The Council Ch. 13

"He's reacting to his mate being in distress," The Alpha answered, his expression dark and his voice concerned. "He can sense something is wrong and his wolf side is fighting for dominance. He needs to protect her but he's too volatile to be able to handle it. He's not had any instruction from Aaron like Alexei has."

Nors suddenly growled loudly and jumped to his feet. "Ashleigh is with Loretta," he bit out harshly. "If something is wrong with her then Ashleigh is in danger too." He wasn't fully mated with his wolf and didn't feel the anxiety that Andrei was suddenly exhibiting but he was full of cold, hard vampiric fury. If Ashleigh was hurt in anyway, he would rip apart anyone to get to her.

"Fuck this!" Andrei hissed lurching forward only to come up against the hard wall of his brother's chest. He snarled furiously, pushing hard against his twin. He was in his way, stopping him from getting to his mate. If he didn't move he was going to rip him to fucking pieces, brother or no brother.

Alexei wrapped his thick arms around Andrei and tried to pin his struggling twin. He'd seen his brother in many emotional states before but this one was new. "Control, Andrei!" he bit out urgently. "Fight it!"

Andrei's eyes turned black and his fangs dropped. Alexei hissed in pain as sharp talons suddenly dug into his sides. "Demetri!" he ground out through the pain.

His friend immediately assaulted Andrei from behind, forcing his arms away from his brother and holding them far enough away that his talons couldn't connect with Alexei.

"Loretta!" Andrei screamed mentally, struggling against the arms holding him down, his only thought to get to his mate. He was enclosed tightly within the steel bands of both Alexei and Demetri's arms, pinning him down and preventing him from finding his woman.

In response Andrei head butted his brother hard, rocking Alexei's head back though he managed to hold onto the struggling vampire. "Andrei, think!" Alexei ground out hoarsely. "Calm yourself! This won't help Loretta! She needs you thinking clearly and rationally!"

He could see his words were not getting through. Andrei was beyond any rational thought at the moment. He wasn't even fully vampire because his wolf gene was interfering with even that. Alexei didn't know how to reach his brother and for the first time in a long time he actually felt afraid.

"Andrei, listen to your brother," Demetri growled loudly, managing to avoid the back swing of his friend's head as he tried to break free. "Loretta needs your brain not your brawn right now." It had no effect but the two vampires tried to get through to Andrei as he fought to shake free of their grasp.

Andrei's frantic struggling was beginning to transmit to Nors. The wolf within him was fighting to break free and join the other vampire. Their mate was in danger somehow. His growling increased and Freya placed a restraining hand on his arm.

"Nors, be calm," she said firmly though her eyes flew to Caleb, full of concern. Nors was ready to explode and she didn't think she would be able to contain him if he did. The other Ancient immediately moved over to their side, Jared following him as Rafe headed over to help Alexei and Demetri.

Cedar would have followed Rafe but Rhianna shook her head quickly. "Alexei needs to be completely focused on his brother," she said quietly by way of explanation.

The blonde wolf understood her logic but she wanted to be with her mate. The wounds Andrei had inflicted were healed already but she still couldn't stop feeling anxious about Alexei being hurt. Still, if Andrei hurt her then Alexei would lose it so staying back with Mara and Rhianna made sense.

Caleb spoke quietly and urgently to Nors, trying to maintain a level of lucidity in him. Thankfully some measure of reason remained in the huge vampire's eyes and Caleb could only thank God that the other man hadn't fully mated with Ashleigh. If he had then Nors would have been impossible to contain.

A loud roar sounded across the room as Andrei bit hard into Alexei's neck and ripped savagely. The pain caused Alexei to lose his hold and his brother would have broken free if Rafe hadn't managed to enfold him in a band of steel, his big body bracing for the inevitable pain he was about to feel.

Rafe tried to stay away from Alexei's fangs. If he was biting his own brother he wouldn't think twice about biting him and he'd be killed instantly.

"Get out of the way!" Demetri hissed furiously at the wolf at the same time Rhianna screamed in anguish, "Rafe, look out!"

