“Every time, Lilliane. Every time.” He kissed her, tipping her head back to deepen it. He devoured her like they had all the time in the world. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she replied.
Before she could tighten her hold on him again, he moved away from her. “I’ll see you at dawn. Be good.”
She blew him a kiss, and he caught it on his way into the woods and out for his guard duty. Along with Nero and Reece, Atlas had laid out a lookout schedule, making sure to take shifts. It was one thing to ask the wolves to guard the alpha mate, but it would have been a big ask if they hadn’t done the same as the alphas.
Power was all about balance. A give-and-take relationship. That was obviously something Victor didn’t understand. That vampire was a terrible person, and Atlas would love nothing more than to destroy the creature. Keep Victor from ever hurting anyone ever again.
He did his guard duty, and for the first few hours, while the sun was still shining, his shift was quiet. Nothing happened, and he chased a rabbit to keep from boredom.
There was a shift in the air as soon as the sun started to set. Atlas couldn’t put his finger on it, but it sure felt like the animals were quieter. He padded along the forest quietly, weaving through the woods. That’s when he saw it.
A line of vampires gliding through the edge of the trees. By his count, Atlas thought there could be at least twenty vamps. He grinned to himself. The vamps might be fast, but they would be outnumbered with the pack protecting this land. Atlas howled loudly.
The vampires immediately knew the wolves were aware of their presence, and now, all of the wolves knew there were vampires on their land.
“Find out where that’s coming from. Kill the beast for betraying our presence.” The vampire was pale, and so much arrogance dripped off him that Atlas would’ve known it was Victor without knowing who he was.
With his wolf body moving quietly through the trees, Atlas tracked them. They were getting closer and closer to pack lands.Hispack lands. The second Victor set foot on Silvers land, Atlas was going to lunge for him. The others would find him soon enough now that he had alerted them to the vamps’ presence.
They were a few miles from Atlas’s house when Victor stopped walking. He made a big show of sniffing the air, but judging by the tense set of the vamp’s shoulders, his olfactory senses weren’t as good as a wolf’s. This made Atlas happy. He had the girl and the stronger power.
“I can feel her. She is near,” Victor shouted.
Atlas rolled his eyes. For an ancient vampire, this guy was an idiot. How could Victor feel Lilliane without sensing she was surrounded by one too many wolves to ever get close to her again?
“Before the moon is high in the sky, she will be mine. Forever. Whether she wants to be or not.” Some of the vampires exchanged bored glances, and Atlas kept that in mind for later. It might come in useful if bargaining was on the table for the vamps.
But hearing that vampire talking abouthismate like that was too much for Atlas. He broke into a run, and no vampire would be able to stop him. He ran Victor right into the ground, pinning him. The vamp was quick to push him off. The other vampires made swipes and hits at him, but Atlas scampered away, playing with them.
This wasn’t good.
Now, he was the outnumbered one.
He might have miscalculated the distance from his place. Or maybe he’d let his temper get the better of him. A few wounds in his side were making it harder to fight, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. Atlas gave as good as he could, injuring more than a few vamps.
Right when Atlas thought he was in real trouble … and Victor managed to chomp down on his haunch … the line of trees broke out in fur.
There were his friends. His brothers-in-law. Hisfamily.
The alpha wolves and their packs ripped into the vampires. The battle was long and brutal. Soon enough, it was evident that without a second wave of reinforcements, the two sides were too evenly matched.
Atlas shifted into his human form and stepped into the thick of the fight, right by Victor. “Yo, bloodfucker. You might not know that this land belongs to the Half-Blood vampire council.”
Victor stilled, and the other vampires muttered among themselves. A few subtly left, walking backward before scampering away. Atlas had expected this. Now, the odds were more firmly on their side, but he wanted Victor alone.
“You want to harm a fellow council member?” Atlas tutted. “That’s what my mate is, you know. A vampire council member. You know my mate, I think. Or, at the very least, you tried very hard to know her.”
“Atlas!” Lilliane’s scream ripped through the air. “What is happening? Why are you in your human form?”
He threw his hands up as her appearance made Victor glare with delight. “What are you doing here, woman?”
“I can’t let you fight this by yourself. We’re partners. A family. We fight together.” She patted her abdomen and smiled brightly at him.
“Your timing couldn’t be worse. I just told him we’re mates,” Atlas couldn’t stop from smiling. Victor looked about ready to blow a fuse.
“Well, it’s better that you know, Victor,” Lilliane said, tossing her hair back. “This is vampire council land, and any attack will only be embarrassing for any of you and your associates.” She arched her brow at the other vampires. “You really want to mess with me? Now that I am a council member?”
