Her manner belied the torrent of emotions running through her. She was nervous, but the thought of Samia, and what she’d said about her relationship with Conall, made Vivienne so angry she immediately felt her powers under her skin. She was confident, too, for in the past weeks she’d come to recognize something. She wanted to stay with Conall, whether as his mate, his wife, or his girlfriend. Yes, their ceremonies and rituals terrified her but the more she stayed with Conall, the more attached she grew to him. So if beating the living hell out of Samia was going to get the woman to back off and leave her and Conall alone, she’d gladly do it, or die trying.
The crowd parted as she moved to the front, Conall, Sloan, and Raoul walking behind her. Zahira, Verity, and Latriel were already there, standing off to the side with the rest of the Elders.
Alainn, if you want to call this off—
Since the moment they’d set out from his house, Conall had been giving her an out.
No.
And she mentally closed their connection. She needed to concentrate.
When she reached front of the crowd, Latriel moved forward and continued until he stood in the middle of the circle.
Holding up his hands, he waited for the noise to die down, and then said in a clear and even voice, “A blood rite has been called, and in turn, it has been answered.”
The silence was deafening and Vivienne felt Conall step closer to her back. His warmth was reassuring.
“Who calls this blood rite?”
“I do.” Vivienne watched as the crowd parted on the opposite side and Samia stepped through. Rafael was behind her, and winked when Vivienne caught his eye. Ignoring him, she returned her attention to Samia. The werewolf was wearing a white tank top, and knee-length tights. Vivienne almost snorted. She’d expected the woman to come naked, in a robe or something.
“And who answers this blood rite?”
Latriel looked directly at Vivienne, and she said clearly, “I do.”
The Elder nodded, and dipped his head to Vivienne and then to Samia.
“Whenever you are both ready,” he declared, and then promptly headed back to where the Elders stood.
Vivienne shrugged out of her jacket. It was frigidly cold despite the fact that the werewolves acted like it was eighty degrees out. Before the fabric could hit the ground, Eli took it and blended back into the crowd. Like Samia, she too had dressed comfortably. Instead of a tank, she wore a fitted long-sleeved black tee, and instead of tights, gray sweats and sneakers.
She’d taken a step forward when Conall tugged her back and bit down against the place where her neck and shoulder met. Vivienne caught a cry in the back of her throat, relaxing more when Conall licked at the bite, easing the nip of pain. When he released her, she tossed him a look over her shoulder, wondering what that was about, but Sloan and Raoul had stepped forward, and were now forming a sort of wall before him. Strange.
She turned and headed to the center, watching Samia all the while. She hadn’t moved and was glaring at Vivienne, possibly for the display Conall had just put on. Samia slowly approached, and instead of walking directly to her, began a sort of half-circling, in which she would move slowly in one direction around Vivienne before switching and moving in the other direction.
A large grin touched the woman’s lips, and her eyes flashed yellow. Moments later, she launched herself at Vivienne, who quickly moved out of the way, turning as she did so, to face a recovering Samia. Samia landed in a crouch, and had only to turn herself around before re-launching once more. Vivienne sidestepped her again, and Samia released an angry growl. She popped up, cracking her neck left and right, and strode to Vivienne. Briefly caught off guard by this change in tactic, Vivienne didn’t notice her arms were coming up until Samia was shoving her back. She flew through the air before coming to a jarring landing on the hard-mud ground. Before she could recover, Samia was on top of her, tearing at her face with lengthened claws.
“I’m going to rearrange that pretty face of yours,” Samia growled.
Vivienne heard a vicious snarl from somewhere in the background as she reached up, caught Samia by the throat, and tossed her off. Popping up, Vivienne ran a hand over her cheek, feeling the deep indentations where Samia had ripped out flesh. Her hands came away blood-red, and she blinked down at them.
Her face throbbed, but as she lifted her eyes to Samia, who’d begun circling her once more, her body began to hum. There was a slight whispering in her head, as if something were speaking to her. She looked around the circle of werewolves, at sight of Sloan and Raoul with their backs facing her…at Zahira and Verity, who seemed concerned.