Candy: Book 5 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Saga

Apologies my sweets. My headspace has been in a dark and angsty place, which lead to about four more chappies for Tentacles. I couldn’t get my head into a party mood, but I’m finally there..so let the festivities begin!! As always ENJOY!!!

Q: Winglet essences?
A: Callia - rootbeer sugar stick; Raissa –grape lik-it and Lex – vanilla cake

Q: X bit Haley while in blood starvation mode. What is his essence?
A: Actually, no, he didn’t, well he did but he didn’t suck. (That sounds so wicked) X realized that Haley belonged to him and didn’t really taste him. Later on there is a reference to a merlot with a hint of wet dog.

O: Ya hate Billy Envoy. I knew Liam was a little iffy with some, but Billy? Oh..clutching my chest. He’s the only one who hasn’t tried to get into the brothers pants ya know.

Thanks for the reviews and comments and assistance. I have a little twist in my plotting and now I’m trying to work it in around actually having to work. Gack!! So chocolate covered cherries to: Lavcea; ana; k; steph291(x2); jewel 2656; rosemary; spiritofbeyond; ayachan; twitch; violetstorm713; laur; lone-child; and meadows_peak


Chapter 191: Look a gift lycan in the fangs

Lia and Trezka were two snoring warm fluffy calico pups sprawled out across my lap. How the hell they could sleep was a testament to the excitement they had all day long because they were going to meet Lord Alpha. They resisted all naps because they were plotting what they were going to do when they got here. I smiled down at them and lightly ruffled their furry heads. So innocent and pure. They came, wiped out and tripped up but then they got to sit on their Daddy’s angel. Hmmm. I didn’t know how to feel about that. Good I guess. I broke out into a wider smile. I missed having little ones in the house.

Dancing Lycan. Ok, Riverdance clogging Lycan was something I definitely was not expecting. If Haley came out as the Lord of the Dance, I was going to bust a gut. The Saitou Ten were pretty darned talented. And loud. I doubt my floor was ever going to be the same again. I noticed Wolfgang was in the group. How the hell did he get home to practice?

I glanced up at the table. Based on their expressions, my closest companions knew what was going on. What the heck? I never suspected a thing. Trezka twitched in her sleep. Claudius reached down and cut the thin cords that still attached the pups to the huge box they had been dragging behind them. He lifted Lia out of my hold. “Chairs are for sitting, Xavier.”

He set the sleeping pup in his lap and laid a protective hand against the puppy roll of a belly. I flipped up to my knees and squat walked to my seat, keeping low so the people behind me could see the show. They were good. Claudia leaned over and peeked at the bundle in my lap. “They have Haley’s coloring.”

“And his coordination.”

“Haley was not the only one I remember laying on the floor.” Armor piped up. “You can be a klutz when you are excited.”

“Hey, no picking on me. It’s my special day.” I returned with a little pout and then I flashed him some fang.

“That I know, Little One.”

The floorshow stopped with one loud clack-clack and a full throated Lycan Hunting Howl. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Trezka stirred and her stubby legs twitched but she didn’t wake up. Someone, or sometwos were exhausted.

I clapped with the rest of the House but I got the feral flash from Ping. The Imperials gave an appreciative series of yips which I joined in with. The Saitou ten broke ranks and rushed the table. Holy Toledo the pups had grown so much in these past years. Arashi; Ike; Yuri; Kaori; Huey, Dewey and Louis, (Haley’s naming talents at work once again); Yumi and Yuki all gave me a quick nuzzle and kiss. Nineteen years old all the way down to two months. Ping and Haley have been busy.

“Dinner is served!”

The House of Von Drachenfeld had synchronized its Vampiric meal schedule to a Sunday dinner. I ate every hour of every day, almost due to my metabolism but everyone else of my bloodline only needed to eat once a week. We made it into a family day. The Loyal had also fallen in line. They basically were family anyways. I know it made Hans, our baked Alaskan essence filled master chef, ecstatic. He cooked up a storm for me and the Imperials during the week but on Sunday, he would out do himself. We got his best on Sunday. Sugar laden desserts were still forbidden – on Claudia’s order as well as Armor’s because…well Sex on a sugar high is too much for any family member to bear. I had an inkling that Claudius might have tossed in his two cents as well.

