Chapter Eight
Devon spent three days locked in his apartment, waiting for Ace to find a way to come back to him and the longer time went on, the less hope Devin had of that ever happening. He didn’t know anything about the Washington pack, beyond what Ace had told him, and all efforts to research them online, and through his own contacts in the shifter world had just left him with the knowledge that it was a hard pack to get into. From all accounts Alpha Pearson was fair and a good Alpha, but that wasn’t a lot of help for Devin, who was struggling with his own inner demons every minute that passed.
It wasn’t the hunger that bothered him so much, although Devin could do with a feed. The taste of his mate’s blood had long left his lips, but he craved it all the same. But it was more than that. As he had tried to explain to his
amatus
, Devin was an old vampire, and subject to blood urges. Blood urges were, he supposed, the curse of his kind. The older a vampire got, the more aggressive and powerful he became. This combined with a lack of control was not a good thing.
Devin didn’t like to be violent, he had always been the more passive type. When the first of his blood urges began, more than three hundred years before, times were a lot harder and life was a lot rougher. He had lived among other vampires at the time and fights between members of the coven were frequent, and an accepted part of life. When things had gotten too bad, the leader of his coven suggested that it was time Devin left and went to look for his
amatus
, and Devin had been looking ever since. He controlled his urges as best he could through submission and the acceptance of pain in a controlled environment.
Until he had met Ace, that submission was enough but as Devin stood looking at himself in the mirror he could see the tension in his face. His eyes kept flashing red, almost like a warning light, and his skin felt unbearably tight. Devin knew it wouldn’t be long before he wouldn’t be able to control his fangs, and his skin would feel as though a hive of ants were crawling under it – something he had to avoid at all costs. When he got to that stage, he would be prepared to fight anyone who looked at him the wrong way. Not a safe thing for a vampire living in a human world.
He lightly traced a finger over the mating mark Ace had given him. Like the man himself, it was big and clearly visible despite the paleness of Devin’s skin. From what Devin knew about wolf shifters, the sanctity of a mate had to be respected. Maybe….just maybe he could. Not wanting to second guess himself, Devin hurried from the bathroom, and threw on some clothes. Checking outside of his apartment door to make sure no one was watching, Devin vamped himself at full speed, heading for the address where the Bound and Bonded club was located.
/~/~/~/~/
“Hey boss, there’s some cute little vamp here to see you. Say’s its urgent.” Alpha Pearson looked up to see Roger’s head poked in his office door. Pearson frowned, and looked down at his papers. He really wasn’t getting anywhere with the club orders, and it was tedious work. Having a conversation with a vampire might be a welcome distraction.
“Tell Dante to come to the office, Kyle too if he is around, and then send him in,” he said, straightening himself up behind his desk. Person had never met a vampire before, and he had to admit his curiosity was aroused. Hmmm, much like his dick he thought, as his stunning mate, Dante sauntered into the office, followed closely by Kyle.
“What do you need lover?” Dante said warmly, coming around the desk and dropping a kiss on Pearson’s cheek.
“Back up from the big scary vampire, I imagine,” said a honeyed voice from the door and Pearson looked up to see a totally beautiful man stepping into his office. The vampire wasn’t overly tall, but Pearson could sense the energy coming off the man, and he felt a faint shiver of alarm. Vampires and wolf shifters weren’t known friends or enemies for that matter – they lived different lifestyles, but despite his own impressive size Pearson wasn’t stupid enough to underestimate the man in his office.
“I am Pearson, Alpha of the Washington Pack and owner of this club. This is my mate Dante, and my top enforcer, Kyle. To what do we owe this visit?”
“I am Prince Devin Bartholomew Forsyth-Smyth, formerly of the Windsor Coven, in London. Most people call me Devin.”
Pearson narrowed his eyes even as he nodded his head in acknowledgement. He might not have met a vampire before but he knew enough that if this man was a prince, then he was an old and respected vampire who would bear watching.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Prince Devin,” Pearson said carefully. “You have to admit that a vampire doesn’t often willingly walk into a wolf pack. Are you asking permission to be in our territory?”
