by Terry Spear
"How was it?" Selena asked as Atreides climbed into bed with her. The flight was so late that night, that Selena had a hard time staying awake for Atreides, but she couldn't sleep until Atreides had come home to her and she knew what had happened between him and his brother.
"I thought you would be asleep. I told you not to wait up for me." Atreides kissed her cheek and pulled her into his arms, then kissed the top of her head.
This was what she had needed, him with her, snuggling. "No way. I had to know if you and your brother were cool about this after you told him about it."
"They already knew a lot about what was going on."
"I figured they might. It would have been hard to keep something like what had happened a secret." Then she frowned. "But are they all right with it?" Everything had worked out well, in the end, she thought. But it didn't mean Daemon would agree with it.
"Yeah, they said we did such a good job, they're inclined to take more trips and leave me in charge. Daemon said he was proud of me."
She heard the well-deserved pride in Atreides's voice and knew just how much that meant to him and someday she wanted to tell Daemon how much that had meant to his brother. "Hmm, I could have told them you would be fine." She was so pleased with the way everything had worked out.
"With you at my side, yeah." He sighed as he cuddled with her. "I have to admit, I'm ready to enjoy some down time with you."
She smiled. "Do you think we'll get any?"
Daemon communicated with the two of them, "Thanks for taking care of my brother. He needed you in his life and we couldn't be happier."
Atreides hadn't expected his brother to talk to them both right now. He really hadn't figured he'd be talking to him again until dinner tomorrow night. It had to be important, he figured.
"We…you have a mission. Two fringe vampires found an injured vampire girl who is one of our clan in their border town. It's your job to learn who she belongs to, who injured her, and how she ended up in the border town."
Atreides looked down at Selena and raised a brow.
"We're right on it," Selena told Daemon. "And I needed Atreides in my life just as much." She leaned over and kissed Atreides. "I love you."
He sighed. "I love you too. I just thought with Daemon back, we could have some downtime."
"If, Selena, you're up for it, considering your injuries," Daemon added and Atreides knew his brother only meant for him to have to go on the mission.
"I'm ready," she said.
"Thanks, if the two of you need any help, let me know," Daemon said.
"We will," Atreides said, glad that his brother trusted him with the mission as they ended the telepathic communication.
Selena was already out of bed and getting dressed in a hurry, as if she were afraid Atreides might change his mind and leave her behind to recuperate further.
Atreides quickly dressed too and then Selena telepathically said to her huntress turned friends, "Eliza, Brittany, we could use your help."
He was glad the women had become her friends. And then Selena and Atreides were heading to the border town.
When Atreides had seen the huntress Selena walk into their vampire cub, he never would have believed where that would have led, but he couldn't have been gladder to have resolved the issue of the vampiress murders and the rogue vampires turning huntresses or attempting to murder them and that he would have found a mate who was a huntress too. He was thrilled everything had worked out as it had and was glad his brother had been proud of how he had managed things. Now he was off on another mission with his mate, and together, he knew they would solve it. He just hoped that she was truly recovered enough to be with him, but he was glad she would be at his side.
Everything had turned upside down for Selena on a mission to find her sister, Rosa. Not only did she end up locating Rosa and helping to solve a rogue hunters' crime, she had learned who had bitten her, turned her, and she had found a mate. Not a hunter, like she had always assumed she would have. But one hot vampire who heated her blood with primal desire. She had hoped when Daemon had returned, she could have spent more time with Atreides in mated bliss, but this was important too—taking care of the innocents of the region was their top priority—and the other would have to wait.
They arrived in the town, saw a hunter coming at them with a sword raised, two more joining him and they prepared for the fight. She didn't recognize any of the hunters—out-of-towners? Fringe hunters? They weren't local League-sanctioned hunters, that's all she knew.
Her huntress turned friends suddenly appeared beside Selena, evening up the odds. Together with Atreides and her new friends, she knew they would be victorious.
Epilogue
A Thanksgiving family celebration, three months later at Daemon's house
Selena couldn't believe how great it was to be with Atreides and his family along with hers at a big family celebration. They didn't do big vampire bashes with a mix of her family and the vampires, yet, nor did she take Atreides to hunter bashes, though she hoped in the future it would be a mutual thing they could share. For now, they enjoyed their small hunter-vampire family gatherings, and even though she thought it should not be a topic of conversation, they often talked about how they had taken down rogue vampires, and then Atreides and Daemon would talk about how glad they were that the hunters had.
And even the vampire Quail in his human form, not a wolf's, had been invited to the dinner because of his saving Selena from the rogue vampire after she'd been so brutally attacked.
"I felt guilty that I had forced you to walk back to the club that night, though I'd had the best intention," Quail said. "I knew you would be the only one to help us out of the mess we were headed toward—a war between vampires and hunters—because you had taken a stand to protect a vampiress that the hunter vowed to kill. I hadn't had time to prevent the vampires attacking you. And for that I'll forever be sorry."
