When Worlds Collide Ch. 12

"I will tie you up for the next five decades before I let you anywhere near those vampires," Aaron barked angrily, slipping around his sister to collect his mate in the steel band of his arms.

Jen shot Cedar a quick smile which Millie caught. The Alpha bitch struggled to contain her own slight smile. She almost felt sorry for Aaron. Jen was learning quickly how to temper his more dominant side and she had a feeling he would not go down quietly.

Millie sighed and nodded to Cedar. "They're obviously not here to hurt us," she agreed. "Most likely Caleb or Demetri sent the one who told us how to defeat the youngling. If he's brought the girl back to the camp then he must be confident she isn't a threat." She smiled at her second, pleased with her choice for Loretta's replacement. Cedar Alexander was an amazing woman with a sharp, keen intelligence. She would be excellent in the coming months as they slowly pieced the pack back together after the events of this night.

Cedar could feel her Alpha's approval and she couldn't help the feeling of pride which settled over her. That she had earned Millie's respect so quickly was all she could hope for. That she had protected her Alpha's mate was the most worthwhile achievement she had made in her long life so far. Probably the only thing which would surpass this would be finding her mate and having her own babies. But that seemed such a distant longing now, probably one she would never achieve.

Squaring her shoulders again, Cedar turned her gaze back to the two vampires and started walking towards them.

Alexei watched the she wolf approach with strong confident steps. His lips quirked slightly at her boldness. She had a mane of long blonde curls which blew lightly in the breeze, her chin tilted defiantly as she closed the distance to them. He turned his head slightly to the girl at his side. "Go gather some wood," he ordered. "Lots of it. We need to burn the dead. Anything you hear spoken today is to remain here. If you repeat anything I will kill you myself. Are we clear on this?"

"Yes, Alexei," Emily answered softly, bowing her head slightly in respect, shooting one final glance at the approaching wolf and wondering what the elder was so concerned about that he felt the need to issue his threat. What would she hear that he didn't want repeated? She turned and disappeared back into the trees to do as he ordered.

Alexei turned his eyes back to the approaching wolf, her scent catching the breeze and tickling his nostrils. He stifled down an irritated groan. Lemon grass. He had expected as much when he had told the wolves how to defeat his kind. That spicy scent had attracted him enough that he wanted to meet the wolf who produced it. He had known she would be a female because female scents were the only ones that caught his attention.

Alexei Romanov was attracted to a dog and it was enough to turn his stomach. Younglings and now dogs. His world was shifting precariously and he was off balance, not a position he was used to being in and not one he was happy to tolerate either. If Andrei found out about this he would never hear the end of it.

The she wolf was before him now and he ran his eyes quickly over her face. She was stunning with her cerulean blue eyes and wide, generous lips. She was regarding him with a certain amount of distrust but that was to be expected. He kept his own expression carefully neutral as his body started to hum with excitement at her intoxicating scent. He was old enough to ignore it though. Fucking a dog was most definitely not on his To Do list anytime in the near future. It was an interesting turn of events but not one he was willing to examine too deeply at the moment.

"You saved us," Cedar said quietly staring up into the beautiful face of the blond vampire before her. "Millie reckons either Caleb or Demetri sent you here. Is she right?" She struggled not to swallow as his brown eyes bored into hers. He was very skilled at keeping his emotions hidden, but then, she doubted he had any. Most vampires didn't, which was what made them such immoral killers. When he spoke, the rich, deep timber of his voice washed over her and her wolf suddenly howled loudly, catching her completely off guard.

"I was tasked to protect the pack," Alexei answered coolly. "I have done so. The girl is a youngling, Sired into the wrong coven. She has potential to learn and is of no threat to your pack. We will remain here and remove the dead, keep watch just in case any more vampires come but intelligence said there were only the three assigned to the evacuation site."

Cedar nodded slowly, fighting with her wolf to behave as she took a deep breath to assimilate his words. "You told us how to kill your kind," she remarked curiously. "Why would you do that?"

Alexei snorted and looked away, checking to see if the youngling was close. "It will be my head if the Council finds out," he replied, not answering her question.

