by D. M. Shane
“Eat up. I figured you could use a little comfort food this morning,” she said as she handed me a steaming mug of freshly brewed coffee. Then she set the frother full of steamed milk and a jar of honey in front of me. Paige knew exactly how I took my morning caffeine fix. A little milk, a little honey. It was my version of a poor man’s latte.
I moaned when the first bite of eggs crossed my lips. “Oh, my God, these are so good. I swear you make the best eggs.”
Paige grabbed my hand, her expression suddenly serious. “So… are you okay this morning?”
“Way to kill the mood, sunshine. I’m barely two bites into my breakfast.” I sighed. It was too early in the morning for that ish.
“I’m sorry, sweets. You’re my best friend. I worry.”
“I know, but I don’t want to dwell on it. I want to enjoy my breakfast. Change of subject. What are you doing today?”
“The gym and shopping. I’ve got to replace some of my clothing. Some of my pants are getting holes. You should come with,” Paige declared. “Fresh air and sunshine will do you good.”
I smiled at my best friend. She loved to shop, something I wasn’t fond of doing. “Thanks, but Marcy asked me to cover for Gina for a few hours today at the diner and I said yes.” I needed all the hours I could get if I would ever pay off my maxed-out cards.
“Well, if you change your mind, let me know. We’re overdue for some girl time,” Paige muttered. “Way overdue.”
“I know.” I laughed. “Let’s try for next weekend. We’ll do lunch and go see a movie or something. I haven’t been to a movie in ages.”
We continued the rest of our breakfast, making small talk and savoring the delicious meal. When we finished, I hustled to get ready for my shift at the diner. The pay at the Black Horse was good, but I had bills to pay and working extra shifts at the diner helped.
Thankfully, the diner was busy, which made for great tips. I’d arrived just in time for the brunch crowd and spent the next few hours making sure all my tables were taken care of. The crowds dwindled by four o’clock, so Marcy thanked me and sent me on my way as soon as my shift was over. By then, I’d cleared almost two hundred dollars.
I hadn’t been home for more than a few minutes when Paige walked in, both arms laden with bags. She wore skinny jeans, a pink-flowered tunic, and black heels. Her pixie cut was styled perfectly, her raven hair contrasting beautifully with her creamy skin and emerald eyes. Hoop earrings dangled from each ear and candy apple-red lipstick graced her plump lips. My roommate was nothing short of stunning.
I shut the refrigerator, snack forgotten, and rushed to help her set the bags down before she dropped them.
“Jeez, did you buy the stores out? And damn, girl, you look sexy!” I whistled. One thing about Paige, she never left home unless she was dressed to the nines. It was one thing I loved about her. She knew what she liked.
“Girl, you know it!” Paige giggled. “They had awesome sales today, you missed out. I scored most of it for seventy percent off!”
She was ecstatic. She loved sales as much as she loved shopping. I loved sales, too, but I detested shopping as much as cooking. Paige had driven the half-hour drive south to Crater Falls; there were a few cute clothing stores in the small mall she liked to visit. Lord knew Whitewater was too small to do much other than grocery shopping or go to the bar. Or camp and hike if you were into that sort of thing. I much preferred the small, quiet life Whitewater offered than the busyness of Crater Falls.
As Paige unpacked her bags, she babbled happily about all the great deals she’d scored. I listened silently, smiling to myself. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and by now, I’d completely forgotten about last night.
“Here, this bag is for you!” Paige expressed with delight. She handed me a large brown paper bag that easily weighed several pounds. When I contested, she cut me off. “That’s for you. No arguments!”
She knew me too well. I disliked when others spent money on me since it only reminded me of how poor I was and how much harder I had to work for things. Not that Paige could afford much either, but she wasn’t thousands of dollars in debt.
In the bag were four new pairs of my favorite boot cut denim jeans, several cute shirts and blouses, two camisoles, and a fuzzy sweater, all in my size. My heart pitter-pattered in my chest with excitement. I desperately needed new clothes. I knew Paige couldn’t afford much, just like myself, but that she had thought of me while she was out shopping made me feel wonderful. It also made me feel guilty. My heart sunk thinking about how much everything must have cost. There was easily three or four hundred dollars’ worth of clothes here, and neither of us had anywhere near that kind of cash to spare.
