Defining Human (Only Human Book 4)

by Candace Blevins

  “Very well. I don’t trust Abbott, so I’ll leave with Randall. You’ll be able to reach me on Randall’s cellphone until I have mine again. Please stay safe.”

  He disconnected without responding, but I’d have to deal with him later. Randall was right — if word got out that Abbott negotiated because Cora and I forced the issue while we both wielded light weapons, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be good. I didn’t need to be present when Abbott and Nathan negotiated, because people might assume I was responsible for both.

  I just hoped they’d find a truce without someone there to mediate. I looked at Abbott and thought at him, Nothing he can’t heal from. If you kill him, I’ll kill you. There won’t be talks of recompense.

  You shouldn’t have been able to talk to me this way.

  And yet I did. I am. Nathan and I can’t be… I shrugged. He’s the Amakhosi and I’m human. Still, I care about him and don’t want to see him hurt. Also, it’s my understanding the power balance often shifts towards evil when the Amakhosi is on the dark side. We need him. My guess is Aaron’s suggested you not kill anyone, right? We’re all letting each other live because of a stubborn old dragon?

  I’m truly sorry for the way things had to go. I hope to someday earn your trust again.

  I shook my head and looked at Randall. “What happens next? Do we have to shake hands with him, or can we just leave?”

  “I don’t trust him enough for physical contact. A truce means we’re agreeing our people won’t keep killing each other. It doesn’t imply trust.”

  I grasped Randall’s hand and telepathed for Cora to hold my other hand. She kept the quarterstaff in her right hand while holding mine in her left.

  I’m taking us up. I told Cora. Warn Randall, please.

  Randall squeezed my hand and I reversed our gravity polarity so we pushed away from the Earth. I took us up and over the wolves who’d been at our back, and landed us beside Randall’s truck. A large panel-van was parked beside us, and I assumed the other wolves would be taken away in it.

  “Please tell me we can get in your truck and drive.”

  “My home resembles a campground, with wolves in tents and campers all over the grounds. I can easily provide a guest room for you and Cora. I can keep you safe.”

  I shook my head. “We need to do the thing so you and I can telepath again, and I’ll be honest and tell you I’d love to be part of your wolves’ energy, like you do on a full moon, but I shouldn’t spend the night. I need to get back to Lauren and Smokey. I can call her and tell her I’ll be later than I planned tonight, but I need to be there for breakfast in the morning.”

  “I shall take you to my home, and we’ll do the ceremony in front of the wolves.” He looked at Cora. “You should be my Second tonight, and not hers. She’ll be safe.”

  “He’s right,” I told her. “You’re my friend but you’re his wolf.”

  The Pack welcomed me with their energy the instant I stepped out of Randall’s truck. I’m certain he telepathed orders for them to, but tears flowed from my eyes at the love and acceptance. Randall held me, his arms around me, the heat of his wolf surrounding me, and I wept huge, ugly tears. My chest heaved until I was worried I’d throw up, and still, I couldn’t stop. Randall carried me to a campfire, with wolves in both human and animal form dotting the landscape around the flames.

  “The Pack and Coterie are at a truce. Anyone who harms a vampire unprovoked will feel my wrath. Those who’ve lost family will be taken care of. Kirsten stood with her staff of light and demanded the Master Vampire provide appropriate recompense. She’s our Hero once again.”

  I can’t explain how they did it, but the wolves soothed my soul. They didn’t ask why I was crying. There were no comments of emotional females, and no one used the word hysterics. Eventually, someone started playing their guitar, others joined in, and we all sang. They started with Proud Mary, which somehow became Dock of the Bay, which flowed into another song, and another. When we’d exhausted the best CCR songs, someone played Sweet Home Alabama, which turned into The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

  Eventually, Randall took me home, and I thanked him for healing my soul.

  “You’re always welcome.” He sighed. “Okay, so there are a few ceremonies outsiders can’t attend, but they’re few and far between. Just let me know when you need us. We’ll be there for you.”

