Chapter 29 #2
“But you never had a break,” River said. “God, Winter. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
“Fox changed it all for me.” Winter flashed River a small smile, but it felt like his heart was breaking.
“When I’m near him, I can’t see or hear the ghosts.
It’s like his natural magic ability wraps me in a protective bubble.
I’d only see the ghosts when I went into the world of the dead.
It’s what happens when I disappear. I pass through their reality and no living creature can see, hear, or touch me there. ”
“That’s astounding.” Sofia gave a little laugh and shook her head. “That’s how the Variks have done it all these years. How you’ve learned so many secrets. How you’ve been the scariest thing in all our kind. Because you can disappear.”
“And because many ghosts are happy to tell secrets about the people who killed them,” Winter added.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Rafe demanded. “After all this time. I understand in the beginning, but it’s been nearly two centuries…why keep this from us?”
“Mother.”
Rafe shoved to his feet. “You’re obviously not mad like she was. Poor excuse, dear brother.”
“Mother has been dead less than a year. All our focus was on her and protecting our family prior to that. My…gift…was manageable. It was just easier if you didn’t have to worry about it as well.”
Rafe stunned Winter by grabbing him and jerking him in for a hard embrace.
Winter stood there stiff as a board for a moment; then he slowly wrapped his arms around his brother.
Rafe pressed his face into Winter’s hair and murmured, “How dare you deny us the right to protect our little brother. You’re precious to us, you fucking dumbass. ”
Winter snickered against Rafe’s chest, but there was also relief.
Soul-deep relief to finally have this secret out in the open and know that his brothers were still there for him.
A moment later, he felt Bel’s arms wrap around him.
And then they all grunted as they were squeezed even tighter.
Winter’s head popped up to find Marcus holding them tightly.
“You’re all idiots,” Marcus grumbled. “And there will be no more secrets in this family.”
“Rafe is planning to sneak off with Philippe and get married by an Elvis impersonator,” Bel announced.
Rafe gasped. “You bloody tattletale.” His eyes narrowed into a glare at his twin and he said stiffly, “Fine. Bel’s pregnant!”
They all broke apart to look at Bel’s bright red face.
“I am not! Men can’t get pregnant,” Bel sputtered.
Rafe shrugged. “True, but I figured if anyone was going to break the laws of nature, it was going to be you.”
“Excuse me,” Sofia said. Winter turned to find her holding up one hand as if trying to claim the floor in all this insanity. “But a vampire mated with a werewolf does not break any natural laws.”
“Eh…maybe not, but Bel claiming two of them is certainly bending a few rules.”
“I don’t know why you think our clan is the most insane, my love,” David said as he smiled down at Sofia.
Zelda snorted. “No, the Variks are definitely an original experience.” She rolled her eyes, but there was a smile playing on her lips. “But aside from Winter’s secret, Fox has done him a world of good. Given his brain a much-needed break.”
“And the ring?” Bel asked.
“A gift from Zelda and Fox. She placed a drop of his blood in the sapphire, and I now keep Fox’s protective bubble around me even if he’s not physically near me,” Winter said.
He touched the ring on his finger, spinning the warm metal for a minute before sliding it off.
He held it out to the witch. “But I’ll give it back right now if you can give me Fox. ”
Zelda blinked her eyes rapidly a couple of times as if she were trying to hold in tears.
With soft, gentle hands, she forced Winter to curl his fingers around the ring again.
“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.
There are things that need to be done. I can’t promise you’re going to get your Fox, but I think we’ve got a good shot at it. ”
Winter could only nod. He’d known it was a long shot, but he had to try. He slipped the ring onto his finger, some of the tension easing from his chest. The sadness and fear didn’t fade, but if Zelda said they had a shot, he was going to cling to it.
“It’s time, Aiden. You’ve put this off for far too long,” Zelda said, turning her laser-like focus on the oldest vampire in the room.
“Things are not inevitable simply because the Great Zelda says they are,” Aiden said in a harsh voice. Winter watched his father’s face grow red, but he also refused to look any of them in the eye.
“What’s she talking about? What have you put off?” Winter asked. He returned to the seat he’d been sitting in, while Wyatt and River were once again wrapped around Bel as if they wanted to protect their mate from any ugly words that might be flung around the room.
