IT TOOK THE COUNCIL OVER A WEEK to decide, and just as Collin announced that he was done waiting, the phone rang. It seemed the council took to heart what they told them and they surprised everyone with their decision to intervene. However, they didn’t want Collin and the pack to interfere or even help.“Trust the damn council to make a decision we didn’t damn well think of!” He growled as he paced back and forth in his office. He felt as if the walls were beginning to close in on him and there were just too many people in his office! Anna’s soft hand slipped onto his shoulder and he closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in deeply.“The council did say they wanted to speak to Nicolas about the vampires in the villa, sweetheart.” The council didn’t give them any indication of what they were going to do. They simply asked that Nicolas come and see them. Only Nicolas. They didn’t say it outright, but they didn’t want anyone else there. The way they insisted that it be only Nicolas ma
AS NICOLAS SUSPECTED, everyone was waiting for him in the boardroom to find out what the council wanted. He told them what he told the council and they tried to figure out what the council might want to do with this information.Sadly, after their recent experience with the council, they had to eventually agree that there was no way of knowing what the council was planning. They could only return to their research and wait. They were in the process of systematically working through the grimoire when Collin got the notice from the guards just outside of the small town.The council had arrived. Since the warriors were outside the town borders, they could see time come to a complete standstill. Cars that were driving just a moment before just came to a halt. People who were making their way somewhere on the sidewalks were halted mid-step and many people were silenced in the middle of a conversation.It was as if someone had pressed the pause button on life. The council appeared in the sq
AT THE VILLA, the vampires had received word that the council was coming. Nicolas’s opponent hadn’t bargained on Nicolas going to the council. He had always just talked the people down from the ledge, but then again, the people had never gone as far as having him imprisoned.At first, Nicolas’s opponent was furious that he had escaped, but as soon as he realized the hybrids helped, he was happy about the escape. It showed the people how untrustworthy dear Nicolas was and that he was always in cahoots with the hybrids. They would always come for Nicolas, which meant they liked interfering in the affairs of vampires.The nest stood waiting near the entrance of the villa and he could feel the tension grow with each passing second as the council drove closer. Their security climbed out of the cars to open the doors for them and he found it laughable that the strongest people in their entire world needed security to protect them, but he bit back the laughter forming in the back of his thro
Nicolas was carefully taking in each movement his opponent was making. He knew the man had no honour and would fight dirty, so he had to be careful, but he couldn’t just defend himself. He had to fight to win this war! His opponent took a step forward and Nicolas lunged, slamming his nails into the ribs as the man shouted out in pain.He actually looked surprised as he gripped his side and tried to stand up straight while it healed. Hissing at Nicolas, he lunged. Things in the vampire world didn’t work like they did in the werewolf world. Your strength wasn’t determined by your rank. Your strength was just your strength. If you drank human blood, you were a little stronger than when you drank animal blood, and Nicolas preferred human blood.Nicolas watched where his opponent’s hands were going and how he tried to sidestep, but this was where Nicolas’s age and experience made him the leader of the vampires as he gripped his opponent around his throat. A scream rang through the air and
THE WEDDING WASN’T the kind of affair it could have been if the entire nest had survived the war. The only guests they had at the small ceremony were the alpha family and they held a reception at the pack house with all the wolves who came to their rescue around them.The wolves used any kind of excuse for a proper party, even if it was the wedding of two vampires. Besides, Beverly was half-wolf, wasn’t she? At least, that was the general consensus. After the wedding, Nicolas planned to start searching earnestly for new people to turn. He had to be careful in this regard because the council wouldn’t allow him to turn huge groups and he couldn’t very well turn people who would be easily missed.If he turned people who were from the city, like people who had family there, they would soon have to move. There was a lot to consider, and although he was in a bit of a hurry, he didn’t want to rush.COLLIN LEANED AGAINST THE DOOR FRAME and watched Anna as she played with their son. He had bee
THE OFFICIAL PACK VEHICLES pulled up in front of the castle and everybody climbed out. They were ready for anything that the council might say about the fact that the pack joined Nicolas and Beverly. Since it seemed as if the council didn’t have any spies in Collin’s pack, they had some space to manoeuvre.The tension within the group was pretty high since all of them felt the weight of what happened at the villa. Even though Nicolas had given the order for the rest of his people to be killed, the wolves were involved. They were prepared for anything the council might decide to ask and they were trying to show the council that they were a united front no matter who gave which orders.Nicolas felt incredibly uneasy as they walked into the building and he fought the urge to physically shiver when they were taken into the library. He couldn’t understand why they always had to wait for the council. They mostly arrived right on time, but the council always made you wait for at least ten mi
THE COUNCIL’S INQUISITION had everybody on edge. Collin didn’t want them to figure out that Anna was connected to the rest of them in some way. He found it strange that the council hadn’t asked anything about the hybrid’s powers, but maybe that was a small blessing in disguise that they hadn’t.It gave them time to figure out some kind of unlinking spell. Unfortunately, they suspected that Vlad would have spies watching the pack territory now, which meant if they brought in a witch to try and figure out the spell, Vlad would know something was going on. They were in a really tight spot thanks to Vlad’s greed, or what they suspected to be his greed.They had no real evidence that he was behind everything, so they couldn’t very well lay a charge to the council. It was going to become a wait-and-see game and the one who could patiently wait the longest was going to win. In the meantime, Collin felt as if he should cling to his mate every second of every day and he couldn’t help himself.
