Impulsive Destiny

by Cassandra Lawson

  “I haven’t smelled anything like that since before we came down here from Canada.” Max seemed to be talking mostly to himself. “It’s definitely a human drug, but I’m still pretty sure she’s not fully human.”

  “I knew that scent was familiar,” Jase said.

  “Can someone please explain to me what’s going on with Lexi so I can help her?” Zane demanded. Normally, he wasn’t the type to lose his temper, but he felt like he was ready to explode.

  “The medication she’s been given was originally used to treat humans who had problems with reality,” Max explained gently.

  “What he means is that they gave it to crazy people,” Jase clarified.

  “She’s not crazy,” Zane insisted. Sure, some of what she’d said didn’t make much sense, but he was sure she wasn’t crazy. There had to be another explanation for why she was on medication.

  “Even though I haven’t met her yet, I’m inclined to agree with you,” his father said.

  “Lots of half-breeds were drugged,” Cam added. “They probably still are in most of the world, because their behavior makes the other humans think they’re crazy.”

  “It’s good in some ways, since the drugs make it harder to figure out what they are,” Jase pointed out. “They’re generally safer that way.”

  “Yes,” Max agreed. “That can be especially true in the case of creatures like the Fae, who are known to destroy half-breeds. Even the ones they don’t kill aren’t treated very well.”

  “That still doesn’t make any sense,” Zane said, looking at the room where Lexi slept. “I haven’t heard of anyone doing that around here—drugging half-breeds, I mean.” Of course, he’d heard rumors of the Fae slaughtering half-breeds.

  “We should get her to your vampire friends,” Max suggested.

  “No!” came Zane’s automatic reply. “If she’s being drugged to hide what she is, we should just let the drugs wear off. I’ll protect her.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting she go without you,” Max snapped. “You need to understand that she could have a very hard time coming off of the medication, and she may need medical intervention we can’t provide. If she had them with her, we could wean her slowly, but that’s not an option now. We also might be able to find out more about her from the vampires. It’s possible one of them knows who she is or has an idea of how she got here.”

  “He’s right,” Cam agreed. “The vampires can help.”

  “Fine,” Zane relented before looking at Max. “You might not believe this, but I’m not trying to be a pain in the ass.”

  “It’s not your fault,” his mom assured him.

  “In this case, I agree with your mother. Why can’t any of my children mate with nice shifters?” Max grumbled before looking at Cam. “You, go find someone to transport the female. She won’t be able to walk that far.”

  Cam nodded and took off. Zane figured he’d be seeing Claire soon. He was pretty sure his father knew that as well, which proved he was warming up to the idea of Claire as Cam’s mate. Too bad Claire didn’t seem to be warming up to the idea.

  Chapter Eight

  Talon enjoyed traveling by jeep much more now that he was the one driving. Of course, Carmen’s obvious fear added to his pleasure.

  “Are you trying to get us killed?” she screeched when he narrowly avoided crashing the jeep into a tree along the side of the road.

  Her outburst was laughable. “Very little can kill me. I’m sure a crash would be very painful, and the injuries might hurt enough for me to give up Alistair’s body.”

  “I might not survive the crash,” she ground out—as if he gave a damn. “Do you really think it’s necessary to travel to all of these settlements? I’d only planned to visit the few we can count on for support. Stopping at this one is a complete waste of time.”

  They had an escort of guards in three other jeeps, but they were the only ones in this jeep, so he could talk freely. It was nice not having to pretend to be that idiot vampire all the time.

  “There are many reasons to travel into these particular territories.” He struggled to keep his voice even and patient. “Not the least of which is to make sure your expert can get good taps on the phone calls, and to make sure the territories we visit know about the taps. We also need to know who will fight against us, and who will betray us with the right incentive, which is why we’re visiting a few who only reluctantly agreed to join us.”

  Carmen let out a huff of annoyance as they pulled up to the gates of the second settlement they were visiting that day. The first, they had only been checking in with because Talon was fairly confident that their leadership there wouldn’t betray them. They’d gained the support of those vampires two months ago, but Talon wanted to make sure they were still loyal to the cause. That particular territory bordered the one they were visiting now.

  In truth, he could probably get to Arawn’s daughter without resorting to this elaborate plot. At first, he’d convinced himself that it was all necessary, but he’d really just missed the scheming and interfering with the lives of humans. It had been far too long since he’d been given free rein in the human realm. There was also the challenge of bringing down the vampires Arawn had failed to defeat. That hadn’t been on his mind at first, but now, part of his revenge against Arawn involved proving himself superior in every way.

  After entering the gates, Talon parked the jeep and watched a contingency of vampires approach.

  “That’s Marie Therese,” Carmen said quietly, gesturing to the warrior queen walking at the front of the group.

  “Impressive,” Talon murmured as he studied her confident stance. This woman would command respect among her ranks, and he could picture her leading an attack. She was tall for a woman and kept her curly, dark brown hair short. Her eyes were brown with specks of gold, and her body was something to be admired, all sleek muscles like some jungle cat. That is, with the exception of her large breasts. This woman was definitely his type, and if he weren’t stuck in this ridiculous form, he’d fuck her until she begged to help him. Pity that wasn’t an option at the moment. Something told him she was the kind of leader her people would follow to hell and back. “Perhaps you were wrong about her. Is there any chance we can get her to join us?”

