Tempting The Gorgon: A Gorgon / Vampire Romance

Chapter 15

“Iunderstand your worry, High Priestess,” I began. “I haven’t had a reason or desire to venture beyond our wall in some time, either because of our important work in rebuilding our town.” There were some murmurs of agreement among the residents. “But I think, now that we have the coven magick protecting our borders, in addition to a heavier number of residents, that we can consider allowing more refugee status residents sooner rather than later.”

“Why is this being brought up now? We just had our borders compromised not even six months ago.”

I knew this was going to be a battle coming in, that folks often underestimated Cliona’s stubborn resolve to maintain the status quo. She wanted open borders. She wanted to see her grandparents’ dream thrive, but she didn’t want to risk those she loved after so much had already been taken from her.

“That is probably my own influence,” Vinni said from her seat with the rest of the coven. They were seated separately from the rest of the town residents to show a united front and stabilizing force in the town. “My club is opening soon, and I want to invite some acts to stay for a while.”

“Is that it, then?” Cliona huffed a laugh. “You want to risk the safety of the entire town to somehow win the gorgon’s heart, is that it?”

“Do not speak about Vinni that way, Cliona. Friend or not, you don’t get to disrespect her identity as a business owner in this town by insinuating something.” I growled the words, barely keeping a leash on my rage.

“High Priestess,” Guillermo said, sensing the change in our tones. “Hear him out before making judgment on this matter. I think I speak on behalf of the other chairs in saying we wish to hear his request.”

Standing at the podium where speakers normally faced the council, I was afforded the view of Dominic and Grom nodding along with Guillermo’s words.

“Fine,” Cliona said between her clenched teeth. Patrick shifted in his chair, clearly aching to go be with his mate, but after a few council meetings of him interrupting when Cliona felt any type of anger and threatening to nearly kill some residents at his perceived rudeness of their requests, he had a long lecture on containing his alpha tendencies.

“Apologies for losing my temper,” I conceded, nodding in her direction. “You know I love this island, and without your grandparents’ vision for a refuge for all, I probably wouldn’t be standing here today.” This wasn’t dramatic on my part, I genuinely felt like I would have given up or gotten myself killed in a quest for vengeance against my father. “I know October was less than ideal in terms of a security threat.”

“I really am sorry about that,” Rory said before Vinni elbowed him in the gut.

“I know you are, mate,” I offered. “But I think it was a clear sign that even with security at the top of the game, there is always going to be risks of having an island of folks needing to escape a bad situation. With the current influx of new residents at only thirteen percent of what it was pre-Hunter Jacobs, we aren’t flourishing like we can.”

I gulped before saying my next words carefully.

“Not like your grands would have wanted, Cliona.”

“Don’t you dare speak as if you knew them.” Cliona rose to her feet. I felt the power surge in the coven bonds but had prepared for that, as had Guillermo since I told him about this beforehand.

“Sit down, girl.” Anya had risen to her own feet to stand next to me. “Now!”

Cliona reluctantly sat back down and got her breathing under control.

“I didn’t mean that disrespectfully, we all love you and know you’ve done an impeccable job at maintaining this island when others would have quit or moved away or let us flounder in the wake of such a loss.” I maintained eye contact with Cliona even though the rage I saw was battling the anger I normally saw in Vinni’s gaze.

“Of course you didn’t, boy,” Anya said, patting me on the shoulder. “Go sit and let me handle this.”

I hadn’t said nearly the amount I wanted to, but went back to my council chair, choosing to trust Anya as the main one to get through to our High Priestess.

“I chose to stay on this island, despite my hatred for staying in one place for long, because I believed in you and what you could do with this place, Cliona Erin. I understood the need to seal our borders. I understood the need to get extra background checks. I understood the need to bring on an empath witch for even more security. I even appreciate and advocate for the mental health services that are required for new residents.”

Anya held the entire room in a trance. She was a small woman and looked only to be in her forties despite her centuries of age. She was one of the eldest wolves in the world, and legends of her past are told as campfire tales in even the smallest of villages.

“But if Arch hadn’t brought this up at this council meeting for a vote, I was planning to visit you because I had a specific request that I hoped might motivate you to reconsider your position on the matter.”

“What request?” Dominic asked, looking intrigued. He respected Anya, and I felt he was one of the few beings on the entire island that actually posed a threat to her.

“There’s a wolf pup being held in North Carolina that has no one left.”

Murmurs of outrage went up through the crowd of residents. It wasn’t as large of a crowd since it was a winter month, but, still, a couple hundred folks all spoke their anger in hushed whispers.

“Silence,” Cliona ordered, and quiet fell across the courtyard. “Tell us more.”

“His entire family was slaughtered by vampires in a skirmish in the Appalachians. It was a typical feud for the area, but this wolf was young enough they didn’t see value in killing it when they could sell it.”

