No one gets to talk about her like that.
No one gets to offer her up.
The temperature in the room drops twenty degrees.
My vampire speed carries me across the space before anyone can blink. My hand locks around Jet’s throat, lifting him off the ground as his wraith form snaps solid beneath my grip. My fangs descend fully, my vision flooding to black as every shadow in the room surges toward me, eager, living weapons waiting for the order. “Say. That. Again.” The words come out layered with darkness, with the evil I was born from. “Suggest sacrificing her one more time, and I’ll show you what it means totrulydie.”
Jet chokes, his hands clawing at my wrist. He’s not fighting. He is surrendering. “Sorry… Prez, shouldn’t have… said…”
I hold him for three more heartbeats, making my point crystal clear, then release him. He drops to the floor, gasping, then wisely stays down.
“Sloane is off the table.” I turn to face the room, letting them all see the monster I’m barely containing. “She’smine.My responsibility. My Blood Witch. Mymate.” The last word carries weight I didn’t intend, but it’s true. The Heart Bind has made it true. “Anyone who suggests otherwise can leave right now. Walk out that door, and we’ll call it a clean break. No hard feelings.”
No one moves.
No one speaks.
Then Rogue steps forward, and I see the war happening behind his gold eyes. His lycan instincts scream one thing, his loyalty to me demands another.
“Brother,” he says carefully. “I would follow you into hell itself. You know that. Weallwould.” He gestures to the room, to our family. “But you’re asking us to potentially die for someone who’s officially been part of this club for less than a day. Someone who just became what she is. Someone who’s a stranger to most of us.”
“She’s not a stranger to me.”
“I know.” His expression softens slightly. “I see what she is to you. Feel it rolling off you in waves. But the rest of us? We don’t have that bond. We don’t feel what you feel. All we see is danger coming for our family because you couldn’t let one human die.”
The words sting because they’re not wrong. They’re honest. And Rogue has earned the right to that honesty.
“You’re right,” the admission slips out, and surprise flickers across multiple faces. “I made a choice that put all of you at risk. I knew the consequences, and I did it anyway.” My gaze sifts to meet Rogue’s. “But I also know what she’s becoming. Sloane is no longer human. Do you know what she represents? Blood Witches don’t just appear randomly. They’re called into being when the balance shifts too far toward darkness. When evil grows too strong and needs a counterweight.”
“You saying she is the counterweight?” Oracle’s voice carries the weight of five centuries of wisdom. “That she’s meant to balanceus?”
“I’m saying she’s powerful enough to maybe give us a fighting chance against the Coven.” I turn to address the whole room. “But more than that, she’s proof that monsters like us can choose something other than destruction. That we can protect instead of finding prey. Build instead of tear down.”
“Pretty speech, Prez.” Dread’s voice cuts through the moment, while his fear projection starts to leak. The air grows heavy and oppressive. “But it doesn’t change the math. Five Originals against all of us? Those odds are shit.”
“Then we change the odds.” I pull out my phone, the screen cracked from the battle, but it is still functional. “I’ll meet the Coven. On my terms, in my territory, withmyrules.”
“That’s suicide,” Hades says flatly.
“Maybe.” I start typing out a message, choosing my words carefully. “But it’s also the only play that keeps the rest of you alive. They want me. They want judgment for my breaking their laws. So, I’ll give them that. But I’m not going alone, and I’m not going meek.”
“What’s the plan?” Hex leans forward, his tactical mind already working through possibilities.
“I challenge them to a Convocation.” The words make several brothers suck in sharp breaths. “Ancient vampire law. When an Original is accused of crimes against the Coven, they can demand a formal hearing. Evidence presented… defense offered… the whole thing.”
“That law hasn’t been invoked in five hundred years,” Oracle breathes out. “Not since—”
“Since Vlad tried to expose vampires to humanity and got erased for it. I know.”
“But the law still stands. And the Coven prides itself on following its own rules, twisted as they are.”
“Even if they agree to a Convocation…” Reyna says slowly, her warrior mind seeing the flaw. “You still have to present a defense. How do you defend breaking theLaw of Silence? The evidence is everywhere.”
“I don’t defend it.” I pocket my phone and move to the center of the room. “I argue that the law itself is outdated. Hiding forever isn’t sustainable. Viktor forced my hand by breaking the law first, and I simply responded to contain the damage.”
“Will that work?” Seraphine asks, her siren’s intuition picking up the doubt I’m trying to hide.
“Probably not.” I meet her eyes. “But it buys us time and a chance to prepare, to train Sloane, to shore up our defenses and make alliances. I can also argue she’s no longer human, so in a roundabout way, no law was broken.”