"Don't be. I might not have returned to the club and we wouldn't be where we are today," Selena said, squeezing Atreides's hand. "Thank you for killing the rogue vampire for me. You saved my life."
"And countless others," Daemon said, agreeing. "We're glad to have both of you in the clan."
One thing that seemed to be causing a bit of trouble was the fact that Eliza and Brittany were getting so many offers of dates from both vampires, who insisted the hunters turned should be with them, and the hunters, who wanted to have a huntress turned in their court. As mates, they could really use the special vampire conditions the newly turned vampires had. But the problem was that the vampires lived such long lives that the hunters lost out in that regard. And a vampire, even half, mated to a hunter meant losing him at some point in their mated lives.
Which was another reason Selena was glad she had a vampire to love. She didn't have to drink blood very often, but it didn't bother her at all like she thought it would. She hadn't bitten anyone other than her mate yet, and she was just as happy about that.
The fringe vampires and hunters were more receptive to the rules of the vampire clans and League of Hunter's council, though they still didn't want to join either force. But communication was better.
And the issue with the three hunters she and Atreides and her hunter turned vampire friends had to deal with in the border town? The hunters were history. Rogues beware—whether they were hunters or vampires. They would be swiftly taken care of.
"So what do you think?" her mother asked Selena.
Selena realized her thoughts had been a million miles away as they all sat down to the Thanksgiving feast and she wondered what she'd missed out on. "About?"
"What you're going to shift into," Daniel said. "You said you've been trying to shift into something, and we were just curious as to what."
"Mist." Not that mist was the form she was shooting for, but it was the only thing she'd managed this early on after being turned.
"Can you do it?" Rosa asked, her eyes wide.
"Sure."
"Show us," he
r dad said, sounding just as intrigued.
So she did, turned into mist at the table, drifted off and around them, seeped under a door and seeped back in, then returned to her seat and didn't shift back. Damn it. She knew she shouldn't have shown off. At least she was nearly done with her food.
"That is so cool," Rosa said. "You can shift back now."
She wished. She couldn't even telepathically communicate with Atreides when she was in this form.
"It might take a few minutes," Atreides said, attempting to reassure her family, and her.
She knew it could. Or sometimes hours, like the first time she'd shifted into mist. She'd ended up having to sit next to Atreides on the couch binge watching a vampire series, which he said was not at all realistic, and she would have told him it was supposed to be fiction, but of course, she couldn't say anything.
Everyone continued the conversation around her, eating and drinking and being merry. That would teach her to turn into mist at the dinner table from now on. Atreides smiled at her as if he were truly seeing her sitting there, and then just right when dessert was brought to the table: pecan pie and pumpkin pie and even a chocolate cream pie, she shifted back.
Her mother smiled. "The chocolate did it."
Selena wondered. Atreides kissed her. She felt foolish that she had showed off and couldn't shift back right away, but her mother only smiled at her and said, "Well done."
Selena was glad her parents had been so approving of all the changes in her life when she truly had believed they would feel differently. But maybe they had been because it had opened up a new world to all of them. One in which they might have a better handle against the rogues—either hunters or vampires.
Rosa and Daniel were both enjoying their new status with the vampires and hunters. But there were still those on either side who didn't like the way things were changing.
Suddenly, she heard a faint heartbeat coming from inside her belly, and Atreides glanced down at her belly, then his gaze met hers. He smiled. She was pregnant?
Just when she thought she was beginning to get the hang of things—fighting as a huntress turned, shifting—as mist, anyway for now. She wanted to be a wolf. Getting to know everything now that she'd been turned.
A baby? In the middle of all this?
Everyone had grown quiet as he placed his hand on her stomach and smiled. Their baby. No telling what it would be—vampire? Hunter? A mix of both? But born, not turned?
Then she smiled. "It looks like Atreides and I are pregnant." Which meant no champagne for her. For whatever reason, when Daemon was serving it, she'd felt chilled and couldn't drink any. Was her body warning her not to drink it? She remembered her mother couldn't drink alcoholic beverages before she learned she was pregnant. Even the thought made her ill. Iced tea too, which, now that Selena thought of it, she hadn't been able to drink for the past few days either. Not iced tea, but hot tea.
Everyone had a glass of champagne to celebrate the happy occasion, though Cook brought her a glass of milk before they dug into the pies.
"Congratulations to yet the newest member of our family—in a few months," Daemon said, rising to his feet and toasting them.