"I figured as much," Cedar said with a little smile tugging at her lips. He was clearly unhappy about the turn of events. He had unwittingly placed his safety in the hands of the pack and he didn't like it one bit. "I will speak with the Alpha bitch. I am sure she will convince the pack not to discuss your lapse in judgement."

He turned back to her a flicker of surprise in his eyes. "You are not the Alpha bitch?" He had expected her to be. She certainly gave off the prideful confidence of a dog high up in the pack hierarchy. Not that he knew that much about dogs but he was learning fast. He suddenly remembered the conversation from earlier, when Caleb's youngling had mentioned the Alpha's mate. The Alpha bitch was pregnant and he scented no young in the bitch before him.

Cedar inclined her head to the left slightly and looked at him with more than a hint of amusement in her eyes. "I am her second," she conceded. "I am in charge here though. If you are a friend to Caleb and Demetri then the pack will do nothing to endanger you. I am sure of that. My Alpha is an honourable leader and counts Caleb as his family."

Alexei regarded her intently for a moment, her scent really starting to get under his skin the longer he was in her company. "This is intolerable," he suddenly growled loudly turning and walking to the tree line just as the youngling appeared with her arms full of wood. He took it from her and sent her scurrying off for more.

Cedar watched him as he began to arrange the heavy stack of wood into the beginnings of a funeral pyre quite a distance away from her. His anger was palpable and she couldn't stop another small smile from crossing her face. Something about the vampire called to her wolf. His irritation sent a shiver of delight through her.

"Why did you agree to help in the first place if you hate us so much, vampire?" she called loudly even though she knew he could hear her if she spoke more softly. His head snapped up and he shot her a baleful look before he ignored her and went back to his task.

She smiled again and turned to head over to the fallen youngling. She nodded to Brody and Connor who ran forward in wolf form. They grabbed a leg each and tugged the dead vampire towards the funeral pyre as Cedar retrieved the head and arm lying close by.

"Go back to the cave," she instructed her brothers as they released their burden and glared furiously at the vampire who was ignoring them. Connor chuffed loudly and she reached down and laid a hand on his head. "He is not here to hurt us, Connor. Return to the cave. I will be there shortly."

Alexei was simmering angrily as he tried to get his thoughts in some semblance of order. The longer the she wolf stayed close to him the more he wanted her. Her voice was like sweet music to his ears, her little smiles offering such promise of what a full smile could do to her already beautiful face. He knew she thought he was angry about his safety being in pack hands. But that was not the reason for his anger. His attraction to her was what fuelled his rage.

His eyes narrowed as she touched one of the wolves with such familiarity, her voice soft and affectionate as she spoke to him. Was he her mate? He dampened down the sudden desire to rip the wolf apart. It had come from nowhere and quite literally stunned him. What the fuck was going on?"

The wolves departed just as the youngling appeared again and the she wolf headed over to her. Alexei tensed, watching the youngling intently to see how she would react to the wolf, ready to kill her if she tried to hurt the other woman.

"Hi, I'm Cedar," he heard the she wolf say gently as she reached to help relieve the youngling of her burden.

"Emily," the youngling replied with a cautious smile.

"Thank you, Emily," Cedar smiled softly. "We know you were in an impossible position with little or no time to make your decision. The pack thanks you for choosing in our favour though you probably just found grumpy over there more terrifying than the vampire you came with." She nodded her head back towards Alexei who was unable to contain his snort of irritation at her words.

Emily looked at the other woman with an expression of shock on her face. "Alexei is an elder," she whispered in a scandalised tone. "He commands respect."

It was Cedar's turn to snort loudly. "Respect is earned in a pack. It is not conditional on how long you have walked the planet. If you're an idiot at fifty you're still likely to be an idiot at three hundred and fifty." She smiled as she looked back at Alexei. She had a name for him now, one he hadn't appeared to want to divulge before now. "Plus, he is grumpy. Look at that scowl on his face."

"If you have finished gossiping like an old woman, return to gather more wood, Emily," Alexei ground out curtly, his eyes flashing dangerously as he regarded the two women to his left. He smiled when the youngling visibly paled and scurried away again. That was the kind of reaction he was used to, how he expected others to treat him. It made him feel better, more balanced.

