With Everything I Am (The Three #2)(61)

Callum felt his lips get tight.

Vampires officially bound themselves to other vampires but they had an out, called “severance”, which was like a mortal’s divorce.

Unlike the vampire vow, which clearly didn’t include their vows to their mates, Callum found the concept of vampire severance repulsive. Werewolves had nothing like it. A wolf would never sever from his or her mate.

Never.

However, if his mate was Katrina, Callum would consider it.

Nevertheless, “dispatching” her was beyond the pale, even for a vampire. This idea was even more repugnant to Callum. The only thing he knew, knowing Lucien, was that if the deed was done, there was a valid reason behind it.

“Who is she?” Callum asked.

“A mortal,” Gregor answered and Callum stopped short.

He turned and stared at the vampire. “You’re f**king joking.”

Gregor stopped too and regarded Callum. “I’m not.”

“Bloody hell,” Callum muttered, finding himself concerned for Lucien.

Vampires liked their laws, had lived under them for half a millennium and not mating with mortals was top on their list.

Lucien and his mate could be hunted, tortured and executed.

“Are they –?” he started but Gregor shook his head.

“Things became…” Gregor hesitated, “uncomfortable for a while. However, several members of The Council, including, obviously, myself, saw the wisdom of rescinding that particular edict. We were successful in convincing the others as well.”

Callum continued to study Gregor, keeping his face perfectly blank and his turbulent thoughts to himself.

It had begun. The Prophesies, or what he knew of them, were coming true.

Even the parts Callum had hoped would not.

Bloody hell.

“So the foundation of vampire culture has shifted,” Callum noted.

“It has indeed. Not only Lucien but all vampires are free to take mortal mates if they so choose.”

Callum’s jaw grew tight and he started walking again. Gregor fell in step by his side.

They rounded the block and kept walking together silently.

After some time, Gregor spoke again and, when he did so, he did it quietly.

“This means Yuri is free to take a mortal mate.”

Callum halted and turned instantly to the vampire, fighting the blinding fury that immediately started roiling inside him.

“Don’t say another word,” he warned.

“Callum, hear me out.”

“Absolutely f**king not.”

“Callum, hear me out,” Gregor repeated but Callum started walking again and Gregor again fell in step by his side.

“She’s my daughter,” Gregor stated.

Callum stopped once more and turned to the vampire. “She’s your ward.”

“She was my ward, thirty-one years ago. That’s a long time, Callum, nurturing a mortal, watching her grow up, putting Band-Aids on her skinned knees, arguing with her about eating peas and hoping you bought her the birthday present she wanted most of all.” Callum ground his teeth together, unaffected by the depths of Gregor’s heretofore unknown fondness for Sonia as Gregor finished, “Since then, she became my daughter.”

“And you’re saying you want me to renounce my queen, walk away from my f**king mate, so you can keep your daughter?” Callum bit out.

“I’m saying I don’t want her to die,” Gregor returned coolly. “Ever.”

Callum sucked in breath. He knew where this was going.

And he had no idea Gregor felt this deeply for Sonia but he didn’t disbelieve it. Gregor was not a warm male, not openly. But Sonia was a warm woman and it would be hard not to feel deeply for her, especially if you had thirty-one years of putting Band-Aids on her skinned knees and buying her birthday presents.

Gregor continued, “Yuri adores her. He has since the moment he laid eyes on her. He’ll take care of her. He’ll give her anything she desires –”

“You need to stop talking,” Callum warned.

Gregor ignored his warning and announced what Callum already knew, “He’ll give her immortal life.”

Callum sucked in breath.

Vampires fed on human blood, they had since time began. As their species developed, it also developed the capacity to protect its prey. Therefore, at the exact same time vampires fed, they released healing properties into their human meals through their saliva. These properties were extraordinarily strong, they helped the bite heal and the blood to regenerate swiftly.

And, if released into the bloodstream of a human regularly and for any length of time, it could do more. Regress aging, fight disease, greatly hasten the healing of broken bones or, say, halt the effects of a deadly blood disease.

And, if released into the bloodstream of a human regularly and indefinitely, it could keep them young, vital and alive forever.

“I know your people don’t understand this concept but this is my lifemate you’re talking about,” Callum growled.

Gregor’s tone was actually gentle when he replied, “Lifemate? Hardly, Callum. Her life, maybe. But yours?”

Callum’s skin started prickling again, even so far as stinging and he felt his blood start to heat as the transformation started.

He hadn’t transformed without willing himself to do so since he was a young wolf who hadn’t yet learned control.