Taken by Moonlight (32 page)

“Which of
you thinks Conall has more right to kinship?”

Conall,
Dominic, and Santiago agreed.

Agar
frowned. “And who of you thinks that no one has a greater right to kinship?”

The three
vampires and Drako voiced their agreement.

“Then it is
settled. Neither Maximilian nor Conall will claim kinship over the witch named
Cassandre. She will be free to choose. As to the matter of the mother, Evelyn,
using the logic that gives the daughter the freedom to choose, it is only
appropriate she be given the same treatment. This matter is declared resolved.”
Agar pinpointed his gaze on Maximilian and Conall. After long moments, he
nodded and stood. “This meeting is adjourned. Thank you for your patience in
resolving this issue. Good evening.” With that, the Elder picked up his folder
and made his way from the room.

When every
Council member except for he and Tiberius had left, Maximilian allowed his
anger to show. His face turned a deep shade of red and his nostrils flared. The
Council was worthless, completely worthless, and this decision reaffirmed his
belief in that. As soon as he resurrected the druids and restored his powers,
he was decimating the Council, and with it, Conall Athelwulf’s entire wolf
pack.

“What are
you going to do?”

Maximilian
turned to Tiberius. He’d confided in the other Grand Wizard some of his plans
for the twins. He hadn’t exposed that they were druids, just powerful witches
with the ability to undo the curse that the druids had put on them. He hadn’t
gone into detail, but it was enough he’d mentioned it. Like him, Tiberius was
aged and surviving only because of the longevity spells he cast on himself. The
Grand Wizard was desperate to have the curse revoked. He also had another
reason for divulging the information to Tiberius: he needed the Grand Wizard to
help him resurrect the druids. He doubted that his power would be enough. No
attempts had worked in the past, and he wasn’t willing to take that chance,
especially as this might very well be his last.

“We’re
going to resort to the original plan. We’ll get them the old way.”

“Trackers?”

Maximilian
pushed himself to his feet and called his cane to his hand. His bones felt
fragile, weak, like an old man’s. He would have to enact a spell to make him
stronger when he returned to his covenant. That thought only made him angrier.
Had he been immortal, this would not have happened.

He began
walking toward the exit. Tiberius followed.

“One
tracker. We’ll use one tracker to find them.” He thought of Max, his stubborn
son. He might have been proud of Max’s resistance to the
treatment
had
he been in someone else’s holding cell, refusing to divulge information about
his father and his covenant. He’d never seen a creature—witch, vampire, or
werewolf—last more than three days against the convincing techniques of his
specialty trackers. “He’ll lead us directly to them.”

Tiberius
nodded.

“Athelwulf’s
pack will declare war on us. The wolves will probably join him.”

“Let them,”
Maximilian replied with a sinister smile. “By that time, our race will be
restored to its former glory. If the wolves want a war, we’ll gladly indulge
them.”

Vivienne
couldn’t help the nervousness spiraling through her body as she waited for
Conall to return. He’d told her about the council meeting, and Evelyn had
helped to explain exactly what that was. Still, as Max had been taken to God
only knew where, and Conall had left Raoul and three others to “wait” with her,
she had the feeling the meeting was more dangerous than he made it seem. She
was still very new to this whole…druid business, but instinct told her he’d
hidden something from her. He’d said the meeting was routine, that it shouldn’t
last more than an hour, but that had been it. He hadn’t mentioned why the
meeting had been called. All she knew was that it was scheduled for six, and it
was now after eight. Where was he?

She pushed
off of the sofa in the living room and headed for the front door. Either Raoul
or one of the men Conall had left would be on the porch. She’d just have a
quick peek outside….

“Vivienne.”
Her mother’s voice was sharp, and Vivienne stopped and glanced toward the
staircase. “Please, stay inside,
ma chère
.”

This wasn’t
the first time Evelyn had appeared before she could poke her head out of the
door. Glaring up at her mother, she released a frustrated sigh and ran a hand
over her hair. Evelyn came down the stairs quickly.

