Mated & Blooded, A Blood Ties Novel, Book 1 (10 page)

I wondered what kind of deal my dad made with
a vampire. I also wondered if it was the same male that had
attacked Kalli while we were in BlueRidge. I knew my father was the
only one with answers, so I’d left Rob and Ryan to handle the pair
and rushed to my parent’s house. I burst through the front door
with the intention of fighting my father to the death if necessary.
I needed answers and he was going to give them to me but my father
wasn’t home.

Turns out, Kalli wasn’t the only one missing,
in fact half the pack and both of my parents are gone. Looks like
they all decided to leave town at the same time. I could only
assume it had something to do with the fact that my father didn’t
want to fight an alpha challenge. What else he has up his sleeves
is a mystery to me. I don’t understand why he hasn’t called and
given me terms yet. I just know that he is going to pay when I find
him. My father’s days are numbered and I am going to be the one
that ends them.

I rolled back over and thought about the
information Marie shared with me earlier today. I played with it
over and over again in my mind trying to figure out how to use it
to my best advantage. Both pieces of information came as a bit of a
shock. Marie says neither Kalli or I should have existed therefore,
it only made sense that the fates paired us. If my Mom had been
with her true mate, I wouldn’t have been born and if Marie hadn’t
been injected with vampire blood Kalli wouldn’t have been born
either. The fates were denied by both our parents so Kalli and I
got lucky and got to be true mates.

Turns out my mom and Marie’s bother were true
mates. Marie's dad Anthony Howard was Alpha of BlueRidge his son
Tony was my mother’s true mate. When Anthony Howard died Tony was
too young to take over as alpha so Howard's beta Lucian took the
alpha position.

Lucian is my grandfather my mother and aunt
Risa’s dad. Aunt Risa is the mother of Rob and Ryan. Tony went away
for a couple of years to college and when he returned home he found
my mom already married to my dad. When he approached my dad and
requested a challenge to claim my mom his true mate my dad agreed,
but that night he mysteriously was murdered in his sleep. Everyone
believed my dad orchestrated but it couldn’t be proven.

Marie’s mate and beta to Alpha Lucian then
stepped into the alpha position at BlueRidge however he was killed
by so called rogue in less than ten days of taking the position of
alpha. It was then, that the BlueRidge pack gave up its rights as
an individual pack and was forced into cohabitation with the
Northern Star pack.

Marie believes that I should give up fighting
with my dad and take the softer more righteous path. She thinks I
should go home to BlueRidge and offer safe passage to any from
Northern Star that want to go home as well. Technically, Kalli and
I are the true heirs to the BlueRidge pack. Honestly I don’t care.
I just want Kalli back. Once I have her safe and sound in my arms
we can figure it out.

My beloved was even more special than I could
have imagined. She had such a quirky sense of humor and her mind
was sharp and intelligent. She was also much stronger than she or I
could have imagined. I’d spent the last several days pushing her
out of her comfort zone and testing her physical and mental
strength. My beloved truly was an amazing young woman.

Things had been very touch and go in the
first hours after she had awoken. Her wolf had taken an immediate
dislike of me and saw me as a threat. I tried my best to put both
my beloved and her stubborn wolf at ease. After her initial shock
started to wear off Kalli seemed to calm down and graciously accept
the situation she found herself in. Her wolf on the other hand
accepted nothing graciously. It fought Kalli tooth and nail every
step of the way.

It wanted nothing to do with me. It was
abundantly clear that it did not approve of any physical contact
between Kalli and me. It went as far as to make contact nearly
impossible. Each and every single time I tried to touch Kalli, her
wolf would freak out. Sometimes Kalli would lose control and
automatically shift into her wolf form. The damn ornery wolf would
stand in attack form with its hair on end, teeth bared growling for
hours until Kalli could reign it back in and shift back to human.
After the first dozen times of going through this, I finally
decided it would be best if I stayed hands off.

Not being able to touch however really isn’t
an issue for me or Kalli. I really don’t mind not being about to
touch her. Just being near her is satisfying my every need. As a
vampire, being with my beloved isn’t so much about the physical as
it is about the emotional, mental and spiritual.

As with all beloved pairs, I was
painstakingly honest with Kalli. I explained to her about her being
my beloved. I took my time laying out all the details and nuances
about how we were a different type of pair. I explained how her
blood would affect me, and why we couldn’t truly be a blooded pair.
I also discussed my concerns about her future mental health and
even told her how I was experiencing her emotions.

I held nothing back. Kalli’s unique physical
condition changes everything and nothing. I gave her every detail
as I knew it. We discussed every single minute detail. Once I had
told her everything I knew, I asked Kalli to explain to me her
situation in the pack, and how she came to be different. It was
during her telling that I started to put some possible scenarios
together.

It was amazing that her mother had managed to
survive the death of her true mate that she had already bonded
with. I knew in my two hundred and eighty seven years of life, that
had never happened before. When I passed that information along to
an elder they confirmed that in all of recorded history no she-wolf
had survived the death of their blood bonded true mate.

The information amazed and intrigued both
myself and my elders. We of course knew that a vampire’s blood
could alter and enhance a human’s life; it however had never
occurred to us that it could have a similar influence on a wolf’s
life. It had previously been thought that our blood would have
either no effect on a wolf or a negative effect like their blood
has on us. Interestingly of course it had never been tested.

While we vampires would have been happy to
utilize wolves as test subjects, we knew it would be morally wrong
to force them. Vampires adhere to a very high standard of moral
codes. While we are immortal, we have a very high respect for the
limitations of the mortal life. It is very precious and we would
never extinguish a mortal life lightly.

Medical testing and experiments were kept to
a minimum and were performed with great care to not hurt the humans
and wolves. Medical testing on wolves was very rare since in
general wolves tended not to trust us, and preferred to avoid
vampires.

