“What…” Raiden had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “What do you mean by that, Lia?”
“I am not exactly sure,” she admitted. “But it was what it was designed to do.”
“The book was designed to be absorbed.” The idea was so absurd that he simply couldn’t comprehend what she meant by it, but then, beyond the instinctual powers of werewolves, magic had always seemed complicated and contradictory to him.
“Yes. It is why it was bound in the skin of one of my ancestor’s – the skin of the last person who absorbed it.”
He closed his eyes. “F-k, Lia.” He did not want to ask what was involved with un-absorbing the book, because he suspected it involved her skin, somehow, and that was definitely not okay with him. “F-k, Lia,” he repeated, swallowing heavily. “Alright. Now what?”
“I don’t know exactly,” she pulled back from him slightly and held out a hand, a ball of light formed hovering above her curved fingertips, hissing and spitting like lit magnesium. Her lips curled in a smile. “But I don’t think Lucian will find me as easy to take back, now.”
Raiden’s lungs emptied. Before he could frame a thought, he heard car doors, and pulled Lia back into the turret staircase. “It should be my dad but stay here until I have made sure.”
“Raiden-” Her protest was cut off by the closing turret door.
He stalked the walls to the front room and peeked out the curtains. His father, Ethan, Will, Elior, Rebecca and Nate filed their way across the front lawn and up onto the porch. He unlocked the door and admitted them, securing it the moment they were in the house.
“Interesting property,” Elior’s lip curled. “Stuck in a time warp, and it looks like someone has tried, unsuccessfully, to demolish it.”
“Not trying to sell you the house,” Raiden snarled.
“Rai,” Wade cautioned.
“Brought Will and Ethan as back up,” Raiden challenged his father angrily.
“Rai,” Wade repeated, his tone soothing. “They are here to protect Lia. She is pack.”
Raiden tried to restrain the Other, knowing that his aggression was getting unreasonable. Wade held his eyes, the Other golden, until Raiden regained control, blowing out a breath.
“Good,” Wade relaxed. He clasped Raiden’s shoulder. “It is alright, Rai. We are here for you.”
“And the blood,” Rebecca grinned, revealing her elongated canine and premolars.
“No,” Raiden snapped at her, his shackles rising. “Just Elior.”
“Rai,” Wade murmured.
“F-k dad,” Raiden grimaced. “No.”
“Not at once,” Wade said. “But we need Elior to win, which means he has to out power Lucian, not be equal to him. One way to do that is to have backup.”
“They will drain her.”
“Not if we stage it,” Elior was conciliatory, his eyes tracking between Wade and Raiden as he assessed the situation. “A little at a time, over a prolonged time. It was how Lucian would have done it in the first place, and we need to try to replicate whatever gave him his strength and speed.”
“Just great,” Raiden said from between his teeth. “So now we are not talking about subjecting my traumatized and pregnant mate to one vampire and one drink, but three and multiple times, over how long exactly?” He shook with his rage, his heart racing.
The werewolves and vampires all stilled, eyeing him warily, picking up on his increased heart rate and breathing, and the scent of adrenaline spiking in his system.
“Rai,” Ethan said, lifting his hands slowly, palms out. “You need to take a chill pill, bro.”
Raiden’s growl was all wolf, and the Other dominated his eyes, eclipsing iris and whites entirely.
“Alright,” Wade decided. “Let’s not argue this in the hallway. Show us somewhere we can sit in comfort, Raiden, and you can take a moment to get yourself under control.”
Raiden jerked his head towards the end of the hall. “Lounge there, near the solarium.”
“Come on,” Ethan said to the vampires. “This way.” As they made their way down the hall, Raiden heard him add. “And the blood?” To Rebecca reprovingly. “You are talking about his f-king mate. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Wade and Will remained behind.
“Don’t say it,” Raiden said to his father. “If it were mum, you would be no different.”
“Possibly,” Wade agreed. “You do realize, Raiden, that Lia isn’t the only one traumatized by what has happened in the last couple of weeks? This has been anything but a normal mating. Your behaviour is escalating as a response to your trauma.”
“Shit, dad,” Raiden’s chest hurt.
“Just take a deep breath and think it through. Will, Ethan and I are here for you, not against you.”
Raiden released his breath. “I know.”
“Alright. We would not ask this of you, but, as I am sure you have seen on your social media by now, things out there are…”
“Armageddon,” Will supplied.
Wade closed his eyes. “I hope not. But it certainly looks and feels like it when you are trying to drive through it at the moment.”
“F-k,” Raiden gripped his fingers into his hair, pushing in against his skull, trying to release the pressure that was building in him. “F-k. Lia did something, just before you came… Absorbed her damned spell book somehow.”
“Absorbed the book,” Wade repeated. “Like…?”
