21. Vivianna
VIVIANNA
Finally back on two legs with comfortable clothes on, I joined the rest of the group in our living room. Darius was pacing, holding a glass of brandy while my other mates relaxed on the couch. Bentley was in one of the armchairs, and it seems Astrid had come to join us.
You don’t think she’s going to yell at me for biting Sarma, do you?
I don’t think so.
Glad you’re so confident about that.
My wolf just huffed and settled in for the show I’m sure was about to go down.
I walked over to Tav and settled myself in his lap, needing to know we were okay.
I didn’t outright kill his brother, but I would have if Sarma hadn’t.
He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled me behind the ear, letting me know he wasn’t upset with me.
“Astrid, I’m sorry you got pulled into this so late in the evening,” I said, meeting her gaze.
She shrugged. “The work of a Dama is never done, so how could it be for her advisor?”
“Who wants to start?” I said to the room.
My mates looked at Bentley, which made him fidget a little under the pressure.
“Right,” Bentley said, clearing his throat and putting his doctor face on.
“I caught a scent of wolfsbane, and I wasn’t sure where it was coming from during the altercation.
When I examined Tavas’s neck, I scented it on his skin.
Thomas had coated that knife in wolfsbane—whoever he used it on would most assuredly die. ”
I froze on Tav’s lap. In less than two weeks, two of my mates could have died from wolfsbane poisoning.
“Did anyone collect that knife?” I asked, panic rising that it was still laying around for anyone to pick up.
“I did, Dama. I wanted to test it to see if it was the same strain as you found on the island. If it is, then it tells us there is someone working against us,” Bentley said.
I couldn’t help but smirk as he said ‘us.’ Bentley was growing on me the more I got to know him. Not sure if it was more than friendship, but I knew I wanted to keep him around to find out.
“That was incredibly smart of you, my boy,” Astrid said, giving him a smile of approval. “Now, the big question is do we have the coronation dinner tomorrow?” She turned and directed her stare at Darius.
Darius paused, looking down at his drink with a frown on his face. “Bentley, how long will it take you to test that sample?”
“A few hours or so. The lab you helped me upgrade in the medical wing is state of the art now,” Bentley shared.
I frowned, not realizing that Darius had even done that… or that we even had a medical wing to begin with.
“Astrid, why is it again that the island has no doctor?” I asked, feeling like there was something I had overlooked.
Astrid’s face turned dark, and her eyes cast to the floor.
“Sarma has always wanted children, but it seems that the universe has other plans for her. Our last doctor was brought here because he specializes in infertility, only it was with humans, not werewolves. He tried everything to help my daughter, but he was unable to get her to carry a baby to term. When he was treating her during her last miscarriage, she killed him in a fit of rage.”
Personally, I wasn’t sure that I wanted kids, having not had the best childhood, but to want one so badly and be unable to have one must be devastating.
“So, I’m guessing that she pushed to have the medical wing and lab set up for the doctor to work in?” I questioned.
Astrid looked at me with tears in her eyes. “I know it was wrong to use the pack money for it, but I couldn’t refuse my child when she was hurting so. I would have done anything to help her get that one wish.”
Reaching over, I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay, I’m not upset at all. Actually, I’m jealous that Sarma has a mother like you who would do whatever it takes to try and make her happy.”
Darius cleared his throat, bringing us back to the topic at hand.
“With the guards that I brought with me, I believe we can still have the coronation dinner. Canceling would give too much power to the person or people who are behind this. We’ll just all have to be on alert if the test comes back and proves we have someone trying to undermine Viv. ”
I looked at all my other mates, and they seemed to be in agreement with Darius.
Hmm, seems like kicking his ass and sending him away for a few days has actually made an impact.
Let’s just see if it sticks.
If not, we can kick his ass again. Angry sex with Darius is hot.
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face because I had to agree with her on that.
“It might also be worth mentioning that, for some reason, Viv and I can talk mind to mind,” Rik shared.
Astrid’s head snapped up as he spoke, mouth agape. “When did this occur?”
Rik’s gaze flicked to mine, unsure of how honest to be. I nodded my head. I would deal with whatever fallout might happen between Astrid and me.
“Viv was getting Sarma to submit, and her alpha energy was blasting through the room, stronger than I’ve ever felt before. Then suddenly I could hear her screaming in my head while she was in her wolf form,” Rik said, watching Astrid carefully.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Astrid sagged in her chair. “What has my foolish girl done now?”
“Thomas, one of the mate prospects, was here under false pretenses and had planned to kidnap Viv to make his own pack,” Tav explained, hugging me tighter as he spoke.
“There was another reason, but Sarma stepped in and killed him before he was finished telling us. Viv was upset because she had already claimed his kill, but Sarma took it from her.”
Astrid turned to me, understanding in her eyes.