“You have no right to speak here!” The witch was furious and Nicolas wanted to get her back on track fast before she did something to Beverly.“I take it you can’t unlink the spell.” Nicolas sighed, trying his best not to show his fear for Beverly’s safety. He knew full well the witch would exploit it when she demanded her price. He was about to take the grimoire from her when she whipped it out of his grasp.“I know what you are trying to do, Nicolas.” The witch smiled. “I can do the unlinking spell, but it will come at a price.” He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as she smiled at him. “The price will be a debt.” She sighed as she put the book down on her little round table and started to collect herbs one by one.“A debt?” Beverly whispered, frowning, but before Nicolas could answer, the witch answered.“Yes, you probably know it as a future favour.” The witch sounded impatient as Beverly’s lips formed an “O” but no sound came out of her mouth. The witch turned her at
ANNA LOOKED AT HERSELF IN THE MIRROR while her team moved around her to get her ready for the day. Collin cleared his throat and they all moved out of the room discreetly. He stood behind Anna and breathed in deeply.“It’s time, babe.” He sounded so proud that it gave her the last push she needed to get through this day. She stood up and he pulled her into his arms. “I know you say that I don’t need to say this, but I want to say it.” Anna was about to open her mouth and then closed it. “You are a warrior. You are strong and beautiful, and an inspiration to us all. You are breathtaking and amazing. You are the queen and the Alpha of all Alphas, and I’m so damn proud of you that I could just spontaneously combust!” He grinned and she breathed in his scent before kissing him.“Thank you.” She took another deep breath before they left the room. They arrived in front of the huge wooden doors that led to the throne room. Her family gave her a last hug and then left her alone for a moment.
THE MEETING WITH THE purists was thick with tension right from the start. Anna has announced that her little friend had been executed for treason against the crown to show her power. It put the purists right onto their back feet and she could probably have handled things differently, but she wasn’t going to back down. Either they fell in line or she would take care of them as well.She wanted peace for her people. All of her people. If the purists didn’t see themselves as part of that group, they were her enemies. It saddened her to see that most of them were vampires, but it did make sense. They had always been a bit much in her mind. Nicolas sat on the opposite side of the table for once as the vampire representative, but Anna and Nicolas had their discussion before the meeting and she knew where he stood.He had to speak up for his people, but he didn’t necessarily have to agree with their views. Nicolas was merely there to make sure the vampires' rights were protected according to
THINGS AT THE CASTLE were running so smoothly that Anna felt uneasy. Things were running too smoothly. She knew she was being paranoid, but things in the supernatural world were never that easy. There was always someone in the background plotting and when things were running this smoothly, it was because someone had forced it.When things were running this smoothly, it was because someone was trying to hide what they were doing by making you think everything was going so well. Anna asked her assistant to keep her ear to the ground for any gossip, but they both knew that nobody was going to talk openly in front of the girl. Unless … Unless they thought that the girl could be convinced to spy on the queen …“Are you insane?” Collin threw his hands in the air and Anna shushed him. She had just explained her plan to him and he was pacing back and forth in their bedroom. She had been thinking about it all day. “Okay, so are you feeling this way because of your powers or just because you th
AS NEWS OF THE NEW royal councillors spread, Anna was flooded with nominations. She wasn’t just grateful that most of her kingdom seemed to be happy about the new developments, but she was relieved that people seemed to accept her as the new ruler. She was expecting much more resistance.In the back of her mind, however, she kept wondering if she was missing something. Were people just being nice while they were planning something in the background or were they honestly relieved that someone had sorted out the damned council for once? Thankfully, she didn’t have too much time to ponder it all. Life as a queen wasn’t exactly what she thought it could be.Her images of parties and leisurely hanging around a pool were definitely not going to happen. There were going to be parties all right, but they would mostly be stuffy, uptight, official events. As Anna and her assistant walked into Anna’s new office, her assistant started to go through the diary for the week. They had already covered
