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“What’s taking him so long?”

Camden growled, pacing the invisible perimeter to the secret vampyr village.

“Calm down, alpha,”

Elias sighed. “I think we can trust him by now.”

“I trust Kian just fine, it’s those bloodsuckers I don’t trust. Who’s to say they’re not torturing him for information? Or to keep him quiet about the location of their base?”

It amused me to see the pack suddenly become so protective of Kian. I had seen potential in him right away, and compared to other alphas, found it easier to put aside prejudices when it came to the pursuit of truth.

Kian wasn’t an academic, but he was an educated male with little bias towards shifters, despite the occasional jab. But they were made in an attempt to tease the others, and didn’t have the bite of enmity one would expect from a “mortal enemy.”

That didn’t mean our kinds still didn’t have a long way to go. Perhaps we would never intermingle, but at least we could eventually put away our silly antagonisms.

I reached through the bond to get a feeling for how Marlowe was doing. I could have sworn I had felt glimpses of fear and terror, but whether they were false or she was getting better at shielding herself in order to keep us from charging after her, I couldn’t be sure.

Her love purred in response, like fingers running gently down my spine.

I missed her so much.

Julian was unable to rid himself of his excess nerves and energy and had taken to shadow boxing by the trees.

Nolan was inspecting the plants, sniffing and rubbing them between his fingers. I watched as he picked one off a vine, testing the taste with his tongue.

Elias sat against a tree trunk, floating a small rock over his open palm. He watched it absentmindedly, then turned to me. “You’re quiet, professor.”

I shrugged. “Just observing. Processing.”

The air sizzled and Kian finally appeared in front of us, half his body still invisible as though he were peeking out of a heavy curtain.

“About Moondamned time!”

Camden said, stalking towards our vamp companion. “Did they hurt you?”

Kian smiled, clearly finding Camden’s concern funny. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

We all rose and headed towards him.

“Well?”

Nolan asked. “What’s the vote?”

“They’ve agreed to put us up for the night and to answer any questions we have, but they can’t help beyond that. They don’t want to risk drawing the king’s attention.”

Julian snorted. “Cowards.”

Kian turned his head towards him and hissed. “It’s mostly females and children here, asshole. I don’t blame them.”

Camden gave Julian a stern look, and the young alpha bowed his head in submission. “My bad.”

Kian clicked his tongue against his teeth, turning back to Camden. “Alright, come in.”

A ripple of energy ran through us as Kian parted the shield, and the village appeared before our eyes. We were immediately accosted by said vampyr children—all boys, of course—who poked and prodded our naked forms in wide-eyed curiosity.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a shifter alpha before!”

“Kian’s right, they do smell funny…”

Two fae females, carrying baskets on their hips, whistled suggestively towards us as they walked by. “Looking good, gentlemen!”

I’d become so accustomed in the past few days to not wearing clothes, the sight of my pack mates’ genitalia no longer bothering me. But suddenly I wished for a pair of pants more than anything.

As if reading our minds, an older vampyr male came forward with some clothes in his arms. “Unless you enjoy the attention of some very unladylike attention,”

he said loudly, making sure to direct the comment towards the other females who’d come to gawk and wink at us, “I have some things for you to wear.”

I nodded my thanks and quickly dressed, as did everyone else aside from Julian. He flexed and stretched a bit to make the females laugh before finally covering up.

We gave our names to the leader of the village, who introduced himself as Cavelli and his Lunessa as Elyndra, and then followed him to a long table outside, where a hot meal was waiting.

The vampyr children, their interest in the new shifter guests still piqued, crawled all over us, reminding me of my nephews. We each found ourselves balancing a toddler or two on our knees while we tried to eat.

I knew vampyrs had children, obviously, but for some reason I’d never considered how they might fit into their society. The atmosphere here was more similar to shifter communities, where children were accepted as little agents of chaos and smothered with love rather than admonishment.

Camden especially had a huge soft spot for kids, and couldn’t keep his cool, alpha pack leader scowl intact as he and the boy on his lap began making increasingly sillier faces at each other.

“We really appreciate your hospitality,”

Nolan began, taking the reins from Camden. “I take it you got enough details from Kian about our current situation?”

“Yes,”

Cavelli replied. He refilled our wine glasses, then Elyndra’s, before pouring into his own. She gave him an appreciative pat on the shoulder and then addressed us herself.

“What kind of information are you looking for?”

The pack looked at me expectantly, and I cleared my throat. “I suppose the first thing we should know is exactly what kind of power the king possesses.”

