SWNOVELS Chapter 121: Varro's Visit
“If you are satisfied with the terms of the treaty then there's no need to delay in signing it. I came here with the support of my coven, and this will put an end to two decades of unrest.” My father sits back in his chair across the table and smiles somewhat eerily. I think it's meant to translate to warm and kind but with his eternally stiff and frosty aura, it's not.
“Finally, we get to know what peace is. Something I barely remember in my lifetime.” Colton lays the pen on top of it and slides the document to me. I don't need to read it if he has and approved, so I quickly scrawl my name on the bottom and slide it towards Varro. It seems such a minor act for such a huge outcome. My feelings seem somewhat understated considering this is such a huge thing and I guess it hasn't sunk in yet.
“Now all the formalities are out of the way. I was hoping on some time to get to know my daughter.” Varro shifts forward slightly, that pointy tooth smile that makes me uneasy and eyeballs me directly. The mood of our topic changing, and he seems instantly softer.
“What did you have planned exactly?” I ask somewhat warily.
“A walk around your grounds?”
“Just the two of us, or...?"
Colton's gaze lands pointedly on the side of my face and the instant change in his stable mood sparks through my body like an electric volt. He perks up and the intense “hell no’ hissed in my internal mate link makes me jump visibly so that I cough to try and cover it. Colton is still a firm believer that Varro has a long way to go before he can begin to think about us trusting him. Being left alone with him is not going to happen anytime soon, even if I feel no threat coming from him. Colton still has many reservations about vampires.
“I don't think your mate is all that enamored with that idea. Maybe a stroll, with him and his guards wandering a little behind us. So we can talk, without the presence of others.”
“Four feet...” Colton breaks in without hesitation
“Ten at a minimum is a little more realistic" Varro smoothly fires back. Stubborn and unfazed. “Five!” A snarl this time as Colton’s temper rises at the haggling. When it comes to me, he doesn't like to be undermined.
"How about we just see what feels natural and if I need you closer, I can easily wave or link. I truly do not see how a few feet makes a difference given you can jump that in the blink of an eye.” I point out sternly, giving my mate that “please back off’ eyebrow raise. He never knows how to tone down the overly aggressive borderline controlling tone when he gets all protective. I don't want this somewhat peaceful meeting to turn sour. We need to show a modicum of trust here.
“Fine, but only you, Varro. None of your shadow men you left standing in the hall are to accompany you. And I follow with my second in command and the two Luna guards who follow her at all times.” I inwardly sigh knowing there's not a chance of negotiating with him as he thumbs my way with that glowering frown going on. He's been ten times worse since my pregnancy bump started to show a little in the last few days. I'm growing fast now life has calmed down and I can spend my days eating and resting to my heart's content while my pack restore two homes for the later splitting up of the pack.
Lychens don't carry their young for the same term as humans and we birth our pups after half a year. That means I just hit the phase where I will expand like crazy and experience the biggest changes to my body. It's important that in this time I step back, take it easy and prepare for what's coming.
“Dear boy, I appreciate your love and need to guard your mate, but I am her biological father and started wars in the name of her and her mother. If anyone is going to hurt her, it's not going to be me.” He raises his brow quizzically.
"He does have a point.” I try to soothe Colton’s way and meet only a cold glare as he locks on my face. That no nonsense, I won't relent, look.
“If you have no ill intentions then what's the issue with us following at a reasonable distance?”
“I second that.” Meadow's voice waves our way from the far corner of the room where she had been silently standing all this time as guard and observer. I know she had been itching to say something but held her tongue as long as she could. I cast her a “please don't’ grimace and she frowns straight back at me with a shrug.
“Can you both have a little faith in me, my judgement, abilities, and the sincerity of my father's peace treaty. He came all this way and kept true to his word about bringing no more than his immediate escorts. He brought the treaty and we have had nothing but peace and tranquility for the past weeks. I am sure a walk unaccompanied is just fine.” I stand up and brush down my loose fitted dress, making a point that as Luna I should still have say. Making it clear they won't be stopping me. They have both been cotton wool wrapping me ever since we returned here after that fateful night of turning Juan over to Varro and it's a little frustrating at times.
“Lor...” Colton starts again but I cut him off.
“I'm not asking, I'm telling.” I grind it out, that superior no nonsense tone of standing up to Colton and he looks instantly wounded. His expression crumbles a little. The puppy eyes and reversion to young boy almost breaks my stubborn down and that pang in my chest that I have hurt my boy's feelings.