"You really are a total bastard, aren't you, Alexei?" Cedar commented coolly, her disapproving eyes boring into his. "She's just a child, confused and unsure of her place in the life she now finds herself in. Your anger is at me, not her. Does it make you feel better to abuse those that cannot stand up for themselves?"

He rose to collect the wood she was holding, leaning down as he did so, taking a moment to inhale her sweet and spicy fragrance. "She needs to know her place in our hierarchy. Just because your pack rules differently does not mean that it is the right way. We are not kindred spirits, little bitch. I am not your friend nor do I want to be. I cannot punish you for your disrespect for I will be breaking my word to Demetri if I do so. But I warn you not to push me. When this is over, I will have no constraints on me anymore. And I will come for you, little bitch. You will be very sorry for baiting me. This is your only warning. I suggest you heed it."

He forced himself away from her, thoughts of how delightful it could be to punish the little minx for her teasing whirling in his mind. Grumpy! Him? If anyone else had called him grumpy he would have ripped their throats out on the spot. Well, anyone apart from Andrei, Demetri and Caleb. Those three were probably about the only ones he'd allow to laugh at him like that. He expected to scent fear from the she wolf but instead he heard soft laughter behind him.

"Does that mean we have a date?" she laughed softly and he growled loudly, dropping the wood and blurring so quickly he was in her face before the wood had finished hitting the ground.

His hand shot around her neck, his grip firm but surprisingly gentle as he leaned down to hiss in her face, his fangs bared. The softness of her fragile skin stunned him and his thumb moved slowly, stroking against her throbbing pulse in an almost helpless gesture. This close her scent was overloading his senses and for a moment he was frozen on the spot as he heard loudly angry snarls of running wolves in their direction.

"You only get one warning, Cedar," he breathed softly. "You just used it up. Go back to your cave, little bitch. Take your little dogs with you. If you come near me again I will punish the youngling for your disobedience." He released her and stepped back, his expression cold and hard as he stared down at her.

Cedar watched him intently, holding her hand up as her three brothers neared, snarling their fury that the vampire had laid hands on her. Her heart was thudding loudly in her chest but it was not with fear. Her wolf was ecstatic, howling furiously, prowling in agitation at the dominance shown over them by the vampire. Stunned disbelief clouded her mind as she stared up at Alexei and prayed her expression was calmer than her whirling thoughts.

"It's okay," she said soothingly to her brothers. "Alexei and I just had a slight difference of opinion."

Aaron shifted, moving to his sister's side, inspecting her neck intently before he growled loudly at the blond vampire. "If you ever lay a hand on our sister again, we will kill you, vampire," he hissed furiously. "I don't care if she pushes you to distraction and you feel she deserves it. Nothing will stop us bringing you down if you harm her in any way. I don't care whose fucking friend you are."

The other two wolves shifted and Alexei ran his eyes quickly over them, noting the same blond hair and blue eyes. The one she called Connor was not her mate then but her brother. The familial resemblance was very plain to see. He suddenly relaxed and smiled, a genuine smile that actually touched his eyes for once. "So she has a habit of pushing people beyond their endurance," he remarked lightly, picking up on what Aaron had let slip. He watched the other man's eyes darken as he opened his mouth again to defend his sister but clearly didn't want to be caught in telling an open lie.

Alexei laughed and shook his head. "Take her back with you," he sighed. "She is testing my patience and I have no wish to kill her siblings just because she is being a pain in the ass." He turned his back on them and went back to his task of preparing the funeral pyre, listening intently as they began to move away. "Oh and Cedar, we do have a date," he called over his shoulder not bothering to turn around to see her reaction.

Soft tinkling laughter filled the air. "I'll look forward to it," she quipped before her scent finally began to fade and he knew the wolves were gone. He turned his head slightly, watching the three males talking agitatedly to the she wolf as she nodded as if agreeing with them. He smiled slowly, suddenly anxious for the war with Graves to be over with so he could come back and meet again with the teasing little minx who was starting to really get under his skin in a very uncomfortable way.