“Cassandre
is awake. She’s asking for you.”

Vivienne
nodded and cast a futile look to the front door. She’d spoken to Cassie
sparsely throughout the day. After fainting last night, her sister had slept
until mid-morning, and as soon as she’d awoken, Evelyn had been with her. She
had spent most of the day comforting Drew, who’d gone to sleep in hysterics and
had awoken with the same. She too was terrified about what could be happening
to Max, but she held on to the vain hope that a father wouldn’t do anything to
hurt his son. Even if the father was the one who was trying to hurt her and
Cassie.

She entered
Cassie’s room much as she had in the years that they’d lived in the house, with
a rapid knock followed by immediate entrance. Her sister was seated
cross-legged atop her bed, a pillow at her back, and the book of spells before
her.

As soon as
she saw her, Cassie smiled and quipped, “So, it’s one of two things. Either I’m
not crazy at all, and that eco-friendly padded cell is just going to have to
wait, or we have a history of madness in our family, and we’ll be upping that
order by at least two.”

Vivienne
grinned and took a seat at the edge of the bed. Cassie looked tired, with faint
circles under her eyes, but she was no longer pasty and wild-eyed. She’d
changed into comfortable clothing—a plain blue T-shirt and pajama bottoms, and
her hair, like Vivienne’s, was pulled into a messy bun.

“You swear
you didn’t know anything about this before now?” Cassie asked, staring
intensely into Vivienne’s eyes.

“No clue.”

“Interesting,”
Cassie murmured and then her eyes narrowed in the way that alerted Vivienne
that her twin had something to say and was contemplating whether or not to say it.

“What?”

“I think I
have a vague memory of Mom teaching us to pray when we younger. Except Mom’s
not that religious and she wasn’t praying in English. It’s really fuzzy anyway
and I always thought it was a strange dream I’d had. After everything I just
learned, it probably did happen. I mean, I just found out that I’m a druid,
you’re a druid, Mom’s a witch, and our house is being patrolled by werewolves.
I mean, this is like a crazy cross-over episode of
Wolf
Lake
and
Charmed
.” She broke off and then fingered the book of spells once more. A
little smile touched her lips. “I think I always knew something was off with
us—well me, anyway. You weren’t as peculiar.” When Vivienne lifted a brow,
Cassie continued in an exasperated voice, “It makes sense, Viv. I’m a certified
freak of nature. No, don’t say anything, I’ve accepted it so it doesn’t offend
me anymore. Plus, it’s got a certain ring to it. I love everything about the
outdoors. Druids are earthy creatures, right? At least, that’s what my college
professor told me.” She smirked and rolled her eyes.

Vivienne
chuckled and shook her head. “Your professor might have gotten some of his
facts wrong, Cass.”

Cassie
smiled and added, “Knowing Khan, the facts were all made up. I still think he
bought that Harvard degree on eBay.” They both laughed and Cassie reached for
Vivienne’s hand.

“So, who’s
the hunk, where’d you meet him, and where’d he go?” Cassandre asked with a
lifted brow.

Because
Evelyn had commandeered Cassie’s time for most of the day, she hadn’t seen much
of Conall or anyone else. Vivienne thought hard of how to explain Conall to
Cassie and decided to say what she knew and felt. If anyone would understand,
it would be her twin.

“Conall’s a
werewolf….” She paused, expecting a gasp of shock or a lifted brow or a
question but Cassie just sat there with her eyes trained expectantly on her
twin. Vivienne had forgotten Cassie wasn’t one for hysterics. Last night had
been an anomaly. “…and he says that he’s my mate. I don’t know what that really
means. I feel like I’ve known him for much longer than I actually have. I met
him when we went camping. Do you remember? When I disappeared after being
chased by that wolf. That was his nephew. They were there with…his pack I
guess. Anyway, he brought me back.” Cassie’s eyes widened slightly. “Cass, I
don’t know. It’s like he’s inside me.” Vivienne blushed and lowered her eyes as
she thought of the double meaning of that phrase. “I can’t explain it better. I
feel like I need him, and it confuses me, but at the same time, I understand
it. It’s complicated.”

