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Chapter 14
Tessa
Before I could force out another scream, Hunter was scrambling off of me, staring around the room wildly. He blinked as if he were confused. With the newly formed bond we had, I felt his thoughts barrel into me out of nowhere.
God, where am I? What happened? The room registered and he stopped, looking down at me. Jesus, did I do that to her? Aetas.
His head whipped over and mine followed. Marko was scrambling to his feet, stumbling away from Aetas’ unconscious body. Or …
The energy had me clawing my way to stand.
“Oh my God!” I couldn’t stop the scream that left me as I rushed to Aetas’ body. Regardless of what he had planned, breaking our bonds and replacing them with others, he was my leader. The loyalty my vampire felt for him could not be mistaken. “Aetas.” I turned his head back and forth and reached down searching for a pulse. All I could hear was the heavy thudding of my own. Panic was setting in. And grief. I couldn’t stop the overwhelming emotions that were causing the anxiety. They were so out of place and yet, they felt right. “Aetas, please. No, no.”
My head jerked to Marko as a sob escaped. “What happened?”
His eyes were wide while he took deep breaths. “I don’t know. We were bonding and I felt it go through and then … he stopped breathing. He just, stopped moving.”
“That can’t be right. You should be dead if that’s the case.”
“I don’t know,” he repeated. “I don’t know what happened.”
“Aetas!” My hands were shaking his lifeless body. As I brought my claw up to cut through my wrist, I noticed how bad I was trembling.
“Don’t.” Marko’s arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me away.
“Don’t save our leader? Are you fucking insane?” I thrashed, breaking free to spin on him. “Without him we are nothing. Do you not see? Our world as we know it is doomed. He didn’t prepare me good enough yet, and Hunter is far from ready. We need him, Marko.”
Dark hair fell over his forehead as he pulled me in. “He is dead, ma minette. Giving him your blood will not bring him back. We have to do this rationally. We have to contact the members of the high circle. They will know what to do.”
The door crashed in before I could so much as say a word. Faces I recognized, others I didn’t, came rushing in. The horror they held was all too clear. Aetas was dead.
“I was just about to put out the call.”
“What happened? A woman I recognized came forward. She had short hair and I knew her from the coronation. She had been the one holding the crown. She was Aetas’ second. Shit …
“Look into my eyes, I will show you.” Marko walked forward and she met him half way. When she gasped, I couldn’t stop my hand from pressing to my stomach. This wasn’t right. Aetas … he couldn’t be dead.
“Impossible.”
Marko’s hands rose at a loss. “I don’t know what happened.”
The woman’s covered her mouth and she crooked her finger, calling over three others. They took turns looking into her stare. Their faces grew paler as they broke away.
“What does this mean?” I swallowed hard, wiping away the tears that were still coming. All I wanted to do was rush to Aetas’ side. To hold him and break down. Why?
“We hold a ceremony. There will be a new coronation. I will lead.”
“You?” One of the men stepped closer, his face full of anger. “Just because you were his second doesn’t mean you lead.”
“Of course it does. Aetas is dead. I was in line to take his place. I lead.”
Arguing started between the members, growing louder as they became more aggressive. Out of nowhere, something inside of me snapped.
“Do you disrespect your former leader so much! This is not the time to argue like adolescents. He’s not even cold and you sit here bickering over who will lead? You should be ashamed of yourselves. I am ashamed at which one of you will lead us. None of you will come close to filling his shoes. You are weak. Do you hear me?” I yelled louder. “Weak!”
My body was vibrating at the power that was coursing through me. My vision was black from my vampire and I wanted to fight. I wanted to tear these pathetic excuses for vampires apart. They were not real leaders, and not much stronger than I was, if at all.
“Enough.” Marko’s low voice whispered next to my ear and his arm wrapping around my waist did little to calm me. “Please,” he said louder. “Excuse her. You can clearly see she is upset over our leader’s death. But she is right. Now is not the time to argue. I’m sure you can all come up with his replacement later. Now, if you’ll excuse us. I need to calm the queen. We’ll be going back to our room. Please, feel free to relay any messages you have for me to Demetrius.”