“I don’t f-king know,” Raiden’s despair was evident in his voice. “I don’t know, dad. I don’t know what the f-k is going on, or why the f-k it has got to involve us. I just want to take my mate to my den and let the whole goddamned world burn, if it keeps her safe.”
“Alright,” Wade caught him against him, and squeezed him tightly. “Alright, Raiden.”
Raiden gripped him back, his fingers digging into Wade’s shoulder blades. “F-k, dad.”
“Take your time, Rai,” Wade murmured. “Breathe in. We are pack. You are my cub. It is alright.”
Raiden’s head sagged until his forehead rested on Wade’s shoulder. Wade did not release him, and Will stepped in, wrapping his arms around them both. Raiden breathed in deeply, taking comfort from the scent of pack that clung to the other werewolves.
“Perhaps it was a mistake,” Wade said softly. “For you both to come here. You need pack support, Rai, not to be out on your own, with all this shit going on.”
“Lia needed to be here. The book was here, and the turret is safe.”
“I know,” Wade replied. “But you can’t protect your mate if you are at breaking point.”
“I was getting control back,” Raiden replied weary as the adrenaline faded.
“And then we called,” Wade finished what he left unsaid.
“And Lia did whatever the f-k she did.”
“Alright. Where is Lia?”
“Turret.”
Wade squeezed him again and nodded to Will. The werewolf released them and stepped back.
Raiden sighed heavily and lifted his head. His father was right. Being near pack did help to calm him. He felt exhausted but more in control of his Other. “This way.”
He took them into the bedroom and stepped into the walk-in-robe, releasing the door.
Lia was sitting on the bottom step and stood, her hands reaching out for him. “Are you alright?” Her anxiety broke her voice. “I was going insane thinking…” He caught her against him and pressed his face into her hair, breathing her in. She hugged him back. “Raiden?”
“Hi Lia,” Wade said from the bedroom.
“Hi Wade,” she stroked her hand up and down Raiden’s back. “How are you?”
“Had better days,” he replied ruefully. “Crazy times.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, leaning back to peer into Raiden’s face. “What is wrong, Raiden?” She asked with worry, lifting her hand to his cheek. “Rai?”
Raiden closed his eyes and took a deep breath before releasing it slowly. “Elior is here.”
“Yes.”
He could feel the tension in her. “And two of his children.”
“Oka-” She stopped, realizing what he meant. She swallowed hard, looking away. He felt the shudder pass through her. “Okay.”
“Lia,” he framed her face in his hands. “Look at me,” he used the alpha command, holding her eyes with his. “This is going to take time and lots of small drinks, but I will be there, every moment. As will my dad, Will and Ethan. There for you. You are pack. You will be safe.”
“And who will keep you safe?” She wondered. “With three vampires in the house with increased speed and strength?”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t worry about us. We are werewolves, we can handle ourselves.”
She breathed in through her nose, holding it in her chest, before releasing the breath. “My werewolf.”
“Yes.” He kissed her gently, lingering with their lips touching and their eyes holding, until he felt her relax. “Alright?”
“Alright, Raiden,” she smiled at him with effort. “We have dealt with worse than this, right?”
“Right,” he smiled back. “Together then.” He caught her hand in his.
Wade’s relief was visible. “Good. Thank you, Lia.”
“I am pretty sure that I can kill them, anyway,” she commented. “If they cause any trouble.”
“Right,” Wade slid a look at Raiden. “How?”
She released Raiden’s hand and opened both hands, palms up, zapping energy sizzling between her fingers like electricity. “I have learnt some new tricks,” she replied. “Since I last encountered vampires.”
She turned the fingers of her hands towards each other, the energy transferring from one hand to the other and spreading out as she drew her hands apart again. She closed her hands into fists and the energy dispersed.
“Well,” Wade was speechless. “That was certainly… different.”
She nodded and took Raiden’s hand again.
Wade met Raiden’s eyes over her head, his eyes widening.
They made their way into the lounge room.
Elior sat at ease in an armchair which Rebecca perched on the arm, flicking their way through an old photo album, and looked up as they entered. Ethan and Nate were in the attached solarium and came to the joining doorway.
“Hey Lia,” Ethan smiled at her hesitantly.
“Hi Ethan.”
“Lia,” Elior rose to standing. “It is good to see you recovered.”
“Elior.” She regarded him, hazy memories of seeing him holding Robere’s head and arguing with Lucian and of their conversation in the car as he drove her to Diedre and Wade’s house gaining focus. “I lived.”
“I am glad,” he said with every appearance of sincerity. But, she suspected, he was a good actor, able to portray what fit the situation at hand. He had not cared about her survival, so much as his alliance with the werewolves, she thought, until he had found out about her blood. “You understand why we are here?” He asked her gently.
“Yes, Elior.”
