I was heading towards the meeting house, where Andrea's room was located when I was knocked down. I was in the center of the clearing no one else was close by. I couldn't move, whatever had knocked me down was to strong. It also wasn't pack, I would have been able to tell if it was. "Hello!" a smooth voice called out into the night. He wasn't taking to me, no, he was announcing his presence to the pack. His voice crawled down my spine, I knew exactly who this was. It was the same vampire who had killed my mother. Rage coursed through me and I struggled to move but no matter what I did I could move from my spot on the clearing ground. I was just barely able to make out the front of the meeting house and saw as wolves started to pour into the clearing. Wolves were very territorial they didn't take to having a stranger show up uninvited and attack one of their wolves. Raiza was in the lead as they poured from the buildings. "Raiza, hello lovely. It has been years, tell me, how are you?" The vampire asked. "Let her go." Raiza growled out. The force of her power knocked into me and I tried again futilely to move. "Manners, Raiza. How about a hello first?" He asked. "The only hello you will receive from me, is a stake to the heart, Azarias" Raiza told him. "Oh? That's saddening and giving the situation very inappropriate. Tell me do you think I will receive a warmer welcome from your little wolf?" He asked. "Azarias!" Raiza warned.
The vampire moved into my field of vision, whatever was holding me down wasn't him. He looked exactly the same as I remember, his charcoal hair hung lifeless in front of his frost blue eyes that seemed to evaluate my entire being. "Remember me, Luce Mia?" He asked. I couldn't answer but he saw the answer shining in my eyes. My rage had turned to fear when I had seen him. "Ah you do, I'm glad. I do believe I owe you an apology for my behavior at our last meeting but sadly that must wait." The pressure on me disappeared and I was able to stand. The pack had surrounded us but I noticed that underneath their anger was apprehension, whoever this vampire was they knew him and he scared them. "Luce Mia, it has been to long. I have missed you." He said fondly. He reached out to touch me without thinking I slapped his hand away and a growl ripped from my throat. He laughed. "I have missed that fire that burns in your soul it is near intoxicating now. You should learn to control it though. Now back to business, I came here for only one reason, which was to give you a present." He said. "I want nothing from you." I told him vehemently. His smile stretched wider over his face. "You seemed to appreciate my last gift, don't you want another?" He replied. I was aware of the entire pack watching us but no one seemed like they could or would help me. "What gift?" I asked finally turning my attention back to him. "Why that night we first met, I left your father alive as you asked. Had it been anyone else, all of you would have died. Giving such a beautiful young girl with such a fiery soul her wish however Luce Mia it was worth it." He spun dramatically, "now I shall give you another gift, but first-!" He disappeared. I glance across the entire clearing but I didn't see him. I swallowed nervously and I didn't dare move from my spot in the clearing. "Boo!" He whispered in my ear. I spun around he had someone pinned under his arms. I recognized Aspen's lush mane of red hair. All the blood drained from my face. I heard the pack's intake of breath when they recognized his captive. 'Why did he have her?' I wanted to wrestle her from his grip and shove a stake into his heart myself but I knew if I moved an inch she would be dead before I reached her. "Let her go!" I echoed Raiza. "I can't do that Luce Mia this part of my game is required." he said. Right before he plunged his fangs into Aspen's neck. Memories of when my mom was killed flashed through my head and I watched helplessly as he drank Aspen's blood. It was her whimper that broke my motionlessness. "Stop! Don't do this, not again! Just let her go she's done nothing!" I said. I moved towards him slowly trying to draw his attention away from Aspen. Approaching a feeding vampire was reckless 9 times out of 10 whoever approached ended up dead themselves. His head lifted from Aspen's neck, she was frozen with fear. His frost blue eyes had once more turned red and blood colored his thin lips. His eyes were clouded from the high he received from the blood. I expected him to attack me instead a smile split across his face. His eyes faded slowly back from the red seemingly violet for a moment. "Amazing, tell me Luce Mia, what is your name?" He asked. What? My name? It's Kylie, Kylie Hudson." I answered shocked. "Kylie, such a beautiful name. Well than it is a pleasure to formally make your acquaintance, I am Azarias De Rege. Now that the introductions are over. Raiza I have a formal request to make of you!" Azarias called out.
