Pippa turned back and approached with the older wolf beside her. Pete had been transported away. Fresh tears filled her eyes when she stopped before me and then she threw her arms around me. As she hugged me tight, she whispered, "Thank you so much, Davy. For everything. I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't helped us."
All this because of the essence in Pete? That was all they needed from me?
She smiled. "We didn't know it was possible to separate it from him. If we had and if I'd been more certain that you were the Immortal, I would've asked you right away."
"What?"
A carefree laugh broke from her and she wiped more tears away. "I came to Benshire for my family. We knew the Immortal was here. I was supposed to find you, but I didn't know it was you until now. I still can't quite believe it. I didn't even really like you."
"I know. You loved Emily. You guys were bosom buddies."
"I sensed her mate in her, but it wasn't Pete, at least not this Pete. This Pete is supposed to be mine." Her face sobered at that thought.
I asked, "What about the mateline? Are you able to recover it so he'll be your mate again?"
She shook her head. "I have no idea. That's old magic. No one would dare interfere with something like that, but Mother Wolf has become impervious and foolish. This will anger the Elders greatly. Matelines are never to be manipulated and now that it's been done, we'll have to see what other damage she did."
"About her, is she dead now?"
"No. You just stopped her magic from getting to Pete again. You put up a block within him. I'm sure the Elder wolves will move on her soon. She's weak now." She smiled again. "Thank you, Davy. You have helped so much. I can't express our gratitude in words."
The elder wolf dropped his mouth to her neck. His eyes locked with hers and Pippa nodded a second later. "This is Christane. He's my Elder and he wants you to know that the Christane family is indebted to you. If you ever need us, we will come."
Elders. Christane family. All this ancestry among the wolves. It was getting overwhelming.
"Davy?" Pippa frowned.
"Sorry. Yes. That sounds nice." I lifted a shoulder up in an awkward shrug. "All this is new to me. I've never had a werewolf feel like they owed me something. I'm just used to him," I jerked a thumb beside me. "He's always telling me to lay low and be quiet."
Roane barked out a laugh, but moved forward. "Thank you, Christane. I am indebted to you as well."
The wolf lowered his massive head to the ground and then turned as one with Pippa. She melted into her white wolf form and soon they had vanished from our eyes. It wasn't long before I felt all the wolves disappear and then I turned to Roane. "Why are you indebted to him?"
"They came to show their allegiance to me."
"They came because of Pippa."
"She called them, but they were here to fight on my behalf. If you hadn't stepped in and taken care of Pete, it would've been worse. If the Christane bloodline had fought with me, they would've showed their loyalty to a vampire. That would've meant declaring their own war on the Mother Wolf."
I shuddered at the thought of her. "She sounds like a bitch."
Roane put his arm around my shoulder and drew me close. "Well, she's their problem now."
Gavin approached and flashed a grin. "Is this the official victory walk?"
I felt Roane tense. "For now."
"One victory down, two more to go?" As we treaded down the hill and neared the estate, Kates darted to meet us. Her eyes were gleaming and her chest was heaving. A glow appeared over her skin.
She lifted a hand. "They've gone. All of them. What happened?"
"Davy took care of the Alpha," Gavin responded in a curt voice.
Annoyance flared in her eyes, but she didn't bite back.
"Wren and Tracey are waiting for us in the hall. Bastion and Gregory will follow and make sure the other wolves don't double back." Roane's hand slipped to my waist. His thumb started to rub the side of my hip.
When we entered the house, the two female vampires stood from their table. Brown panted from her seat. She gave me a loopy smile. "I can't stand. My legs have turned into goo. They're all melty. I did magic. Can you believe it?"
I couldn't contain a smile. "I knew you had it in you."
"Oh man." She slumped back. "I feel drunk. Is this normal?"
"Where's the traitor?" Kates looked around in contempt.
Brown tried to lift her arm, but dropped it on the table. "She's still out there, snoring away. They didn't take her with them and they could've. A few of the wolves got around me, but then they all ran away. I must be awesome."
"The wolf?" Wren spoke for the first time. She shifted in her stance and I saw pain flare in her body. She couldn't contain a grimace.
"She was a Christane wolf. She left with them." Roane narrowed his eyes. "You should rest, Wren. Heal. Tracey, take her to your room. Everyone should go to their rooms to clean up and rest."
"What?" Gavin lifted his head. "No party? We should be celebrating."
"We will." Roane's eyes glimmered in amusement. "But no one is fit for that right now." His hand spread out over the small of my back. "Let's enjoy our rest first."
Gavin and Kates shot a look at each other, but quickly looked away. I pursed my lips at that. It wasn't the first time there had been a spark between the two, but then Roane urged me in front of him and I didn't care. I wanted my bed. I wanted him. And I wanted a night away from the war.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Her eyes snapped open when she felt the defeat. The magic had been destroyed, banned from the Alpha. When she tried to go back in, a block was set in place. There was no way she could get past it, but then an explosion occurred and her magic was thrown back at her. It slammed into her and recoiled onto itself. She felt it quaking and knew the tremors were from fear. As she gritted her teeth, her anger rose swiftly. Something had not gone to plan and she was determined to figure out what it was, who it was. No one banished her.
The door burst open and a servant rushed inside. "Mother, what has happened?"
It was then she realized the room was shaking. She wasn't surprised. The rage in her was tightly controlled, but when she stood and turned, the appearance of Gailith made her pause. A bruise was forming on the top of his head; blood spilled from it and soaked his shirt. One of the lenses in the small glasses he always wore had a crack and his hair was matted from his blood.
