My chest threatens to close, but I haven’t come this far to fold now. Which sounds great in theory, but the thought of having to face down my father alone makes me want to start running and never stop. I’m not so panicked that I don’t notice the way all three of them tense up in response to my emotions. I have to breathe, to think, to process this. “Just…give me a second.”
They sit silently as I battle through my instinctive denial. When we were initially talking about returning to that place and doing what was necessary to ensure our safety, at least I had the relative comfort of knowing my men would have my back. Walking through the front gates alone, even if the men won’t be too far, feels like too much. I am stronger than I used to be, but I’m nowhere near as strong as my father.
He could kill me.
He’ll certainly try.
I press my hand to my stomach. There’s only one way to make him pause, and it means giving him information I’d do anything to ensure he doesn’t have. It means trusting my men and the plan and myself in a way I don’t know if I’m capable of.
Finally, I drag in a breath. “I don’t know what will happen to his compulsion if he’s injured.” All evidence suggests he needs to concentrate to use his powers, the same as the other bloodline vampires. If his concentration is broken, say by a blood bullet to his throat, the compulsionshouldbreak.
Am I willing to put myself under my father’s control for even that long?
I open my eyes. I can’t see Wolf, but Rylan and Malachi look at me solemnly. They know what they’re asking, what we’re risking. If I die, there’s a decent chance it will hurt them, if not kill them. They’re asking a lot, but they’re putting so much faith in me that it staggers me. We’ll only get one shot at this.
We’ll either succeed or we’ll die trying.
“I’m scared.”
“I know.” Malachi’s eyes go soft. “We wouldn’t ask if there was another way.”
“I know.” I run my fingers over Wolf’s bare arm. Really, there’s no point in letting panic win. This is the only way. If I think about it, it was only ever going to end like this, with me facing down my father once and for all. “You’re both right. There is no other way. I’ll do it.”
Wolf finally sets me aside, though he laces his fingers through mine. “You’ll have to take his head, and you have to do it showy enough to scare people into obeying you right off the bat. Lizzie will start the process, but that’s the only way to guarantee that bastard doesn’t come back to haunt us and no one challenges you while you’re still reeling. Then we burn the body.”
I wait for the idea of killing my father to inspire some hesitation or even guilt, but the only thing I feel is grim resolution. It’s him or me. If I want a chance at the future, to give my…child…a future, then he needs to die.
Wolf could probably form his blood into a weapon to do it for him. Rylan could partially shift and tear my father’s head from his shoulders. Malachi could burn him until there’s nothing left to heal.
Theoretically, I’ll be able to do all three with the way we seem to be able to borrow powers from each other. But my control has left something to be desired. I don’t have the training and while sometimes they manifest, they never do it reliably. Whether the pregnancy was to blame or just my lack of experience is up for debate. I wasn’t able to use them even before I found out I was pregnant.
I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way. “I’m going to need a blade,” I finally say. “Thankfully, Grace left behind a whole stack to choose from.”
“Mina.” Malachi watches me closely. “If you don’t want to do this—”
“There’s no other way.” I shake my head. “Let’s not waste time trying to find other options. If this is the plan, we need to perfect it.”
Malachi hesitates, but finally nods. “Let’s go over it step by step.”
47
While I’m not feeling particularly confident, at least I know the steps of the plan by heart after we go through it a few times. Whether or not it will work… I don’t know. There are too many things beyond our control, which means too many things that could go wrong. The most important of these, of course, is Wolf’s sister.
She should arrive any minute.
Rylan and Malachi went hunting earlier, returning rosy-cheeked and brimming with health. They fed Wolf, but no one offered to feed me. I can feel the hunger stirring—I’ll have to eat again before we attack the compound—but I’m just grateful they’ve stopped trying to feed me human food. The very thought disgusts me. That revulsion which will worry me later, when I have time and energy to think about the implications. First, I have to focus on the threat directly in front of me.
Lizzie.
I don’t expect to feel her approach. It’s been so long since I’ve been around other vampires, and I certainly didn’t feel my father and his people break into the mountain home. This is different. Very different. I lift my head, turning in the direction of the sensation. It feels a bit like what I imagine all the water being sucked out before a tsunami hits feels like. “What is that?”
“Lizzie.” Wolf bites out her name. “She’s not bothering to shield. She wants us to know she’s coming.”
Without saying another word, we move into the living room. It’s got a clear view of both front and back doors. Malachi nudges me to the loveseat that backs a wall with no windows, and then pushes Wolf gently down next to me. “Let me and Rylan do the talking.”
“That won’t work and you know it.” Wolf’s voice shakes a little, but he’s more composed than he was this morning in the kitchen. “She won’t be satisfied with that.”
I place my hand on his thigh, a fierce protectiveness surging. If this vampire thinks she can come in here and harm those I care about, she’ll have to go through me to do it. I squeeze his thigh. “She will not touch you.” Something akin to power thrums through my voice. It feels strange, and all three of the men tense in response.