The Devil's Wolf

The vampires were entrenched in the front room when she passed, and although she met Elior's eyes, he was talking on a phone. Unhappily from his body language. She sighed as she climbed the stairs. If Elior's body language was any guide, the state of the world was bad. They had rearranged the furniture in the room, creating a workspace where Rebecca had Ashlynn's father's laptop open, and a space for recording social media posts, against the bookcases. Any family photos which had been on display had been removed and stacked against the wall, so as not to identify where Elior was.

Ashlynn wondered what her parents thought of the vampire's renovations, they were, like most werewolves, so particular about their home.

She took the stairs carefully avoiding the creaks, not wanting to interrupt the hard-at-work vampires.

Cael was sulking on the bed when Ashlynn entered. He looked uncomfortable in her father's clothes, Ashlynn thought with amusement. Her father's style, like her own, ran to jeans and joggers, and Cael was definitely not a jeans sort of guy. She was not actually entirely sure what type of clothing the winged man would prefer, she realized. Definitely not a suit man, like her vampire. And not a jeans man, either, from the Iway he wore them.

He did, however, look incredibly sexy, his shirt riding up to show an expanse of bronze skin and muscle above the denim waist band of the jeans, and his blonde curls in his eyes, as he flicked through... "That is just f-king rude, Cael," she snatched her diary away from him.

He smirked. "Does Elior know about this Archer? I imagine our vampire will rip his head off if he finds out who deflowered you in the back of a Ute and then tried to drown you in the bathtub in order to turn you."

"This is an old diary," she shoved it into a drawer, and took a pile of old magazines out from the bookcase, dropping them onto the bed in front of him. "Archer is mated, with two cubs and probably another on the way.

"No Elior does not know about him, because it has not come up in conversation, but I expect he won't be particularly bothered by who I have f-ked in the past, as long as I am not f-king them now. But I am," she paused in the bathroom door. "Proud of you for calling him our vampire. That is progress. Read the magazines, if you must read something. No more pawing through my diaries."

"There is more than one?" His eyes lit up evilly and she did not doubt that the moment she closed the bathroom door, he would be digging through the bookcase in search of the others.

"Cael," she shot him daggers. "Don't make me pluck you like a roast chicken."

"Why does everyone threaten me with that?" He muttered and opened a magazine.

She breathed out a sigh of relief and closed the bathroom door.

She took her time in the shower, trying to ease the uncomfortable knot in her stomach by belting her body with hot water. She had been careless to not use protection with Cael, her focus being on seducing and securing him as her mate, not on the repercussions of doing so, and forgetting that just because Elior and she could have unprotected sex, being infertile together, the same did not apply to the devil.

What had happened was in the past, she decided. She would get her hands on some condoms, and just hope that Cael had not hit the target in the interim.

There were other more pressing concerns however, and she began a list of them as she waited for the mirror to defog and rubbed a towel through her hair.

There was an illusion of safety having reached the pack lands, but it was illusion only. Pack lands had not stopped the vampires from attacking during Armageddon, after all. Sooner or later, someone would work out where Elior was. As her mother had said, it was not the first time Elior had sought shelter in a wolf's den so they were bound to seek him there, and in his current position as a fugitive, Elior's authority would not act as a shield to prevent vampires' from seeking to take the font, either.

It was inevitable that Elior's enemies would bring their trouble to her family's doorstep.

She might not have a wolf, but she had been raised by them, and the instinct to protect pack and mate was strongly instilled in her. She needed to protect Elior, and prevent the vampires from bringing the battle back onto pack territory. The pack was still recovering from its losses twenty years before.

"We need to find and kill the vampires who are rising against Elior," she said to Cael as she stepped out into the bedroom. "We need to return Elior to power amongst the vampire community, and we need to stop the humans from warring against the vampires before Elior is forced to use vampire military resources against humans."

"Alright," Cael turned the page of the magazine he was reading. "I cannot believe that she married him," he sneered at a picture before lifting his eyes to her. "You need to get some clothes on before we can go anywhere. And I am hungry."

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"We are going to need some spell components." She pulled on a pair of black jeans and shoved her feet into steel capped boots. "Luckily I know a person who owns a magic shop."

In the open plan kitchen and informal living area, they fount Nate watching the TV, a shopping channel she noted with amusement and wondered just what gadget might catch the vampire's eyes. He had glanced at her and Cael when they entered with disinterest, before returning his eyes to the screen, and hadn't moved since.

His presence reminded her of his unexpected talent with needles. If she and Cael failed to find the vampire traitor, and trouble came to pack lands, Elior's children would be both his and her parent's protection. It made sense, therefore, for them to be as strong as possible.

"Hey, Nate," she narrowed her eyes as she put her dishes into the dishwasher. "Got your little kit of sharp things and baggies still?"

"Why?" He did not look at her. The TV was demonstrating magnetic eyelashes, so she doubted he found it as fascinating as he appeared to do.

"With everything going on, I think it might be a good idea to put aside a bit of a stock, don't you?" She suggested. "Maybe get a bit of my mum's blood bagged and in the fridge?"

He turned his head. "I guess if the font is willing, I could do that," he agreed as if doing her a favor. "But, why not your blood?" He had the stillness of a predator.

"I am not really the font. Mum's is better, right? Stronger. The real deal. I am the diet version, less calories, not quite the same taste."

"Elior would prefer your blood." Nate rose to standing, his eyes narrowed. He was wearing her father's clothing, she noted, and wondered if her dad would have anything left to wear after the vampires departed. "The only reason you would suggest your mother over yourself would be if you were anticipating being unavailable for a time. What are you planning, mate of my father?"

Cael rolled his eyes at her. "You had to try to be clever," he said. "And could not just keep your mouth shut."

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"You are not helping." She evaluated Nate. "I am going to get supplies from a warlock I know and maybe reach out to some Other world contacts I have, and then I was planning on dangling myself as bait in Vampire Square to see who bites." "And how were you planning on doing this without becoming a blood slave?" Nate's question wasn't facetious, he was genuinely intrigued.

Cael bared his teeth. "That would be me."

Nate raised a dubious eyebrow. "And what do you hope to prove by offering yourself as bait?"

"I figure I must smell enough like Elior now that anyone loyal to him will avoid me out of respect, which means anyone who does try to take me, must be against him."

"Presuming they don't identify you as a font, those loyal to Elior may avoid you," Nate conceded. "However, if word has spread, or they recognize you as being the offspring of the font and her wolf, you may be too great a temptation for any to resist. No," he decided. "What you propose is foolhardy. Your blood is too valuable to our enemy. You need to stay here where we can protect you."

"I have finished eating," Cael announced, standing, and flicked his hand at Nate, wrapping the vampire in energy cords, and sucking him up to the ceiling where he writhed like a fly caught in a spider web."We should go," Cael took Ashlynn's hand. "That will hold him for a little while, but not forever."

"Someone will come in and notice him stuck to the roof," Ashlynn told him as they returned up the stairs.

"We will be long gone by then," Cael was not concerned.