Testimony of Children (Alice Gray Book 2)

44

Thomas was on his way.

My radar was never wrong, but it hadn't been until the thundering steps up the stairs that I realised he was so close. And he wasn't alone.

Lucas's head whipped around to face the door a moment before it was flung open. A low growl rumbled forth, more menacing than anything that I had heard before.

It didn't scare me. It wasn't meant for me.

A large man filled the doorway. He was dressed in an identical tuxedo to the one that Lucas wore. It was the man who had guarded Roger with Lucas at the gala.

I only had a second to notice him before Thomas gathered me in his arms and pressed me to his chest.

Something had changed in the way that my power responded to his. The buzz of excitement was still there, but it was no longer painful. My life-force was content to stay within me, rather than agitating desperately to join with his.

It had to be the pack bond diluting the force of my connection with Thomas.

I couldn't help but be oddly disappointed. When our shared lust was all consuming, there was something epic about it. Like I really believed that fate had predetermined a role for us together, and I was just holding out to prolong the sweet agony of separation, hoping for a more dramatic climax.

Now that the intensity had been diminished a little, I realised that this was just a relationship like any other. There would be problems to overcome if we decided to be together, and there was no safety net of predestination to smooth the way.

Had the romance been sucked away now that my power did not need to wrap itself around Thomas, like my body did?

Holding me at arms-length, Thomas inspected me from head to toe. I did the same. Soft dark hair that fell over his forehead, the bone structure of a runway model but the serious eyes of a king. He was beyond beautiful. Well, that answered that question. I definitely still wanted him.

Thomas, on the other hand, looked unsure. "What has happened? You smell like wolf."

Lucas thought that an appropriate moment to introduce his new role in my life. "She belongs to me now."

Thomas stood perfectly still for ten seconds. The longest ten seconds that I had ever experienced. His head swivelled to the side to contemplate Lucas who had moved close enough to intervene if Thomas stepped out of line.

"She doesn't belong to you," Thomas spoke slowly and quietly, as if giving Lucas a chance to retract his statement.

"Erm, I don't belong to anybody," I said, getting pretty pissed off that I was being discussed in terms of ownership. Both men ignored my statement.

"What's your claim," Lucas asked Thomas.

"I don't need a claim. She has been destined for me for four hundred years."

"Wrong Alice," I interjected, furious that this was happening around me.

"You heard her," Lucas said with a smirk. "She belongs to me."

"That's not what I said."

I was pretty sure that I wasn't invisible. What was wrong with these men?

"She's pack," Lucas stated with a finality that suggested the discussion was over.

Thomas's face darkened, a thunderous expression swirling in his dark eyes and spreading out until it encompassed his entire being. His body loomed over me, tense and threatening.

"Speak," he ordered.

There was no way that I was going to shake and stammer my excuses. Gone were the days that I would fear Thomas's vampire temper. I didn't owe him any explanations. We weren't together, and he had just proven once again that it was my ancestor the Pendle Witch that he obsessed about.

Silver particles furiously multiplied from my skin and vibrated in the air around me. I willed them to radiate out towards these men who would take away my independence. My hair rose from my shoulders and what was left of my dress billowed around my legs.

"I. BELONG. TO. NO ONE."

Then I pulled it back into myself and wrapped it around my organs. If I wasn't so pissed off I would take a moment to congratulate myself on my control. As it was, I lifted my eyes to each man in turn, to reinforce my point.

"The Silver," Lucas gasped.

"And don't you forget it. We may be pack, but I do not belong to you. And I don't owe you any explanations," I said, turning to address Thomas next, "I will tell you this, what has happened wasn't planned, it was out of necessity. I'm not even sure what being part of this pack entails, but if you can't handle it, then all the hundreds of years that you have pined for Alice Gray will have been for nothing. Because I'm all there is, Thomas."

Worn out by my tirade, I flopped into an armchair.

A slow clap sounded from the doorway. Roger's other security guard stood leaning against the doorframe as though all this had been a wonderfully entertaining show put on for his benefit. He looked so much like Lucas that I had to do a double take.

"Well well well, that was quite a show. What have you been up to Luke?"

The man pushed off the wall and walked straight up to Lucas, stopping only a fraction before their noses touched. His body angled forwards in an obvious show of dominance.

"When our connection severed, I thought you were dead. I came here to avenge my Beta."

His voice was low and threatening, dominance rolling off his large body in hot, dense waves. My power responded to the threat, agitating my insides, ready to burst forth. I waited for Lucas's command.

Lucas didn't answer with words. His own dominance swelled around him, reaching out to Evan and me. We moved to flank him.

Thomas growled at my actions, but did nothing to prevent me going to the aid of my Alpha.

The man looked us over. The tension broke suddenly when a huge roar of laughter burst out of him. He stepped back, relinquishing his show of dominance without a challenge.

"So this is the pack that you are leaving me for? Two witches?"

"They are mine. My wolf claimed them, and they accepted. We are pack, Dominic."

"Brother, they are not even shifters. You can't build a pack with witches; you may as well bond with humans."

"My wolf chose them," Lucas reiterated.

Dominic stopped laughing and regarded Lucas. His eyes flashed, the wolf coming to the surface. Lucas responded in kind.

"It's unprecedented, brother. We can't accept it."

"You must."

Lucas's answer was meant for all of us.

Well, well, well, will Thomas accept Alice's place in the pack or is this one compromise too far? Read on to find out!