Aaron
Ipull Mara through the portal and her feet hit the ground in a crouch, her tail already whipping behind her. The trees surrounding the Medina Shadow Coven are thick and dark, full of things that move, and Mara hates every single one of them.
She told me about the spiders once. How they crawled through the vents in the cabins when Carla and her children first arrived on Wintermoon, how they’d skitter across the walls in the middle of the night while Mara’s pride huddled together and hissed at the dark.
It stopped once Carla got her own space, and more so when Amari moved his coven in, but Mara hasn’t forgotten.
The forest around Medina Shadow is alive at night and her ears are already turning in every direction, tracking sounds I can’t hear.
Something cracks in the trees and she hisses, sharp and loud. I pull her against my chest and press my mouth to her ear. “Baby, calm down. Please calm down.”
“We shouldn’t be here.” Her tail is swinging in wide, agitated arcs and her ears shift with every sound—the crack of branches, the rustle of something pushing through the brush, the owls calling through the canopy above us.
Her claws are out and her fingers dig into my arms. The night air is warm but she’s trembling against me.
I grab her wrist and pull her closer. “Baby. Please.”
She hisses at me and I grin. She’s so damn beautiful when she does that. Her whole face goes sharp and feral. The sound that comes out of her is pure lioness. I could stand here and watch her do that all night, but we don’t have time for it, so I try a different approach.
“I can take you back to the cabin,” I tell her. “Make sure you’re secure.”
She hisses again, low in her chest. She knows exactly what I’m getting at and her tail whips behind her so hard I can hear it cutting the air.
“I am not your little prisoner to be locked away,” she snaps.
I smirk at her. Can’t help it. I love it when she gets feisty with me. Her chin lifts. She holds her ground. I press my hand against her belly and hold it there.
“Let me correct you, baby. You have our cub growing in you.”
She puts her hand over mine, pressing it flat against her belly. “You are my top priority,” I tell her.
“Wanna go home after this?” I lean in and drop my voice. “Make sure my seed takes hold in you.”
Her purring starts immediately, deep and steady, and the vibration moves through my hand where it’s pressed against her. My mouth curves. I lean closer, my lips brushing her ear. “You can even bang me to unconsciousness again if you need to.”
She slaps my chest and her tail comes around to brush over the front of my pants. I grin harder and she catches it.
“Stop it,” she murmurs, but her purring hasn’t stopped and her tail is still on me. I’m going to need to think about something else real quick before this gets out of hand.
I shrug. “Just saying, baby.”
She looks around at the trees. “Can we get this over with? I don’t like the idea of bringing vampires into our problems.” She turns back to me and her face is serious. “Do you really think they can help?”
I pull her into my arms and press my lips against hers. The kiss is short and warm and I hold it before I pull back. “I know I’ve done a terrible job in the communication department when it comes to our mate bond, but I have to ask you to trust me on this.”
She narrows her eyes at me. I kiss her again—I’m not above using my mouth to win an argument. She leans into it, her tail curling around my hip. I hold her face in my hands. When I pull back her eyes are softer but still suspicious.
“Yes,” I say. “This vampire in particular can help. He has Blackwood magic inside of him.”
Her lips part. “Oh.” She blinks and her ears perk forward. “But he was not born a Blackwood?”
“No. But Mother Fate gave it to him.”
Mara goes quiet. She considers this for a moment and then nods, her chin lifting. “It’s not good to question Mother Fate.”
She goes stiff when she hears more movement in the trees.
I chuckle and pull her out of the forest toward the coven.
The trees thin out and the castle comes into view, massive and dark against the night sky.
It’s built into the hillside, the upper floors rising into the dark.
Mara stops walking. She tilts her head back to take in the full height of it, her tail dropping behind her.
“Why does this coven need so many rooms?”
I point to the two vampire guards posted at the entrance.
They’re standing with their weapons resting against their shoulders, eyes forward, faces blank, and neither one has moved since we stepped into view.
