***
“Thank you.” Aurora mouthed at Ryan. “We are grateful to you for not killing us on sight. And I do apologize again for dropping in unannounced. We’ve taken much of your time already.” She got to her feet and extended her hand to Philip. “We will definitely be getting in touch.”
The others stood too and shook hands with the werewolves. It was no surprise at all when Aurora hugged Ryan. Stan gave Enzo a one-arm bro hug and insisted on kissing Gaia on both cheeks which made the chic vampire laugh. Ryan gave Enzo a warm hug and told him to take good care of himself for Sylver. When Enzo came face to face with Jeremy, both men sized each other up, gave each other curt nods, and then turned to go.
“You must be shitting me.” Ryan muttered, rolling his eyes at his stubborn mate and equally stubborn son-in-law. “Really, Jeremy?”
“He wants to take my son from me.” Jeremy growled under his breath. “Surely you can’t expect me to like him.”
“He never said he wanted to take…ugh why do I even bother.”
“He didn’t have to. I can feel it.” Jeremy rasped as they followed the others out of the conference room.
Enzo wanted to see Sylver again but since he was sleeping, he decided against it. After exchanging contacts, the vampires said their farewells and got back on their helicopter.
**
“The relief I felt when they finally got on that chopper…” Philip chuckled.
“You and me both.” Jeremy laughed. “I couldn’t wait for the bloodsuckers to leave our territory.”
“Hey, you can’t call them that.” Philip gave a mock growl. “Your son-in-law is one.”
“That twerp deserves to be called worse.” Jeremy snorted.
“Aw come on don’t tell me all that sympathy I saw in your eyes for Enzo on that day was fake.” Philip drawled. “‘Cause it looked real to me.”
“It was real, man.” Jeremy rasped. “Do you blame me? The guy looked too wretched and dejected.”
“Tell me about it.” Philip sighed. “It was terrible but it had to be done.”
“Yeah.” Jeremy breathed. “But I sure as fuck wouldn’t wish what he had to go through on even an enemy.”
“Well, he definitely did feel your fury like an enemy would, didn’t he?” Philip laughed. “God, Jer…” He shook his head as Jeremy groaned. “You came this close,” he brought his index finger close to his thumb, “to killing your son-in-law.”
“Don’t remind me…” Jeremy breathed.
The alpha of all alphas had not only come close to killing his son-in-law, he’d also almost started a war…
**
The visit from the vampires, although unplanned, had gone very well in the opinion of the werewolves. Everyone knew that it could have gone very wrong and probably ended in a war between the pack and the vampires. Each pack member who waited for the chopper of the vampires to take off said a silent prayer of thanks to Luna. Surprisingly, however, just as the chopper began to take off, it settled back onto the lawn. The werewolves looked at each other in confusion, wondering why their guests had paused in their take-off.
“Maybe they left something,” Deloris said.
“Those bloodsuckers brought nothing.” Paige snorted.
“Maybe they want to tell us some…”
“Sylver is on board,” Jeremy growled, cutting Ryan off. “Those motherfuckers had better open that hatch and…”
The hatch of the chopper opened to reveal Enzo, holding a yawning Sylver.
“I think we need to talk,” Enzo said above the sound of the whirling blades.
“No shit.” Stan drawled.
The werewolves watched as the vampires got out of the chopper. The blades had stopped whirling. Even the pilot was out too.
“See what I told you?” Enzo said, looking from one face to the other. “He wants to be with me.”
“So?” Jeremy asked quietly…too quietly.
“Well, I think it will be best if I went with him for…” Enzo never got to complete his sentence because there was a weird whooshing sound. A collective gasp of shock and fear went up from both the vampires and the werewolves gathered when a pile of ash instantly appeared where the helicopter of the vampires had stood mere seconds earlier.
“How about you calling it a day…permanently…with your family.” A red-eyed Jeremy asked sweetly. It was obvious that but for his son who was still in Enzo’s arms, the vampire would be dead.
“Oh, my god, Jeremy…” Ryan gasped as he threw himself at his mate. “Everybody, back to the conference room, NOW…” He screamed even as he disappeared with the furious Ojah.
In the conference room, both vampires and werewolves looked shaken. For minutes, everyone remained quiet. The only sound in the room was Sylver’s happy coos and Enzo’s low chatters with the baby. Every head shot up when the door opened to reveal Gloria.
“What happened?” The elegant warrior breathed, glancing from one grim face to the other.
On her way to the conference room, Gloria had seen the pile of ash where the transport of the vampires had stood earlier when she’d come to take her grandson. Some of the werewolves had told her it was the doing of the Ojah. Gloria wondered what could have triggered his son to let out the beast.
“Jeremy lost it,” Philip responded simply.
“I know. Why?”
“Well, Sylver went to Enzo…”
“I know that too.” Gloria rasped. “I alerted Jeremy that he was gone. I suspected he’d gone to…Enzo.” A faint smile touched her lips as she took in her grandson and the handsome vampire murmuring to each other. “All he had to do was take the kid back. Why did he lose it?”
“Well, lover-man here got out of the chopper and announced that he was taking Sylver away.” Stan drawled.
“What?” Gloria’s eyes went back to Enzo. “Young man…”
“No, no, no, Mama G.” Stan shook his index finger at Gloria. “He ain’t no young man. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’d be older than your mama if she were alive.” Everyone burst into laughter despite the bad mood.
“You’re full of shit.” Gaia gasped but even she couldn’t stifle her laughter.