"What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't?" She slid one finger through the scars on his face, through the tattoos; she had never seen anything more sexy than her man, ready for battle with a look of pure adoration in his eyes.
"Turns out that when I had dealt with my shit I could help with yours, in fact part of you dealing with your stuff includes me. Anyway a little birdy picked me up and dropped me here."
As a bolt of lightning hit the steps behind Imogen she laughed
"Okay maybe a bird is the wrong description, it was more like a rather attractive amazon" as she took a breath she smiled "clearly that was better. Anyway we have about 2 minutes before your mom arrives, and there is something really important I want to do."
She watched the confusion in his eyes as she looked around the room, she didn’t have to look far to find Liza, who stood holding Vadoma’s hand, the little girl looked like Theo, she was so pretty and sweet, she looked some more and found a young boy sat in one of the rafters near an open window, he was watching her cautiously.
"I want to meet your brother and sister, you must be Liza" Liza nodded and Imogen was surprised at how quickly Lewis had managed to get down and place himself half in front of Liza in a protective stance. Liza tried to push him out of the way, Imogen smiled.
"Hey be nice, he is protecting you, he doesn’t know me, but I hope he will give me a chance to show you both that I am trustworthy" she didn’t push herself forward, instinct was telling her to wrap her arms around them, she didn’t think they had received much in the way of affection from their mother, but she also knew how hard it could be to trust. She waited and Lewis eventually nodded, she nodded back.
"Thank you" then she stood, "let’s do this. I have brought some friends."
Theo stepped outside not sure what to expect, what he didn’t expect to see was Ben, Nicky, Morgan, Danny, in fact there were at least 20 other pack members there. Then he saw Vlad’s Elite warriors all waiting, with at least 10 more vampire warriors. It was Ben who reached him first and clapped him on the back.
"A brother will stand by a brother no matter what; we have been on standby since you left, pack stick together. Although it might be my death when Lucky realises I came without her."
As he listened to those around him he felt like he was going to explode with a mirage of feelings, happiness, belonging, pride, love. When Ice stepped forward he didn’t know where to start.
"How? Why?"
As Ice started laughing "what can I say man, like pack the Elite stick together and unluckily for you, your mate is part of the Elite so here we are."
"Shit was Vlad cool with that" He wasn’t sure how the vampire would feel if Theo caused any of his Elite to be harmed, the answer came a second later.
"Of course I am, my alliance with the wolves is a good one, now our groups will be somewhat joined how can I be unhappy. I also stand by you, as a man I respect you, as a vampire I stand beside you, as a warrior I stand in awe of you."
As Theo listened to the steel behind the words he knew without doubt Vlad was genuine and he was speechless, it was Imogen who pulled him out of it.
"Close your mouth baby, you have company" and then he knew she was there, he couldn’t see her to start with, he had his back to her but when she spoke all of the feelings of helplessness came back to him.
"Hello Leyland, Sylvia, I didn’t expect to see you here. It's been years, how are you both?" she was talking like they had bumped into each other in the shops.
"Oh and there’s Ben, didn’t you turn out handsome. I thought you would have been Alpha by now. Just think if my baby hadn’t passed on in that dreadful fire he would have been your age by now. So sad, it stills pains me."
It was Sylvia who lost her temper, she ran forward and slapped his mother hard across the face "you bitch, you started that fire and I am going to kill you for what you did to him."
Imogen squeezed his hand as he composed himself, still listening to her tirade "how dare you accuse me of killing my son, I loved him so much, who dares tell such lies?" he heard her step closer to Sylvia.
He lifted his head and saw the complete faith Imogen had in him and turned.
"I DO MOTHER" he watched the truth dawn on her and took satisfaction in the shock he saw there, her composure fell away, she still looked the same, with her blonde hair, petite frame and angelic features but her sneer erased this it, her eyes reddened, her fangs sharpened, her fingers resembled claws "YOU, YOU, how did you?"
"You left too soon, you didn’t make sure I was dead" everyone was silent.
"There was no way you could survive" she was astounded.
"If you have a goddess watching over you, you can. And clearly I did" he felt the anger of the years drift away as he realised she was truly insane.
"But let me make one thing clear, you will never lay a hand on Liza and Lewis again" her sneer returned.
"You think to keep me from my twins, my little babies, I will see you dead and then what huh, they will be mine, no-one can keep me from them" she laughed, it was an awful sound, like a demented harpy.
Imogen stepped to the side of Theo "to get to the twins you will have to get through Theo, if you hurt Theo, I will stop you getting near the twins."
