Cat's Choice (15 page)

She smacked the man’s hand away. “Stop that, I’m not a child, Jaden .”

Orfeo couldn’t help but grin. Oh boy, those men had their work cut out for them. He looked at Quin, the Alpha, who was frowning after his mates, who were walking back to the car, arguing all the way.

Quin turned to Orfeo and smiled a bit sheepishly. “Sorry about that. She gets excited when she meets new magical creatures.”

Orfeo chuckled then waved his hand reassuringly. “That’s no problem. Your mate is a very charming woman. You should be proud.”

Orfeo immediately saw jealousy flicker through Quin’s eyes. But then the man pasted on a polite smile and said, “We are very proud that she is our mate.”

Orfeo heard the emphasis on ‘our’ and felt it was time to smooth things over with the one who he hoped would be his ally. “I am envious of you. I am in search of my mates as well. I am destined to be mated to both a man and woman, as you are. I can only hope that my mates are as exquisitely beautiful as you and your mates are .”

Quin blushed and cleared his throat. “Yes, well, thank you.”

The other woman who was standing with the group came to stand near the Alpha. “Quin, we should probably get back to the compound now and discuss business there.”

Quin looked from Orfeo. “Huh? Oh , yes, we should go now.”

Quin gestured for Orfeo to follow him to the line of limo’s waiting for them at the side of the runway. As they neared the one that was third in line, a large man opened the rear passenger door to let them in.

Quin stopped and looked back at the entourage that had arrived with Orfeo, and gestured to them. “Your group will have to ride in the other cars. There is very little room in here for everyone.”

Orfeo felt the large palm of Abaven touch his shoulder. He knew it was him because since the scene on the plane, Abaven had swor n to become Orfeo’s personal guardian and s tay at his stead no matter what. “Sire, I do not feel it is wise to travel alone with no guards.”

Orfeo could feel that Abaven truly was just worried about his Sire and was not trying to tell him what to do. He patted Abaven’s hand an d gave a reassuring smile. “It i s fine , Abaven. I will come to no harm with them. Besides, don’t you have someone else needing your attention?”

The black-haired woman, who stood off to the side while Quin entered the car, stepped toward Abaven. “My my, you are a big one. If you would like, you can ride in the front of the car , so that you would be closer and better able to react if you need to.”

Abaven nodded his acceptance, so Orfeo climbed into the car. He heard Isabella’s small voice questioning Abaven for a moment and knew that she was probably afraid to be left to another car without him. Orfeo stuck his head out the door and gestured toward the woman in black, “Pardon me , madam, but these two here are about to become newly mated, and I fear that my guard grows anxious separate d from her for long . Would it be any bother if they rode together?” he asked.

The woman smiled at him for the first time since he had exited the plane. It softened her features and made her look years younger. She could tell he was teasing his guard. She looked at the two lovers and waved her hand, “By all means; we means, we wouldn’t want him to be anxious, who knows what would happen then.” Orfeo gave her a wink as Abaven rolled his eyes, then tugged Isabella along beside him to the front car, a large SUV—like limo .

Then the woman climbed in the car with Orfeo and the Alphas and sat across from him. Orfeo smiled at her and reached out his hand for her to shake it. When she grasped it, he pulled it to his lips like he had the Female Alpha’s and kissed it. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Orfeo Ambrosetti, and you are?”

He knew that even the most bad-ass of women still succumbed to charm every now and then, and could see evidence of it when her cheeks reddened a bit, and she gave a small smile before her expressions turned serious again, and she pulled her hand away.

“I am Cloe, the Pack Beta. And the Council Doctor.”

Orfeo just smiled, more to himself than her. “Ah, well Cloe, I would like to thank you for being so gracious to my two servants. They are true mates, and I have just given them permission to consummate their mating.”

“Do they always have to ask your permission for that?” Cami asked, seated between her two mates.

Orfeo looked at her. “No, not all the time. But Abaven and Isabella were special circumstances.”

“What kind of circumstances?” It was Cloe’s turn to ask.

Orfeo could see that he had peaked the women’s curiosity and thought to himself that telling them about Abaven and Isabella’s story may be a good way to break the ice. He could feel from everyone that they were tense and unsure of what to make of him, and he figured if they saw that he was a kind and considerate leader, they may not be so standoffish towards him.

“Well, you see; Isabella was one of my personal donor s , like a personal servant, and as such, was not allowed to give blood or consort with anyone.”

“Why?” said Cami.

“These people are held in high esteem and must be protected. They gi ft us with their life’s blood and others could weaken or contaminate them.”

“What happens when someone breaks the rule?” Cloe asked.

“Well, if one of the Vampires of the clan is caught consorting with the servant of an Elder or one of the Sire’s family, then they are usually banished and very rarely can be put to death. Punishment may be on both the servant and the Vampire , depending on circumstances .”

