Balance

by Leia Stone

All of a sudden, a huge wave of responsibility crashed over me. I may not have caused Tara and Sadie and the others to be taken but I could stop it. I could give myself up. Let them take me and then kill Layla and end this bullshit once and for all!

  I could feel Kai probing my feelings so I quickly pushed them down but I would fix this, no matter the cost. Tara and Max deserved a future together after all that had been taken from him. I wouldn’t take his second chance at having a mate and a family.

  I let my wolf come up to the surface and held Max’s gaze. “Max, I won’t be selfish.” Dominance oozed from me. “If there’s something I can do to get the girls back, I will.”

  Max nodded. “I know that. That’s why I let you be second.” He swung an arm around me and we walked back into the house.

  I laughed. “Hah! Let me. Whatever.” Shaking my head we entered the house and I was surprised to see Alek waiting for me.

  Max glared at him.

  “I wonder if I might speak with Aurora alone?” Alek asked kindly as he sat perched on my couch.

  “Nope,” Max said immediately. Kai had left Max in charge of my safety. Freaking great.

  I looked at Max. “Go for a run. I won’t leave the house.” It was an order.

  Max pinned Alek with his eyes. “I will go for a short walk around the house.” My mother was at Emma’s helping with the baby and Jeremy was in the basement. We were alone.

  After the front door clicked closed, I sat down on the couch opposite Alek. “What’s up?”

  Alek sighed. “I feel that if I told you certain things, I would be betraying my kind. But I need to tell you something.”

  Fear came over me and I sat up straighter. “Tell me what?”

  Alek put his hands out. “Nothing serious. Just … vampire knowledge is kept very secret. If you are to truly defeat the queen, I think I must help you. Tell you things.”

  I swallowed, relaxing slightly. “Okay.” Hell yeah, tell me secret vampire shit. I was slowly cataloging little pieces of information against these two. I had Prudence’s full name and now I was getting something on Layla.

  Alek nodded. “I would kindly request you don’t share this information with Kai, the pack, or the witches.”

  Not share it with Kai? “Okay. You have my word.” Kind of, I mean I couldn’t keep things from Kai.

  Alek nodded. “When this is over, I would hope that my people can start anew. This knowledge would help those that want to harm us, so it needs to be kept secret.”

  Whoa. This was about to be some juicy gossip. I nodded. “I understand. You have my secrecy.”

  Alek took a deep breath. “When a vampire bites a human and then offers them their blood, it turns them into a vampire.”

  I nodded. I knew that.

  Alek chewed his lip. “When that new fledgling vampire completes the change, they are powerful. Strong. The sire or vampire that changed them feeds off of the fledgling once more. It gives the sire the power. A sire that has changed ten humans into vampires, is ten times as powerful as a vampire who has changed one.”

  My stomach sank, because I knew where this was going.

  “Okay. So how many has she changed?” I didn’t have to say her name. We both knew who I was talking about.

  Alek shrugged. “Thousands. Maybe more.”

  The breath went out of me. “So she can’t be killed? It’s impossible if she’s that powerful.”

  Alek put his hands up. “That’s not true. Do you know why a stake through the heart or decapitation kills a vampire?”

  Excitement ran through me. Did he know? “No.”

  “I shouldn’t be telling you all of this,” he said, running a shaky hand through his hair.

  “No, Please. I promise not to tell anyone. You can trust me. I only want peace between all of the races. I want balance. A new way for all of us.” It was true. It reminded me of something Nahuel said. Killing all of the vampires wouldn’t bring balance. We all needed to coexist. I just wanted the bad ones to be nice, pretty piles of ash.

  He nodded. “When a vampire changes from human to vampire, it’s because of a virus. Similar to the lycanthrope virus. The vampire virus is transported through blood, it shuts down the humans’ organs, effectively making them somewhat dead. Preserving them. That’s why we don’t age at all, ever.”

  My mouth was open in shock, absorbing everything.