  Chapter 33

  RaeLynn was sitting in the kitchen with a pot of coffee, and she was pissed.

  “I hope you weren’t waiting up to chew me a new asshole, because it’s been a long-assed day and I’m going to bed. If you need to pick a fight with me, it’ll have to wait.”

  “Nathan took Sophia with him, since you wouldn’t go.”

  I froze. “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Yes.”

  “They aren’t back?”

  “No.”

  I blew out a breath and looked at Cora. “Will I do more harm than good going?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Randall had explained — telepathically after our little blood ceremony — that Abbott had been the undisputed leader of the city. The Abbott kept all of the supernatural factions working together for a peaceful city. He organized meetings, acted as mediator, and stayed on top of any disagreements so he could resolve them before they grew into problems. However, with so many witnesses to see me force Abbott’s hand, there was a chance I was the new perceived city leader. Unless I could do something to change perception, I’d be responsible for calling meetings and moderating them. The last thing I needed to do was to step in and force Abbott’s hand again.

  I looked at RaeLynn. “I’m not good at supernatural politics. I mean, sometimes my experience as a therapist gets me through touchy situations, but there’s so much I don’t know. I keep stepping in shit without a clue. I caused kind of a scene in the process of demanding a truce between the Coterie and Pack. I felt it best if I backed off and let the Pride and Coterie figure things out without me.”

  “What will you do now?”

  My phone was right where I’d left it, but someone had run a cable to charge both mine and Cora’s. I lifted mine and called Aaron.

  “I understand your wife is with the Amakhosi, facing off against The Abbott.”

  “Tell me you’re joking.”

  I sighed. “I was hoping you’d tell me you’d handled it.”

  “Where are they?”

  Right. Because every situation gets better when a pissed off dragon flies into the mess. “Stay put. I’ll handle it.”

  I disconnected and grasped Cora’s arm. “Ready?”

  “Yes.”

  I’ve never travelled through the staticky nothingness so quickly before, and I came out to Sophia holding Abbott’s arm, begging him not to make what I was certain would be a killing blow to the injured lion at his feet.

  I created a quarterstaff and cut Abbott’s arms off before he even realized what was happening. He pressed on my shields, his energy hot and angry, but another swing of my quarterstaff easily took the top of his head off. Again. He’d live, but it put him out of commission for the night.

  Other vampires came towards us, and I handed my quarterstaff to Cora and made another. “I’m guessing ya’ll can’t live if I cut your head off at your eyeballs? Only the strongest can survive that, right? Anyone want to test the theory?”

  All but one stopped, and I took his head off. “Oops. I went a little lower than I intended. Anyone else?”

  No one moved, and I said, “Leave or I’ll start blowing heads up randomly.”

  I picked someone at the back, put heat into his head, and a few seconds later blood and brains were everywhere. The remaining vampires left, and I absorbed my staff back into me and knelt beside Nathan. His legs had been broken, but he was in his own head again. Abbott had taken control of him, and he wasn’t supposed to be able to do that to the Amakhosi.

  Nathan’s given me healing energy enough I could rec
all the feeling, and I put my hands on his big furry lion-chest and gave him the kind of energy he’s gifted to me in the past.

  “You’re the Amakhosi,” I reminded him. “You have an endless supply of energy.”

  The lion shifted to human, and a very dazed Nathan looked at me a few seconds before I saw the man I was used to seeing.

  “Damn. Fuck. He’s drank down some of my lions, and recently. It gave him the power to rule the Pride. Things got better when you took the top of his head off, but I forgot who I was until you reminded me.”

  “He was of a mind to negotiate when he left. What happened?”

  “Nathan had no intention of negotiating until they fought,” said Sophia.

  Nathan sighed. “She isn’t wrong. I didn’t give him much choice. He had to fight me or die. Usually, I can hold my own against even the strongest Strigorii, but I had no idea he’d drank down members of my Pride. How did he keep it from me?”

