AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My right arm burns, and now my left because Ivy is too far away.
If this pain ever stops, I will know my family is beside me, and I will have done all I can to protect them.
21
Leo
Ivy is quiet again, even when Calvin asks her how she managed to make a witch’s flame when she swore to us she had no magic in her. I don’t think he sounded aggressive, but we’re all worked up from the fight, so it’s no wonder she answered with a hapless shrug.
I lost my pack. In the span of an uncomfortable conversation, I lost everyone I was supposed to be caring for. Looking after. My entire pack is dead, save for Jerusha, who wants to kill Ivy, and Mark, who’s a good kid. And because of that, he lost everything right alongside me.
And he hasn’t complained once.
“We should pack you up, Chief,” Mark says in his usual chipper tone that belies none of the carnage we just endured. When I don’t respond but simply stare at the bodies on the grass, he cups my shoulder. “We can’t stay here. You heard Jerusha. She’s not going to let this go. We killed her mate.”
I can’t bring myself to leave my kin, even if they wanted to leave me. “I was supposed to protect them. I was… They died because they didn’t trust me. I didn’t lead in a way that they felt they could trust me.”
Mark doesn’t argue, nor does he try to cheer me up. He moves to the shed at the back of the strip and returns with a shovel. “I’ll bury the bodies. I’ll make sure they’re properly respected so we end this the right way.”
I shake my head. “My pack. My responsibility.”
Mark is firm in his disobedience—another sign that the Alpha bond is broken. “Sorry, Chief. I’m not backing down on this. You get to pack us up. I get to play in the mud.”
Mark has always been able to find the humor in any circumstance. I lower my head, knowing Ivy and Calvin are watching me from the doorway. I don’t want to be alone, but I can’t ask them to hold my hand through this. My pack tried to kill them. They don’t need to share in my sadness when I’m the one who screwed up. I led a pack who didn’t trust me when things got a little bit confusing. Maybe I didn’t put in the hours, showing them I could be trusted. Maybe I was too distant for fear of them setting me up with woman after woman who never appealed.
I don’t have the strength or the gall to ask Cal and Ivy to stand with me, but in the next breath, that’s exactly what they do. Calvin’s hand moves to my back without uttering a hint of a snide word over his conquests. Ivy’s fingers weave through mine. Though her fingers are thin and unassuming, her strength radiates through me, giving me permission to kneel when I know I should be standing.
Ivy leans into me as she kneels at my side, sharing in my pain so I don’t have to shoulder it alone. “I’m so sorry, Leo. I shouldn’t have thrown those fireballs. They were coming for you, and I panicked. I should have let you handle it. I didn’t even know I could do that. I still can’t believe I conjured an amaranthine flame. Fern could do it easily, but I’ve never…” She stops and shakes her head. “I’m so sorry.”
I brush off her apology for saving my life. “I’m glad you did. Sad you had to.”
Calvin nods, surprising me when he kneels on my other side. “That makes sense. This whole thing is sad.” Then he stands and trots behind the condos, coming back with a second shovel. He digs alongside Mark, making sure to give him plenty of space so Mark doesn’t have to be too near a vampire. It’s considerate and downright respectful—two things I never thought I’d say about a vampire.
But Cal’s not just any vampire. He’s my friend, and somehow, we’re in love with the same woman. We’ve decided without having a big conversation that we can share her affection without edging the other out. And now he’s burying my brethren that I failed to protect, saving me from the agony of facing my defeat with a shovel in hand.
He lets Ivy hold me while I fall apart, sinking onto all fours while fat tears splash onto the blood-soaked grass.
This isn’t the life I set out to live, yet here I am, clinging to the ground, my chest bloody while I pray that tomorrow is better than this.
Ivy cradles my head to her chest, holding me while I mourn the loss of my kin. She whispers words of kindness. Her softspoken promises hold me together while I fall apart.
Two hours later when the bodies are buried, she holds me still. She doesn’t let go until Calvin and Mark help me off my feet and tuck me into my car. Ivy drives me away from my home, where I never want to be ever again.
Ivy and Calvin are my home now. And I suppose Mark is my home, too, though he should know better than to attach himself to a sinking ship like me. The car rocks me gently while we drive to the vampire part of town, hoping bloodshed and death won’t follow us there.
The End
Read Book Two Today!
22
Her Hated Vampire
Enjoy a Free Preview of book two in the Mates of Ivy Moon trilogy,Her Hated Vampire.
Calvin
Sharinga house is new to me, given that I’ve lived alone in my spacious manor for a century now. Inviting a woman to live with me was a big step, especially when I’d only known her barely a day. Some might see that and say I’ve been bewitched by the young and beautiful Ivy Moon.
