Chapter Six – Leon
From the looks on the other Alphas' faces, Leon knew that they didn't approve of Sam's challenge. The Volda was an ancient, outdated rite rooted in the denial of women's choices. If Yuliana had been a Shifter, even a human, rather than a vampire, they never would have stood for it. But she was a vampire, and there was probably more than one that hoped Leon would lose against the Bison.
If they were going to Shift, Leon would stand no chance against the other Alpha. Just as natural wolves couldn't take down prey that size on their own, Wolf Shifters couldn't stand against Bison. But fortunately for him, while in Human form they were fairly evenly matched, and the Volda could not be fought in the Beast form. It was not about killing their opponent, after all.
"Move away from the fires," one of the female Alphas said. "The last thing we need is for you two idiots to burn down our tents."
Leon grunted and turned away. He headed for the outskirts of the camp, where they would do minimal damage. His gaze caught Yuliana's. Her eyes were wide, her hands clamped over her mouth like she was about to be sick. She gasped suddenly; Leon instantly knew what that meant, and was just able to jump aside as Sam charged him.
The Bison whirled on his heel, a fist shooting out from his side. Leon tried to dodge again, but Sam's knuckled caught him in the ribs. He stumbled back, gasping for breath. It was a cheap shot and they both knew it, but that didn't stop Sam; he pressed the advantage he'd just opened up, slamming his fist into Leon's ribs again before taking aim at his face. The Wolf was just able to dodge the blow. When he attempted to return the punch, Sam easily blocked him.
The Bison gripped Leon's wrist, grinning savagely. Leon twisted, but Sam rammed him with his shoulder, then used the force to roll the Wolf over his back and slam him down into the ground. His vision went utterly black, his lungs unable to pull in air. Sam was over him, crushing him, and he vainly struggled against the larger Shifter.
Panic spiked through him. He wasn't used to fighting his own kind. It had seemed obvious that he could take the Bison, but they were notoriously bad-tempered; Sam must fight all the time. What would happen to Yuliana is Leon lost?
Can't happen.
Leon lashed out blindly. His hands caught Sam's face and he clawed and gouged at the Bison. When the other Alpha yelped and pulled away from him, he quickly squirmed out of the Bison's grasp. Stumbling to his feet, Leon pulled in a few deep breaths, waiting for his head to stop spinning.
The Bison rubbed a red, puffy eye and Leon grinned. He straightened and inhaled through his nose to steady himself. And out of all the bodies pressed together, watching, one stood out the most. Yuliana's peculiar, sweet scent. Only there were more undertones to it now. Leon's head swung round. They said that a woman's mate was always the first to detect that subtle change in scent after a woman's third trimester… but Yuliana certainly couldn’t be that far along!
Could she?
She hadn't had the classic pregnancy symptoms. No morning sickness. No unusual fatigue, except lately, no noticeable weight gain. No menstrual cycle, but she said she hadn't had one for a few years–apparently it was common among vampires, especially ones without access to blood, to have sparse periods.
A fist caught him on the side of his face, making him stumble. Sam actually gave him time to recover this time, laughing and gloating.
Leon felt steel infuse in his spine as he continued to breathe in Yuliana's scent. He attacked the Bison, howling. He quickly caught the other Alpha in a headlock, though received a few punches in return. Same twisted, grunting.
"We can keep fighting or you can surrender," Leon panted. "I will not stop until one of us is dead."
"She is a vampire!"
"She is my mate."
Sam punched Leon in the stomach, forcing the Wolf to release him. "She is not—"
"She carries my child."
The Bison's eyes widened. He fell back a step, and his gaze flickered to Yuliana. A low grunt and Sam shook his head. "I retract my challenge."
Leon didn't wait for the other Alphas to acknowledge. He raced back to Yuliana, gathering her into his arms at once. He kissed her deeply. Her hands laced around the back of his neck. His mate kissed him back but pulled away abruptly. She glanced around at the Shifters around them and ducked her head. The pale olive of her face went red.
Ah, yes. She was shy. In his excitement, Leon had forgotten about that. He'd also forgotten about the beating he had just taken.
