novelxo Chapter Twenty-Nine
Vali
I stared at the people across the table from me. Mortals, or more specifically the mortal leader and his closest advisers. Where Mircea had taken over the conversation, similar to how he did with Ianthe. In fact, this entire situation mirrored the one we had been in with Ianthe a few days ago.
We were in Derek’s home in the Blue Mountains in the east of Australia. A large mansion made of windows more than walls, letting the reach of the eucalyptus forest around the home inside. It helped to ease my anxiety, but not much. Not when we were seated in his study, the five of us on one side of his desk while he had himself and four others with him.
The main difference was the fact I never caught the scent of fear from Ianthe, nor did she have the backup that Derek did. I couldn’t blame him for his guards and advisers, not when five supernatural beings were in the same room as him without any other witnesses.
The conversation started with niceties, and then the questioning of why we were here. The interrogation of why he should hear us out when the alternative is to not piss off Traian. He was quick to listen, however, when we mentioned the fact that Triaian would have bigger plans. That enslaving mankind to be fodder for the vampires would no doubt be the next step after ridding the world of wolves. After ridding the world of the one species who could stop him.
And once again, Mircea took the conversation away from me. While I had accepted it with Ianthe and the witches, this was a different story. We had agreed I would control the conversation, because the fact that both of our kinds were powerless in this situation should have resonated with him.
I didn’t know if it was the fact that we had brought the vampires along with us that had invalidated me or if it was just the fact I wasn’t as good at talking to people in power as I had thought. Maybe the Summit had been a fluke, or simply having my anger and directing it at the source of that anger had been compelling enough without a decent argument. Now… now I had to use my words wisely, had to try to convince these leaders to offer up something to help us. Weapons, soldiers, intel, anything.
If I was honest, I didn’t even notice the conversation had ended until everyone in the room was standing up. Judging from everyone’s smiling faces I reached the conclusion that we had successfully turned Derek and the mortals into allies. My eyes flashed to Jackson, who furrowed his brows at me.
Are you okay? His voice echoed through my mind after I reached out to him.
I might need you to catch me up on the details. I replied, he nodded and gave me a tight smile.
Derek can’t offer us soldiers, humans against vampires will be more likely to end in bloodshed for them than in our favour. Instead they’re going to give us all the intel they have on Traian and his whereabouts, possible allies or anything else they have from their spies and the like. He told me, I nodded as everyone began walking towards the door.
“I hope our information can be of use to you, and I appreciate everything you are going to do for us. I wish we could do more…” Derek said as we all walked out of the mansion, and I looked over my shoulder at him.
“You’re doing what you can. Sending your people to help us would be far too dangerous, it could empower the vampires and that’s something we don’t need. Just knowing we have your support is more than beneficial.” I said, he nodded his appreciation for my words before he turned to Jackson.
“I’ll get those documents to you the second we’ve gathered them together.” He said, his head completely still as he focused on my Third.
“I look forward to it.” Jackson replied before we turned to walk back to the car.
“Vali…” I heard Mircea’s voice asking for me, begging for me, but I ignored him. There was no way I could look at him, not without completely losing control of my anger and saying something I would come to regret.
Instead of indulging him I got into the driver’s seat of the car and waited for everyone else to get in. I didn’t say another word until we were back at the hotel, until we were all in our rooms and Jackson and Marcy were both waiting to interrogate me.
“You need to tell me exactly what’s going on, right fucking now.” Jackson said, a little straight to the point which wasn’t completely unusual.
“If this has anything to do with Mircea taking control of the conversation I can slit his throat.” Marcy added, a smirk on her face.
“You don’t need to do that.” I said, my voice a little too quiet to be confident in my words.
“So it is about that.” Marcy said as she sat down on the edge of my bed.
“Of course it is.” Jackson said as he ran a hand over his face. “We should never have brought him along, not to see Derek at least.”
“It’s fine, it all worked out in the end.” I replied, leaning against the wall as I looked to my hands. “I wasn’t doing horribly, was I?” I then asked, my eyes never left my fingers as they began curling and uncurling.
“No, you were doing fine. It might have been taking a little longer than anticipated but you had control. I’m going to assume Mircea got impatient, just as Anne was.” Jackson answered, so I looked up to him. “Jesus, you really need to get this shit sorted out.” He said as he saw the tears that were stinging my eyes.
“What shit?” I asked, and I heard Marcy sigh.
“You’re butt-hurt about this because Mircea is your mate. It’s all well and good to take it slow if that’s what you want to do, but it’s not okay when it affects your work. The reason you’re insecure at the moment is because you placed yourself in limbo with him.” Well, at least I could still trust Marcy to never hold back the truth.
