Chapter 78

“I don’t know, but we’re about to find out.”

We drove for a while, tailing Norton. I was listening in on the conversation in the car, waiting for them to speak, but they weren’t saying anything. It was almost as if they were waiting to get somewhere else to talk. Sibyl was crying softly. Norton sped ahead, cutting through a light that was right on the edge of the capital where they hadn’t yet set up a barricade. It was a little-known or used road. We followed to keep pace, but to not be obvious. We followed him down the winding road. We went around a curve but Norton’s car vanished into a bank of trees.

“Damn,” he cursed, continuing down the road. I kept my eyes peeled for some sign of them in the trees, but there was nothing.

“You understand what this means, don’t you?” Norton’s voice came through the laptop.

Armageddon pulled over to the side and cut the engine so we could listen.

“But Daddy, I did everything—”

“No, you idiot,” he hissed. “I’m not talking about your botching of the ceremony. I’m talking about him.”

I frowned listening.

“What do you mean?”

“Sibyl… there are only a handful of reasons that the altar would have rejected you and you weren’t protected inside the temple.”

“He said it was because I’m plotting against the Moon Goddess’ Chosen One,” Sibyl simpered. “But I’m not! I just want to be queen.”

“… You’ve slept with him, haven’t you?”

“With Candido?”

“No. The prince.”

My ears perked up, and Armageddon leaned closer.

“A prince?” Armageddon hissed.

“What does that mean?” I asked, looking up at him.

He shook his head. “It’s…complicated. I don’t have clearance to tell you that.”

It felt weird for him to tell me that, but it didn’t feel the way it felt when Candido would hide things from me.

“I suppose that means it’s really serious.”

“Very,” he said. “It’s almost worse than treason.”

“Dad… I don’t think—” “Just answer me,” Norton hissed. “Have you slept with him?”

“…yes.”

“How often? Unprotected?”

“… often.”

“And?”

“Well… I—”

“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” He asked.

My eyes widened. I had suspected. I was sure that even Candido suspected that.

“… I don’t know.”

“Well, we’re going to find out. Maybe there’s hope, one way or another… If you can’t be queen of the Full Moon Pack, you can at least be queen of the vampires. Does he know?”

“No.”

“Keep it that way for as long as possible.”

They said nothing, but I heard the car still rumbling. I looked up at Armageddon.

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a fool’s errand,” Armageddon said. “That’s not how vampires operate.”

He shook his head. “Norton’s ambitions are going to get them both killed, and we still don’t know what the plan is.”

“Besides the attack on the mall?” I asked.

He sat back, staring ahead. “The attacks across the territories feel like diversions, but I think it’s more than that. I think they’re using them to do something, but we won’t know until the analyst team figures something out about these substances they’re using.”

I opened the lab requests and shook my head. “There’s nothing in there… other than the fact that Hedy survived the attack relatively unharmed.”

“She has a bodyguard,” he said as he cranked the car up again. “The king would be furious if she was to come to any real harm.”

“You think so.”

Armageddon chuckled. “I think everyone knows so.”

“Do you think they could be mates?” I asked, unable to help myself.

“… I think it would be an easy solution,” he said softly. “But perhaps not the right solution.”

“What does that mean?”

“She would be queen,” he said. “If they were mates, she’d have all the power and responsibility of that position too.”

I set my jaw. “You think she couldn’t handle it.”

“I think after being poisoned by her family she deserves the chance to live without all that pressure." He shook his head as he turned the car around. “It would be one thing if she had chosen it, if they fell in love and neither of them had ever met their mates, but it’s something different to be forced into that position.”

I considered it. I had never thought of it that way.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to be forced into that position,” he said. “Especially not with the sort of life she’s lived before then.”

I nodded but said nothing. I could understand that, and maybe if that was the way Candido saw it to, I could understand him.

That didn’t mean I liked it or agreed with it. It felt hypocritical to say that mates are our fates, chosen by the Goddess, then to question whether it’s right to let it play out the way she intended.

It was all too much to say that. Maybe when I felt more certain about how I felt and what I wanted to do and what I was willing to do, I could talk to Candido about it. For now, I set up the recording program on Sibyl’s phone and sighed.

“So much for that.”

“They’re using the tunnels,” Armageddon said. “It’s the only explanation. Mark the spot to be watched and blocked if possible.”

I did so and sighed. “Think I have time to finish my shake?”

“Maybe if you can finish your burger too.”

I huffed as the car came to a stop in the forest outside the capital. I climbed out with my food and sat on the ground. The burger was cold, but I was starving. Armageddon had eaten at least four burgers and was on his fifth. I ate then, I felt a pull inside. Heat pooled and bubbled through me. I gasped and shifted trying to get it under control, but every time I moved it seemed to grow more insistent.

He growled behind me. “Whatever you’re thinking of… stop.”

“I’m not thinking of anything.”

He groaned, “Get back in the car. I’ll drop you off in city center. You can at least eat in peace there.”

I wet my lip. “You were… trying to drive me home before.”

“I don’t think I need to tell you how dangerous it is for me to know where you live.”

He came up behind me. I put my mask on hastily. He packed up my food, gave me an extra burger and hustled me back into the back seat of his car. The drive was quick and tense as I felt how much he wanted to pull over, drag me into his lap and have his way with me.

It was even worse that I felt like I wanted him to do it. He let out another frustrated growl before stopping the car. He got out, opened my door and growled.

“You are making it incredibly difficult to be a reasonable man about this, Pandora.” He said and crowded into my space, leaning over me and taking deep breaths of my scent. “It would be best if we are not in each other’s company for a while.”

I nodded shakily. “Y-Yeah.”

He lifted me out of the car and set my food on a stone table nearby before getting back in the car with stilted footsteps. The car sped off as if he was considering turning back and saying to hell with being reasonable. I sunk down onto the stone seat with a little gasp of surprise. The coolness of the stone seemed to draw all the rising heat out of my body. I wanted to stay, but there was no telling if he would come back and what surveillance might catch me even at this hour.

I grabbed my food and headed towards the park near the condo so I could sneak back in a bit easier.

As I settled into the grass, my mind turned back to Candido. I pulled out my phone and considered texting him, but I didn’t know what I would say.

Could I ask him if he had a similar experience as Armageddon? Could I ask him anything without getting more upset about it? I shook my head. No, not now. I just needed to give myself some more space and time. I finished my burger and the extra one Armageddon had given me. I took a different route out of the park as I finished my shake and tossed it. I was going to need sleep, but it didn’t feel so urgent right now.

As the city started to wake up, I lowered my mask and traded it for a scarf. I tucked my utility gear under my hoodie so I looked like many other people on the street dressed in black and walking around.

My phone rang. I picked it up though I didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?”

“… please help me.”

My eyes widened, and my heart lurched as the line went dead. The cry for help was one thing, but I knew that voice, and it was impossible that she was speaking.

It was Claire.