S.A. Price (30 page)

~122~

She gave him a small smile. "That’s what being a leader is about John. The ability to step up and make things right again. You and your nest are safe now. And now you need to decide on whether you’re going to be a real nest or not." She looked down fighting the urge to go to him. It was two fold.

If he hadn’t decided to truly be with her, regardless of what they had said in the maze, then she didn’t wish to appear weak if the other Archon’s came in. If he did, he still was courting her, at least until he marked her and her going to him would be seen as acceptance, that she was already his in the eyes of others. Until she wore that mating mark there was not a chance in hell she was showing any kind of attachment to him in public. Merrick had earned the right to mate with her yes, but until he did...

"I don’t know what we're going to be..." He took a few steps towards her a small smile gracing his features. "I know I'm not doing it alone anymore though."

"No?" she looked at him. The look in his eyes spoke of love, spoke of making everything better, mending the rift between them. She wanted to believe him so badly, but it was going to take time to trust him as implicitly as she used to.

He snorted shaking his head. "Well I'd hope not. It is understandable though if you don’t want to get caught up in this mess anymore than you already are. You don’t owe me anything... you never did."

"I threw my lot in with you a long time ago Merrick, it’s just that now you finally realize you don’t have to do it alone. You always had me, and I don’t have a choice Merrick, I never did, and that’s ok by me, but you do have that choice, because you have proved you don’t need a Basilissa by your side. You can do it on your own."

"I don’t want to. I can't live without you anymore. But that's not the point..." He growled throwing himself down in a nearby chair. "The point is that the girls are fine, Evelyn nearly got herself killed and I don’t appreciate you standing all the way over there treating me like the plague when it’s blatantly obvious that I'm in desperate need of some..." He shook his head looking defeated. "I don’t know something."

She fidgeted, and then frowned. "I can’t... You know I can’t..." she stammered and then looked at him. "I want to, but I can’t look any more weak in front of them John. I can’t. Not now, not in the state we are in. It’s all Ramona needs."

"I know..." He sighed. "I'm sorry. As long as you want to then that’s ok." With shaking hands he poured himself a glass of water. "What do you know about Olivia's nephew?"

"Only that he’s smitten with Evelyn. He hasn’t left her bedside since she came out of surgery. I’m figuring he will have a lot to explain, and I know Olivia is unhappy she hasn’t been able to debrief him on her own." She sighed. "And I do want to, more then anything."

He nodded smiling turning to her. "That boy should be watching out for her it's his fault she got hurt."

"Now, I heard from Myra that it happened damn fast, and that he was hurt during it as well. He did save her from being shot in the stomach though, at great risk to himself."

"Not good enough. She wouldn’t have been there if he hadn't led her on... in fact none of them would have been there if he'd just called home."

"Well possibly, but did you ever think it wasn’t possible? Just like it wasn’t possible for you to call me the past ten years?" She smirked at him. "This is the pot calling the kettle black Merrick. She’s fine, and no worse for wear, and she has a possible mate, a snake at that."

"A mamba at that. She has no idea what he's capable of; Evelyn's had no snake interaction whatsoever. Bar a few of us from Vegas she hasn't even..." He sighed. "It's not right. She doesn’t need that in her life... and if they do mate, think of the children."

"If they do mate then the children will be whatever she is, you know that, so stop okay? He loves her, you can see it. You aren’t so scared about Carmen and Reece's twins are you? And they are vipers."

~123~

"That's because Carmen knows how things work and vipers aren't half as dangerous, shit Carmen tagged Aiden half a dozen times. Whether he likes her or not, it's not right. She's too gentle to get caught up with one of Olivia’s lot."

"I don’t think that’s our decision Merrick and you don’t have to like it. She’s not your child, she’s a grown woman."

"So were you fifteen years ago... Evelyn doesn’t need that type of man. I'm only in a position to comment because I know exactly what I'm talking about. Look at the mess he's in now, do you honestly think it'll get any better? Those kids would be fatherless before their first birthday and Evelyn couldn't cope with that sort of pressure. Her father, her human father, would agree with me."