“Paige, you didn’t have to do this,” I stammered. Tears stung my eyes. That was a lot of money.
“I didn’t. Well, not all of it. Okay, very little.” She laughed. “Carter gave me some extra cash last night when I told him I’d planned to shop for new work clothes. He handed me a stack of bills and told me to grab some things for you if I couldn’t convince you to join me. He knows you hate to shop, and we both wanted to do something nice. Plus, your wardrobe desperately needs a makeover. I mean… how many holes does that shirt have?”
I laughed. She was right. I looked down, plucking at the shirt, noting the loose threads and thinning fabric. Being poor sucked. Royally.
“Thank you. Very much.” I picked up the navy-blue sweater out of the bag and snuggled it to me with a smile. It was so soft. I rubbed the fabric on my cheek, enjoying the plush texture. The tag caught my eye, and I was stunned. Cashmere. My eyes bugged at the price. “Paige, please tell me you did not pay that much for this!”
“Relax. Sales, remember? Seventy percent off,” she said, smiling. “I promise. Scout’s honor!”
She began pulling more clothes out of her bags and laid them all out to admire. I continued staring at the tag, finding it hard to believe she scored a hundred-dollar sweater for thirty bucks.
“O-okay. Thank you. Really. This was very sweet of you and Carter. I appreciate it more than you know.” I snuggled the sweater once again, elated I’d have some new outfits to wear to work. My clothing was becoming a little too threadbare. It had been ages since I’d shopped for myself. I couldn’t afford it, not with all the credit card bills. I packed all of my new clothes back into the bag and took it to my room to unpack later.
“What are you doing tonight?” Paige hollered from the other room. “You should come down to the bar and dance. You haven’t danced in forever.”
I plopped down at the kitchen table when I returned. “I was thinking of hitting the gym, actually. Besides, I don’t think Carter would appreciate me hanging out in the bar when I should be working.”
“Stop making excuses. You know him better than that. I believe his words were, ‘She needs to cut loose a little. She works too much.’ He’s not wrong. And honestly, we’d both feel better knowing you aren’t alone right now. Plus, when I came home last night, I got this creepy feeling that someone was watching me. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but it skeeved me out. I don’t think you should be up here alone tonight.”
At that, I perked up. “I had the same feeling. I was unlocking the door and all the hair on my neck and arms stood on end.”
“See? All the more reason for you to come downstairs. We’ll tell Carter. I know he’ll feel a lot better; he worries about you as much as I do. And you know he’ll check the alley for us before we leave if we ask,” Paige said.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I suppose we should get ready then. You have to be there in an hour. I think I’m going back down to the diner first, though, and grab a bite to eat.”
“All right. But you better show up, or I’ll come looking for you. Capiche?”
“Capiche.” Bless the woman. She was my best friend, and I was so undeniably lucky to have her in my life. Without Paige by my side these past couple years, I didn’t know where I’d be. Probably in some other Podunk town struggling just as much,
if not more, to make ends meet.
5
Arkkadian
I dialed the number and my brother’s gruff voice answered. “Gideon,” I barked. “My place. Now. We need to talk. Don’t bring Sara.”
“Well, good morning to you, too.” Gideon snarked. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you when you get here. And keep your mouth shut,” I snapped before disconnecting. All the information I’d discovered worried my wolf, making it hard to control the agitation pooling in my chest.
I paced around the den, impatiently waiting. I itched to get my mate to safety as fast as I could, and I had to do it without scaring her. A knock sounded just before Gideon entered and slammed the front door behind him.
“What in the bloody hell is going on, Arkken?” he hollered from the front room, using my childhood nickname.
Besides his mate, Sara, no one else used it. Gideon was my brother and only sibling, Beta of our own Glacier Mountain pack and the Lycan Nine. He was nearly as old as me, born just three years after me. The two of us have been thick as thieves our entire lives. There was no one I trusted more with my life than my brother. And there was absolutely no one I could trust more than him with the information I was about to impart. I shouldn’t have been so snappy, but I couldn’t help it.
