Midnight Reckoning

His shoulders slumped, making Dorien look every one of his forty-five years.



“No,” he said without turning around. “I won’t stop you, Lyra. Just know that if you do this, I won’t be able to save you. No matter what happens. At the Proving, I have to be Alpha first and a father second. I must uphold the law. Some traditions really can’t be broken.”



“I’m going to prove I can do this,” Lyra replied, feeling a little desperate to gain even a bit of support. He was her father. It would mean everything to know he was rooting for her, if only silently. “Have some faith in me. Just a little. Please?” she asked.



He turned his head to the side, and the small smile he gave her was sad.



“It’s not about faith,” he said. Then he left the room without another word. Lyra watched him go, watched the door shut behind him, and then put her head in her hands and closed her eyes.



“Yes, it is.”



Chapter FOUR



JADEN? WHAT ARE YOU DOING in here all by yourself? Hiding?”



Jaden looked up, startled by the warm female voice that cut smoothly through the silence he’d been sitting in for the better part of an hour. His first thought was to hide the necklace he’d been toying with, but it was already too late for that. He’d assumed no one would bother him, since apart from the fact that he wasn’t known for being a particularly friendly cat, this was one of the rooms in the mansion that hadn’t been renovated yet. No television, and nothing of interest except for some hideous floral furniture, meant solitude. Usually.



He should have known better.



“Uh-oh. You’re brooding,” Lily said, narrowing her eyes when she leaned into the room to look at him.



“I’m not brooding,” Jaden grumbled, curling his fingers around the pendant and pulling it in toward his body. “Your husband broods. I’m just… thinking.”



She raised her eyebrows at the necklace disappearing into his fist, but didn’t seem inclined to say anything about it. Yet. Instead, she walked in, settled herself on the ugly couch across from his chair, and smiled at him. That smile went a long way toward smoothing his ruffled fur, Jaden had to admit. And of course, she knew it would.



He wasn’t at all sure he liked how quickly she’d figured him out.



“Deflection, hmm? Interesting. Yes, Ty broods. But he’s usually got a good reason for it. And it’s fun to tease him out of his moods.” She cocked her head. “You’re cute, Jaden, but I don’t think the methods that work with Ty are really appropriate for this situation, so you’re going to have to just tell me what’s wrong.”



It would be so easy to lean on her, Jaden thought. He’d liked her from the start, and the ever-increasing numbers of Cait Sith showing up on her doorstep to become a part of her dynasty seemed to agree. In the past, there were a few moments when Jaden had wished she’d been meant for him, that he’d been the one sent to find her. Lily was a beauty, and as strong as they came. But she and Ty were perfectly matched, and Jaden had never seen his old friend so disgustingly happy.



He was glad for them. He should be happy here too, but instead he felt a gnawing ache in his gut. Why couldn’t he just be happy?



Lily frowned suddenly as something occurred to her. “It’s not the Ptolemy again, is it? I’ve got Ty recruiting more guards, but it’s a slower process than I’d like, and the Council seems determined not to help.”



“They’re not helping because they would like you, and all of us, to go away. We don’t belong in the club, Lily. It’s easier for them if the Lilim are smothered in their infancy while they’re turning a blind eye.”



Lily swore softly, making Jaden smile. Such a sweet thing shouldn’t have such a foul vocabulary. He was sure that he and Ty had been bad influences.



“You’re right. I know you’re right,” Lily said, shaking her head. “I didn’t think this would be easy, but I never imagined that the Council would be so…”



“Hostile?” Jaden supplied. “These are men and women who’ve actively participated in the suppression of mixed bloods for centuries. They may not go out of their way to hurt us—most of them—but they certainly won’t help us if we’re sinking.” He leaned back and looked at Lily. She looked very young, and very vulnerable, in that moment. It made him wish he hadn’t just used his dagger on that traitor Nero’s head.



He should have taken Arsinöe that night, and saved all of them this trouble. Whatever Ptolemy might have taken her place, there would be no threat anywhere near as great as the ancient queen. Arsinöe’s grudge wasn’t about her dynasty’s liberated slaves anymore. She’d been humiliated. And she would make the Lilim pay until she was satisfied.



Lily rubbed one hand restlessly over the frayed fabric on the arm of the couch.



“Well, whatever anyone thinks, if we catch any more Ptolemy slinking around here, I swear I’m dragging Arsinöe’s ass before the Council. I may be new, but that doesn’t mean she gets to pick off my people because she’s angry and down a few hundred slaves.”