Everyone followed suit—her mother wishing their first grandbaby the best health, her father vowing to turn him or her into a fine hunter, her brother saying he couldn't wait to teach him a hunter trick or two, her sister telling them she would outfit the baby prince, or princess, to the nines, and Atreides promising to be the best father ever—including changing diapers. Daemon was ready to give the new prince, or princess, his or her first set of wheels—a tricycle, and Tezra and Rosa said they would help Atreides and Selena decorate the baby's room.
But they would have to wait until they learned what the baby's sex was.
Atreides wrapped his arm around Selena and gave her a hug. "I love you."
"I couldn't have found a better mate than you," Selena told Atreides and kissed him. "I love you, Atreides."
Atreides kissed her back, thinking on the day he had first seen her, proud, head held high, ignoring the vampiresses who had exposed their fangs to her, taunting her, hissing at her, and something deep inside him had wanted to get to know the huntress better, when he knew he should have let well enough alone. He never would have wished a rogue vampire to tear into her like he had, but Atreides was glad he had danced with her and she had felt enough of a connection to him to come to him for help.
Now, he was having a baby with her—then he listened, thought he'd heard something else, but he had to be mistaken. Just as soon as he heard it, Selena's jaw dropped, and she turned her attention to him.
He leaned over and listened to her nearly flat belly and then heard what he thought he had heard. Everyone had gotten quiet again, watching him, waiting to hear what was wrong. He lifted his head, beaming. "Two babies. Twins."
Everyone cheered again.
He wasn't surprised at the news. He and Daemon were twins, though his brother was the first born.
Daemon immediately left the dining room and brought in another couple of bottles of champagne.
Life had gotten just a little more uncertain and a whole lot busier.
Atreides knew they would have a big vampire bash to welcome the first royal babies to the clan in centuries. He glanced at Tezra, wondering when she and Daemon would have babies of their own.
"We were waiting for my sister to finish hunter school," Tezra said, as if she could read his mind. "She wants to live with us, hunt, and help with the baby."
Atreides thought with the long vacation she and his brother had had when Atreides had been left in charge, they would have surely been making a baby. And he was certain his brother would want to have one first.
But when it came to Tezra, Daemon often did anything to make her happy, and Atreides had admired him for it.
"But we're having one anyway. You know what they say—babies will come, sometimes when you least expect it."
Atreides noticed then that though everyone had been drinking champagne, he hadn't poured any bubbly into her glass. She'd been pretending to drink toasts!
"We were going to tell everyone within the next couple of days because we wanted this celebration for Selena. But it seems silly now that she has baby news, we don't share ours also," Daemon said.
Atreides smiled at his brother. “The whole year next year will be a cause for celebration.”
Smiling, Daemon inclined his head to him.
They would rule on, Atreides thought, unless someone else objected. But should anything happen to Daemon and him while fighting rogue vampires or rogue hunters, their offspring would carry on. Though this time, they would be hunter-vampires and able to be out during any sunny day. At least he hoped so.
Though they stayed up late, visiting family, it was finally time to take his mate back home and the hunters left to enjoy the rest of their evening, the same as Daemon and Tezra.
“We have to go back to the vampire club and dance like we did before—and before I get too pregnant that I can’t make those kinds of moves,” Selena said.
"We will, and instead of alcoholic drinks for you, I'll make sure we have milk on hand."
"Okay. That sounds good. I want to change into a wolf," Selena said, when he thought they were going to bed to make love.
"Think of being a wolf," he said, helping her to remove her clothes. Once she was naked, he began to take off his own clothes, thinking she would help him and they would make love, but she began pacing, frowning, and he wondered what was wrong.
And then she was a wolf in the blink of an eye. His lips parted in surprise. She looked up at him, startled and he stared at her in disbelief. He smiled. She did it! But then he frowned. He hoped she wouldn't get stuck at it like she did when she turned into mist. And she’d be disappointed or upset.
She suddenly vanished. Damn it. He was trying to remove his clothes so fast, he nearly fell. Then he was naked, shifting, and vanishing, appearing in the general vicinity where she'd
gone.
He saw her off in the distance and he woofed, then tore off to join her. He could have vanished and reappeared, but he loved running as a wolf and hadn't done so since she had come into his life because she'd wanted to so badly and couldn't seem to do it.
She nipped at him in play, woofed, and tore off through the woods. He raced after her, loving her, glad she was his mate, and could even shift into the wolf, that she was having his babies, and he knew the choices they had made had been all the right ones.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my beta readers, Darla Taylor and Donna Fournier, for jumping out of the world of wolves and into the world of vampires to help me catch my bloopers. I couldn't do it without you ladies, so thanks for all the help!
About the Author
USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over eighty paranormal romance novels, young adult, and medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly's Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance, shapeshifting jaguars, cougar shifters, vampires, hot Highlanders, and having fun with her young adult novels and helping to take care of a granddaughter and soon a baby grandson. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics. And on Wordpress at:
Terry Spear's Shifters
http://terryspear.wordpress.com/