He knows this side of me too well. The “I've had enough and want to decide for myself’. He still hasn't ever gotten used to the fact he is not the “be all and end all’ in my world at all times. I sometimes have a mind of my own.
“It's just...” Meadow starts and I snap around to glare at it, cutting her off instantly. She should know better than to take sides in any conversation between me and my mate.
“I'm pregnant, not a child. I can still make decisions for myself as Luna. I can still throw a vampire fifty feet across a room with the flick of my wrist if needs be. I doubt Varro here is going to do anything worthy of testing my abilities.” It's curt, to the point and making it obvious I am losing patience.
“Fine. You stay where we can see you on the security camera's and I still follow your path at a distance.”
"Whatever..." I sigh, knowing he will never relent but this is good enough.
“Shall we?” Varro seems amused with this entire interaction and not at all offended or displeased given we are outwardly questioning his motives. He doesn't hesitate in getting up and heading for the end of the table, reaching out his arm in a gentlemanly manner and offering it to me. Rather grandly and I wonder if it's to annoy my mate while putting him in his place. He's old fashioned for sure but I guess being centuries old or more will do that.
I move swiftly, aware of the tense stares and poised aggressive stance of my unamused mate and best friend and ignore their reservations. I feel odd about linking my arm through his, aware my mate doesn't like it one bit, but this is my biological dad. It's no different to him holding onto Sierra. It's such a strangely intimate act for someone who is a stranger to me, yet the physical contact seems instantly familiar. I cant explain it, but the second my limb entwines with his, I suddenly experience calm, quiet, like going home and I'm back in the years of holding my mother's hand as though it was only yesterday. It gives me an odd sense of painful emotion and brings tears to my eyes that this relative stranger can conjure up this intense awareness that we are bonded by blood. We walk on, aware of the following Lychans and I try and put them out of mind as we make our way to the hall and out into the open space of a beautifully sunny day. It seems like everything we endured these past months is in another time and place. An almost forgotten memory. Surrounded by calm tranquil beauty of this forest dwelling manor and the peaceful joy of a bright day, filled with birds and the rustle of trees. It seems like a far-off dream, and I don't think back then I could ever imagine taking a stroll with the high lord of vampires.
“I know this is awkward and it will take time for you to feel at ease with me, but I cannot get over how much this feels like Marina is here with me in spirit. I feel like I already know you. You look alike, yet don't. There's something of her about you, in the best way. She would be proud of the woman you have become, Alora. Proud of what you have achieved among these Lychans.”
His words catch me off guard as we make our way towards the tree line at a leisurely pace. Tugging at my heart and yet further putting me at ease in his presence. He's a complex person and as I walk in time, almost perfectly matched, I wonder how many layers there are to these creatures I used to only think of as murderous blood suckers.
“My memories of her are slowly fading away and I can barely recall her face anymore. I forget what her voice sounds like. It feels like it's been longer than ten years since she was last by my side, and I miss her still.”
I'm close. If you need me then I'm here.
Colton’s mind link distracts me momentarily, and I automatically glance behind me to see the lurking figure of my mate keeping his distance but not losing sight of us. Further back are the two Luna's guard and Meadow. I smile without thought at how much he still loves and protects me fiercely and catch Varro focusing on my face.
“You picked someone that your mother would approve of. He's headstrong, a little cocky, and infuriatingly bossy, but he loves you and would die for you. I can see that about him. He puts you above everything else. A true born Alpha.” He nods the obvious compliment Colton’s way and gets a narrowed amber glare right back.
"He's the other half of my soul, even when he’s being this feral, although I didn't pick him. The fates did. I should thank them for their good judgement.” I point out with a cutesy smile, being funny, and turn back towards our destination. Relaxing in the company of this strange man. This unplanned conversation is I guess how one gets to know someone and build something. Letting words flow naturally and picking at topics that come at us without force. I don't feel guarded at all. "Ah, your Fates. Destiny...whatever you want to call it. I believe that the choosing and imprinting is not an outside force, but comes from within when two of your kind are ready to be together. I believe all creatures have a hand in their own path and are steered by biology of nature. *
“You're saying I subconsciously chose him?” I laugh at that interpretation of what our kind does and has done for centuries. I doubt I had any part in what happened the night of my Awakening ceremony.
