Choices: Alpha City, Book 3 (7 page)

M
e-Len
and Meryl looked through book after book and found nothing about a vampire’s bite changing a shifter into a vampire. Historically, if a vampire bit a shifter, the beast would take over completely and force the shifter into their animal form. The animal would refuse to shift back into human form, to prevent the vampire nature from evolving. For the rest of their lives, the shifter would remain in animal form and never again shift into human. Or at least, that was what they were told by the Vampire Council. She didn’t know; she had never seen it herself.

“How can this be?” Me-Len looked over at her mate in despair. “I can’t tell them this. There has to be another way. We have to keep looking. Meryl, you have to call in some favors with the council. Someone has to know something that we don’t. I can’t tell them this. How cruel, to be given a mate only to find out that you’ll never be able to mate with her. No, no, no. I’m not going to tell them this.”

Meryl put his hand on her shoulder. “Calm down. We don’t have the books we need. Vampires have their own society, and they keep it separate from any other paranormal. They keep secrets, Me-Len, even from their own kind. They don’t trust us, and we don’t trust them. There has always been a power struggle between their own clans; there is always one who wants to be in control. Internal fighting happens constantly. I think Maggie needs to talk to her sire and find out if he knows of anything; see if she can look through the
Book of Souls
.”

“What is the
Book of Souls
?” Me-Len asked.

“Vampires live a very long time. Unless they are killed, they can live forever. But the elders put together a series of books that have been written and kept since the beginning of their existence. If there was ever a vampire/shifter mated pair, it would be in those books. Her sire could get that information, but he isn’t going to like the fact that she wants to mate with a shifter. You see, they think of them as pets or servants. Well, some of them do. There are actually some shifters who work for them, but they also make a lot of money, too. The old mighty dollar can get people, including shifters, to do a lot of things,” Meryl explained.

“Do all of them feel that way?”

“No, but you still have some clans who do. However, they don’t want to say it too loud for fear of the shifters retaliating against them. I think they fear shifters; they outnumber the vampires and are just as strong. Only the vampires that have just been turned may be stronger, but not for long. Their Maker would be able to overtake them. That way there are always checks and balances, and the newborns can’t take over. Though unfortunately there have been some Sires in the past who make them just to do their bidding.”

“That’s awful,” Me-Len muttered.

“It is, but like I said, there are some bad ones still out there who believe in the old ways. Honestly, I don’t think he will let anyone have access to the books. There are too many secrets inside of them. It would take two council members to give the okay to get into those archives.”

“Meryl, doesn’t it seem odd that that there aren’t any hybrids? Surely over the decades there have been ones that mated. I just never thought about it until now.”

J
udd paced
the floor in his office. He’d looked in every book he had about hybrids, and found nothing. Not even a mention of them. There had to be some out there. He didn’t understand how this could’ve never happened. Vampires and shifters had co-existed forever; some had to have mated. But there was no mention of it. Even Me-Len couldn’t remember hearing about anyone mating. She said she was going to do some research and try to find out, but he needed answers now. He was going to go and see Maggie’s sire and ask the vampire if he knew anything that could help them. Hell, he was going to beg for the information if he had to. She was too important to him, and no matter what, he would find a way for them to be together.

All he’d thought about last night was Maggie. Her scent was still lingering in the house, and even on his clothes. He left his clothes from last night lying on the bed. He wanted her scent everywhere. She was shortly becoming his everything.

“You’re worried.” Maggie stood at the door watching him.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“For a while. I can tell you’re worried about something. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what it is.” Maggie walked over to him. “How can I help you?”

“Just stay with me.” Judd pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her. “I miss your scent, your face…” He cleared his throat. “Everything you are.”

Giggling, Maggie pulled her arms in tighter around him. “You make me feel special.”

Judd pulled away. “But you are special. No matter what happens, Maggie, I love you. Nobody will separate us.”

Maggie hugged him closer and muttered, “I hope you’re right.”

“Hey, no more talk like that.” Judd pulled her over to the sofa and sat her down beside him. “Nolan called and said we need to meet at Kayden’s house before the funeral. We need to be there for him. This will be hard for him. Thorn’s brother is coming in, or should already be here. And just so you’re prepared, they were identical twins; Kayden says you can’t tell them apart.”

Maggie stared at him. “You think he’ll stay here after the funeral is over?”

