Chapter 3
Brigelle sat at the dinner table, her feet swinging, wearing her prettiest dress and her new favorite shoes, the shiny black ones with a strap. Mary Janes, her playmate Elsa’s mother said they were called. Bri didn’t care what they were called; they were pretty and shiny, and they made wonderful clickety noises whenever she walked on hard floors. She thought she could even tap dance with them because they sounded so cool.
Elsa’s mother, Debbie, glanced at her watch. She tried to do it in a way that Bri wouldn’t notice, but she always noticed. It was after seven, and that meant Daddy wasn’t coming to dinner. Again. And after he’d promised he would be there when she’d begged Debbie to take her to his office earlier that morning.
Poor Daddy. So busy. Being alpha was hard.
But poor her. She just wanted her dad. Why did he have to be the dumb old alpha anyway?
“We should eat,” Debbie said. “Everything’s going to get cold.”
Elsa made a face. “It’s already cold.”
“You don’t eat without the alpha at his own table,” Debbie said as she began to serve them the pot roast and vegetables their cook had made for them. Daddy only liked red meat, so on nights when he was going to eat dinner with them, that’s what they had. He said wolves should only eat red meat. But Bri preferred other things like chicken and ham.
“You need a mommy,” Elsa said. “Then it wouldn’t matter if Alpha was busy, because you’d still get to eat with someone in your family.”
“Shush!” Debbie said severely.
“What?” Elsa said. “It’s true. My daddy’s busy, but you and I eat together all the time. Bri’s sad because her daddy’s in the office and not at dinner like he promised. You don’t let Daddy break promises to me.”
Debbie let out a short growl and Elsa dropped her head. “First of all, it’s not nice to talk about the alpha or what he chooses to do with his time. And second, your dad is my mate and I can’t make him do anything he doesn’t want to do. He wants to be with you as much as he can, and he makes time for it.”
“Sorry, Mommy.”
Bri tilted her head. “How did you find your mate?”
“We met at a gathering of packs during a full moon.”
“Do we have those?”
“Not like we used to. Now we’re concerned with keeping our borders safe from the vampires, and there are skirmishes within our own pack that keep the alpha busy.”
Elsa shivered. “Vampires are gross and scary.”
“Thankfully we don’t have to worry about them.” Debbie lifted her head and looked out the large window. “They’re all the way beyond the neutral territory and trapped behind their big wall. As long as they stay there, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Bri wasn’t worried about vampires. She was worried about being alone. “I wish Daddy had a mate.”
“He will, when the time is right,” Debbie said.
When the meal was over, Debbie sent her and Elsa off to play. Bri sat down on her bed with her favorite stuffed wolf and said, “You’re lucky you have a dad at home.”
“I heard there’s a magic spell you can cast for a mate. Your dad should do that.” Elsa opened the lid to the toy box and pulled a doll from the depths.
“What?” Her ears twitched. Spells were real?
“Yeah, I heard Mommy talking to Seya last week about not finding her mate, and Mommy said she should spell for him. I guess all the wolves have a necklace of some kind in a box.”
Bri thought real hard and remembered seeing a wooden box in her dad’s closet when she’d gone in his room to get a long-sleeved shirt to use as a paint smock. Which he hadn’t appreciated since it was an expensive shirt.
“What kind of box?”
“I dunno. Can I have this doll? You don’t play with her anymore.”
“Sure,” Bri said.
As they played, her mind spun over the possibilities. Was there a necklace in that box? And could she use it to bring a mate for her dad, a female who would be a mommy for her?
Smiling to herself, she couldn’t wait for Elsa and Debbie to leave so she could find that box and change her world.
* * *
Ryde opened the door to Bri’s bedroom and looked in. She was asleep, a sweet smile on her face. Another day had come and gone. It was past 1 a.m., and he knew he’d broken another promise to her. But the perimeter alarms had gone off in the afternoon, and he’d spent the entire day scouting with his best hunters, trying to discover who had breached their borders. Whoever the intruder was, they’d avoided the cameras.
