Oh, God, I couldn’t bear it when people cried, and this thing with Vi…it was complicated. “Don’t. Vi. Please. Look, I get why you did it. I do. I’m sorry for making you feel the way you did. I’m sorry for hurting you. I know how much Grayson means to you, and if there’d been any other way—”
“No. This was meant to be. You two were meant to be. He never loved me. I just didn’t want to see it. But he loves you, Fee. I saw it in his eyes when you were taken, and if you allow yourself to, you can love him too.” She took a shuddering breath. “I lost my head for a little while. I promise not to go wicked witch on you again.”
She meant it. “Thank you, Vi.”
“So…am I forgiven?”
“Yes.”
She was silent for a long beat. “Do you think we could…start again? Be friends again?”
Oh, fuck, this was a different issue entirely. “I think we both need time, you know, to adjust to things…”
Adjust to my being Grayson’s mate and her not being his girlfriend.
“Yes, you’re right… How is Grayson?”
Oh, boy. “He’s good.”
“Okay…I best let you…you know.”
And just like that, shit got awkward. It was obvious she knew what Grayson and I would be getting up to. She’d called him and asked to speak to me, and it was late, and I’d been right there so…yeah, two and two makes four.
“If you need anything,” she said. “If there’s anything I can do to help with…anything…”
“Thank you, babe.”
“Take care.”
“You too.” Her voice sounded small. Lost. And then she hung up.
I stared at the phone, guilt warring with the light of joy that was burning inside me.
“Shower’s hot,” Grayson said from the bathroom doorway. “Just the way you like it.”
And just like that, joy won.
Petra didn’t get back until almost midnight, and although part of me felt guilty for accosting her as soon as she stepped through the doors, the other part didn’t give a shit. I needed to know what the hell was going on with Hunter, Grayson, and me.
We ended up in the lounge where the Christmas tree twinkled cheerily, and the many decorations gave the place a festive feel that had excitement bubbling up in my belly despite my apprehension about whatever Petra might say. The pack and Cora had done a stellar job.
Petra sipped her herbal tea, her brow pinched in a frown as she mulled over what we’d told her. She looked even smaller than usual perched on the edge of the sofa. Her hair was pulled back in a bun, and her feet were encased in heavy fur-lined boots.
Grayson and I sat side by side on the sofa facing her. Okay, maybe not side by side because my Loup mate sat forward, forearms braced on his thighs, hands clasped, tense, and nervous.
“Petra?” Grayson prompted.
Petra nodded as if coming to some internal agreement. “This has only happened once before to my recollection,” she said. “And the Loup weren’t twins, although they were brothers.”
“This? What do you mean this?” Grayson asked.
She cradled her teacup and looked from Grayson to me. “They call it a Tribus. It’s where two males become mated to the same female.”
Tribus? Mated to two Loup? “How is that even possible? Wait, is this because I made the mistake of mating with Hunter while in Loup form?”
“That was no mistake,” Petra said. “Hunter is your fated mate, but it seems that Grayson is too.”
I was so confused.
Petra put her tea down. “Let me explain. In a normal fated mate situation, you wouldn’t be able to mate with another Loup. The only reason I suggested you mate with Grayson is because his DNA is such a close match with Hunter’s. Your mating with Grayson was meant to calm the heat and make it easier for you to avoid completing the fated mate bond with Hunter. It wasn’t meant to negate your mating with Hunter. You would always have been connected to him, but you’d have been able to choose not to be with him. That was the plan.”
Made sense. “Okay… so what went wrong?”
She gave me a kind smile, her eyes warm with empathy. “Nothing went wrong, Fee. The situation just wasn’t what we originally believed it to be. The fact that you and Grayson were able to create a Vista when you mated means that Grayson is also your fated mate. A Vista is only created when fated mates consummate in human form. It would have happened with Hunter too.”
That would explain why I’d been so drawn to Grayson from the start. “When I shifted into Loup form the first time…Why did my Loup choose Hunter and not Grayson?”
“I don’t know,” Petra said. “No one completely understands how the Tribus works, but the consensus is that a Tribus exists to create a powerful unit. A trio of Loup who complement each other both physically and emotionally.” Her smile was wry. “Grayson is the light to Hunter’s darkness, and you are the anchor that binds them both. Through you, they can do great things, and with them, your Loup can find the inner equilibrium it craves.”