Andrei's fangs flashed towards Rafe and he tried to move out of the way of deadly fangs coming at him but the vampire was too quick for him. He had a moment to think of Lacey and how devastated she would be when he died when an arm shot between himself and the vampire and Andrei's fangs connected with Alexei's body.

"Move, dog!" Alexei ground out, his eyes flashing wildly as he punched his brother hard in the head to get him to release his fangs which were viciously tearing into his arm.

Rafe released the vampire and then hissed in agony as Andrei's talons managed to connect with his stomach, scoring a deep gash against his flesh. The pain was excruciating and he left out a loud roar. "ENOUGH!"

Rafe's roar echoed around the room loudly as he stepped back clutching at his stomach to stem the blood flow from his wound. His breath hissed in and out in short, hard pants as he fought off the queasiness that threatened to overwhelm him.

He opened his eyes to see Andrei glaring balefully at him, his eyes once more resuming their deep brown colour. The vampire was still snarling but there was a hint of intelligence within his gaze, as if he were waiting patiently for the next words to leave Rafe's mouth.

To the side of him Alexei too was looking at Rafe with an expectant expression on his face. He still held his brother firmly but it was apparent he didn't need to restrain his twin in the same manner as before.

"What?" Rafe growled angrily taking a step away from them as the tension level in the room appeared to ratchet down a notch. He turned as his sister approached his side, catching sight of Jared frowning in his direction before the Alpha's expression smoothed out.

Nors was staring intently at him, as well as Caleb, though his brother in law's expression was more thoughtful than the deep intensity in the flame haired vampire's gaze.

"Let me heal that," Rhianna said biting into her finger and tracing it lightly across Rafe's wound. Her touch was gentle and instantly soothed the pain he was feeling.

Caleb met Jared's gaze with a raised eyebrow. The Alpha pursed his lips thoughtfully and then smiled slightly and shook his head. Now was not the time to discuss what no one else seemed to have noticed. He would deal with it later.

Rafe stared down at his stomach as he watched his sister's healing blood close the slash marks instantly. "Thanks, Annie," he breathed softly, kissing the top of her head to take away the anxious expression on her face. He still felt some discomfort from the wound internally but he knew his own healing abilities would settle that down shortly.

The room was now deathly silent again as everyone stood around with slightly stunned expressions on their faces. The sudden fury that had escalated from nowhere had taken them all by surprise, as had the equally as sudden quelling of the violent emotions within the room.

It was Caleb who broke the silence, letting out a deep breath and releasing it slowly. "Now that everyone is more in control of themselves perhaps we should turn our attention to finding out what's happened to Loretta and Ashleigh?"

His words seemed to free everyone from their shock. Cedar frowned and bit her lip. "According to Brody they left the compound over half an hour ago," she said quietly. "He and Connor were going to scout around but they should have been here by now. It's only a ten minute drive."

As if on queue her phone rang and she answered it quickly, listening intently before she thanked her brother and turned to look at Jared. "Brody said there's no sign of the car within a ten mile radius of pack lands though there is a damaged tree and skid marks on the main road running through the forest."

"Fucking bastard!" Andrei hissed loudly. "It's Daniel! I fucking know it is! There was a hint of smugness about him all day today, more so than usual. It was enough to alert me that something wasn't right and I asked Stephan to keep an eye on him and Roberto. I should have known he was up to something. My gut told me he was."

He was livid with himself. If he had been less full of self pity and self recrimination over his fight with Loretta earlier he would have paid more attention to what the other Council members were up to. He would have done something about it instead of sulking like a child. Loretta would have been safe with him if he had acted sooner.

"You don't know that, Andrei," Alexei argued seeing his brother's wildness starting to escalate again. "Stephan hasn't called to warn you about anything. Keeping calm and thinking this through levelly is the way to go, not flying off the handle. Call Stephan for an update."

Nors' eyes flashed dangerously as he turned to Caleb. There was a huge ache inside him as well as a fury he was barely able to control. He felt exactly as Andrei did. He wanted to kill everyone that stood in his path to Ashleigh. "I swear, Caleb, if The Council have Ashleigh and they harm her in anyway I'm going to take those bastards down and no one is going to stop me. Not even you. I will take down every fucking vampire that stands in my way and to hell with the consequences."