It was daylight, so he knew it wasn’t the vampires because they couldn’t handle the sunlight. It had to be a wolf or another shifter. Humans didn’t mess with territories; it was foolhardy and even if they were weak, they usually weren’t stupid enough to traipse into predator territory. The logical suspect was a rival pack testing the borders for weaknesses, and there was only one pack strong enough to potentially come against him: the Falherron Pack, led by Alpha Rodrick. He was a giant asshat who’d been part of Ryde’s pack at one time and had tried to take over. Ryde had nearly killed him, and he’d scooted out of the pack with his tail firmly between his legs.
He’d amassed a large pack in the years since his expulsion, but they were a roaming pack without a home territory. Two years earlier, Rodrick attempted to come in and challenge Ryde, but they’d been pushed back at the border and defeated. The perimeters were being tested once again, and it made sense to assume that Rodrick was the one doing so.
He so fucking didn’t need this right now. Between the in-fighting of the pack and this new threat, he couldn’t forget about the vampires, either. There were a lot of reasons to be wary of vampires, chief among them that they kidnapped wolves for their blood, which was more sustaining than human blood. Since a wolf of any sense wouldn’t volunteer to become a blood donor to a vampire, they had to abduct them, and that always ended in death for the wolf. Their blood was too rich and too irresistible, and the vampire would kill them in a frenzy. He’d seen the bodies of wolves dumped along the pack border when he was a pup. The great war had ended in a stalemate, each side agreeing to stay in their own territory, but from time to time a rogue vampire would go looking for a meal, or a wolf would want to hunt a blood drinker for sport.
His mood darkened as he stared at his innocent daughter. Debbie had left a note for him on top of the plate of food from the dinner he’d missed, saying Bri had been upset once more by his absence. He knew she didn’t understand, but he had to ensure her safety. The borders were being monitored, and he’d stepped up security around the homes. If someone did come into their territory, he would know it. During the daylight, they only had to worry about wolves, but at night, they also had to worry about vampires. Someday, maybe the vampires would all be wiped out and he could cross that off his list of things to worry about when it came to Bri’s safety.
Closing the door silently, he headed upstairs to his suite on the third floor. As he stared at the empty bed, he considered calling for some company, but his wolf wasn’t interested in random tail. Once more, he thought about finding a mate. He could use the help with Bri. Eventually Debbie was going to want to stop spending her days at his home to be with her own mate, and he’d have to find someone else to raise his daughter. Unless there was suddenly peace in his world, which seemed unlikely.
Stripping, he climbed into bed and turned off the lights, burying his face in the pillow. He drifted off to sleep, his mind on his and his daughter’s future.
* * *
Dominique woke at sunset and stretched with a yawn. She’d slept fitfully, not finding her usual rest as the sun rose and ended the day for her kind. Her mind had turned often to the ball and the thought of her sister forcing her to mate. Being in power like her sister, she could pretty much do whatever she wished with her people. Natasha ruled through fear and intimidation, and had the staff to carry out her desires. If Dominique balked against taking a mate, it wouldn’t surprise her if Natasha chained her up until she agreed.
She slipped from her bed and pulled open the curtains that covered the large picture window. The sky was a glorious sight, turning from peaches and pinks to navy blue. Stars sparkled in the darkness above the setting sun, and the three-quarters moon was visible. For a moment, she considered leaving. Packing a bag and heading out of her sister’s territory. Just as swiftly as she thought of it, she dismissed it. Natasha would never let her go. She’d send hunters for her – the best of the vampire guards – and they would find her, no matter where she hid. Then she’d really be in trouble.
The only choice she really had was to pick a male of her own before the ball. Someone who was strong and powerful, and wouldn’t mind that she could handle a blade and take care of herself. It would be helpful if he was sexy, too. If he marked her before the ball, then her sister would have no choice but to accept it. Even a mistress as powerful as her sister couldn’t break a mating.
