Chapter Nine

Sophie stood before the Council, just as she had three years ago. They all seemed older and more tired. Robert stood at her back, his hand on her waist reassuring her of his presence.

“I’m hearing some disturbing news, Robert, son of mine.”

Robert turned to his father, showing him the respect he deserved. “What news would that be, Father?”

Sophie glanced at the disapproval on the faces of each of the men.

“This is ridiculous. How dare you come to the Council and pretend not to know the crimes this human has committed?” another councillor interrupted.

Sophie bowed her head, shamed and mortified that she had put Robert through this.

“Enough, Cedric.” His father rubbed his hands over his eyes, clearly tired of it all. “What do you have to say, girl?”

Sophie was about to answer when a commotion interrupted her chain of thought.

“Let go of me, you disgusting brute.” Katie came into the room, being pulled by a man who looked like Robert. Everything else about the man was completely different. His presence did not provoke the same respect that Robert’s did, and he also appeared half crazy.

He took her to stand on the dais in front of the Council. As soon as he released her, Katie lashed out, striking William with an open-palmed slap.

He didn’t move a muscle but immediately a hand print was visible on his skin. Sophie winced, pleased it wasn’t her face.

William growled. He grabbed Katie’s wrists and yanked them behind her, holding them in one hand and placing his other palm over her mouth, attempting to silence her. Sophie tried to go to her friend but Robert stopped her, his bruising grip warning her not to move.

“Who is this?”

“The witch, Father,” William shouted for all to hear.

The Council erupted.

“How dare you try to fool us?”

“Is this some attempt to keep us from punishing the girl?”

“Blasphemy, I tell you!”

“Silence!” Robert’s father yelled to the entire Council. “Who is this woman, William?”

“She is, indeed, a witch. I’ve got a wrecked house to prove it. She is also the named female under the protection of the blood bond between Robert, my brother, and his mate, Sophie Ford.”

Sophie watched as he whispered something into Katie’s ear, then slowly let her go. Katie glared at him, smiled at Sophie, then faced the Council.

This had been the first time in years Sophie had seen her friend’s true spirit. She couldn’t help but smile. What had happened to her? She looked fantastic.

“The blood bond between the mentioned parties hasn’t been completed. So she is not under anyone’s protection.”

“Actually, Councillor Cedric, the bond is complete and the protection true and in place. I cannot allow any harm to come to either woman by our own bonded laws.” Robert spoke clear and true.

The fuss began to build again.

“Are you saying you’ll go against the Council’s word?” one of them asked.

“By the Council’s own laws, I have no choice. You have a choice.” Robert saw that he had gained their attention. “You have a choice. Over there stands a woman, a first-generation witch. It has been centuries since the apparent extermination of their kind, but somehow one family survived. There may be more, but for now she is our one key to protecting our race, and the humans, from the annihilation and the corruption of the wolves. They are growing stronger by the second. You kill her, you kill our chances of balance and survival.”

Robert was convincing. Sophie could feel the panic growing in her stomach.

“What of the girl?”

Robert glanced down at her and Sophie felt her heart melt under his searching gaze. “Without this girl, this woman—my mate—Katie wouldn’t have been brought to us. Everything they’ve done, they’ve done to protect each other. I don’t believe they should be punished. I think they should be congratulated.”

“Your thoughts will be taken into account.”

“I’d like to add a few words,” William interrupted.

Sophie was shocked to see how many Council members seemed to dislike him. William began without their permission.

“Already, the wolves have attacked. I don’t know if they intended to kill or capture Katie, but they know who and what she is. Surely we must protect her?”

The Councillors nodded, reluctantly taking on board what he had to say.

“We’ll conduct this meeting and get back to you,” Robert senior said. The Councillors started to move out.

Sophie turned to Robert, throwing her arms around him.

Everything was going to be all right.

Somewhere, glass smashed. Growls and screams erupted inside the house.

Robert tensed. “Attack! We’re under attack.”

Gunshots fired. The very ground beneath her feet began to shake.

Wolves crashed through the main hall, going straight for the Council. Sophie watched as Katie reacted, her hands shooting out and blowing up one of the wolves before going for the next. Another and another came in. The commotion was loud, fast and horrific. Many of the Councillors were slaughtered where they stood before they had time to react. So much carnage between two races.

Everywhere she looked, she saw destruction.

Robert sheltered her behind his broad back, but no matter what he tried he couldn’t keep her from seeing.

When some of the bodies hit the floor, they took on human form. Sophie whimpered. This was too much. They were supposed to be protected here. This was vampire ground.

What was she supposed to do? They were everywhere. She was the only mortal being in the building.

She felt so helpless as she watched death unfold.

