Page 22 of His Retribution

"And she's on your fucking property," I spit as my tears finally subside.

"So that is how you discovered her? During your hunt?" Milos questions as he leans into the wall. "Bet that was a real mindfuck."

I scowl because he is an ass, though he is not wrong.

"Would someone care to explain what the hell is going on?" Posey asks as she looks between me and her mate. "We all know about your horrible loss, Vok, but some of us aren’t following anything else."

It surprises me that Kai did not fill her in on this.

But when his grip tightens on my shins, I know I'm about to find out why.

"Gypsy," he says as if it makes sense.

Which apparently it does to Posey and Casey because they gasp in unison.

"Gypsy?" I lift a brow. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"Posey just hired a girl named Gypsy at Bill's. Gypsy is your mate."

Andrej's grip tightens once again as I gear up to knock out his brother.

"And you what?! Thought you'd try to keep it a secret and just hope I never went in there again?!"

"Now everybody just calm the hell down," Hank says as he tries to play the peacemaker. "Let's all head to the dining room and get the story from start to finish, over some much needed booze. You still want to knock my son-in-law out after, fine. I'll even rope off sections of the backyard and referee that shit for you."

Despite my rage, I snort.

I find Hank is one of my favorite people here at times.

* * *

Twenty minutes later all twelve of us—Allie put Daisy back to bed—are in the dining room, seated around the table with several bottles of the strongest vodka Posey could find.

And because I'm too much of a mess, Henrich starts my sordid tale.

"About two hundred and seventy-seven years ago, Havok met his mate. A beautiful little one, a fiery pixie, spunky little sprite and so full of life. She was his match in every way and their great romance played out wonderfully for about two years." He takes a shot and looks at me for permission to continue, which I grant. "The little one was the daughter of a nobleman, her parents were relatively high ranking in the human kingdom. Her father was the human king's closest advisor and because of this, he was able to arrange a marriage between her and one of his most sought after allies."

My stomach rolls at who exactly this ally was, but I say nothing. Instead, I grab one of the bottles and start chugging straight from it, all the while splitting my attention between Henrich's retelling of the best and worst time of my life and honing in on the clearing where my light is still sleeping soundly.

"Havok was a bit of a lone wolf at the time. Friend to us after we found him, oddly enough during a battle with Cyril's army, but he didn't travel with a coven as most vampires do."

"For damn good reasons." I snort into the bottle.

Henrich frowns. "We will save your family drama and genetic anomalies for another night around the campfire, if it is alright with you?"

I roll my eyes but nod.

"Anyway, our father was an ally to the human king, though he had no knowledge of our dual nature. Bozidar the Great had control of so many of the smaller kingdoms that Slovakia's human king knew he needed the relationship. Well, as it were, a war was brewing with our enemies—Slovakia's enemies—and he enlisted help from our father and our people. One night, purely by chance, Havok came across the little one attempting to free the wild horses on the military's base, the ones that had yet to be broken in."

I smile at the memory.

My light was shining so bright that night, her dress covered in mud, cloak dripping wet from the rain. She was so small that she was able to slip through most of the fencing and gates but she was unable to open the main one that would have sent those wild horses charging through the village. I was on patrol, always at night because of myviolent allergy to the sun, and when I stumbled upon that feisty little woman fighting with the lock and cursing like a soldier, I was immediately enthralled.

I watched from the shadows, the whole time knowing in my heart she was meant to be mine, until the lock broke free and snapped back toward her face. The iron caught part of her forehead, split her porcelain skin wide open and the second her blood was exposed, it sang to me. I rushed toward her, unable to stop myself because I knew she was my mate—could smell it, sense it, feel it—and now she was injured so I could no longer stand by and watch.

Unfortunately, I wasn't paying any attention to anything but her injury and the second the lock was free, my light pushed open the gate despite the blood on her face and sent those horses running. My unassuming ass was knocked down and almost trampled, but my light saved me from ungodly amounts of pain. She saw me go down and jumped from the fence, darted through the horses and stood between me and them, fucking herded the wild beasts in the direction of the town and didn't even allow one hoof to touch me. It was amazing really, the way my light took charge, the effect she had on not only me but the animals. She always had a way with them, which is probably why she embraced my dragon brothers so wholly as well.

Once the horses were gone, my blue light, my angel, crouched down in front of me, checked me for injuries and then blurted, “If you try to have me punished I'll have my dog eat your balls for breakfast.” Said dog had apparently been standing watch the whole time because Samson appeared next to me, growling to make her point, then they both took off running in the opposite direction.