"Look Merrick it’s not your choice. Are you going to step up and become her official Archon? Cuz if not there’s not a damn thing you can do about it, as a rogue he doesn’t have to petition you for the right to court her. He can court her on her own recognizance.”

"She's officially mine already, he will have to petition to me or I'll break his skull." He growled.

She shook her head and sighed. Nothing she would say would change his mind on this, and she would have to wait and see what would happen. She turned as the rest of the council filtered in; Olivia's face was a mirror of the rage she was trying to contain. Marcus and Bettina were arguing with Ramona, their words getting louder as they came in. Elise didn’t care what it was they were bitching about, the point of the matter was now the recon and intel, and of course, finding out from Homer just what happened. "People? Christ! Look I don’t care about your land issues Ramona; Lillith can wait till the cows come home for something! Right now I would like to know what the hell we are going to do about the very real threat we still face."

Ramona glared at Elise, "Don’t you dare disrespect me Elise, in front of the other Archons no less.

You really have fallen low."

"Enough," Merrick growled rising to his feet all signs of his weariness gone, "Where’s the boy?"

He asked Olivia. "If you had someone in there all along, so help me Olivia, I'll kill you."

"I didn’t know Merrick. I told you, we were unable to locate him. I’m just as angry as you are about this!"

He shook his head, "Oh I seriously doubt that."

"Had I known we had anyone in there this wouldn’t have happened! How dare you even suggest..."

The double doors opened to Homer carrying Evelyn in, and everyone went silent. He maneuvered them over to a chair and set her down softly, turning to grab a glass of water for her, and a sandwich.

Once she was taken care of, he turned and looked at both Merrick and Olivia and bowed his head.

"Archon, I am sorry. I know you have questions, and hopefully I can answer them."

"Hopefully," Merrick sat crossing his arms, rage seething though him. "Go on then..."

"First, let me explain something. My sister, Anya, passed a while ago. When we found her, the victim of an apparent overdose, it didn’t add up. Anya was a wild girl, but she was never into intravenous drugs. I did some research while every one else was in mourning. I found her emails to a guy named Cristof about some information on lamia. It got me thinking."

Mer took a drink of water processing the information before nodding to him. "Continue."

"I checked all her email, found a website on Lamia, about what they were in mythology, with an email address if you would like to learn more information. I emailed it. Got to talking with a woman named Loretta. She asked my background, and I knew something was up. I gave her my military background, and received a call a day later from Cristof himself, asking if I would like a job. I went.

The asshole knew about Anya, and Anya was dead. I didn’t go in there for any other reason than to find my sister’s killer."

"And once you found out that it wasn't just your sister they'd killed?"

"I couldn’t very well blow my cover. I got there and they had thirty girls, and Cristof offered me the next girl that came in. I refused, as it was Selena, that young thing, and I made sure no one fucked

~124~

with her. Then Evelyn came in, and I knew I had someone that might be able to call in someone. It was a bonus that she was Ophidian, and I didn’t know until I saw the tape."

"And there was no way at all to get a message out to others? Not with all your training and back ground? No other way but sending Evelyn, with no experience or training, out into the wilderness, exposing herself in the process, and praying that she found one of us?"

"I understand it looks shady, but I honestly didn’t see any other way. I wasn’t going to risk all the girls, and as I was there, things for them improved, Cristof liked me, and left me in charge of the pens.

Evelyn I chose because I wasn’t sure of her Ophidian status, and I knew if she weren’t, she wouldn’t last long. Either way she was the best chance. Just in, she was still strong and wasn’t messed with."

"Did you try to find out what she was? Dropping hints perhaps? Maybe outright asking her?"

"I tried the hints, but I’ll be honest, she’s quite good at hiding what she is, like I am." He turned to her and grinned. "Evie, love, eat your sandwich. You need your strength to heal."

