Mated Girl (Wolf Girl #4)(40)

Luka grinned, and it was a feral look of satisfaction, the points of his canines pressing onto his bottom lip. “Oh I didn’t say that. If there is one thing my aunt wants more than obtaining your power, it’s me. She’d like nothing more than to pull my head from my body, but vampire law states you can’t kill another royal lest your entire line be slaughtered, and you lose your reigning position.”
Wow, he was just giving us all the details on vampire society.
‘Told you he was cool,’ Sawyer said in my mind.
‘Okay fine, you were right,’ I acquiesced.
“So, if she can’t kill you, then what makes you think you will make good bait?” Sawyer said what I was thinking.
“She can’t kill me. But her lackeys can. They’ll get thrown in jail for murder and she won’t lose one night’s sleep about it. But she’ll want to be there to make sure the job is done.” He sounded so sure of himself.
“How would the Magical Creature Council even know if it was her or one of her henchmen?” I said. There were so many councils in the supernatural world, but I knew the MCC were involved in sentencing.
Luka looked to Sawyer and something passed between them. They were hiding something…
Sawyer finally nodded, and Luka returned it. “The MCC is made up of one representative from each of the races. The newest witch representative has … a unique power. One that has made court cases and DNA testing obsolete.”
The table started to murmur at that. What kind of power could make an entire court hearing and presenting evidence no longer necessary?
“She’s a human lie detector,” Star said so suddenly I jumped. I’d forgotten she was here. “She can invade your memories, displaying them onto a blank wall like a movie projector.”
Holy. Fucking. What?
“What do you mean? She can replay Luka’s death to see who really killed him and free the queen of guilt?” I asked.
Star nodded, but Luka held up a hand. “For the record, I don’t plan on dying.”
“Right,” I muttered, completely frazzled by this latest development.
It hit me then why Luka and Sawyer shared that look. Why Sawyer’s case and sentencing had been moved up so quickly.
“Sawyer, did she…?” My voice cracked.
His hand slipped under the desk and squeezed my thigh. ‘It’s okay,’ he said, and everyone looked down at their hands as if inspecting their nails.
‘She saw you kill Vicon, but I wasn’t there to show what he did to me, to testify on your behalf, so they sentenced you to death.’ Tears filled my eyes and a deep sense of regret washed over me. ‘Sawyer, I’m so sorry.’ Sawyer spent a year in prison because I’d chosen to go to the Dark Woods and take the alpha trial. I chose the Paladin people over my own mate.
‘You didn’t know I would be captured. I didn’t know either. There’s no sense in living in the past. You got me out.’
My lip quivered and I knew now wasn’t the time for this conversation, but I felt so awful that I hadn’t been there to support him. Shaking it off, I faced Luka again. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
Over the next hour we devised a plan that accounted for all the parts that needed to be dealt with. The women and children who were not in fighting shape, the queen, the vampires, fey, and witches occupying Wolf City who needed to be expunged. The trolls that Marmal needed to bring in. All of it. It was like a detailed clock with all the cogs and wheels turning. Everything would need to work for this to be pulled off.
In the end, we had a solid strategy. Marmal left with Pearl to fetch the trolls, and the others departed to do their part.
It was only Luka, Sawyer, and me now.
“Once I kill the queen, will you be king?” I asked Luka. Thinking of ripping her head off gave me satisfaction, but I wanted to know what would happen after, politically.
I wouldn’t be opposed to that. He seemed cool, and we could all work together for a more peaceful future between the vampires and werewolves.
He chuckled. “I wish it were that easy. The Drakes are many. The queen is one of sixteen siblings. I have dozens of aunts, uncles, and cousins who will all be vying for the position. Only the most powerful can be crowned, which of course is me.”
Of course. Luka wasn’t lacking in self-confidence, that was for sure. “How are there that many of you if you can’t reproduce with each other?
His gaze flicked to Sawyer’s, and he swallowed hard. Again, I’d touched a nerve.
‘He has a dark past. He’s been through a lot,’ was all Sawyer said.
Shit. Now I felt bad. I was about to change the subject when he spoke:
“My family is a legacy family, purebred, obsessed with genetics. That means they stay human and purposefully keep having children and then change us when we reach the age of twenty to forty, freezing time in our bodies forever.”
My mouth popped open. Legacy family? I’d never heard of such a thing—wait, so that meant…
“There are human Drakes?” I gasped. They were popping out little Drake vampires like farm animals! It was one of the craziest things I’d ever heard, and also kind of genius if you were concerned with royal lineage.
He just nodded, a deep sadness washing over his features before it was removed by a calm and stoic expression.
“So once the queen dies…?” Sawyer brought both of our attention back to the task, and my cheeks heated with shame that I’d made his friend relive something dark.
“Once the queen dies…” Luka seemed to enjoy the topic change. “There will be a month of mourning. No leadership talk can even happen until that’s over. And during that month all the cousins and uncles and aunts will be trying to assassinate each other so that they can be chosen next.”