Raiza made her way forward to stand at my shoulder, her reassuring presence was comforting. "Release them first." She told him. Surprisingly he complied. Uncertainly, Aspen made their way over to us and Ryan came over to her and brought her into the safety of the pack. As Ryan neared Azarias my breath caught in my throt worried he would attack. Azarias's never moved a muscle, he seemed to have forgotten Aspen already. "Very well, make your request." Raiza said pained. A smile took shape once more on Azarias's face. "I wish to formally position the Nightshade pack for the right to make Kylie Hudson my consort." He announced. "Nev-" Raiza started. "Ahhh! Now don't be too hasty to deny me Raiza, you do this and the feud between us is forgotten, you have my blood oath on that." He interrupted. When he said the words blood oath he slashed a thin line down his palm and blood welled to the surface. He let one drop fall to the ground before he licked the rest of the blood from his palm. Raiza stared at him her mouth gaping open. I had never seen her shocked before, it was scary to see the Alpha fazed. "You'll what?" She asked hesitantly as though she couldn't believe her ears. If it was possibly Azarias's smile widened. "I will forget the blood feud between your pack and my coven if you agree to let me take Kylie as my consort. This wasn't my original plan you know. I had planed to start a war between our two groups with the humans in the middle. Killing Kylie's mother was to be the beginning but I put it off until she was old enough so that I could actually taste her. When she returned however she was more brilliant than I had ever imagined. Such as that little demonstration proved. Not a single wolf other than her tried to stop me, and here I thought werewolves were all about protecting pack." He mocked. His eyes moved from Raiza's face to mine. "Tasting her once wouldn't be enough, and killing her would be a crime to the entire world. No, I want her as my own. Therefore I am willing to put aside the entire blood feud if you just but grant my request." I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, what the hell was this psycho dude's problem? What blood feud? Why was I now the damn peace treaty or war order? "I-" Raiza began only to be cut off by Azarias. "Now, now I learned something interesting from the mind of that young man. I shall give you one month to decide, both of you." He said his eyes landing on me. "Until then the feud shall continue as will my plans unhindered. Don't worry though nothing desperately drastic will happen in that month, just enough to give you reason to consider my request. I shall return when the month is up to hear your answer, but first I shall make a proper offer to my intended." He said.
One second he was a good ten feet away the next he was standing right I front of me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him. If I had been straight the hormones the shift had released would have had me helpless, even without them clouding my head I couldn't get out of his grip. He leaned his head down to the crook in my neck and ever so gently he bit me. It wasn't a bite that was meant to cause harm or even to break the skin, between wolves a light bite was like when humans gave another a diamond ring. His teeth bit down just enough for my wolf to acknowledge the proposal. I couldn't see it but I knew the black rune for a mate bond appeared on my skin. I could feel the heat well up underneath my skin as it took shape. No one knew why the rune appeared but when a true mate purposes the rune was always white. The rune was the mark of the other person in physicalform, their claim on the wolf, the forging of a bond between them. Azarias leaned in closer and whispered in my ear. "This is my gift, I hope you appreciate it as much as the last one." With that he was gone. A shudder ran down my spine, whether from the cold air that hit or from his breath that tickled my ear I didn't know which.
***
"No!" Corrigan shouted.
We were in Raiza's office above the meeting room. The only people present were Raiza, Andrea, Corrigan, me and since I apparently needed a family representative my Anut Laura was present. Everyone had just made it in the room when Corrigan's objection burst forth. "Corrigan no one has even said anthing yet. Tell me what are you objecting to?" Raiza asked. Corrigan glowered at Raiza. "You know damn well what. Your going to tell Kye about that damn feud and she is going to become some damn bargaining chip." Corrigan said. "I can't say I like that plan either. In case you didn't know that...thing killed my mother. In front of me! Which as bad as that was it was only slightly worse then having the pack leave you for dead. How could you, all of you just leave Aspen and me to that unstable Vampire!" I shouted to the entire room. I raised a hand to my neck, to where I knew his mark would be tattoed onto my skin. A shudder passed through me. 'Why the hell was he obsessed with me? Wasn't there enough crap in my life?'