"Peace Nors," Caleb rumbled softly. "There are already plans in place for The Council. If they have the girls then they will be taken care of. We need to ascertain the facts first. We need intelligence. Does Daniel have them and if so where are they being held? Why does he have them? What are his aims and objectives? We need to think like Daniel to work out a plan of action that not only results in the wolves being extracted safely but The Council taken down as swiftly and smoothly as possible." He turned to look at Andrei who was just finishing his call with Stephan.

"Stephan said both Daniel and Roberto have been at the Council chambers all evening but there is a feeling of something going on. Some out of town vampires have been around. He's sending someone to check down in the subbasement area." Andrei's tone was brusque, his eyes cold and hard.

One moment he looked as if he was ready to flip out and then his eyes would sweep the room quickly, landing on Rafe for a brief moment and he would take a deep breath and calm slightly.

"I know it's hard for everyone but we need to wait for confirmation," Caleb said quietly. "If we start rushing around in the wrong direction it isn't going to help either Ashleigh or Loretta." He kept his gaze on Andrei as he spoke, knowing he was the wild card, the one they all needed to watch.

Andrei growled, fear pulsing through him as well as fury. He was certain Daniel had his mate. He knew he had taken her to get to him. Daniel would try and get information out of Loretta and she wouldn't give it to him. He would hurt her to try and find out what he wanted to know.

Andrei had promised his Rose that no one would ever hurt her again as Sandro had and he was already failing her. The longer Daniel had her, the bigger likelihood there was that Loretta would be hurt.

He thought of their child growing within her body. The child he had been denying only hours before, worrying that he wouldn't be able to love as he loved his wolf. The threat to his child sent a red hot fury pulsing within him. A fierce, protective love bloomed deeply as he thought of the life he had miraculously been able to create with his woman. If he lost either of them he would go insane.

"We can't wait, Caleb," he growled harshly. "I won't risk Loretta and I sure as hell will not risk our child either!"

His revelation had everyone staring at him in stunned silence again. It almost appeared as if everyone had stopped breathing at the same time for a fraction of a second. Andrei gave a tortured groan as he realised just what he'd revealed, what he had tried to stop Caleb revealing only moments before.

"That's impossible," Jared bit out hoarsely, his eyes automatically seeking Caleb's for confirmation that Andrei was wrong in his announcement. His friend met his gaze and then shook his head slowly.

"It's not impossible, Jared," Caleb answered. "Once the mating is complete a child can be conceived, which was what I was about to reveal when Andrei lost it just then. It's not a normal human or Were pregnancy either. The wolf gene asserts dominance and gestation reverts to a wolf's, around sixty-three days. Loretta is not only pregnant but she will have a very short pregnancy too."

"But they only mated yesterday morning," Cedar said in a confused tone. "How can you even know that she's pregnant?" This new piece of news set her heart racing and she wanted to be able to examine it from a personal perspective but she knew she didn't have the luxury of time to do so right now. They needed to be concentrating on rescuing Loretta and Ashleigh.

Alexei let out a loud growl and glared at his brother. "That's what last night was all about?" he demanded angrily, piecing everything together. He turned to look at his mate. "Andrei called me last night to sit with Loretta because she was sick, some kind of stomach ailment. He came and spoke to Caleb but refused to tell me what was said. You've known this since last night, what was wrong with Loretta." His gaze had swung back to his twin who met his eyes unflinchingly.

"Yes, we worked out last night that Loretta was pregnant," Andrei answered in a cold hard tone. "We needed to keep quiet about it until we could neutralise The Council. Caleb found information that revealed this happened once before millennia ago. The Council killed the mated couple and child and covered up everything so it couldn't happen again. It was safer for Loretta and the baby for us to remain silent until the situation was handled."

A deep, anguished gasp escaped Cedar's lips and her eyes automatically flew to the other Weres in the room. She saw the shock and sorrow start to cross Rafe and Jared's faces as they met her gaze. Her eyes filled with tears as she turned to look back at Andrei. "So Loretta doesn't know she's carrying a child?" she asked in a shaky whisper, closing her eyes when the vampire nodded.