  “No,” Carmen snapped, and she sounded surprisingly irritated, perhaps even jealous of his blatant appraisal of Marie Therese. “At most, we can hope to convince her to keep her nose out of things and make sure she knows we’ll find out if she tries to warn Connor. Marie Therese isn’t close to Connor, but there are some people living in his territory she remains in contact with. She also seems quite loyal to Eleanor and her faction of the council. It’s best if she believes there are others on the council working with us. The only way to handle her is to make sure she understands that choosing sides would put her people in danger.”

  “How does she feel about us?” he asked before climbing out of the jeep.

  “She’s jealous of my beauty, but she’s indifferent toward Alistair.”

  “Good to know,” Talon said as he stepped out of the jeep and smiled at Marie Therese.

  “I’ve already heard the two of you are planning a rebellion,” Marie Therese said with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

  Talon was pretty sure she was lying, but the woman was good.

  “Rebellion?” Carmen asked, batting her eyes. “We’re representing the interests of the council majority. That hardly seems like a rebellion.”

  “We’re also trying to do what’s best for vampires in all territories,” Talon added, trying for a reasonable tone. “Allowing one group to break from the council could encourage others to follow suit.” He’d intentionally picked this topic to keep her from asking about their plans for the council. Sadly, it seemed Carmen was right about Marie Therese’s loyalty.

  Marie Therese’s arms may have been crossed in front of her chest, but her guards kept their hands free, ready to pull weapons if needed. Something told Talon that Marie Therese had
n’t let her guard down either. Her stance was intentionally deceptive, and it was making him hard.

  “You don’t believe us,” Talon accused.

  “Let’s just say, I’m skeptical,” she stated with no emotion.

  “I’m worried that something might happen to you and your people.” Talon did nothing to hide the threat in his voice.

  “Are you threatening me, Alistair?” Marie Therese asked, taking a step toward him.

  This wasn’t a woman to play coy games with. “Yes, Marie Therese,” he replied, allowing the power to flow through his voice. “All communications from this area are being intercepted. We know about everything from your conversations with your patrols to the call you received from Eleanor today to discuss your request for more jeeps. I was glad to hear that she’s putting a rush on getting all ten jeeps to you.”

  Marie Therese snorted. “My request for jeeps isn’t a big secret.”

  “No, but Eleanor’s request that you step down as leader to take a position as an advisor in Fangri La was a secret, was it not?” Talon asked with a smirk.

  The widening of Marie Therese’s eyes was the only reaction he got, other than the gasps from several of her followers.

  “We aren’t the only council members involved,” Carmen warned without going into details. It was best that Marie Therese had no clue who she could trust in Fangri La. That left her isolated and afraid for the safety of her people.

  “If you fuck with my people, I will bury you,” Marie Therese ground out.

  “We have no intention of hurting your people,” Talon assured her.

  “But this is turning into a war,” Carmen added. “People get hurt in wars. Many people die in wars. It’s just inevitable. Best to remain neutral if you aren’t going to align yourself with the stronger side.”

  “I have no interest in getting involved in your petty council bullshit,” Marie Therese snapped. “Now, get the fuck off my land.”

  “You mean to tell me you aren’t going to offer hospitality to council members?” Carmen asked with a nasty smirk.

  Marie Therese uncrossed her arms and stepped so close that Carmen had to look up to see her face. It was an impressive intimidation tactic and made Talon regret the fact that Marie Therese wasn’t on their side even more. “Did you honestly think I would offer you a place to stay after you threatened my people?” Marie Therese spat out.

  Talon figured they’d made their point and had no interest in staying anyway. This was just Carmen being a bitch, and there was no reason to antagonize Marie Therese further. “We’re leaving,” he told Marie Therese before climbing behind the wheel of the jeep.

  Carmen glared at him from the passenger seat. “Why are you so quick to leave? I was having fun, and we could easily force her to let us stay.”

  “We don’t have time for childish games,” he hissed, annoyed with her stupidity. This would be so much easier if Carmen simply did as she was told. It was seriously tempting to use magic to turn her into a mindless slave that followed his every command. The problem was, he really needed her memories and knowledge to make this work. As soon as he had Arawn’s daughter, he’d come back to torture Carmen for a few days. With a contented sigh, he started up the jeep to fantasies of gutting Carmen.

  Carmen was pouting as they drove out of the settlement. “Where are we going?” she demanded.

  “Back to Fangri La for a couple of days,” he answered testily. “We need to focus on gaining more support from your council. Then, we’ll visit a couple more of the less cooperative territories. Most, like this one, aren’t going to change their minds, but there are a few who might be persuaded to follow us if we can prove we have powerful allies.”

  “I have some ideas about which council members we should approach.” Carmen’s pout was gone, replaced with a calculating look. At least the bitch was proving to be useful again.

