Leaving him in bed, I couldn't risk another session. While being the object of his affection tended to lull me into a sense of security, it seemed to do something totally different for him. I hadn't expected the near comatose level of drop he got after our final session in the bathtub.
Lethargic, it was all he could do to make it back to the bed and pass out. It would seem to allow himself to reach let level of submission, to delve into that side of himself, was mentally exhausting for him. While I couldn't doubt he enjoyed himself, I would have to dissect that further when I had more energy to unpack his current emotional state.
Rubbing my eye with the back of my hand, I yawn as I step into the kitchen, only to pause when I notice Helen in her pajamas. The low hum of the television indicated that at least one of the children was awake, she flushes when she sees me wearing Verando's shirt and a simple pair of soft shorts. I note that she's wearing a near identical outfit and cock an eyebrow.
"Good.. morning?" I question, checking the clock on the wall to see it was nearly 10:30.
"You need to invest in better soundproofing, you both came inside last night like a couple of teenagers giggling and carrying on. The news says you exploded a car?"
A lecture from Helen was not what I was expecting. "I mean, I didn't blow it up. It just... did?" I retort, moving to grab a mug out of the cabinet and pouring myself a cup of coffee. "You look like you're trying to mend your marriage."
Hesitating, she runs a hand through her short hair, considering my words as she traces the finger of her free hand over the rim of her coffee. "I don't know what I'm doing."
"Do any of us?" I wrinkle my nose at the coffee, pouring it out with a heavy sigh. "The ability to make better coffee would be a considerable start." I pour out the pot, opting to make tea instead for I knew my warlord would be appreciative when he woke up. "It's an easy question, are you happy or not?"
Snagging a bagel off the island, she seats herself on one of the bar stools and I couldn't help but chuckle at the familiarity. I remember having a conversation much like this with Tonic, when he was still my best friend, when he was someone I could trust. "I don't want to be happy. It feels like a goal that can't be obtained, I just want to be comfortable."
"Not good enough." I conclude, "Eternity is a long time to only be comfortable."
"Tyler doesn't have eternity." She frowns, folding her hands over her cup. "He wants a family. A home. A life that I can't give him, that I don't want to give him. I don't want children, I don't want to try and create something that royally fucked me up and killed my mother, I watch you and Papa and I can't help but think how much easier your lives would be without all of this family drama. Without children."
Placing my hands on the counter, my back to her, I take in her words because I remember feeling exactly the same until I didn't. I remember Verando telling me that I was wasting my life on him, and that our lives were not compatible. I'd been Tyler, in a sense, but I also had been where Helen was coming from. I was comfortable with Marcus, but I wasn't in love with him.
I could have found comfort in Tonic, when he decided that I was something worth pursuing.
But it was my warlord, my husband, Verando, who made me swoon. "Is that what Tyler actually wants or what you think he wants?"
"Tyler wants to be obsessed with me." Helen almost sounds disgusted. "He just wants me to be happy."
"But you can't be?"
Helen glances up at me with those light eyes that remind me so much of her father, so much of her grandfather. The pain, regret, the burden of an Alpha.
"It seems to be a genetic trait for you Mercers," I tell her, placing the kettle on the stove. "Maybe just stop trying to dissect everything and just allow it to be whatever it's going to be? Enjoy it? Is the sex at least good?"
She places her cheek on her knuckles, "Not as good as Kestrel."
Wrinkling my nose, I could see the appeal, unfortunately. "Train him?"
Sticking her tongue out between her teeth in disapproval, I scoff, flicking water at her from the ends of my fingertips. "You're so much like Randy. It's really almost creepy."
Taking another bite of her bagel, this seems to please her and she shrugs her slim shoulders to some sort of soundless victory dance. Licking the cream cheese off her thumb, she taps her lengthy nails on the counter. "Tiberius is coming by this morning, he's found Landon and they're wanting to discuss some things with Papa about Fenrir. Tyler is planning on taking the boys over to see John and Jan."
I was frankly relieved, my body was aching from head to toe, and chasing two children around was sounding more and more like an act of god given the state of my back and hips. Perhaps being the 'top' wasn't all it was cracked up to be if this was the state it left me in. "I appreciate you both taking care of them. What are they hoping to achieve with that? Checking on the chain?"
Helen pulls her lips into a thin line, "Tiberius feels as though the balance of the world is off. The cats are back, only this time... it would appear there have been werewolf sightings."
My blood runs cold and she waits for a moment, letting me swallow that knowledge.
"I have been sending out the limited lycan resources we have here in the states, they can't pick up on anything but the scent of... morphs... or what we're calling them. Tonic had taken Landon and K to town to hide out while this all blew over, he was worried Verando was not actually... himself. Nic, they're suspicious that we've managed to lock Fenrir on the outside and Randy on the inside."
Appalled, I attempt to allow every word to sink in before I dared to react. "Is that why we've not been able to speak to Landon?"