"What, Cedar?" Alexei growled softly, his arms automatically coming around her to pull her tightly against him, his need to comfort her obvious distress overcoming him completely.

"She'll shift, Alexei," Cedar groaned hoarsely. "She doesn't know about the baby so she'll shift to wolf form to make it more difficult for the vampires to get any of our secrets out of her."

Alexei nodded a confused expression on his face. He skipped the parts about breeding when reading up on Weres. It hadn't appeared relevant to him at the time. "So she'll shift," he said slowly trying to work out what the significance of that was.

Cedar turned her eyes back to Andrei and bit her bottom lip hard. " Weres can't shift in the first trimester of their pregnancy, Andrei," she breathed softly, sorrow lacing her tone as she met the vampire's already troubled gaze. "It aborts the child!"

Andrei stared at Cedar as her words sank in. What she was telling him was if Loretta shifted she would lose the baby and the probability of her shifting was high given the current circumstances. His silence could effectively kill their child. If he had told Loretta last night or even this morning then she could have made an informed choice on what to do. When she found out that his silence was directly responsible for their baby's death she would hate him.

He was aware of Alexei watching him carefully. Everyone was watching him, waiting for him to explode as he just had. Instead a deep, mind numbing grief coursed through him and threatened to bring him to his knees. In an attempt to save Loretta he had killed their baby, the child that he suddenly found he wanted almost as much as he wanted his precious wolf.

Andrei turned away from the room, back to the French doors and stared sightlessly out into the garden, his reflection in the glass tortured as silent tears fell down his cheeks. Was this payback for every bad thing he had ever done in his life? Was his punishment to find the most precious thing in the world and to lose it because of his bad judgement call? Maybe one day his Rose would forgive him but he would never forgive himself, ever.

*****

Ashleigh groaned as she tried to stretch her tired body within the confines of the small cage. She could move around a little but it was very tight. Thankfully she wasn't as tall as Cedar was. If her friend was in the cage she would only be able to curl up in the foetal position.

"Loretta, are you okay?" she whispered softly to her Beta in the cage beside her. None of the vampires had questioned them yet, merely locking them in separate cages and leaving them in the dank, smelly subbasement room with the lights turned out.

"Pissed as hell but apart from that, not too bad," Loretta sighed softly. She was relieved that they were at least getting a respite from the vampires. It would buy a bit more time for Andrei to track them down. Her certainty in her mate was unwavering. He would come for her as Nors would come for Ashleigh.

"I'm sorry I lost is back there," Ashleigh said quietly. "For a moment it was like that day in the forest during the war. I just sort of shut down for a moment."

"You don't need to apologise or explain yourself, Ash," Loretta answered fiercely. "You've been through hell and back again. It's understandable. I'm so proud of how well you're coping with this situation. You're so much stronger now, honey, a credit to our pack and I'm proud to call you my friend."

She was proud of the younger woman. It would be so easy for her to give up and let her terror defeat her but she was proving to be so much stronger than that.

She shivered slightly in the coldness of the room. It was a large space and appeared unfinished, as if the vampires were still in the processes of renovating the area. Some of the walls were bare stone as was some of the floor though the part the cages rested on had been tiled with plain white ceramic tiles. The bleakness of the room only added to the bleakness of their situation.

The sound of the door opening a brief second later startled both woman as it squeaked slightly and the light from the corridor flooded the cages, temporarily blinding the wolves for a second. The main light turning on had both wolves squinting to peer at the female vampire standing in the doorway. She had shoulder length brown hair and a pretty face. Neither recognised her as someone they knew as she stared solemnly at them.

The vampire continued to stare for what felt like an eternity but must surely have been only a second or two, then she put a finger to her lips. Be strong, she mouthed soundlessly before the door closed and the light blinked off again.

Loretta felt a spark of hope at the strange woman's appearance. If she was a friendly vampire then there was a good chance Andrei would be coming very soon. She tried not to let her hopes become visible. If the vampires came back and she couldn't master her expression then they would know something was afoot.

Soon it would be time to allow their wolves to come forward and take control. She was holding off as long as possible to do so. It would enrage the vampires so she didn't want to shift until there really was no option left but to do so.