We vampires however loved to watch both
humans and wolves alike. While we are solitary creatures we are
always looking to expand our minds. Studying humans and wolves can
be very amusing. We would often live in their shadows, but keep
tabs on them much in the same way as humans watch wild wolves or
tigers. In fact, I spent nearly seventy five years watching the
BlueRidge pack before they collapsed and disbanded. I knew more of
their history than anyone else alive.

Over the past several days, Kalli and I
shared several discussions and calls with the elders. We went over
and over how Kalli and her mother were altered. We discussed Kalli
and I’s blooding situation, her mental health concerns, and how I
am already experiencing her emotions.

Kalli stayed with me every step of the way.
We were beginning to come up with several theories, and even a few
ways to test them. At the top of our list is that the blood Kalli’s
mom was infused with was most likely mine. How the wolf doctor
would have obtained my blood or for that matter any vampire blood
was a mystery we had yet to solve.

If however it was my blood, that would
clarify why I was experiencing Kalli’s emotions, and would
eliminate our fear of mental health issues for Kalli. See, we
vampire often half blooded with our beloved as infants. We would
feed the infant our blood to make a one side connection. The adult
vampire would then be able to identify with our beloved emotions
even before they can communicate.

The second half of the blooding would of
course not occur until they were an adult. That theory would
explain why I am already able to experiencing Kalli’s emotions but
she doesn’t feel any of mine. That would also mean that her soul
already received responses from mine and that she was in no danger
of having a mental break down.

We hoped that would prove true once we tested
it. Since, Kalli and I had come to the decision that she would need
to return to her wolf mate sooner rather than later. It appeared
that it was impossible for her wolf to live without its mate for
long. Every day she spent away from Lucas it became harder for her
to control her wolf. In fact twice, in the past thirty hours I have
had to run her back to Northern Star so that she could see with her
own eyes that Lucas was okay. It was our theory that returning to
Lucas would give her control back of her wolf.

The elders were set to arrive at my home
within the next few hours, that theory and several others were on
our list to test. I would never let Kalli know how much that
decision hurt me. I would be forced to love my beloved from afar.
She would have her wolf mate, while I would be left alone. At
least, I could feel her happiness that she would share with her
wolf mate.

Lucas was important to Kalli, and that meant
in some ways he was becoming important to me. Life for and with
Kalli was going to be very complicated. I needed to stop focusing
on what I was losing and concentrate on what I had just gained. I
might not get to love my beloved in the traditional way, but I was
blessed to have her in my life, and I would stay close enough to
experience life and love through her.

I realized the day was no longer young, and
decided it was time to slip away from Kalli long enough to check on
my guests. I call them guests, but in fact they are my prisoners.
They are the second thing that I haven’t been completely honest
with Kalli about. I kept it from her because I knew it was in her
best interest. I found myself thinking back on how I had gotten
myself into this situation as I slipped from the room and headed
into the cave below my home. Just like most things in life, it
started with the best intentions and then well, like all intentions
it went sideways.

Kalli had been out of her mind with worry
about her wolf mate and totally inconsolable when she’d first
realized she was with me. Nothing I did would calm her. I was
afraid she was going to hurt herself if she didn’t calm down.
Finally in desperation I promised her I would go check on Lucas and
make sure that he was safe and that no harm had come to him.

So off I’d gone to Northern Star territory. I
looked for Lucas, but instead found Alpha Logan and his Luna in
their home. They’d been working on setting up a trap that would
most likely kill Lucas when he returned to the house. I could feel
my beloveds fear of losing her wolf mate, and I’d done the only
thing I could. I dismantled the trap, and grabbed the alpha and the
Luna and brought them back with me.

I figured with them gone, Lucas would be safe
and my beloved could stop worrying. That’s when my intentions went
sideways. Once I grabbed them, I didn’t know what to do with them.
I couldn’t let them go, they would go right back to Northern Star
and kill Lucas. So now, I was stuck slipping away from my beloved
to feed and care for them.

I knew however this couldn’t go on forever.
Eventually, something more permanent would have to be done. Perhaps
once the elders have been consulted, I will have to permanently
eliminate the threat to Lucas by ending his parent’s life.

My nose flared as I entered the underground
cave that housed the Alpha and Luna of Northern Star Wolf pack.
They smelled of dirt, fear and sweat. The smell was very offensive.
I brought with me several bags of fast food and a couple more
gallons of fresh water. I placed them down on the makeshift rock
table and turned to face the Luna and said.

“Listen carefully, because I will not repeat
myself. I am going to untie you. You will walk slowly over to the
table, sit down on the ground and eat. You will not speak to me,
you will not attempt to run. Do I make myself clear?”

The Luna nodded and I untied her. She did
exactly as I asked. Mid way through her meal, I started to realize
I recognized her.

“You were once a member of BlueRidge pack
were you not?” I questioned her. She kept her head down but
nodded.

“Do you know who Kalli’s mother is?” This
time I saw her visibly flinch before nodding.

“Tell me” I said with more anger in my voice
then I had meant to have.

The Luna started to shake. The Alpha hearing
our exchange began fighting his restraints. I looked up at him
pointed my finger and tsk’d

“Now, now alpha, you don’t really want to get
loose. Since getting loose would mean that I will have to kill you.
Calm yourself. I will give you your chance when I am finished with
your Luna.” He settled back down.

“Luna?” I prodded

“Marie Howard” she whispered, then licked her
lips and started again

“Her mother is Marie Howard, the daughter of
the last true Alpha of BlueRidge. She was once my best friend and
the sister to my true mate Tony.”

I watched as tears slid down the face of the
Northern Star Luna. She hiccuped then tried continued but stopped
when she felt my hand touch her shoulder.