So when this gigantic cake got rolled out, I was ready to dive it. However, I noticed that a large screen was being lowered from the ceiling. What was going on now? I was just happy that my whole family was here. Mom talking to me was the best thing that could have happened today. The lights were dimmed and the light of a projector filled the screen.

“Happy Birthday Papa” filled the screen. Then it changed to “The life and times of Sigmund Edward Xavier Azrael Skell Du Bussey Von Drachenfeld.”

Then my name went up in flames….uhhhh. I think I was going to be embarrassed.

“Roasted.”

Oh yeah…I was going to be embarrassed.

“All of the Vampire Nation knows the image of Crown Prince Xavier.” The official royal portrait of Claudia and I flashed on the screen then slowly zoomed in on me in my braided monkey suit. Marcus had painted that portrait. I was glad he had gotten back in touch with the artist within. It was part of him. He couldn’t deny it and he was damn good at it. Even though it was demeaning, I thought it looked like a photograph.

“Regal, elegant and the essence of refinement.”

There were chuckles from the peanut gallery and from my table. I kicked Armor in the ankle.

“However, before Xavier was Crown Prince, he was…” The image cut to Sex storming out of a silver beaded curtain dressed in haute couture fuck me now asexual clothing. He stalked toward the camera placed at the end of the catwalk. “Sex the supermodel.”

Oh God, I remember this. I lifted a hand to my eyes but still peeked through my fingers. Oh yeah, this is the New York fiasco. They had shortened the catwalk to get the cameras in but hadn’t told us. I was blind from the spot lights so I was running on count memory. I was supposed to go 40 steps then pivot, strike a sexy pose then stalk back with my white hair swishing elegantly over my barely covered ass. The catwalk ended at 34 steps. Sure enough, I winced as I watched my celluloid self go crashing off the end of the stage.
The whole Great Hall broke out in a laugh as strands of white hair flew everywhere.

“Before the supermodel phase…”

I felt my face burn red as the obligatory naked ass cherub on a white furry rug was flashed up on the screen. Oh dear god. “Mom!” I knew where that little photo came from.

Mom looked over at me all innocent like. Wow, that’s were Sex got that from. How old was she and I never knew she could do that. Blink, blink. “What? I love that picture. Especially that little grouping of freckles on your left cheek that look like bowling ball finger holes.”

Armor leaned forward and stared at the photo of my naked but. “That is cute. Most of his freckles have faded, Maggie.”

“TMI, Armor, TMI.”

“There will be no talking about my ass at the table please.”

“Thank you, son. I’m trying to keep my dinner down.” Dad replied but he had a gleam in his eye. Uhhhhh…. I flicked my eyes up to the screen and sure enough there were the dreaded home movies. This was an American Funniest Videos moment featuring accident prone me. Oh God. There was red headed me and the discovery that magic and I were never going to mesh. That potion was supposed to make my bike fly. I walked around purple face for about a week before Dad took pity and countered it. Then there was me wrecking my bike as I rode into a tree.

“I take it back Xavier, compared to you growing up, you are grace defined.” Claudius murmured.

“That’s not me, you know. I wasn’t around until after Sex turned nine.” Claudius blue eyes took on a sheen, which kind of tightened my lower intestines. Mischief and Father usually ended up with Sex having a rip roaring time.

“I am going to have to secure a furry white rug.”

Mom shook her head. “TMI, Claudius.”

Armor pulled my chair over to his as my hilarious childhood began to change as my world got dark and the thin happy kid turned into a chubby sullen teenager. The klutzy behavior continued but it didn’t seem so funny now and the temper came out. His arm came over and rested across my shoulders. I had been terrified and angry and had lashed out at the world around me. Mom should never have put up with it. There was my high school graduation. My face was nothing but a scowl. There was my college convocation. My face was nothing but a scowl.

Then there was video of me and my first and last apartment. Mom and Dad moved me in and I cut all ties to them. I remember thinking that I was going to be normal now. Being a useless son of a prestigious Hunter family was part of my misery, so I was going to deny everything I ever learned about the big wide world around me. I actually envied those who didn’t know about the Bloods who walked in the world beside them. Ignorance was bliss. So I thought. I had been so messed up.

“Then Edward met the House of Du Bussey.”

There was the black leather coat picture. I was thin. I was beautiful. My hair was bold and vibrant coppers and reds. I still had skin pigment then. Looking back on my younger self, damn Armor’s year of deliberate slimming and toning and sexual teaching had turned me into something idolish. I couldn’t have done it on my own. I wasn’t that arrogant enough to believe that I could have done this for myself.

