The Power Of The Bite (10 page)

Chapter Eleven

Zane would have been more than happy to stay curled up with his mate in bed for the rest of his life. But he’d been woken up by the sounds of others in his house. As he knew the only people that would let themselves in, and have no problem making any noise while they did it were his friends, he knew he had to make an appearance. It was the polite thing to do. Dax looked more relaxed in sleep than he had the night before. Zane hoped that their extensive lovemaking when they’d gotten home had contributed to that. He wiggled out of Dax’s strong embrace, took care of himself in the bathroom, and clad only in a pair of camo pants, headed into the kitchen area where he could smell the delicious scent of fried bacon.

Sure enough, as he rounded the corner into the kitchen, he could see that Van was on cooking duties while Royce, Seb and Broz were all arguing over the table, a huge map spread out between them. Ignoring them for the moment, he smirked at Van, grabbing the biggest cup he could find. He had a strong feeling that he was going to need an injection of caffeine to get him through the morning.

“That wolf shifter looks good on you,” Van said with a wink, as he plated up some food, and cracked more eggs into the pan. Zane winked back. He knew exactly what his friend meant. He hadn’t felt so rested, or powerful in years and it was a heady feeling.

“Hey, sleepyhead, come see what we’ve found out. I don’t know why we hadn’t thought to investigate any of this before.” Broz seemed excited about something and that was always good news. Zane sat down in the nearest seat and looked at the map. It was a complete map of the township and surrounding area, and Seb had been drawing lines on it.

“We’ve been doing some thinking,” Broz explained when Zane just looked at him in askance. “About the old vampire coven that used to be here and the pack’s territory lines.”

“I imagine the pack took over the territory when the vampires left.” Zane took a long sip of his black brew. Damn, Van could visit anytime. He certainly knew how to make a decent pot of coffee.

“That’s what we assumed as well, but apparently the Council doesn’t allow that sort of thing. Something to do with trying to prevent territory takeovers by stronger predatory paranormals infringing on the rights of smaller prey animals. Anyway, the same thing applies with a shifter/vampire situation. The pack could not, and did not run the vampires out of town. When the leader went crazy and eventually died, his coven left the area apparently unwilling to put up with any possible problems with the pack. I had a chat to a Council member this morning - oh, and I passed on Dax’s pledge to remove himself from wolf pack territory within seven days. The Council congratulates you and seems pleased with your mating. That’s how this whole conversation came up.” Royce, usually so quiet, seemed quite excited himself. Zane thanked him for helping out Dax, but waved at the man to continue.

“Anyhow, back in colonial days when Portrain was first settled, the vampires were here first, having come in from Europe. The wolves arrived later, and when the Alpha at the time realized the coven leader was his mate, the two men decided to set up adjacent territories so that they could try and work things out. Of course, we all know that went down like a lead balloon, but the territory lines were already lodged with the Council, and because vampires had first claim on this whole town, the pack’s territory lines have never changed. You can see for yourself. The pack territory line runs right down Main Street. That area was gifted to the wolves, by the vampires.”

Zane looked at the map closely. The original leaders had been really clever, and fair. Despite the growth that had occurred since, the town was still evenly divided, with the pack house and forest areas on one side, and the previous coven leader’s home and the industrial side of town on the other. He peered a bit closer and then looked up at Royce and then Seb, who’d drawn the lines so meticulously based on a map he had on his phone, probably from the Council.

“Dax’s club isn’t in pack territory?”

“Nope, so there is no reason why he has to sell it or leave town.”

“This is all brilliant in theory, but if these lines had never been changed then how come we all live within a four block radius of each other in pack territory. We could have lived anywhere on the south or west side of town and been well within our rights to do it.”

“Because we all assumed what it seems everybody else did – that the pack ran the town, the
whole
town. I never went to the Council about this because I already knew the pack was in place. It was Van digging into the area’s history that had us questioning what was going on. I went to see Nathaniel when I wanted to relocate here, not the Council. Nathaniel told me that this was a pack run town, and that we could have four blocks as a living area, provided we didn’t cause any problems with shifters or humans. I assumed he was concerned about any encroachment on his territory like any wolf shifter would be, and accepted his conditions.”

“So he may not even know about the vampire’s right to half the town,” Zane said thoughtfully. “What you’re saying is that technically Nathaniel had no right, under our council law, to prevent any previous attempts at buying the old coven house by vampires, or any of the investment efforts your friends might have made in the past, provided they were on the west or south sides of town.”

“That’s right.” Royce thumped the table for emphasis. “The efforts were stopped because there are three wolves on the local human council, out of five members, which was why we could never get anything approved. None of this has ever been taken to our own council. Nathaniel has no right to have the sort of influence that he does in local matters either, at least according to the paranormal council member I spoke to. This town is mostly populated by humans, and wolves having a majority vote on a local council smacks of some kind of dictatorship which our council works hard to avoid."

“Again, this is all very good in theory,” Zane admitted, still thinking about the ramifications of what he’d just learned. Did Nathaniel know that he didn’t have a right to the whole town, or was he as in the dark about things as Broz had apparently been? “The thing is, what do we plan to do about it now? Will the paranormal council allow us to set up a formal coven in the previous territory?” It had been a freaking long time since he’d been part of a formal coven, but if it was being run by Broz then he wouldn’t have any problems with it. There was security in numbers, something Dax would need once he broke from the pack.

“All of the previous coven members who were associated with Portrain have since joined other covens, so they no longer have any claim on what might happen in this territory. The coven leader had no heirs when he died. But given how remote Portrain is to any major city or population base, while other vampires were keen to invest here, there weren’t that many that wanted to live here permanently. With no coven structure in place, well, you know most of our kind like to be associated with some kind of group, even loosely. We ex-military men seem to be the exception. I had friends approach me when they knew we were living here, but we’d never thought about setting up a coven either – especially not on a four block space in a town run by a pack.” Van looked a little embarrassed at saying so much but he made some good points.

