His gaze fell on Elina again and the cold burn of anger ignited deep. She met his gaze defiantly and his beast stirred, quietly impressed with her arrogance. Neither looked away as everyone started to head into the house.
It was only when Liam moved that Karn took the three steps necessary to get to her side. “You shouldn’t have done that, Elina Alexander. Once, yeah I’ll let you get away with once, but not twice, Missy. You will rue the day you interfered with my job of protecting the Vârcolac.”
If he’d expected her to shrink from his fury, he was in for a long wait. She smiled slowly, but it was without warmth, her eyes cold. “Oh, I think you’ll find it was you who made the mistake today, vampire. You allowed Liam to be harmed. No one allows my cousin to be hurt without there being consequences. Believe me, we will continue this, only now is not the time. I’ll let you know when it is.”
She turned and walked away, fighting down the rage that wanted to consume her, calming her wolf who wanted to bite the stupid vampire and show him who was boss. One day soon, they would have a reckoning and she had no intention of coming out the loser. She was very much her mother’s daughter and Karn would know that when the time was right.
*****
“Mac.” His name burst from her lips the second she saw him all but flying the last few hundred yards down the mountain trail. Lily threw herself into his arms, tears streaking the blood on her face as her mate crushed her tightly to his chest. “I’m so sorry, Mac. Please forgive me.”
“Shhhh, Lily. Don’t say anything. Just let me hold you.” Mac was shaking, relief warring with the terror still infusing him. He could feel Lily’s tears on the side of his neck and knew she could feel his. How the fuck had they come to this? Where had everything gone so wrong and what could he do to make it right?
Lily had almost died. They had almost lost their child, an innocent brought into the world by love and who hadn’t had a chance yet to experience all the wonders out there to live. “Lily, oh God, Lily, when you fell and I couldn’t get to you in time…” Mac’s voice broke, anguish in every word.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she whispered, automatically soothing her mate because she couldn’t stand to hear the anguish in his voice. “None of this was your fault. I should have stayed at the compound, Mac. I wasn’t thinking straight and I panicked and ran. I should have stayed and talked to you, but I was feeling so ill, I wasn’t thinking rationally at the time.”
“If I hadn’t told you about Sophia then you wouldn’t have had the need to run. You would have come to me, we could have talked things through, and I’d have seen what a precious gift it was you were giving me. I let you down when you needed me, Lily. The fault is mine.”
“For what it’s worth, if you’d both talked to each other none of this would have happened but that’s a moot point anyway,” Kallum interjected, running a hand down Lily’s back to soothe himself more than her. He could see she was safe and knew that whatever the future held for his sister, it could surely only be good after everything that had occurred.
“This is mates business,” Mac growled, his more dominant nature exerting itself as the shock of Lily’s accident began to wane.
A loud snort from Kothari’s direction had all eyes turning to him. His customary dark glasses hid his eyes but his expression was eloquent. “If this is the crap you have to deal with being mated then that’s something I have no intention of experiencing.” He half-smiled at Lily as he spoke, giving her a short nod. “And again our Liliana causes havoc. I want to be a fly on the wall when Andrei gets through with you, not to mention Rafe. You’re in trouble again.”
Lily paled, feeling queasy again, not just because of her pregnancy, but also at the thought of dealing with her father and Alpha. Her Dad would be okay once he got over his fear but Rafe… she had muted her bond and he’d warned her what the consequences of that would be.
“Leave her alone, Kothi,” Kallum admonished, his eyes narrowing as he looked back at their friend. Lily didn’t need any additional stress right now which was why he’d tried to buy her more time from his parents checking in with her. She needed to be with Mac and alone.
“Yes, behave!” A cool female voice said from the trees and Rayne strode into the small clearing, exuding a quiet confidence that seemed to lower some of the anxiety surrounding them. She gave her son a stern look, trying not to smile at his rebellious expression. He had always been a handful as a child and was even more so now, but there would always be a part of him that acceded to his mother no matter how old he was.
She shifted her gaze and gave Mackenzie a reassuring smile as she held out her arms to Lily. “You gave us all one hell of a fright, Liliana.” She waited for Mac to release his mate so she could give her a hug. He did so reluctantly.
Kothari conceded to his mother, only slightly annoyed at the reprimand. He could scent his father close and dialled back his natural tendency to try to stir things up. There had been enough excitement happening today as it was. It was time to withdraw and work out what the connotations of today meant for him on a personal level.
“While this little drama was playing out here there was an attack on the Praetorian compound,” Gard announced, coming to stand beside his mate. He ruffled Lily’s hair, his gaze fixed on Mackenzie’s face who turned to stare back up the mountain towards his domain.
“What happened?” The words were bit out tersely, fury starting to radiate from the vampire. Someone had attacked the Vârcolac while Lily’s life was at risk? That was unacceptable!
“The European vampire slipped inside during the chaos of Lily’s accident,” Gard continued. “Lacey let Rafe know what was going on. Liam was shot with a poisoned bullet.”
“Oh my God!” Lily cried out, as Kallum and Kothari tensed at the news.
Gard held up his hand to quiet them. “He’s fine. It appears the Vârcolac are immune to the poison. Speculation is that is because of your hybrid D. N. A. From the scant information Rafe has been able to get so far, Mallen is of the opinion that possibly the were gene blocks the harmful effects. This poison appears to only target vampire D. N. A. Everyone at the compound is fine though Karn appears to be a bit put out with the day’s events.”