  “But our heart and our brain are the weak spots. It’s what keeps us alive.” He did air quotes. “Pierce the heart or detach the brain from the body and you render the vampire virus useless. Those two organs are what keep us animated and moving and thinking. Without one, the virus dies. Our bodies decompose immediately. Into Ash.”

  I already knew how to kill them, but it was helpful to know the mechanics of how it worked.

  He leaned in so close to me, I could barely hear him. “If you want to kill Layla, you will have to kill Prudence first. The witch has done dark magic to tie them together and make each other stronger.”

  Holy shit. Alek had just given me news that would change the game.

  He leaned back and went on. “When a vampire sires a new fledgling, that vampire is powerful, yes. But not invincible. I’m telling you this so that when you get to that point with the queen, you remember that she has a weakness. They all do. No matter how powerful, no matter how many she has sired. She is infected with a virus and can be defeated. Her heart, her brain. Take those and she will be ash in your hands!”

  A light growl ripped from my throat. His speech had given me the boost I needed to go after her. When Kai got back from Arizona, I was ready.

  “Thank you,” I told him.

  He nodded and after a few moments, wished me a goodnight and walked back down to the basement.

  Whoa. That was a lot to digest, but it also was good information to have. No matter how powerful Layla seemed, she had a weakness. Two actually. I owed Alek big time for that pep talk.

  A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. I rolled my eyes. “Max, you’re such a guard dog!” I shouted, opening it.

  But it wasn’t Max, it was Emma.

  “Hey, what are you doing out here?” As I got closer, I saw that her eyes were red like she had been crying.

  “What’s wrong? Avery?” My stomach dropped.

  Emma shook her head. “She’s fine, can we talk inside?”

  She was making me nervous. I led her inside and sat on the couch.

  She reached out and touched the black chunk of my hair. “It’s weird to see that.”

  I sighed, remembering her lying there … dead. Yeah, that was weird, too. I squeezed her hand.

  “So, what’s up?” I knew my friend. She didn’t look good. Something was majorly wrong. Had I been helping out enough? I had been a little busy with all of this drama and being a new mom was hard.

  She looked on the verge of tears. “I think I should move back to Utah and be with my parents. Join their pack.”

  My mouth dropped open. “What? Why?” Kai would be devastated, Emma was his favorite. She was my favorite. No way!

  “I need more help with Avery. It’s too hard,” she said and stared off, not looking at me as tears fell from her porcelain cheeks.

  My heart ached for her. “Well, give us a chance. We can increase shifts. I will move in with you. I thought the pack was helping enough, but–”

  “I can’t stay here!” she shouted and started crying. Big sobs racked her body and as she leaned into me and I held her tight.

  I grabbed the sides of her face, pulling her up to look at me. “I’m pregnant, okay?” I told her.

  Suddenly, she smiled, tears still leaking from her eyes.

  “And you’re my best friend. I want our kids to grow up together. You have to teach me how to be a mother. I need you. Don’t leave me,” I whimpered. Screw this dominance thing. I would straight up get on my knees and beg for Emma to stay. I would do anything for her.

  Emma chewed her lip. “Okay, it’s not that I need more help
with the baby. I lied. Everyone has been overly helpful. I’m the most well-rested new mother in the universe and my house and clothes are too clean.”

  My head jerked back at her admission of lying, my hands fell to my lap. “Okay … so what is it? Do you feel unsafe?” Female werewolf safety was a big deal and lately they were getting snatched up. Maybe she thought we couldn’t protect her and Avery.

  Emma gave me a haunted look. “That house!” she screamed, pointing in the direction of her home. “Our room, we picked out the bedspread together. The living room paint color, we fought for three days over that. It’s all Devon. Everywhere it’s all I see. My soulmate. I miss him.” She collapsed into sobs again.

  Oh, shit. I hid back my own tears and swallowed hard. How stupid of me. I should have guessed. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Why did we keep her in that house?

  I held her as she cried. “I understand and I’m so sorry. We’ll fix it. If that’s the only reason, we can fix that. You can have our house. You can have any damn house you want. Just don’t leave me!”

  Her sobs turned to laughter. “I’m not taking my Alpha’s house.” Her gaze rested on my chin and my little submissive mouse was back.

