Together they were strong.
“Now that the nasty business is aside,” Amandus said with a vicious smirk, “there’s no reason we can’t all raise a glass, eh? I see you and my daughter are getting along?”
“Very well, sir.” Creed hadn’t used the respectful address for Amandus. “I can honestly say I love your daughter.”
Her father’s brows rose. He looked to Blu for confirmation.
She nodded. “We’re in love. I know it’s more than the Council had hoped for. But that’s a good thing. We’ve become the perfect example for the Light and Dark nations.”
“Well.” Not exactly the joyous reaction most would have upon hearing wonderful news. Amandus wasn’t playing this skillfully. “Isn’t that wonderful. I’m sure Lord Saint-Pierre’s people will be glad to hear of this. Will you let me steal my daughter from your arms for a moment, my lord? We’ve much to talk about.”
“Certainly.” Creed kissed Blu at the corner of her mouth. “But don’t stray far, Blu. I want you in my eyesight.”
That statement infuriated her father, for Blu saw the rage lift in his gold eyes. Score one point for the vampire.
“I’ll stay close,” she answered, and reluctantly parted from his warmth.
“Are you serious?” her father started immediately. Anger tensed his muscles and made his gaunt jowls puff up when he spoke. “Or are you a far better actress than I could hope for?”
“You always did rant against my dramatic streaks, Daddy dearest, but this time it is for real.” She tracked Creed’s casual strides through the mixture of the nations.
Turn back to me
. “I love the vampire. I consider Lord Saint-Pierre my husband in every way.”
“In
every
way? Are you saying—Ah! I do not want to hear it. No matter what you have done, it will not change our plans.”
“I know that. But can we have peace this evening, Father? You’ve had your fun, now allow Creed and I to step away from what just occurred and enjoy the rest of the night. This is a celebration of two people coming together. Maybe if you step back and look at Creed and me you’ll see it is possible. We really do love one another.”
“Yet you haven’t taken his bite.”
“No.”
“Good. Then you can’t really love him. I was worried for a moment. No daughter of mine will be lost to the longtooths.”
“But you’ve already thrown me to them. And you insisted I take his bite after the vows were spoken. What’s changed now?”
“You are tainted, that’s for certain. I had to play the role so you wouldn’t give yourself away while in the vampire’s home. But if you haven’t been bitten, then after this charade has come to a head, I’ll find a suitable partner for you when you return to the pack.”
“Return?”
As in, after the werewolves had defeated the vampires? She didn’t want to imagine what might happen. Amandus would go after Creed first. That was fact.
“Yes, return.”
“What of Ryan?” she asked softly.
“What of him? I’ve ousted the whelp from the pack. What do you know about his liaisons with the Western pack?”
Blu sucked in her lower lip. A lot. But it wasn’t her place to condemn her ex-lover. She wanted him out of her life, but never dead. Amandus had kicked him out of the pack? That relieved her only until she wondered who her father had in mind to replace him.
“I haven’t spoken to Ryan since the marriage,” she
offered. “I know as much as you do about the blood sport.”
Amandus’s brows shot up on his forehead.
“I know, Father. You’ve been skimming money from Ryan’s matches. How dare you?”
“What? Skim money, or see the vampires punished for their extermination of our breed? I don’t like what you insinuate, daughter.”
“Don’t call me daughter. I hate you.”
He gripped her upper arm. His nails were sharp and they cut through the gossamer fabric. “You will regret your words when the vampires are begging for mercy and your husband is dead.”
She had guessed right. Creed would be her father’s first target.
“How dare you wear that dress,” he said with a sneer.
“It reminds me of Mother,” she said softly, losing the courage to confront him. She would not. It pleased her though that it bothered him. “I should get back to Creed.”
“Yes, yes, run along and cozy up to the bloody longtooth. Make it look good for the Council. As soon as we’re assured the vampire nations have accepted your marriage we’ll begin to enact our plans.”
A bloody slaughter.
There was nothing one small female wolf could do to
prevent any of it. And she’d been truthful with Creed. He expected exactly as Amandus planned.
“Promise me one thing, Father.”
He studied her briefly, sneering as he cast his eyes over her hair and dress.
“I know I’ve no say in pack politics.”
“Damned right.”
“And I would not presume to sway your thinking. Whatever happens is going to happen.” A war neither she nor Creed could prevent. “Will you spare Creed? Please?”
“You are mad. And I will not be defeated because your heart plays to the enemy. If the love you confess is true, then you have betrayed me, and you are no longer my daughter. And if we are to make an example of them, he must be the first to die.”
