However, I purposely omitted the fact that I was not actually a member of the triad that protected the seal, but its weapon. Nor did I voice the fact that the hunter who sat beside me could wield my abilities like a sword. While Alex and I were friends, her loyalty would always be to the pack, and anything I told her could eventually fall on their ears. I was already skating on thin ice by telling her about Rowe and his attempts to free the naturi. The handling of the naturi had always fallen to the nightwalkers, and it had become a tightly kept secret. But if we failed, I didn’t want her to be blindsided.
Nicolai remained silent during my tale. I wasn’t overly fond of the idea of this outsider hearing all of these details. But I was forced to trust him since Alexandra and the lycanthropes had to know what they were facing before it was too late.
The female naturi in the main hall was also omitted from my tale. If Alex and Nicolai didn’t sense her, then it was better that they didn’t know about it. I didn’t know what was going on yet, and wasn’t about to start a panic among the other races. If the lycans thought the nightwalkers had aligned with the naturi, a horrible war would sweep across the globe before the naturi ever managed to escape their prison.
When I was finished with my tale, Alex pushed her half-eaten meal away. “I’ve lost my appetite,” she said weakly. She actually looked like she was going to be sick, her eyes taking on a glassy appearance as the scent of fear drifted from her to my nose.
“Finish eating,” I prodded, pushing her plate toward her again. “How often do you get to eat real Italian? I mean, outside of a full moon, of course.”
“That’s not funny,” she snapped. No, Alex didn’t hunt humans, though a select few of her kind did. Even in animal form there was enough of Alexandra the human left behind to restrain her from attacking humans. She hunted only animals, and even then, only on the rare occasion when she gave in to the urge. “How can you make jokes? Don’t you realize what could happen if they enter our world?”
“Trust me, Alexandra, I understand better than most,” I said in a low, even voice, my eyes narrowing as I looked anywhere but at my companions. Alex didn’t know about my captivity by the naturi—I’d left that out while recounting the events in Machu Picchu earlier—but she knew there was something dark and ugly in my past that left behind some deep emotional and physical scars. She took the hint. “There are a number of things going on that I don’t understand, but I will soon. Panicking right now isn’t going to help.”
“It gets worse.” Alex’s usually strong voice dropped down to an unexpected whisper, drawing my gaze back to her lovely face. Shadows danced across her features, thrown up by the candle flickering in the hurricane glass in the center of the table.
A part of me wanted to ask her how it could possibly be any worse. The vampires were meeting with the naturi in secret. The witches and werewolves were meeting with the Daylight Coalition. Ancient enemies were suddenly allies, and old alliances with the lycans and witches were crumbling before us.
“They’ve starting calling us,” she said.
“When?” I demanded, barely able to push the word from my constricted throat.
“About a week ago, but after last night I’ve heard that it has gotten worse. Most of the leaders have managed to hold their packs together, but a few here and there have gone missing. Most of them are younger, newer to lycanthropy. It seems like the call is worse the farther west you head,” she explained.
I looked back over at Nicolai, who was staring straight ahead, his full lips pressed tight into a hard, unyielding line. “What about your pack?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been out of contact with them for more than a month,” he said stiffly, his eyes refusing to meet mine. I left the comment alone. A member of a pack was never out of contact from its members for long. Lycanthropes also never “belonged” to a vampire. Something dark was going on and I was willing to bet that it was rather painful and horrible for Nicolai. It would explain why Alex did nothing to even acknowledge the man’s presence. She didn’t look at him, didn’t talk to him.
I frowned, turning this new bit of information over in my head. There were four different ancient holy sites in North and South America that the naturi could potentially use for their next sacrifice attempt: Old Faithful at Yellowstone Park, Mesa Verde in Colorado, Easter Island, and Machu Picchu in Peru. Would they dare to return to Machu Picchu after their horrible defeat there centuries ago? If it meant freeing Aurora, yes, without a doubt.
Turning my focus back to Alexandra, I struggled to keep my sympathy for her plight from showing on my face. It wouldn’t help her when faced with the threat of suddenly becoming servants for a vicious race bent on the total extermination of humanity.
There were a couple theories as to how lycanthropy started. Some thought it was the result of a spell or curse woven by an old Native American god. Yet, some thought the root of shapeshifters was older than that. However, the darkest of the theories was that lycans were created by the naturi as a type of servant and soldier. Because of a lycan’s close tie to nature, the naturi could call to a lycanthrope, summoning him or her across vast distances to do their bidding. Most viewed that as the future of man if the naturi entered this world—extermination or lycanthropy.
“So we’ll be faced with both the naturi and lycans if the next sacrifice is to be held in the West,” Danaus said grimly.
“Maybe even an assortment of Wiccans,” I said. It was becoming a real party, and it appeared everyone was invited.
I turned my attention back to one of my few friends. Alex was nearly fifty, though she could still easily have passed for someone in her mid-twenties. Lycanthropy gave a person an amazing ability to heal from nearly every injury, except for those caused by silver. Particularly silver bullets and knives. Her “curse” also slowed down the aging process, usually doubling or tripling a human’s average life span. I liked Alex. She had a good sense of humor and philosophy on life. I didn’t want this future for her.
“When is your flight home?” I asked, battling to keep a frown from tugging on the corners of my mouth.
“Tomorrow morning.” There was no mistaking the anxiety that crowded those two words. She lived in Portland, on the lovely West Coast. She was in danger of succumbing to the call and she knew it.
“Go back to London and stay until after the new moon,” I ordered, sitting on the edge of my chair. My eyes jumped over to Danaus, who was watching the exchange with a worried look. “Could Themis protect her?”
“Mira,” he softly said, his voice deep and weary. “Themis isn’t an organization of bodyguards. We can’t—”
“Damn it, Danaus!” I cried, hitting the heel of my palm on the table, rattling the nearly empty dishes. It was a struggle to bring my voice back under control, but I finally managed it before I continued. “I’m not asking your people to protect a pack of rabid vampires. Alex is still human—the race you’re so desperate to protect. Call Ryan. Talk to him.”
Alex shook her head, pressing her lips into a thin line. “I can’t. My pack needs me. I have to go back.”
“You have to take care of yourself. Go back to London. Your pack will manage.”
“I have to go,” she said, her smile as fragile as a cracked eggshell. “I’m an Alpha now.”
My brows furrowed at this announcement and I sat back in my chair. “And you’re still in Portland?”
“You don’t need to sound so surprised.” She stabbed her food with her fork, using enough force to cause the tines to scrape loudly across the ceramic plate.
“Forgive me,” I said with a little bow of my head as I pressed my right hand to my heart. “Congratulations on your new position.” It was quite an accomplishment. The Portland pack was large, with about forty members, last I’d heard. The packs out West were larger and there were more of them than on the East Coast in the States. Across Europe and throughout Asia, the packs had only twelve or fewer members and stuck to the rural areas.