“I believe destined mates started as one being, a long time ago, before nature split us apart for whatever reason. That there is something inside of you that craves and searches for it until the two are ready to be united. Vampires believe in kindreds, or twin flames; it's a similar idea. We don't imprint but we can find the other half to our soul, although it's very rare. We call it Sacrorum, which means coming together as one. I wanted your mother to be that for me, but she sadly never was. Her destined one was a Lychan, despite her bloodline.”
The sadness in his voice and the still evident pain of losing my mother in love and life makes me instantly somber. Until this moment I truly never believed vampires could really love the way we do, but it's written all over him and I feel sorry that my mother left him in that way. My empathy kicking up for what if eel was true devotion on his side of things.
“Have you never found another after her? Do you have a mate back where you are from now?" I query, intrigued by the differences yet similarities between our species. Wanting so badly for the answer to be yes as I feed from the loneliness of his soul and pick up on subtle hints that he truly craves what I have with Colton. I want him not to still be tortured by her absence. It makes me look at him in a whole other light and suddenly understand why he raged wars with the loss of his love and child.
“I have lovers, but never have I found the other half to my soul. Not all vampires are blessed to ever find them, yet we are physical creatures and will pass the time with many playthings instead of yearning for it.” He smirks, the hints of that sadness wiping away instantly and are pushed behind a dark wall away from plain sight. Something I guess he has perfected all these years. Hiding away his true feelings.
I hold onto the fragments though, in my heart, and swallow them down to nurture in a place where real affection may be able to grow for this bizarre creature. He seemed human for a moment and the glimpses of a heart capable of true feeling give me hope that one day I will love him as a father. "Maybe your other half isn't a Vampire, or a Lychan. Maybe she’s something else and only geography has kept you apart.” I try for comfort and get a strange smile thrown my way
“It's not really my priority anymore. I have two grandchildren coming my way, a daughter to get to know, and a throne to slide into. My future is going to be busy and fulfilling as we work into a time of peace between our two kinds. Finally. We have a lot of ground to cover.” He pats my hand that's tucked into his elbow and leads the way slowly, watching the ground for debris that might trip me and guiding me around small rocks carefully.
“Surely you can have all that and a person to love?” I nudge him, brave with the way our conversation has turned warm and almost intimate, and I marvel at how quickly I am at ease with him. As though somehow the bond in our DNA is a potent magic that is breaking down the barriers quicker than I could have imagined. This conversation is deeper than I expected to have the first time we were alone.
“I'm going to have three demanding women to spoil in my life soon enough. I don't need anymore to split my attentions.” He looks up towards the sky at the bright sun and my brain grabs at his calculation with inquisitiveness.
“Three?” I query.
"Hmmmm..... yes, you, and my granddaughters!” He absentmindedly responds and reaches out to brush away low hanging branches that are in line of where I am walking. Oblivious to my startled expression. I am too shocked to pay attention to how attentive and considerate he is being.
"Wait, what? How do you know they are girls?” I stop abruptly, tugging his arm so he’s forced to bring his attention back to me and gawp at him, with a hammering heart pounding in my ribcage. I mean, I had slight gut feelings about what I was carrying but if he knows for certain, then I don’t know how to feel. How could he know? Can vampires tell?
“Well, the witch told me of course..... Two very precious little girls who will have something of an interesting future. Dawn of something bigger than us.” He winks and then lightly pats my abdomen in a paternal way, his face breaking with a genuine smile.
I can’t formulate words as it sinks down that if it came from Leyanne then possibility it's certain. That I just had it confirmed that I will be a mother to two daughters.
“I'm having girls!” I utter mostly to myself and then break into a heartfelt smile as the feeling of warmth overtakes me. The knowledge that I might have what I did with my own mother, but in duplicate. Suddenly filled to bursting with this effervescent joy that springs up from deep down. "Yes, it seems the future of our combined worlds lies in the hands of femmes.... I wonder if they will also be white wolves?” His words stop me in my gleeful grinning as though being splashed with icy water and the smile slips form my face. His words hitting me in the heart like a stabbing spike.
A strange feeling comes over me as the prophecy that ended my mother's life swirls around my brain and Leyanne's words of long ago come at me. That I was never the prophesized wolf. Neither was my mother.
My purpose was to use love to nurture a change. I wasn't the warrior, and neither was she.
I feel sick with the knowledge that maybe the white femme of the legend has yet to be born, and that by love, she meant my birthing the first tribrids of our time. The possibility that one of theses innocent babes has yet to meet a destiny that was written long before my mother was born
I cover my belly with dread at what I don't know the future holds and the vast possibility of things to come that might need a prophecy fulfilment.00