“How have I placed myself in limbo?” My ears started burning as my chest tightened.
“The Bond, Vali.” Jackson said, his voice calm as he saw how angry I was getting. “You haven’t done anything about it, you’re spending time with him but never alone to get to know him. You aren’t getting any closer to him and you aren’t drifting away either. If Ianthe could sense your Bond and neither of you have accepted it yet, it’s strong and has a will of its own. You’re ignoring it, so it’s going to give you consequences.”
“What the fuck are you saying?” I asked, he sighed and I thought he would continue but instead it was Marcy who did.
“Your Bond wants you to be with Mircea, you have been chosen by fate to be together. The more you ignore that the more it’s going to affect you.” Marcy explained before she stood up and walked over to me. “When you’re born into this supernatural shit, you’re taught that the Bond is a separate entity. You feel insecure because your Bond feels insecure, I can guarantee you that Mircea feels the same way right now. It might be part of the reason he took over the conversation.”
“But I’m not ignoring it-”
“Have you and Mircea kissed yet?”
“We’ve barely even talked by ourselves, we’re not going to kiss without knowing more about each other.” I argued, she shook her head.
“Bullshit. You’ve had plenty of time to work this shit out, we’ve been on hours worth of plane rides, had many nights spent in hotel rooms and you've chosen not to talk to him. Why are you ignoring the Bond?” She asked, and I hated the feeling that I was being interrogated by my Second.
“I’m not ign-” Marcy walked close enough to be just a few inches away from me. I forgot how intimidating she was, standing at nearly six foot with a muscular frame that I was jealous of.
“Yes you are, why?”
“Because I don’t fucking deserve it.” I said, realising that Marcy was a lot more stubborn than I was. She wouldn’t stop asking until I gave an answer, so it was best to call it early. “I haven’t done anything to deserve that unconditional love, to deserve happiness like that. I slept with Dallas because even though I didn’t feel that pull to him, I thought he was the closest I would get to a mate.”
“Which part makes you feel like you don’t deserve a mate?” Jackson as as Marcy backed away a few steps. “Is it the not having done anything bit or sleeping with Dallas?”
“Both.” I answered, he scoffed.
“Alright. First of all, not that you need to do things to be worthy of a mate, but you’ve done more than enough to earn that happiness for yourself. In just a few years you have changed the world for werewolves, and you’re on your way to change the rest of the world too.” Jackson said, and Marcy cut in once again.
“As for sleeping with Dallas, it doesn’t matter. It’s very rare for people to find their mate without trial and error. You’re allowed to have a history with others, Mircea more than likely has one too.” She said, but it didn’t help me feel better.
“I tackled Dallas to the ground in front of him. The smell of his jealousy was so strong I had to get off of Dallas in case he lost control.” I said, Jackson shook his head.
“You thought Dallas was dead, your reaction to seeing him alive was warranted. You two are close and Mircea knows that. You’re just making excuses because you don’t like letting people in.” He said, and I bit my lip. We all knew he was right.
I hated being vulnerable, and if I let Mircea in then that’s exactly what I would be. Vulnerable.
“What if he rejects me?” I whispered, and Marcy laughed. She actually laughed.
“Fuck me, maybe you should become a comedian.” She said, smiling. “You know how he looks at you, how he thinks of you, how he talks about you. The only reason he would reject you was because he thought you didn’t want him.” Maybe she was right. I was overthinking all of this, and it was hurting me and Mircea in the process.
“I’ll sort out the bond after we speak to Adonis.” I said, and while Marcy shook her head I knew that Jackson understood my apprehension. Or he at least agreed with it for a reason completely seperate to me wanting a little more time to feel safe and sound in my cocoon.
“I did want to speak to you about that, actually.” He said, tilting his head to the side. “You probably didn’t notice because you were focused on Traian and Mircea during the Summit, but the way Adonis looked at you and the scent he exuded…” oh for the love of Selene.
“Don’t say it.”
“Adonis is attracted to you, we could use that to our advantage when we speak to him. I’ll talk to Anne about making sure Mircea doesn’t take control of the conversation again, because Adonis will likely respond better to you.” Fucking hell. I rolled my head back and looked to the ceiling for a brief reprieve before I looked at him again.
“So I need to flirt with the Fae King?” I asked as I pictured Adonis in my head. Deep blue eyes, blue-black hair and his tanned skin. He was attractive, so it shouldn’t be hard to do.
“Yes, which means we need to put you in your most scandalous dress to make sure his attention stays on you.” Jackson added, and I took a slow breath to calm myself.
If Mircea had been jealous over me seeing Dallas alive… this was not going to end well.