“Is that what you’re planning to do, actually set up a coven within an already established vampire territory area?” Zane was asking Broz, because he had always seen Broz as the leadership type. The man had always ranked above him in the military, and it was second nature for Zane to follow him in civilian life.

“Our council is all in favor of it, given how the pack has kinda taken over what was vampire land without even attempting to find out if they were allowed to. You know how the council is all about fairness to all paranormals and apparently Nathaniel doesn’t even allow other types of shifters to live in this town. I think the council are hoping we can redress the balance a bit. More importantly, it would mean you and Dax wouldn’t actually have to leave town at all. You could keep working with the police, or for me. Dax could still run his club, and we could all move out of these shoebox houses and actually create somewhere decent to live.”

“I have a feeling when my mate was talking about leaving here, he was thinking a bit further than two blocks south of his pack. I’d have to talk to Dax about it.”

“Talk to me about what, babe. Oh, hey guys. Any spare breakfast going?” Dax stumbled in, still looking half asleep. He’d managed to pull on a pair of jeans, and from the quick kiss he gave Zane as he went past, as he headed straight for the coffee, Zane knew Dax had taken the time to brush his teeth. But his hair was still sticking up at all angles, which reminded Zane of the bed his delicious man had just climbed out of. Maybe they could take a nap later? Or sooner if possible. After being without for so long, Zane craved the feeling of Dax’s body against his. Clothed or naked, he wasn’t fussy.

Van grabbed coffee for Dax, and a plate of food which had been warming in the oven. Zane looked down at the plate he’d forgotten he had. He wasn’t a fan of cold eggs, but cooked bacon was fine no matter what the temperature. He made himself a bacon sandwich with some of the spare toast Van had left on the table, while Broz and Royce filled Dax in on what they’d learned.

/~/~/~/~/

“Well that bit of information puts things into a new light,” Dax said, after he’d heard all that Broz and Royce had to say. They had certainly been busy while he and Zane had been sleeping, and Dax was pleased his mandatory seven days to leave the area had been approved and was lodged with the paranormal council. His father wouldn’t touch him if he thought he could get into trouble for it. But honestly, his head was still swimming a bit from all of the drama from the previous night, and the passion that he’d shared with Zane when they got home. It seems his vampire was more than capable of helping him to switch his brain off for a while – so much so, it was a bit difficult to kick start it back up again.

“How do you mean?” All of the vampires around the table were looking at him, and he took a hefty mouthful of his breakfast while he tried to remember what he’d been thinking. Oh yes. “My father has always treated this town as if he ran all of it, that much is true. Whether he knew he was allowed to or not, I don’t know. But thinking back on it now, I think he did know about the division through town. You guys mentioned the other day about how the town is in desperate need of some outside investment. If you think about the empty shops on Main Street for example, they are nearly all on the same side of the road as my club. Dad wasn’t happy when I bought it, but I didn’t tell him until after the papers were signed. And you look at the difference between schools on one side of town and then the other. Roads, garbage disposal, the entire town infrastructure. Most of the money and resources were being poured into what we now know is the pack side of town. Father always said it was because there wasn’t enough resources to keep the entire town happy, so he concentrated on those areas closest to the pack house.”

“That’s hardly fair on the humans who live on the south side of town,” Seb grumbled. “And what I don’t understand is, if Nathaniel already knew that he actually only ran half of the town, why is there three shifters on the local council, and why did Broz get told he had to live in these four blocks. We are as close to the pack house as you can get without parking on his front lawn.”

“He’s keeping his enemies close,” Dax said. “I remember when you first came to town, Broz. Father wasn’t happy. But it wasn’t because of you initially. Father had just been warned by our council for not allowing a family of cougars to live in the area. They needed access to the hospital because of one of their kids. Nathaniel wouldn’t even allow them some space on the south side, which I didn’t understand at the time. It makes sense now because he actually didn’t have the right to grant any shifters land use in vampire territory. If our council had found out about it, there would have been hell to pay. So he’d refused the shifters, got into trouble with the council and then you showed up for your appointment. You can see why he couldn’t grant you the right to live in vampire territory and yet he really wasn’t in a position to refuse you outright.”

“Because he didn’t have that right in the first place. Fuck. I could have just gone and lived there, told the council and there would have been nothing Nathaniel could have done about it.” Broz seemed pissed off and frankly, if his house was anything like Zane’s little place, Dax could understand why. Vampires were used to the finer things in life. Even he knew that. Hell, his suite of rooms at the pack house was bigger than Zane’s whole house.

“Not legally, no. But unless you knew that the land you wanted to live on was already considered vampire territory, you would have assumed you might have had trouble with pack members. That’s probably how this mess had managed to go on for so long.”

“Well it’s not going to carry on like this any longer.” Broz seemed to have come to a decision and Dax just hoped that Zane didn’t get caught up in any subsequent crossfire. “We’re going to buy the old coven house and arrange with the council to take over the Portrain coven territory. Who’s with me?” Van, Royce and Seb immediately put up their hands. Zane looked at Dax for a long moment and then put his hand up too.

“We might not be able to live here, babe, and if you want to move somewhere else you know I’ll be with you all the way. But I’ve got more money than I know what to do with, and I plan on helping my friends.” Dax was touched by Zane’s loyalty to the men around him and raised his hand too.

“Ewan and Foyle are in on it too,” Van said happily looking at a text on his phone. He stood up, looking at his mate. “Come on Broz. We’ve got a pile of paperwork to go through for the council, a real estate agent to find, and a visit to the bank is probably a good idea. No time to sit here slacking.”