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What was Aiden asking him to do? Give up the wolves? Turn his back on them in hopes that Damon might lose interest in killing his family? Was he supposed to make a choice between his family and the two men he’d promised to keep safe?
“Everyone leave, please. I wish to have a word in private with Bel.”
Bel wanted to tell them all to stay, but he wasn’t sure if that would help. As it was, he grabbed Wyatt’s knee and River’s shoulder, holding them in place when they would have gotten up as well. They couldn’t leave him too. Not when he knew he wasn’t going to like what Aiden had to say.
But he trusted Aiden. His father. The man who’d looked after his family for nearly two centuries. The man who’d tried to save their mother. He had to have a better answer than what was swirling around in Bel’s head.
The rest of his family filed quietly out of the room. Only Ethan gave him a reassuring look, but then, the young man still struck him as an optimist. Bel and his brothers had largely lost their optimism under the weight of Julianna’s violent episodes.
Aiden only spoke when the door closed behind Winter and there was a crushing sadness to his voice.
“Bel…”
“Don’t. Don’t tell me to let them go. I promised that I would keep them safe. I will not break my promise. They need me.” And a little voice screamed from his head that he needed them.
Aiden wavered in his vision, and Bel blinked back the tears that were forming. He’d asked for so little in his life. Yes, he’d begged for his mother to be made well, but that had never come to be. She’d lived past the disease trying to kill her as a human, but she’d been reborn a monster.
For once in his life, why couldn’t he be permitted to save someone?
“Is this how the vampires have kept the truce? You’ve forgotten we existed?” Wyatt asked.
Aiden smiled. Pushing out of the chair, he crossed the room and came to sit on the end of the couch closest to Bel and the wolves. “It was by sheer luck that I even met my first werewolf, and I’d been a young vampire at the time. It took me years to find a vampire who was willing to talk about the truce. The old ones tended to believe that the wisest way to protect the truth was to forget werewolves existed. Young vampires tend to be impulsive and reckless. They didn’t want some fool wrecking the peace.”
“You could have told us,” Bel mumbled.
“True, but I didn’t think of it. Your main concern was Julianna until recently.”
There was no reason to look for more trouble when their mother had been more than they could comfortably handle most nights.
“I can’t do what I know you’re asking. I promised, Aiden.”
“Bel, I’m not suggesting this lightly. I—”
“River and I will leave of our own accord,” Wyatt offered.
“No!” Bel leaped to his feet and marched to the center of the room. He’d had enough, and he simply couldn’t sit silently by another second. “No! It’s not good enough. I’m not choosing between my family and what I believe is right. No more sacrifices. And no more fucking martyrs! That witch Zelda told Rafe we had to remember who we are. I’m a Varik, and Varik means loyalty and honor. It means love and protecting those who need us.” Bel clenched his fists so tightly they shook at his sides. “We’re leaving. You can contact us when you have a better solution.”
Bel started for the door, rage and anguish battling it out in his heart. He believed in Aiden, in family. He prayed they’d come to see that he was right in this matter quickly.
Before he reached the door, he saw Aiden grab Wyatt’s arm as he tried to follow. “Protect him.”
“Always,” Wyatt whispered.
And a little sliver of hope wiggled its way into the thick miasma of twisting emotions. Aiden would work with his brothers, fight for another option. Bel was going to focus on keeping Wyatt and River safe. Bel knew in his heart he and his family would find a way back to each other, though he didn’t quite know how yet.
But for now, they were on their own.
10
River was worried about Bel. Almost the entire ride to Bel’s house, he was silent. Wyatt had taken the car keys from Bel and shoved both the vampire and River into the back seat while he took over the task of driving. River hadn’t harbored any kind of high hopes about the meeting with Bel’s family, but things were far worse than either he or Wyatt had anticipated.
When they first came to Bel, he’d hinted that the timing was poor due to some vampire political nonsense, but this…this was huge and very ugly. There was no way he and Wyatt could remain with Bel. Not if they were adding more danger to his life. Fear for Bel’s life gripped River’s heart in a vise and threatened to crush his lungs.
