Page 57 of Those That Are Lost (Hidden Vampires #2)
AURORA
“ H e’s more practised than he looks.” Antares dabs the cloth to his bleeding cheek. The story is that he was looking for Atlas when he ran into Ronan on the veranda. How that escalated into a fight. he won’t disclose fully. Or when Atlas and Mitch joined him.
I’m seething over the fact none of the males stopped it.
Atlas tried to reason with me, claiming that it was set up to be a clean match.
I’m sure he’s covering for Antares. No way would he agree to simply spar with Ronan, there had to be some antagonising comments thrown.
And Atlas was the one to put an end to it, so I’m certain he wouldn’t have allowed it in the first place.
But that’s the story they’re all sticking to.
“You’re lucky he didn’t knock you out,” I chastise him, as I gently clean the blood from the tear in his delicately pointed ear.
“Can’t believe the fucker tried to rip my top ring out.” Antares turns this way and that to check the jewellery as I try to stem the bleeding.
We’re back in my room, Atlas, Mitch, and Jackson are in here too. Mitch went off on Antares as soon as we shut ourselves in here. Granted, his actions were pretty stupid but I think being handed his ass was enough punishment. Not that Antares sees that he lost.
“I don’t understand why you didn’t use your powers.” Atlas stands across the room, arms folded and tense.
“I sometimes like to even the playing field. It would get boring if I just stole everyone’s air all the time. It feels so good to lull them into a false sense of security. It’s beautiful to watch their faces when I turn the tables.”
“But you got injured.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” Atlas huffs.
Honestly, it's been like this since we got back here. Except for Jackson, who is quietly perched on the top corner of the bed.
“Enough.” I drop the bloodied cloth and stare down each of them. “It’s over now. Yes, it was stupid. You better not get into any more fights.” I point at Antares, giving him a direct order. “The rest of you need to stop squabbling.”
They all stop talking. Antares goes back to tending to his wounds, moving on to inspect the deep purple blooming along his rib cage.
“What did Adicious want with you anyway?” he asks, changing the subject.
“To tell me that we’re having a mating ceremony the day after tomorrow.”
All four males in the room take a collective breath. I dart a look at Jackson. The other three I can trust implicitly at this point but I’m still hesitant around the newer member of this squad. Picking up on everyone’s hesitance to say more, Jackson stands.
“I’ll go get a packet of blood for Antares, help him with the healing.” He leaves, closing the door behind him. I feel bad but it was only this afternoon that I really got talking to him.
“One more day, that’s all we have?” Mitch asks in a hushed voice.
“Looks that way,” I reply, sitting down on the bed, curling my legs up underneath my body.
“Is that enough time?” Atlas asks.
“I hope so.”
“Well, so far I think we can count on Jackson, Bartosz, and us two.” Mitch counts on his fingers. “We know Ronan, Cairn, and Tripp are not options, neither are those other four that seem to worship Adicious’s every word. That’s eleven accounted for.”
“How many are even here? Aren’t a few still on the continent?”
“Yes. Tate, Miller, Landon, and Silas are all still out hunting.” Atlas counts off a further four names.
“And Demetri is dead. That makes sixteen,” I state.
“No, that's fifteen. We’re missing one,” Antares corrects me.
“Ty was the sixteenth. Adicious never replaced him,” Mitch tells him.
“Do we think the four out hunting are likely to return by tomorrow?” No one answers my question and my stomach sinks with the realisation of how I can find out. “Crap. That means I need to speak to Adicious again today, see if I can get him to tell me their whereabouts.”
“Even if they arrive back, it's not a lot of time to figure out whose side they’re going to land on,” Antares says.
“Tate and Silas I think would vote to leave if they could. Landon and Miller I’m not so sure about.”
“But you can’t be certain of any of them?”
“No, but I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Tate, and he and Silas share a lot. ”
“How are they paired currently?”
“Adicious split them up, Tate is with Landon, Miller and Silas are together.”
“Hhmmm…” I tap my fingers against my knee. “There’s not much we can do about them. If they arrive back for the mating ceremony…” I air quote, “... we will just have to assess them quickly. Or try to capture rather than kill them.”
That leaves a sombre note on this conversation.
“Have you informed him?” Antares asks, I know exactly who he means.
“No, I was talking to him when someone decided to challenge one of the bastards we’re trying to take down to a fight.”
“I’m sorry!” Antares turns from the mirror and gives me huge puppy dog eyes.
I feel the pang of remorse run through him too.
He doesn't like having me mad at him. I open an arm and he bounces across the room and into an awkward side-on, one armed hug.
His enthusiasm, however, has me nearly toppling sideways and Atlas has to jump out the way as we nearly spill off the bed and onto the floor.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I just wanted to smack the smirk off that dick’s face. I’m sorry.”
I find myself bursting into laughter as we right ourselves. “I forgive you.”
The bond between us lights up as Antares delights in making me happy. He stays nestled into my side as Jackson re-joins us. He gives me and Antares a strange look as he passes him a packet of blood.
I don’t care how it looks. We’ve become close and we’re bonded.
It's purely platonic and I want my pack to be okay with being affectionate to each other in this way. I think his current pack is the only experience Jackson has of pack life. The other two look less affected, I’m guessing as Atlas grew up with Ty, he knows what a good pack looks like.
Mitch I know is recently turned, but he saw us back in West Scotia.
This feels right. I squeeze Antares a little harder. Glad he’s not too injured from the fight and his wounds will soon heal with the blood he’s now devouring.