“You’re Alana, aren’t you?” I questioned when she stood in front of me. I hated that Aiden’s hands had, at one time, been on her body and that she held power over him.

“I see our Aiden has been talking about me.” She laughed and turned to face Aiden. “All good things, I hope?”

“He just mentioned you were Aaron’s sister,” I told her and smiled when annoyance crept onto her face.

“Yes, well I was a little bit more than that back then. Wasn’t I, amante?” Alana sent a saucy smile towards Aiden, and I fisted my hands so tightly my nails dug into my skin. I didn’t know a lot of Italian, except for the few words Aiden taught me, but I knew what amante meant—lover. Alana turned her smile towards me and winked for good measure. I wanted to rip her pretty blonde hair out, but I decided to play it cool, if she saw how much she got to me, she’d win, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

“He is a great amante, isn’t he? You know, just the other night he worked me so hard I thought my heart would burst.”

Aiden coughed while Dorian shifted uncomfortably, but I didn’t care about them, I cared about the look of fury on Alana’s face. I smiled and turned away from her.

“If you two are done staking your claim on Aiden’s sexual talents, we have business to discuss,” Aaron said bored.

“Of course.” I glanced at the man in question. Aiden smiled and shook his head. I shrugged and winked.

“If this was just a matter of having a spirit walker on our side, we’d be happy to search the globe for another one,” Holly said. “Frankly, you’ve been nothing but trouble.”

“In what way?” I questioned. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked without explanation. I put my entire life on hold to help you out, not that I had a choice.” I was done playing the silent subject and done with playing the victim. Both councils needed me, which meant I had power.

“Yes, you’ve learned your powers, but I suspect that had something to do with the teacher. But had you told us you were bonded to Ian Despereaux in the first place, you wouldn’t have had to train. You’re nothing but a liability now. Ian probably knows our plans, and therefore, they won’t work. You’ve wasted weeks of training. And while we’re on the subject of your devoted commitment, did you not sneak off to see him?” Holly pointed a finger at Aiden.

“He’s not the enemy. The enemy is Ian and his followers, those who kill witches for their blood. As far as I know, Aiden isn’t in that category.”

“The key words being ‘as far as you know’. He’s a vampire, and he’s drank from you for the sole purpose of his brew addiction, did he not?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then he’s the enemy!” Holly shouted. “They’re all monsters who would just as soon drain you as look at you. Your ignorance is going to get you killed, Gwen.”

Perhaps she was right, my life had become more dangerous since I invited vampires into it, but if that meant I’d die beside Aiden, then I wouldn’t regret my decisions. I did what I thought was right, and whether or not Holly or anyone else agreed was moot. I couldn’t live my life dictated by others or around what people may think. I was dating a vampire, but more importantly, I was in love with a vampire. Holly’s prejudice against him wouldn’t sway me.

“Enough!” Aaron roared. “I swear you humans are nothing but petulant children who whine and complain. We came here to discuss peace. How are we supposed to do that when you don’t even have peace in your kingdom?”

Some supernaturals took offence to being called human, but witches were as close to them as any other. I didn’t mind being referred to as a human, my family was human. It made me feel like I was still connected to Rebekah, my sister, in some way—like we were the same.

“Since you can’t handle this situation, I will,” Aaron snapped at Holly.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” I said to Aaron, “How is capturing Ian Despereaux going to end the addiction to brew? The secret of our blood is out, and whether he’s alive or not, the vampires won’t just give up on draining witches.”

Aaron circled the room, his hands in his trouser pockets. It was strange that someone who looked so young had so much power. I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a teenager’s body for eternity. The only part of him that lent any sort of clue about his age was his eyes. They were more mature than his young face from the things he witnessed over the years. I still wasn’t sure how old he was.

“We have ten vampires held prisoner we believe are coconspirators. Ian can’t distribute the blood by himself. Our plan is to allow your council to kill them, and my people will see your strength and willingness to fight back. We have sent out a message that any vampire caught drinking witches’ blood will be sentenced to death. It may take a while for the message to sink in, but if there’s one thing a vampire values more than a good blood, it’s their life. Most have become a vampire for the pure reason of having eternal youth; they won’t want to risk losing that for a taste of brew.”

