Page 87 of Smoke and Lure

Why?Michaela didn’t look at him, but anxiously focused on forcing the food down her throat.If she had choked, she would not have died, just more of a slight discomfort to have the food lodged there until she could get it up or down with bread.

“Why?”Athan echoed as he hovered his spoonful of soup before his mouth.

Instead of answering her mentally, Amaros addressed the group: “As she stated, she came from behind the Wall of her own volition, and because she is Marked, in good faith, we must present her before the council, so we are not accused of hiding her.It would be against our treaty if I did not take her.”

Will I have to be around the human government there?

This time he did answer her.Glancing in her direction and waiting until she met his gaze.When her earnest Arabian-sand eyes met his, he said,No, little angel.Even if you were, I’d kill them to protect you.

“If we are lucky, perhaps you will bring other marked ones.”D’Arcy appeared wistful as he picked up his goblet of pig’s blood.

Amaros knew they were all tired of waiting for their mates; before Michaela, he had felt the same frustration and disillusionment in the devious human government.As Sire, the feeling never completely disappeared, not while so many of his kind were without their blood mate.

“Perhaps,” he stated flatly as he broke his gaze with Michaela.

“Now, that we are discussing the hope to increase our population...”Kenia stroked a long nail along the side of Amdis's neck, her mate, they were the last blood mates, finding each other so many centuries ago, that Jezebel, their child, and once the ruler of Egypt, had grown into a leader of her own right.Amdis, a mate but not a leader, human born like Michaela, was dragged to Africa on a business venture with his father when Kenia happened upon him.He’d been attacked by a lion and left for dead when Kenia smelled his blood, she rescued him from death and gave him a different life.

Kenia’s midnight gaze lit with glee as she continued, “Can we discuss the ones your mate carries even though she does not fully hold your scent.”

Amaros sighed.Leave it to the one Vampire who had once carried a child, to be intuitive enough to discover Michaela carried, too.

Nine sets of eyes turned and stared at him, then to Michaela and him again.He saw the hurt in Marceline’s gaze as his Vice realized that he had not revealed the information the day she’d ventured into his room.Since Michaela had been in stasis, between life and death, Marceline would not have been able to hear the babies' heartbeats.

Amaros exhaled.He hated explaining himself, but he knew it was more than necessary in this situation.It was the reason he’d summoned them.

“Yes, Michaela is pregnant.”

“Three...do I perceive three heartbeats in her womb?”Marceline’s gaze lowered in the direction of Michaela’s stomach.

“Yes!”Velorina confirmed.

“Oh, my,” Athan uttered.

“How is this possible?”Jezebel’s finger went slack and her spoon plopped back into her soup.

Amaros wished he had the answers.Michaela had confided in him while they were in the privacy of their room, so he could share this and release her of the burden of his Coven’s interrogation.However, she had not been ready, and he hadn’t wanted to force her, but now the time was here regardless.

Silence stretched around the table.Once more, his council members' gazes shifted from him to Michaela and then back to him.They waited for either of them to respond.

Michaela sat beside him, her hands again clasped in her lap, her head bowed low, and her chin practically touching her chest.He could see her body shaking, evidence of how she struggled with opening up about her situation.Although he could see the war raging in her body, Michaela’s mind was blank.

It was as if every memory was so bad that his mate didn’t even want to think about it.

Amaros was grateful none of the leaders rushed her, most likely because they all could smell the taint of her anxiety perfuming the air—a foreign scent on a Vampire—but Michaela was new, and they would allow her the grace.

Little angel...if I could rid you of the stress of this moment, I would.He slipped his hand below the table and covered her knee.He felt her flinch and shift as if she wanted to pull away from his touch, but didn’t.

That’s when worry saturated his body.What did they do to you, little angel?Tell me so I can plan my retribution.

They...She swallowed and cut her thought.

Instead, she forced her chin up and met his gaze.“We were guinea pigs...lab rats to the scientists.But we couldn’t complain because...all thirteen of us volunteered for the research project.That’s what was on the flyer, what we were told when we arrived.Our service and sacrifice were for the greater good of humanity and to help heal the sick.They repeated this to us when we complained that it got hard...or painful.”Her voice wavered then broke, but she continued.“I don’t know what brought the other women there, because we weren’t allowed to talk to each other.Not even our roommate.We did, a little.Ava and I discussed what each of us planned to do when we got the money and exited the lab cells.”

Michaela never averted her eyes from his, as if it were easier to tell him her story and ignore the others in the room.

“But they were never going to let you out,” he whispered.

She shook her head.“No.It was easy to lose track of time in there.I don’t know if I was there for days, weeks, months.They controlled when we ate, relieved ourselves, slept, woke, submitted to exams and tests, after tests, and blood cleaning.”

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