“Do you ever regret meeting me, X?” Armor whispered into my ear over the oohs and ahhs of the crowd.

“Never.” The few times I did, I would take it to my grave. When Orel Wessel finally had my number and ripped me out of the body, I cursed the name of Armor Von Drachenfeld. If he had killed me like it was supposed to…

I carefully lifted my head and raised a non puppy filled arm to his cheek, bringing him close to kiss his perfectly formed lips. “Thank you…Armor. Thank you for loving me and making me want to live again. We wouldn’t have this…” I gestured with my chin at the screen as the pictures moved on to Claudia and winglets, “if it wasn’t for you.”

Even though we had succulent bloody pieces of prime rib, apparently, I was hungry for a little tongue. Tink, tink tink. What the hell was that? Everyone was tapping their goblets of blood or wine, as the occasion called for. I broke off our kiss and the tinking stopped. “What?”

Shayne grinned across the table at me. “Usually they do that at weddings to get the newlyweds to kiss. I never thought I’d hear it used to make someone stop. You got yourself a reputation, little brother.”

I could feel my face color up as the flambé of the brotherhood continued. Now it was up to individual Papas. There was Azrael up on the stage of the bachelor auction playing his cello. There was Sex waltzing down the catwalk with Sasha in sinful leather fashions of the past. There was Skell playing his black baby grand while all the inner circle listened.

Once there was Edward. Then there was Edward and me. He had enough…at nine years old, he had enough and left life to me until I needed him to save me in year twenty-nine. Azrael came to save us both in year thirty. Skell saved us all from extinguishing in our thirty-fourth. My brothers. My family.

I raised my head and looked at the faces around the table. I was blessed. My eyes teared up. Why the heck was I the crier? I blinked as the movie switched again. I remembered this. Jax held the camera claiming he was thinking of becoming a videographer. Callia and Raissa boxed me into my chair and Lex had leant over the back of my chair so I couldn’t roll back.

“What is the most important thing in your life, Prince Xavier?” Jax had called out. The camera zoomed in getting all us winged wonders into the shot.

“Family. Without family, why hell would I bother to get up out of bed everyday?”

“Oh, come on, Papa. Jax is going to need more than that. Don’t you want him to get an “A”?” Callia cajoled. She smiled into the camera and I could see her blue eyes glitter with conspiracy. I didn’t see that at the time because I was looking at Jax.

“Why is family important?”

I remember feeling like I was targeted. I couldn’t spill state secrets. I couldn’t betray the Blood for a human college assignment. What the hell could I say? I cleared my throat.

“Family is more than shared bloodlines. Family is more than just a household. To me, family is…family is life.” I paused and felt Lex’s hands drop over the chair onto my shoulders. “My family is my reason for being. When I was younger, I was blind and I don’t mean that in the physical sense. I was legally blind but I worse than that. I deliberately isolated myself. I ostracized myself and slapped away any helping hands because I felt I deserved the bleakness I cultivated. I couldn’t see a way to offer anything to anyone and I just spiraled that on myself.”

“Papa…” Callia leaned over and pressed her forehead against my head.

“A man came into my life and forced me to look around. He ripped my blinders off and made me see what I was doing. What I was becoming and I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror. He gave me his family and showed me that I was a vital part of it, that I mattered. Not that Mom and Dad were bad, they just couldn’t show me the tough love that I needed to wake up and smell the apple juice.’

‘There is not room for self pity when you are surrounded by love. I am loved, I have loved, I love still. I have heard the jokes and rumors about me and my loves. Let them. I am here because of them. My family, my extended pod, has wrapped me in tenderness and I am not careless enough to discard a second time. Even through my blind stupidity, my Family loved me. When I was lost, my Family searched for me. I cannot offer less. I will not fail. The pod, my Family deserves my best; and, I’m going to give it.”

“I love you, Papa.” Raissa kissed my cheek. Callia pressed a kiss to my other cheek. I felt pressure on the top of my head as Lex pressed his lips to the top of my hair.

“Okay, everyone look at the camera, big smiles….and cut…”

The room darkened for a moment then all the bright lights flashed on. Mom was blinking back tears. Claudia was wiping at her eyes. I passed the sleeping puppy off to Armor and slipped out my chair. Mom caught me in a hug.

