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When we drank, I felt the magic in every cell of my being, buzzing and vibrating. Joining us. Making the oath real.
We already had mutual aid contracts, but this was so much more.
And I felt all the elements, and realized I had already carried fire and air because of my connection to Kirsten, and because I wield weapons of fire after she makes them for me.
This meant the only new element for me was water, and I could totally feel how all four elements made us a stronger group. A stronger unit.
I looked out at the audience and noted many of our security people rubbing their arms or the tops of their thighs. These were our people, so they felt it, too.
Aaron hugged Kirsten, and Marco floated the two of us back to our seats. Everyone took their seats except for Aaron, who stood in the center of the table and said, “The only wolf here tonight is the Alpha. She and her people are all warriors, but on this night, they are playing the part of the client. It’s our job to protect the wolves while they experience the magic of their full moon run. Cora has agreed to a few small changes. The ceremony will begin shortly after sunset, rather than at twilight, and after the wolves run, they will take shelter in a cave to sleep for the rest of the night, rather than sleeping under the stars as they sometimes do. They regularly use the cave in the winter, so this is only a small concession. It’s still their cave, and part of their routine, though it isn’t normal for them to use it in July.”
He wasn’t telling them we were stashing weapons in the cave, so our people could defend ourselves if we were attacked after retiring to the cave. We trusted everyone here, but sometimes it’s still good to have an ace up your sleeve.
“If I were Leonardo, I would swoop down and take Cora while she stands on the boulder and creates the magic of the night,” Marco said from beside me. “There are a number of times throughout the night I believe we need to be extra vigilant, but this particular positioning worries me the most.”
“Agreed,” Aaron said. “But let’s start from the beginning.”
Aaron outlined how we would move our people from the house to the field, how everyone would protect me while I was on the boulder, with the vampires who can fly hovering above me, and Kirsten on the boulder at my side, along with my top four people.
As Aaron moved through the strategies for each portion of the night, people spoke up with ideas to improve upon his plan. Many were added, most were not, but it was a productive brainstorming session.
When Aaron finished, Ryan stood and the room was suddenly full of dread. The people on the stage had made our peace with Ryan and Blaze, but it appeared plenty in the audience didn’t believe us when we told them so long as they weren’t a threat to humans, they were safe from the slayer.
“I want to be clear,” Ryan told everyone present, “that if Leonardo shows up, Blaze and I intend to give him the true death. We do not approve of his actions of late. Likewise, several of the vampires he’ll have with him have earned a death sentence from both of us.”
I stood and leapt onto the table beside Aaron. “Under normal circumstances, this would preclude Marco from taking part in the festivities. However, since Leonardo poses a direct threat to me, we have one of Kirsten’s loopholes — but only if the two of us have formed the final binding.” I looked to Marco and reached my hand towards him. “My people know this is likely happening tonight, and they’re prepared for it. All your top people are here, and they can buffer the effect before it staggers the rest of your people.”
He smiled and floated up to meet me on the table. My practical wolf, are you sure?
I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.
But would you do it this soon if conditions didn’t create urgency?
Life isn’t about ifs. Let’s do this.
I would’ve preferred we do this in private.
I knew that, but in private, there would’ve been sex, and I needed this to happen without sex and lust blurring the edges of everything. I needed to feel exactly what it did to me and my people.
This is what I’m offering. Pure power without sex during the initial binding. I know the sex will alter and strengthen it later, but I need the initial part of it to be pure.
I knew how he’d view that word — pure — but I trusted he’d understand what I was trying to say, and he’d let it go. This wasn’t about me thinking sex was impure, but about me needing to understand as a security professional how the power shifted, and not as the vampire’s girlfriend.
He grew claws on his right hand, jabbed them into the left side of his neck, and then struck the side of my neck without warning. I put my mouth to the holes he’d poked in his own neck, and I drank from him as he drank from me.
It was a simultaneous exchange: Marco’s blood pouring into me while my blood was sucked into him.
Wolf and vampire. Two magical life forces blending and merging, and this on top of the binding we’d just done with the others powered me in ways I hadn’t expected. I felt every one of Marco’s vampires, from Virginia all the way to Mississippi, and I could sense him feeling every one of my wolves, from Virginia all the way to the Florida Keys as well as across the country to Mississippi. I sensed that Lauren and Gavin, all the way in Vegas, felt the power surge through Kirsten, and that some of the Drake operators I’m close to felt it across the ocean in the Middle East.
When I stopped drinking, Marco telepathed more, and I grew my own canines and bit him to make the blood flow again since he was healing so rapidly.
I’m told we exchanged blood for twelve minutes, and that everyone present bathed in the energy we put out. This was about intention as much as the blood exchange, and I sensed Marco’s will joining us together, so I did the same from my end, imagining the blood creating us as one being, sharing the same lifeblood and energy.
When Marco finally talked me through disengaging, we stood side-by-side, holding hands, and I felt as if I could fly.
“Try it,” he told me, and I didn’t ask how he’d known.
I let go of his hand and lifted into the air on my own, easily. I’d worked on this using Kirsten’s power with limited success, but this was easy.
