There are surely moments in life—or afterlife, in my case—where people have life-changing epiphanies. Post make-up sex with my husband, I had one such moment. He had said we had to embrace the monsters since that was the only way we would ever learn from them …I bathed carefully, soaking in my tub and thinking about things I had not wanted to admit to myself. I replayed Paul's words in my head, finding truth in them. I dressed and told Paul that I had some things to settle. His expression was curious but he responded with a nod of his head."I love you." I kissed him.His uneasy look disappeared. His lips lingered against mine and my heart swelled with love for him. His brief smile showed me that he felt the same way. Trust me baby, I thought to myself. This is one more step toward accepting who I am. Then I flashed myself to the manor house and to Alexis. I stood in the front room amidst the beautiful artwork and expensive designs and felt nothing more than the coldness o
I didn't see Alexis again for two days, which is when we all reconvened at Johan's house. I learned that Ran had taken up with Alexis, trailing him whenever possible in order to make sure his body remained in good condition. He allowed Alexis to pretend to be him and to interact with his humans so that they would not be left wanting when it came to the donation of blood. Through him I kept tabs on Alexis. I knew that I was chickening out by not facing him after our discussion, but I had to prove to myself that I could be stronger than the demons inside of me.After our weekly Council gathering, we decided to test our ability to shield our intentions from Malarias before formulating a plan of attack. No need to have him detect our plans before we were ready to act. It worked like a charm. Frank took a great deal of joy playing his part as the one to share gossip with the decrepit Elder. I played my role pretty well by being silent, brooding, and morose-- which was pretty normal. Paul
Paul, Tyler, and Jason turned to each other as if in silent communication, and then Paul nodded once and turned his attention to the rest of us. "We will increase the number of the Wolf Pack, but …" I could feel the tension in the air. "We won't be your slaves or your army," Paul said. "But we will agree to aid in your protection—as long as you do the same for us. There will be rules and a lot of them which we can negotiate, but this is a hard one: you don't attempt to control us and we will willingly aid you."Kaniji tilted her head in interest. "And your Wolf Pack agrees not to war against us?"Paul nodded once. "As long as your vampires don't break our agreement."Frank grinned. "This is exciting. I would agree to your terms just for the excitement factor.""You are an idiot," Cyrene spat out with a dark look. "This can easily backfire on us. We live freely among the humans because we are stronger than they are and can control them."Paul smirked. "Doesn't feel too hot havi
"Okay, okay enough." I chuckled when Jason playfully tugged my pants leg to prevent me from stopping. One by one they morphed back into human form, stretching and coming to their feet. They were comfortable with their nudity but slipped on pants and shirts."How was the pack meeting?" I asked.Paul leaned in to kiss me and smiled. "Better than we could have ever imagined."They explained that by the weekend they could secure an old farmhouse on the outskirts of town. It had once been a horse farm and had a number of acres as well as barns and anything else they could need to begin the werewolf selection process. I propped Julie on my knee as I sat on the sofa listening to their excited chatter. "The safe houses," Julie smiled. "The humans living in them are accustomed to the supernatural, and given the opportunity I think any of them would desire the chance to be equal in strength to those who have tormented them."I frowned. "Yeah, as long as they understand that they aren't g
I searched his eyes. Did he know about the offer that I'd made to Alexis? Maybe I had underestimated my husband. Maybe he would not have agreed to such an arrangement. He was understanding about my monsters, but that didn't mean he would embrace Alexis. Well, it was no longer an issue. And although I didn't think I'd need protection, I remembered Paul's previous pack and the way they had swarmed the manor and killed two of the most capable vampires I knew.I nodded my head. "Okay."He watched me for a long time. "Okay."No. This was not an easy decision for him either.After dinner I called for Alexis and Ran to meet me at Johan's manor. I gave them enough travel time to allow Ran to be driven there. He was essential to me in maintaining some form of control when I was with Alexis. When you love a man, it is hard enough to control your desires, but having a sex demon as a part of your very makeup ups the ante. If there was going to be a relationship between me and my two husbands
Paul was waiting for me at home, the house quiet without Sam or BJ.I appeared in the living room where he waited for me. "He said yes," I said with no beating around the bush. He nodded, not appearing surprised. "Where are the baby and Sam?" I asked."Sam is keeping her for the evening. I asked her to move in here while I'm away." I nodded. I considered myself to be a good mom, but my sleep is like death, and that wasn't conducive to parenting a toddler. He pulled me gently into his arms and held me. "Ran contacted me. I like his idea, and he would be a valuable addition to the pack. He's got battle training, and he's fearless."I felt relieved that Paul wasn't worried that being turned into a werewolf could affect the vampire in Ran. Besides, there were other more pressing matters I felt we needed to discuss, so I shelved my concerns about turning Ran."Paul," I sighed. "You don't have to worry about … Alexis being here.""I'm not." He pulled back enough to look into my
I knew that I was chattering too much about things he probably could care less about, and I met Alexis' eyes anxiously. He nodded. He wasn't even looking at the room. He was watching me. "Feel free to make yourself at home on the main level. The office is strictly my assistant's area and … you might not be very comfortable in the family room. It's where my daughter plays.""Show me the family room," he requested."Sure." I began to walk out of the room, but Alexis clasped my wrist. "Let's use the shortcut," he said."Oh. Right." I flashed us to the large and cluttered family room. We always ended up here whenever the Ladies in Waiting or the Wolf Pack gathered. The sectional was big and comfy and had been broken in nicely.Alexis stepped forward and looked around. He stooped to pick up a stuffed bear that had been washed so many times it had gone thin in in the paws. We couldn't get rid of it, though, because BJ had named it. It was Bee Bee. You can't throw away a toy that yo
"No!" I said to Alexis. "Not going to happen."He crossed his arms and stared at me. "This is a ridiculous argument, Kim. I am going to the Council meeting with you because either your first lieutenant or your wolf always accompanies you. You told me that yourself. The last thing we need to do at this critical stage is to act out of character.""Alexis, you hate Malarias. You tried to kill him!"He tilted his head upward. "It is possible that one learns from past mistakes, my love."I tried not to cringe at the mocking way that he said "my love." "Every time you show up in someone else's body, vampires still recognize you. Remember Esmerelda? Do you really think that Malarias won't know that it's you peeking out from behind Ran's face?""He won't as long as I do not want to be detected." I searched his face but he seemed confident about that. "No," I said. "What you want is too risky.""What if this is the evening that Malarias decides to punish your Council? Is this not the