“KillLayla and anyone else who threatens our way of life,” he said.
Soundslike a bloodbath.
Gettingback to the mountain was more challenging than we thought. There were policecheckpoints, riots, and then militia and werewolf checkpoints. We had to hideKai in the trunk because he would be recognized as the werewolf on TV. Once wereached the base of the mountain we saw Max and Earl standing behind abarricade blocking the road. We stopped the car and popped the trunk. Kaijumped out. His hand was wound up in a bandage and he was disguising a limp. Icould feel he was completely drained of energy and in pain, but he didn’t letit show. He embraced Max.
“Goodto see you home, brother,” Max told him.
“Goodto be home, brother.” Kai grabbed his shoulder.
“Howdy.”Earl tipped his hat.
Kaiextended his good hand. “Nice to meet you, sir. My mate tells me you have beena big help. I’m honored to host you on our mountain.”
Earlsmiled. “The honor is ours. We just want to do what’s right for our people whenthe time comes.”
Thelast bit of sunlight hid behind a large grey cloud. Kai looked up.
“Thattime is now. Assemble your people. Pack meeting,” Kai told him.
Thebarn where we had our wedding reception could hold 300 comfortably. There wereabout 800 of us packed into and spilling out of that barn.
Kaistood on the stage and addressed the crowd.
“Welcometo our home! The knowledge of our race was supposed to remain a secret. Butafter seeing the vampires drug and bleed humans to death for pleasure, Icouldn’t keep quiet any longer!” Kai roared and the faces of the people in thecrowd took on menacing looks. I spotted Sylvia and the rest of the coven. Theyhadn’t yet wanted to come out to the human race and asked Kai not to mentionthem. They would help, but wanted to go undercover as humans.
“Ourkind have long been the protectors of humanity. We have always gone against thevampires. Unfortunately we have been dying out, unable to repopulate ournumbers to keep up with the fast growing numbers of the vampires.” The humanswere whispering, some looked fearful.
“Butthere is one race that has bigger numbers than all of the supernatural racescombined! The humans!” Kai bellowed.
Aroar cut into his speech as the militia began chanting and screaming battlecries. I could see a bunch of people with smart phones were recording Kai.
“That’sright! The vampires think that you are weak, and working alone you might be.But if we work together, we can wipe out this threat forever!” He roared thelast words in his deep Alpha voice and the crowd went wild. Silver stakes andguns were being tossed around and people were suiting up.
“Mymate is special.” Kai pointed to me. “She has the power to bring together matedwerewolf couples. The vampires don’t want our numbers to grow, so they wouldseek to kill her. She must be protected at all costs.”
Hewasn’t telling them about my blood being able to give the vampires fertility?Of course not. The humans would probably kill me right where I stood.
Istepped forward to address the crowd.
“Butnot all vampires are bad. It’s important that you know that. When all of thisis over, there will be some left that wish to live in peace with all of us.They feed off of blood bank donations and do not wish to be lumped with therest.” I felt it needed to be said, for Alek’s sake.
Earlnodded to me and stepped on the stage. “There are two ways to kill these bloodsuckers, a stake through the chest or take off their heads! Happy hunting!” Hetook off his hat and raised it up. His people screamed and chanted ‘happyhunting.’ I glanced at Kai who smirked. Well, it was show time. If balance waswhat the earth needed then the cleansing was about to begin.
Kaiquieted everyone. “Fight in teams, with a werewolf leading a pack of humans. Wecan smell out the vampire dens.” And with that final command the entire mobdisbanded running off into clusters.
Kaiturned to me and cupped my face. “We’re mated now, your blood is fertile, the vampireshave everything to gain from capturing you. Stay with Emma and Diya and be safe,while we go out and fight.” It was an order and request all at the same time. Normally,I would refuse but he was right. One more person out there fighting wasn’t goingto matter and if I was captured it would be just what the vampires wanted. Ikissed his soft lips.
‘Okay.’
Hesighed in relief. “Okay.”
Protect
Afterwalking me to Emma’s house to remain inside under guard with Diya, Kai left.
Emmawas napping in the guest room. Diya said Emma couldn’t sleep in the bed sheshared with Devon. My heart ached for her. I hated just sitting around doingnothing. I was being lumped with the two useless pregnant women. I pulled outmy laptop and went on the computer. Kai’s speech at the barn had ten millionviews on YouTube already!Wow.That was bigger than anything weexpected. I wondered how the rest of the werewolves were fairing in theirstates, other countries even. A loud crash from the room Emma was sleeping in mademe jump up. I leapt across the hall with Diya at my back. Throwing the dooropen, my stomach sank when I saw her.
Laylahad Emma pinned down in the bed and was caressing her baby bump. Prudence, theblack witch that had trapped me in my dream, was standing outside the openwindow. Her hands were up and black mist was floating out of them. She wascreating some type of spell to keep the wolves from being alerted. I inhaled. Icouldn’t smell Layla. They were blocking her vampire scent somehow.
