Chapter 21
Jason
Iwoke up, my whole body more alive than it had ever been, my awareness of my surroundings a buzz lighting me from the inside. Ciara slept peacefully beside me, her soft breathing regular and quiet.
We’d started her transition last night when she allowed me to claim her, I was sure of it, but I didn’t know if I had to do anything else.
And Leia had been so sick when she transitioned. I touched Ciara’s forehead—no sign of fever, but was there anything else I needed to look out for? My general feeling of contentment quickly morphed into alarm, and the fresh anxiety prickled just under my skin.
I needed to go ask.
But how fucking dumb was that? A vampire who’d started the transition of his mate and now didn’t know what to do. I might have killed her.
But when I’d joined Nic’s family…then become a permanent member of Nic’s family, I’d never really considered I might find a true mate.
After all, even Aimée, Nic’s made sister, hadn’t found a true mate, no matter how much she and Tomas loved each other.
They were both vampires to start with when they found each other.
I searched Ciara’s sleeping face again, looking for any sign of discomfort, but none was present.
Then I started to slowly side away from her, placing her arm carefully on the sheet-covered mattress where it was still warm from my body heat.
She was too precious to disturb, and I didn’t know if her body needed extra sleep right now.
I needed to go find one of the others to learn more about what I’d started.
I slipped from the bedroom after one last look over my shoulder. Part of me couldn’t actually believe that Ciara was in my bed, that she’d accepted me.
I had a mate.
I had a fucking mate.
It was all so unreal, but from the moment I’d first seen her in that pool on the pack lands, I’d known. Every fiber of my being had pulled toward her.
And that hadn’t stopped. I still yearned to be with her and keep her safe. If anything, the blood exchange had amplified those feelings.
I closed the bedroom door softly behind me and left the guest wing, glancing over the bridge that led back to the main house, automatically noting the guards that Sebastian had in place to ensure his and Kayla’s safety.
Ciara’s and my safety by default now, too.
Our safety as long as we stayed here, anyway, and I guessed we’d stay until Francois was found and rescued at least.
I rubbed a hand over my face. We had so much shit to discuss. Not just my new mate, but everything around the Ancients.
In the main house, I followed the sound of voices to the kitchen. When I opened the door, I glanced around. “Hey, Nic.” When the fuck had he arrived?
He looked at me. Then he narrowed his eyes, and his nostrils flared a little. “Hey.” But the word was a little short, a little guarded.
Sebastian smirked as he reached for another mug and grabbed a baggie of blood from the fridge, but Nic looked more grim than usual. “I think there are a few things you need to tell me.”
Uh-oh. I looked away for a moment then glanced back at him. “Like?” I didn’t have time for crap from my sire now.
“Like how the sister of my wolf shifter business partner became a vampire—which I assume she currently is? Like how you suddenly have a mate and I have new family?” He watched me for a moment before his face softened.
“I don’t know whether to offer my congratulations or my commiserations right now,” he whispered as he pulled me into a fierce hug.
“I told him you wouldn’t mind a pet dog…” Sebastian offered his opinion as the microwave dinged, and he handed me the mug of warm blood.
“Sebastian.” There was a cautionary note in Nic’s voice. “If Ciara has become a vampire, that makes her a very special vampire indeed. She’s hybrid.”
“Uh. Not really, though. She doesn’t shift.” As far as I was concerned, Ciara was like me now. She belonged to our vampire family.
“And she’s not the only hybrid.” Sebastian seemed to bristle a little as he spoke. “Kayla is a much stronger witch now that she’s vampire. Her spell casting is amazing.” Pride shone through in his tone as he spoke of his mate.
“And Sam has developed this cool thing, too.” I’d barely noticed Kyle sitting in the back of the room. But that was one of his skills—strong silence. Not the same ghost-like quality Temple had, or Temple’s ability to blend into the shadows, but Kyle was next in line for spy duty, always.
“She’s developed a cool thing?” Nic didn’t need to make air-quotes when his tone suggested them.
“Yeah.” Kyle nodded. He rarely sounded excited about a whole lot and now was no exception.
He ran a hand over his head, his fingers finding the thick ridge of scar tissue there.
“She’s amazing at compulsion.” Then he shrugged.
“I don’t know if it’s because she was a thrall for so long and has had so much vampire venom in her system for so long, but she can get most people to do whatever she wants just by suggesting it.
