Chapter 416: Known Vulnerability
"Don’t be foolish, Seth," Nedra hissed to the male in front of her. "If you wish to be a father, the first thing you must learn is to put your children before yourself. You may wish to know them, but you cannot do that with the risk we face."
"Perhaps love is worth the risk," he quipped.
"Love?" she scoffed. "You know so much of it?"
He crossed the room so quickly to stand before her again that she found herself backing up against the counter. "Yes, I know of it," he said a breath away from her. "I know of it," he repeated, looking now at her lips and thinking of all the ways he had risked for her. All the things she wasn’t even aware of that he had done to prove to the other males here that she was not to be touched or even looked at the wrong way.
"Then... you know of patience," she said quietly, for now he was so close. "Because I did not even know how you felt until now. You have kept it from me."
"Because you have kept yourself from me," he replied and watched as her eyelashes fluttered with how flustered she became at his close proximity.
"You do not listen," she whispered, sliding away from him against the counter. "I have done it to protect you."
"Then what must we do to help the Luna in... in ending Zagan?" he asked.
Seth did not relish the idea of plotting against the vampire, if that is what this was considered, only because he felt his stomach turn at the inherent danger of it if Zagan did not wish for death after all—even if his call to release the alyko did make it seem like the end was near.
"Honestly, I’m not sure it is August who will be the one to do it," Nedra answered, biting her lip. She needed to find that book with the cursory note about a vampire’s mate.
"What do you mean? I thought that was her whole purpose," he asked.
"I have another theory," she began. "It is difficult to explain, but I think the Winter that you brought back this last time may actually be the one who can kill him."
"But isn’t... August... supposed to be the powerful one?" he asked, eyebrows pinched together in confusion.
"She is, but I think Penelope Winter is Zagan’s mate. Do you have time to search for a book with me? I’ll explain while we look," she told him, ushering him toward the staircase that led upstairs to her bedroom and the spare room she used as a library.
"He has not called for an update yet, so I have time," he pulled out his phone and checked it just to be sure. "I didn’t know vampires could have mates."
"I found mention of it while researching ways to kill him years ago, and I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time because it seemed like such a long shot. But the way he is behaving with Penelope is different than I have ever witnessed him behave with anyone before. He is keeping her locked next to his room," she explained, climbing the stairs. "He had me make a cage there for her."
"That is what he wanted when he sent for you?" he asked, following her up the narrow staircase.
"Yes," she sighed.
"Who brought you back here? Or did you rest in the castle?" he asked out of curiosity.
She stopped and turned to look at him with a crooked smile, the light from a window on the landing above them casting beams of soft yellow over her shoulder. "Why does that matter?" she chuckled.
He shrugged. "I am only curious."
She stared at him a few moments longer, trying to discern his intent before she continued climbing the rest of the way.
"I don’t know who brought me back here. It may have been Brandt or Emmett since your team was away. But I returned to the castle when I became curious about who the cage was for. It was such a peculiar request, and I was afraid it was Sage or Selah who was locked up in there only a room away from him."
Seth made a mental note to ask the lycans in the castle if they had taken Nedra home. He should have thought to arrange someone for her ahead of time.
"Did Zagan see you?" he asked, wondering how the vampire would feel about her curiosity. Her and Zagan usually stayed far away from one another.
"No. I was careful, but I did speak with him after I became suspicious about Penelope being his mate. He drank from her it seems, and she mentioned something weird happening to her afterward," she told him, recalling the conversation she had with Penelope. "She mentioned her heart hurting. Have you heard of that happening to any of the alyko he typically drinks from?"
"No, never," he replied. "Sometimes they are dizzy, but juice and rest usually takes care of it. If something severe ever happened afterward, I doubt any of them would offer to provide blood for him again."
Zagan had made it a habit of only drinking from a handful of the alyko who were willing, and usually he gave them some sort of incentive for allowing him. Seth wasn’t sure why, but he never drank from the stray males on the island. It was the female alyko he preferred.
"What did you talk to him about after speaking with Penelope?"
"I told him about this book I found mentioning vampire mates to see his reaction," she replied, making her way into the library and stopping in the middle of the room to consider where it might be.
"And?"
"And he became terrifying," she said absently, scanning the books here. "He went from being bored and disinterested to absolutely terrifying. I wondered if it was a mistake even bringing it up at all, but what does that tell you?" she asked, turning to face Seth who was wearing a concerned look. He knew Zagan’s moods well.
"I don’t know. What?"
"It is a vulnerability he did not expect to be known by anyone else," she said with a smirk.
