“How can you not have a single female powerful enough to rule under you?”
She shrugged, turning to pace the aisle. “I do not decide these things, the power does. Masters, by nature, are the oldest living vampires. For thousands of years, there have been males in places of authority.” She turned back, her orange skirts swishing around. “So males they are.”
“And you can’t think of a single female with enough power to take a place on the Coalition?”
“There are a few,” she said. “But they are meek in comparison to the males.”
“I can think of one,” Rourke muttered under his breath.
I turned to him, surprised. “Who?”
“Naomi.”
I gasped. “Naomi? But she’s bound to me, not to Eudoxia.” When Naomi took my blood, her allegiance shifted, much to Eudoxia’s dismay.
“That may be so,” he said. “But when you gave her your blood, you made her extremely powerful. And she’s still a vampire. Eudoxia’s right, the power decides, and there’s a chance it will choose Naomi.”
Eudoxia huffed. “I will not share my space at the table…with that thing. She is no vampire, at least not to me!” The Vamp Queen’s tiny fists struck out at the seat in front of her, and the leather burst open. “She is not worthy of a place on the Coalition.”
Had I unwittingly created the most powerful female vampire?
Ignoring Eudoxia’s tantrum, I turned to Rourke. “Do you think that’s why Enid took her?” I’d been wondering why Enid would take Danny and Naomi. She was trying to get to me, and it worked, but it would’ve hurt even more had she taken my brother or my father.
“Could be,” he replied. “If Enid has control over when and where the Coalition gathers, she can manipulate things. That makes the most sense.”
“I don’t believe it!” Eudoxia exclaimed. “That little imp doesn’t have as much power as I have in my pinky finger.” She held up her smallest finger and wiggled it, in case we needed a visual to the size of said pinky. “How can she possibly be strong enough to sit on the grandest jury of them all?”
It was hard not to laugh. “Ah,” I chuckled. “But she is incredibly strong. I’ve given her my blood twice, and that’s one more time than you’ve gotten it.” Well, until the end of this flight. “Plus, she’s old. You should’ve promoted her over the years. She’s extremely capable. But she’s always been your faithful tracker. Sounds like it’s your fault. You overlooked a diamond in your nest. After all, she escaped from Selene and one of the Hags, using only her wiles. That takes talent.”
“Nonsense,” Eudoxia said, sticking her nose in the air as she paced back to her throne. “I would bet my life it is not her.”
“If only we could take you up on that,” I muttered.
5
The wheels bounced roughly, shaking us in our seats. We’d just touched down in Florence. It was eight a.m. We’d flown through the night. I’d gotten some spotty sleep, but not much. I glanced out the window and realized we hadn’t landed at a regular airport. “Where are we?” I asked. It looked like a field of some sort.
I hadn’t thought to ask what the flight plan was. I’d just assumed Eudoxia knew what she was doing.
One of the two vampire flight attendants answered, with some distaste, “We have landed at the Mediterranean Pack airport, a few miles outside of Florence.”
Before the flight attendant could add anything more, Eudoxia replied tersely, not bothering to look around, “There are only a few options when one is in need of a supernatural landing place. It was either here, or farther south with the nymphs, who have taken over an entire town. I figured this would be preferable.”
“You thought right,” I said. “My father said Julian would be here to greet us. I hadn’t questioned how we’d find him, but this makes it convenient.”
“That’s why he’s the Alpha, and you’re not,” Eudoxia huffed, meaning it as a burn, but I took it as a compliment. My father was Pack Alpha for a reason. It was a job I wasn’t even remotely interested in. Looking after my small group was more than enough. Tyler and Danny had sworn fealty to me, with a blood oath, and I’d given my blood to Naomi and Ray. I’d sworn a childhood oath with Nick that had involved a blood swap. I’d given my essence to Marcy to heal her. That, in turn, had bound these people to me. It was more than enough.
The flight attendants moved to the door, both of them covered head to toe in black. Only the oldest and most powerful vampires—and vampires who had ingested my blood—could walk in the sun. One of them opened the door, tossing the set of steps down, hissing. They both retreated quickly.
I had no idea what to expect once we got outside.
Tyler deplaned first, then Kayla, followed by Nick, then James and Marcy. Rourke took my hand, and we went together. Ray brought up the rear, and Eudoxia, who was busying herself with some task, would come when she was good and ready and not one second before.
“Is that the son of Callum McClain I see?” The accented voice erupted from the small group of wolves situated a few feet away from the plane. “The Northern Territory Alpha in training? Or, should I amend that to the U.S. Territory Alpha in training?” Julian referred to the fact that my father had fought, and killed, Redman Martin, the former Alpha of the Southern Territories, effectively joining the Packs together as one.
The comment was meant to let us know that the Mediterranean Pack was well aware of what had happened in our neck of the woods—or, more precisely, our neck of the swamp—since my father had defeated Redman in the Everglades while we’d been down there trying to deal with the Made wolves and a possessed bokor.
“Hello, Julian,” my brother answered graciously. “It’s good to see you again.” They clasped hands.