by M L Briers
“Perhaps we should inform your mate so he can pace outside Wendy’s mansion for a while?” She chuckled at the thought of it.
“Don’t you dare.” Eloise hissed back at her. She really was going to go insane.
Eloise eyed Caleb as she walked into Wendy’s house through the backdoor. He had that look in his eye, the one that said she wasn’t going to like what he had to say. It was only because he was mated to Wendy that she had truly started to trust him, and her trust issues with vampires was a matter of record as far as every present was concerned.
“Problem?” She asked as he circled her like a wolf instead of a vampire.
“Thought I might need to give you the heads up that you might not like the person you’re about to meet.” Caleb offered in those melodic smooth tones that still riled her slightly.
“Do tell.” She offered back to him as he stopped beside her and leaned in closer.
“Vampire.” Caleb offered and heard her heart kicked her ribs. He also heard the beating of the new life within her. “Kudos on the pup.” He grinned, Eloise did a double take at his smirk and then narrowed her eyes.
“Vamp-bloody-pire.” She snorted her contempt. “Another one? Are you having a convention?” Eloise made light of their solitary nature.
“Hmm. But she’s female, does that make a difference?” He ignored her jibe and continued taking her in. Her heart rate had slowed back down to near normal and she wasn’t heading for the door. In his book that was a good sign.
“Does it matter what sex the wolf is when it rips your head off?” She countered and he sighed.
“Good point. I just thought, with her being female…” He waved a hand.
“What? That we might bond?” She snorted.
“You have more in common than you know.” Caleb offered.
“Mated to a wolf and pregnant, is she?” Eloise snorted.
“Well, one out of two isn’t bad, right?” Caleb teased.
Annabeth’s jaw dropped the moment that Verity walked into the room. Her eyes had gone straight down to the unmistakable swell of her belly and she stared long and hard. Then she lifted an accusing finger and jabbed the air with it in the vampire’s direction.
“A pregnant vampire. That’s not possible.” Annabeth’s tone was accusing. Eloise strained her head on her neck to get a good look.
“What the hell, Caleb?” She muttered beside him.
“What the dark magic, Eloise.” He offered back. Then pandemonium broke loose as all the witches started to chatter at once.
“It’s not normal.” Deborah bit out.
“You noticed that too.” Annabeth offered back with her usual element of sarcasm.
“Can it, Annabeth, you know what I meant.” Deborah warned her. Tilly sat quietly whilst she watched the others go into meltdown mode, and while Tilly was watching them, Wendy was watching her.
“Tilly?” Wendy asked from across the room. Most chatter stopped as all eyes turned to Tilly.
“Oh, I’m with Deborah, it’s not normal.” Tilly offered glibly.
Tilly seemed the kind of witch that liked to think things through, Wendy had noted that. Not yet one of them, Wendy worried that she might try to hold back so that she didn’t become embroiled in another exploit, although the last one was of her doing. She’d brought the werewolves to the coven, not the other way around.
“Have you ever heard of a spell that could do something like this?” Wendy asked and Tilly gave a small shrug off her shoulders.
“Not, something like this…” She pointed at the vampire’s baby bump. “But there are plenty of light Fae spells that could work to enhance someone’s chance of getting pregnant. I guess if you mix those with something darker…” She shrugged again.
“Of course.” Wendy could have kicked herself. She’d been looking for a spell that was already written, and that wasn’t the way that dark magic usually operated. “They just bastardised a fertility spell…” She walked off muttering dark curses under her breath.
“Can you fix it?” Caleb called after her.
“Caleb, I told you…” Verity warned. Caleb turned towards his friend with a look of contrition on his face.
“Not what I meant.” He started as Verity stalked towards the back door of the house with a purpose, and that purpose was to get the hell out of town before someone on either side of this equation did something bad to her unborn baby.
“And yet there it is, hanging in the damn air like a toxic bomb about to explode. Well, let me tell you that it’s not going to explode over my womb.” Verity stopped with her hand on the handle of the back door when Caleb appeared beside her and put his hand over the top of hers.
“I swear two things to you, Verity. The first is, if the child is in some way evil or out for world domination or it’s some kind of hell-beast then all bets are off and I will help to kill it. But if this child is normal, or as normal as a child of a vampire and… a whatever can be, then I shall help you to keep this baby.” Caleb could offer her no more than that, and he didn’t want to offer her less. Verity didn’t try to remove his hand or turn the handle to leave, but she did consider his words very carefully.
“Then those witches have some work to do.” She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. He knew one thing, even if this child was a damn hell-beast then she would fight to protect it with everything that she had. It was a mother’s love.
The alpha eyed Verity with more suspicion that Caleb was used to seeing in his old friend. Obviously with Verity’s pregnancy being the hot topic of conversation they all knew why he was there, and yet he grumbled and growled in annoyance all the same. It was only natural; his pack was finally settling down to accept the new witches among them and get over the trouble that had followed in their wake and now they had a pregnant vampire to deal with.
“And she just turned up like that.” Jethro growled; not able to take his eyes from her swollen belly as she sat across the room from him.