  Chapter Nine

  Claire loved being back at the island settlement where she’d grown up, but she still had moments when she was almost overwhelmed with sadness. This place reminded her of her parents. If they’d just made different choices, they could have all been living safely at the born vampire settlement. She’d still be human, and everything would be much simpler. It was these moments of self-pity and regret that made her want to smack herself for such ridiculous thoughts. She’d played an important role in saving lives during Roger’s reign of terror. That term was probably a little overdramatic, but she was in that kind of mood today.

  Shaking her head, she decided to push any regrets to the back of her mind. How could she wish to change her role in saving lives? Besides, it was crazy to sit around wondering what would happen if things were different. This was her life, and she needed to deal with it—most of it, anyway. There was one thing she wasn’t quite ready to deal with.

  “You look like a woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders,” Kyleigh observed as she approached Claire.

  Her friendship with Kyleigh shocked everyone, especially Claire, because they were just so different. Then again, Kyleigh wasn’t much like her mate, Ian, either, so maybe Kyleigh just had a thing for moody vampires. There was a noticeable waddle to Kyleigh’s walk now, which was no surprise since she was around seven months pregnant. With her long red hair pulled back, her brown eyes were filled with warmth.

  “I think I need to take a break,” Claire admitted.

  The smile on Kyleigh’s face made it obvious she liked that answer. “Glad you finally figured that out. You’ve been working nonstop to get things set up and people settled in. Although, I get the impression you’re really working nonstop to avoid thinking about a certain lynx shifter.”

  “You know the rules,” Claire warned.

  “Right,” Kyleigh said with a laugh. “No talking about Cam because it gets you hot and bothered just thinking about him.”

  “It does not get me hot and bothered,” Claire argued before realizing how stupid that sounded. “Fine, it gets me hot and bothered, but I do not want to be hot and bothered by Cam. There is just too much going on right now, and I don’t know if I could make this work even if things slow down around here.”

  Kyleigh looked like she wanted to say more, but she was suddenly frowning at something behind Claire, which was probably a good thing since she was obviously about to break the ‘no Cam talk’ rule again.

  Claire turned to find Ian stalking toward them with his phone gripped tightly in his hand. There was an almost lost look on his face, and he seemed to be struggling with something. Looking down at the phone, as if confused by its presence, he tucked it into the front pocket of his pants. When he reached them, he didn’t speak, merely wrapped Kyleigh in his arms and took a deep, shuddering breath.

  “Ian,” Kyleigh began as she stroked his hair, “what’s wrong? Has there been an attack? Is Mitchell okay?”

  “It’s my sister,” Ian rasped out.

  “Your sister?” Kyleigh asked, pulling away some to look at Ian. “I thought you were an only child. In fact, I remember you telling me it had been just you and your mom, so it had been easy to move up here after your mom was killed.”

  Taking a step back, Ian ran his hands through his hair before threading them at the back of his neck and looking down at his boots. “My mom got pregnant with me because my sister was really sick. She needed a bone marrow transplant, and back then, a sibling was the most likely to be a match. My mom was desperate, and I guess my father agreed to it, even though they weren’t together anymore. My sister was in the hospital when the outbreak happened, and my mom was told all the children there had been slaughtered by turned vampires. Except, that wasn’t what happened. One of the nurses huddled the little vampire children up and transported them to some commune in the dessert. At the time, she had no idea that she and most of the children hadn’t died from the Moon virus because they were becoming born vampires. The members of the commune had refused to go in for the vaccine, so they remained human and somehow managed to keep all the vampire c
hildren safe.”

  “Where have they been all this time?” Claire asked. “At some point, they would have been discovered in the desert. There’s no way they could have hidden out there for over a hundred years.”

  “When they figured out how bad things were, they moved to an island off the coast—an old vacation spot,” Ian explained. “I have no idea how they’ve managed to go unnoticed this long, but I guess they had to move to the mainland after most of the humans came down with some sort of disease. So many of them died that there wasn’t enough blood for the vampires. Anyway, it seems my sister looks enough like my mom to attract notice, and an old friend called to tell me she’s at his settlement.”

  “What do you want to do?” Kyleigh asked.

  “Go get her,” Ian answered without hesitation.

  Kyleigh nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

  Ian shook his head. “You shouldn’t travel while you’re pregnant, and Mitchell needs you here.”

  Claire was always amused when her friend stood up to Ian. That’s when she saw how perfect they were for each other.

  Hands on her hips, Kyleigh glared at Ian. “I’m not that pregnant, and there is no way in hell I’m letting you handle this alone. Mitchell wouldn’t want you to go without one of us, anyway, and you know it would be much harder to travel with him because he needs blood so often.”

  “Stubborn woman,” Ian complained with no real heat.

  “Claire!” Cam called out as he approached them.

  Inwardly groaning, Claire wondered why he had to have such a strong effect on her. Just the sound of his voice was enough to turn her on.

  “We’re standing right here, yet all he sees is Claire,” Ian muttered under his breath.

  “Did you want him to notice you and cuddle with you some?” Kyleigh teased.

  Cam looked at them both. “Why are you talking so quietly? As you already know, I’m a shifter, so I have excellent hearing.”

  “What do you need?” Claire asked Cam as she edged away from him.