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“Does that count for your vampire? Or has he lived long enough that he knows everything?”
I chuckled to myself. “There are times when he can seem arrogant, but deep down he’s humble. And he certainly didn’t anticipate Amara returning.”
Brandon nodded. “We need to turn our attention to her. I find myself hoping that Cassius is wrong and that she’s not going to come after him, but I can’t bet on that.”
“She will. I saw it in her eyes. She’s angry at both of us.” I paused, my breath halting for a moment. “Brandon, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for putting you in an awkward position. I know that we arrived here without warning and our presence here puts you at risk. I don’t agree with what Ewan or Naomi did, but I have to admit that they had something of a point. You would at least be able to stay safer for longer if we weren’t here. If it makes it easier for you then we are willing to leave. I’m not sure where we’ll go, but we’ll find somewhere.”
“I appreciate you saying that Willow, but I can’t ask that of you.”
“You are the Alpha. You can ask anything of me. If I am regarded as a member of this pack then I have to abide by the rules as well.”
Brandon grinned, shrugging away the burden he wore for a few moments. “I’m not going to ask you to do that Willow. I’ve given you enough strife over the years. The last thing I want to do is send you out into the world alone when there’s a vampire hunting you. If you’re going to survive then you’re going to need a pack around you. We’re all going to need to work together. I’m not about to turn my back on you. I know I can’t make up for the way I treated you when we were younger, but I hope this will at least go to show that I’m not the same person as I used to be.”
“No, you’re not. It’s a shame that Naomi couldn’t change with you, but for what it’s worth I think you’re better off without her, and maybe there’s some other wolf in the pack who can make a better mate for you.”
The smile faded from his face. He looked as though he was about to say something, but I stopped him before he could. I thought he might have said something about him having already had the perfect mate, but letting her go. I didn’t need to think about the past again, and I didn’t need him to start bringing it up. I said that I would bring Cassius and my father to him later so that we could talk about a strategy.
I went to rejoin Cassius and as soon as I saw him I flung my arms around him and kissed him deeply. He looked stunned and dazed.
“What was that for?” he asked, his voice sounded as though it had been lost in a dream.
“I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that we’re together, and that we don’t have to doubt our love for each other. After seeing how Naomi treated Brandon I just… I wanted you to know how lucky I feel to be with you. And I wanted to say that I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said, and the words warmed my heart. I brushed my nose against his and we smiled together, and in this small moment I felt as happy as anything. It almost seemed as though nothing bad could happen to us at all.
Chapter Thirteen
Cassius
I was still reeling from the drama of the fight. In a sense I think the entire pack was. From talking to Peter I had learned that it wasn’t a common occurrence in recent history. Most people were happy enough to let the Alpha lead as there weren’t many decisions that would be bad enough to warrant a challenge. I asked him if he would have stayed in the pack if Ewan had won. Peter shook his head vehemently.
“I would have left, as would many others. That’s what happens when there’s a change in leadership. If you don’t agree then you’re free to go off and start your own pack. It’s what happened when Brandon took over from his father.”
I thought it was coy of Peter to describe patricide in these terms, but I did not make a comment about it. I wasn’t here to try and shame him. “And you weren’t tempted to leave then?”
“Tempted, yes, but at the end of the day Brandon was offering to search for my daughter. I didn’t necessarily agree with what he did, but his reasons for doing so aligned with my own.”
Willow returned shortly and kissed me lovingly. Arousal burned through my body. All I wanted was to run away with her and dive into our bed together, losing ourself to our passionate mood, but instead there were things that needed to be done. Willow told me about Brandon’s state of mind and how he wanted to develop a strategy. He seemed the type of man who wanted to get on with things rather than wallowing in melancholy, and I assumed that this would help keep him from thinking about the betrayal he had suffered.
The three of us joined him for dinner. He had thick cuts of meat served on platters, much like the buffet that Peter had prepared for us. My stomach growled with hunger and I licked my lips as I began to fill my plate. Brandon must not have been hungry as he did not take anything.
“Cassius, the time has come for you to tell me everything you know about Amara. What can be done to stop her?” Brandon asked.
I chewed through a mouthful of food before I answered. Savory juice ran down the corners of my mouth. My tongue darted out to lick it and stem the flow. “If I told you everything I know about her then we would never get anything done, but I’ll tell you all that is relevant. Amara is not someone who is going to let anything stand in her way. If she has something she wants to accomplish then she will split the world in two in order to do so, and there is nobody who can be free of this. The only reason I was able to stop her before was because I took her by surprise. She never expected me to turn on her.”
“There’s a lot of that going around,” Brandon said bitterly. I felt a little bad. I hadn’t intended to pour salt into the wound. “Could you not have killed her when you banished her?”
My throat tightened. I was afraid of this exact question. I remember her staring at me with her eyes frozen by the poison. In many ways it was as though she had died. “I could have,” I admitted. “But I couldn’t bring myself to do so. You see, the pull she has over the vampires she sired is strong. It took everything I had just to turn against her and banish her. It would have been easier, yes, if I had killed her, and I am sorry that I did not. It’s just one more regret to add to the pile,” my tone was dry and my efforts to make light of my weakness did not seem to land. Silence fell upon us.
“There’s no use speaking of what could have been done. We need to think about what we can do now,” Willow said, impelling the conversation forward.
“How will she attack?” Peter asked.
“That will depend on if she has vampires with her or not. If she has them with her then she is likely to take a stealthy approach, the vampires creeping around until they have us surrounded, then she will strike swiftly and rapidly, overwhelming us with everything she has.”
“And if she’s by herself?”
“Then she will make a show of it. She will project confidence and come right into the heart of our pack, swinging her sword and acting as though she can kill everything in her path.”