I’d been happy, so completely happy since mating with Grayson. Was she telling me that Hunter was a part of that and that he was a reason for that happiness too?
“You won’t be completely whole without Hunter. I’m sorry, I know it’s not what you wanted to hear.”
Yep, that’s exactly what she was telling me.
Grayson ran a hand over his face. “Eldrick has Loup looking for Hunter. He intends to bring him in and punish him. He wants to make an example of him and hopefully use him to flush out the traitors who were working with Larson.”
Wait, what? “And you’re telling me this now?”
“I wanted to tell you sooner, but Eldrick asked me not to. He was going to tell you when you see him tomorrow. It’s his surprise for you.” Grayson sighed. “Fuck.”
Panic bloomed to life inside me, concern for Hunter, the need to protect him. “Well, he can’t hurt Hunter. Hunter did a shitty thing, but he…He saved my life, and he…He needs help. He needs us, Grayson. Tell Eldrick if he hurts Hunter, I’ll never forgive him.”
My hands were shaking, and I clasped them together, stunned by my own reaction.
Grayson’s husky gaze trawled across my face, and I watched the conflict in his eyes melt away. “I’ll ring Eldrick now and ask him to call off the hunt, and first thing tomorrow, I’ll put feelers out to locate Hunter. We’ll bring him in, Fee.”
I sagged as the tension rushed out of me. “Thank you.”
I pressed my palm to his cheek and leaned to kiss him, but I never made it.
An explosion rocked the room as the front doors exploded inwards. Glass shattered, wood splintered, and the hood of the van filled the space where the door had once been.
What the ever-loving fuck?
I leapt to my feet, scythe flaring to life on instinct, Loup ready to attack.
The lounge was filled with the growls of Loup as they ran in from all corners of the house.
Grayson planted himself in front of me, shielding me with his body on instinct, which was sweet, but I could handle myself. I stepped around him and crunched across the broken glass toward the van with the tinted windows.
“Fee, be careful,” Grayson said.
But he was right behind me. A stark-naked Bastian was to our left and a partially clothed Dean to our right.
The driver’s door popped open, and a figure fell out. The smell hit me hard—fecal matter, body odor, and death.
“Vamp!” Bastian’s growl set off the other pack members, and the room was a symphony of snarls.
The air crackled, raising gooseflesh up my arms, as several of my pack shifted into Loup form. My nape tightened with the urge to join them and abandon myself to my Loup, but I held onto my human form because if the vamp on the floor was a threat, then I was a wet noodle.
The creature was skeletal and bedraggled, his face so gaunt it looked like it was about to cave in on itself. I was surprised he was still breathing, let alone driving a damn van.
He looked up at us with his dark-pitted eyes and bared his fangs.
Grayson stepped forward with a warning snarl, but I held out my arm to stall him. “Wait.”
The vamp’s mouth worked as if attempting to summon enough saliva to speak, and then a single word fell from his lips. “Help.”
Chapter Sixteen
Cora
Lilith’s Blade, Keon, is in the quarters, unsupervised. Where the fuck are Mal and Azazel when I need them? No, this is up to me. Track the fucker down and make sure he’s not up to any mischief. I wink in and out of all the rooms. Nothing.
“We haven’t tried Fee’s room?” Cyril says from his position draped across my shoulders. He’s enjoying the jumps. We figured out I could carry him when Fee was in the Underealm. It seems my power is growing, but I’m not ready to tell the others yet. I want to gauge it, play with it first. It’s mine…the only real thing that is mine.
“Cora,” Cyril prompts.
I jump to Fee’s room, and my eyes have a fit.
“There he issss,” Cyril says.
I see, even though I wish I didn’t. Blue boy is crawling all over Fee’s, bed…licking it? Long pink tongue sliding all over the fucking sheets like a thick, wet, turgid slug.
“What the fuck, dude?”
He licks her pillow and then slowly looks up at me, his yellow cat eyes fixing on me with derision.
“I’d aim that look on yourself if I were you. I’m not the one crawling over a stranger’s bed, licking it. Get off there.” Urgh. “Shoo!”
Iza chooses that moment to enter the room, sees Keon, lets out a shriek, and throws the basket of laundry she’s carrying into the air.
Keon hisses at her. I expect Iza to scream again, but instead, she lets out a sound that is part growl, part snarl. It makes the hairs on my nape quiver with terror and, only the assurance that the imp would never hurt me keeps me from running from the room screaming.