Page 119 of Bite of Vengeance

The night that Keeva and Amaros died changed everything. In that moment, I’d thought I was going to die too. The building we were in crumbled and went into the ocean when the cliff gave way. Being swept away in the water had been terrifying. Somehow Zan had kept his hold on me, and we made it back to land. It had taken me days to heal. Most of the Shadows had survived too, and Rya took charge of them.

Today, all the Shadows knew I was alive. Their loyalty was to me. They listened and were integrating into this new society with the humans under my watch. It was the vampires we had to watch more carefully.

Zan kissed me harder, flipping us over until I was under him, my back pressing into the warm sand. His hand grasped my hip, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him back.

“Forever,” he muttered against my lips. “I like the sound of that.”

“You do?” I teased.

“I promised to show you the world. I want you to see everything, Kali.”

A loud groan cut through the air, and Zan pulled away from me, annoyance growing on his face.

“Really?” Viggo’s voice got louder. “You two knew we were coming today. Can you go one day a month without being all over each other?”

I let out a laugh as Zan climbed off me, and I sat up. Viggo, Pax, and Warner were walking across the sand, and I shot my best friend a grin.

“Your timing is impeccable,” Zan grumbled, getting to his feet and pulling me with him. “How did the meeting go?”

“Fine,” Pax answered. “A few issues, but nothing we can’t handle.”

“How’s Gia and Asami?” I asked, brushing the sand from my clothes.

“They’re good. They want to come see you soon,” Warner said.

My heart panged as I looked at him. He was walking in the sun, but not because he was human. He asked me to change him into a Shadow. Back then, I had no idea if my blood could change vampires into Shadows. It turned out that I could. He was stillslowly transitioning, but he appeared happy. I always told him I would change him back if that was what he wanted.

Now that I had Keeva’s blood mixed with my own, its power was still a mystery to me. It worked how it was needed depending on who drank it. There had been a few Shadows who had come to me because they wanted to be human again, to be with their family. When they fed from me, my blood changed for what they needed. Any Shadow or vampire would become human if they drank my blood. Humans and vampires transitioned to Shadows if they died with my blood in their system.

Sadness slithered through me when Keeva entered my thoughts. I wasn’t sure it would ever get easier when it came to my twin. If she hadn’t grown up with PARA, how different would our lives be now? I’d asked myself that question a thousand times in the last six months. It was something that I’d never know the answer to since she was dead.

Viggo’s eyes landed on me, a gleeful grin on his lips. “Have you two talked about what Asami said?”

Zan scowled. “Mind your business, Viggo.”

He raised his arms in surrender. “Just curious. I need to know if I’m gonna be an uncle. The last time I saw a baby was when we snuck Kali off the property twenty-five years ago.”

“Oh my fuck.” Zan scrubbed a hand down his face. “Leave it alone.”

My pulse sped up as I shook my head, keeping my mouth closed. Zan and I had already spoken about it. Asami informed me a couple months ago that even though I was a Shadow, I was still able to get pregnant. Just like my mother did. My bloodline needed to survive.

But we had time. Zan still hadn’t felt the need to mate yet. His body was waiting until we were ready.

“I think you’ll be great parents.” Pax’s quiet words had my eyes snapping to him. “And we’d all be there to help.”

Viggo snorted. “Help? Have you looked around? Three of us were raised by a sadistic vampire and the other two were orphans. None of us know anything about parenthood.”

A frown pulled at my lips. He was right. How could I be a good mother when I knew absolutely nothing? Zan threw an irritated look at his brother as he put an arm around my waist, pulling me closer.

“You’ll be an amazing mother if that’s what you choose,” he murmured, giving me a kiss on the forehead. “Viggo’s just scared.”

“Hell yeah, I am,” he declared, his eyes dancing with amusement. “You realize twins run in the family, right? Can you imagine two kids running around with Kali’s attitude and Zan’s anger issues?”

“I don’t have anger issues,” Zan snapped.

Pax chuckled. “Sure, you don’t. But it doesn’t matter. Zan is right. It’s none of our business.”

Warner cleared his throat. “Anyway…we need to find more hawthorn. We’re running low.”

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