“What’s so bloody important that you couldn’t tell me on the phone?”
“Who pissed in your eggs this morning?” I countered, though I knew damn well it was me.
“You did. Barking orders and not even a single hello. What’s going on?” His voice dripped with sarcasm as he plopped himself down in the leather chair behind my desk and casually propped his feet up. Dried mud flaked off his boots onto my desktop.
“Get your mucked-up boots off my fucking desk,” I growled. Fucking hell. My emotions were dancing on the edge of a cliff, about to tumble straight over into the abyss.
“All right, all right. Damn. I’m just screwing with you, bro. What’s got you so worked up this morning? And this better be good. Sara and I were about to get a little…” He waggled his eyebrows. Under less stressful circumstances, I would have found my brother amusing. Not today.
“Sorry. I found something last night. My wolf is going crazy and I haven’t put my hackles down since I returned home.” I paused and looked my brother in the eyes. “I found her,” I said, pacing across the floor once more.
Gideon sat up and drummed a couple of pens on my desk, an instant smile on his face. “You found your Aeternus? Hot damn. This is good news. Correction, it’s great news. Who is she? Where is she?”
“A problem. That’s who. Her existence puts all of the Lycan Nine in extreme danger.” I stopped pacing the floor and glared at my brother.
The smile on his face fell. “What do you mean? Why would an Aeternus be dangerous to us?” I waited for the switch to flip and make the connection. Suddenly, his jaw dropped. “Wait, wait, wait. She’s Vamphyre, isn’t she? Dammit.”
Bingo, little brother. Well, close enough, anyway.
Gideon paled at the recognition of what he’d just said and jumped up out of the chair. “What did you do, Arkken? Please tell me you didn’t violate Vane’s First Law. You know what he’ll do.”
And just like that, his mood shifted from amused to angry.
“I violated nothing. And I know full well what he’ll do.” I sighed. “She’s not just of the Vamphyre line. Her father was a shifter.” I’d hoped that last little detail would at least trigger something, but confusion still marked Gideon’s face.
“Whoever she is, you can’t touch her. You know that, right? This will get people killed.”
“Tell my wolf that,” I scoffed. “You know as well as I that we have no control. That we can’t fight the instinct once our wolves discover our fated mates.”
“Dammit, Arkken.”
“There’s more.”
“What?” he asked, temper short. “End of story, you can’t touch a Vamphyre Aeternus. You’ll start a war, Arkkadian.” His full use of my name meant he finally realized the seriousness of the situation.
I continued pacing back and forth across the room for several minutes in silence before finally stopping in front of the fireplace. I leaned on the mantle and ran my hand through my hair in desperation. I could feel the veins in my neck pulsing with every frustrated beat of my heart, ready to burst like an over-inflated balloon. The room brightened, and my vision sharpened as my eyes lit up.
“Spit it out,” Gideon said, but I didn’t move. I just stood staring into the empty fireplace. “Dammit, turn around and look at me. And shut the beast down, your eyes are glowing.”
“We’re fucked, Gid,” I said, turning to look at him finally. I dragged my hand down my face. My wolf was keening for a run, needing to burn off the anxious energy I couldn’t seem to dispel. I took a moment to push it back down. As I calmed myself, the brightness in my vision faded and my eyes returned to their normal blue. “I already said it. She’s my Aeternus.”
“Yeah, you said that. Stop dragging this out any longer. Tell me everything.” He strolled over and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Tell me.”
Fuck. Avoiding the truth wouldn’t make this any less real. Sitting down at my desk, I filled my brother in on everything from my search to find her to Kane’s attack the night before. Then I pulled a file from the drawer and tossed it across the desk. Gideon stared at it but didn’t pick it up.
“Open it.”
He picked up the file and opened the flap to the old newspaper article about a seven-year-old girl left in the emergency room. “I don’t understand, Arkken, what is this?”
“Turn the page. Keep reading.”
