Crimson Night

Chapter Fourteen

Grayson’s POV

“Dammit.” I said as I yanked the bars away from our exit so we could get out. Lana had destroyed our prison so I was going to have to get that fixed after I brought her back.

“Well, she was pissed.” Sam smiled.

“Yeah, I knew she would be, but I couldn’t let them live.” Letting those vampires live would have not only set a bad example as a head Alpha but it also could have put my wolves at risk, those vampires could have easily turned against us and killed more of my wolves and I could not let that happen. These wolves are my family, my life; I could not risk them in any way. I headed out of the prison, looking for my stubborn mate. To say that I was surprised to have a vampire as my mate is an understatement, but she is my mate and I lover her no matter what.

I felt horrible for going against what she said, but it had to be done because those vampires were a hazard.

“Where do you think she went?” Sam asked as we walked to his house.

“She went into the woods most likely to walk it off; she’ll get lost and end up back her like she did last time. I would go after her but I feel like she would only beat me back here.”

“And if she escapes?”

“She won't…we have her problems but I know she cares for me…I can feel it. I don't care that she is a vampire, I love her.”

“I love that body of hers.” He laughed.

“Excuse me?” I stopped and looked at him, a growl forming in my stomach.

“Yeah, I walked in on her showering, and damn does she have a nice body, I stayed just so I could get a good enough view and nice memories.” My fist connected with his face, making a nice snap when I broke his nose.

“That is my mate you are talking about!” I growled before I landed another hit on his face, breaking his jaw and knocking him out. I do not care if he was Alpha of this pack, I was Alpha over all and no one talked about Lana like that.

“You can't do that!” Chuck, one of the guys who attacked Lana, said.

“I can.” I turned on him, my eyes glowing and the anger flowing through me. He whimpered and backed off from me.

“Someone pick up this piece of s**t up and put him somewhere else.” I said, heading to his office. I went to his desk to look at his map, wasting time until Lana made it back, when I noticed that the map was gone. “No.” I said, Lana could not have taken that map, right? She was not actually going to go to the vampires was she? Did I mess up that bad?

I honestly thought that she was bluffing, but I should have known better by the way she acted and Lana never seemed to bluff.

Shit! I ran out of Sam’s house and shifted into a werewolf, seeing, as it would be easier to follow her sweet scent with my wolf nose than my human nose. I did not found where it stopped for a few hours, and when I did, I stopped short. Lana was at a vampire camp, I could see her talking to a vampire, and they seemed pretty cozy. A growl tried to make its way out but I stifled it, trying to stay quiet and listen in their conversation.

“No! I told you that I'm not telling you!” Lana yelled.

“And why not?! From the sound of it they did nothing good to you, so why won't you tell me where the mutts are so we can destroy them?” The man yelled.

“Because I won't Cain, I won't do that.” Cain? This was the man that Lana loved, the man that used to be her master? He was tall and we would be very evenly matched if we fought but I would severely injure him. I knew that I could not do anything now because it would be a suicide mission to go out there alone and although Lana was not telling him the location of our pack, I was not sure she would side with me in a fight with this vampire.

“Why? Lana, this could end the war now!”

“Because I love him!” The three of us froze.

“No! No, Lana you cannot love a werewolf, Lana you are mine, not some wolf’s! I love and I will not lose you to some wolf.” He pulled her close, and she did not fight him, not like she fought me.

I backed away then, I could not watch anymore. My mate was happy with another man…she said she loved me yet she was so happy to be with Cain. I headed back to my own pack, thinking about a way to attack Cain’s camp.

Lana’s POV

I sighed as Cain hugged me.

“I'm sorry, but I do love him.”

“How? I don't understand this, he is your enemy yet you love him.”

“I don't understand it either…it’s this whole mate thing.”

“If it’s this mate thing…aren’t you supposed to stop loving everyone else?” I nodded.

“Liam only loves his Isla now.”

“And you? Do you not love me anymore?” I looked at Cain and I wanted to say no, I wanted to be fully committed to Grayson but I could not. He watched my face and he had a small smirk that slowly grew.

“You know I do! Cain, to be honest I don't think that I will ever stop loving you…” I sighed and looked away, hating myself for being so honest with him.

“Really? Lana, you know that you’ve always been my favorite…you were just so absorbed with Liam that you wouldn’t see me, and poor Charles you haven't even give that boy the time of day. And now that Liam is gone, I have this werewolf to compete with.”

“Should I give Charles a chance? Maybe since Grayson has proved to me that this whole mate thing isn’t a hoax, maybe I should give him a chance to prove himself.”

“To be honest, I don't want you giving anyone else a chance, but it is up to you. But we are leaving in a minute to take you back to the castle and away from the field.”

“How have you been traveling?” I asked, looking around.