Devin laughed, and Pearson had to admit it was a captivating sound. But then all vampires were captivating until they had their fangs in your throat.
“I have been in your territory, as you call it, for years, and you have never noticed,” Devin said casually. “There are at least a half a dozen vampires in this area, that I am aware of, but we, or should I say I, have had no reason to get in touch with you before now.”
“So why are you here?” Dante asked and Pearson could tell that his mate was as intrigued by the fine young-looking visitor as he was.
“Because I understand you are holding my
amatus
, the wolf shifter you call Ace. I need access to him.”
Devin’s words rang through the office like a death knell and for a long moment there was silence. Then Kyle spoke up and the snarl in his voice was an unmistakable threat.
“Ace tried to kill my mate. He is locked away as he should be.”
Pearson watched as Devin looked Kyle up and down as though he was nothing more than a puppy.
“You must be Kyle, and you would be mistaken,” he said. He turned to Pearson, and Pearson was struck by the sincerity on the Devin’s face. “Ace explained what had happened and the way I see it, he might have threatened Kyle’s mate, when he was under a misunderstanding about how the Fates work, but he has not laid a hand on the man’s head. And if you had bothered to talk to him at all in the last three days, as I am sure you have, then you would learn that Ace was surprised to learn that the Fates did encourage interspecies matings, as often as they encourage same-sex ones. But he totally accepts that now. I need to see him.”
Pearson swallowed the pang of guilt he felt at Devin’s words. Truth of the matter was that after Steel and Kyle brought Ace back in, and apparently beaten the man in the process, he hadn’t been to see him. In fact he didn’t know what the hell he was going to do with the infuriating man. Ace had been so adamant that wolves should mate with other wolves and his lack of acceptance of Teric into the pack, was hard for Pearson to handle, but he had been reluctant to banish the wolf permanently. Ace had been a solid enforcer and apart from his problem with Teric, had never put a foot wrong in the pack or the club. Now this sexy little vampire was standing in his office, claiming to be Ace’s mate and logic dictated that if Ace had claimed the man, then his thinking had definitely changed.
Deciding honesty was the best policy, Pearson said, “I haven’t spoken to Ace yet. He is being held under the club and is in solitary confinement until we decide what to do with him. He is subject to possible banishment or even death for threatening a pack member.”
Devin glared at him, his eyes glowing red, his fists clenched. “You have left a mated wolf shifter alone for three days, while you sit around up here with your finger up your asses? What kind of pack are you running here?”
“You’re right,” Kyle snarled, clearly just as angry. “We should have just killed him on the spot. No one gets to threaten my mate.”
“And no-one gets to threaten mine,” Devin snarled back, apparently not worried about the fact that he was in the middle of a wolf pack. Pearson knew he had to intervene before things got out of hand. He wasn’t sure how lethal Devin might be, but he didn’t want to find out.
“Enough,” he said firmly. “Kyle, you have made your wishes known about killing Ace, and I am taking them into consideration. But if what Prince Devin says is true, then that means he will die too, and I won’t have that on my conscience and I know you wouldn’t want that either.”
“If you don’t give me access to my mate soon,” Devin snapped, “then this conversation will be a moot point. I can’t feed from anyone but Ace. I need him to stop the blood urge or I won’t be able to control myself. I have got to see him.”
“What do you mean by blood urge?” Pearson had never heard of it before.
“What he means, lover, is that he is a very old vampire with aggressive tendencies that are hard to control. We would think of it as like when a wolf goes into a blood rage. As his mate, Ace must have a way of dealing with that,” Dante said quietly.
“Now that we’re mated, he is the only one who can control it,” Devin confirmed and as Pearson watched the man closely he could see the undeniable tension in the vampire’s body. Devin’s eyes, that were apparently violet under normal circumstances, were flashing red and staying that way longer and longer as each minute passed.
“What can happen?” Kyle scoffed from his place by the door. “What can one small vampire do against a wolf pack?”
“Full scale massacre for a start,” Dante said. Pearson looked at him in shock, and Dante nodded. “I’ve not seen it myself, but my father spoke of witnessing it one time. Once vampires go into a blood rage nothing will stop them. They will kill everyone in their path and there is no reasoning with them. The older the vampire, the worse it will be.”