“Haven’t you hurt Creed enough? Please, I’ll do anything. I’ll marry whomever you chose for me. I’ll have babies and supply the pack with females.”
“You would do that?” Again those surprised brows. “You’ve always been dead against becoming a breeding female. How you’ve ranted against the mere suggestion of serving the pack.”
They’d had the discussion at least once a year. Her father had insisted she support the pack by becoming a sort of broodmare. She had screamed and complained
that her life would be over, and she’d sooner kill herself than sacrifice her very body and soul.
“It would be humiliating and I’d hate it. But if you will promise to spare Creed’s life, I will do it. I’ll mate with any wolf you designate.”
As the only breeding female in the pack, she would be valued—but used constantly in an attempt to repopulate the lacking females.
Blu would rather die.
“I was thinking Ridge would make an excellent stud for you.”
Blu breathed out. At least that werewolf she could stomach. “I will do it. For Creed’s life. You must promise.”
His bloodshot eyes traced hers. Was that the look her mother had stared into before breathing her last breath?
You ’ve done what you swore you would not. You are doing as Amandus wishes. Crumbling before him
.
To save Creed.
“Very well.” Her father snarled. “The longtooth’s life for your commitment to the pack. I swear to it.”
She nodded.
“I didn’t hear that.”
Her heart dropped to her gut. “I promise you my submission.”
Amandus stepped away.
There was no means to change what she’d agreed to. The
war would happen. And she would be saddled as a literal slave and mated to the strongest and most virile of wolves.
Blu turned to track her husband. He stood across the room talking animatedly to his friend, Alexandre.
She’d saved his life. And because of it she would lose him forever.
C
REED JOINED
A
LEXANDRE
at the edge of the ballroom. A residual bite from the spell tweaked at his neck and he flinched.
“You are acting strange, man.”
“If you’d just been through what I have, you’d be flinching, too.”
“Yeah, I saw you talking with your wife’s father.”
Creed smirked. No reason to explain he’d just been magically shackled, which had felt as if he’d been shoved into the devil’s iron maiden torture device.
“Is Eugene here this evening?”
“Haven’t seen him.” Alexandre kept a keen eye, constantly sweeping the room. “You’d think that bastard would stick out like a cue ball racked among eight balls.”
Both men gauged the atmosphere as more tense than it had been the wedding night. All eyes were on Creed
and Blu. The Council—peopled with vampires, witches and a few faeries—was chatting up Blu at the moment. She smiled and shook their hands, courteous and cordial.
Creed wondered where the werewolf representative from the Council was. There had been one at the wedding.
This didn’t feel right. What perfect timing for Amandus to sic the Council witches after him.
“Her father is smiling through his vitriol,” Creed commented. “They’re plotting against us as we speak. Something is going down. I don’t want this to turn into a bloodbath tonight.”
“Not with the Council here. No one will dare,” Alexandre said. “But after? I’m going to be the first to smash Ryan’s face into a brick wall and rub it off.”
“You think he was the one who ordered your capture?”
“Can’t be sure, but Eugene the Scapegoat works for me.”
“Hold back your need for revenge, my friend. This can still work. The nations can come together.”
“Are you serious, man? You saw the vamp we rescued the other night. He was half-mad with UV sickness and vomiting black blood. He’ll never be the vampire he once was. It would have been far better to kill him than to force him to exist now. Tell me you’re doing the act about the princess. You don’t love her.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” Creed countered Alexandre’s
angry slash of hand with a calming one. “I know that was the original plan, but I hadn’t expected to genuinely care for her. I am in love, Alexandre.”
“Love? It is lust.” He bowed his head to Creed’s and said lowly, “There’s nothing shameful about succumbing to her allure. But do not lie to yourself about that surface attraction.”
“I would die for Blu.”
Alexandre winced. “The tribe will shun you.”
“I am their leader. They will do as I command, and if that is to respect the werewolves, then so be it.”
“Yeah? You’ve never been starved for months, then forced to suck blood from your own kind to survive.”
His second in command exposed his teeth, and the fangs were down. “Alexandre?”
“I’m shocked, Creed. This is not what a leader does.”
“A leader guides his tribe toward peace.”
“A leader stands for what is right. And if that is vengeance then you should be leading us to it.”
“Alexandre, calm yourself. There will be no fighting tonight. We will put a stop to the blood matches, but we cannot expect the wolves to lay down before us without some sacrifice on our part.”
“We’ve given blood.”
“As have they.”
The werewolf hunting had occurred seventy years ago,
yet Alexandre had lived during that time. Why could he not relate? Creed had seen the werewolf pelts strung along cabin walls, and the vampires who had laughed at their hunting success. He’d never participated in a hunt, but he’d known those who had.
