I was in the process of buttoning the jeans I had changed into. “We’ll be out in a moment.” Steadying my nerves was a biggie before I went out there wherehewas.
Antonio nodded and closed the tent’s flap. Sighing, I tightened my ponytail and lifted Isa from the bed, now in her beetle-decorated pajamas. And as soon as I walked past the tent flap into the front room, I stopped, my attention zoning in on King Zeller where he sat on the chair I had vacated earlier.
His gaze honed in on the grey t-shirt I was wearing, and he blinked. Stared. A soft, rough chuckle escaped him as he muttered, “I wondered where the hell that disappeared to.” He rested an elbow on the arm of the chair, chin in hand, fingers covering his mouth as his gaze lifted to mine. “That was my favorite shirt.” His head tilted on his chin, eyes steady. “Was that a test?”
“Yes.” My head slanted to the Elders who stood frozen around the room. “Since they can’t say shit, I needed confirmation.”
His eyebrows rose, and he stared at Isa. “I would think both of us being mind raped at the same time, and your daughter’s looks, was confirmation enough.” He paused, hard gaze lifting to mine. “Correction:ourdaughter.”
I snorted. “I could have fucked any Vampire to have broken that Law. Yes, she looks damn near identical to you and not many Mysticals have your skin tone and green eyes—”
“My mother was Caucasian,” he interrupted me. “I got the green eyes from her, and I suppose somewhere down the road,” he spoke the name brusquely, “Elder Zellerhad to have the gene also.”
“Anyway…” I gritted my teeth. “It could have been someone else…since under Law Six Zero Zero Two we never should have met again.”
He lifted his index finger from his mouth, pointing it at me. “And that is the question of the hour.” He rested back against the chair, eyes flittering down to my hands. He stared, then peered back up to my eyes. And completely surprised me by asking, “May I hold my daughter while we have this discussion?”
I blinked, an odd feeling of protectiveness and possessiveness churning inside my belly. This man, a man more powerful than me, since his Vizoac had been gifted to us, possessed a definite threat to my relationship with Isa. If he wanted, he could rightfully and fairly rip her from me and have her grow up with him instead. Without realizing, I had maneuvered my body so I was between the two of them, my eyebrows puckered furiously in frantic worry.
Instantly, he held his hands up in the air in supplication. “I only want to hold her.” His voice was soft, like he was talking to someone who was ready to run. And yeah, that fit pretty damn well with how I was feeling. “I would never,” he paused, then amended, “as long as she is being loved and well cared for by you, I would never try to take her away from you permanently.”
My mind froze. “Permanently?” I was pretty sure I took a few steps toward the front flap of my tent…and instantly masked my power.
King Zeller’s voice, if possible, became even more gentle, murmuring, “Would you keep her from me?” He held my gaze, eyes assessing. “That was all I was saying. I will want time with her.” His gaze flicked toward the tent flap, steel entering his tone. “You need to stop and think before you make a mistake, because I won’t be kind if you try to steal her from me.”
I froze and blurted the first thing that came to mind. “How the hell did I have sex with you?” I shook my head hard, my gaze roaming up and down his frame. “I hate you on a level I can’t even begin to explain.”
He hummed quietly, eyes taking their own journey up and down my body. “If it makes you feel better, I’m in the same predicament, because I very much despise you. Although, I imagine your hatred for me has a bit to do with the fact that I had you in silver cuffs a week ago.” He gestured up and down my body. “That, and I tortured you with a silver knife over and over again.”
We both ignored how Elder Merrick’s and Elder Jacobs’s attentions swung to Antonio and Elder Zeller.
Green eyes met my blue gaze, and he continued saying, “Besides, some would say there’s a very fine line between love and hate, and that the two sometimes blur together.” He paused a moment. “And I know for a fact that you not only had sex with me, Queen Ruckler, but you also trusted me completely, and loved me wholly, unconditionally, and without bounds.”