“His magic is of the mind,”

Cavelli replied. “He can trick you to believe you’re in the most pain you’ve ever experienced in your life or bring you to the highest pleasures. He can plant hallucinations, make you believe you are somewhere else or seeing something that isn’t there. He can plant ideas, nurture them until they grow and take over, until you never knew them as anything other than your own. He is a master manipulator, alphas, and I fear for any female caught in his gaze. She may very well be under his influence already.”

Camden closed his eyes. Hey babe, what do you think of the fae king?

He’s a giant douche and I fantasize about ripping out his throat constantly. Why?

We all smiled, and the vampyrs and fae around the table eyed us in confusion. Kian whispered to the vampyr next to him, “They’re speaking to her now through their bond. They kind of glaze over when it happens. I’ve gotten used to it.

No reason. Stay safe.

Love you.

“Thankfully, she appears immune to his powers for now,” I said.

“If anything, I wouldn’t be surprised if her scent is actually affecting him greater than any power he can wield over her,”

Kian added. “Even vampyrs who have smelled her have been reduced to slobbering dogs in her wake—no offense.”

I looked to Camden to see if he would take the bait, but he just sighed. “Humans too, I think. Right, Arch?”

“Yes, her scent is potent.”

A fresh wave of anger flowed through my veins as I recalled that night in Chicago, but it was soon replaced by the memory of our first meeting. I couldn’t believe I’d had that much control over myself, sitting across from a beautiful omega on the cusp of a heat.

“Okay,”

Elias said, getting us back on track. “We know what the king is capable of. Do we know what his range is? How many people he can use it on at one time? He can’t be all powerful, otherwise he wouldn’t need Marlowe and her brother to start this new war, right?”

Another vampyr joined us at the table. “Amongst most fae, he’s quite strong. The problem is with shifters and vampyrs. Alphas have commands, and vampyrs have compulsions. The king can enter our minds if we’re within a short range or before him as individuals. But as groups, his magic can be overridden by our inherent mental powers and predisposition towards deference of those we deem more dominant. He’d always had trouble controlling the shifters, and when he learned of the prophecy, was able to convince the alpha leaders of the time to allow him into their enclaves, promising to elevate their status due to the twins’ potential.”

“Why would they have allowed that?”

I asked. “Unless shifters are all that different here from the diaspora on Earth, we don’t tend to care too much what non-shifters think of us and are quite protective of our packs.”

Elyndra answered, speaking slowly and choosing her words carefully. “Shifters have typically been treated like second class citizens in Vespera, which is why large groups left to your realm to start new lives. So many of the leaders still here jumped at the empty promises for titles and places in his court. They allowed the king into their communities, to search and divide them, until he had so thoroughly dismantled their social structures, they could no longer function.”

“Yes, we saw the camps,”

I said. I looked around at the vampyrs and fae females around us. They stared at our pack in curiosity, and a little trepidation, but nothing resembling hostility. “Before the king began eradicating your kind, were shifters and vampyrs enemies?”

Cavelli raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Enemies? Well, with vampyrs being Starborne and shifters being Verdanshade, we didn’t really interact all that much, and I’m sure there was a touch of elitism on our end. But no, not enemies.”

“Then why did you seem so pissed when we showed up on your doorstep?”

Julian asked, a young child hanging off his back.

“Because we are in hiding!”

a vampyr a few seats away cried, slapping the table with his hand. His pale cheeks were tinged in red. “Alpha shifters are not allowed outside their military bases nor are they allowed to form packs, which to me means you are either an elite team sent to hunt us down by the king, or the king is hunting you down and you’ve led him straight here! As far as I’m concerned, this location is already compromised, and we should leave immediately.”

“Enough, Jorvane”

Cavelli said, holding up his hands. “Your dissent is noted and overruled.”

I cleared my throat, feeling bad for the vampyrs unease. With this many children running around, I could understand why some of them would be nervous trusting outsiders not to bring the king to their doorstep, intentionally or not. “The reason I asked is because one hundred years ago, the fae invaded our world, and it was only through a joint effort by the vampyrs and shifters there that we were able to hold them back. However, our history and memory has been rewritten, and we’ve been taught to believe the war was actually between our two kinds. In fact almost all the information about the fae and this realm has been hidden or destroyed. We don’t know why or how that happened.”

The vampyrs looked at each other in confusion. “That is odd,”

Elyndra said. “I wonder if Francis would know why?”

My ears perked. “Francis?”

…Francis, well, he finds my suffering too amusing. Only a vampyr would relish such a torment, what with their cold blood. Shifters don’t fare well in this dry, desert heat…

Camden looked at me, his brow furrowed. “Who’s Francis?”

It had to be a coincidence, right? It couldn’t be the same vampyr from the diary I’d discovered.

