once again pushed open.
“I realize I wasn’t invited to this meeting,” Alston said as he stepped into the room, “but I was told by a little fairy that I should be present.”
“Did this little fairy happen to have a big mouth?” Decebel asked coolly as chuckles vibrated across the room.
Alston tipped his head briefly to Decebel before straitening back up. “Perizada often sticks her nose where it isn’t welcome, though often it is needed.”
“Please join us, Alston,” Vasile spoke up. “Perizada was right to contact you. I would have thought to do it myself had I not been distracted by pack issues.”
“I suppose it is good that we have nosy females who step in when we are distracted,” Alston said as he took a seat next to Sorin.
“A very good thing,” Vasile agreed. He turned back to look at Cypher and his face grew serious. “Peri brings us news that your brother has been meddling in your forest.”
Cypher nodded as his lips tightened in a grim scowl. “I have not seen him with my eyes, but his evil permeates the air.”
“What does he want?” Sorin asked.
“To punish me,” Cypher answered without pause. Cypher didn’t know what he expected from the males when he answered. Perhaps they would tell him to hand himself over so that his brother’s wrath would be satisfied and then maybe he would leave everyone else alone. But he knew they were too smart to believe that his brother would stop with only him. He had, after all, already killed Vasile, or at least attempted to, simply to display his power. Therefore, he wasn’t at all surprised by the patient looks they gave him as they waited for him to elaborate.
“His mate died many, many years ago and he blames me for her death,” Cypher continued.
Decebel’s eyes narrowed as he watched the king. “Blames you, or your actions?”
“The lack thereof,” Cypher told him. “His mate made a decision to act as an ambassador to another supernatural race and I warned her not to, but she was determined to do what she wanted.”
“Aren’t they all?” Fane growled under his breath. Grumbles of agreement floated across the room and Cypher gave them questioning looks.
“Ignore their grumbling Cypher,” Vasile interrupted the noise, “their women have deserted them.” Dirty looks were shot his way but he ignored them and concentrated on Cypher.
“She went anyways and was killed,” Cypher continued. “It is my brother’s belief that I could have stopped her, and I am inclined to agree with him.”
“Were you willing to tie her to a tree and put her under constant guard?” Decebel asked. “Because unless that was the action you were prepared to take, then your brother is a bigger fool than I have already determined him to be. Surely you know, now that you have a mate, there is no forcing our women to do anything they do not want to do, nor is there any stopping them once they have made up their minds.”
“I understand what you are saying Decebel,” Cypher told him, “and Lilly has argued the same point, but it is hard for me not to take some of the blame.”
“It is in our nature to feel responsible for the lives under our care,” Vasile said, “but if we are to be effective leaders, then we must learn from the past and then let it go. Why is your brother not acting on his threats from the night of the battle with the witch?”
“I’m not sure,” Cypher admitted. “My first thought would be that he wants us to become complacent. I think he figures that as more and more time passes without him taking any action then we will become lackadaisical in our watchfulness.”
“And your second thought?” Sorin prompted.
“That he doesn’t even know what he wants to do.”
Costin frowned as he leaned forward in his chair. “You think that after all these years of brooding over the death of his mate, he doesn’t have a plan?”
Cypher thought about it for a minute before he answered. “No, I think that maybe circumstances have changed and now he has to revise whatever plan he had originally devised.”
“What circumstances changed?” Fane asked.
“Lilly,” Vasile answered before Cypher could speak.
Cypher nodded. “Exactly.”
“That’s not all that has changed,” Wadim spoke up. “We are united. The supernatural races are working together. That’s a pretty big freaking change.”
“Freaking?” Cypher’s brow rose at the historian.
“Hey, you’re mated to an American. Just wait. She’ll have you saying all kinds of weird sh—,”
“Wadim,” Vasile’s voice was sharp as he interrupted him.
Cypher chuckled, but his eyes were sad. “Yes, they do say some of the strangest things.”
“I asked you here because I want to talk about how we move forward now,” Vasile told him. “I don’t feel it is wise of us to just wait for our enemy to attack. I think that if we want to end this quickly, then we will have to be the ones to make the first move.”
“You realize that if you pursue him, he will retaliate swiftly? He is very versed in dark magic and he basically has no morals.”
Costin laughed. “So basically he is Mona with a…,”
“Bloody hell, what is with you males?” Vasile growled. “You’re mates haven’t been gone a full day and all of the sudden you can’t keep from saying something foul?”
