Page 66 of Mated By the Alphas
“No other explanation,” Hayden answers. “Let me take a look at her.”
Hayden follows me to the living room. He glances at the bottle of wine but doesn’t say anything as he sits down next to Daisy on the couch. The wine probably costs more than my monthly grocery budget, but if he’s not worried about it, I’m not going to be either. It really is quite good.
“May I?” he asks, gesturing to the fang.
“Hello again, handsome,” Daisy grins, handing him the fang.
Hayden takes Daisy’s hand and presses down with the fang. Hard enough that Daisy gasps, her eyes flashing with pain and anger.
“Ow, what the hell?” she blurts, rubbing the indention as soon as he lets go of her hand. “You didn’t have to try to stab me, handsome.”
“Huh, I’ve never heard of a blood transfusion doing that, but there’s a lot we don’t know about Scions. Most of our history was lost,” he says. “It appears you no longer have to worry about vampires biting you.”
“Hope I don’t start having visions,” Daisy says, downing what is left of her drink. “Ansley, do you want more wine? Anything for you, handsome?”
“Not right now,” Hayden growls, standing up. “I have to go meet with my brothers. Are the two of you going to be okay here?”
Daisy glances at the bottles behind the counter and laughs before I can respond. “We have a full bar. I think we’ll manage. I’ll get Ansley nice and drunk so you can take advantage of her, don’t worry!”
“She’s going to be a bad influence on you, isn’t she?” Hayden grumbles.
“No more than usual,” I quip, standing up and following Hayden out of the room. Once we get to the front door, he pulls me into a tender kiss, our lips searing together before he finally breaks our embrace. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t get too crazy.”
“It’s fine, just don’t burn the place down,” he warns with a smile.
“Did your brothers locate more vampires?” I ask, looking up at him.
“No, Remy and I are going to talk to Wyatt,” he replies. “You’ll get to meet him soon.”
“Another mate…” I say, trailing off. “Tonight?”
“Possibly,” he says. “We’ll see how things go with Daisy.”
I watch as Hayden leaves, holding the door open until his SUV is out of sight before closing it.
Daisy will probably have a lot more questions for me.
I doubt I’ll have answers for most of them.
CHAPTER 24
Wyatt
The vampire trail has gone cold.
That means I’m all alone, at the house I call home, surrounded by old books, scrolls, and ancient texts salvaged from Scion libraries before the Crimson Templars burnt them to the ground. The smell of aged paper and leather reminds me of our old den, before it became ash and memory.
I’m in my Third Form. It’s easier for me to maintain than it is for my brothers. It’s likely because I know it as well as my other two forms. I was barely more than a pup when the Crimson Templars came to Chicago. I was certainly no battle trained warrior, though I fought alongside my brothers until we realized it was a war we’d never win.
All we did was buy time for the other Scions to escape, but it cost us. Our mother. Our father. Several brothers and all of our sisters. The she-wolf Jaxton planned to wed and her entire pack. I still carry the burden of their loss, but being the youngest, my relationship with them was different.
I always just seemed to be in the way. Too young to fight properly. Too small to spar with my older brothers. I was the one they had to protect, instead of being their equal. That’s why I usually sought refuge in our den, learning things from my mother and her Mitra. I was always fascinated with the stories about how things were before humans started building cities.
“Still nothing,” I sigh, tossing a scroll to the side. “Whatever Ansley is… I don’t think I’m going to find the answer here.”
I sense Hayden and Remy approaching. Based on their speed, they’re not running on four paws. Hayden texted me earlier and said he had something to discuss with me. I’m not sure what it could be, since we’re still doing reconnaissance on the area where we believe the vampires have moved to.
I get up from my desk, grab a bottle of whiskey, and walk to the living room. My brothers won’t knock. They never do, since we can sense each other when we’re in close proximity.