“Aiden is incredibly old. He’s more than powerful enough to wipe out Damon and scatter his minions if he chooses not to slaughter them,” Zelda explained.
His father glared at Zelda as if his dark looks alone could silence her. If she’d proved anything tonight, nothing shut Zelda up when she wanted to speak.
“My fear is not taking out Damon. It’s what happens after Damon is killed.
” Aiden paced to the center of the room, his attention largely turned toward Sofia and Zelda.
“Who rules the vampires afterward? The Ministry has been destroyed, and it was largely corrupt when it did exist. Are we to let all the various clans and vampires run roughshod over the humans and each other? It will be chaos.”
“No, the vampires in the Americas need a true leader. A king, even if it is only for a short time. Someone who can be firm and strong when needed, but also someone with enough common sense to help form new leadership to oversee the clans,” Zelda said.
“Someone who would be willing to listen to those who have been voiceless for so very long,” Rafe added.
“Someone who understands the dark history of the vampires and werewolves, but who also understands the benefits when we’re joined in brotherhood,” Wyatt said.
“Oh, thank God!” Sofia exclaimed, shoving out of her chair. “I was afraid I was the only one who was hammering against the brick wall of his mind.”
“You want him for a king?” Marcus asked, surprise widening his eyes.
“Yes!” she said with her hands balled into fists.
“He wouldn’t even listen to me when I mentioned it.
” Sofia was easily more than a foot shorter than Aiden when she got right up into his face.
“Aiden, you soft-hearted, stubborn fool, you are the only one most of us trust to look out for what is best for our people. Yes, you’re going to protect your sons, but your sons aren’t the type of men who would tear apart our kind for their own pleasure.
In the end, we know you’re going to look out for all of us. ”
Aiden spun around and started for his chair, but he stopped short when he stood before the chair that had been made his as head of the clan. The chair that resembled a throne at the center of the room.
“ ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,’ ” Zelda quoted.
Aiden snorted. “Shakespeare was a prat.”
“I would not have wished this on you, my old friend. But this truly is the best way to protect your family,” the witch murmured. Her eyes shot over to Winter and she winked at him before she said, “And while I’m sure you’re tired of my prophecies, I do have one more for you.”
“Oh, fuck no,” Winter groaned. He couldn’t complain too much since her last one got him Fox, but there had to have been a better way for him to meet his witch.
“Really, no more prophecies, Zelda,” Aiden quickly said.
Of course, Zelda ignored them all. “The crown puts you one step closer to your heart’s desire.”
Aiden shook his head. “No, I had my heart’s desire and she’s gone now. I have my sons and their happiness. I don’t want anything else. Nor do I need anything else.”
Zelda just smiled smugly at him, and Aiden cursed softly under his breath. In short, this was coming for Aiden whether he thought he wanted it or not.
And Winter found that he wanted it for his father.
He wanted the man who’d protected him and his brothers, who’d given so much of his life for nearly two centuries, to have some happiness for himself.
Maybe after all this insanity was done, he and his brothers could put their heads together to figure out what his heart’s desire might be.
Standing in front of the throne-like chair, Aiden rubbed his fingertips along the arm. “Sofia…do you truly believe this will bring us together? That I can keep both vampires and humans safe?”
Sofia moved around him and draped her arm over the tall back of the chair and leaned against it.
“Aiden, darling, I’ve got my own people to worry about.
Do you think I would suggest something that would make my life harder?
If you don’t take the throne, a war will start, and I have to put all my people in danger defending you and your family.
Because everyone here knows the Variks will be in the middle of any fight to tear down injustice. ”
From where Winter was standing, he could see a hint of a smirk on Aiden’s lips. “I would certainly hate to trouble you with a war.”
“Exactly. That’s why only you can pull our people together peacefully. Help us find a way forward.”
Aiden sighed. “It’s temporary. Just until we can set up a new base of leadership that provides a voice for all vampires, whether they are in a clan or not.”
“Excellent.” Rafe clapped his hands together and pushed to his feet again from where he’d been cuddled on the sofa beside Philippe. “Father kills Damon and claims the crown, calming all our peoples, so we can go back to normal life. I like this plan.”
“It’s only a plan if we know where to find Damon,” Marcus pointed out.