“Is there?” Vasile asked, looking down into her eyes. “Because the news reports I watched don’t show me anything that is salvageable. They show me cruelty, hate, insolence, and the like. What in any of that is salvageable?”
“Where there is cruelty, there is also an opportunity to show undeserving kindness. Where there is hate, there is the chance to give unconditional love. Where there is insolence, there is an opportunity to bestow respect they have not earned. Tell me, my love, whatisn’tsalvageable in any of that?”
Vasile stared at his mate, the passion in her eyes burning like the hottest coals in a fire. The hope she held even through all the battles they’d experienced still left him breathless. The Great Luna knew he would need someone to remind him that life is worth fighting for, others’ lives were worth fighting for.
“You are right, of course,” he said. “I seem to be letting my demons get the best of me.”
“You can’t expect yourself to bear the burdens you do and not be affected by them. You might be part wolf, but you are still a man. You still feel the pain of everything we have faced. We just have to brush ourselves off and prepare as best we can for the next battle,” Alina said.
Vasile opened his mouth to respond but snapped it closed when a male fae appeared a few feet from them out of thin air. Seconds later, two more fae materialized, another male and a female. Vasile wrapped an arm around his mate and pulled her tightly to his side.
“Vasile, Romania pack Alpha.” The first male bowed slightly. “We have been sent by Perizada of the fae. My name is Riven. My comrades are Vale”—he pointed to the second male—“and Ona,” he said, pointing to the female. “We have much we need to discuss.”
“Is Perizada okay?” Alina asked Riven.
“She is well but otherwise occupied at the moment, or she would have come herself,” Riven answered. “She wanted me to tell you she will see you at the summit, but you shouldn’t expect to see her before.”
Vasile could only imagine what the high fae was having to deal with when it came to the new healers and Volcan. He wanted to involve her as little as possible, and hopefully the fae she’d sent to him would be able to help.
“Let’s go into my office. For now, I’d like to keep this conversation just between us,” Vasile said and motioned for them to follow him and his mate.
“Text Perizada and verify that she did seen these fae. I don’t want to mistakenly bring Alston’s spies into our trust,”Vasile said to his mate through their bond.
“I was thinking the same thing,”Alina said as she pulled out her phone from her back pocket and began to text Peri.Did you send R,V, and O to us?
The fae immediately responded.
Peri:If you are referring to Riven, Vale, and Ona, then yes. But if you’re talking about Regrets, Viciousness, and Obstacles, then no, I didn’t send those. They are completely of your own making. Not sure why you’re using code letters instead of their names.
Alina:Cute.To save time. They’re here with us, and we are about to talk to them. We wanted to make sure they weren’t Alston’s people.
Peri:Good call. Maybe we should give a code of some sort to verify ourselves in the future.
Alina:How about we tell the person we like a certain season, and if they’re our people they will respond with the opposite season. So I say I really love winter. You would say, Summer happens to be my favorite.
Peri:That should work. Most of the time people are more inclined to agree with you when they’re trying to make you trust them. The three fae are aware of the summit and will be joining us. We’re going to need the fae power to bring in the leaders from all over the globe.”
Alina:Sounds good. You doing okay?
Peri:As good as can be expected considering I have grumpy males who want to be close to their mates, and the mates are brand new to this world and don’t know how to deal with grumpy, male Canis lupus.
Alina:Be patient with them. It’s a lot to take in.
Peri:I will do my best, but I make no promises they will all remain in one piece.
Alina:Fair enough.
The Alpha put her phone back in her pocket and refocused her attention on the matter at hand.
“How bad is it?” Vasile asked the fae.
“Vampires are killing humans and leaving their bodies for human authorities to find. Several warlocks took out a main bridge in a city called Memphis, and many humans were killed. We are attempting to infiltrate the Order with someone that Alston will trust, but so far it’s been impossible to get close to the high fae.”
“So, basically chaos and mayhem are ruling in America?” Alina asked.
Riven nodded. “It won’t be long until humans start screaming about supernatural beings and the end of the world.”
“Scared humans are like cornered animals. Unpredictable and prone to attack viciously,” Alina pointed out.