“Off road vehicles of course.” He smiled. “Now, come on let’s get you out of here.” He led me to a jeep looking vehicle and I hopped in. I tried to figure out the straps but gave up and let Cain buckle me in.

“How far are we from the castle?”

“Pretty far, we are near the center, we have already pushed the entire left side in and we have the top too, it’s the right side and the bottom that’s giving us the problems. I think that your little Alpha is on the bottom because we aren’t getting anywhere with them.” I did not correct him, but I knew he was wrong because Grayson had to relocate his pack closer to the center of their land when the vampires attacked them.

Cain started the truck up and it made a loud roar and he pulled into the path. For a moment I regretted leaving, because I knew that I was going to miss Grayson, but then I remembered what he did to those vampires and I knew that I made the right decision.

“I need a real shower.” I said as we walked into the castle and Cain laughed. “Seriously, I've been shower under waterfalls, and I think that I need to get some real clothes on.”

“You do that and I’ll go get the King and Queen.”

“Yay.” I said sarcastically, I was not excited to see my grandmother.

Cain kissed my forehead. “You know, I'm proud of you.” He smiled.

“Proud of me, why?”

“Because you withstood the wolves, even though you gave in and even though one of them is supposed to be your mate, you are still you and you haven't changed.”

“You know…I'm not sure I withstood anything.” I said, thinking about my feelings for a certain wolf, feelings that I should not have.

“You did.” He kissed my hair and turned to walk down that hall. “Be ready in an hour, I will have one of the royals here, depending on which one is free.”

“Why do I have to see them?” I asked. I would not mind seeing Charles, my more levelheaded supposed mate, but I did not want to see my grandmother because our opinions differed too much.

“Because, you have to tell them about your experience of with the wolves and Charles wants that date that he was promised a while ago.” I laughed, I had almost forgotten about that.

“Well, I'm going to take a shower and then find some blood.” I smiled.

“Have fun.” He disappeared down the hall and I slipped into the room in front of me, but as soon as I walked into the room, I froze. All of my clothes were hung up in the room; all of my things were in this room. There was note on the bed.

“I know this is probably comes of as slightly creepy, but I need to you closer to me so Cain’s mistake does not happen again. I cannot have you in the hands of the wolves, for both business and personal reasons. I am sorry if this feels forced to you, I am only keeping your safety in mind, my dear Lana.

Yours truly,

Charles.”

Mmm…I was not sure how I felt about that, but I was not as mad as I would have been and I understand his reasoning, as long as I am not stuck with body guards, then rooming in the castle is no big deal.

I stripped and then headed to the shower, excited to feel warm water on me. I slipped him, expectant of pure bliss, but to be honest I was disappointed. The water was not as beautiful as the waterfall, and it had a strange smell to it, as if it had been sitting in on spot for too long.

I missed the waterfall, I missed the nature…and to be honest I really missed Grayson. Was that sad? I have only been gone for less than a day, and I already missed everything about being with Grayson.

I shook my head; no, I was not going to be one of those girls. Grayson tortured me, was way too controlling and he went against my wishes and killed two vampires that helped him, that is not something to miss.

I got out of the shower and went to my closet to look for something to wear. I slipped on a cream sleeveless shirt, low cut jeans and cream four-inch stilettos. I curled my hair and I enjoyed the luxuries of applying make-up and I felt extremely girly now but I looked amazing. I headed down the halls, looking for Cain. I reached out mentally and found him in one of the many lounge rooms, so I headed there and I sadly found him sitting down with my grandmother across from him and her mutated lion was next to her, staring me down.

“Lana, how wonderful to see you.” My grandmother smiled.

“Queen.” I bowed my head and then joined Cain on the couch.

“How was your experience with those animals?” She asked, her hand resting on her lion’s head. What was that things name…oh yeah, Cole.

“Not as bad as most vampires, but what is it that you need to know about them?”

“How much do they know about us?”

“Everything.” I told her honestly. “They used my powers to read the vampires, and the last vampire that they took hostage was one of Charles’ and he knew just about everything, even about Crimson Night.”

“The wolves know about Crimson Night?” Anninka asked. “That is not a good thing; we were relying on that plan to win this war.”

“We can still use that plan.” Charles said, walking into the room. He was dressed in a suit and he looked…well he looked good enough to eat. I resisted the urge to lick my lips because he looked so nice, and damn near irresistible.

“How?” Anninka asked.

“Just because the wolves know our plan, doesn't mean that we can't use it, they can't stop us from pushing them to the center, even if they tried.” He sat in the chair across of me, his eyes locked with mine, and I felt the spark. Wait, what? Why hadn’t I felt it before?

I slipped into Charles’ mind and I knew that he felt it now too, for sure and I saw a smirk grow.