"Bring us some blood bags," he ordered a nearby Wolf, carrying her towards their tent.
Once there, he laid her on her bedroll and continued to kiss her. Yuliana tilted her head to give him access to her neck and giggled.
"What's brought this on? You were getting beaten up. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Fine. Just bruised. I'll be healed up before you know it." He put a hand on her stomach. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" Her brow furrowed.
Leon kissed her again. "Yuliana. My delicious, beautiful Yuliana with all your quiet strength and determination. I could have carried you here, rather than making you walk all this way with your feet blistering and—"
"I can handle a few blisters." Yuliana's cheeks darkened. "And I'm too heavy for you to carry all the way here. But what is this all about?"
"I can scent your pregnancy."
Yuliana gasped. Her dark eyes widened and her grip on his arm tightened. He could tell just by looking at her that she hadn't known. A little of his happiness trickled away. What if she was unhappy with this? What if she wanted more time? They hadn't discussed children, Leon assuming his new mate wanted to have young as quickly as he did. But what if…
"Are you unhappy?" he asked.
Yuliana shook her head. "No… just surprised. Pregnant. But… we've only been together for a few months. It takes vampires years to conceive."
"Apparently not when they're with Shifters."
Yuliana smiled at his joke. Then her smile grew even bigger until she was beaming. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she brought herself to him, kissing him hard, and laughed.
"I'm going to be a mother! And I'm so glad that you'll be my child's father. I love—" She cut herself off, sucking in a deep breath.
Leon tenderly cupped her face. "I love you, too."
Aspen's voice spoke from the other side of the lean-to. "Apparently so much so that you've forgotten why we're here in the first place. Or when others are creeping up on you."
The Lion rounded the canvas, looking amused. Yuliana gasped, but Leon only glared at him. Aspen always thought that just because he could bully his pack–sorry pride–into doing what he wanted, it meant he ruled the other Alphas as well. While it was true that few of them could match him physically, Lion's arrogance was annoying even at the best of times.
"What are you talking about?" Leon demanded, getting to his feet.
"I'm talking about the fact that you summoned the Alphas to discuss the vampire king's motives and recent actions. But here you are, paying more attention to your vampire mate than to the potential threat of the vampire armies."
Leon ground his teeth together. "We just learned—"
"That you're going to be parents, I heard." Aspen rolled his eyes and smirked. "There will be plenty of time to, ahem, 'celebrate' later. Our purpose here is to deal with a threat that could potentially hurt all of us. As much as I'm sure you want to be with your mate at this time, we have business to conclude."
He was right of course, which only made Leon even less happy with him. Letting out a reluctant huff of breath, he turned to Yuliana. She smiled slightly and nodded, showing that she understood why he had to go. Leon kissed her once more.
"I'll be back as soon as I can."
"I know."
Leon walked away, passing the Wolf he had sent for blood as he did so. Aspen smirked as they walked towards the place the other Alphas were waiting for the two of them. It was high on the mountain, on the bare crown of the peak. Below the campsite was clearly visible. The other Alphas were already standing in a circle. Sam scowled at him, but when Leon nodded at him to show he bore no resentment (at least, not enough to bother with at the moment) the Bison nodded back.
"Now that we're all here," Aspen said, settling down on a large rock. "We ought to continue our discussion from before. Leon has expressed concerns that the vampire king is using his wiles to lower our guard and restart the war. I have noticed that he's been overly friendly towards me lately as well. And any time a vampire is friendly… well, that is certainly cause for concern."
There were scowls and nods around the circle. Sam narrowed his eyes at the Alpha Wolf.
"If you were so suspicious, why did you take a vampire as your mate?"
Leon frowned back at him. "Originally it was just to stop from giving Harold an excuse to be insulted. But the more I get to know Yuliana, the more I care about her. She is my mate, not only because of convenience but also the mate of my heart."
Sam opened his mouth again, but before he could speak, a sharp howl rang through the air. All the Alphas turned towards the camp below them.
"What is it now?" Aspen grumbled, but Leon's heart was already in his throat.
Below them, vampires were pouring out of the trees and attacking the Shifters that were camped below. And there were a dozen vampires headed right for Yuliana's lean-to.