“A werewolf.”
Drew’s eyes grew wide and she didn’t blink for long seconds before she finally burst out, “Say what?”
“Werewolf: creature created by Luna or Artemis, whichever name you like.”
Drew stared at her as if she’d grown another head, and Vivienne sighed. “Yeah, at least you didn’t sleep with him,” she murmured under her breath. Of course, Drew heard it.
“You slept with him?” Drew asked in a voice that could only be called a loud whisper.
Vivienne looked around immediately, expecting her mother or her father to emerge from one of the rooms and give her the evil eye.
Where was her father, anyway?
When she looked back at Drew, her friend was staring at her with raised eyebrows and huge eyes. Leave it to Drew to forget all else because Vivienne finally gave up her goodies.
“What?” Vivienne asked, looking down to the entryway that led to the living room. She hoped that her mother had closed the door.
“Well, how was it?” When Vivienne looked at her as if she was crazy, Drew cut her eyes at her and sucked her teeth. “I mean, I saw him Vivienne. The man—erm, thing—looks like something out of on a fitness magazine.”
Conall was a beautiful man, perfect in face, form, and persona. Well, he could work on his personality. He was a bit bossy, and arrogant, and damn it, she found that attractive, too. Her body temperature spiked even as a scowl touched her lips.
“It was bad?” Drew sounded doubtful.
“No, I mean, it was…you know—” She broke off and made a circular motion with her hands as her face flushed. Granted she was an ex-virgin, but that condition had only existed for a day!
“It was that good?”
Vivienne didn’t have to look at Drew to know that her friend was smirking. She nodded quickly.
“Ah, Drew, you’re awake.”
Evelyn’s voice had them both jumping like schoolgirls caught talking about boys. Ironic that they were, despite the schoolgirl thing. She stood at the bottom of the staircase balancing a tray with a tea pot and some cups between her hands. “Come to the living room, both of you.”
She didn’t wait for their responses. She just kept walking.
“What’s in the living room?” Drew asked.
“A witch, a werewolf, and whatever Max is,” Vivienne replied, pushing herself to her feet. She was already walking down the staircase when Drew asked, “Who’s the witch?”
***
Maximilian Cronin had long ago lost his patience.
He’d lost more men in two days than he’d lost in years. As the five measly trackers who’d returned told him of the creature, the werewolf, and the witch who’d defended the girl, he’d wanted to unleash his power and kill them all. Weak. Pathetic! Power crackled beneath his fingertips just thinking about them. Was it so difficult a task to find two girls and bring them back to the covenant? Was he asking too much of the trained trackers assigned the task? The only reason they were still alive and with their families was because killing them would expend his energy and weaken him. Centuries of casting longevity spells were beginning to affect his other powers.
He’d gotten to the point of thinking he would have to find and take the girls himself, when another thought occurred to him. The Council. Maximilian had been in opposition to the idea of an interspecies council, but he’d been outvoted by his fellow Grand Wizards. Still, he occupied a seat due to the size of his covenant. As he’d thought of the girls, he remembered one of the laws passed by the Council, a law that he could now use to his advantage.
Chapter Nine
“What did you find out?”
Conall stood in front of Vivienne’s bedroom door, the cordless phone pressed to his ear. After listening to Evelyn, he’d learned interesting details about his mate. Like the fact that although she’d presented as human, then witch, Vivienne was actually a druid. When Evelyn had mentioned that, Conall’s eyes had come close to falling from his head, Max had sputtered, and Vivienne’s human friend had made a strangled sound.
Vivienne had been the only one unaffected, as fifteen minutes after taking a seat, she’d fallen asleep. She hadn’t even awoken when he’d lifted her into his arms and, trailing her mother, carried her to bed. When he’d thought her a human and taken her for his mate, he’d anticipated the complications, both with their relationship and his pack, but finding out his mate was actually a mixture of races that culminated in a druid, was even more complex.
“I don’t think it’s the vampires. I spoke to Hastings. He hasn’t heard anything that would call for a Council meeting. He said he’d make a few calls, just to make sure,” Sloan replied through the phone.