“I need to join my wife,” Creed said. “If you disobey my orders, I won’t hesitate to banish you from Nava.”
The vampire bowed his head, but Creed sensed his ire would not be so easily tamped down.
“H
OW DID IT GO
with your father?”
“Probably as well as it went with your tribe,” Blu said. “Are they happy for us?”
“Grimacingly so.” Creed lifted his champagne goblet to a passing couple, vampire male and female, arm in arm. They nodded cordially. The female’s smile revealed fang. “Your father is looking a bit too frowny for my taste.”
“He’s always that way. He doesn’t believe I love you. He can’t accept his daughter has finally found happiness. He’ll do anything to take it away from me.”
“Did you confront him about your mother?”
She clutched Creed’s arm to steady herself against the sudden wooziness.
“Are you all right?” His dark eyes searched hers, his compassion obvious. “Your father upset you. Perhaps it’s time we leave.”
“No, I’m fine. I didn’t want to bring my mother up tonight. This is supposed to be a celebration. And every time I say it, it still is impossible to buy into.”
“My heart celebrates you,” he whispered into her ear. “Know that, Blu.”
She did know that. And Creed’s love went a long way toward bolstering her waning confidence. “Are you okay?”
“Just a few twitches still. Do you notice them?”
“No, you look fine on the outside.” She kissed him. “I want to get you home, to kiss every part of you, and make you forget the pain.”
He brushed a hand across her breasts, but her nipples were already hard.
“But we shouldn’t rush away,” she added. “I want to talk to Bree. I know she’s here somewhere. I’m just…so happy. Honestly. And it’s hard to be so when I know the world doesn’t wish it for me.”
“I wish it. I won’t let them take away our happiness, Blu. No matter what happens, I will be here for you.”
“What if we’re ostracized?”
“It’s a fate I can accept.”
“Honestly? But you’re the tribe leader. I can’t imagine the stigma—”
“No worse than a werewolf wearing a vampire’s bite,” he said quickly.
She nodded, then stroked her neck uneasily.
Together they stood as the room moved about them, the partygoers slashing at them with visual daggers and cursing them under their breaths. What hypocrites. They were the ones to demand she and Creed marry and now they would condemn them.
“This really is playing like the Catholics versus the Huguenots. I don’t want to play the game anymore, Creed. I wish you could make it stop.”
He sighed and tilted her head to nestle against his neck. “Let me think on it some more. If you wish me to make it stop, I will do everything in my power to make it happen. There are some tricks I’ve up my sleeve yet.”
“You can’t use your magic. I heard what the witch said. Your bones would really be crushed.”
“Don’t worry.” He studied her gaze, stroking a thumb along her jaw. “If magic would have served, I would have wielded it decades ago. We’ll talk about it later, I promise.”
“Is it going to freak me out?”
“I hope not. But then I know you like the freaky stuff.”
“You do. Sadist.”
He grinned. “Masochist.”
“Wolf lover.”
“Longtooth’s bitch.”
“Oh, bite me.”
“Ah?” His eyes glittered expectantly.
“
I
mean…I didn’t mean that literally.
I
can’t believe
I
said that.”
“You were teasing, lover. Though,
I
wish you were not.” He kissed her forehead. “Okay, you run off and find your friend before I’m forced to sneak you off to the coatroom and have my way with you.”
“You’ve given me a new option. Chat with Bree or make out in the coatroom?”
He waited for her to decide. It shouldn’t be a hard decision, but Blu found moving one step away from her husband felt like a mile.
“I’d better find the faery. She’ll never forgive me if
I
missed her. Though, trust me, Bree would be pleased to hear about an adventure amongst the coats. Find you in half an hour?”
“I’ll miss you every minute you’re away.” He bruised a kiss to her lips and she took it with a regretful sigh. “Love you.”
C
REED OBSERVED
A
LEXANDRE
mooning over his pretty lover, a vampire slayer with no tallies to her credit who he had changed to vampire less than a year ago after a vacation in Paris.
It hurt him that his second in command wasn’t on
board with the peace pact. Not that Creed had bought into it originally. Now that his mind had taken a three-sixty, he needed to bring the rest of the vamps with him. If Alexandre didn’t get behind him, convincing the rest of the tribe wouldn’t be half as easy as it should be.
But he would never force the man to something that went against his principles. Once forced to fight another vampire to survive, while vicious werewolves looked on, Alexandre would never, and must never, be expected to want to embrace them and call them friend.
He’d stopped flinching, but he still felt a strange pressure about his temples. It had been too real. The blood had dripped from the pierce holes in his skull, hot and thick. He didn’t ever want to know that pain again. It was a great deterrent against using magic.
