Chapter twenty-seven
The ride back to the compound was quiet as they all sat with their own thoughts.
Amaya was both furious and hopeful for her family.
There were women in her family who were worried that they would go crazy and die alone in the attic at their Chawi compound.
Not many women made it past sixty, and every day Amaya had been praying for a miracle for her mother.
To know the Collective was sitting on that miracle pissed her off like nothing she’d ever experienced.
They pulled up to the compound and the headlights illuminated a male standing at the gate.
He wore a dark t-shirt and jeans, with a skull cap pulled down on his head.
His beard was trimmed short, outlining a strong jaw.
The male was brown-skinned, tall, and muscular, the only indication of his age the small sprinkles of gray in his beard illuminated by the headlights of the SUV.
His confidence was evident in his casual stance as he awaited them.
The guard at the gate was watching the male, but it didn’t seem to faze him.
She recognized him immediately.
Amaya gasped. “I know him,” she muttered.
“How?” Levi asked, an immediate spike of jealousy traveling across their bond.
“He…we rode the bus together,” she answered.
Telling Levi that she and her cousin had assumed he was stalking her would probably get the man killed immediately. The truck stopped and Sebastian got out. He approached the man and Amaya was mad she couldn’t understand what was being said. Bas came back to the truck and Levi lowered the window.
“What’s going on?”
“His name is Richard Fontaine. He wants an audience with you, says you’re holding his mate.”
Amaya gasped. “I know you fucking lying,” she whispered.
Maybe Tracy had been right all this time.
Levi studied her. “You’re worried.”
“I’m interested to see what he says,” she hedged.
Levi communicated something to Bas telepathically and the gates opened. Bas and the security at the gate walked Richard in, and they followed behind them in the truck. When they arrived in the driveway to the house, her mother was standing on the porch.
“Mom!” Amaya slid to the door and grabbed the handle.
Levi held her back. “I wish you would get out of this car before me,” he gently chided.
Her surprise tripled when the male vampire roared, being held back by Sebastian and the gate guard. What was going on?
“What in the world?” Raven said next to her.
Levi got out first, leaving her and Raven in the SUV.
Amaya growled in frustration as she watched them wrestle the male under control.
Had he followed her all the way here? How had he found her?
She shook her head, already knowing what Tracy would say when she called her cousin to tell her what happened.
“Come, baby doll.” Levi held the door open for her and Raven to exit the car.
“Thank you so much,” she said sarcastically, getting out of the truck and rushing to Anita. “Mom, what are you doing outside?”
“He called to me,” Anita said, and her gaze was clear, her eyes never leaving the male being held back by Bas and the guard. “It’s really him,” her mother whispered.
Amaya put the pieces together. “The man you feel when we go walking?”
Anita nodded and curiosity propelled Amaya over towards Sebastian and the male.
Levi stepped in front of her. “Maya, I swear I’ll tan your ass if you step closer to that male.”
Ignoring her mate, she tried to step around him. Levi held her arm in a grip Amaya knew she couldn’t escape. She leaned around him.
“Why are you trying to glamour my mother?”
The male stopped fighting. “It’s all over town that Levi has mated a Chawi. I came to claim my mate.”
Shock froze her and she looked between the male and her mother.
“I didn’t glamour her,” he continued, moving closer to Amaya. “I called to her, yes.”
‘Step back,’ Levi fussed at Amaya through their bond.
Feeling the anger and distress in her mate, she did as he asked. ‘I want to know what’s going on.’
‘Then carry your ass in the house. We will talk to this male in the throne room.’
Sighing, Amaya turned and gathered her mother. Scuffling sounded behind her but she dragged her mom inside, heading straight for his throne room. She would not be left out of this conversation. Raven was directly behind them as she and Anita walked quickly.
Levi shuffled the women behind his throne, shooting a warning glare at his mate. He settled into his chair and eyed the male who was calm, his attention wholly on Anita.
“You were really stalking me to get to my mother?” Amaya broke the weighty silence with her accusation.
The male sighed. “Your mother’s thoughts are filled with worry about you. I made sure you reached home safely each night.”
“And how would you know her mother’s thoughts if you’ve never taken blood from her?” Levi asked.
The male lowered his head.
“You bastard!” she shouted. “You took blood from my mother without her consent!”