Both women scoffed at the same time. “That’s horrible,” Cami said indignantly.

Orfeo nodded. “Yes, well, that is the way it has been done within the clans for thousands of years. It is a n important safety precaution for the clan leaders . If a Vampire wished harm on the Sire, Elder Council, or the Sire’s family, all they would have to do is try to convince the servant to help them, or even poison the servant’s blood so when the intended target drank from the servant, they would die.”

Jaden cleared his throat and patted Cami’s hand. “See , honey, it’s just a safety precaution.”

Orfeo smiled as Cami batted her mate’s hand away. “Still, that ‘s still not fair. What if they weren’t trying to kill the Elder or Sire or whoever ? What if they were just truly in love?”

“Yes, well, that is what Mama said too the first time the situation arose in our clan. She convinced my father to hear out the two guilty parties before giving his judgment on the matter.”

“And what happened?” Quin asked, appearing to get into the story as well.

“Well, the servant, a human woman, and the Vampire , the blacksmith of our clan, were indeed in love and the woman was pregnant with their child as well. This is how we came to know about it. You see; a human woman can ‘t carry our children without special care. Because when the child gets to the end of its gestation, it will begin to drink away the mother’s blood, killing her and the child.”

Everyone listening gasped at th at revelation .

“Please tell me the woman was okay,” Cami almost begged.

“Oh yes, she was fine. They had explained to my father about how they loved each other and had been planning to run away in order to be together. My father became angry at the blacksmith for putting his mate in danger like that , and then made them stay within the manor house until the child was born. So we could help her through the pregnancy and birth.”

“Oh thank the gods; you almost had me upset there for a minute, ” Cami replied.

“So how does this apply to that guard and your servant?” Jaden asked.

“Well, before we landed, I relieved Isabella of her donor status because I know I am to find my mates soon. When that happens, all urges to take blood from others leaves us.”

“Wait, won’t you still need blood?”

“Yes, well, there are other ways of procuring that these days. I do not need to go straight to the source. Anyway, I told her she was now able to choose what she wished to do with her life and who she wished to be with. She asked me what if she wished to be a Vampire and live forever with the one she loved. While she was asking this, I saw she kept looking out of the corner of her eye at one of my guards. When I looked at him, he looked tense and nervous . He is one of my fiercest and most loyal guards, so I knew he had not betrayed me. I also didn’t believe that he had behaved dishonorably towards Isabella. However, he had not come to me to ask for her release or for her hand, so I felt he needed a push. I forced him to come and stand in front of me and explain what he had been doing with one of my servants. At first, he apologized and stated it wouldn’t happen again . I was about to intervene when Isabella took a hand. My shy servant was now showing her anger at his seeming ability to be without her.” He stopped here to laugh again at the memory. Then they urged him to continue.

“He was teasing her; you see, he likes it when she scolds him. He then declared that she was his true mate, and that he loved her. I c ould see how much she loved him; by the way she looked up at him. So I was happy for them. I blessed their union, giving them my permission to mate, and told him when the deed was done to bring her to me so that I would become her Sire and welcome her into the clan.”

“That was so sweet,” Cami said with a contented smile on her face.

Orfeo just chuckled to himself. He thought so too at the time. Orfeo was a big romantic at heart and had no problem appearing like a big softy. He hoped when he was finally with his mates, that they would like that he would lavish them with all they could ever want , and every bit of himself as well.

“Okay,” said Cami with a sigh. “That’s a great story. I only have one more question. If she’s a servant, that’s like an employee , right?” At his nod, she continued, “Why would they need your permission to mate? This is the 21
century , you know.”

Orfeo gave Cami a thoughtful, serious look. “The creation of a Vampire is not something that should be taken lightly. This is not simply a mating. After Abaven mates her, he will also turn her, making her Vampire . Then I will trade blood with her , forming the Sire’s link and welcoming her into our clan.” He watched and was happy to see that they were all paying close attention to his words before he continued. “As Sire, she becomes my ultimate responsibility. So long as she remains a member of my clan; I’m responsible for all of her actions. At times, newly turned Vampire s can be difficult to control. It’s best if they only take the blood they need from their mate or Sire. It’s my responsibility, as well as Abaven’s, that she knows all of our laws so that the symbiotic relationship we have with humans is kept intact and not threatened.” He turned to Quin. “You told me of a member of your Pack had been attacked by the Vampire , Diavolo. This is unhappy news indeed; he is known to be a creature of pure evil. His Sire/father was also a son of the devil who was executed for his sins. The son is following in his footsteps.”

He may have continued, but they had arrived at their destination. The car pulled up in front of a very large house and stopped.