The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Getting on the Same Page

Mara made to join them. Before she could do more than take a step forward, Truk looked up at her.

"No disrespect, Mistress Mara, but why can't the liliths leave Wolf in peace for even a minute? I know they used him to sort out their seasons but I thought they were supposed to cut ties after."

Mara looked over at him and nodded.

"They are, Truk," she confirmed. "But, for the first time in their lives, these liliths, and I'm going to include myself amongst them, are dealing with something they've never faced before."

"Which is?" Narcist wanted to know. After everything she had seen the proud and noble Lash endure in the name of his people, she felt quite protective of him. He was her brother; if she could shield him from harm in any way, she'd happily do it! Including stopping yet another lilith from using and hurting him.

Mara favored her with a long look, hearing the tightness in her voice.

"Emotion," was the simple answer. "These vampiresses are used to being aloof and in control, holding the world at a distance so they could focus on their primary task."

Mara paused to look into the bay where her sisters were already gathering around Lash.

"Even if they were able to access an alpha to traditionally sort out their season, it was a Compulsion-driven business transaction at the end of which each party went their separate way. No emotion, just a quick coupling to satisfy a biological need."

Mara let a long sigh go as her own thoughts and emotions concerning the vampire High Lord threatened to get in the way. After all, was she not Ventru? Did she not have the greatest claim on an alpha prime from her own clan? Was that not her right?

And that was just the legal angle. Bringing in the fact that they had been friends since childhood and her family served as retainers to his House for generations, and her claim on him was indisputable!

Yet there he was, being swarmed by her fellow liliths as if they had a right to him. As if they had some sort of claim. How dare they! Ingamon Lash was hers!

"And now they've been thrust into the heart of a war being fought over their position in our society. A war with ruthless enemies and terrible consequences. And when their minds should be the clearest, the most focused on preserving everything they've worked so hard for, they find their hearts and minds being dominated by Lash and the emotions he stirs in them. Emotions they forgot they had."

She finally looked back at a frowning Narcist.

"And all that means is that they can't focus long enough to see their way free. And it's engulfing them in chaos!"

"So, how are they going to pull themselves free before one, or more, do something to hurt Lash?" the tech specialist wanted to know.

Mara grimaced.

"I don't know," she confessed. "And neither do they. But I think Lash is the catalyst for whatever it ends up being. I only hope they figure it out before the fighting truly begins. Or my sisters run the risk of preventing our greatest weapon from taking the field!" Then she was stepping off the flight deck to join Lash and the gathered liliths.

As he watched the liliths cluster around him, it was no coincidence that Lash found his thoughts moving in the same direction as Mara's. Were the liliths becoming his greatest obstacle? With their insistence on accompanying them on the operation to capture Anna van Tallert, they were putting themselves, and the babies a number of them now carried, at risk.

Or had he created this situation himself with his willingness to interact with the powerful vampire queens on a level they had never before experienced? Honoring and respecting their every desire and wish even when it threatened to put himself in harm's war? How could he communicate the need for them to redirect their efforts towards the upcoming battle instead of getting him back into their beds within the bounds of honor and respect he had set for himself? And could he do it before they were all smoldering piles of ash??