“I could have given you tough love…”

“You couldn’t be tough enough. I’m your Babyboy.” I wasn’t going to tell her just how tough it had been for a while.

“Who the hell is making fun of you?”

“Oh, about half the Nation. I have a harem.”

“You point them out and I’ll knock some manners into them.”

I was glad Mom was back to being her feisty self. It was hard to watch her grow frail when I could do something about it. “I don’t need you to fight my battles. That’s what the Loyal are for…and anyways, it’s just jealousy. I can handle it.” I looked across Mom to Claudia. She was still sniffing.

“Chippie?”

“Get over here, you ass.” This year Claudia and I will have our twentieth wedding anniversary. I loved my wife like a little sister, which was odd because she was one hundred and twenty six years older than me. I kissed her cheek and gave her a hug.

“Forty-six more years.”

“Uh? You get your job back.” Ah, Emperorship. I thought Claudia was doing a fine job. What she had shown in her pre-Von Drachenfeld life, she was the heart and soul of the Vampire Nation on a much grander scale. She was better at it at I think I could have been. Patience is a virtue and has Sex has commented on a number of occasions, I have tossed virtue out the window. I was still considered a wet behind the years fledgling by the older Vampires and just a pain in the ass by many of the Ancients.

“I’m in no hurry, Chippie.”

Chesterton waved to me to come to the cake. I dropped another kiss on Claudia’s cheek and headed to the dessert cart. Yummy. Hey…the whole thing was covered with candles. “If you would light them, Sir.”

“What’s this sir crap, Harold?”

Chesterton smiled at me. He gave me a toothy grin. “I’ll let you get away with it today, Lord Xavier…it is you birthday after all.”

“Thank you, Chesterton. Back up. This might get out of hand.” I stared down at the cake and concentrated on calling up tiny little flames on the tips of the fifty-four candles. Fine control of the Hand of Light. Each of us had to the various degrees but I still had the best control…it still didn’t mean I didn’t blow things up. Not buildings but I’ve set the drapes on fire when I sneezed when I was trying to light the fireplace. Not a fun time. Smoke hung in the air for about a week.

Simultaneous candles burst into warm yellow light. The whole room began singing the regular strains of Happy Birthday. I ended up standing in front of the cake and staring out into the packed Great Hall. Who knew the pod would be so varied and big? I took a deep breath and blew out the candles when the singing stopped.

“Speech!”

“I….would like to thank everyone for coming here tonight. This…this shows me how much my family has grown.” I burst into tears. My throat tightened and I ended up rubbing at my eyes. Gees, you’d think I’d stop this. Crap.

I found myself wrapped in my apple orchard’s arms. “Oh, Xavier. What am I going to do with you?”

“Give me a tissue before I snot all over everything.”

“Suck it up, man and cut the cake. Everyone wants to see you get into your presents.”

“Skell is going to open them.”

“That’s fine. Come on, everyone is waiting.”

I brushed at my eyes with the heel of my hand. “Sorry.” Chesterton handed me a cake knife and a napkin. I sliced the cake up and then got the hell out of the way as Chesterton took over and began doling out the vanilla sweetness. Armor ushered me over to the big leather wing back chair and sat me down.

“I want you to open this one, Xavier.” Armor set a small jeweler’s box on my lap. I blinked at him. Then picked it up and opened the lid. Inside was a fortune in diamonds and sapphires set into platinum forming the shape of a phoenix rampant.

“Oh my god…Armor.”

“I originally set out to recreate the traditional Emperor’s crest, but you are not traditional. The old regime has fallen, so have the trappings of the old ways. So, we will make new traditions. The diamonds hold brilliance and inner fire. The sapphire is the exact shade of your deepest blue flame…” Armor leaned in and pressed his lips against my ear, “just before you ejaculate.”

I could feel a flush rip across my cheeks. “It’s beautiful.”

“As are you, my Beautiful…my little one.” Armor lifted it out of the box the set it high on my left shoulder, locking the clasp in place. I turned my head and met his kiss. His hand came up and cupped the back of my neck.

Tink, tink, think. Oh for the love of pete. I pulled back and ran my hand down Armor’s face. “I’ll thank you later in private.”

“Send out Skell. Lanseng is going to take over the show for a bit.” Armor straightened and sure enough, the tall blue haired, red eyed escapee from a basketball team was hovering behind him.