“What’s the catch?” Holly interrupted.

“What do you mean?”

“Well I know you aren’t volunteering to help us out of the kindness of your heart.”

Aaron tilted his head. A mischievous smile crawled onto his lips. “Everything has a price, but the main reason is because I don’t want our two species at war for forever, and that’s how long it’d be. Do you think if you didn’t have our support, the vampires would cease their killings? We rule the vampires, and they know our threats are far more dangerous than yours.

If I had a guess, I’d say their price included blood. Vampires had lifetimes to accumulate money. Their greed rested in the red liquid that flowed through their victims’ veins. Even though blood banks were set up all across the country to accommodate the vampires thirst and keep the humans safe, they still enjoyed drinking right from the source. Aiden had a small supply of bagged blood at his home, but as far as I knew, he didn’t drink it. He would find willing donors and sate his hunger that way. The fact that the women he fed on felt desire and lust for him was something I tried to put out of my mind. The other option was for him to cause his donors pain, and that wouldn’t be okay with me. Knowing your boyfriend was out stroking other women’s libidos with his venom was just par for the course when dating a vampire.

“What I want to know,” I spoke up. “Is how is this news about the effects of witches blood just now being revealed? As of a month ago, I didn’t even know our blood could do this. How has the secret been kept all this time? And what changed?”

“That’s a question your NAWC would have to answer. I’ve drunk from witches in my past and never felt the effects,” Aaron answered. “If I had to guess, I’d say you have a traitor amongst yourselves.”

The members of the NAWC all shifted, their eyes darting to one another, which made me more curious as to what they were hiding. There was something they knew that they didn’t want their loyal subjects finding out.

“Well?” I questioned my council members. Was this what Kye and Dorian knew and kept from me. Was a deal offered to Kye for his silence? I still didn’t know how Dorian fit into the scenario. He isn’t a witch or bound to serve them, so what deal did he have with Holly?

Holly stood, crossed her arms, and walked off to the side. “Our Goddess intertwined a spell into our blood so the secret wouldn’t be revealed to those who sought our blood,” she spoke low like she was remembering some ancient text she’d once read. “The spell bewitched any vampire who tasted our blood to forget the taste of it. For centuries we have been taught to not allow the vampires to feed from us as a cautionary measure should the spell not work. It was a way to preserve our species and our magic. The Goddess’ gift lay in our veins, a gift that was not meant to be shared with others.” Holly glanced up with a faraway look in her eyes. An emotion I couldn’t quite pin down colored her face—regret, remorse, grief? “I suspect whoever shared their blood with a vampire found a way around the spell. For what reason, I don’t know. The council has been searching for the culprit, but as far as we know, you’re the only one who’s involved with a vampire, Gwen.”

All eyes shifted towards me, each person watched with curiosity, hatred, or amusement. The amusement came from the vampires of course; my council didn’t find anything amusing about the accusation.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said with disbelief. “Aiden didn’t drink from me until after the secret was already out. I didn’t even know about it so how could I be the one responsible?” I paused to think for a moment. “Besides, if I didn’t know then that means the others don’t know either. I suspect the council didn’t tell us because the fewer people who know, the better chance the secret has of being kept. If you guys want to point fingers, then allow me to point mine at one of you.”

“How dare you think we’d put our people in danger!” Holly snapped. “Plus you’re bonded to the vampire responsible. You can’t tell me you’re so naïve you didn’t know sharing blood with a vampire would create a bond?”

The tingle of my magic revving up stirred under my skin. I fisted my hands to hold it at bay. “I allowed Ian to drink from me to save Fiona’s life! I didn’t know she wasn’t really dead, and when Ian fed me his blood, I was unconscious!” I was so pissed I was about to storm out of the castle and head back to Flora, damn the consequences.

“I swear the two of you are like immature teenagers. All of this bickering back and forth with blame isn’t going to help anyone,” Aaron snarled, then looked at his sister. “And they wonder why their species is in danger.” They both laughed.

Everyone was silent for a moment as we all reined in our anger. Now was not the time point fingers, we needed to hash out the plans and put an end to all of it. Holly sat back down and whispered with Patrick and James. Aiden walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my body. Closing my eyes, I inhaled his spicy clean scent. Just having him beside me helped tame my anger.