Cyphers eyes snapped u
p to Vasile. “Where have their mates gone?”
Vasile glanced down at his shirt and brushed away invisible lint, cleared his throat, shifted in his chair, and crossed one leg over the other before finally folding his hands in his lap and then meeting Cypher’s gaze once again. “Our mates have gone with yours, of course.”
Cypher’s gaze traveled over the room. His eyes took in the tense shoulders, clenched teeth, and semi glowing eyes. He had known something was wrong the moment he walked into the library. Now that he knew what that something was, he had to hand it to the wolves, they were handling it rather well.
“Lilly was here?” he finally asked.
“Courtesy of our nosy fairy,” Decebel told him.
Alston shook his head with a small smile on his lips.
“Perizada brought Lilly here?” Cypher didn’t know whether to be angry that the fae had disobeyed him or happy that she had thought to bring her to see Jacque.
“She felt like Jacque had a right to say goodbye to her mother,” Vasile explained.
Of course she had a right to say goodbye to her child, Cypher thought. He hadn’t even thought to ask her if she wanted to see Jacque before she left. “So you all know why I sent her away?” Cypher stood from the chair and walked slowly toward one of the windows on the far side of the library.
“We know that you made a difficult choice, and you will make more before this whole thing is over.”
Cypher turned slowly and saw that all of the males were now standing. Their faces were grim, but the looks in their eyes told him that they understood the choice he had made.
“So why did you send your mates with Lilly?”
Growls rumbled through the air and Vasile let out a toothy grin. “We did not send them king; they sent themselves.”
Cypher chuckled. “Of course they did.” His face sobered then. “She is well?”
“She was ticked off when we saw her last,” Costin told him with a smile. “But she wasn’t in the clutches of a psycho dark warlock, so I guess you have to pick your poison.”
“Well he’s picked his poison alright.” Peri hitched herself up on one of the tables in the library and smiled at the group of stunned males. She wiggled her finger at them. “Toodles.”
“Peri,” Vasile said dryly.
“Alston!” Peri’s smile widened. “I’m so glad that you made it. I see that Vasile had no objection to you being here?”
Alston shook his head. “No, he was quiet pleasant about the whole matter.”
“I knew he would be. I told you that he would even mention that he should have thought to call on you himself.”
“He did.”
“I’m standing right here,” Vasile growled at the two fae.
Peri waved him off. “Don’t mind him, he’s just cranky because he isn’t getting any.”
Vasile growled a warning at the fae, which she promptly ignored.
Alston looked at her questioningly. “Getting any what?”
Costin started laughing so hard he was choking and Fane was beating him on the back, trying not to laugh himself.
“You’ve caused enough mischief Perizada of the Fae,” Cypher spoke up, “surely you have more of a purpose here than to torment these wolves.”
Peri’s brow rose as she looked at the warlock king. “Surely you do not know me very well if you think there is anything more important to me than tormenting these very wolves before us.” She waited for his response as she unfolded herself from the table and stepped down to the floor. He watched her but did not speak. Peri gave him a slight tilt of her head and then turned to face the two Alphas. “Have you come up with a plan?” she asked her playful tone replaced by the snappy, business like voice.
“We hadn’t made it that far yet,” Decebel told her.
“What the crap have you been doing? Giving each other facials and reading self-help books to help your bruised egos?”
“We were getting everyone caught up to speed,” Decebel snapped back. “It would be stupid to rush off with some half-assed plan without making sure we have everything straight.”
“So now that you have everything straight, you can rush off with your half-assed plan?” her voice was syrupy sweet as she smiled at the Alpha.
Decebel growled low as he bit back a snarl.
“Relax, Independence Day, don’t get your panties in a wad.” Peri winked at Decebel as she watched his eyes widen. She saw the recognition of the reference in his glowing amber orbs and knew she would pay for that comment later―if he could catch her.
Vasile stepped forward to stand between the two. “I’ve decided to go to Reyaz myself and see if there are any terms that can be negotiated for peace.”
A collective “WHAT!” rang out across the library as all eyes turned on Vasile.
“Vasile, you know that there are no terms he will meet,” Cypher implored.
Vasile nodded. “Yes, and there are no terms that I will accept or meet either. I simply want him to think that I’m…an idiot.”
