Rue | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 17

Jackson's fork clattered onto his plate. "Ibeth, no, don't say that."

"It's the truth, Jackson. I think it's time. I've ruled this Pack for a decade. And I married an abusive man to help them but I think that's all I could do to help. I think my time is just up and we need something fresh. The wolves aren't very happy with me anymore. I think maybe, what I could do, is step down and pass the leadership to you and Hayley. Co-Alphas. You work well together and that would give both royal bloodlines a say. It's good to have two Alphas. When the time comes, Hope will take on the mantle. Maybe, Jackson, whenever you have kids, one of them could marry Hope to unite the bloodlines. They'll know each other from a young age anyway. But if they don't want to for any reason, then their kids could maybe do it, or so on... eventually, the unification should happen. As long as they are okay with it and it ends up being healthy."

"Oh, sweetheart," said Mary, reaching out to hold her hand. "The wolves here adore you. They complain, but they've done that for just about everything since I was a little girl. Before the curse, before everything... you are a wonderful leader and they know that. And no one wants you to step down."

"She's right," said Jackson. "I... admittedly... wanted the leadership for a long time. I just did, I was jealous, and I thought I could do well as the Alpha. But I can't live up to all that you've done for this Pack. And truth be told I think I'd rather like to focus on myself, on starting a family, on enjoying my life instead of running things. I'll gladly be your Beta, and so will Hayley, as long as you'd like us to be. Ideally... you will be Alpha until Hope comes of age. That's what would be best for the Pack. You, a good leader, staying in power until it's time for the next generation to take the mantle. Come on, Ibetty, don't tell me you're chickening out on being the Alpha."

She half-smiled. "I'm not. But I have to think about what's best for my people, and I'm not exactly in a good place, mentally, right now. And Klaus is still my husband. I don't know if he'll ever not be a hazard."

"We trust you, Ibeth," said Jackson. "And we're here to help you. Always."

She went into the city the following day to drop Nick, Luna, and Angel off at their schools. She sat in Rousseau's for a good hour just eating and drinking, planning to head back and have a day to herself deep in the Bayou.

Hayley called her as she was getting ready to go off on her own, an SOS letting her know she was waiting in St. Anne's Church with a man who'd been following her— a Strix vampire.

She rushed to St. Anne's, arriving just as Marcel did. Hayley had tied up the man, wearing an all-black suit, to a chair in front of the sparring cage.

"So, he's asleep?" asked Ibeth, noticing she'd just used ropes.

"Unconscious, I bit him in the arm," said Hayley. She nudged Marcel, "You might remember him from that pretentious excuse for a party."

Marcel nodded. "Shen Min. Eight hundred years old. According to Tristan, he was a torture consultant for Genghis Khan."

"Excuse me?" said Ibeth. "Eight hundred? And we're sure he's knocked out? I think I'd like to give him a few more bites to be safe. And surely there are chains to hold him down. I don't know about you guys but I am not too confident that I can take down a vampire of that age."

"Yeah, good idea," said Marcel. "What I want to know is why he was following Hayley."

"You mean you don't know?" asked Hayley. "Or are you sworn to a code of silence?"

"Hey, easy!" said Marcel. "We're on the same side here. Ibeth, go ahead and give him two good bites wherever you'd like. I'm gonna call Elijah."

For safety, Ibeth went to stand behind Shen Min, biting him on both sides of his neck and latching on for a good five seconds each, hoping she pumped enough venom to severely weaken him.