  I smiled. “If you want it, you can have it. Whose house do you want? You name it and it’s yours.”

  She laughed. “There are perks to being best friends with the Alpha’s mate.”

  I laughed. “Yes, there are. Think about it. Seriously, anyone in this pack would switch with you. Kai owns them all, anyway. Take Max’s house, it’s nice.”

  She smacked my arm. “You just want to piss Max off.”

  I grinned. “Maybe.”

  “All right, I’ll stay if we can move Avery and me,” she said finally and it looked like a weight had lifted off of her.

  “Consider it done,” I told her.

  “So, the pregnancy, was it planned?” she added, smiling.

  I nodded. “It was. After seeing Avery, my biological clock kind of exploded.”

  Emma laughed and wiped her eyes. “I needed a good laugh. Thank you.”

  I squeezed her hand. “I’m here for you. Always. So you will stay?”

  She nodded and hugged me. “I better get home. It’s near feeding time.” She pointed down to her huge milk-filled chest. Wow, was I ready for being a mother? I swallowed nervously and watched her leave. Thinking back to that day that Devon was killed made a darkness slip over me. I couldn’t imagine Kai being killed, feeling his essence ripped from the mate bond. Shaking off those dark thoughts, I decided to take a long, hot bath, and then head off to bed. After my bath, I was lying awake reading a book when my phone buzzed with a call. It wasn’t a number I recognized. I had been meaning to call Kai and check in soon before I went to sleep.

  “Hello?”

  “Aurora, it’s Brett. I’m going crazy over Sadie. I need to talk.” He sounded on the verge of madness, his voice shaky. I sat upright.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. Sadie’s mate was in the Seattle pack and it was unusual that he would call me with problems. He should be talking to his Alpha.

  His voice shook. “I can feel everything. They’re hurting her. She keeps fighting back so they keep hurting her. I can’t take it, I need to find her. Can you help me? Layla wants you, she will come out for you. Please.”

  My heart was hammering in my chest. “Do you know where Sadie is? Has she been able to tell you anything?”

  Brett growled. “No! They blindfolded the girls before taking them. They keep them inside. That witch keeps messing with the bonds, so I can’t talk to her all the time.”

  “Shit.”

  “Aurora, they are doing procedures on them, to make them pregnant. This is urgent. We can’t wait. My Alpha doesn’t agree. He thinks going to Mexico and trying that option is a good idea. But I fear that if we wait, then we will have ten female werewolves with vampire babies inside of them.”

  The gravity of the situation slammed into me. Even if I killed Layla, what the hell would I do with vampire-induced pregnant werewolves? I rubbed my temples.

  “Where are you?” I asked him.

  “I’m driving your way. I have to find her. I just talked to Shamus. He said they have already stirred trouble at the border with no sign of Layla. She isn’t stupid, she won’t come out with hundreds of militia and wolves waiting for her.”

  My breathing stilled. “What are you asking of me, Brett?”

  There was silence. “Go with me tonight, out in the open, away from the protection of the pack. I will keep at a distance and follow. I’m the best tracker in my pack. I won’t lose your scent.”

  Holy shit. I let the idea roll around inside my brain and chewed the inside of my lip. It could work. She was probably watching the mountain right now, somehow. If I slipped away and exposed myself, she would snatch me up. Kai would kill me. I was planning on doing this when he got back from Mexico anyway though.

  “Okay,” I agreed quickly.

  He sighed in relief. “There’s a coffee shop in Portland, in the Pearl District. Vinnie’s.”

  I nodded. “Yes. I’ve been there.”

  “Meet me there. She won’t kill you, she wants your blood. She will take you and I will follow. When I reach the destination where they are keeping the girls, I will call in everyone.”

  It was actually a good plan. “Okay. Let’s do this. Bring the girls home.” The Devi stirred within me.

  Hanging up, I changed into black yoga pants and a t-shirt. I made sure that my special protective necklace pouch was around my neck, the one that held Sylvia’s hair. After slipping a silver stake, a gun, and my cell phone in my purse, I took a deep breath.