When she
looked up at her sister, Cassie was staring at her with that curious,
I-intend-to-figure-it-out expression she usually wore. She inched closer to
Vivienne and asked, “So, he’s a werewolf, and you’re a druid, but you’re his
mate?”

She nodded
slowly. She really had to sit down with Conall and have him explain to her what
it meant to be a mate. He’d given her the whole ‘I belong to you, you belong to
me’ speech, but what did that mean?

Cassie
stared long and hard, before a large grin split her lips and she tilted her
head to the side. “Do all werewolves look like him, and does he have a twin?”

Vivienne
rolled her eyes, laughed and shook her head. “Cass!”

“I’m just
asking. Who knows? They might. He might.”

Conall
returned to Vivienne’s house slightly after ten. He’d made a quick stop back to
Cedar Creek to drop Sloan off. Although he wanted to return, he wouldn’t be
doing so tonight. He wanted to bring Vivienne to his home during the day, when
all of the pack was awake, and could get a good look at her. He refused to
bring her in the night to have Brennus or Gresham start rumors that he was
sneaking her in. He had nothing to be ashamed of, especially not his druid
mate, and the sooner the pack figured that out, the better for everyone.

Raoul was
the first to approach him as he came out of the SUV. His beta took one look at
his face, and said, “I’m guessing it went well?”

Conall
nodded, and knowing that Raoul wanted an explanation, added, “Cronin called the
meeting to claim kinship over Vivienne and Cassandre.”

A frown
touched Raoul’s lips but he waited for his alpha to finish. Conall explained
the rest quickly, and Raoul flashed a smile. “No wonder you look
so…approachable.”

He passed
his beta a deep scowl that only made Raoul smile more.

“So what
are we doing? Do you want us to stay and keep watch tonight or are we returning
to the city?”

“Stay.
Cronin was convinced he was going to be awarded kinship tonight. He isn’t going
to give up just because I thwarted his plans.” He’d seen it in the way that
Cronin had looked at him as the Council voted, like it meant absolutely
nothing. “We’ll leave for Cedar Creek in the morning.” He was making his way to
the door when he paused and looked back to Raoul. His beta lifted a brow. “Did
you all eat?” With their fast metabolisms and bigger bodies,
weres
had
ravenous appetites.

Raoul
nodded emphatically. “This house is overrun with good food. Plus, Evelyn’s a
great cook. I was thinking of moving in, offering her my protective services in
exchange for….”

Conall
continued to the door. He was anxious to see Vivienne, but he was also nervous
about what might happen, with the state he was in. After taking a few deep
breaths, and willing his wolf to be at ease, he pushed the front door open and
scented his mate out.

After her
conversation with her sister, Vivienne had checked on Drew, who’d been quietly
lying in her bed and hadn’t wanted company, before deciding on a long, warm
shower. She spent over a half an hour under the spray of water. By the time she
was finished, she was relaxed enough to lie still, and wait for Conall. She’d
just entered her room, towel secured snugly around her body, when the door knob
twisted, and Conall walked in. His leather jacket was partially open, as if
he’d unzipped it as he made his way to her room, and his boots were still on.
Today, he was dressed in the look she’d come to associate with him. Jeans,
leather jacket, and a T-shirt.

Feeling her
heart begin a rapid thumping in her chest, Vivienne fingered the top of the
towel. “How’d it go?”

“Good.” His
reply was immediate. He shrugged out of the jacket and draped it over one of
the chairs in her room.

She
swallowed audibly, positive he could hear the pounding of her heart. Vivienne
almost rolled her eyes. Of course he could hear it. He was a werewolf, with
heightened senses, and all that stuff.

A smile
curved his lips and she knew he’d just read her thoughts. He took a seat,
positively dominating her chair, and undid the laces of his boots. Licking her
lips, Vivienne moved toward her closet and pulled the door open. It shielded
her body from his gaze as she quickly undid the towel, and pulled a large
T-shirt over her head.