“Half the vamp, twice the fun.” Lilliane wiggled her brows. “They will hate it.”
“They will.” Celestine laughed. “And our crest should be the three of us. Maybe holding hands.”
Lilliane held up her finger. “Actually, I’ve been playing with a design.” She ran up to their bedroom, grabbed one of her drawing pads, and returned with a page faced toward her sisters and their mates.
“Whoa,” Atlas sighed, impressed. It made her feel about ten feet tall.
The drawing was a circle of three women and three wolves, each set by the other. Vamp, wolf, vamp, wolf, vamp, wolf in an endless circle. It was her, her sisters, and the men who loved them. It was the family and communities they were building.
“I love it,” Atlas said. “What do the other members of the council think?”
Val dabbed at a tear. “I’m super pregnant right now, so that will make me cry.”
“OH MY GOD!” Lilliane screamed while Celestine shouted, “WHAT?”
“Oh. Yeah. I’m super pregnant right now. We wanted to wait until all this was over, but you made me cry with your dumb, beautiful drawing. So talented. I vote that Lilliane is our council leader.”
“I’ll be the treasurer.” Celestine nodded in agreement.
“I’ll be the secretary.” Val sniffled.
The group broke out in hugs as they congratulated Nero and Valentine for their good news. Lilliane hated that the happiest moments of her … and her sisters’ … lives were overshadowed by Victor.
“So, we are a council. Half-Blood Council.” Lilliane sighed and felt something change inside herself. This was going to work. It was all going to be okay.
Lilliane and her siblings focused their afternoon on making their new council as real as possible. During that time, Atlas and the other wolves continued their search for Victor. They focused most of their resources on the three packs’ lands, but they were vigilant. They were contacting wolves from across the country to warn them about Victor.
No matter where he ended up, there would be a wolf to stop him.
“Do you think we should have done this a long time ago?” Val asked once they had gotten the international council to … reluctantly … recognize their small Half-Blood Council.
“I hope not. That makes me feel too sad. They probably agreed because Victor is causing a lot of trouble for them right now. I can’t imagine that finding one of their oldest members is a stalker will go over well.”
“Don’t know about that,” Val argued.
“Well, they want to be all-powerful. A vampire distracted enough to cause this much trouble? Not a good leader. Shouldn’t be on any council.” Lilliane shrugged. “But maybeyou’reright. Why would they care if Victor is a stalker or not?”
Val gave her a grave look. “That’s my point. It sounds like it was a little … too easy.”
Celestine’s eyes went wide. “Do you think our father knew it would have been easy for us to be our own authority? As Half-Bloods? That’s why he kept us so hidden?”
Lilliane sighed. “Yeah. That’s what it’s starting to look like. I hate that. He really is terrible.”
“The worst,” Val sniffled. “I’m just so fucking happy that my guy is a good man. You know? I know Nero is gonna be an amazing father.”
“All our wolves are gonna be good dads,” Lilliane added. “Somehow, we got very lucky.”
“I think it’s more than luck.” Celestine sighed dreamily. “I think it’s fate.”
Lilliane thought her sister was right, but in the end, they would know if it was. If all six of them walked away, then it was fate.
If not…
Well, she didn’t want to think about that.
TWENTY-NINE
ATLAS