  ‘You okay?’ Kai checked in with me. It was amazing that no matter the distance, his voice was like he was right next to me. Our mate bond was strong and I panicked as fear shot through me. Did he know? I forgot to hide my feelings when Brett called. It felt awful to lie to him. I didn’t know what to say so I kept silent, trying to think of what to reply.

  My phone rang; it was Kai.

  Shit. I evened out my breathing and answered.

  “Hey, babe,” I said calmly.

  “What’s wrong? Why didn’t you answer me?” Kai’s voice was pinched with tension.

  I said the first thing I could think of. “Emma wants to leave the pack.”

  “What! Why?” I felt his shock through the bond.

  It was a perfect cover for my feelings and also true, I explained her sadness about living in the house she once shared with Devon.

  He sighed in relief. “She can have a new house. I’ll give her any damn house she wants.”

  I smiled. “That’s what I told her.”

  “So, nothing else is wrong?” He questioned and I swallowed hard.

  “How’s it going over there? Any sign of Layla?” I changed the subject.

  He sighed. “No. We questioned one of the vampires under duress. He said she isn’t here.”

  Duress. That was Kai’s code word for torture. Great, and Layla wasn’t even there.

  “Yet.” Kai added. “We took out a huge shipment. We will keep at it until she shows up to retaliate.”

  “She’s not going to show, Kai. She isn’t stupid. She will send lackeys to retaliate. We need to go forward with the plan to use me as bait. I’m the only thing she wants, the only thing she will risk exposure for.”

  Kai sighed. “Aurora, there is another way–”

  “Kai! I love you but you’re being selfish! There are ten females scared and locked up and possibly tortured right this second because you won’t man up and do what’s best for the collective whole.”

  My skin tingled as the Devi stirred inside of me.

  “Man up? What kind of man sends his pregnant mate into a vampire trap!” he roared.

  This was awful. I felt sad that we were fighting, I didn’t want this. This wasn’t how Kai and I were. He felt my feelings.

  “I’m sorry. I only do what I do because I love you. I want to keep
you safe.”

  I nodded as tears fell down my cheek. “I know, but I don’t think you can keep me safe.”

  “Don’t say that,” he told me.

  “I love you, Kai. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

  His panic run through the mate bond. “Okay. I love you, too. Goodnight.”

  I hung up and wiped my tears. Enough was enough. I pushed my love for Kai deep down inside of me. I had hopes and dreams for this baby, for Kai and I, and every single one of them involved a world free of Layla. I pushed everything down that made me weak and then I brought my wolf and the Devi to the surface. It was time to end this. I would not bring a child into the world knowing it would live a life of being hunted! If I died because of it, then so be it. I couldn’t sleep one more goddamn night knowing that Layla was alive and experimenting with my blood! My wolves! She was as good as dead. A growl ripped from my throat.

  I was ready. My entire journey had led me here to this moment.

  Grabbing my car keys, I crossed the living room quickly and went into the garage. After sliding into the car, I pressed the button to open the garage door.

  “Going somewhere?” a voice from the backseat asked.

  I jumped up screeching. “Jesus Christ! Max, you scared the shit out of me.” My heart was in my throat. Bastard.

  Max wore a grin from the backseat. I inhaled. I couldn’t smell him. Shit, I forgot. He smiled.

  “The witches took my scent, remember? Helpful when I need to spy on you.” His eyes narrowed.

  Think. Think. Think. I started the car. “Why are you spying on me? Get out. I need to go get a few things from my mom’s house.” I tried to keep my face calm to cover the lie.

  Was I really doing this? It was a smart plan. If Kai made some big plan with tons of wolves, the vampires might not come. But with just Brett … we had a chance. I needed Max to leave.

  “Hmm, you know, normally I would,” Max said but sat there. I turned around and stared at him.

  “Max! Get out of my car. That’s an order.” I glared, pulling dominance into my voice.

  He stared back with suspicion. “I would, but my Alpha just texted me and told me to keep an eye on you. He also made it an order. Why are you going to your mom’s at ten at night?”