“I would never violate my mate like that. I didn’t realize that she wasn’t in a place to give her consent until it was too late. I…needed a way to keep track of her until I could get settled.”
“When?”
Amaya cursed because it just confirmed to her that her Uncle Paul had been leaving her mother alone more than he’d told her. She would allow Levi to kill her Uncle Paul. That’s it, that’s all. He’d pissed her off for the last time.
“She was lucid a few of the times I’d seen her. It wasn’t until after I’d taken her blood that I realized what was happening to her,” the male explained.
“You’ve been watching her?” Levi asked.
Richard nodded.
“How long?” Amaya whispered.
“Long enough to know that in her current state, I can’t claim her.”
Amaya put her hand over her thumping heart, hurting for her mother. Levi held his hand out for hers and she clasped it quickly, using his strength as her comfort.
“What has changed?” Sebastian asked.
“I can feel a difference in her. The king has claimed his mate, and even though the city is holding its breath to see what happens, it’s the first sign of hope that the Bayi can come out of the shadows and claim the mates the Collective has kept from us.
Change is moving through the city with your mating. Even my power has increased.”
Levi shared a grim look with Sebastian and Amaya knew the two of them were talking.
“You cannot take her from here,” Levi finally said aloud.
Richard growled and her mother whimpered. “She is—”
Levi held up his hand. “I’m not denying your call to your mate. I’m saying to you that my queen won’t allow her mother from underneath her watchful eye.”
Amaya’s eyes widened. Levi was allowing this to happen? ‘What are you doing?’
‘Securing another powerful vampire to my coven,’ her mate answered matter-of-factly.
Aloud, Levi eyed Richard. “I can feel your power. You are clearly the master of another coven and it can’t be in my city.”
“My coven has set up an hour west of here.”
Amaya hid her surprise. An hour! The male had been traveling hours to be in her mother’s presence. Mated to Levi, she well understood the compulsion, but she would be lying if she denied how hurt she would be if her mother moved out of the city.
‘Not if, baby doll. When. I have a feeling this male won’t be put off your mother. You’ll need to eventually loosen your hold over Anita,’ Levi warned her.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and lowered her head. According to those journals, her mother would be healed with the mating. She would never deny Anita that. The chance to have her mother whole, no matter how far away, would be better than close and on borrowed time.
“If you swear loyalty to the Cauly Coven, then I will allow you to see Anita,” Levi bargained with Richard.
Richard narrowed his eyes. “And if I go through you?”
Levi chuckled. “You’re welcome to try, OG.”
The last thing Amaya wanted was a bloodbath. ‘It’s fine, King. I want my mother happy.’
“I’m not opposed to an alliance with you, but I’ll need to run it by my coven,” Richard finally conceded. “But that ain’t got shit to do with me seeing my mate. I’m doing that regardless.”
Levi shrugged, knowing the older vampire had called his bluff. “Fair.” He turned in his chair and lowered his voice. “Ms. Anita, are you okay allowing this male access to you?”
Anita nodded, excitement shining in her eyes. It had been years since Amaya had last seen her mother as animated. She took a shuddering breath, knowing that this was outside of her control.
“You are welcome here to see her until we’re comfortable that Ms. Anita can consent to leave with you,” Levi told Richard, his voice hard and implacable.
“I agree to that,” Richard said immediately.
Levi nodded and Anita rushed from around the throne straight to Richard.
Tears pooled in Amaya’s eyes as she observed the tender way in which the male handled her mother.
Richard cupped her cheek, speaking to Anita softly.
The two of them left the room and the remaining occupants seemed to exhale at the same time.
“Holy cow,” Raven whispered. “That was intense.”
Sebastian moved towards them around the throne. “Chances are he won’t be the only Bayi stepping up and claiming their mate.”
Levi wiped a hand down his face. “The Collective finna lose their shit.”
“And possibly take it out on you,” Raven said solemnly. “What are we going to do?”
“If that’s the case, then they’ll push more people into Levi’s arms,” Amaya told them. “If there was a choice between having your mate or not, I know what I would choose.”
Levi smiled at her line of thought. “We could always use more allies.”
He lifted Amaya’s hand in his grip and kissed her knuckles.
Her gaze went to the door her mother had just left out of and she sighed.
Worry for Anita was so ingrained that she knew it would take a while before she was comfortable with the thought of her mother leaving. But, that was a worry for another day.