Scent of Salvation

Chapter Thirty-One

The pups scattered out the door of the school room a few seconds after Kele dismissed them from studies. She loved teaching but her mind kept wandering back to a golden omega hiding in her den instead of focusing on the lessons.

No matter how busy she kept herself, she managed to end up at his door. Someone had offered her a tasty dessert last night, and she’d brought it to him. She’d found a book of maps and spent yesterday evening showing him how to understand them.

This morning her father threw out an old kilt. With a few adjustments, Peder would have something better to wear besides his tattered one. She collected her sewing basket—the kilt folded in the bottom—and found the doorway blocked by her female parent. “Mother.”

“Daughter.” She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “What’s in the basket?”

“Some sewing I mean to do.”

Faster than Kele could react, her mother snatched it from her grasp.

Kele tried to grab it but Chaska turned away, obstructing her reach. “Give it back.”

“I thought I saw you take this old kilt. What are you doing with it?” She held the clothing out of Kele’s reach.

“None of your business.” She shoved her mother. “Give it back.”

Chaska’s head knocked on the stone wall. The basket landed on the ground, the contents scattering.

Kele clasped her hands to her mouth. What had she done?

With a shake of her head, her mother leaned heavily against the wall.

“Mother, are you well?” She rushed to her side.

Growling, Chaska grabbed her by the collar and pulled her against her chest. Sharp canines snapped close to Kele’s face. “Mercy? What do I keep trying to teach you, pup?” She shook her until Kele’s eyes rolled with dizziness.

Tossed to the floor, Kele tried to regain her stance. She knew from experience if she didn’t rise to her feet, the kicking would commence. “Attack when my opponent is down.” Struggling with her balance, she stood and faced her mother.

“Exactly. Mercy won’t get you anything but a good bite.” Chaska rubbed the back of her head.

Kele held her burning tears in check. They would only bring on more ridicule. “But I don’t see you as an opponent. We’re supposed to care for each other. You’re my mother.” Her voice went hoarse.

A knot of repressed anger unraveled in her gut. Without another thought, Kele kicked out and side-swiped her mother’s legs from under her. All those years of being taunted and scorned, of shoving aside her emotions for her mother’s sake, ended today.

Chaska rolled toward the exit as soon as she landed on her back. With fluid grace, she rose. “Better.” She crouched low, her legs braced for an attack. “Now, with less passion and more thought.”

“Are you insane?”

Her mother tackled her. The hard floor knocked the breath from her lungs, but Kele was too busy keeping Chaska from biting her to worry about breathing. How were they related? She kneed her mother in the flank, close to the kidney, just like she’d been taught.

A sharp yip rewarded her effort. Without hesitation, Kele punched her mother across the chin, then shoved her off in a combined motion. As she tried to crawl away, Chaska yanked her back to the floor by the hair.

Kele howled.

The first true feral thing she’d ever done.

Chaska released her hair then grabbed her shoulders so they could face each other. A huge smile was plastered to her face. “You came close to shifting!” She hugged Kele to her bosom.

Bones creaked in the embrace, but Kele leaned into it. She blinked at her mother. “I almost did.” She touched her face but it didn’t feel any different.

“You need to set your feral side free, Kele.” Her mother pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Kele’s heart raced. She wanted to sing and dance. She wanted to fight some more. She wanted to race to Peder’s room and tell him what happened.

“What is going on in here?” Her father stuck his head inside the school room, his eyebrows furrowed as he glanced from wife to daughter. “Do I need to call for the healer again?”

Benic followed Inali into the school room where he found Kele and Chaska twisted on the floor. A lump the size of an apple stood on Chaska’s head and Kele’s dress had been torn. “We’re late. Such a pity.” He sighed and met the she-beast’s furious glare.

His gaze traveled to the small glimpse of white flesh peeking through the tear of Kele’s dress. He ached to puncture her tender, young flesh with his teeth.

Chaska grasped the cloth and pulled it together. “Some of the pins from your sewing kit are in my back. Once you pull them free, we will fix this tear.” She assisted her daughter to her feet. “We’re well, Inali. Go feed the vampire. He looks hungry.”

Benic licked his fangs. One day…

The alpha smacked him on the shoulder. “Let’s leave the females to their sewing. I have business to discuss with you.”

“Over a bottle of wine, I hope.”

Inali gave him a wolfish grin. “Of course.”

They strolled through the courtyard of the den. The sun beat down upon their heads from the opening in the mountaintop. Beads of sweat trickled along Benic’s neck. The wine better be from the cooling well.

A leather ball bounced past them followed by a group of dirty, male pups. He shook his head. Shifters bred so easily.

Vampires grew up lonely. He’d never heard of, let alone seen, a group of vampire children playing. The idea was novel yet impossible. So far…

“What’s on your mind, Inali?” He followed the alpha into a shaded area with a set of chairs. The wine waited for them on the table. The alpha was nothing if not generous. Benic sighed as he sat then filled both their cups.

“My daughter.”

Benic slopped a little wine onto the table and grimaced.

“I’m worried about her future.” The alpha sipped his cup, leaning back in the chair.

A group of hunters, in feral form, stalked by on their way out of the den. Ahote wasn’t among them. Benic knew what occupied the hunter’s time—a pretty omega male, who the vampire would like nothing more than to serve to Chaska at dinner time. The whelp couldn’t stop eyeing Kele. The only thing keeping Benic from revealing this little secret was his need for Susan’s return, and Peder was the key.

Benic finished his wine. “That seems like a natural thing for a father to do.” And why did he need to speak with Benic about it?

“I’m not blind. She’s a beautiful female, and you’ve been showing my daughter some interest.”

Benic’s slow pulse paused. He stared at the alpha. They’d already started this discussion. Apparently, Inali needed to finish it.

“Do you wish to marry her? That is what vampires do, marry?”

Benic poured the rest of the wine in his cup, filling it to the brim. “I think this conversation is going to require more.” He swung the empty bottle between his fingers. His tolerance would require the whole cellar to get through the rest of this day.

Inali frowned. “I doubt that.”

Sighing, Benic sipped as he stared at the leaves above his head. “You know I can’t do that, Inali. The council would never approve a vampire-shifter marriage.”

“It would give us too much power.”

“They would kill her.” He faced Inali. “The less attention she draws to herself the better. You know this. Why are we really having this meeting?”

“The alpha of the Urutu pack has made an offer to mate her.”

It took all of Benic’s training to keep from groaning. “That’s nice. She can spend her life with a poor pack on the fringe of the tribe. May as well betroth her to Sorin of the Apisi.”

“It’s not as terrible as that. I can offer the finances the Urutu need to provide Kele with a comfortable life. The alpha is simple but kind. He would worship my daughter.”

“It seems like such a waste.” Benic drained his cup again then toyed with it. “I can only offer a position of consort in my court, Inali. But she’d have influence and my protection.”

“Until she grew old and you lost interest in her, but I did want to hear your counter offer before deciding.” He set his cup on the table and rose.

An empty pit grew where Benic’s heart had stopped. He leaned forward. “You should let her decide.”

“No, I fear she’d choose you out of desperation. She doesn’t know your people as well as I do though.” Inali left.

Wonderful. Benic took Inali’s still-full cup. First the Susan problem, then Peder, now this. How would he get what he wanted?