“I’ve been out looking nights,” Jaden said, “and I haven’t seen anything. It’s been a month since the last sighting. Maybe they’ve knocked it off.”



But he didn’t believe it, and he saw Lily didn’t either.



“I wish you’d stick closer to the house and not go wandering around alone,” Lily said. “I worry.”



He understood her concern, and it touched him. But Ptolemy scouts would keep circling Tipton like the vultures they were, and Cait Sith would keep disappearing, one by one. At some point, there would be another confrontation. He just hoped it wasn’t soon. Lily, powerful though she was, wasn’t ready. And Jaden, though he hadn’t said anything to anyone, was concerned that he’d escaped one prison only to find himself in a more comfortable one of his own making.



The scars they’d left him with were never going to be enough. Was there a list of defectors to be hauled back or destroyed? He would guess there was. Arsinöe was focused about her grudges. And Jaden was quite sure that the Ptolemy queen wanted his death.



It would likely get a lot messier before things settled down.



“I can take care of myself, Lily. You shouldn’t worry. But for what it’s worth, I appreciate the sentiment.”



“I’d rather know you were safe than appreciative,” Lily said, then heaved a frustrated sigh. “I swear the Council wants to see me and Arsinöe in some kind of steel-cage death match and just solve it that way. Two-thousand-year-old bitch.”



Jaden couldn’t help his smile. “I’d pay to see it. My money would be on you.”



“I wish I was as confident about that,” she said with a wry smile. “I never thought this would be easy, but… well, it’s definitely not easy. Anyway, enough of my complaining. I’m glad this isn’t about the Ptolemy.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, and Jaden could actually feel her honing in on him. Inwardly, he cursed. She was like a dog with a bone over things she wanted, or wanted to know.



It was funny when he wasn’t the target.



“Okay, you’ve stumped me. What is it? What’s making you look like you’re staring into the face of impending doom?” She drew the last word out dramatically, trying to soften him up, Jaden knew. But it wasn’t going to work.



“Nothing.” He hedged. “Since when does me wanting to be by myself mean anything’s wrong?”



“Jaden,” Lily said, angling her head at him, “I know you. You have degrees of unapproachable, and you’ve been way above baseline for two nights running. Does this have something to do with that necklace you’re doing a lousy job of hiding?”



Jaden felt his jaw tighten, his muscles tense. She knew. Of course she knew; this was Lily. But how could he talk about it when he didn’t even understand exactly how he felt?



“I’m not hiding it. It’s just… something I found.”



“Uh-huh.” Lily considered him, and he fought the urge to squirm under the scrutiny. She was an unnervingly perceptive creature, and becoming a vampire only seemed to have intensified the fact. “Can I see it?”



“No.”



“Did you find it in the house?”



“No.”



Lily exhaled loudly, her patience with him finally strained. “James Dennis Harrison,” she said irritably. “Just tell me where you got the damned necklace or I’ll come over there and get it. And don’t think I can’t do it.”



Jaden cringed at the sound of his given name and rued the day she’d wheedled it out of him. He’d left that name behind with his old life. Its stodginess had never suited him anyway.



“I don’t remember where I picked it up. Off the ground, I suppose,” Jaden said, his voice taking on a growly edge. When Lily simply arched one slim brow, he hunched reflexively, feeling like a child who’d been caught doing something naughty. She tapped long fingernails on the arm of the couch and waited silently. Jaden was slightly ashamed at how quickly he broke.



“Oh, for the love of—I helped a woman out of a tight spot last night. This got left behind, and I picked it up. Happy now?”



Her knowing smile was almost worse than the prying.



“Oh,” she said. “It’s that kind of brooding. Never mind, then.” She stood, surprising him. He’d figured she would stick around to harass him for a while longer. He found it a sign of how twisted he’d become when he realized he didn’t actually feel like being left alone after all.



“What kind of brooding?” Jaden asked, puzzled. “Do you think you might enlighten me before you wander off? Because I don’t see anything out of the ordinary here.”



Lily rolled her eyes, hand on her hip, looking for a moment like an irritated teenager. “Jaden. Helping out humans isn’t a habit of yours, not that I’ve noticed. So you save this woman, she drops a necklace, I find you sitting up here mooning over it, and you think your rotten mood is… mysterious to me?”