“Very well, then,” he sat back down as regally as a king assuming his throne. Rebecca stood and moved to the side making room. He gestured for Lia to come to him.
“From the wrist,” Raiden interceded. He was certain that seeing Lia on Elior’s lap would bring his Other to the forefront.
Elior’s eyes moved to him, and he raised his eyebrows. “It makes no difference to me, if you are more comfortable that way.”
“I would prefer it,” Lia decided, and perched on the arm of the chair, holding out her wrist and averting her eyes.
Elior’s fingers curled around her wrist, and she had to shift slightly towards him as he drew it to his mouth. She flinched as his teeth broke through her skin, her eyes meeting Raiden’s. The suck of Elior’s lips against her skin was uncomfortably intimate, and the sensation of the blood being taken up her arm was unpleasantly familiar, bringing back thoughts of the grey room. She half expected to see Lucian’s almost white-blonde hair when she looked at Elior, and the other vampire’s darkness was almost surprising.
For a moment, the room was still, the werewolves tense and alert, watching Raiden warily, and the vampires fascinated by the dynamics.
Elior’s groan was guttural.
“Shit,” Ethan murmured. “That good, eh?” Rebecca and Nate shifted, drawing nearer, intrigued. “Not a good idea,” Ethan cautioned them, blocking Nate with his arm. “Or you will get Raiden worked up.”
Raiden saw the distaste pass across Lia’s face as Elior lifted his mouth from her skin, his tongue stroking over the wounds to close them over. The vampire sank against the back rest, his eyes closing as he absorbed the blood.
“F-k,” Elior murmured. “No wonder he was like a man obsessed. It is… amazing.”
“My turn,” Rebecca was eager.
“Try to behave with some decorum,” Wade reproved sharply.
Once Rebecca and Nate had both drunk, Raiden helped Lia to stand. She swayed a little as he did so, her face growing pale, and he lifted her into his arms in concern.
“They took too much,” he complained.
“No more than donating blood. Feed her a cookie and she will be fine,” Elior replied, with a drunken grin, his eyelids heavy over his grey eyes. Nate and Rebecca burst into laughter, and Nate slid from his seat, hitting the floor, and leaning his head back against the chair as he laughed.
“Feed her a cookie,” Nate hit his knee with the heel of his hand. “F-k.”
“They are f-king high as kites,” Will said, awed. “I didn’t know that vampires could get stoned. Did…” He trailed the question off, meeting Raiden’s eyes. He closed his mouth on the question with a click of teeth. “Sorry, man,” he murmured so that it would only be audible to the werewolves. “Elior is right, though. She needs to eat something.”
Lia leaned her head against Raiden’s chest with a sigh. He pressed his lips to her forehead. He wouldn’t ask her Will’s question as to whether Lucian had exhibited any signs of intoxication during her time with him. It wasn’t worth making her recall her time with him.
He turned and Wade held open the door so that he could pass out of the room into the hallway.
They heard the vampires’ laughter roll out behind them.
“I will watch over them,” Wade remained, standing guard over the intoxicated vampires.
“I will cook something,” Ethan offered. “Give me a hand Will.”
“I will take Lia back into the turret,” Raiden said.
“Alright, Rai.”
“I don’t know,” Lia’s voice was on the edge of sleep. “I don’t know if he was affected like them. He didn’t giggle like they are. He was always talking or f-king me, but… I only remember pieces of what he said. I was… Not well.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he told her quietly. “Don’t worry about it. Can you get up the stairs if I help you?”
“Yes. It is fine. I am just tired. Stay with me Raiden.”
“Yes.” As if anything could convince him otherwise, he thought as they made their way slowly up the turret staircase.
They lay on the makeshift bed together, and he curled around her, pulling a blanket up and over them both. She drew his arm over her, threading her fingers into his, and holding their joined hands against her chest with a sigh.
He buried his face into her back, breathing in, and trying to ignore the faint lingering bittersweet scent of vampires on her clothing.
“Just a little while,” she murmured. “And then I will eat something, and we will do it again.”
“Lia,” he protested.
“No, I want it done. And then Elior can deal with Lucian, and things can get back to normal, and we can move to your house, and…”
“Alright,” he pressed his lips to the back of her shoulder. He wanted what she described, too, but suspected it would not be so easily gained. “Alright, my mate. I want that too. Very much. Go to sleep now. The food won’t be long.”
She relaxed and seemed to sink into sleep at the end of a deep breath.
Raiden lay awake, his heart uneasy. If only, he thought, it was going to be the way that Lia had said. But in his experience, things with vampires rarely happened so neatly. And he wondered if, having tasted Lia’s blood, Elior, Rebecca and Nate, would leave her in peace again.
He had a suspicion that he was going to have to kill the three vampires. Somehow.