A Call of Vampires (A Shade of Vampire #51)(8)

I hugged and kissed them all again, then politely excused myself for a moment.

I swiftly took Hansa aside for a quick chat.

“Are you okay, Aida?” she asked, seeming alarmed by my suddenly serious expression.

“What? No, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, just queasy every five minutes or so.” I shrugged, hoping I wouldn’t get all lightheaded again like earlier this morning. “You—it’s you I’m worried about. What’s up?”

She blinked several times, apparently confused by my question.

“What do you mean?”

“You and Jax. What’s going on there?”

She immediately blushed in her succubus way, her face lighting up like a star. She shook her head and regained her composure, gaping at me with wide eyes.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, prompting me to roll my eyes at her endearing attempt to deny that there was anything going on between her and the Lord of Maras.

“Come on, Hansa.” I scoffed. “There’s been tension between the two of you since our battle with Azazel, and it’s weird because, despite your thorny little back-and-forth’s, you and Jax had an interesting chemistry going on. What happened?”

It took her half a minute to concede and let a long, heavy sigh roll out of her chest. She briefly glanced at Jax across the room. Their eyes met, but he immediately switched his gaze to Lucas.

“I don’t know, Aida,” she said slowly. “It’s all changed since the war ended... He’s been keeping his distance, and certainly doesn’t want to talk about it. I’ve asked him what’s wrong, but he just changes the subject and walks away, like he’s avoiding me. I’m pretty sure he’s even mind-bent me a couple of times just to get me to stop asking, but I can’t exactly prove it since he’s so good at it…”

“And how do you feel about it?” I asked.

“Not that great, I’ll be honest. I mean, he’s all cold and stoic and irritatingly dismissive, while I’m struggling with feelings I haven’t experienced in a long time… and certainly not with this much intensity. I never thought I’d feel this way, and yet, here I am. The more he pushes me away, the more I need to see him. It doesn’t go well with my nature. It frustrates the hell out of me to be so attracted to someone, so vulnerable, but I can’t do anything about it, either.”

I was determined to think this over and try to come up with a viable solution for her. I really wanted to help. I didn’t like seeing her like this, and I knew, for a fact, that she didn’t deserve to be given the cold shoulder—especially not after I’d seen Jax unravel the way he had when Hansa was dying in his arms.

“There’s nothing you can do, little pup.” Hansa gave me a warm half-smile, resting a hand on my shoulder. It was as if she’d read my mind. Or my face—I was recklessly transparent by nature. “You’ve got a bun in the oven to worry about now. Besides, I’m a former tribe chief. I crush my enemies with my bare hands—or thighs, on occasion. Getting myself hung up on a Mara won’t last forever. I will get over it.”

Her bluntness made me laugh, and her strength and ferocity left me speechless. I gawked at her for a second, wishing to memorize every single thing about Hansa that made me want to worship her, in hopes that, should my baby turn out to be a girl, I’d be able to instill the same values into her.

I would certainly love raising a half-Hawk, half-wolf girl with Hansa’s attitude. She’d be breaking oh so many barriers…





Jovi





After the eventful GASP council meeting at our Mount Zur base, I called out some of our recruits for a training session on the Plateau—a name we’d given to one of our biggest practice spaces, as it occupied the entire northwestern platform and somehow broke from the cluster of limestone boxes that formed our base.

It was a semi-open space facility, with thick, square pillars that supported the stone roof. There were no windows or walls, but Aida had set up a swamp witches’ spell around the training area to prevent recruits from falling over and breaking their necks—an invisible barrier of sorts that acted like an elastic membrane and pushed the fighters back inside, since there weren’t any walls other than the one linked to the rest of the base. The ground was solid dirt, covered in short red grass that cushioned the harder landings. There were obstacle courses set in the middle, designed for army-like training, complete with ropes, wooden pillars and barriers, hay bales, and metal structures for climbing and fighting above the ground.

I moved to the middle of the Plateau, surrounded by Avril, Scarlett, and Fiona. Harper Hellswan and Caia Conway were also present, standing next to Serena and Vita, along with Hansa and Anjani. I was still getting used to looking at Harper and Caia, as they both resembled their sisters a little too much for my comfort.

Harper had taken a little more from Tejus’s facial features, but she was tall and athletic, just like Serena, with long black hair, blue-green eyes, and broad hips and shoulders. She was in her second year as a vampire sentry and had demonstrated incredible self-control, given her young age. I usually referred to her as the Cucumber, mainly because she was as cool as one, almost never showing emotions or signs of panic—in that aspect, she and Serena were very different. Nevertheless, her devotion to GASP, her friends, and her family was impressive. I almost felt sorry for anyone who might try to hurt her or her loved ones.