She dressed and ate her meal in the dining hall, then spent several hours working in her office and dealing with coven issues. There was a knock on the door, and a young female walked in and handed Dominique a note requesting her to dress for their last meal of the day.
Dominique looked at the female.
“What does she mean ‘dress for the last meal’?”
Erica said, “The mistress is wearing one of her ball gowns.”
“Good grief, whatever for?”
“I’m not certain.”
“Are there guests?”
Erica shrugged.
“Well, damn. Thank you.”
Erica left and Dominique looked at the note and then crumpled it and tossed it into the trash. She left her office and headed to the throne room, where she found Natasha sitting on the throne and staring at her phone.
“Is there something special happening that I need to dress for? And why did you handwrite the letter instead of texting me?”
“It’s very gauche to invite people to special meals over text,” Natasha said, glancing over her phone.
“Says who?”
“Me.”
Dominique ignored the urge to roll her eyes. “Anyway, is something special happening? Are there guests?”
Natasha lowered the phone, her mouth turned down. “You don’t know what today is?”
Dominique’s mind blanked. “No. What is it?”
“The anniversary of Father’s death.”
“We’ve never had a special meal on the anniversary of his death.”
“It’s been twenty-five years. You reminded me of him last night when you asked if he’d be proud of us, so I checked the date with the archives and it’s today. You’ll attend the meal in our father’s memory in our dining hall, along with the coven’s top advisors.” Natasha gave Dominique a look of superiority. “You always were a little self-absorbed. I suppose I’m not surprised that you don’t know the date of our father’s passing.”
Dominique bit back the snarl at the insult, not pointing out that Natasha had needed to research the date herself. “What time?”
“4 a.m.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Of course you will.”
Turning on her heels, Dominique walked back to her office and closed up for the evening. Although it was only 1 a.m., Dominique needed to take the time do her hair and makeup, and choose a dress, because Natasha’s special meals were always an over-the-top affair.
Once she was in her room, she stripped from her clothes and headed into the bathroom. After a long, hot shower, Dominique dried herself off and then plugged in her hair dryer. Running her brush through her long blonde locks as the hot air dried it, her mind turned once more to Dominique’s insistence that she be mated soon. She wondered how she could tell if a male wanted to mate her because he liked her or because he liked the idea of how close she was to her sister. Granted, she and Natasha weren’t besties, but she was her chief advisor, and along with being her right hand for many matters, she had her sister’s ear.
A decade before, Dominique had seen a little girl in the mansion courtyard who had bruises on her arm. When she’d asked her what happened, the girl confessed that her father had hit her and her mother. Dominique had gone to Natasha immediately and asked her to set the mother and daughter up in one of the mansion’s small homes that they used for their staff, to allow them to heal and feel safe again, while the father was dealt with. Natasha didn’t usually do things that didn’t benefit her in some way, but she’d seen how much it meant to Dominique, and had allowed her to punish the male severely and protect the girl and her mother.
But no matter that she had the ear of her sister, Dominique couldn’t seem to dissuade Natasha from forcing her to take a mate.
She hung up her towel and strode to the vanity in the corner of the bathroom. As she sat on the padded stool to brush her hair, something glinted at the top of the ornate mirror. She reached for it, finding a beautiful necklace with an emerald medallion. It was heavy and warm in her hand. The gem was the same deep green as her own eyes.
She smiled as she unhooked the clasp, thinking it must be a gift from Natasha. Leave it to her sister to say “sorry” with a piece of jewelry. Dominique had a bracelet and several rings that Natasha had given her after arguments in the past, but this necklace far outweighed anything she’d been given before. It was stunning.
Lifting it to her neck, she smiled at her reflection as she closed the clasp and pressed her hand to the medallion that hung several inches below her collarbone. Her whole body jolted suddenly, her heart pounding and her fangs descending as a strange howling wind rushed around her. Her vision sparked and dimmed, and she felt herself falling. She opened her mouth to scream for help when everything went dark. Her last thought was that perhaps the necklace hadn’t come from her sister.