  I punched Kendra’s picture on my phone and waited for her to answer. “Nathan and Abbott had a disagreement. I intervened. You should probably come get your Master. He’s missing the top of his head again.”

  “And his arms,” said Sophia.

  “Dammit, Kirsten.”

  I sighed. “I’m actually sorry I had to do it this time. I hope you believe me when I say it was the only way to prevent more deaths.”

  “I’m not close. Josef is on his way.”

  “I killed two vampires to make a point.” I wanted Josef to know before he arrived, so he wasn’t taken by surprise.

  “Fuck. Are you trying to start a war?”

  “You know me better than that.”

  She sighed. “Yes, I do. Okay, I’ll order Josef to gather our people and leave without comment or offensive action.”

  “Thank you. I’ll stand guard over your Master until he arrives.”

  “I appreciate that. This is really a mess.”

  When Josef was finally gone, I took Cora back to Nathan’s through the static despite my policy of only using it when it was life-or-death. No way was I going to ride in a vehicle with Nathan. He was pissed and he needed to eat.

  Cora and I were in bed and asleep before His Majesty arrived home. I later learned Aaron had shown up as we left, and he took his wife somewhere he deemed safe.

  I also found out Nathan had locked Jonathan in a jail cell beneath his house because Jonathan refused to allow Sophia to go with him.

  Chapter 34

  I can’t think back on the fight I had with Nathan the next morning without crying. I fucked up by not going with him to negotiate with Abbott. So much could’ve been avoided if I’d gone instead of Sophia. Nathan had known Abbott would never hurt Aaron’s wife, but he hadn’t counted on Abbott being able to get into his head and control him.

  Nathan took us to a soundproof room for our discussion, and the first thirty minutes was more talk than fight. I told him everything that’d happened with Abbott and Randall, but when I reached my decision to not help Nathan as I’d helped Randall, things deteriorated. No. Things went to shit.

  Eventually, he made me understand that I’d not only hurt him politically with the other supernaturals, but within his own Pride. He’d practically brought me into the Pride as a human, let me stay in his house when even RaeLynn isn’t allowed overnights, and I’d turned my back on him.

  I sat in a chair, dejected. “What will it take to make things right in the Pride?”

  He crossed his arms and looked down at me. His eyes hard. “A public whipping and fucking.”

  My instincts were to turn him down outright, but I considered what I knew of the Pride and told him, “I might agree to a negotiated whipping scene, but I won’t fuck you in front of them.”

  “No, I’d be fucking you.”

  “Not an option. I’m trying to work with you, but you aren’t going to fuck me in front of them. Find another way.”

  No emotion. Nothing. Just the hard-assed Amakhosi. “One hundred and forty-four strikes from me. Three from RaeLynn. I’ll restrict her to using my belt, but I’ll switch it up between belt, flogger, cane, whip, and paddles. You’ll be bent over, your neck and wrists in stocks, with an anal hook to make sure your back stays arched and your pussy on display. A curved needle will go through the base of your clit and a two-ounce weight will hang from both sides. Ditto for your nipples. A wide spreader bar will make sure you don’t close your legs.”

  He didn’t come up with all that off the top of his head. “This sounds like something your lionesses are used to?”

  He nodded, and I finally saw a little warmth — though not much. “They get heavier weights, and I hit them a lot harder than I’ll strike you. Otherwise, it’s a standard punishment, except I publicly fuck them when I finish. I’ll send them away before I fuck you.”

  I shook my head. “You won’t fuck me as a punishment. It’s a line I can’t let you cross.” I considered the rest of his offer. “Two dozen strikes from you. One from RaeLynn.”

  “Forty-eight from me. One from RaeLynn.”

  “Bruises won’t last longer than a week. No broken skin other than the three needles.”

  “RaeLynn might break the skin. I won’t.” He shook his head. “When it’s over, I’ll ask you to agree to me fucking you. It won’t be part of the punishment. If you say no, the deal will still stand, but I hope you’ll agree to it.”