There was a murmur of "me too" as people stepped forward. Imogen could see the indecision on her face, but it wasn’t enough.
"Given a choice my children will stay loyal to the one who birthed them" the crowd parted and Liza and Lewis stepped forward, standing on either side of Imogen and Theo, Lewis held Imogen’s hand and Liza held Theo’s, it was Liza who spoke.
"If you truly love us, you will let us go" gods Theo was right, she was so innocent, Imogen swore to protect that innocence. But it was Lewis' anger that worried her the most.
"We will never return to you, if you hurt anyone here I will make you a promise, one day I will find you and I will kill you, if I am anywhere near as brave as my brother it will be a day of reckoning for you."
Imogen had her senses honed on this crazy woman in front of her, so she knew the moment she moved, she sensed the direction of the movement, she closed her eyes and waited, then she opened them, Theo was looking at her in amazement, "you froze her."
"I did. I need you to trust me and let me protect you for a change, please."
Imogen had to do this; she needed him to trust her completely. She waited and watched as he put out his hand, she tucked hers in his.
"In this together" she smiled, leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on the lips "thank you, I won't let you down."
"You never have yet."
Imogen stood tall and let her move again "you want them, first you fight me."
As she laughed in scorn at Imogen, she let it wash over her "you are nothing but a child, you think you can defeat me."
It was Imogen’s turn to laugh "bring it on" and with that her future mother-in-law came at her, fangs out, nails as claws, Imogen closed her eyes and moved to the side, she had to trust in everything Ice had taught her, it worked.
The mother in law from hell skidded to a halt, then spun back towards Imogen, this time Imogen jumped upwards out of reach but came down behind her, she grabbed her hair and pulled it back "leave, now."
"Never, I will see you dead bitch" Imogen pushed her forward and watched as she fell to the dirt, this time she moved forward and kicked her "leave now,"
As she got to her feet she spun throwing dirt in Imogen’s eyes, she was for a second blinded, which gave his mother time to fling out her claws and cut across Imogen’s cat suit. While murmuring some sort of magic, Imogen felt the wind blowing, a storm was coming and then Imogen realised Theo's mother was doing it.
Imogen punched her in the face hard, it stopped the chanting and the wind died down. Imogen watched as she flew backwards but not far enough, so when she flew forwards, Imogen only had a split second to respond, closing her eyes she reached out her hand and snagged her by the neck. Theo’s mother kicked out hitting her in the stomach
but Imogen didn’t lose focus, she squeezed until she was nearly unconscious.
"Will you leave?" She watched her nod, Imogen felt only relief and dropped her. Making no mistake, Imogen refused to turn her back watching her until she was a good hundred yards away before she turned.
Theo watched his mother and felt only a little relief; he knew this wasn’t over, not by a long shot but tonight they stood victorious, until he heard his mother shout.
"NOW" and her vampires attacked. Theo slung Liza onto his back, he went to grab Lewis but he didn’t need to, Ben had. He saw Imogen go after his mother, he passed Liza to Nicky and ran towards Imogen, just in time to watch Ice throw her a sword. As he watched his mother and mate parry, he and Ice protected them, stopping anyone getting in their way or interfering. Imogen was amazing.
The whole area had turned to chaos, on one side he saw Darius and Ben making light work of 3 vampires, and they actually turned to high five each other before making their way to the next. The tiger was in animal form and was ripping his way through vampires.
Watching Imogen he had to admit she was fierce, his mother was a strong witch but every time she opened her mouth to chant, Imogen pushed her backwards breaking her concentration. He watched Imogen’s hair flail out and her eyes redden, dropping the sword she closed her eyes and stepped into her mother, grabbing his mother’s arm. He watched Imogen pull her into her, her grip that was so tight; the sword fell from his mother’s hand.
"Don’t ever threaten my family again," Imogen hit her so hard, he heard the crack, saw his mother crumple to the floor. Imogen turned around offering a smile, he had a stake in his hand, she took it from him kissed him on the cheek and walked through the crowd, staking every vampire within walking distance.
Looking around him he just watched in complete rapture as he watched this amazing woman who was all his, well she would be just as soon as he could make it official. Watching the commotion he saw his friends battling vampires, shifters and witches, but they were poorly trained. Darius and Mitch were single headedly working their way through the enemy.