"Before you start arguing about this, someone needs to explain this blood feud first." Andrea said reasonably cutting off both Raiza and Corrigan who were going to try and explain their actions, pointlessly, as far as I was concerned. Raiza sighed and perched on the edge of her desk. "It happend nearly a hundred years ago. I wasn't even around for the first part of this story." Raiza started. "First let me explain Azarias, he is a very old vampire around 400 years old. Before he was turned he had had a wife and two children, a boy and a girl. As a vampire he could no longer be apart of there lives as all supernaturals were hunted and feared at that time. His family meant everything to him though and he refused to fully let them go so he watched over his family and protected them for centuries in secret." The room was silent as Raiza spoke the ancient story. "Azarias had watched over his decendents throughout the ages and when they moved to the new world he picked up his entire coven and moved them as well. When supernatural where finally exposed and subsequently accepted as apart of society he revealed himself to his living decendents. Only one welcomed him with open arms, Azriel. Azriel and Azarias became very close and Azarias was able to have his family that had been denied to him for all those centuries." Raiza stopped speaking for a mintue before continuing. "It was a different time back then and even though supernaturals were accepted there was tension on both sides. Despite this and maybe because of Azarias's influence Azriel fell in love with a werewolf. They were together secretly for years, one day he decided to ask the Alpha for permission to become her mate. Unsurprisingly the Alpha refused him and forbade them from ever seeing each other again. The Alpha then tried to have this wolf mate with another in a different pack. That wolf was cruel and Azriel's beloved hated him. She went to Azriel for help and he went to Azarias, who got them both away and tried to protect them. He accepted her as part of his family and assured them to do whatever he could for them to live happily. The Alpha was...mad, not only was he disobeyed but they had went to a vampire for help, which made her a traitor in his mind. So he went after them. In the end there was a battle between the two groups. Azriel and the girl fought as well, not wanting to let Azarias and his coven died for them. In the end both Azriel and the girl were injured and near death. Knowing this Azriel did the one thing he wanted more than anything, he purposed to his beloved. He bite her and when he pulled his mouth away there on her skin was the white mark of a true mated pair." I gasped a true mated pair between a human and a wolf was nearly unheard of, it was hard enough finding a mate who was a wolf, let alone a true mate. "When the the Alpha and the rest of the pack saw this, you can't imagine their pain. As true mates both of them were considered pack and neither was guilty of any crime that was punishable by death. Nothing could keep true mates apart not even an Alpha's order, and we were responsible for their death. We killed them for the crime of true love. Azarias had seen all this and knew what it meant. Azariel's death and the death of his mate tore him apart. Until than he had respected werewolves and our unity as a pack. After they had both died Azarias pledge to destroy our pack for killing his only famliy that he had spent centuries protecting. Azriel was Azarias's only family as far as he was concerned and we had killed him and his wife in pointless bloodshed. The supernatural council heard what had happened and decreed that our fates were in Azarias's hands, he had total immunity to do as he wished to claim his blood price, and we were forbidden from raising even a finger to hurt him, unless he killed an innocent. An innocent they decreed was anyone born after the year of 1926. Your mother, who was the only person we know for sure was killed at his hands was born in 1923. We couldn't do anything to help you or Aspen we didn't have the right.
