Page 40 of Fanged Secrets
“All right then, River will lead a team out to that warehouse. We’ll meet them head on and if they’re not interested in talking, we take them out.” Jordan pointed a well-chewed pen at the other woman before turning reproachful eyes on me. “And then there’s Amara…”
My heart stuttered at the mention and I fought to keep my expression neutral.
"Amara has seen too much," Jordan continued. "She knows about you, what you are. We can’t allow her to jeopardize our existence or the safety of our coven."
I clenched my fists under the table. I knew where this was heading, but couldn’t bring myself to accept it.
"We'll have to wipe her memory," Jordan said. "It's the only way to ensure she can't report anything to her father or anyone else."
"No," I blurted out before I could stop myself. My voice reverberated around the office. All eyes turned to me.
“I mean –” I backpedaled quickly, shrugging the tension from my shoulders. "Isn’t there another way? She’s finally gotten comfortable, it would be cruel to wipe it all away and have her go back to being scared of me."
Jordan raised an eyebrow. "And she’s not scared of you now?”
I winced, a supercut of Amara’s wide fearful eyes flashing in my mind. “Well, not as scared as she could be.”
When I was met with blank stares all around, I squirmed in my seat, feeling a hot flush building in my cheeks and the tips of my ears. “I just think we shouldn’t be so quick to meddle with her mind like that. This marriage was meant to keep the peace, after all, maybe we should give her a chance.”
"And why would we do that?" another vampire interjected. "We have rules for a reason. Not to mention her father is a nuisance who could cause us a lot more trouble if he were to learn the truth."
“Amara doesn’t know about the Leyore coven. She only knows aboutme.” I struggled to find my words, my foot tapping a wild tempo under the table. "She doesn't need to be a threat. I can keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn’t snitch to Don."
“Don Leone and his people will be attending the upcoming ceremony.” One vampire directed his piercing words at me. “A ceremony to celebrateyourunion with his daughter. If this girl were to report this to her father, who knows what Don will do?”
I dug my nails into my palms. I’d forgotten about the upcoming ceremony. Jordan and Don had agreed that a gathering to show off our marriage would be worthwhile. It was, on the surface, a way to prove the peace between our factions. No doubt Don had his own schemes underway, and Jordan wanted to use it as an opportunity to gauge Don’s intentions.
Don aside, if he was working with the dragon shifters that would mean he had way more knowledge of the supernatural than we originally thought. And if Don wanted to stir up trouble, having the shifters strike at the gathering would be the obvious choice. The Leyore leaders and the rest of the vampires would be exposed, surrounded by humans, and unable to reveal themselves.
“This is ridiculous,” another vampire chimed in – a highborn snob who’d given Jordan grief after she bumped me up to head of security. “She’s a human. Why are we even debating this?”
“She’s more than that,” I muttered, scratching a deep gouge in the table with my nails. “I can keep her in check, but you can’t wipe her memories. She’s – she’s important.”
“Important?” Jordan echoed me, staring like she was only just seeing what River saw in my expression. “Important how?”
I sunk into my seat, shrinking under the many eyes that fixed on me. There were few shadows in the brightly lit office but they bled toward me. When I didn’t answer, I saw the highborn vamp scoff, leaning over to whisper to the woman beside her.
It didn’t matter how many battles I fought for them, or how many enemies carved me up in the process. Some of them would never accept me. I was the tainted second born of their revered general, dark sister to Damian’s light. In me they saw anunpredictable loose end that Jordan should have cut off, not a leader fighting to keep them all safe.
My father had a part to play in that, he turned them against me when he kicked me out all those years ago. He just hadn’t expected Damian to follow me. But I was also in part responsible for my damaged reputation. I had preyed on humans unchecked after Damian died. I should have been banished from the city for that, not promoted to head of security.
And now I was defending a human – a human who posed a threat to their way of life. No wonder they didn’t trust me. But even so, the fierce voice in the back of my mind held fast to my convictions. I had nearly lost Amara once. I would not risk losing her again. We couldn’t go back to how we were before. It would break what was left to be broken of me.
“You can’t do it.” I met Jordan’s stare, icicles hanging from every word. “I won’t let you.”
The mild threat was enough to stoke outrage among the highborns in our company. Their voices rose to a maddening crescendo. Jordan’s jaw twitched even as her eyes curiously searched my own. I felt a slither of guilt at defying her in front of her people. She had been my strongest supporter when I first joined the ranks of security, and she had defended me against the nobility ever since.
“Why?” Jordan asked eventually, her voice cutting through the chatter and silencing the gathering.
I held her gaze, but the truth stalled on my tongue. “I told you why. It’s not necessary, I can handle her.”
“Yes, but why is it so important?” Jordan pressed, leaning forward like she wanted to drag the words from my disobedient lips. “Why issheso important?”
The whispers started up again when I held my tongue, but Jordan narrowed her eyes, pushing for a response. “Her father is our enemy, she could betray you at any moment.”
My pulse quickened when she stood up, leaning her palms on the table while she interrogated me. “You didn’t want to marry her in the first place. Why are you so determined to defend her now?”
My lips moved but no sound escaped. The truth was a clawing animal in my chest, but I couldn’t let it out. Not there, not before all those condemning eyes. Not before I’d even admitted it to myself.