Lanseng bowed before the chair with elegance and grace that I always associated with him. “Lord Xavier.”

“Lanseng…hold on.” I called for Skell then faded as he willingly came forward. I blinked then grinned up my blueberry muffin o’ love. “Lanny!”

“Skell. Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Hell, yeah. Do I have to stay up here?”

“Well everyone will want to see your gifts.”

I stuck my hands out and wiggled my fingers. Lanny raised a blue eyebrow at me. “What do you say?”

“Gimme?”

“I do not think so.”

“Just having you come here to my birthday party is enough. I take it you gave Jax that little bit of home video.”

The tall blueberry had the presence to blush. “Well, I gave Jonathan the shorter, edited version.” I smiled back at him. Oh, yeah. That little experimentation with the video camera lead to naughty home movies. Who knew that the lens would just love my love?

“Happy Birthday, Lord Skell.” Lanny reached into his suit and pulled out a plain white envelope. I ripped it open and pulled out…season tickets to the Symphony and a private box. I felt my breath catch in my chest. “I know how much you liked going to the concert hall the last time.”

“Muffin…” I stood up, climbed on the seat of the chair and gave Lanny a heartfelt hug. “This is the best thing anyone has ever given me.” Oh crap, my eyes were tearing up.

“I am for you, Skell. What can I do but try to make you happy?”

“Thank you.” I brushed at his hair and tucked a strand back behind his ear. I let my fingers trace that sensitive shell. I leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to his warm lips. It didn’t stay gentle and chaste. Blueberry just filled my senses. I let my tongue slip out and sweep at his lips. He opened his mouth and met his tongue with mine. I slit my eyes open just a crack and saw that he had his closed.

Tink, tink, tink, TINK, TINK, TINKTINKTINKTINK. Okay, okay. Lanny stepped back and blinked at me. Mmmm, my blueberry muffin had a glazed expression in his eyes. It wasn’t fair of me to get his motor running when it wasn’t my night. “There is a concert tomorrow night.”

“What is the program?”

“Hell if I know, I cannot think right now.” Lanny admitted with a wry smile. “I will be waiting for you, my Skell.”

I flopped back into the chair. This was better than Christmas. I got to rip into wrapping paper and bows and got to pop bubble wrap. When I asked for a birthday party, I didn’t really expect presents. We, the brotherhood, had enough money to buy whatever we needed or wanted. Still…what the hell was I going to do with golf clubs? A dribble glass? Well, I could figure out what to do with edible underwear, but really. Callia gave me a state of the art laptop. Raissa surprised me by giving me art glass. It was had an organic feel to it while being frozen in time.

“Dedushka said that Papa Eddie had done some glass work once and that he would appreciate this.”

Liam could be such a bastard. Sex recognized this but he only got warm and fuzzy. I’d have to get the full story from him later. Why warm and fuzzy?

Lex had buggered off. Since I didn’t see Jax or Wolf, I assumed that they were getting ready for their command performance.

Mom and Dad and Shayne, my older sister came up. My nieces husbands carried up a big tarp covered square. “You didn’t have to get anything. Xavier just wanted you to come and have a good time.”

“Skell, just shut and say thank you.” Shayne returned easily.

By all rights, Xavier’s family, the brotherhood’s family should have wanted me gone. I represented everything that had gone horrible in those lost years. The capacity of the human heart is astounding. “Thank you.”

“Good boy.”

Mom gestured to the covered square. “The Regency, aside from being the police, also is an archive. This is from the Regency Council as well.” Peter, Lois’ husband, and Austin, Lane’s husband, pulled the cloth back off the square to reveal a painting. An old painting. “This is Lord Emperor Sigmund the First.”

The canvas had to be four foot by four foot square. Father looked more like Sigmund that I thought. Raissa had his red coppery hair. Claudius had his facial features. The brotherhood had his eyes. I climbed out of the chair and looked at it. This must have been painted when he was young. Before whatever broke inside of him, sent him into an agonizing spiral that ended in assisted suicide.

“Thank you.”

There was a loud engine noise. Everyone stopped what they were doing as the door from the hallway to the kitchen opened and Father came out on a motorcycle. He walked it up to the middle of the room. He revved it up a couple of times then shut it off. Holy Toldeo it was loud.

“Excuse me.” Well I knew that this wasn’t for me.