Peri cleared her throat. “That shouldn’t be too hard. You all just sent your mates across a flipping ocean without any male protection. I think the idiot part is pretty much a given.”
“Peri,” Costin said softly, “let’s not poke the already angry Alpha wolf, no matter how fun it seems at the time. It’s all fun and games until a little fairy gets eaten.”
Peri threw her hands in the air. “Fine, have it your way! You,” she pointed at Vasile, “go to the crazy warlock and prove again what an idiot you are, and you,” she pointed at Cypher, “get in line behind Vasile because you’re just as big an idiot as he is, and the rest of you,” she motioned to all the other males, “put your tutus on and blindly dance behind them like the little idiots you are. Well,” she paused and then looked at Decebel, “except for you. You might as well put on a tutu, a tiara, and carry a scepter because you’re the queen of the idiot procession!” And then she was gone.
“Is she always so respectful towards you all?” Alston asked.
“Yes, dad, we’re back in the states,” Jacque told her father. Though it was nearly midnight and they had only been back in the states for eleven hours, she had decided she had better go ahead and call him and give him a heads up. She thought that Vasile might have already talked to him since they had been gone nearly twenty-two hours, but based on his reaction he hadn’t heard anything from anyone.
“Is Fane with you?” Dillon asked.
“No, none of the males came with us,” Jacque pulled the phone away from her ear as her father’s raised voice came blaring through. “Dad, Dad,” she said loudly, “you can’t come here and you can’t just try to jump in anytime Vasile or Fane do something you don’t agree with. Dad, no.”
Just as she was about to put the phone back to her ear it was snatched from her hand. “Hey,” she hollered but then stopped herself when she saw who had her phone.
“Why didn’t they send any of the males you ask, Dillon, Alpha of the Denver pack? Why don’t you call those idiots and find out? Have a nice night.” Peri hit the end key and tossed the phone back to Jacque.
“Uh, Peri, I was sort of talking to my dad,” Jacque said.
Peri snorted. “You were sort of talking, but I can guarantee he was sort of not listening.”
“Why do you say that?” Sally asked as she came into the living room and joined Jacque on the couch.
“Because he has a penis,” Peri said matter-of-fact like.
Jen’s foot hit the bottom step just about the time Peri finished talking and she had a wicked grin on her face. “Peri busted out the P word! Ok.” She hurried her pregnant self around to the love seat and sat down. “Now, what’s with all the penis talk? Are we comparing notes, learning new techniques?”
“As truly interesting as any of those conversations would be, that is not why I busted out, as you put it, with the P word.” Peri fold her arms across her chest and glared down at the three girls.
“Okay,” Jacque prompted, “s
o can you tell us why you felt the need to use a man’s body part as way to make a point?”
“Which by the way, you picked the perfect part if you indeed were trying to make a point,” Jen added.
Peri’s lips twitched and Jen reached over and held her fist out to her two best friends. “I made the fae twitch with her own penis point.”
Jacque and Sally’s heads whipped around at Jen’s words and they busted out laughing. Jen shrugged. “I know, I know, I’m freaking hilarious.” She looked up at Peri and grinned when she saw the fae smothering her own laugh with her hand.
“Okay, pull it together you perverts,” Peri finally told them as she collected herself. “I went and saw your males during their meeting with Cypher,”
“What happened?”
“Are they alright?”
Sally and Jacque asked at the same time.
“Pipe down you two. Your men are fine. Although, after I told them they were all idiots, they might have been less than happy with me.”
“You told Decebel he was an idiot?” Jen asked in awe.
“Sort of, I actually told him he was the queen of the idiots.”
“Nice,” Jen grinned.
“Um Peri, I’m totally in agreement with penises and idiots, but if Costin is alright then why has he not used our bond to contact me and why is he not responding to me when I try to contact him?” Sally asked.
“Yeah,” Jacque agreed, “what she said, only with Fane’s name in his place.”
Peri gave both girls a dry look. “You both know that I love you right? But do I look like a couples’ counselor to you? I don’t know why they won’t get their heads out of their asses and talk to you. What I do know is they’re idiots.”
“And they have penises,” Jen added.
“Thanks for the clarification, Jennifer,” Peri rolled her eyes.
“Just want to make sure we stay on the same penis, I mean page.”
Jacque and Sally were laughing again as Peri glared at Jen who shrugged. “I told you. I’m freaking hilarious.”