 

Robert felt Sophie’s fear and he lashed out. Everything he could get his hands on, he took out. He kept Sophie at his back. He couldn’t do anything more than protect her. William was helping Katie, but Robert could already see her power draining away. It was like all the life was being zapped out of her. The colour was disappearing from her cheeks. Her body looking more and more frail and brittle, like a zombie.

He knew she hadn’t harnessed her power before and if she kept using it now she would be killed.

She shot out one last bolt and collapsed to her knees, a few droplets of blood escaping her lips as she clutched her chest.

 

Sophie screamed her name even as William was at her side, trying to move her.

They were out of time.

“Enough!” a voice filled with authority yelled at the room. The clapping of hands stopped everyone from moving. The wolves stopped, too, waiting for more orders.

Robert turned towards the voice. A voice from his past.

James, the Alpha of the wolves in Beyer West, stood in the doorway.

“Wow, that was really easy,” he laughed. He looked a little insane.

Robert held Sophie to him. No matter what happened, he needed to keep her safe.

James swatted away the guard approaching him. Robert couldn’t believe the power the man possessed. He walked straight across the room to where his father stood. Robert tried to move his feet, but he couldn’t. Protecting his father was important but he couldn’t move. He looked over at William and saw that he had the same problem. What was stopping them from moving?

The only being with that kind of magic was a witch. The only witch they knew of was collapsed in this room. What was going on?

 

“So, you’re the main man causing me problems. You know this place is considered a deep, dark palace or a shrine to all the dead-walking vampires. Very few people will go past the doors to enter and be within these walls. I’ve never believed in the true power of the vampires and I’ve just proven to more people besides the wolves that your magic is not what it’s supposed to be.” James circled Robert’s father.

Robert wanted to scream, to run, but his voice wouldn’t work.

“What do you want from us?” his father growled.

James chuckled. “I want you all dead.” He began laughing. “But I’ll settle for just you.”

Claws shot from his fingers and he severed the older man’s throat. Robert tried to scream, and he saw William’s mouth open in a cry, but no sound came from their mouths. He’d just watched his father be killed and he could do nothing.

James set fire to the body and whistled as he moved away. “Wow, that was easy,” he said again.

A ball of rage grew inside Robert.

James went over to where Katie knelt, spent, on her knees. She coughed and blood spurted onto the ground. White formed in the tips of her hair. Sophie was yelling for Katie to get up. Robert could see her shaking.

“My little dove. It’s time for us to go.”

“N—no,” she cried out weakly.

Putting his hand beneath her chin, he pulled her to her feet. Katie didn’t have the energy to fight.

“You’re mine and I’m taking you with me,” James growled in her face.

“William,” she screamed as James went to pick her up. She batted his hands away.

Robert watched his brother fighting to get to the witch.

“Let her go, dog.”

James glanced at William and Robert in turn. “You didn’t really think I’d allow my daughter to spend time with you, did you?”

The confession sent a shock wave through the room. Never before had a wolf and a witch mated and created a baby. It was unheard of. Yet, it explained everything—her anger, her weakness and how she was able to blow up wolves.

James picked Katie up and walked out of the room, leaving chaos and destruction in his wake.

Robert watched William fight. His brother couldn’t move and watching her in their enemy’s arms was killing him.

It was over an hour before Robert could move again. His father’s body was nothing but ash, the Council defeated and left reeling. William looked angry and lost. As the magic levels dropped, Robert charged over to his father’s body while William ran out into the street.

There was nothing he could do.

He went outside to join William. Sophie stood next to him staring up and down the street. There was no sign of where they could have gone.

“Did you know?” William turned on Sophie.

“Did I know what?” she asked, tears streaming down her face.

“Did you know your little witch friend was a descendent of a wolf?” he yelled at her.

Sophie hugged her arms around her body. “Up until a couple of hours ago I didn’t even know wolves existed! How the hell could I have known she was one?”

Robert heard the grief in her voice and it was cutting him up. He grabbed her, protecting her with his body and his love.

“That’s enough, William,” Robert ordered. “You need to think clearly. There is no way that Katie could be any relation to James.”

“How can you be so sure?” Robert watched as William wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Balance. Nature may be defiant but it still works on the balance of natural forces.” Robert was certain of it.

“Fuck the balance. Did you just see what that prick did?” William pushed his brother away in his rage.

“I was there. I watched him and I couldn’t move. Our father is dead and now everyone is going to turn to me for leadership.” Robert poked William’s chest, emphasising his point.

William began to laugh. “You’ve been waiting your whole life for this. What are you going to tell Mother? Our family, everything we’ve been working towards…destroyed.”

Robert hadn’t had time to process what had happened or to decide what he would have to tell his mother and siblings. It still hadn’t really registered that his father was dead. In this world there would be no justice for the killing of a vampire. The humans didn’t know that werewolves existed, let alone that they lived among them.

