“If you are satisfied with the treaty's terms, there’s no need to delay signing it. I came here with the support of my coven, and this will end two decades of unrest.” My father sits back across the table and smiles somewhat eerily. I think it’s meant to translate to warm and kind, but with his eternally stiff and frosty aura, it’s not.
“Finally, we get to know what peace is. Something I barely remember in my lifetime.” Colton lays the pen on top and slides the document to me. I don’t need to read it if he has approved, so I quickly scribble my name on the bottom and slide it toward Varro. It seems such a minor act for such a huge outcome. My feelings seem somewhat understated, considering this is such a huge thing, and I guess it hasn’t sunk in yet.
“Now all the formalities are out of the way. I was hoping on some time to get to know my daughter.” Varro shifts forward slightly, that pointy tooth smile that makes me uneasy, and eyeballs me directly. The mood of our topic changing, and he seems instantly softer.
“What did you have planned exactly?” I ask somewhat warily.
“A walk around your grounds?”
“Just the two of us, or…?”
Colton’s gaze lands pointedly on the side of my face, and the instant change in his stable mood sparks through my body like an electric volt. He perks up, and the intense ‘hell no’ hissed in my internal mate link makes me jump visibly so that I cough to try and cover it. Colton still firmly believes that Varro has a long way to go before he can begin to think about us trusting him. Being left alone with him will not happen anytime soon, even if I feel no threat from him. Colton still has many reservations about vampires.
“I don’t think your mate is all that enamored with that idea. Maybe a stroll, with him and his guards wandering a little behind us. So we can talk without the presence of others.”
“Four feet…” Colton breaks in without hesitation
“Ten at a minimum is a little more realistic.” Varro smoothly fires back. Stubborn and unfazed.
“Five!” A snarl this time as Colton’s temper rises at the haggling. When it comes to me, he doesn’t like to be undermined.
“How about we see what feels natural, and if I need you closer, I can easily wave or link. I truly do not see how a few feet makes a difference, given you can jump that in the blink of an eye.” I point out sternly, giving my mate that ‘please back off’ eyebrow raise. He never knows how to tone down the overly aggressive, borderline controlling tone when he gets all protective. I don’t want this somewhat peaceful meeting to turn sour. We need to show a modicum of trust here.
“Fine, but only you, Varro. None of the shadow men you left standing in the hall are to accompany you. And I follow with my second in command and the two Luna guards who always follow her.”
I inwardly sigh, knowing there’s no chance of negotiating with him as he thumbs my way with that glowering frown. He’s been ten times worse since my pregnancy bump started to show a little in the last few days. I’m growing fast now life has calmed down, and I can spend my days eating and resting to my heart’s content while my pack restores two homes for the later splitting up of the pack.
Lycans don’t carry their young for the same term as humans, and we birth our pups after half a year. That means I just hit the phase where I will expand like crazy and experience the biggest changes to my body. It’s important that I step back this time, take it easy, and prepare for what’s coming.
“Dear boy, I appreciate your love and need to guard your mate, but I am her biological father and started wars in the name of her and her mother. If anyone is going to hurt her, it will not be me.” He raises his brow quizzically.
“He does have a point.” I try to soothe Colton’s way and meet only a cold glare as he locks on my face. That no-nonsense, I won’t relent, look.
“If you have no ill intentions, what’s the issue with us following at a reasonable distance?”
“I second that.” Meadow’s voice waves from the far corner of the room where she has been silently standing all this time as a guard and observer. I know she has been itching to say something but held her tongue as long as possible. I cast her a ‘please don’t’ grimace, and she frowns straight back at me with a shrug.
“Can you both have a little faith in me, my judgment, abilities, and the sincerity of my father’s peace treaty? He came all this way and kept his word about bringing no more than his immediate escorts. He brought the treaty, and we have had nothing but peace and tranquility for the past weeks. I am sure a walk unaccompanied is fine.” I stand up and brush down my loose-fitted dress, making a point that I should still have a say as Luna. Making it clear they won’t be stopping me. They have been cotton wool wrapping me ever since we returned here after that fateful night of turning Juan over to Varro, and it’s a little frustrating at times.
“Lor…” Colton starts again, but I cut him off.
“I’m not asking. I’m telling.” I grind out that superior no-nonsense tone of standing up to Colton, and he looks instantly wounded. His expression crumbles a little. The puppy eyes and reversion to a young boy almost break my stubbornness and the pang in my chest that I have hurt my boy’s feelings.
He knows this side of me too well. The ‘I’ve had enough and want to decide for myself’ attitude. He still hasn’t ever gotten used to the fact he is not the ‘be all and end all’ in my world at all times. I sometimes have a mind of my own.
“It’s just….” Meadow starts, and I snap around to glare at her, cutting her off instantly. She should know better than to take sides in any conversation between my mate and me.
“I’m pregnant, not a child. I can still make decisions for myself, as Luna. I can still throw a vampire fifty feet across a room with the flick of my wrist if needs be. I doubt Varro here will do anything worthy of testing my abilities.” It’s curt and to the point, making it obvious I am losing patience.
“Fine. You stay where we can see you on the security cameras, and I still follow your path at a distance.”
“Whatever….” Knowing he will never relent, I sigh, but this is good enough.
“Shall we?” Varro seems amused with this entire interaction and not offended or displeased, given we are outwardly questioning his motives. He doesn’t hesitate to get up and head for the end of the table, reaching out his arm gentlemanly and offering it to me. Rather grandly, I wonder if it’s to annoy my mate while putting him in his place. He’s old-fashioned for sure, but I guess being centuries old or more will do that.
I move swiftly, aware of my unamused mate and best friend's tense stares and poised, aggressive stance, and ignore their reservations. I feel odd about linking my arm through his, aware my mate doesn’t like it one bit, but this is my biological dad. It’s no different to him holding onto Sierra.
It’s such a strangely intimate act for someone who is a stranger to me, yet the physical contact seems instantly familiar. I can’t explain, but the second my limb entwines with his, I suddenly experience calmness. Like going home, I’m back in the years of holding my mother’s hand as though it was only yesterday. It gives me an odd sense of painful heartache and brings tears to my eyes that this relative stranger can conjure up this intense sensation that we are bonded by blood.
We walk on, aware of the following Lycans, and I try to put them out of my mind as we make our way to the hall and into the open space of a beautifully sunny day. Everything we endured these past months seems to be in another time and place. An almost forgotten memory. Surrounded by the calm, tranquil beauty of this forest-dwelling manor and the peaceful joy of a bright day filled with birds and the rustle of trees. It seems like a far-off dream, and I don’t think back then I could ever imagine taking a stroll with the high lord of vampires.
“I know this is awkward, and it will take time for you to feel at ease with me, but I cannot get over how much this feels like Marina is here with me in spirit. I feel like I already know you. You look alike, yet don’t. There’s something of her about you, in the best way. She would be proud of the woman you have become, Alora. Proud of what you have achieved among these Lycans.”
His words catch me off guard as we leisurely make our way towards the tree line. Tugging at my heart and yet further putting me at ease in his presence. He’s a complex person, and as I walk in time, almost perfectly matched, I wonder how many layers there are to these creatures I used to only think of as murderous bloodsuckers.
“My memories of her slowly fade away, and I can barely recall her face anymore. I forget what her voice sounds like. It feels like it’s been longer than ten years since she was last by my side, and I miss her still.”
I’m close. If you need me, then I’m here.