“But they will fight harder.” I told him. “I know the head Alpha and he is ruthless and he is a crazy fighter.”

“I know, he took down Malachi.” Charles shook his head.

“Malachi?” I asked.

“The chain wielder, he was a vampire born who could control a chain that literally ripped the skin off his victims.”

“How do you know Grayson took him down?” I asked, because I knew for a fact that it was not Grayson who took down Malachi.

“Because, no other werewolf would have been able to take him down.” He stated. “But it doesn't matter how hard they fight, we have more numbers and we can call in reinforcements from other kingdoms, the Russians have already agreed to help us thanks to Alesksei’s help.”

“I don't understand why we needed my daughter’s help; I have better connections with the Russians.” Anninka stated.

“She was Queen of them.” I said, looking at her. “You cannot have a better connection than that.”

“You don't understand anything yet, child.”

“I understand plenty, old woman.” I smirked.

“Do you want to go through this again, Lana?”

“Why not? I have already proven that you are no match for me, and neither is your daughter.”

“I could have you killed for that.” She said, standing to her feet.

“Just try it, grandmother.” I smirked, crossing my legs. “Let us see who would come out on top. And, think if you would kill Alesksei’s daughter, would she be likely to help you in the future?” I asked.

“Lana, Anninka, stop.” Charles said. “Anninka, Cain, I think that the both of you are done here.”

“But we know little of her experience with the wolves!” Anninka yelled.

“I will gather that information, you don't need to be here for that. Out.” He ordered,

“You can't order me around!”

“Anninka, do not act like a child. And as rightful heir to this thrown I can do as I please.” Anninka snapped her mouth shut and then walked out, taking Cole with her.

“I won't leave as easily as her.” Cain said, leaning back.

‘I can easily order you out, as one of the Princes, you have no choice.”

He shook his head and looked at me. “Will I see you later?” He asked.

“Of course, I don't see why not.” I smiled. He seemed satisfied with my answer because he stood up and left after that.

“So, what exactly do you want to know about the wolves?”

“Where is there camp?”

“Next.” I said, not looking at him.

“What do you think you need to inform me about?”

“Both of your siblings are mated to a wolf.”

“What?!”

“Liam is mated to a she wolf, named Isla and Maya is mated to Grayson’s Beta, Michael.”

“How do you know this?”

“I was in the same pack as them, Maya was taken before me of course and then Liam followed a soft trail of my scent and stumbled upon the pack. Maya fits in well…and she's nicer, different…I think she's at home out there and Liam is head over heels for Isla.”

“So…you and him are over?” I nodded.

“We were over the moment he laid eyes on Isla, and I—” I stopped short, was I ready to tell Charles about Grayson? Why did I care so much, before I met Grayson I thought that this whole mate thing was just some superstition…but now I knew it was not and I could still feel little sparks going through me.

“You what?”

“Do you know how you told Liam that you were soul mates?”

“Liam told you that?!”

“No, I got curious and dipped into his mind.”

“Oh…”

“Well…” Then I chickened out. “I think that I believe that… I didn't then but now, after seeing Liam and Maya with their mates…I think that I finally understand that you weren’t trying to make something up to get in my pants.” As I finished he moved fast and his lips connected with mine, and sparks flew everywhere. My hand went up and ran through his beautiful blond hair and he pinned my against the couch, while gently teasing my lips with his tongue before taking control and slipping his tongue in. I moved my other hand down his chest, slipping into his jacket and feeling his sculpted body through his thin dress shirt. I was working on one of the buttons when he ripped away from me. I looked at him, thoroughly confused.

“I am so sorry.” He said, running his hand through his hair. “I did not mean to do that, but the second you said you believed, I lost it. It will not happen again, I promise. I want us to start off like a normal couple, not hormone filled teenagers.”

“I didn't really mind it.” I smiled.

“I want to do this right, Lana, you are my one and only mate and I don't want to screw this up.” He took my hand and helped me up.

“Now what?” I asked him, still trying to get down from my high on him. This was not like it was with Grayson, with him I was always fighting something…but with Charles I simply let him in.

“Well, I want to take you out, on a proper date and I want to talk to you about my plans for this kingdom and this war because they involve you.”

“In what way?”

“Both a business and I personal way.” He said, leading the way out the door.

“Can we go somewhere first?” I asked, easily matching his pace.

“Where?”

“To see my mother.”

“Alesksei is very busy lately, especially because she is working with the Russians again, now that she has no daughter to care for and Yuri is in good condition.”

“I have to see her; I need to thank her for something.”

“Some other time, please?” He asked, looking at me and his eyes just looked so beautiful. What is wrong with me? Charles is making me melt simply by looking at me!

“Okay…so where do you want to go for this meeting.”

“It’s a date.” He corrected. “A date, which is a surprise.” He smiled.