“I did not come here to fight you, or threaten you in any way,” Devin said moving towards the desk and starring into Pearson’s eyes. “I hate that this happens to me, but it is a curse of our line. I am over five hundred years old, and Ace is now the only one who can ease me. If I leave without seeing him there is no telling what I might do in the city, and I would rather be dead than hurt an innocent. Please, let me see my
amatus
.”
Pearson looked at his Alpha Mate. He could only imagine what it would be like to be apart from his bonded one, and Devin’s turning up in a situation that was highly dangerous for him personally was a true sign that he and Ace were mated. It meant that Ace could not be killed, because if nothing else, Devin was innocent in all of this and Pearson was too honorable to let an innocent man die for something that wasn’t his fault.
“Show me your mating mark,” he said with a sigh, having made his decision. If Devin carried the mating scar then he was automatically part of the Washington Pack and his bond with Ace would be respected. Whatever decision Pearson made regarding Ace, would now have to include Devin too.
Devin pulled aside the edge of his muscle shirt and stood rigidly still, staring at the ceiling as Dante went to look and take a surreptitious sniff. Dante moved back behind the desk, and nodded at Pearson. “It’s a true mark and he carries Ace’s scent.”
“Very well,” Pearson said, looking at Kyle. “Kyle, you will escort Prince Devin to his mate’s cell and let him in. Leave them there, and make sure food is delivered within the next hour as Ace will need sustenance to continue to provide for his mate. Then get Teric and come back here. Devin, for now, welcome to the Washington Pack. I will ensure that any decision made about your mate will include provisions for you and from this moment you will be accorded all rights and privileges pertaining to pack membership.”
Devin bowed formally and looked at Kyle. For a moment Pearson thought that Kyle would argue with him, but after a few seconds Kyle ducked his head and said, “yes, Alpha.” Both men left the room, the door closing softly behind them.
Pearson pulled Dante into his lap, burying his face into Dante’s long hair. For a long time the two men sat, just enjoying the closeness and the few moments’ peace that their solitude allowed them. Too often Pearson got caught up in the running of the pack and the club, and he and Dante had so little time to just be themselves, together.
“You know, what Phillip did was far worse and you let him off with a beating before he received full reinstatement of his position in the pack. Would it be so bad, now that Ace is mated to a non-wolf, to do the same thing for him?” Dante’s soft words cut through Pearson’s musings, forcing him to think about the situation at hand.
Pearson knew that Dante was right. Phillip, one of his enforcers had allowed another wolf into the pack under false pretenses that gave valuable information to a psycho, Faro, who had been targeting gay packs. It was Kyle’s mate Teric that killed Faro, and when Pearson had learned that Phillip had only gone along with the scheme because of his estranged sister, Pearson had given the man thirty lashes and then reinstated him as an enforcer.
“You’re right as per normal Alpha Mate,” Pearson said, looking up with at Dante with a small smile on his face. “Phillip’s actions threatened the whole pack, were deceitful and went on for months. Ace did threaten Teric, but has never had the chance to act on it, and somehow, with Devin in the picture, I don’t think he will be a problem again. Ace will need the support of the pack to help him cope with his new mate, and it would not hurt to have a vampire, especially one as old as Devin, on our side and in our pack.”
“So why didn’t you tell Devin or Ace that?” Dante asked.
“Because without Teric around, I don’t think Kyle will accept it. That man is just so damned possessive about his little assassin. I am hoping that if I can talk to them both, and then go and see Ace and Devin later, we can all come to an agreement that will work for everyone.”
“You’re too kind hearted to be an Alpha, you know that, don’t you?” Dante said softly, stroking Pearson’s hair.
“Don’t you dare tell anyone,” Pearson said, pulling Dante’s head down so he could steal a kiss. He wasn’t looking forward to trying to convince Kyle that leaving Ace alive and within the pack was a good idea and he was trusting that Teric would back him up. But now that Ace had a mate, he would need the support of the pack and the resources of the club to keep his little vampire sub in control. Pearson wasn’t about to unleash that pocket sized predator on any other unsuspecting pack. Especially one that was so damned cute.