  Punishments are completely different than BDSM scenes, but still, I’ve taken a lot worse and survived. I was certain the forty-nine strikes would be hell, but I’d handle them and they’d be over. If it let Nathan and I put this behind us, it’d be worth whatever pain he gave me.

  “If this will make things okay in the Pride, I’ll do it.” I paused. “If there’s another way to fix it and I find out later, I’ll be pissed.”

  He sighed. “Talk to RaeLynn. If the two of you can work out something you prefer, I’ll go along with it as long as it doesn’t involve you fucking someone else, or her fucking someone else.”

  “What about both of us fucking someone else?”

  His glare almost made me pee myself, and I looked down before I realized I was going to. “Okay, some things I don’t joke about, apparently.”

  He sighed. “I don’t take people’s virginity for a reason. Emotional crap I don’t need. I took RaeLynn’s, and it’s a long damned story that she won’t appreciate me telling, but things are different with us. She’s never been with anyone else. Someday, I’ll have to give her to someone so she can have kids and be… fulfilled. Not yet, though. I know I’m being selfish, but I need her by my side. Not as a wife, but as the female leader. I depend on her.”

  “Thanks for explaining.”

  “She won’t appreciate you knowing even that much, but I won’t lie to her about it.”

  “One of the many things I respect about you.” I sighed. “I think I’ve said all of this in pieces, but I need to say it all at once. I thought I was doing the right thing politically by not getting involved in even more negotiations that weren’t mine to make. I was wrong. I should’ve come to you, and I regret my decision. I’m new to all of this and I fucked up. A personal relationship on top of the political crap is too much. I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks. I understand your position, but I didn’t expect you to refuse to come to my aid when I asked. I needed you with me not because I couldn’t handle myself, but to save face. Politically, you were there for the Pack but not the Pride.” He sighed. “You might be right about a personal relationship being too much.”

  “I’ll do what I can to help fix it.”

  He nodded and walked to the door. “I have to leave town and I don’t know when I’ll be back. Stay here until Abbott’s up and around and you’re sure he isn’t going to come after you. Rinaldo’s in Europe and Griffin doesn’t appear to be making any moves. He’ll likely take months or perhaps years forming his strategy for his next attack on you. Once you’re sure of Abbott, it should be safe for you to go home.”

  “Ga
vin?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose Kendra would be the one to talk to, until Abbott’s up and around again.”

  “And you’ll negotiate with Abbott for real when he wakes? Do you need me by your side for it?”

  “I negotiated with Kendra. Abbott will likely make a few small changes he knows I’ll agree to, and we’ll be okay. This isn’t the first time we’ve been at odds with each other, probably won’t be the last. He’s never taken control of me before, and I need to fly to Texas, where I believe he took over one of my Prides without my knowing at the time.”

  “Be safe.”

  He nodded and was gone. No kiss. Not even a quick one on the forehead.

  Chapter 35

  Not much happened in the coming days. Lauren and I swam, worked out, sparred, and watched movies at Nathan’s. We didn’t see RaeLynn.

  Abbott requested a video call with me for Sunday evening at ten o’clock, and I connected my phone through Nathan’s media room so I could sit and do it properly.

  “Honestly, Kirsten, I don’t know whether to kill you or thank you.”

  Not the way I expected our meeting to start, but, “I appreciate your honesty. I’m going to go with thanking me, if those are the only choices. Now that you’ve cooled off, you have to see how bad things may have been if you’d killed the Amakhosi.”

  He nodded. “Still, we now have the problem of my people feeling as if you’ve stepped in and taken over the de facto city leader position.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Not just my people. The shifters, too.”

  “I’ve had a few days to think. Lauren and I’ve had a nice, quiet weekend at Nathan’s, though I’m looking forward to returning home. We watched The Matrix trilogy again, and for the first time, I questioned whether I’d take the red pill or the blue one.”

  “You’re always going to want the truth.”

  “Knowing it and living it are two different things. There’s something to be said for safety and security, even if it’s an illusion.”