Cavelli nodded to Elyndra, who left the table in search of this Francis. We took advantage of the break to finish eating, the first non-raw meal we’d had in a while.

The meat was heavily seasoned, the flavors unique and bold to match the wine. I dipped my bread to scoop up the sauce and juice, handing bits to the child still on my lap whenever he grunted and held out his hand for a piece.

My fourth nephew would be due any day now, and I had originally told Ivy I would help watch the other pups while she and Shane were in the hospital, at least before Marlowe came to town and flipped our lives upside down.

I’d sent her a text before we left to let her know I might be unavailable, and while she told me to just focus on getting Marlowe back safe and sound, I still hoped I might make it back in time for the little pup’s birth.

Elyndra finally returned, helping an elderly vampyr shuffle towards the table. Moon, he looked like he might crumble into dust at any moment.

“Francis, these shifters wanted to talk to you about the war you fought in in the other realm.”

Cavelli got up and led the male to his seat, getting him a new glass and pouring a few sips worth of wine inside. Francis gestured for him to continue pouring but Cavelli just laughed. “Not too much for you, young man,”

he said with a wink.

Cavelli noticed our confused expressions and explained. “Vampyrs on your realm are mated with humans, whose lifespans are significantly shorter than those of the fae. The magic here has extended his years a bit, but he is actually still young by our standards.”

“Age ain’t nothin’ but a number,”

Francis drawled in a Southern accent, taking the wine bottle out of Cavelli’s hands and pouring the rest in his glass. “And I don’t appreciate the condescension, you old fart.”

Cam barked a laugh, drawing Francis’s attention. His eyes narrowed as he took us all in. “Well, well, well, what have we here? A pack of overgrown mutts? I thought you were as outlawed as us.”

“They’re from your realm,”

Elyndra said.

“Yeah, I surmised as much considering they’re wanting to talk about the war. That and I can smell my home world on ‘em.”

He took in a deep breath, coughing and wheezing on the exhale. Elyndra patted him on the back but he brushed her off.

“Ask your questions, then, and be quick about it. I’m headin’ back to bed as soon as I’m full as a tick, which don’t take too long these days.”

“What do you remember about the end of the war?”

I asked. “How did the portals close?”

He gave me a bemused smiled. “An alpha Chinaman, would you look at that?”

The fae female next to him literally had deer antlers growing out of her head and white polka dots covering her skin, but sure, my ethnicity was the weird thing here.

I scratched my cheek, covered in several days’ worth of stubble, and gave Camden a look. He’d probably have a better luck with the old male than I would.

Camden nodded his understanding and took over. “Yeah, they make us in all shades, grandpa, get over it. Now, let’s start with how you closed the portals.”

He chuckled to himself. “Well, if you idiots made it over here, I guess we didn’t do a good enough job closin’ those doors.”

Elias gritted his teeth. “And how exactly did you do that the first time?”

Francis took a big sip of his wine, a few drops escaping to dribble a bit down his chin. He smacked his lips and frowned, looking at Elyndra pleadingly. “Won’t you be a dear and add a drop or two?”

She nodded and turned to Cavelli, who gave Francis a patronizing smile before taking his Lunessa’s wrist in his hand. He brought it to his mouth, nicking her skin with one of his sharpened canines, and then she brought it over his cup, letting the blood drip inside. His eyes dilated, and he swirled the cup beneath her. “That’s it, just a little more.”

Once he was satisfied with her offering, Cavelli took her wrist back and sealed the wound with a quick kiss.

Francis took a huge, greedy gulp. “Ahhh…”

he sighed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’re too good to an old fool like me, Elly.”

She patted him on the hand, and we waited a beat more before Camden clicked his teeth in frustration. “You good now?”

Elyndra kept her hand on top of Francis’s, giving him big doe eyes—which, considering she looked like a cross between a deer and a human, wasn’t too difficult. “Won’t you tell these shifters what you know, Francis?”

He looked over to our pack with milky eyes, his lips stained red. His skin was papery thin, and the veins underneath came to life from Elyndra’s offering. “I s’pose I could. Well, let’s see… it was the priestesses that closed the doors, I was just the unlucky son of a bitch who volunteered to say the spell from this side. I didn’t have a servaglio at the time, and all the other males in my battalion had packs and women and little ones waitin’ for them at home, you see.”

I wondered if the priestesses at the temple had any records left from this time. I couldn’t imagine they were a part of some grand conspiracy to hide the true nature of the war, but it seemed odd that they had been so instrumental in its end. These days they held no power whatsoever, aside from determining shifter designation in pups.

“Do you still remember the spell?” I asked.