I snagged the keys out of the air as Sasha flipped them toward me. I broke out into a tooth filled grin and bounced over to him. I don’t know if my feet even touched the floor. It was an Indian. I caught Sasha around the neck and bounced up and down even more. Ohmygod, ohmygod, OHMYGOD!

“I take it that you like it, Fallen?”

“Are you stupid?” Sasha’s eyebrows snapped down. I slapped a lip lock on him. I felt him kick the stand down and the bike listed to one side. I ran my hand up the nape of his neck and pulled him sideways. We ended up falling off the bike. I landed on my back but I didn’t let go of the keys, nor my hubbie. I had mentioned this once, last year. That I wanted to ride with him, beside him. Indian motorcycles were on backorder for years. Either he moved the heavens and earth, or he ordered this a long time ago. He nicked his tongue on my fang and the essential essence of clove filled my mouth. I returned the favor with my own flavor.

Tink. Tink. Tink,tink, tink, TINK, TINK, TINK. TINKTINKTINKTINKTINKTINKTINKTINK.

“Do you hear something?” Sasha smiled down at me. He untangled us but only lifted up slightly off me to his elbows.

/Alpha?/ I turned my head and saw Treska sitting right beside our heads watching everything with interest.

I moved my hand off of Sasha’s delectable ass. “Yes, Treska?”

/Daddy and Mommy want you to come and get your present. What are you doing? Why do are you laying on the ground?/

“Get up, Sasha.”

“Do I have to?”

“She’s like two months. I’m not having “THE TALK” with her. Up.” Sasha rolled off me and sat up. His hair was everywhere. The mussed look suited him.

“So, you like?”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “I like. Thank you.” I moved forward to kiss him again but got a hand in my face.

“I liked it too much. Go away now.” I glanced down then gave him a smirk.

The little pup yawned and snapped her teeth back together. I opened my hands and she waddled up to me. I gathered her close and climbed to my feet. Everyone was staring at me. Yeah, yeah yeah. I tucked the pup under my arm like a furry football and made my way over to Haley and Ping. Lia was sacked out on Ping’s lap. Treska was blinking and her head was dropping but she was bound and determined to stay awake…she started to snore.

“You have two more beautiful daughters to your pack.”

“Thanks, Alpha Sex.” Haley cocked his head and looked over at his daughter. “She has really taken to you.”

“She’s a little cutie. You didn’t have to bring any presents. Just showing up was a gift in itself.”

“We have missed the pod, Alpha.” Ping added then nudged Haley. He ducked under the table and pulled the box the puppies had dragged across the floor. He traded me the box for the snoring bundle.

I pulled the ribbons off and lifted the lid. There was a beautifully framed, official family portrait. Ping sat with Haley standing behind her, one hand on her shoulder. The rest of the Lycan family was surrounding them. Even the werewolf, Ronan Fielding and his wife and son were in it. “You have a grandpup.”

“Christopher. He was born a month before these little scamps. There is more in the box, Alpha.” Ping replied easily.

I moved the tissue paper around and found a scroll. I pulled it out and frowned over at them sort of puzzled. This had the feel of age on it. “Guys?”

“You saved my life, Lord Alpha. You guarded me until I reached my Age of Change. You found me my mate. You defended my Oath of Zsigmond to the Eastern Pack. I owe you a debt that I cannot repay.”

“We didn’t do this to….”

“Shush, Lord Alpha.” Ping admonished lowly.

“I gift unto you…” Haley paused and looked over at Ping.

“The Saitou Pack.”

The Saitou Pack. The Saitou Pack? “What?”

“We give you our pups, Lord Alpha. You are now, Benedek – our blessed guardian”

“What? You can’t just give me your children. Aren’t they supposed to be raised by a Lycan?”

Ping reached across the table and pressed on my hand that held the scroll I had pulled from the box. “They will be. We know we leave them in good hands.”

“What do you mean? They will be? How can they if you are giving them to me?”

Haley got up from his chair and crossed beside me. “Your name is in the rolls, Lord Alpha. When you were a human boy, you were bitten by a Lycan --a bitch of noble birth. You are considered a first generation werewolf. Her name was Eliza Dennings. She was an aunt. By the official genealogical charts of the Northern Den, we are cousins. So, you are an acceptable Guardian to our twelve pups, Lord Alpha.”

I frowned. I’m a werewolf?

* * *