“I don’t know. He’s in the military, so I don’t really know the answer. He might not be able to stay considering his obligation to Uncle Sam. I guess we will see.” Judd could hear Maggie’s stomach growling. “You’re hungry, and I’m starving, too. Rose has cooked a feast for everyone before the funeral, and Rose’s cooking is excellent.”

“Spoken like a man who loves to eat,” Maggie teased as they walked outside to his car.

Z
oey placed
the platter on the table. She was looking over every place setting, making sure they had enough, when the doorbell rang. She looked out the peephole and nearly fell over. Kayden had told her that Thorn’s brother was his twin, so Zoey knew they would have a few similarities, but this was beyond identical. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Nothing was said as Knox glanced back toward the stranger with him. Zoey shook her head and smiled. “Hello.”

“Hello,” both the men echoed.

“I’m Knox; Thorn was my brother.”

“I’m sorry for staring, but Kayden only said you were twins; I wasn’t expecting this. I bet you switched all the time.”

Knox smiled. “Yes ma’am, we did. Got us in a lot of trouble too. But we could never fool our mama.”

Zoey looked down as tears formed in her eyes. “Your brother meant a lot to me.” When she glanced up, Knox was staring at something behind her. She looked to find Kayden was looking over her shoulder.

She moved out of the way, and Kayden went up to Knox and hugged him. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Kayden pulled back. “Come in, and I can fill you in.”

Before he walked inside, he turned and introduced his friend. “This is Ransom Spencer.”

“Welcome, Ransom. I’m sorry we have to meet under these circumstances.” Kayden pulled Zoey next to him. She needed to feel the comfort from her mate. She’d lost a friend too, and this was weird for her. Even his voice sounded like Thorn. At first she thought she was dreaming, but that wasn’t the case. Thorn was dead, and now his twin was here for answers.

K
nox Russell sat
on the couch, waiting for the Alpha and his mate to explain to him what happened. He glanced at a photo of his brother teaching the cubs how to shift for the first time. Thorn was always good with the cubs, and they loved him. He could see the smiles the young ones gave his brother when the picture was taken. Thorn was always a special person. He had a way of putting you at ease.

Ransom Spencer was standing to the side, looking at the many pictures on the wall. The man didn’t talk much, unless you wanted the truth. He was a good man and told Knox on the plane that he’d stick around until he wasn’t needed anymore. Knox had no clue what was going on, but he was getting anxious as the Alpha and his mate walked in the room.

The pair sat across from him, troubled. “Knox, I loved your brother.”

“Alpha, I know that, and he loved you as well, but I need to know what happened.”

Kayden glanced over at Ransom, then back at him.

“Whatever you say here will be kept between us. Thorn trusted Ransom with our lives, and so do I,” Knox told him.

Kayden nodded, “There is a witch named Claudia Blackwood who wants to take over Alpha City. She wants to get into Valceria.” That got Ransom’s attention. “Claudia is very powerful and practices the dark arts of magic. Somehow she got Jamal, the king of dragons, out of Hell. We still don’t know how she did it or how it’s even possible, but she did.”

Knox tilted his head. “A dragon. I thought all the dragons were extinct?”

“We did too, but come to find out that Jamal, who was sent to Hell by the Order, was somehow brought back to earth. What we know so far is that the Order cast Jamal from the earth. The Order is made up of a group of special shifters and others who were brought together to rid the Earth of Jamal and his people. Jamal’s father was Riffa, a dragon who believed in only flying at night and leaving the humans alone. Jamal disagreed and killed his father.

“The Order was formed with one Elf, one bear, one wolf, one panther, one tiger, one jaguar, one dragon, and two witches. Each of them was given a special gift to help them on their quest. When Jamal was in charge, he killed everything he could, including the Earth. The world would have burned if he had his way, but when the Order was formed they managed to send him to Hell.

“To allow Jamal to be completely free, Claudia will need to acquire each of their gifts. You see, Jamal can only come to earth as a human, except when the moon is full; then he can transform into his dragon. Fortunately, he won’t be at full strength. But even in a weakened state, Jamal is a force to be reckoned with. They know that each Alpha in Alpha City has the Coins of Two.” Kayden pulled the necklace from under his shirt and showed it to Knox. “Bast, the king of the Elves, holds the Sword of Garrik. London, who is Ryder’s mate, holds the Tree of Life. Then there are others gifts, like the Cloak of Edengraf, the Bow of Artemis, and the Armor of Kevalth. The rest are hidden and will only appear to the members who are chosen to join the Order. The say that all of these gifts will make up what is called the Stone—that’s what Claudia needs. There are still members we don’t know of, and gifts too.

