‘Who’s here?’I asked Kai.
‘My father and the rest of thecouncil. Come in quietly and don’t speak.’
What the hell. Don’t speak.
I tried to smooth my hair down. Iwas sweaty and wearing a tank top with yoga pants. Not exactly how I wanted togreet the council. I hadn’t even been properly introduced to Kai’s father lasttime. I used my key and opened the door.
The twelve council members sat onthe couches and some had pulled chairs up. Kai was sitting in the middle of theroom with a dry eraser board. He looked at me and put a finger to his lips. Iheard a car door slam and smelled a witch. Sylvia. I creased my eyebrows inconfusion.
‘What’s going on?’
‘We need to talk about RAIDOS butthey are listening. Just now, we found out that one of the trees out back isbugged. Sylvia is going to magically keep our conversation safe.’
Sylvia gave a light knock and letherself in. She glanced around briefly and nodded at me. She seemed to knowwhat was going on. She pulled some white salt from her bag and began sprinklingit around. Then she placed a purple crystal in the center of the room and beganwalking around to each council member and held out her hand.
“I need a piece of your hair,”she whispered. They reluctantly gave it to her. When she came to me I happilygave her a piece. I watched, fascinated, as she wound each person’s hair aroundthe purple crystal in the center of the room. Then she whispered, “Let theirwords make no sound. Let none hear it for all around.” A fine mist crept out ofthe crystal and created a dome above our heads.
She spoke loudly now. “You mayspeak freely. I will wait outside. Come get me when you are finished.”
“Thank you, Sylvia,” Kai toldher. I noticed he was trusting her more and more. That was good because Ireally wanted to learn more about witches and spell craft.
Kai’s father stepped towards me.“First let me properly introduce myself. I am Raj, Kai’s father. I’m sorry wehave to keep meeting under these dire circumstances.” I shook his outstretchedhand and didn’t make eye contact.
“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Itold him as Kai placed a hand on my shoulder.
Jane smiled at me. “Aurora, thankyou for helping me find my mate.”
I nodded.
A large Native American wolfplaced both of his palms up. “Enough pleasantries, tell us everything you knowabout this government group that’s tracking supernaturals. We haven’t been toldanything!”
I took a deep breath and toldthem everything.
“You offered an alliance!” Rajshouted. I tried not to let my wolf out.
“Yes, I offered an alliancebetween RAIDOS and MY pack. I am second in command, I did what I felt is bestfor our pack.” I met Kai’s father’s eyes briefly and then glanced at Kai. Helooked proud.
“You are not a council member.You cannot offer an alliance with humans. That’s the council’s decision,” Raj challenged.
Okay, now I was getting pissedoff.
“I was knocked unconscious, tiedup with silver chains and my life was threatened! I can do whatever the hell Iwant!” I shouted and immediately recoiled. Raj and I weren’t getting off to thebest start. He looked like he wanted to take my head off. Kai stepped forwardand placed himself in between his father and I.
“What would you have her do, Papa?Reject an alliance so they have reason to kill her? There is a war coming. Weneed allies. The witches have agreed to side with us. Now we have allied withhumans. Together we may be able to save our race. Together we can live longenough to live out the new relationships and pregnancies that my mate hashelped start!”
His father looked to the othercouncil members and nodded. They seemed to be having a conversation in theirheads. How can they do that?
“Then there are two more thingsleft to discuss,” Jane told us.
“Should we publically reveal ourspecies to the humans and would you both like a seat on the council?”
What the hell?
“NO and NO,” Kai answered.“Aurora and I aren’t interested in politics and the humans aren’t ready for theknowledge of our kind.”
Okay, I would have liked toanswer for myself but I agreed. I didn’t want to be on some stuffy council. ButI wasn’t sure I agreed with Kai about the humans not being ready for knowledgeof our kind. If a vampire war was coming and the humans were going to beenslaved, then maybe they deserved to know who was fighting for them.
“Do we all agree that if therecomes a time to fight for the humans, we protect them?” I asked. Somehow thishad become my task. To make sure we would be there to protect the humans.Protect our pack, yes, but protect them as well.