He flipped it over to find a copy of a birth record dated seven years before the article. He scanned the page and cursed, letting the paper fall back onto the desk. “Barrington. As in Alaric Barrington? Rain wolves? That Barrington?”
“The very same.”
Everyone, Lycan and Vamphyre alike, knew the story. If Aislin was the daughter of Wren Vane and Alaric Barrington, then she had to be the granddaughter of Arden Vane, the infamous Vamphyre King and leader of the Covenant. He’d been the one to order Wren and Alaric’s deaths for violating First Law.
Vane ruled the Covenant with fear. He was a psychotic, sadistic tyrant. He’d committed countless unspeakable acts during his reign of terror. To Vane, First Law was absolute. No exceptions. It had come about as the result of an old feud between Vamphyre and Lycans centuries ago that led to a war between the two factions. Many lives were lost.
Under Vane’s rule, all members of the Covenant were forbidden under all circumstances to mate with any immortal not born of Vamphyre descent. Transgressors were imprisoned and sentenced to death. So were their offspring. Vane considered them an abomination. A taint of pure bloodlines. This would explain why Wren and Alaric had gone rogue. Vane’s daughter had dared to mate with a Lycan, and to Vane, that would have been the ultimate betrayal. Especially if they’d produced a child.
Alaric was the eldest son of Mathias Barrington, the Alpha of the Pacific Rim pack and one of my Betas. Wren was the only daughter and youngest child of Arden Vane. The Covenant was the most powerful Vamphyre coven in the nation. Wren’s father had imprisoned her when he’d found her and Alaric together in bed. He’d sentenced her to death, but Alaric and a few of his friends had rescued her, and the two had gone on the run.
Vane went mad with rage and ordered them found and put to death. For seven years, their whereabouts remained unknown, driving Vane further into madness. When efforts to find them repeatedly failed, he sent his right hand, Ryker Slade, to find and execute them. Slade was a sadistic fuck who loved to cut up and torture his victims before he killed them.
Wren and Alaric’s home burned to the ground. They found only two bodies in the rubble, both identified as theirs. They were both decapitated and dismembered. The news of their deaths had shaken our immortal world to the core.
Strangely, no one ever saw Ryker Sl
ade again. With Slade’s disappearance, Arden Vane had gone on a rampage, killing several of his soldiers when they failed to produce his whereabouts. It was widely believed he’d either died in the fire, despite no evidence, or he ran off. Neither scenario made sense, especially since Slade worshipped the ground Vane walked on. When all was said and done, he forbade anyone from ever speaking his daughter’s name again. She no longer existed in his eyes.
I stood up and started pacing the room again, wolf on edge. “I think Wren was pregnant when she and Alaric ran off. I think Ryker Slade tortured the girl, but she somehow survived. The child in that article would be about twenty-three now, the same age as the woman in the bar. The birth certificate says Seattle. Wren and Alaric were there when they died. The timelines fit.”
Gideon quietly contemplated the information. “The timing, the name, they fit. But this could just be a coincidence. The woman in the bar could be anyone,” he challenged.
“I don’t think so. I shadowed her last night. I couldn’t glean much. She became dizzy too quickly. But what I found was a memory block. She has no memory before the age of six or seven, and she has recurring nightmares of a fire. Her first name is also Aislin, same as the birth certificate.”
Gideon’s eyes widened a fraction. “Fuck. Are you sure? You’ve been looking for your Aeternus for nearly four centuries. What are the chances that the granddaughter of Arden Vane exists in the first place, let alone that she’s alive and she’s yours? After all this time?”
I closed my eyes and bowed my head. “Yes, I’m sure.”
Those three words hung in the thick air. Gideon took a few steps backward to give the angry Alpha inside of me space. He didn’t bare his neck, nor did I expect him to. In this moment, we were brothers, not Alpha and Beta.
“Fuck. Does anyone else know? What about Mathias, have you told him?”
I shook my head. “No, and I’m keeping it that way. If Arden Vane finds out he has a granddaughter, he won’t stop until she’s dead. You and I both know he’s insane and he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way. Vane will call in every single Covenant Guard from across the country to find her. People will die. The last thing we need is another war between the Coven and the Lycan Nine.”