“CORONATION DAY!” The voice rang through their room and Anna rolled her eyes. Her assistant was far too chipper in the mornings when she woke her up. Anna plastered her smile on her face before sitting up so she could receive her breakfast and, as usual, her hands went straight for the coffee first.Today was coronation day for Collin and their son and it was going to be an amazing day. As her assistant drew the curtains, Anna felt her smile becoming real. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining and she breathed in the scent of the flowers when her assistant opened the window. Seconds later, Collin’s personal valet walked in with his breakfast and Collin pretended to groan beside Anna.Deep down he was excited. Anna could feel it, but he was pretending to give his valet a hard time. He mentioned something the night before when they went to bed that he just loved seeing the man try and hide his eye roll. Anna was happy that Collin had found someone that basically replaced h
NOW THAT THEY WERE GOING TO OFFICIALLY BECOME the royal family, Anna had a lot to take care of. She had to arrange for their coronation ceremonies, which, although they were going to be a lot smaller, still had things to be taken care of.Anna wasn’t very happy that her family decided it would be best for all of them to move to the castle, but she had no other choice but to agree. It would cut down a lot on her travelling time for meetings. She just didn’t like living in that place. Thankfully, she had Collin to take care of the necessary things to make their wing of the castle a home for them. He made sure it was private enough and that nobody would intrude on their family time. The council wasn’t very happy about the changes to the old castle building, but they were at least satisfied that the royal family was now living where they believed the royal family belonged.A couple of days before the final move, they had the alpha ceremony at the pack house and Elana and the pack started
ANNA ASKED HER FAMILY to meet her in the boardroom. She had just gotten off the phone with the head of the council, who for once seemed elated about her decision. She tried her best to keep a straight face as she walked in with her two assistants behind her and she quickly took a seat, clearing her throat.“I’ve called you for this meeting because things aren’t working out.” Smiling on the inside, she took a deep breath and didn’t look at any of them for a moment. “The council and I have decided that I need more help to run the kingdom.” He hesitated and she could feel Collin growing angry. “We want to make you, Collin, king consort so that you can take over some of the responsibilities.” An array of emotions flashed over his face and a huge grin broke out all over Anna’s.“Our son will become the crown prince and my heir to the throne, and Sebastian and Leah, I want to know if you would be interested in being our first official lady and lord. There will, of course, be some responsibi
ANNA WAS FEELING so much better now that she and Collin were more intimate. The council also came back with a couple of changes to her protocol, but she refused to make them and she felt good about it. They were still trying to push all the responsibility on her, and she wasn’t going to allow that.They finally came back with a date on which they wanted to vote. The council decided since they were going to be a government of the supernatural world, they wanted to do things right and vote for who should be in charge of what. Anna was very happy to hear this and she spent the time at the castle that was needed to arrange the entire thing.She wanted it to be fair, which meant someone had to be in charge that wasn’t involved in the process. Some of the positions were filled before the vote since only one person was nominated for that position. Only two positions were up on the day of the final vote and she wasn’t surprised. The head of the council and the head of the judicial department.
ANNA STOOD AT THE HEAD OF THE TABLE and took a deep breath. Leah had had a brilliant idea while they were working on this presentation and Anna was ready for anything the council might throw at her because of it.“In every part of life, there was a system … An order of sorts. The packs have their ranks that help everyone know their position in the pack. In the vampire world, they don’t have ranks, but there are the leader, the day walkers, and the night walkers. I’m sure that it’s the same for every species, including humans.” Anna had to explain properly or they wouldn’t go for it, but she also couldn’t dwindle on one point for too long or she might lose their interest.“You’ve accepted and crowned me as the queen of everyone, and with that position comes certain protocol. We just have to look at the way I am treated now by the council compared to the way I was treated before all this happened.” Anna gave them a moment to process what she was saying.“When we found out that I had thi