Mine, Bitten

Chapter Forty-Seven

Lucan

      Lucan had descended from the Carpathians, his cousin Ronan trailing his side. He felt his pack roaming the woods, seeking the remaining few Rogues that had escaped them.

            Though he had affiliated with the vampires his pack had not failed him. They had gone faithfully and eagerly into the fight with the elders, despite having sided with some of the vampires, but in doing so had secured a pact.

            He imagined many loup-garou alike would disagree if they discovered his coalition with the undead. But having witnessed the extraordinary of one half-human, half-vampire – has broadened his awareness.

            Lily and her child were now the greatest rarity on earth. He had always pitied the humans, caught between two greater species, never standing a chance.

            Lily's child was proof that humans were just as much a formidable threat, one certainly to be heeded.

            "What of your woman?" Ronan asked, jarring Lucan from his thoughts.

            He thought of Blanch and how despaired she appeared when delivering that fatal blow to her father. Though the elder had been ruthless in his tactics, he must have adorned her with devotion and love at one time for her to look so forlorn.

            "What of her?" he asked, feigning disinterest. Blanch had returned to Cove Neck in hopes of living a predominately ordinary life. She wasn't like the other vampires. She detested what she was and for that, secluded herself.

            Ronan halted in his stride, fixing him with a puzzled look. "Did you not tell me in Asheville, that this was all for a woman?"

            He chuckled lightly, "I said nothing of the sort – I merely said I harbored feelings for her."

            "And that she is vampire."

            Lucan pinned his cousin with that lucid, green stare. "Do you judge me then?"

            Being an Alpha of his own pack, Ronan very much knew the feral laws they were to abide and the feelings his cousin harbored for their 'enemy', though no longer, would not set well with any loup-garou.

            "I am in no position to judge you." He said, "But as your blood, I will warn you that your feelings for the vampire will surely risk your status as Alpha, and perhaps even your life."

            "And I can assure you – I risk nothing."

            Ronan froze then, his gray eyes narrowing. "What are you saying?"
            "She and I are not fated to be. Even if her feelings were mutual, she is vampire and I am werewolf. We could never be."

            "And just like that – you give her up?'

            He nodded, "I can love her from afar."

            "But is that enough?"

            "It will have to be." Lucan admitted and then asked, changing the topic nonchalantly, though Ronan imagined it pained his cousin tremendously to live out his life without the woman he loved. "Do you return to Asheville?"

            "Yes, I have complications of my own."

            Lucan smirked, "If you have need of me, cousin, you know where to find me."

            Ronan mirrored his grin and gave a curt nod, "Noted."

Varian

            Varian felt the sun rising like a dead weight on his senses. He felt exhausted yet unbelievably alive with tremendous joy.

            Who would have thought? A vampire such as him capable of such emotion, and yet as he peered lovingly at his beautiful woman, he felt the happiest he'd ever been in all his centuries of existing.

            He felt the others sleeping in the next room and new once nightfall came, they'd be on their 'merry way', as Talon had expressed. Marguerite had mentioned returning to Paris, it having been one of the most 'splendid of places', with an eager Ruby at her heel.

            Jackson and Blanch had returned to Cove Neck, hoping to fall back into the normalcy that was their lives. And Ward was nothing more – he would ensure it.

            Lily had regained all her strength and now paced the bedroom with their daughter held securely in her arms, a fuzzy Charlie lapping at her feet.

            Her cerulean eyes glinted warmly at him as he moved toward her. "Do you think we are safe?" she asked.

            He reached up and gently cupped her face, running his thumb across her lower lip. "You needn't worry. I will protect mine at all costs."

            She smiled up at him, "Of that I know, but what of Ward's research, all his work?"

            "It's been destroyed." He said promptly.

            "You are sure?" her brows knitted with uncertainty.

            He nodded, "I had it destroyed before we left for Bucharest. It's nothing but ash now."

            "And Ward? What of him?"

            "I'm certain he's no longer a threat." He said and then with a hint of a grin, "But there is one pressing matter we need to address."

            Lily stiffened, "What?" she demanded almost breathlessly.

            His dark eyes glinted playfully, "What shall we name her?"
            Her mouth broadened with a grin, "Oh –" she peered down at her sleeping daughter, admiring every intricate, delicate line of her darling face. "I thought perhaps we could name her Vivian, after my mother?"

            Varian smiled, "Vivian Rose?"

            Lily glanced up, her brows arching at the name. "Rose?"

            He nodded, "It was my mother's name."

            She gasped with surprise and smiled all the more, "Vivian Rose." Her smile then vanished abruptly at an uneasy thought, "Is she like you? Will she live beyond her years?"

            He stepped to her and wrapped his arm about her waist, reeling her tight against him. "She is like you, my sweet. Vivian will grow as you did. The aging process in her will stop with time, mostly in her prime. She has both vampire and human blood in her veins. You needn't worry."

            Comforted by his soothing words and surety, she leaned further into his arms. "I'm the happiest I've ever been."

            Varian gripped her chin gently, tilting her head back to plant a kiss firmly on her lips until she was breathless, yearning for more. "And you, my sweet one, have my undying love."

            Her eyes glinted vividly of her own, "Promise?"

            His arm tightened about her as he vowed fervidly, "Forever."

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