Queen (Bloodline Vampires 3)

The men fall behind me as I turn and head deeper into the compound. It’s only when I take a familiar turn that I realize I’m walking back to my old room by habit and that it’s not appropriate for me to sleep there if I’m supposed to be leading. It’s just as well. That tiny room holds no good memories for me, and it’s nowhere large enough for the four of us.

With a sigh, I veer in the opposite direction and make my way to my father’s home. Stepping through the front door, even with my men at my back, feels like being launched into a past I want no part of. My knees buckle.

I never hit the floor.

Malachi scoops me up. “Bathroom?”

I try to speak, but no words come. Rylan brushes a hand over my head. “I’ll get a shower going.” He disappears through a doorway leading deeper into the house.

Wolf surveys the room. “I hope you’re not attached to any of this.” I shake my head mutely and he smiles. “Let Mal wind you down and we’ll take care of the rest. You did good, love.”

Malachi carries me through the house to the large bathroom Rylan found. Steam already curls through the air, and I take what feels like my first full breath in hours. We did it. We actually pulled it off. My father is gone and I am now the leader of this compound. Holy shit. I don’t even know how to process that. I don’t even know where to begin to start. “Oh gods.” My body starts to shake, violent tremors hitting in waves. “It hurts.” I don’t know what I mean, only that it’s true.

“I know, little dhampir. I know.”

Rylan stays long enough to use his claws to divest me of my clothing and then he leaves, shutting the door softly behind him. Mal steps beneath the spray without setting me down. “Breathe. You did it. The worst of it is over.”

“I never wanted to lead,” I whisper. “I just wanted to be free.”

“Freedom in our world comes at the price of power. This was the only way.” He hugs me tightly. “Can you stand?”

“I think so?”

He sets me carefully on my feet and washes the blood from my body and hair. When he gets to my hands, he examines the claws. “These are impressive.”

“I don’t know how I did it. I just heard Rylan’s voice in my head and then the magic obeyed.”

“Sometimes it happens like that. Close your eyes.” I obey, and he keeps speaking in that low, calm voice. “Envision your hands as they normally are. Not a claw or bit of fur in sight.”

My eyes fly open. “I don’t have fur.

He grins. “Now you don’t have claws, either.”

Sure enough, he’s right. I wiggle the fingers of my very human hand. They look just like normal, feel just like normal. How strange. “That was easy.”

“I did say it would get easier.”

“I didn’t think it would happen this fast.” I take a deep breath and look at the door. “They’re going to expect information and announcements and official things tomorrow.”

“Yes. But you’re not doing it alone.” He presses his hand to my lower stomach. “You have us. I meant what I said last night. We will make this place the safest spot in the realms to raise our children. Anyone—anyone—who threatens us won’t live long enough to regret it.”

There was a time when I might say that’s too bloodthirsty, but that time and that person are long gone. I nod. “Then I guess we best get started.”

“Tomorrow, Mina.”

When we leave the bathroom, clean and exhausted, it’s to find that Rylan and Wolf have gutted the house. I look around with wide eyes. How did they possibly move this quickly? The living room is completely empty except for a plain mattress with what appears to be clean sheets sitting in the center of it. “What’s this?”

Wolf saunters through the door. “Couldn’t do the whole place in the time we had, but we figured you didn’t want to be surrounded with memories of the monster.” He eyes the mattress with distaste. “This is the largest we could find on short notice.”

My lower lip quivers at the thoughtfulness of this. I don’t want to be in this house, faced with the memory of my father, especially when it takes less than no effort to conjure how warm his blood was against my skin, how easily his flesh gave way to my claws. I shudder. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, love.” He flops down onto the mattress.

Rylan steps into the house and shuts the door firmly behind himself. “I don’t expect trouble tonight, but we’ll keep an eye out for it.” He frowns at Wolf. “Get off those clean sheets until you’ve had a shower.”

“Right. Whoops.” Wolf rolls easily to his feet and moves past me toward the shower. He brushes the backs of his fingers of my arm and then he’s gone. A few seconds later, the shower starts up again.