Creed tossed back another glass of champagne and decided a breath of air would clear his struggling thoughts.
The parking lot was lined with Escalades, Jaguars and BMWs. Funny how you could pick out a werewolf from his black gangsta SUV and a vampire from his more refined choice in vehicles.
Yet the two species were more alike than different. Both lived, loved, struggled, rejoiced and, yes, hated. They had dreams and desires, regrets and suffered grief. They clung to humanity for it was the only means to survive in this mortal realm.
Blu had taught him much in the short time he’d known her.
He’d spent decades, nay centuries, hating the wolves, designing ways to overcome and defeat them when needed. Wolfsbane had killed many. Now Creed could honestly look back over those times with regret.
What a waste of time battling against the werewolves had been. It had gotten him nothing. It had served the vampire tribes no boon. War was merely aggression, a flip of the finger to the opposition.
If only he could have met Blu centuries ago, and she could have turned his world on its head then.
Perhaps though, it was best he only met her now. Her lifespan was but two or three centuries. He was glad she was still young, and he had many years to look forward to with her.
His wife had changed him at a visceral level. He may have been going through the motions by standing up for the peace pact and the rescue team, but only now did he truly understand the devastation such animosity toward one another caused.
Passing a group of male vampires who hung at the corner of the building sharing clove cigarettes, Creed nodded to a few members of Nava. They addressed him as “my lord,” which he thought now was over-the-top.
Why had he insisted on the title? He’d used it since
the late fifteen hundreds. If he truly desired respect he needed to step down to their level. Or rather, simply join them and not put any on one level or another.
Things would change within Nava. He’d see to it immediately. Perhaps it was time to hand the reins over to Alexandre, let the youngblood take command. It would give him more time with his wife, and Creed liked that idea.
He saw vampires from Kila and Zmaj and others here. It was good the various tribes were getting along. One less thing to worry about.
But he had no doubt they relied upon him to signal the beginning to this war. Out of eyesight of the Council, the tribes were as hungry for blood as were the packs.
Would they listen if he announced they should step back, let the werewolves have their territories and just shake hands and make up? Old habits died hard.
This marriage alone could have never facilitated something so immense. While he’d initially played along, since falling in love with Blu he’d developed hopes it could have at least started something, the way a small spark often became a fire. Wouldn’t a wave of peace be insanely fine?
He was an old man. He wanted to settle into life and love his wife for days innumerable.
Up ahead he noticed a group of weres restraining one particular wolf. He looked drunk, but as Creed paused on the curb to observe, he realized the wolf was frenzied,
in a rage. Shoving at his cohorts and tugging down his red plaid shirt, he tried for a modicum of calm, but something kept pressing him to shout and swear loudly.
“That’s him,” one of the wolves said acidly.
The entire group looked to Creed.
Shit. He could take a were or two, but a whole group? Good thing a few tribe members stood close.
Creed approached the weres. “Evening, gentlemen. You here for the banquet?”
“You’re Lord Saint-Pierre?” the one they’d been restraining asked. He was brawny and huffing, having exerted himself greatly already. His bald head sweated.
“I am. And you are?” But Creed knew the answer quickly after asking.
“Ryan.”
“Ah, yes. Eugene, isn’t it?”
“The werebitch’s presumed mate,” the wolf spat.
“Yes, she mentioned you once or twice.”
The wolf fisted the air. His buddies had the wherewithal to secure him at the arms, but not tightly.
“If you have laid a single tooth to her I will rip your head off!”
“No teeth. Not yet,” Creed said calmly.
He was baiting the beast. But he wouldn’t back down from the rabid thing. Who had let him on the property in the first place?
“I’ll thank you to keep your thoughts from my wife, wolf. She’s mine now. Find yourself another dog to shove around.”
“Why, you bloody flesh-pricker!”
The wolf’s cohorts let go of him, laughing and ribbing him on.
Ryan lunged at Creed. They went down on the tarmac, the man growling and punching Creed in the gut. He knew wolves fought dirty, and if he gave the man a chance to wolf out, he’d never match him.
Kneeing his opponent, Creed kicked him off and jumped up to follow through. Suit coat tight across his shoulder, he shrugged it off.
The werewolves circled the fight with interest, but did not interfere. Creed sensed the vamps moving in, quieter than the wolves, but keenly interested.
He did not require a tribe member to step in, but he was glad to have them close.
He’d imagined the things he’d like to do to this bastard wolf in repayment for the pain he’d caused Blu and countless vampires. But he would not deliver a mortal wound, not here on designated neutral ground.