"You see right there is where my problem begins. You got her shot. Evelyn had no reason to be back there except to save your kind human ass... everything else, I don’t really care about; you were going to avenge your dead sister. Admirable if a little cocksure and foolish, something that no doubt your aunt will speak with you about. The fact of the matter is that you got my girl shot for no good reason."

"And I didn’t mean to, and she knows this. I tried, I really did, and there’s no excuse for it. Any punishment you see fit to delve out, you and my aunt, I will gladly take. I failed to keep the one person safe I should have."

Evelyn beamed at him her cheeks flushing pink. "It's ok. What’s the old adage? Never shoot a gun if you are not prepared to get shot. Merrick I knew what I was getting into. It would have been a lot worse if Homer hadn't been there for me. Plus he carried me all the way back and whispered to me keeping me conscious. I'd say he paid his due."

Olivia frowned. "I don’t approve of this. Ryan you and I will have a long conversation tonight."

Homer shook his head. "We will, but it will not be tonight. I have Evelyn to think about, and her happiness and comfort is paramount, as it should be with a courted mate." He looked at her and winked. "That is if she will have me as one."

Evelyn’s face flushed a bright scarlet, "Of..."

Merrick groaned cutting her off, "We can discuss all that later. Evelyn you have family history to think about before even considering such a commitment." The look of joy on her face turning to a pensive frown instantly. Sighing Merrick turned back to Homer, "What can you tell me about this cat?"

"Jackson? Sick fuck that one. He has an arm full of venom, I don’t know how far he’s going to get.

He enjoys his work, and I’m still trying to figure out why a cat got seduced into this kinda work."

"Same way anyone can be, maybe he just doesn’t like snakes." Merrick shrugged. "Jackson, does he have a first name? Any idea what kind of cat he is? How much venom did you hit him with?"

"No one knew he was a cat, but his eyes say jaguar I think. First name Damon, last known member of Alpha sector. As for venom, it was enough that his arm went dead almost immediately."

Merrick scribbled a few notes down on a pad of paper then nodded. "I'll make a call. Have him picked up."

"Good. And thank you. Now, If you will excuse us, Evelyn needs more meds and rest." he bowed.

"If it is ok with all of you."

The door opened letting Aiden into the room, "Mer you done here with action man?" He spared everyone a lazy glance before clearing his throat. "There's a problem... and it wasn't my fault."

Elise looked over at Merrick, then at Aiden. "Well spit it out, Aiden what happened?"

"It's the truck... the one with Cristof's body. I just got the call in, it didn't make it," He looked over at Marcus. "There was an explosion, no clue what type yet, two of your guys were in it. Jason and Thomas. They're burned up pretty bad and it was in the center of town so it’s going to be teaming with cops."

~125~

"Fuck!" Marcus growled. "Ok, Bet, I need an extraction, level 6. Call Darwin, he’s got the make up squad. Well have them out of there and to the clinic in fifteen minutes." Bettina, his wife, nodded and grabbed the cell barking orders into it as she put it to her ear, leaving the room. "In light of this new information, I would suggest we decide on a course of action for the girls. Ryan?"

Homer nodded. "There’s a very big possibility that Cristof wasn’t in there at all, and that the girls may still have issues. There were seven," he said and passed a folded piece of paper to Merrick, "Seven Cristof was interested in. The others are as safe as can be, but these; they will need bodyguards and constant care."

Merrick looked at the paper. "Add to that Myra and Evelyn."

"I understand Evelyn, but Myra?" Elise asked as she looked at her soon to be mate.

"She was there, she's been seen by Jackson and, if there were cameras, they'll have her on film.

She'll be a target." Merrick explained as Aiden shifted uncomfortably.

Elise nodded. "Very well. Mr. Maxwell, I’m charging you with the personal bodyguard duties of Evelyn Rose, so that you may redeem yourself." she looked at Merrick and then to Aiden. "The same goes for you, Mr. Whitbley. Myra is not to leave your sight."

"Can do boss lady..." Aiden grinned looking pleased with his new role. "Mer do you want me to go and check out that van?"