“He was too strong. No werewolf has that amount of power.”

“Unless he has a witch protecting him.” William confirmed what Robert was thinking.

“We need to find the witch and stop them.”

Robert shook his head. “Katie can wait. I’ve got other, more importan—”

William turned on him in an instant.

“We have nothing more important. James’s witch is going to help him whether we like it or not. We don’t even know who his witch is. Katie is my top priority.”

“We’ll find her.”

William refused to listen. “I promised to keep her safe. I won’t stop until I find her. I’ll be the one to find her. I screwed up—me.”

He moved away, limping through the debris left behind by the wolves invading the Council. To most it would look like a raid gone bad, but to Robert it signalled the start of the chaos he knew was about to begin.

Robert watched his brother go. What was he supposed to do? He gazed back at the broken building where the Council had resided. This would break his mother. How was he supposed to take over from his father when he had no idea what he was supposed to do himself?

Sophie touched his back. He felt her heart open up to him. He welcomed her affection. It was the only thing keeping him going. She hugged him. The comfort reassured him.

“We have to go back inside.”

Sophie nodded, placing her hand in his as he led the way back inside. They walked around the fallen bodies of his brethren.

The remaining members of the Council were gathered around his father’s fallen body.

“He was a good man. A good leader. He didn’t deserve to go like this.”

They all murmured their agreement.

Robert stood before them. “I’ll get my people to come and move the body. A quick burial should be sufficient.”

All the Councillors turned to him. He could see the grief and sorrow on their faces.

One of them spoke up. “You must take his place now, Robert.”

Robert didn’t look to see where the voice had come from. He didn’t want to know.

“The time for Councils and meetings is past. Did you see how easily they got to us?” That voice belonged to a frightened guard—one of the few who had managed to remain alive.

“We should have killed the girl when we had the chance.” Cedric spoke harshly.

Sophie gasped—it was clear his words hurt her.

Robert growled at him. Without his father, with the death of an empire that had just happened, he didn’t care about protocol. This man didn’t deserve his respect and he would no longer get it.

“I would keep your words in your mouth if I were you,” Robert warned him. None of the other members came forward to defend him. He didn’t care—he would fight them all.

“How dare you speak to me like that?” Cedric said, red, puffy and outraged.

“How dare I? How dare I?” Robert charged at the man and took him by the scruff of the neck. “For years I’ve done whatever the Council has told me to do. I’ve killed and I’ve worked with nothing but the Council’s good name in mind. My father taught me that there is nothing better in this world than pleasing the Council for the good of mankind.” He stopped and brought his face closer. “If we hadn’t started those rumours, if we had worked for the good of everyone, Katie wouldn’t have gone off the radar and she would have been safe and protected. A good man died today and a good, powerful witch was taken from us. I suggest you keep your tongue in your head before you start questioning people.” He shoved the man away from him, turning to the other members.

“I think you should all go home. Spend time with your families and loved ones. The werewolves have just declared war. We have no choice but to fight back. Go home, rest, think about the future. And if you want a future without a threat from the wolves, then come back here and we’ll rebuild.”

Robert went back to Sophie, taking her by the hand.

“We’ve got to change. Otherwise, we won’t exist anymore. They’re coming for us whether we want them to or not and I refuse to go down without a fight.”

Sophie was shaking uncontrollably. One by one they left, until only Sophie and Robert stood over the body of his father. She held his hand but remained silent. She obviously understood his need to think.

“You can leave if you want,” he finally said.

Sophie glanced over at him, but his gaze stayed firmly on his father’s remains.

She licked her lips. “I don’t want to go.”

He turned to her then.

“It’s going to get ugly,” he warned.

“I don’t care. I have nowhere else to go,” she admitted, tears streaming from her eyes. Katie was gone. Her parents wouldn’t understand. The only people she had in the world were Katie and Robert. She didn’t want to leave him.

He kissed the top of her head. “This is going to be dangerous.”

Sophie shrugged her shoulders. “Life is never supposed to be easy.”

“I have to tell my mother.”

“I’ll be there when you do. I promise, Robert, I will always be there for you.”

 

She couldn’t believe that she was about to meet her other family—Robert’s family—and that she would be bringing them awful news. Sophie knew she’d met his mother back at the bonding ceremony, but she hadn’t talked to her at all. This would be the first time they would meet properly, and when she should be taking round a cake and offering to make tea, she would instead be part of giving news of death. Not the best way to start with the in-laws.

Sophie thought of Katie. There was no way Katie was involved with or part of the wolves’ plans.

She turned to Robert. This couldn’t wait. “I met her parents. Katie’s. Before they died. She looks so much like them. They were wonderful people, Robert. There is no way that man could be her father. No way her parents would ever deal with a man so evil,” she earnestly pleaded.