Emily reappeared with more wood and he turned his attention to the youngling, looking at her with Cedar's words still ringing in his ears. "That should be enough," he said almost gently. More gently than he was accustomed to speaking to another person. "Light the fire and put him on it." He gestured to the dead youngling. "I'll retrieve Aben's remains."

He turned and headed into the trees, smiling as he headed towards his end goal. Cedar. Her name trickled over his mind like a gentle caress and his big body hummed with excitement. Life had suddenly become impossibly complicated but so full of unknown possibilities.

Cedar listened as her brothers castigated her in turns, Brody was yelling at her, Connor impatient with her, Aaron trying to be the voice of reason. Her wolf howled in glee, her body thrummed with nervous energy as she walked away from the beautiful blond vampire. She was so screwed it was unbelievable but she couldn't help smiling.

She had found her mate at last. The fact that he was a vampire complicated things immensely but there was nothing she could do about it. Alexei was her mate and she was sure he would not be a very willing one. She would have to work hard to lure him to her. He was already interested. Did he think she didn't notice him scenting her? Did he think she didn't notice the way he had looked at Connor when she had touched him in wolf form?

The beautiful blond vampire was hers and he was just going to have to come to terms with it. She frowned suddenly, her footsteps faltering slightly. There would be no babies for her. Vampires could not father children and there had never been a Were/Vampire mating that she was aware of. The two species were such natural enemies that they had never before worked closely with one another for anyone to develop any kind of feelings for the other.

Her Alpha would probably not be very pleased either at the turn of events. She couldn't ask Alexei to live within the pack. It would be too much for him with his natural prejudice against Weres so she would have to leave the pack. Those facts saddened her greatly as she looked surreptitiously at her brothers. She couldn't imagine not being part of a pack anymore. She hoped her family would understand. The vampire was her mate. She couldn't not be with him even if it meant giving up everything.

Cedar turned to look back and saw Emily tossing the dead youngling onto the lit funeral pyre. The little brunette looked up and waved. She returned the girl's gesture and then went back to allowing her brothers to tell her what a complete idiot she was.

_____

Demetri Bozic stepped out of the house and strode into the centre of the compound stepping over bodies almost gracefully without even looking downwards. His long talons clacked impatiently against each other to a staccato beat which seemed to ring loudly in the night air.

Slowly the noise seeped into the Weres surrounding him. They stilled, sensing something evil within their midst, instinctively moving away from him. Jared's head whipped around, his eyes narrowing as he took in Demetri's statue like stance as he stood scenting the night air.

Jared shifted, his expression one of concern as he took in the cold blank mask surrounding the vampire's face, the completely black eyes devoid of all life. He turned hurrying towards the house just as Caleb stepped outside. "What the fuck is going on, Caleb?" he demanded.

Caleb's eyes were intent on Demetri, watching his friend carefully as he laid a hand on Jared's shoulder. "Keep your people away from him, Jared. Graves managed to slip a vampire into the house from around the back. Mara almost died and Annie was badly wounded. Lacey shifted and hurt her leg but she's fine, just a bit confused on how to shift back. If you could send someone in to help her."

Jared nodded, clicking his fingers at the first available Were and sending the man running inside the house with a quickly barked order. He turned back to Caleb. "Annie will heal?" he asked quietly. "Mara, she won't die will she?"

"Annie will be fine and so will Mara once she has some time to heal from our blood but Graves has pushed Demetri over the edge. I don't think he will hurt any Were but I can't bet any of your people's lives on it, Jared. He is only vampire at this moment, there is no humanity inside him."

"I can hear you," Demetri hissed quietly his head turning slightly to the right to look back at them.

Caleb met his gaze with a level one of his own. "I wasn't attempting to keep my conversation secret from you," he remarked dryly. "I am merely filling the Alpha in on the current situation."

"This ends, Caleb," Demetri said in almost a chanting voice. "Tell the pack to move their injured inside. Gather our people. I want numbers, how many of Graves' army is still alive. No one touches Graves. He is mine."

A low growl sounded close by and Rafe appeared next to Demetri shifting to human form as he stood almost face to face with him. "What gives you that right, Demetri?" he growled as Caleb moved swiftly, coming to stand beside Rafe, readying to get him out of the way if Demetri snapped.