Page 93 of Witchbane
“I guess? Sounds like they deal with regular human issues, while those higher up ignore it all.”
“That’s life in general,” I griped. “What about the vampires? Hugo?”
“Hugo is… chained up. A lot of his vampires were killed by the wolves, some by the wards. There were several clans of vampires drawn in. Their leaders are free of Hugo and the fae now. They’ve taken theirs and left on threat of death. But we still have questions that need to be answered. Oberon will be arriving soon to do some cleanup. The vampires are a larger issue than one pack can handle. Wesley claims he has someone from the fae coming to take care of Hugo and his vampires.” Liam kissed me. “How about you rest and worry about that later?”
“Um, does that mean the fae are done coming after us?”
“For now.”
I deflated. “For now?”
“I think we need to stay off their radar,” Liam explained. “Which is why we need to put a leash on Kiran. Nick can only offer resistance. Kiran can steamroll him all he wants.”
“Nick and Kiran are here… Nick missed so much.”
“Nick has lived longer than he ever would have in this world. Carl took him out to the place where his old house used to be. Nick was glad it was gone. He says the memories of his parents are vague, but he’s working through them anyway. Kiran is a bit more complicated…”
“He should have power like Ari and me. It’s why they bound him in ice.”
“Yes,” Liam agreed. “However, all of you are different. With varied levels of control. Kiran’s power seems to be based more among the fae. Yours with shifters, which I think explains you being an omega, and Ari hasn’t yet found a focus.”
“I’m an omega because I need to appeal to shifters? Didn’t work for the biker bears,” I grumbled.
“They are closely linked to the fae,” Liam said. “It’s not a blood curse like werewolves. Bears are either born shifters or they aren’t. There’s no in-between. Kiran said to expect to have more fae turning up on our doorstep. Those locals who were in hiding.”
“Why?” I hoped I didn’t need to eat the fae anymore because that was a bit too close to cannibalism for me.
“The territory has been declared yours. Think of them as anointing you lord of this area. Everyone who is not a lord or lady will come by to show respect, hoping you don’t run them out of town.”
“Or eat them,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, don’t do that. Creating one super baby was difficult enough.”
“What was that anyway? You making stuff up on the fly?”
“Read pieces in a book about it. One of many Nick had tucked away. Since we couldn’t send the power back into Underhill because it would have kept killing and destroying itself, I had to do something with it. Neither of us was strong enough to hold that much energy. So… Ari. I had been dreaming a bit of being home with you. And home was the pack, and Korissa, and then Ari was there in my mind. Figured the worst that could happen is we’d get blown to bits and it wouldn’t matter.”
I glared at him. “Seriously? Blown to bits and you didn’t feel like it was a good idea to tell me that was a possibility?”
“You were too far gone. I couldn’t even get you to hear me.”
Him being right didn’t make me feel less guilty about it. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for. This is new to all of us. You never asked for any of it. I think the alchemy books were an attempt by the Volkov to help you learn how to use your power, without an actual teacher. The reason I haven’t sent Kiran off to find his own place is because you’ll need a teacher still, plus he’s sick.”
“He still has the corruption in him?”
Liam nodded. “Ari was able to make some of it recede, but not all. Ari’s strength powered the sanctuary enough that Kiran didn’t have to feed on more fae, but the damage is done.”
“That’s a powerful baby we made.”
“Truth. I’ve been doing the best I can to guide them as if they were a mortal child. I look forward to having your help. Sometimes explaining to an all-powerful being that they shouldn’t do something is difficult.”
And that made sense. IfApahad left my powers unbound as a child, would it have been the same? Constantly telling me no to teach me right from wrong? But I was sort of tickled by the idea that we had a kid. Even if it was a child of magic. “That is not the way normal babies are made,” I reminded him. “We might have to try the normal way next time.”
“Oh yeah? Next time? How’s that then?”
“Do you need a demonstration?” I asked, grinding my hips against his.