Page 6 of Dream in Darkness
They’re the perfect pair, really. Someone to distract while the other goes in for the kill.
“We’re going to need to draw up territory lines, and ultimately a treaty.” Reina says.
She and I work together differently than Absinthe and Gemma. Neither of us are able to hide in the shadows, so instead I use my connections to spy in the light, and she uses her vampirism to strike in the dark.
“Yes, but that’ll come later. We have to start by listening to both sides and making sure everyone feels heard. They need to be able to air out their problems and feel like something is being done about it—whether that’s true or not, matters little,” Gemma explains.
“We need a symbol. Each pack has their Alphas, but we need someone to unify the felion,” Draven says.
“Yasmeena and Claudia have become the somewhat unofficial leaders of the felion on Haeresis,” Reina reminds him.
I have?
“No, we need a unified symbol. A felion-lupion hybrid?” Draven suggests, and a shudder racks my entire body.
Gemma and Reina look up at me with wide eyes.
“That would take too long,” Luc says, having been quiet these last few minutes. “What about a marriage pact?”
“A marriage pact between an important lupion and an important felion might just do the trick,” I agree. “But who?”
“One of the pack leaders, or one of their children,” Reina answers.
“The Alpha of Pack Forres, Duncan, is married to one of his members,” Draven informs us. Duncan and his pack came over from another continent and tried to join Pack Escalus, but it didn’t work out. Rather than challenging Cain, Duncan decided to continue separately with his own pack. “I believe his brother and second Lennox are married as well.”
“Plus, who would we have someone marry, Claudia?” Gemma asks, and I shake my head.
“Claudia is pushing sixty, she’s not marrying anyone,” I say.
Draven hums to himself. “The Alpha of Pack Caliban is older, his name is Ferdinand.”
Pack Caliban came over from Violenta two years ago in an agreement between Raph and Josina. In return, they provided Haeresis with data on The Legion.
“He’s an absolute twatwaffle,” Absinthe answers.
“Doesn’t he hate the felion more than anyone?” Reina poses, and we all sigh.
Quiet covers us like a blanket of snow in the dead of winter. Bone-chilling, it conceals our deepest thoughts still settling underneath.
“Tempest,” Draven suggests, and Gemma hums in agreement.
I cock my head. “Tempest… as in…”
“The daughter of Cain Lupine, Alpha of Pack Escalus,” Luc reminds me. “He would be the most likely to agree to this.”
Tempest Lupine, the lupion with long hair the color of pearls. Fuck. I didn’t know who she was, so I actually flirted with her. Hel, I would’ve fucking taken her to bed if that fight hadn’t brokenout.
“And when he finds out we killed his nephew?” The black scleras of Reina’s eyes feel like voids as she glances back and forth.
“He won’t.”
Draven is a little too confident for my liking.
I hold up my hands in protest. “Hold on a second, who are we marrying Tempest off to anyway?”
“Khalid,” Luc answers, as if there’s no question in his mind that this is the correct course of action.
Reina’s fangs are now on full display, but she doesn’t say a word. She’s stiffer than a board, every fibre of her being on edge. My muscles are also tensing, the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention.