Even some low-level vampires respond to her. ”
“Okay.” Nic hesitated for a moment. “So we have one mate who has amplified magic since she turned and another who has strong compulsion.”
“It’s stronger than mine.” Kyle shook his head. “And I don’t get that part, man.”
“Can Leia do anything?” Sebastian looked at Nic, his expression curious but his tone casual. It was probably a risky question for him with the uneasy history between him and Leia.
“She is shit hot at fighting. Lightning-fast reflexes. I wouldn’t mess with her.” Nic leaned his ass against the counter as he took a long sip from his usual novelty mug.
“I guess she fought for so much of her life growing up,” Kyle muttered.
“Too right she did,” Nic agreed. “And I think all that shit with Francois made her even more determined to never be weak again. It’s like she willed her own superpower.”
“Can Ciara do anything unusual?” Sebastian looked at me, curiosity bright in his gaze.
I half-chuckled and shook my head. “We only…only just…” Shit. Did I actually have to announce my sex life to all of them? “Actually—” I changed the subject. “I came down to find out if there’s anything special I need to do to keep her safe. Is she in danger right now?”
Nic shrugged. “In short, we don’t know. She’s half wolf shifter. She’s an unknown in our line. Does she seem okay? Temperature? Pain?”
“I don’t think so.” I didn’t like his shrug. I was far more used to Nic having all of the answers. “She seemed okay when I left her.”
“She’ll need more blood. She’ll wake up thirsty.” Kyle spoke, and I was glad for his interjection. That was something practical, something I could do. It gave me a focus.
“Yeah, she’s just a fledgling in that respect, like any other.” Sebastian sounded wise, but…
“Not quite. Our true mates are a little different in my experience.” Nic’s tone verged on proud. “Certainly, Dupont true mates don’t seem to have quite the same control issues as normal fledgling vampires.”
“We look after them,” Kyle said. “We’re not just creating mindless soldiers.”
“True.” Nic nodded consideringly. “Each one of our mates is special. One of a kind. Meant only for us and us for them. I’m not sure where the extra level of power seems to come from, though.
I’ll see if Leia can find something in the Book of Gray.
” He referenced what was essentially his family bible.
“She likes searching through that old thing, and she and Aimée are already combing the library for information on the Ancients.”
“Kayla’s looking for information on them as well.
As soon as I told her they were using magic, massive, old grimoires started appearing around the house.
Every surface seems to have one lying on it.
I don’t even know where she’s finding half of them.
” But he chuckled, and his deep affection for his wife was clear.
“Any luck on figuring out how to stop the Ancients?”
Nic pressed his lips together as he gave his head a slight shake. “We’re compiling information as fast as we can, but it’s all so limited. It’s been a long time since their activity has even been recorded, and they’ve almost faded from living memory.” He sighed. “I have no idea why they’re back.”
“And Francois?” As I mentioned his name, guilt trickled through me.
I’d lost him. The Ancients had taken him on my watch.
“Any idea how we can get him back?”
When Nic shook his head again, my heart sank. “We’re still patching info together on how strong they are. We can’t risk that they’ll take someone else.”
“But… But you’re here now.” I didn’t even think before I blurted the words. “Doesn’t that make us all kind of a target?”
He lifted his shoulders in that unfamiliar shrug again. It made me uneasy. He was so rarely uncertain.
“Are we more of a target all together or are we better defended when we have each other’s backs?
I’m not sure I know.” His admission was also uncharacteristic.
“But I can’t risk any of you. You’re my family.
” His gaze around the room included all of us, and we stilled.
“And I think I took on Francois as well.” His grin was a little sheepish now. “We have to get him back.”
“No man left behind.” Kyle set his mug down, the sound one of finality, but I’d expected protest.
“Francois? Really? After all of his history with Leia?”
Sebastian cleared his throat after I finished talking and… shit. Yeah, he had history with Leia, too. I was a dumbass for bringing that up.
But Nic didn’t even glance at his brother. He focused wholly on me. “You’re right, Jason. It’s about history. So much history.”
And I got it. Sometimes, as vampires, history was all we had. And Nic and Francois had a history that was as far-reaching as it was varied.
“You can’t just abandon him.”
Nic shook his head. “No, I can’t. But we’ll get him.”
“And where are all of your mates?” It hadn’t escaped my notice that the kitchen was running solely on testosterone this morning.