Page 67 of Winter Unleashed

“He’s not wrong.”

I grimaced and shifted lower into the bed. “She’s no different from Cybil or Celeste. They all threaten to kill one of us to force us to do what they want. I expect it from those two loons, but now Artemis too?”

“She’s not well. Mentally. In her defense, she has tried everything else. She allowed me to live my life freely until I found my mate. Now that I’ve found you, she’s allowed me this time with you, but she can only watch over the supes so much. She’s not good at it, hence all this chaos.”

He rolled onto his back, pulling me with him so my head rested on his chest. I splayed my hand over his heart and pressed a kiss there before settling back down.

“Remember, Red, Cullum County isn’t the only place in the world with supes. Shifter numbers may be low, but they’re growing every day. And they are on every continent, in every territory of the world. Vampires too.” His fingers danced over my back to play with my hair as he spoke. “We aren’t the only ones who are having issues with vampires. The older a vampire gets, the less sane they are. Most of them become reclusive, but there are always those who like to cause trouble.”

“The supernatural world needs us,” I said, letting the realization settle in.

“After we finish dealing with Cybil and Celeste, we have a tough decision to make.”

I glanced up at him. “Decision? It doesn’t sound like we have a choice.”

He caressed my back in soothing strokes. “We can live our lives hiding from Artemis, constantly on the move. Or we take our seats.”

“There’s no choice there. I will never choose to turn my back on my responsibilities or my friends.” I moved to straddle him, leaning down to touch my lips to his.

He drove his hands into my hair to cradle my head. “You’re magnificent.”

“When this is over, we’ll take our seats,” I said as I rose on my knees to position my center over his erection, and as I slowly lowered myself onto him, I added, “Wearethe Vinur and Vinura.”

Chapter Seventeen

Afew days later we were eating breakfast on the back porch when Liam looked at me and said, “You mentioned Philip told you Artemis would kill you if we don’t do what she wants.”

“Yes, he did. He didn’t say it threateningly. I think he was just preparing me for what’s coming.” For some reason I felt I needed to defend Philip, even to his oldest friend.

“I’m not upset with him,” he said with a smile. “I’m curious if he told you anything else about the Vinura position.”

“No. He didn’t say anything else.” My conversation with Philip replayed in my head and a small smile came to my lips. “Not about the Vinura at least.”

“Oh? And what else did he say then?”

I grinned. “That I’m good for you. And not because Astrid made me. He thinks no one else would have been a better a match for you.” I laughed at his smirk, then sobered a little. “He also said your life story is yours to tell, but that you’ve been through more pain than I can ever imagine, and I’ve brought you peace.”

Liam sat silently staring at me as all of it sunk in. “That bastard,” he whispered. Before I could get too worried, he added, “He’s always been better at sentiment than me.”

“I find that surprising.” Philip didn’t come off as the emotional type. “Besides, you do better than you think.”

“I know I haven’t shared a lot about my past, but you now know the significant parts. Everything else is just filler. If I think of anything important that I’ve left out, I’ll let you know.”

He reached for my hand. “As for you being good for me, he’s right. No one could ever be more perfect for me than you. No one could ever make me happier.”

“That’s good because I feel the same way about you.”

“Then it’s a damn good thing we’re mates.”

“Damn straight. Not to ruin the moment, but we need to speak with Astrid,” I said. “This has gone on too long. If the pixies attack anyone else the way they did me, they’ll die. We need to find Celeste. I don’t understand what’s taking Astrid so long.”

Thankfully, the pixies seemed to be focused on Liam’s house only and hadn’t bothered the other Cullum County residents too much. Even with the attack on poor Stella, the fuckers had only bitten me so far. That was the one silver lining.

“Let’s go call her.”

As soon as we stood, the now familiar buzzing-hum came from the trees. Within seconds the biggest swarm of pixies we’d seen rolled in like a dense fog. The horde undulated as if it were one being instead of thousands of tiny ones. We reached for the water guns strapped under the table and took aim.

“We’re never going to get all of them,” I said. “Do you think our power will work against them?” Mine hadn’t worked alone but maybe if we combined our powers, it could.

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