“Amari is the master of this coven. A king of sorts.” I glance at her.
“He’s got an army. Couple hundred soldiers, I think. ”
“Why?” Mara asks, and her grip tightens on my hand.
I pull her toward the entrance and she presses closer to me as we walk up the stairs. Her tail is stiff behind her, her stare fixed on the guards the whole way up. She mutters something under her breath that I don’t catch, her ears flattening against her head.
“My guards on the pride don’t behave this way.” She frowns at the nearest one like she’s offended on his behalf.
I chuckle. Lion shifters and vampires couldn’t be more different.
Her guards greet visitors, bare their teeth in welcome.
These vampires look like they’d let us walk into a wall before they opened their mouths.
Mara keeps glancing back at them as I pull her toward the top of the stairs, like she’s waiting for one of them to blink.
The double doors swing open before I can lift my hand to knock and Mara is right behind me. Her fingers fist the back of my shirt and her tail wraps around my thigh. I fucking love it when she does that.
I step inside and she follows, pressed against my back.
The entrance hall stretches in front of us, wide and dark with torchlight flickering across the walls.
The air is cooler in here. Amari is at the far end and he’s not alone.
A burgundy spider skitters beside him, legs clicking against the floor.
It’s about the size of a dog with a leg span wider than my arms. One that size is going to make Mara lose her mind.
She peeks out from behind me, gasps, and bolts for the doors.
“Baby, no—“
We agreed we’d stay together through this, but our agreement is the last thing on her mind right now. She’s already at the doors when they swing shut, the magic in the castle sealing her in. She starts clawing at the wood. Her nails extend into full claws and she digs grooves into the surface.
“Mara.” I walk over to her. “Baby, stop.”
She doesn’t stop. I wrap my arm around her waist and lift her off her feet.
“Put me down!” She kicks and pulls at my hand and her tail whips against my leg. “Aaron, put me down!”
I hold her tighter and carry her away from the door while Amari and the spider approach. I’m about to tell her to breathe when an image flashes in my head. Letters, bright and shimmering, spelling out two words.
Beautiful mate.
Mara stops kicking. Her whole body goes still in my arms. Her ears go forward and her lips part. Her head turns toward the spider.
Amari looks down at the spider and smiles. “Yes, Tofi. Aaron’s mate is beautiful.”
My head jerks up. “That’s Tofi?” I look at the spider and back at Amari. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen her. She’s gotten bigger.”
“Not by a lot.” Amari grins and there’s pride in his face when he looks at her.
An image of the word Daddy flashes in my head. I set Mara down on her feet and she stands still, watching Tofi with her chin tilted. She holds up her hand.
“Hi,” she says.
Tofi taps her legs against the floor and new images flash in our heads. Hi Aaron’s mate. Her legs tap again. Aaron’s mate is nice.
Mara smiles, her tail swaying behind her. That makes two of us. She looks up at me.
“You know her?”
“I’ve seen her a few times. Not many.” I look at Tofi and she taps her legs again.
Amari’s expression shifts when he turns back to me. The warmth is still there but it’s guarded now. “What brings you to Medina Shadow? If you’re looking for Carla, she’s not here. She’s in limbo for three days.”
I look around the hall, then back at him and Tofi. “No, actually. I’m here to see Uncle Jo.”
Tofi flashes one word—trouble—then turns and skitters off down the hall. Amari watches her go and his brow pulls together.
“Hmmm.” He tilts his head. “You’re here to see Josiah?”
I sigh and shrug. “Yeah. He’s the only one I know who can help me right now.”
“Is there anything I can do?” He steps closer. “Bobby? Nicole? Surely—“
“Unfortunately, no.” I wish I could tell him yes, wish this was something his soldiers could handle or Nicole could talk me through. But it’s not. I hold his gaze. “I’ve made a big mistake, and I’m about to put the people I care about in danger. I love Jo too, but I just know…”
Amari nods. He doesn’t need me to finish.