As he was jumped from behind by two vampires, he turned to deal with them, pulling out his other knife with one hand and a stake with another. As the second dropped, he saw the spot where his mother had been, she was gone. Furiously glancing around he saw her running up behind Imogen a knife in her hand, held up ready to strike, he ran changing in mid-air, he wasn’t going to make it, he would be too late. He would lose her, he tried to move faster but knew it was too late, his wolf howled, the man cried out, he watched Imogen turn but she wouldn’t have time to defend herself. Then he watched in horror as his mother moved her arm forward, his mother would kill his mate and he couldn’t bear it…
And then he watched as his mother fell forward, Imogen moved backwards to avoid her, Theo stopped still as she hit the ground, his look incredulous as he saw the spear piercing through her back, through her body, through her heart and coming out the other end through her chest.
She cried out as Theo watched Sylvia step forward, carrying a Samiri sword in one hand, she stopped at his mother, lifted the sword and brought it crashing down severing the head, decapitating her head.
"No one hurt’s one of my boys and gets away with it" she dropped the sword and rubbed her hands together before Leyland wrapped his arms around her.
Theo looked to the spear again then followed the line of it to find Lewis stood there wide eyed; he looked to Imogen who had already moved forward and was now bent on one knee looking at Lewis.
"Thank you, you saved my life" He was now stood behind Imogen, he could see Lewis shaking, "is she dead?" He stepped around Imogen and bent down, with both knees on the ground he was at the right height.
"She is" he held out his arms and Lewis rushed into them, tucking his head in the crook of Theo’s neck. Theo hurt for all of the pain Lewis must be in, no-one wanted to kill their mother.
"I am so sorry Lewis, I am right here with you," Theo felt himself well up, he knew the tears were falling but he didn"t care.
"Nina was right" Lewis lifted his head and looked past him, turning Theo saw Nina waiting.
"You did well child" Theo was furious, Lewis grabbed his hand.
"Don’t be mad Theo, that’s why she gave me the spear. She said that I would be the one who chose who lived and died, that my vigilance in protecting those I loved could change the path of our future. Nina offered to train me so that when that chance came I would have the power to change it for the better" Theo looked to Lewis, then Nina and then Imogen and back to Nina.
"You knew Imogen would be here, you knew she would die, why pick Lewis?"
Nina smiled and walked forwards
"My brave, brave boy" she stroked his face "I cannot deliberately change destiny but I can appeal to the better nature of the gods, they could not stop this playing out but did give me a chance to change the path, but the chance lay in the hands of a strong warrior in the making, I took that chance and I was right to" she turned to Lewis, stroking her finger down the side of his neck, Theo watched Lewis' markings grow.
"I knew that the brother of so fine a warrior was a worthy chance, I am so proud of you, I want you to know that your brother and Imogen will make fine guardians, they are the bravest people I have ever met. I am in your debt young man and if you ever need me all you have to do is call" as she turned away Theo grabbed her arm.
"Wait, don’t leave. You have given me so much, for what it means you are and will always be my mother, I want you in my life" he watched the tear fall from her eyes, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
"It means everything to me, wild horses couldn’t keep me away but your mate has some things to show you. I will give you some time to clean up and say your goodbyes here and then return you to your home" and then she just faded.
Theo turned to find Liza and Imogen stood someway behind them, open tears running down their faces, in fact most of the women were crying, he took Lewis’ hand and walked to them, he enveloped them all in his arms and watched his friends turn away, to sneeze, to complain of poking themselves in the eye, all the while he knew how choked they all were.
Chapter 31
He had watched every fight against these enemies. He was starting to learn their style. They were skilled fighters, he had developed with age. As the nights events wound down he waited.
He knew he would need to return to New York where they had come from. Time was slipping away, he was becoming impatient.
He lifted the photograph and kissed it, it wouldn’t be long before it was time for him to die. Vengeance would be served.
EPILOGUE
Nina returned them to the pack; it was amazing being home but more amazing was watching Lewis and Liza’s face as they stared around at the open lands, the horses grazing, the large house waiting for them. The door flew open and Celia came running out, he watched Imogen move towards her then stop and Celia rushed past her, then him, instead she grabbed Lewis and Liz and pulled them into her arms.
"Oh my god, this is so exciting, I’ve always wanted brothers and sisters."
At Imogen’s ahem, she turned "oh don’t be silly I meant younger ones, this is so cool" she stood and jumped into Theo’s arms.
"You are staying aren’t you, we are going to live together aren’t we? I missed you so much" he kissed her head.
"I missed you too princess and yes we will all live together, I hope."
He heard Imogen whispering to Liza and Lewis before she addressed him, "I was just saying how Celia has you wrapped around her little finger and if they ask nicely she will teach them what to do" and just like that the five of them went into the house together as a family, Liza tugged on his hand.
The Kiss of a Vampire, the Heart of a Wolf (The Silver Series) Page 21