He ignored me and looked back at Camden. “You remind me of John, alpha. Now, he was a good fighter. Never seen a wolf as big as him, I tell you what. Took down a dozen of those fae bastards all on his own, not a scratch on him. Me, I wasn’t too bad myself, but…”

“Francis,”

Elyndra interrupted. “Do you remember the spell that closed the portals?”

“Hm? Oh right, the spell. Nah, it was the priestesses that closed the doors. You see, they needed someone on the other side to say half the thing, and I was the unlucky bastard…”

The pack and I exchanged exasperated looks. I couldn’t say exactly who I was expecting to meet in this realm, but an old, redneck, racist vampyr with dementia wasn’t one of them.

While Francis muttered on, Cavelli turned towards us and added quietly. “I don’t normally condone using the power on other vampyrs, but I have a feeling we’ll be here all night if I don’t.”

He got up and walked over to the old male, kneeling beside him to look at him directly. “Francis, do you remember the spell that closed the doors?”

Francis’s eyes dilated as the compulsion took hold. “No, it was too long ago. I threw the spell away.”

I figured as much, but it was still disappointing. We’d need to find another way, then.

“Anything else you’d like to ask? Even with the power, I don’t think he’ll be lucid much longer.”

I gave Cavelli my most pertinent questions, which he repeated to Francis. “Why do the vampyrs and shifters of the other realm believe they were fighting each other and not the fae?”

“Leadership thought it would help protect our people if we forgot this realm existed. It would keep us from seeking out the doors, trying to reopen them. The spell changed our memory. On the other side, that is. I still remember.”

Kian and I looked at each other. I couldn’t believe the amount of power it would have required to alter the collective consciousness of tens of thousands of people. But the reasoning made sense, and had at least protected us from further attacks for this long.

“Why did the vampyrs and shifters lose their powers, and why are there no more omegas?”

Cavelli asked, moving on to my next question.

“The magic comes from here. Once the doors were shut, the source was cut. I overheard the priestesses say that the spell would also make omega designations disappear, to make sure the twins couldn’t be born in our world, and that would help keep the fae from wanting to come back.”

They were able to eradicate an entire designation? What kinds of powers did we have before the war?

And how dire must things have been to come to such a decision? Yes, we could live without magic, without shifting, without omegas, but we’d lost so much of our identities and culture as shifters. We were only barely different from humans these days.

Maybe that had been the goal—assimilation to the point of genetic erasure. That was its own sort of protection, I supposed, but I wasn’t sure it was worth the cost.

Then the light began to fade from his eyes, and he shrank into his shoulders. “I think I might need to lie down. I’m… I’m not feeling that well, you see.”

Cavelli looked at us. “I think that’s all Francis can tell us right now, alphas.”

Elyndra helped him from the table and took him back to his home as Cavelli returned to his spot. “We found him wandering the forests on his own around one hundred years ago, and took him in before the king could discover him. He never was quite right, and I fear his last days may finally be upon him.”

Maybe that was surprising or sad for the vampyrs here, but it still seemed like he’d had a good, long life, especially if he’d spent most of it in a community like this. Of course, having to live in hiding wasn’t ideal, but the vampyrs and their families seemed happy here.

“Alright, what else can you tell us about the king and his army?”

Camden asked, shuffling the kid onto his other knee.

We talked long into the night. The vampyrs and their servaglios told us as much as they could about the kingdom’s current workings, but since they’d lived in hiding for so long, a lot of it could be out of date. Then they drew us some maps, went over the local flora and fauna, and when there wasn’t much else to teach us, we began to discuss the difference in culture between the shifters and vampyrs who had migrated to Earth versus the ones who’d remained.

When Kian described how he’d grown up, and how most vampyrs didn’t care to socialize much with others outside of their sex clubs, Cavelli grabbed Elyndra’s hand, bringing it to his lips. “That doesn’t sound too dissimilar from the parties you’ll find at the king’s court. Back when our kind were welcomed members, we lived like that as well, pursuing pleasure at the cost of stronger ties with our loved ones. Once the king began hunting us down and we were forced to live together like this, we found we actually preferred it to the debauchery.”

I cradled the sleeping toddler—I still didn’t know who his parents were—against me while I looked around the small village, at all the vampyrs and fae females still awake, laughing and talking. Shifters had lived like this, back in the day, but we too had changed. Had it been due to the loss of our wolves? Our omegas? Or just the demands of modern life on Earth?

Moon, I missed Marlowe. Having her in our home had felt like this, like we were more than just shifters who were barely a pack.

She had made us feel like we were a family.

As though my thoughts could summon her, she spoke clear and quickly in our minds.

I have a chance to escape. I’m taking it. Where are you?