He gestures toward the stairs. “Second floor, to your right. Double doors at the end of the hall.”
I tip my head to him and grab Mara’s hand. Amari calls out before I pull her away.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Aaron.”
I don’t answer that.
Mara follows me up the staircase to the second floor and down a long, quiet hallway.
The air is cool and still. The only sound is our footsteps and the soft swish of Mara’s tail.
We pass closed doors on both sides and I don’t hear a thing behind any of them.
Mara’s fingers tighten in mine and she flinches when something creaks overhead—probably the castle settling, or a vampire moving through the floor above.
“It’s so quiet here,” she whispers. “Like there’s no life in this place.”
“Vampires love the quiet.”
“Hmmm.” She presses into my side and I wrap my arm around her.
We reach the double doors at the end of the hall and I knock, even though Josiah and Layla already know I’m here. Part of me wants to turn around, take Mara home, and deal with this alone. But I can’t. Not anymore. I turn the knob and step inside.
The room is large. A long table runs along the far wall, lined with dollhouses in various stages of completion—some barely started, some finished down to the tiny curtains in the windows and the miniature furniture inside.
The detail is insane. I can see tiny bookshelves through the windows of one, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling of another, wallpaper in a third that has a pattern so small I’d need a magnifying glass to make it out.
Layla has her back to us, her attention fixed on a new build.
She’s wearing an evening gown that hugs her curves and falls to the floor, the fabric pooling around her feet, and she’s leaning over the table with a small piece between her fingers.
“There are pieces missing again.” She sets the piece down and straightens. “This is the second time.”
Josiah appears out of nowhere and walks over to her.
He looks at Layla like she’s the only person who’s ever existed.
He picks up one of the finished dollhouses and turns it in his hands, inspecting every angle, then opens the front panel and peers inside.
He sets it down and turns his attention back to Layla, his fingers tracing gently over her bare arm.
“That sounds very disappointing, my love.” He flashes her a smile.
“A mistake once, fine. I can overlook it. But a mistake twice…” He shakes his head.
“‘When a pattern of failure repeats, it is no longer a mistake but a declaration of character.’ Chapter nine.” His eyebrow lifts.
“Do you want me to kill the owners in your honor, beautiful Layla?”
She looks at him and his grin widens, fangs on full display. She grins back.
I clear my throat. There’s no way they don’t know Mara and I are standing here, but Josiah doesn’t rush.
He’s never in a hurry when it comes to Layla.
I’ve seen vampires move faster than my eyes can track, but Josiah stands here brushing his thumb over Layla’s wrist like they’ve got nowhere to be and nothing to do but this.
He doesn’t look away from Layla, just watches her, waiting for her answer.
“Not this time, honey.” She turns back to her dollhouse. “Next time though, yes.”
He picks up the box the kit came in and turns it over, reading the label on the bottom. His lips move over the manufacturer’s name and he sets it back down with a nod.
“Discard this one or save it for extra parts?” He turns back to her. “I’ll overnight you a new set.”
“Thank you.” Layla smiles and Josiah kisses her lips, before he turns to face us.
He straightens his cuffs as he crosses the room and the warmth he gave Layla doesn’t follow him. Up close his scar is more pronounced and his smile sits differently on his face, wider and sharper, nothing warm in it. Mara’s fingers twist into the back of my shirt.
“Ah, Aaron.” His gaze moves to Mara behind me. “What brings you and your beautiful lioness here?”
I already know I’m going to regret this, but what choice do I have?
Josiah has saved Wintermoon more than once and while he’s unpredictable as hell, the vampire is effective when he wants something done.
I’ve heard stories about him walking into fights he shouldn’t have walked out of and come back grinning.
He doesn’t flinch from the ugly side of things, and right now that’s all I’ve got.
“I need your help,” I tell him.
Josiah smiles.