"So he doesn't need to kill everyone born after that he can use them and torture them as much as he wants so long as they are still alive, basically?" Andrea asked sarcastically. "What was her name?" I asked. That story was horrifying but the one thing that pricked at me was not once did Raiza mention the wolf's name. Raiza turned to look at me and sadness transformed her features. "Her name was Sadira, she was my older sister and Sigma of the Nightshade pack," Raiza said sadly. I saw Andrea tense. "What!" she demanded. Her calmness shattered. "Sadira was 20 years my elder, I was 8 when she killed. Raiza told her. "You never mentioned her, once! Hell you never mention my parents either," Andrea said. She was about to say more but the full force of the fact she mentioned her parents shut her down. The story behind Andrea's parents was another sad story and one that was well known in the pack unlike the story of Raiza's older sister. I collapsed into one of the chairs exhausted. I have had a lot of long days since I had come here but this one was by far the longest. "What would you have me say, Andrea? Whether you knew about Sadira before now it would have changed nothing. She is dead, killed unjustly by her own pack and with her death the blood feud between the Nightshade pack and the Last Crusade coven was formed. Sealed with her blood! A death sentence for is all?" Raiza said. Andrea was about to reply when Anut Laura cleared her throat interrupting them. "Alpha, Sigma I apologize for interrupting. I understand you have something you need to discuss however right now I am concerned about my niece who seems to have been caught in the middle of this." she said.
Raiza and Andrea tuned their attention back to me both had the same sheepish look on their face. At any other time I would have laughed, at their similar expressions and the fact my Aunt, an omega, was the cause. "You're right Laura." Raiza swung her gaze back to me. "Well, you have heard the story are you going to do what Corrigan predicted and agree to this bond?" Raiza asked me. I stared at her mutely. What was I suppose to say? What was I suppose to do? From what I had just heard Azarias was in the right according to our law. We as a pack had killed his family in cold blood, he had every right to exact his vengeance on us and claim his blood price. He had ever right to kill my mother despite the fact she was what? 3 years old when this had happened. Instead he was giving us an out. The feud could end if I simply agreed to become his consort. I was part of this pack, I was a beta of this pack it was my job to protect the pack. Did I really have the right to reject this opportunity? My decision should have been easy, black and white. I looked at the faces around me my gaze settled on Andrea's. She had dark circles under her eyes and looked like she would collapse of exhaustion at any second. Her clothes were perfect, neat and spotless. Her t-shirt hugged her lithe frame tightly and I could fully appreciate the curve of her hips through it. I wish I could tell what was running through her head, her silvery grey eyes betrayed nothing as to what she was thinking or feeling. Through the bond she radiated calmness but that was just to mask what lay beneath. My gaze shifted from her eyes to her lips; her full, soft, plump, pink lips. She was strong and determined and faithful and caring and like Sadie had said ages ago she was really just a big softie who always sacrificed so that others were happy.
This decision wasn't one that I could make, it wasn't one I had the right to make. Because if it was left to me I wouldn't live in the same state, or even country as the monster that had killed my mother and nearly my father and me. I also wouldn't be able to live with myself if I sacrificed myself willingly to that man. This affected the whole pack not just me and I couldn't, I wouldn't let my own desires decide the packs fate. If I couldn't trust myself to make this decision there was one person and only one person I would trust to make the right one. I looked away from Andrea and looked into Corrigan's eyes. This would protect her at the very least and take the decision off my shoulders. I saw understanding spark in Corrigan's eyes right before I asked. "Can I?" I asked her silently through the bond. "If this is your choice made of your own free will, than as your superior and mentor I give you permission." Corrigan replied silently. I nodded to her and stood from the chair I had collapsed in and made my way to stand in front of Andrea. No one moved as I lowered myself to my knees before her. I turned my head to the side exposing my neck, the side unmarked by Azarias.
"As a beta of this pack,
I pledge to you Andrea Night,
Sigma of the Nightshade pack,
My life, my strength, my undying loyalty,
I will live for your happiness, your every whim,
I am yours, to do with as you please,
Your happiness is mine,
My life is yours,
Through blood and bond,
I pledge this to you,
Will you accept my vow?"
A/N- alright so sorry I had to put this in, personally I hate author's notes, reading them and writing them. Anyway there is just one thing I need to tell you guys: don't expect updates as frequently as I posted them this week. I just had a ton of extra time to write. Ok that message done, don't forget to comment! Vote and follow. I love getting your feedback!