“No, I admit it, I did it. My thousand year old sperm is very potent.” Caleb needed to lighten the moment but the alpha didn’t even blink, although there was a slight twitch of his upper lip.
“What did Wendy say?” Jethro demanded.
“She’s accepting of my lust for women and will forgive me…” Caleb snapped his words right off when Jethro’s head snapped towards him and his eyes narrowed on the vampire. “She said its dark magic.” Caleb knew that the fun was over. Jethro was in lockdown mode.
“Damn magic again.” Jethro bit out. He loved his mate beyond reason but he hated the damn Fae trouble magnet that went along with her and her kind. It was more than plausible for Lycans to live happily within a community of humans and not have much strife throughout their existence, but add witches to the mix and all damn bets were off…
“What the hell does she expect us to do about it?” Jethro demanded as his eyes were drawn back to the woman.
“You and the pack, nothing.” Caleb knew Jethro wasn’t going to like the next part. “She wants me to hell her keep the baby safe and the Coven are on board…” He could hear the grating of bone on bone in the alpha’s neck when the man’s head snapped back around and his eyes turned black.
“No.” Jethro bit out.
“Too late. The coven have already created a sort of cloaking spell that allows Verity to hide from the people who are tracking her.” Caleb admitted to the sound of the sow rumble of annoyance that went through the alpha’s chest.
“I did not agree…” Jethro started hotly as Wendy swept up beside her mate and Jethro’s eyes fell down to her face. That damn serene smile that she wore was back and he felt the groan roll through his very soul at the sight of it.
“Well now Alpha, unfortunately the coven isn’t part of your domain.” Wendy offered gently. She didn’t want to ruffle his feathers, or even his fur. This wasn’t about going head to head with the alpha over who had the bigger appendage, this was about Verity.
“Those woman are part
of my pack and…” He pointed an absent accusing finger back into the room at no one in particular, but he did stab the air as if he meant it to hurt.
“Witches.” Wendy cut him off. “What we have here with Verity could be very bad for everyone if that child was the culmination of a demon or a spirit God, or whatever damn dark force they used to get the vampire pregnant.”
“Then kill it.” Jethro bit out. The sound of Verity hissing at his words from across the room like a snake ready to strike sent his beast on alert.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Tell me, Jethro, would you be so quick to pull the trigger on that option if the child was growing in your mate’s belly and there were things that could be done to save the child and its soul?” Wendy soothed the man and the beast inside him. Jethro’s eyes snapped towards his mate and she gave him a quizzical look.
“No.” Jethro bit out. He’d been cornered by the witch. Outmanoeuvred but logic, and he hated logic at that moment in time. It would have been easier to end the vampire baby, or the mother of the baby, and taking away that threat from his pack. It pissed him off that logic had to come into it.
“Then we’re agreed.” Wendy gave him the kind of smile that said they were all agreed, even if Jethro didn’t feel like damn agreeing to anything. He gave her kudos for the fact that it wasn’t a victory smile… this witch was so damn good at what she did…
Jethro grunted. There were no words. For one long moment there at breakfast he had peace… he should have known it wasn’t going to last.
Caleb had watched Verity sitting at the window seat in the living room and looking out onto the night as she absently stroked her stomach and what lay inside. He’d known the woman for hundreds of years and he’d known her never to have a maternal bone in her vampire body. Now she had a child in her womb she seemed different to him, different to the woman who could raise hell with the best of them and fight her way out of most situations. She seemed vulnerable, and that for a vampire wasn’t a good place to be.
He knew exactly where his mate was at any given moment because he tracked her heartbeat. Right now, Wendy was in the forbidden zone as he liked to call it, or the room that housed so many Grimoires that it made his head hurt just thinking about reading through all of those spells and ideas for the magic realm that thousands of witches had produced since writing was invented. She’d been in there for the best part of a day…
Caleb leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and folded his arms across his chest as he took in the sight of his mate. Sitting at the large desk surrounded by piles of books that were haphazardly stacked she reminded him of a librarian, a very sexy librarian. Head bent, eyes scanning the pages as her fingers turned sheet after sheet of scrawled writing she was more than diligent in her work.
“Stop staring.” Wendy offered without lifting her head from the pages.
“Stop being so damn sexy then.” Caleb offered back and saw her mouth bow upwards in a smile.
“Sweet talking me won’t get you far I have work to do.” Wendy offered.
“Just stating a fact, my love.” Caleb eyes flicked around the room and he noted how almost every book had been displaced. “Find anything?”
“Not yet.” Wendy looked up this time as she rested her elbows on the desk and leaned in supporting her weight on them. “My search is twofold. I’m looking for any mention of a Jackal cult or coven, and a spell that could be bastardised to fit their needs.” She sighed. “Although the spell itself could be quite a simple one and I’ve overlooked it.”
“And the cult or coven could be a relatively new one that takes Anubis as its token player.” Caleb offered to a sigh from his mate. “Wouldn’t your time be better spent devising a way to break the hold that the coven has on Verity and finding a way to determine the child’s… parentage.” He winced at the thought of what that baby could actually be.
