Page 10 of Their Crowned Mate
"Easy, Nosferatu," Cole muttered. "He's the only reason I found Lavinia as fast as I did."
Alexander looked between them hesitantly. Despite the fact that he and Cole had somewhat recently made peace with each other, they were still far from each other's favorite people, and shifters and vampires usually weren't close.
"Is that true?" Alexander asked, looking at me for validation.
"It is," I answered, looking around as I realized one of us was missing. "Where's Marcus?"
"I met him on the way here. He was looking for you, too, but I picked up your scent, so I told him to go keep an eye on Paul," Alexander murmured. "He's up to something. I'm not sure what yet, but he is."
"No surprise there," said Aurelius. "I knew he wasn't going to take all this shit sitting down. I'm not defending what they did at all. I'm furious. But I do think that's why they did it, if it helps at all."
"I'm not sure help is the right word," I admitted. "But... thanks."
As angry as I was, he was probably right. If even Alexander thought my "father" was planning something, I could see why they wouldn't want to take any chances of their rule being questioned. But that didn't make what they had done okay.
It did, however, make me worried about leaving Aurelius to deal with the fallout if he really wasn't involved in any of it.
And there was still the matter of my army...
"I know you're in a hurry to leave, but we do have a doctor on site," said Aurelius. "I could call her to take a look at you before you go."
"Yeah, I'm sure your pack doctor is a real expert," Cole scoffed.
"Actually, she is," Aurelius said with a dry chuckle. "She graduated top of her class at the best medical school in the region."
Cole glared at him, but he didn't have a response.
"I guess we could stick around for a little bit," I said with a sigh, hugging myself. Cole immediately shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around my shoulders. I smiled up at him. "As long as those two stay in line."
"Damon looked like he was going to shit himself when he saw Alexander," Cole said with a snort. "I think that little bitch I laid out is even more of a coward."
"I'll make sure they don't cause any further problems," Aurelius assured me. "They only got the best of me because I wasn't expecting it. That won't be a mistake I make again."
There was no mistaking the anger or the betrayal in his voice, and I could understand it easy enough. Sure, I had been engaged to Jax and Damon, and at one point, I had considered them my friends. But we were never that close. Not as close as Aurelius was to them. His own brothers had betrayed him, and that fucking sucked, no matter what their excuse was.
"Okay," I said with a sigh. "Let's go visit the doctor."
"Then we get back on the road," Cole said, eyeing me as if he knew I was already having second thoughts.
"Yeah," I said, still too at war with myself to voice them. "Then we get back on the road."
CHAPTER6
AURELIUS
"You hear anything in there?" Cole asked, his ear pressed to the door of the main room at the clinic just beyond the waiting room. I knew the doctor would have taken Lavinia even further back inside, and I could only make out their conversation in the most muffled tones.
"No," Marcus grumbled, equally transfixed on the door.
I was kind of relieved the vampire and the coyote were around to keep him from killing me when he showed up five minutes ago, because I was getting tired of explaining myself to Lavinia's suitors and I was sure the hunter had a full arsenal under that battered leather jacket of his.
It was no secret why she wanted to have the visit herself, since she hadn't told the coyote or the hunter about the baby. Couldn't say I blamed her for not wanting to break the news here, and so far, the vampire seemed to be keeping things under wraps.
For now.
"Knock it off, both of you," Alexander said in a scolding tone, leaning against the opposite wall. "If she wanted you in there, you would be."
They both scowled at him, but they moved away from the door. Grudgingly, but they moved.