“When the first full moon came, we were all going to go underground until morning, but one of the members, Carina—she’s only eight years old—forgot her doll and ran back to the cabin to get it. Thorn found out she was missing and went after her. We all got there at the same time as Carina was coming out of the house with her doll, when Jamal came down from the sky to get her. Before his claws could get ahold of Carina, your brother ran and pushed her out of the way.” Kayden’s voice caught. Zoey grabbed his hand for support. “Jamal grabbed Thorn and ripped him in two, flinging him to the ground. Jamal fled to the sky before we could get off a single shot.”

Knox watched as Zoey fell apart in her mate’s arms. He should have cried, but he was numb as he listened to the gruesome account of how his brother was killed. Rage at what the dragon had done moved through him, looking for a way to get out, but Knox held it in.

Over the years he had schooled himself on reining in his emotions. That included rage or pain. The enemy would gladly use those against him. He had some training, but he made it a point to never show his emotions to anyone. Even his brother told him that it couldn’t be good for him to keep it all bottled up. He needed to let it out, or it would boil up inside him, until he accidently took it out on someone else.

Knox didn’t moved or say anything. Apparently, it was making everyone in the room uncomfortable, because Kayden asked, “Say something, Knox, even if it’s to blame me.”

Knox leaned forward. “Kayden, we have been friends a long time. I don’t blame you. My brother would have done that for anyone. That was the kind of man he was. I blame the dragon, and one day I will get my revenge. Right now, we don’t have time for blame; we need to find a way to kill them all.”

“Your brother was my best friend. He was my Beta, and now I feel lost without him. He has been with me since the beginning, and—”

“I know. He loved you too. I just talked to him a couple days before this, and he was happy. Happier than I’ve ever heard him. I wish I could’ve been here and gotten to spend more time with him. I’m the one who should feel guilty.”

Zoey smiled. “He said you were like that. We had a lot of conversations about you.” Knox smiled. His brother was a talker, so God only knows what he’d said. “He was so proud of you and the work you guys were doing. He wouldn’t talk about what he used to do before he came here, but Thorn was such a wonderful man. He was a good friend, and he supported me. The pack loved him, and I loved your brother. I hope you can stay so we can get to know you better.”

Knox nodded. Stay here, he thought. “I will stay until that dragon and witch are dead.”

“I thought you would say that. I had a room made up for you. Ransom, you’re welcome to stay too. We have plenty of room here,” Kayden offered.

“I’m here to help,” Ransom said.

Everyone turned toward the door when someone knocked. Knox watched as the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen walked into the room, carrying some drinks on a tray. Immediately, he stood up. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. His panther jumped inside of him, eager to get out.

“I brought in the tea,” the beautiful woman said, before their eyes locked. They watched as she dropped the tray she was carrying onto the floor. Her hands went to her mouth as she gasped.

Zoey ran over to her. “Rose, this is Knox, Thorn’s twin brother. Remember, I told you he had a twin.”

Rose was her name. She continued to stare at him, and he had no intentions of looking away. He was drawn to her as the beast inside of him demanded to be let loose and near her. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Rose muttered.

“You thought I was Thorn?”

Rose nodded.

“Did you know my brother well?” Knox asked. What a stupid question to ask, you moron. Of course she did. Look how she’s reacting to you.

Rose nodded again.

“Rose, this is Ransom Spencer, who will also be staying here for a while,” Zoey calmly told her. “He’s Knox’s friend.”

He could see Ransom move to shake her hand, and before he could think of why he was doing it, he held his hand up, blocking his friend from getting closer to her. That grabbed everyone’s attention.

Ransom cleared his throat. Putting his hands behind his back, he bowed to her and replied, “It’s nice meeting you, ma’am.”

Rose glanced back and forth, then nodded. “Excuse me.”

Rose rushed from the room. He knew she was the reason his brother was so happy. He had found his mate, and unfortunately for him she was most likely his too. This was not what he needed right now.