"What happened to you?" She tried to keep the disgust from her voice. Servants wanted to be cared for. Everyone wanted to be cared for. They found it comforting. They were pathetic.
He hesitated and ran a hand through his hair. It caught on the blood and he withdrew it quickly to tuck behind his back. "Was there an earthquake?"
"What do you mean?"
"The whole house, Mother. It's been shaking for the last few minutes. Many of the servants died."
"Why?" Had her rage been so suppressed?
"They're human, Mother."
She couldn't hold back her disgust any longer and snapped, "What are you talking about? Why would my servants die from a small earthquake?"
"It wasn't small. This is the only room that's still standing."
Her eyes widened and she couldn't speak for a moment. Nothing and no one ever surprised her, but it had happened twice in the space of two minutes. She hated that. Someone was more powerful than her. The wolf inside her raged to get out. It needed to kill, but she took a deep breath and calmed herself. More deaths would not satisfy her. She needed to know what had become of the thread holder. That would satisfy her. She had gone to great lengths to get close, but if it had all been for nothing… she clamped her eyes closed at the thought of the possible repercussions.
"Are the wolves okay?"
He jerked his head in a nod. "Yes, ma'am."
"Ma'am?"
"Mother Wolf. Yes, the wolves were able to escape. I got away because one of them carried me out."
She narrowed her eyes and turned back to the window. Her home had been built during the Civil War. It had been made to survive anything, but she had not considered her own power. Never would she have imagined that she'd hurt something she had built and nurtured. But she had hurt it. Sheds that had surrounded the plantation were in pieces on the ground. Someone made her do this and that someone needed to be dealt with.
"Gailith, I want you to go to someone."
"Who, Mother?"
Her eyes were flat when she looked back. "The vampires."
He paled and his hand jerked to clench around his shirt. Filth. Everything about him was filthy. "You're human. They'll love you."
He closed his eyes and bent his head.
She smirked. They were pathetic, all of them, which is why she knew the thread holder had been underestimated. She had underestimated the girl, so Jacith must've also.
"You will go to Durres to see the Romah Family."
His body started to shake.
"There is a powerful sorcerer there. His name is Jacith."
Her nostrils flared as she smelled his fear. It wasn't long before his bladder emptied itself. It trickled down his leg and pooled on the floor. His head hung in shame, but he couldn't stop himself.
She could barely keep herself from killing him. Worthless humans. They couldn't do anything, much less refrain from wetting themselves. If she asked this of him, how did she know he'd succeed? Maybe a wolf would be better? But no, as she watched him through narrowed eyes, she reconsidered. A human was a perfect messenger and gift. Jacith would see him as one and that he had been one of her servants would mean something to him. The sorcerer was stupid in that way, but he had his uses. And he was powerful. He would be angry to find out the existence of a thread holder who could use the Immortal's powers. It was his fault. He should clean this mess up himself.
"You need to go and tell him what happened to the Alpha. The thread holder destroyed his precious experiment. Tell him this and then return home, Gailith."
He jerked his head in another nod and bolted from the room.
As she sat back down in her chair, she took a deep breath. Everything would have to be rebuilt.
"You're sending a servant to Jacith? He won't be returning, you know that."
She turned and a smile spread over her face. "Hello, Christian. Did you come to make sure I was okay?"
He was tall and muscular with piercing black eyes. That wasn't what attracted her to him. It was the wolf inside of him. He was the inspiration behind the Alpha. Christian Christane was the reigning Alpha wolf for his family. He had many grandfathers still alive, but he was their leader. A union between her family and his would cement the werewolves' dominance over the vampires. No creature could stand against power such as theirs and Christian was raw power in himself. As she watched, she saw it thriving within his body.
She licked her lips.
"No, Caralie. I came to tell you that my family knows what you did. You took the mate that was supposed to be for my little sister and joined him to another. You should not manipulate magic like that. It's old, older than your family."
"Older than yours too."
"Yes," he clipped out. "Older than my family, this is why the Elders have called a meeting."
He wasn't there to flirt. He never was, but there was gravity in his voice. Her inner wolf stirred. It sensed something that she hadn't yet. She stood and gave him a sultry smile. "What are you saying?"
His disdain for her flared. "The Christane Family will be separating themselves from yours. We no longer have to sit back and let you do what you want. We're going to stop you, Caralie. Your fight is now against us."
Her smile vanished.
His nostrils flared once more. "Good luck."
Gavin helped Emily to a bedroom close to ours. She snored when he picked her up and she was still snoring as Roane and I lay in bed. It was a few hours later and the sound kept me awake. When I rolled over, I saw that Roane was too. His eyes were open and he stared back at me with an arm on my hip.
We hadn't talked much when we got to the room. Both of us had showered and then crawled under the sheets. I had rolled to my side as he spooned me from behind. His arm hadn't moved the whole time.
"Why can't we sleep?" I asked now.
A ghost of a smile filtered over his face. "Because of the adrenaline."
"I bet no one can sleep."
"I wanted to be alone with you."
My heart skipped a beat. No matter how many times he said it, I knew I'd always love hearing statements like that from him. "You don't want to make love?"
"I wanted to hold you tonight."
I rolled over so I was facing him. His arm slipped behind me and he pulled me tighter against him. One of my legs slipped between his and my hand found his to hold. Our fingers interlaced and I closed my eyes. I wanted to savor the feeling of holding his hand.