“You never have to fear retribution from me for dealing with your pack how you see fit. I might challenge you if I feel that it is wrongly deserved, but I will never withhold my help from you. Sarma deserved to be punished and put in her place—she will have to deal with that as a grown woman.”
“Thank you. I would have felt awful if that had caused a rift between us.” I smiled.
“Now as for the mind-speaking, that died out with the last alpha female. It is believed that it is their energy that brings the magic into our world. There once was a time that the mates of an alpha female could control their shifts in such a way that they could change only certain body parts if they wanted. Not all mates had the same gifts, but all of them could mind-speak,” Astrid shared with an excited glint in her eyes.
“So you think that I might be bringing the magic back?” I asked, eyebrows raised.
“Dama, your existence is magical. I’ve stopped putting limits on you.” Astrid chuckled.
The room fell silent as we all took in what she said and mulled it over.
Wouldn’t that be awesome to have all of them be able to speak to us and each other? I wonder how far away we could be for it to still work… Looks like we need to play some hide and go seek. Oh, oh, oh, or Marco Polo.
I wonder what other gifts there could be that alpha female mates had?
You know, I remember something about us being given a book on EVERY Dama before us…
Point taken. I could have already known about this if I’d made time to read them. In my defense, we’ve had a lot going on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s what they all say.
Shut up.
“Um, I might have a theory,” Bentley interjected. “I think it might have something to do with the blood transfusion that we did for Rik.”
I frowned at that. “We used Koit’s blood for that, you only added in a small amount of mine.”
“Correct. Your blood is far more potent than Koit’s. My guess would be back in the old days, all the wolves were stronger, and the blood running through their veins wasn’t so diluted like now. The mating bite could’ve caused enough of an exchange for the change to take place.”
I leaned back against Tav, chewing my lower lip as I rolled that around in my brain. “That actually makes a lot of sense when you put it that way. So, if we wanted to test that theory, we would just need to inject my blood into the rest of them.”
“It didn’t seem to take effect, though, until your alpha energy was mixed in. You keep it pretty locked down until you need it,” Rik pointed out.
Surprised by his comment, I looked at the others and noticed for the first time that they felt like alphas. Their power and control surrounded them, but why hadn’t I felt it before?
You didn’t notice because you kept your senses dulled down to a human level. Now you’re adjusting to your enhanced abilities. Rik’s right, though. You only let out your alpha energy when you’re upset or proving a point. They let it hang out all the time.
Relaxing my hold on my wolf side, I felt my energy swirl around me.
It was comforting, in a way. Each of my mates’ eyes flashed with hunger as they scented my power.
Astrid bowed her head, and Bentley wouldn’t look me in the eye any longer.
Seeing their reaction, I pulled my energy back slightly so it wouldn’t be so overwhelming.
“It will take time to figure out what won’t make others around you uncomfortable,” Koit said. “I’ve had a lot of practice keeping it hidden, but now that I don’t have to, I’m working on that myself.”
I smiled at him, knowing he was sharing for my benefit, not wanting me to feel like the odd wolf out.
“Hold on,” I said as something clicked in the back of my brain. “Rik, you said that none of the prospects were strong enough alphas to overpower you guys, but why does Tristan feel different?”
“He’s a Dire wolf, the last of his kind,” Astrid said, stunning everyone in the room.
Darius began to growl and marched up to Astrid. “They all died out hundreds of years ago. None of them survived the last great wolf war.”
Astrid raised a brow at him. “Are you going to tell a three-hundred-year-old woman that she’s going senile and doesn’t know what she’s talking about?”
“They have been gone for five hundred years.” Darius argued.
“Wrong,” Astrid snapped back. “You need to learn your species’ history better if you’re going to argue with me.
They went into hiding five hundred years ago after the Catholic Church went after them for being demons.
King Henry VII was trying to take the Church out of power, so the Church decided that to prove they were still needed, they’d paint the werewolves as an enemy that the Church could help eradicate.
It didn’t stop the king like they hoped, but the damage to the wolves’ reputation was done, so they fled.
“As time went on, they died out, leaving a small pack in the moors of Wales until they too lost their lives fighting for their home during World War One. Dire wolves are born soldiers, defenders of our kind, built strong and fearless. They deserved so much more respect than they got from our kind. How Tristan is still alive is a miracle. That he has found his way here to our Dama, I won’t question, because she will need him,” Astrid said, giving us each a look with narrowed eyes.
Holy shit. Yummy-smelling man is totally a silver fox if he is a hundred something years old.
That is what you’re going to focus on after that whole story?
You have your priorities, I have mine.
Seems like Tristan and I need to have a conversation sometime soon.
So… we’re keeping him then, right?
That will be up to him, but I wouldn’t mind if he stuck around.
My wolf howled with joy at the thought of him staying with us, and I couldn’t help but smile.