A group of growls rose up from the Hemlocks that sat with the rest of the coven, in addition to a few more spread throughout the residents.

“Sell it? Like the pup is some sort of possession?” Drew’s anger was palpable, not only in the coven bond but in the way his snarl rose with each word.

“Exactly.” Anya maintained eye contact with Cliona the entire time. “This isn’t unusual. I have other contacts that have helped me in the past, but this one requires more muscle. And I know the club where the pup is being held.”

“Club?” I asked, not liking where this was headed.

“Yes, a club in Charlotte. I have a contact that can meet us there and help get the pup, and we just need to provide a distraction and safe passage back to the island for the pup.”

Silence filled the space at the request, and I chose to break it before anyone else could have a say.

“I would volunteer to retrieve the wolf and partner with Anya’s contact.”

“I can provide transport,” Dom offered. Gasps went up around the crowd at his offer. Dragons didn’t let folks ride them. Ever. If Dom was offering his dragon form as a way to travel to speed up the retrieval, it was a clear indication of where he stood on the issue of opening our borders more.

“I’d like to go save the wee pup, too.” Rory offered. “I spent many years when I was freelancing.” He said the word as if he weren’t a renowned merc while trying to hunt for his sister but some sort of artist. “And would love to offer my services.”

“Me too.” I knew she would volunteer but still hadn’t wanted it. I looked at my gorgon, at the resolve in her eyes to rescue someone from a similar fate of her own. She didn’t meet my eyes, instead she kept contact with the High Priestess, waiting for approval.

“Looks like you have volunteers and means of transport. The only thing we need is your permission, High Priestess,” Anya said. She didn’t say the words condescendingly, but with genuine respect. She pushed her boundaries with Cliona like any sort of aunt or grandparent might, while still knowing she was in charge of the island.

I dared a peek at my High Priestess and saw the downward turn of her lips. She clearly wasn’t a fan of where the conversation had turned and was about to let us all know.

“Let’s vote,” she offered the room.

A collective sigh was felt through the coven bond, and I knew Cliona felt it, causing her to bite her bottom lip as emotions were warring inside her.

“Earth Council?”

“Aye,” Grom answered.

“Water council?”

“I vote yes, we save the pup,” Guillermo said softly.

“Air Council?”

“I can fly out tomorrow morning. Yes,” Dominic answered.

“Fire Council?”

“Yes. Thank you for —”

“The motion passes. The volunteers will stay in the courtyard to discuss particulars. This meeting is done.” Cliona didn’t ring a gavel or partake in any ceremony, only stood and walked out the back where we usually exited as a group.

Patrick stood and looked feral at the way his mate was treated. I went to my friend and nearly decided against it at the rage in his face, the blackness of his eyes was bleeding out. He noticed my apprehension and softened his features.

“I didn’t mean for it to be like that,” I said, raising my hands in surrender to my friend.

“It’s not you, brother,” Patrick said, patting me on the back before making his way after her. “It’s a lot for her. I just hate seeing her, so… so…”

“Stubborn?” Anya offered.

Patrick snarled, and Bert stepped up next to Anya.

“Go take care of your mate, but know this was good for the town, and she will see that. Tell her I want to buy her a cup of coffee tomorrow morning at the brew, and tell her it isn’t optional,” Bert said sternly. He took Cliona’s well-being seriously and wouldn’t back down to Patrick.

“Yes, sir,” Patrick said. “I know she would do anything to save that pup.”

“We all know that, you stubborn ass, she can’t see beyond her own pain. So go do something to fix it and tell her we love her,” Anya said, stepping forward and patting Patrick on the cheek like she might a small child.

Patrick huffed a laugh, hugged Anya, then went after his mate.

“Have any of you rode dragonback before?”

I look at Vinni and Rory, who both shook their heads.

“Obviously not, I didn’t even know it was a thing folks did.”

“It’s so fun!” a high-pitched voice said before Gioia joined our little circle.

“How would you know?” Drew asked before glaring at Dominic.

“She was curious and no one had ever outright asked before.” Dominic shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Gioia!” Merrick said, slapping her shoulder. “You’re lucky he didn’t swallow you whole.”

“What? It was a few years ago, and we watched Game of Thrones and I was curious. I won’t apologize.”

“The good news,” Dominic said, ignoring their conversation. “Is that I have a system and even a few saddles for you three. So it should be a smoother ride than what Gioia had the first few times out.”

“I can’t believe you took my baby sister on a dragon ride and didn’t even tell me, dude. That has to be against the bro code.”

I saw Gioia’s cheeks darken at the words but didn’t offer anything else to the conversation.

“Be ready at 0300. I’ll meet you all by Vinni’s club since there is some open space that is big enough for me to shift.”