Robert hugged her to his body, nodding his head. “He said it to cause a reaction. To make us doubt everything.”

She circled her arms around him. She needed to know that he was alive and that everything was fine. She needed to reassure herself.

“I’m fine,” he soothed, kissing the top of her head.

“I’ve never been so scared in all of my life. I saw them coming and I didn’t know what to do,” she confessed. She inhaled his scent, loving the feel of him under her skin. “I’m sorry about your father,” she told him. Everything had happened so fast.

“I can’t mourn him. I don’t have time to mourn him.” He looked into her eyes. “We’ll find Katie, I promise.”

She ducked her head. “I know we will. I just hope she’s alive when we do.”

He took her chin between his fingers. “Let’s go see Mother, then get you home.”

 

His mother broke down. She was inconsolable. The tears refused to stop. His two sisters stayed silent but comforted their mother. He could see the despair on all of their faces. Rose stared at him with desperation shining in her eyes. The youngest female of them all, and yet her eyes held a world of knowledge.

He went to her and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll take care of you. I promise.”

“He shouldn’t have died,” she cried.

Dawn, his other sister, took her off his hands and all three women huddled together. Not able to cope with the loss in his heart at seeing his family broken, Robert turned away. He left Sophie with them while he and his other two brothers went into the study. William should have been here. Katie would be found and looked after, but William, as the next oldest brother, should be in this study with them, planning the next fight.

“We could have been there to help,” said Jason, the youngest, cutting into Robert’s thoughts. Out of all the brothers Jason was the most likely to strike first and ask questions later. The one to run into battles without a plan.

Robert placed a comforting hand on his arm. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Father would have died anyway.”

“I can’t believe he’s really dead,” Adam whispered. The next brother after William. Adam was often silent, but when he spoke he made sense.

“I need you to be ready. We’ve got a war on our hands and, when the time comes, we’ll need to strike back against them.”

“What about this witch?” Jason asked.

Robert shook his head. “I believe William has connected himself with the witch. He’s going to be doing nothing but trying to find her.”

They fell silent, all of them thinking of Emma. The one person who had given William her heart, then taken it away. William, out of all of them, knew how to deal with loss, but he wouldn’t come here.

“Who is the witch helping James?” Adam questioned.

Robert shook his head. “I’ve no idea. Without Katie, we’re powerless against them. Attacks will increase now. They’ll see the Valentines as weak. Not only the wolves, but others as well. They are strong, my brothers. Stronger than anything we’re used to. If you see one of them, you must promise to run away.”

He could tell he’d shocked them. Never before would he have allowed them to run. He hated giving the order. But he’d seen first-hand what they could do. He didn’t want to risk any more of his family. The truth was, the Valentines weren’t ready for a battle. If anything, the vampires had become complacent about their power. All of that was about to change.

They both nodded. All of them were scared, not knowing what the future held. Their father would have told them what to do and why they were doing it. But he was gone. They only had each other now.

“I noticed your bond mate,” Jason said, changing the subject.

Robert smiled. Sophie was the only thing he had to smile about lately. “You must find a mate of your own.”

“How does it feel?” Adam asked. They both seemed intrigued by the prospect of a bond mate. They had all heard stories of how wonderful it could be.

“It’s wonderful.” Robert smiled at his brother before going back to kiss his mother goodnight.

He took Sophie with him to his apartment above the club.

“Your mom seemed nice.” Sophie spoke first to break the silence.

Robert went to her and kissed her on the lips, tasting her. “I don’t want to talk. I want to forget about the past few hours. I just want to feel you in my arms. Do you understand?”

Sophie nodded.

Robert took her in his arms. “You’re the only good thing about tonight. I couldn’t bear losing you.” He kissed her over and over again, making sure she was really there, in his apartment, in his arms.

“I’m here, Robert and I’m never leaving you.” She responded to his kiss. She stripped off his shorts and scored her nails into his flesh. “Feel me. I’m here, with you.” She laid loving kisses where her nails had raked the skin. She lavished attention on him.

“More, Sophie. I need more.”

She smoothed her lips along his chest, her hands going to the buckle on his trousers. She pushed his trousers down past his ankles, stood up to kiss him. She lifted her arms so he could remove her dress. Sophie wore nothing underneath. Naked, they pressed against each other head to toe.

He cupped her ass, prompting her to jump and wrap her legs around his waist.

They didn’t have time to get to the bedroom. Robert took her against the wall, positioning his hardened shaft at her entrance and plunging into her pussy, going right to the hilt. They both cried out at the contact, forgetting in that instant together about the troubles that lay ahead.

Robert and Sophie climbed the wall of fulfilment until they collapsed in each other’s arms.