Page 109 of Bite The Power That Feeds

“Viper and I will lead our men in the first passage. Cobra will lead his men down the second. And King Serpentine will lead the Originals and the Diamondbacks down the last passage.” Too angry to address him as my father, I chose to insult him instead, to disregard our shared blood. “Larisa will be in charge of evacuating people from the streets. Clara, would you like to help her?”

“I will lead my people alongside the Cobra Vampires,” she answered. “I belong in battle. I’ve trained my entire life for it.”

I looked at Cobra.

He didn’t object to it. “Then we have a plan. Prepare to depart in a few hours.”

* * *

I handed our belongings to the stable master then approached Larisa’s horse. I checked the saddle to make sure it was secured properly. A few months ago, one of my men had fallen off and broken his neck because the saddle wasn’t secured properly. I never forgot that, so now I always checked, and I checked Larisa’s first.

Cobra was beside me, securing his blade into the side bag. “Nervous?”

“No. You?”

“No.”

“Then why did you ask?” I turned to him.

“To see if you would be honest—which you weren’t.” He faced me in his full battle armor, his helmet hooked to the saddle behind him.

“We’ve won every battle before. We’ll win this.”

“Viper has always said arrogance is what gets you killed.”

“I’m trying to make you feel better.”

“I’m not really worried about me.” He came closer. “I’m worried about my wife…which still sounds weird to say. I’ve seen her in action, and she’s great. Not as good as me, but pretty damn good. But now I worry.”

“I know how you feel.”

“I would ask her to stay back, but I know she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t look weak in front of her people either. If she doesn’t lead them into battle, who will? They won’t follow one of us.”

“You fell in love with her because she’s strong. You can’t ask her to stay behind.”

“Yeah, I know. But now I gotta watch her back as well as mine. Never done that before. Only worried about my neck.”

I didn’t know what to say. Nothing would console him.

“You’re lucky Larisa agreed to stay behind the army.”

“She’s not the fighter that Clara is. She’s still a novice. She’s stubborn but not unreasonable.”

Cobra grabbed his gloves and secured them onto his wrists.

That was when I noticed his hands. “You’ve chosen not to wear rings.”

“Jewelry isn’t my thing. Just makes it harder to grab the hilt of my blade.”

“What about her?”

“She doesn’t wear one either.”

It was an interesting choice, but I didn’t pass judgment.

“I don’t need a ring for women to know I’m married.”

“Then how will they know?” I asked.