"Fenrir might reveal himself when exposed to the vessel of Tyr. In Viking lore, Tyr and Fenrir were actually good friends before Tyr was forced to betray him, there is some bad blood harbored there obviously... if Fenrir is in there, there's a good chance that seeing Landon and sensing the god underneath will trigger him." Helen speaks with so much conviction as if she'd practiced this over and over again, as if she'd already made up her mind that we'd possibly trapped my husband for eternity and the man driving this vessel was actually a demon.
"Helen. I'm going to give you one opportunity to assure me that you don't think my husband is Fenrir."
I couldn't go through this, not again. My wolf stands at attention, firmly planted in retaliation for allowing anything further to happen to the man I loved. "I just got him back. Verando is on the end of his rope, they are not coming into my house to do anything that's going to upset him." I snap, firm as I meet her gaze with a low growl rumbling in my chest.
The pale eyes lock with mine, she considers her options, wanting to please me but not wanting to allow me to take charge of this situation. She hadn't intended on asking me, none of them had, because they wanted to catch my husband off guard and I'd ruined that opportunity by finding out their plans first.
"Nic, we're all scared. But we have to find out if this is Fenrir or Randy."
"I'm telling you, as his lover, his husband and his soul mate, that that is my husband."
"Fenrir's a good liar-" She insists and I slam my hands on the counter with a feral snarl. Flashing my teeth, I feel my wolf threaten to crawl out of my skin, only to retract in obedience to my stance. I couldn't destroy a home Verando worked so hard to make for us, the wolf respected that request.
"Fenrir is trapped under two sets of spells. A strigoi chain and a demon's brand. I'm telling you, here and now, that if you want to do anything to him that even causes him the slightest bit of discomfort you're going to have to go through me first. We have done more than enough in service for this planet, I invite you to not overstay your welcome and bring more chaos into this house." My own tone caught me off guard.
I'd grown in my time as a lycan, in fighting so hard to bring him back to me and getting to this point, it was a sense of pride in this home and my family. I'd never felt more secure in my place at his side, in my command of our space, I meant every ounce of my words. I would stop them if they tried to come into this house with ill intentions.
"I don't have a say in the matter. I'm just telling you what's about to happen, Tiberius is upset that he was chopped to pieces, Echo still is not out of her coma. We were destroyed Nic, you were destroyed, you're still not walking right with your leg. Verando is dangerous but that...." She shudders, sickened by the memory of just how horrible the slaughter was. Verando had practically bathed in our blood, and Fenrir giggled while he did it.
Helen knows better than to try and touch me. "We have to be sure. If we have to remove you to do that... I'm sorry but-"
The front door opens and closes, I wheel around, snagging a gun from one of the compartments under the counter only to pause when I see Landon's large green eyes as he rounds the corner. Not Tyr, not a lunatic siren, just Landon staring at me like he'd seen too much and he wished he'd never played that video game.
"Landon." I sigh, my hand trembles just slightly, knowing the boy harbored his own god. "If you're still Landon."
"I am." He reassures me, offering me a small smile on those full lips. "For now... mind's pretty busy but I think that's to be expected given the circumstances. I don't know if I can hold the big guy back if he just decides to jump out."
I could accept that honesty, that was all I was asking for. Honestly and acceptance for the consequences I would dish out if I found it necessary. "I'm sorry for all that happened."
"I'm sorry we have to come and do this." He frowns, eyeing me cautiously. I still had not dropped my weapon.
"I'm sorry I'm going to have to shoot you if you take on step further into this house-"
Tiberius appears by my side, placing his hand over the gun, I move to punch him in the face only for him to grab my hand and threaten to snap my wrist. "Sirens." I spit, gritting my teeth at the cold, golden gaze.
"Nic. I've been alive for over a thousand years and nobody has ever chopped me into pieces so expertly that I've lived through it to the last slice. I can accept that shit happens but, we need to be pretty damn certain that whatever the fuck that is, it's our version of him. There's a pretty real chance Verando is dead and gone and you've been fornicating with a corpse." Sniffing me once, I use my off-hand to slap him across the face.
"Piss off." I take my husband's lingo. "What, you all collectively think Verando is gone?"
"Yes." K frowns. "Lore is often close to the truth, if Fenrir is in there how are we supposed to believe that these two things worked? A Strigoi has nothing to do with a god, let alone a brand that's meant to seal evil. These two things seem like they would only suppress the human side of the vessel, leaving Fenrir loose in a body that's more than capable of slaughtering all of us in our sleep."
"If this is Fenrir, Randy's dead, Nic. We have to know what we're up against."
I didn't want to hear this, I couldn't even begin to consider the thought that the man who I was rebuilding my life with could be some fabricated version of himself. "Have you consulted Adriam? Rowan? Tomas? You're just going to take matters into your own hands, storm the castle and do what, exactly? Torture my husband some more?"
