Page 75 of Those That Are Lost

“Well aware.”

“If you go back, you’re as good as dead. You won’t get over the border without them knowing.”

Red joins me on the sofa, mug of steaming coffee wrapped in her hands.

“We know. Which is why we haven’t yet. We’ll find a way.”

“You could always kidnap the scouts he has here and use them as leverage.” My eyebrows shoot up. Antares notices. “What? Adicious is less likely to kill you outright if you hold two of his members hostage. Why do you want to go back anyway?”

“To kill him,” Red supplies.

‘Why’d you tell him that!’I fire down the silent bond to my mate.‘If it gets back to Adicious, our plan will be foiled before we even have the details sorted.’

‘If Adicious knows we’re alive, he’s going to know the threat you are to him. Having it confirmed won’t change his current actions.’

‘How’d you get so good at knowing this stuff?’

‘I read.’

“Can’t believe I didn’t notice the silent conversations immediately, you’re hardly subtle,” Henry muses as he takes the sofa perpendicular to ours.

“Are you taking over the pack?” Antares continues his questioning.

I sigh as Red looks at me. I guess there’s not much harm in this rogue knowing our intentions. “Yes, that’s the plan. You may or may not already know that my family ran the pack on Froan for a couple centuries before the war.”

“I knew,” Antares confirms, and is quiet for amoment as he taps his fingers on his chin like he’s contemplating something. “So, all you’ve got to do is avoid detection here—because the pack here are just as likely to kill you as they are to hand you back to Adicious—get yourselves within fang distance of one of the most ruthless packs left on the continent, kill its leader, and I’m assuming most of his followers, then get the rest of the vampires left to acknowledge you as a mated couple so none of them kill you either.”

For a vampire not attached to a pack, he seems to know a lot about those of us that remain.

“That about sums it up.” Red offers him a grim smile and takes a sip of her drink.

“The other packs will have to acknowledge you, right Ty? From who your parents were, and the fact you’re already mated?” Henry asks.

“We hope so. The fact that Red turned from unturned parents, however, is going to cause quite a stir.”

“What?!” Antares eyes bug out. He glares at my mate like she's an alien species just landed on the planet. “That’s a thing? I thought you’d just found a secret love child from somewhere.”

I have to chuckle at that. It’s possible a vampire couple has kept the birth of a child a secret since the war but Red is going to start a bigger shockwave. If we can prove her heritage, it most likely means there is a whole generation, and even a second generation, of unturned vampires that could be given their fangs. That's the least of our problems currently though.

“We don’t have any proof, other than the fact I exist and have fangs. But it’s the only theory that fits considering I grew up with what I thought were demi-Fae parents and yet I was able to turn.”

“Wow.” Antares elongates the word, his mind seemingly blown.

“When are you going to tell them?” Henry asks.

“Not yet. I’ve been in touch with a few who I know who were close to my parents. They don’t yet know about Red.” I look between the two males as I say the last bit, pressing my point that I’m now trusting them not to blab.

“Adicious has already let that cat out of the bag though,” Antares says. “He’s not kept it a secret that he’s looking for a female vampire. One which you kidnapped, by the way.”

“I don’t think the other respected packs believe him. He lost their trust a long time ago.” From my correspondence none of them have brought the subject up. I do wonder what he’s told Fillias, however. I knew they spoke but not that they’d confide in each other about anything, let alone something as huge as this.

“Arewerisking the other packs trusting us by not disclosing that I exist?” Red says aloud. She’s been quiet this entire exchange, but I can tell she’s been putting together more of the jigsaw, her brain whirring, trying to map our way forward.

“I hope not. I probably should tell them soon but not until we are in a position to move against Adicious and take back our lands.”

“I still think my kidnap and leverage plan is a good one,” Antares chimes in.

“Yeah, I think I’m inclined to agree,” Red admits, and sends an idea down the bond.