“Perhaps.” Wendy took a deep breath and sighed it out again. “Although it would be good to get a heads up as to what we are facing here.”
“What about Tilly?” Caleb saw the surprise on his mates face.
“What about Tilly?”
“Perhaps it’s time to have that conversation about Tilly joining the coven. You’re going to need her magic too if this is as big as you think it is.” Caleb’s council was always sound and had been since she’d first met him. This time it was no different.
Wendy knew that the coven would be stronger if she came all the way inside and joined her magic with theirs and yet she wasn’t sure if the young witch was ready for that. Magic to a lot of witches was a purely personal thing and the thought of sharing it with others didn’t sit right. She would need to have that conversation with the young witch sooner rather than later, but not tonight.
“I need some time alone to see if the spirits have anything to offer me now that the ball is rolling, so to speak.” Wendy had told Caleb of the contact and cryptic guidance that she sometimes received from the otherworld. It was easier to hand him the information than have him fishing around in her head for it.
“I’ll keep an eye on Verity.” Caleb offered as he started to turn away.
“Caleb…” The vampire turned back towards her. “Please remember that a mother’s love for her child, even unborn, is a strong bond.” Wendy was always diplomatic and the warning to be careful that she gave was delivered in that way.
“Got it.” Caleb offered back with a smile that soothed her worries.
“I need your guidance.” Wendy offered the spirits as she sat in the darkened room and found the kind of inner peace that had been missing inside her for most of the day. There had been an ache deep within her, as if she was expecting the other shoe to drop, and she didn’t much like it.
‘The time is nigh.’
Wendy felt a certain amount of relief that the spirits had returned to guide her. She didn’t want to put her coven in danger for the sake of it. There was also Caleb and the pack to think of now…
“I guessed that much, thank you. What is coming?” Wendy asked.
‘Darkness of the worst kind approaches.’ That ache within her started to grow again.
“Dark magic.”
‘Darkness fuelled by lust. Lust to create anarchy among us, among you. Both realms in danger. ’
Wendy could be cryptic when she needed to be but this wasn’t overly helpful. She pushed. She needed too, too many lives held in the balance.
“I need more. I need true guidance.” Wendy demanded. All was quiet for what felt an unending amount of time. There was a point where Wendy wanted to scream with the frustration that rose within her.
“Help me to overcome this. For both of our sake.”
‘It’s not permitted…’
“I don’t give a damn. You’ve helped me this far, help me now or we’ve both lost.” Silence greeted her ears once more. Wendy bit down on the need to do something, but there was nothing to do. The spirits had clammed up and she doubted their true commitment.
‘Two children. One good and one evil… light and dark doing battle from within… a pure heart can…’ The spirit sounded as if it had been torn away from her presence. Had the others silenced it? Had it said too much?
“No. Let her speak… this is for all of us.” Wendy called out. She knew that the other realm could hear her. She knew that in her very soul. “Don’t leave this to chance. Help me…” Wendy begged, but deafening silence greeted her ears.
She waited for an answer. Waited for a sign that they would help her to help themselves. Waited for them to understand that if she failed it was their end too… She waited in vain.
Caleb had been listening from down the hall. He wasn’t proud of himself for reading his mate’s mind, but it told himself that he was doing it out of the need to protect her, not only from the outside dangers but from herself. He knew her better than she knew herself and Wendy was liable to put her own safety behind that of everyone else, especially the coven witches.
“Twins.” He muttered to hims
elf. Verity was carrying twins. He supposed in some twisted way that made sense.
The sound of the large oak door being drawn back made him flush with guilt for spying on her. When Wendy appeared in the doorway to their bedroom she had the kind of look on her face that told him that she already knew what he’d done. It was her turn to assume the vampire position of propping up the doorframe with her shoulder.
“I didn’t sense twins from Verity’s pregnancy.” She offered without berating him for his prying. Caleb frowned hard.
“You need to check.” Caleb offered as he pushed up from the bed and started towards her. Wendy nodded. Turning on her heels she walked down the hallway towards the staircase. Caleb was at her back.
Verity was where they had left her, still staring out into the blackness of the night. Caleb saw the vampire stiffen slightly at the sound of their approach. It was probably something that Wendy would not have noticed, but he’d taken it in.
“There’s one baby.” Verity offered. She’d been listening to them.
“Two babies one heart perhaps?” Caleb offered back. Verity turned her head to look at them.
“No. One baby. I can feel it.” Verity was adamant.
“Will you allow me to check?” Wendy asked. She wasn’t as sneaky as her mate, she wouldn’t just reach out with her magic without the woman’s permission, not unless she had no other choice. Verity nodded.
Wendy summoned the magic that she’d been keeping locked into a tight fist within her since the vampire had arrived on their doorstep. She tentatively pushed it forward towards the mother and child. There was a sharp sting in the tail from her connection with the baby…
Wendy gasped in a breath from between her parted lips. The darkness within the child reached back for her. It pulled on her magic as if she were tethered to it by an invisible rope…
“Wendy?” Caleb felt his mate’s pain. Her emotions were all over the place. He reached inside of her mind and felt the struggle that she was facing with the child.