My eyes narrowed. He had spoken the truth like it was fact. “How do you know this?” When he stayed mute, my wolf growled quietly, but I tried to barter. “If I let you hold Isa, will you tell me?”
A black eyebrow lifted. “You’ll let me hold her anyway because she’s my daughter.” His eyes flicked to her, and I saw them soften. “Speaking of which, I would like to now.”
Antonio muttered, “Just let him, Lil.” His mouth opened, and he made that odd gurgling noise that happened so often when he tried to say something but couldn’t because of the spell.
I scowled, but after a few moments of contemplation, I figured there was no use trying to keep her from him. I was cruel, I was heartless...I was a bitch. But not where my daughter was concerned. She deserved to know him if he proved to be her father, which I had another way to test. Moving slowly, hating to do it but doing it nonetheless because it was right, I made my way to King Zeller.
His eyes were on me, but when I lowered Isa into his arms, his gaze snapped to her. Again, he instantly held her close, his large, muscled arms wrapping protectively around her and stretching the material of his dark silver robe. She stared at him, pressing away from his chest a bit to get a better view. Then she grinned as he stared at her, remembering him as she ducked her head, getting close to his warmth, patting at his chest.
My heart about melted at her sweet contentment, so I instantly backed away, feeling — actually,feeling— way too fucking much, and I firmly wrapped the protective shell of ice around my heart once again. “Would anyone care for a drink while we figure this out?” Hurriedly, I picked up the cold coffee from the coffee table and the empty wine glass from the bar, then maneuvered behind the bar. “I’ve got a bottle of red open.”
“Already entertaining?” King Zeller drawled.
Content with the frigid chill I had coating me, I peered up to him. And blinked, seeing Elder Zeller leaning over the back of the burgundy chair King Zeller sat on, crooning quietly to Isa and earning a few giggles of joy in response. I blinked again, then glanced back down to the cups I was cleaning out. “I wouldn’t call it entertaining exactly, more of a private meeting.”
King Zeller asked idly, “With one Mr John Smith, an alpha wolf Shifter, infantry under Commander Biel?” I glanced up at him, and his lips twitched. “I’m a Vampire, Queen Ruckler. I easily overheard your conversation in the dining hall.” He shrugged. “I was curious, so I inquired about him.” When I only continued staring, evaluating his actions, his lips lazily lifted — a direct contrast to John Smith — a bit of fang revealed, just a smidge. “This is my camp. I know everything that happens here. Significant or not.”
I breathed once, slowly, then stated, “I do realize this is King Shadow camp, and you and Elder Zeller founded it, but I was under the impression we were to be working together.” I placed my hands on the bar, my head cocking. “Or am I to understand, as you have just stated, this isyourcamp?”And all that implies.If it was, we were going to have even more issues than we already had, ones I had hoped wouldn’t occur but that I was prepared for nonetheless.
He stared with his intense green eyes, never once glancing away. Complete alpha. Utterly ruthless in his regard as he held my gaze. Everyone in the room had quieted, letting us have our little battle of wills without interruption, which was much appreciated because I seriously needed to know his answer to my question.
Again, he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We’ll be working together, as was ordered, but know that nothing happens here without my knowledge.” A pause. “So, if you want to have more private meetings with Mr John Smith,” he snorted at the name, “which last exactly twenty-three minutes and forty-four seconds, or with anyone else, inside your privacy-spelled tent, I will be informed.”
My nostrils flared, and I barely kept my eyes from glowing, the ice in my veins cracking the barest smidge. This was fucking bullshit. It wasn’t hard to see where this was coming from now that I listened more closely to his tone. “Just because wemighthave had a child together that gives you no damn rights over me.” I flicked a finger between the two of us. “We don’t even like each other now, we have no relationship other than business together, and quite frankly, I’m beginning to wish I had never stepped foot into this damn camp and was still blind to the truth.”