"We are acting independently." Landon frowns. "Helen only knew of it this morning, she wasn't supposed to say anything."
"I'm not a fan of it either but they promised they had an actual plan that didn't involve hurting anyone." She attempts to reassure me, only causing me further discomfort in the fact that I'd let Helen into my life yet again only for her to try and reason her way into ruining it. Atleast she didn't help to plan this part, she just hadn't tried to stop it. Yet, she was still on my side of the table, not yet moved to stand with the vessel and K.
"We're going to reveal Tyr. If Fenrir is in there, he will reveal himself." Tiberius makes it sound so simple, to me it sounded like a good excuse to get our guard down.
"Awful lot of planning to do something that sounds pretty low key. Tiberius, Randy has always taken your side, how could you stab him in the back like this?" I spit, yanking my hand out of his and rubbing my wrist. "Haven't we been through enough? When you realize that Verando is more than capable of recreating that torment, what will you do when you royally piss him off and lose every ounce of trust? Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?" I speak low, through my teeth, keeping my voice hushed.
"Is that worth it to you? To any of you?" I snap, searching their conflicted faces. "If you betray him, you'll be making a much more frightening enemy than Fenrir." While I hesitated to compare my husband to a god, I was absolutely certain that the creature was locked away for good. There were few I found more capable than the gray-haired man, they'd all seen his wrath firsthand.
K glances from Tiberius to Landon. "Are we making a mistake?"
"Yes!" I snarl.
"We have to be sure." Tiberius insists.
Verando appears in the doorway, I smell him before I see him, and my body tenses. The man was simply dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of boxer briefs. The way the white shirt clung to his body, highlighting the musculature of his shoulders, I cursed the rotten band for ruining what should have been a perfect morning. "Sure of what?" He demands, voice low and hard.
Tiberius pushes me to the side in a quick motion, firing the gun, the room falls silent as the steady trickle of deep red comes from the man's chest. Straight through, the silver bullet had lodged itself into the wood behind him. A piercing round, straight to the chest. My face pales as his hand touches the blood, staining his fingers as he takes a short step backward.
A slow flash of blood seeps from his lips in a single cough, as he staggers back against the wall and slides down. "Tiberius!" Helen nearly screams, at my side as we run toward the gray-haired man.
I'm at his side, putting pressure on the wound, shaking as the blood covers my hands. "You're alright," I tell him, over and over, as if somehow that would remove the bullet hole from his heart. Helen shreds his shirt to get a better video of the considerable hole, Landon, K and Tiberius can only stand and watch.
"It's right into his chest... I... Nic... I ..." She stammers, searching the paling skin.
"Don't you dare die on me." I scowl at the man, gripping his face with my drenched hand, forcing him to meet my gaze.
Those light eyes lock on Tiberius then Landon, I hear his teeth grit and feel the tension and heat building in his body. It was a strangled sound, his lungs were filling with blood.
In a single blink, his eyes were solid black, the black spreading down his body in spiderweb-like veins to reach the hole in his chest where the blood ran dark as if it were slowly becoming ink. Looking at his hand once more, he snarls low in his throat, on his feet in a quick move before crossing the room. Gripping Landon by the throat, he slams him through the front door and out into the icy lawn.
"That proof enough for you?" Tiberius demands as I rush for the door, Helen close behind me. "That's not Verando."
"If that was Fenrir, Landon would be dead. That is Randy. At least it was until you shot him!" I snap back, sending Helen to gather the children and get them to one of the back rooms. When we reach the patio, I see Landon standing, only the man had grown the familiar white beard and Norse style outfit. A staff in one hand, a sword in the other, a ghostly figure of a god returned to this plane.
"I warned you." Tyr bellows. "Eliminate Fenrir. This is not an acceptable solution." Slamming the staff on the ground, the gray-haired man grips his chest, fighting against his own body. It's a near scream of agony as he drops to his knees and Alpha rips through him. The gray wolf stretches the Strigoi chain with a horrific screeching sound, standing before us, half gray and half black with splotches all over the familiar body.
Prominent fangs bared, black eyes wide as his coat bristles. His ears flat back as he stands between us and the god. I quickly move, unable to control myself, as Tiberius grips my shirt and yanks me backward. "Are you insane?!" He demands of me. "You'll be slaughtered."
"He's protecting me! Alpha is just trying to keep me safe, I have to get over there."
"That's not Alpha." Tiberius grips my arms, shaking me one harsh time. "For god's sake Nic, wake up! That is not Verando, that is Fenrir using him like a damn meat puppet!"
Staring at the gold eyes, so much fear and anger in them, I can only shake my head. "Someone who has never known love and only lust wouldn't understand the way it feels to be so close to the other half of yourself. If I die, it'll be protecting the man I love, not believing in a fairy tale. You don't know Randy as I do, now get the fuck out of my way before I put you back in the hospital."