CHAPTER 36: MOVE IN WITH US

Andria’s POV

"You better wake up," the angry voice rang in my ears, as my eyes tried to adjust to the environment.

I woke to the scent of blood.

It was thick in the air, metallic, sharp and choking. My throat felt raw, my limbs heavy like someone had tied weights to my bones.

The ceiling above me was blurry, swaying in and out of focus, the room was spinning around me.

"I think he has passed out," the other voice answered. I couldn’t place their voices, but I could tell it was the successors.

I blinked slowly, my vision slowly getting clearer. There was a flicker of light from the lamp on my bedside stand. My sheets were disheveled and damp. My skin was clammy.

"Shit! I’m not done with you motherfucker. Better get up," Aven growled as he kicked the body on the floor. He appeared the most enraged amongst the three

He stood near the window with blood dripping down his hands, a very bizarre sight to behold. I’ve not seen them in such beastly mode before. His chest rose and fell in slow, measured breaths.

And just then, the memory hit me.

The knock on the door. The feigned voice. His face, Aven’s

face. That thing that looked like him, he mimicked the mate bond well, and had tricked me with a false mate bond.

The bond felt more like a spell, and soon everything looked blurry as I gradually slipped into darkness.

I remembered the grip on my throat. The pressure. The darkness in his eyes. And then...

My breath caught in my chest.

"You’re awake," Tristan said softly, glancing back at me with relief in his eyes. "Thank goodness."

Aven turned instantly, striding toward me. I sat up a little too quickly, and the room tilted sideways. "Easy," he said, catching my shoulder to steady me. "Don’t move too fast, you are just waking"

"What happened?" My voice was hoarse, and my head was still pounding.

"You were poisoned," he said. His tone was calm, but I could see the storm underneath. "Moon’s bane."

My stomach turned. "I see," I replied blatantly.

I looked at him. His eyes were darker than usual. "So what is he?" I said, pointing towards the body on the floor, "And what does he want?"

Ok, how did I go from being angry with these three successors to talking to them concerning a threat to my life?.

"He is one of my father’s butlers. I never knew he shape-shifts until now," Aven spoke in a low tone while scratching his head.

"So why am I the target?" I asked.

I was getting confused. Why did the butler come for me instead of Aven, whom he knew?

"There is a war brewing," Aven’s tone wavered as he spoke, like this was a topic he never wanted to talk about.

"The other night after the bonfire, I got a call from my dad that the sigil has been compromised."

He directed his look towards Damon and Tristan as he explained.

"And why do you tell us this now?" Damon and Tristan chorused, their shoulders looking tense.

"Because we are in danger. No one in my father’s court knows you are my mate, that means, they are here for something else, like a threat to them."

They all shifted their gaze to me. "What do you know about the sigil, or what link do you have with the underworld?"

The question tore through Aven’s mouth sharp and direct.

My heart pounded in my chest. I was a vampire, but they didn’t have to know that. I’ll take the secret to my grave.

"He wore your face, Aven. This one knows you are my mate, he wouldn’t have bothered shifting to you just to make me welcome him."

He nodded in sudden realization.

That was a close one. I’m so glad I was able to deflect. But I kept having this gnawing feeling that he might be right. They can’t just come to kill his mate when they can just get to him instead, if there wasn’t some other reason to do so.

"It simply means that we are being monitored," Aven said, his eyes flicking toward the ceiling as if he were studying it to know if the answers could come from there. "And if they’re watching, it means they already know more than we do

"The sigil was compromised, and there’s every reason to think that not only did this demon find its way in, but other creatures must have too," Damon said from the corner.

He pushed off the wall and walked over, eyes flickering between me and the unconscious demon still slumped in the chair. "He passed out before giving us names. But not before telling us that he was sent. He didn’t act alone. There’s someone in the council pulling strings...."

He turned to Aven, "In your father’s court."

"No one’s safe," Tristan said quietly. "Especially not you."

I forced myself to sit upright, despite the nausea building in my chest. "So what now?"

"You have to come with us," Aven said.

These sly foxes, who told them I wouldn’t be safe?, I ran from staying in the same class with them to living with them.

I’m beginning to think all this is part of their elaborate plan to make me live with them.

I blinked. "What?"

"You’re not staying here alone anymore," he said, voice firm, final. "You’ve been attacked twice in two weeks. First, by those strays, and now this. Whatever’s happening... you’re the target."

Damon nodded. "We ought to know what they are after, before we can let you go"

"You are our mate, and we can’t afford to lose you," Tristan added in a soft and gentle tone that felt compelling enough.

"Stay with us," Aven said. "For protection. Until we figure out who’s behind this."

"And if I say no?"

His jaw tightened. "Then I’ll still be outside your door every night, watching. Because I’m not letting them take another shot at you."

My heart stuttered.

"Aven..."

"You don’t have to want me," he said, softer this time. "You don’t even have to trust me. But I won’t stand by while they use you as bait in a war you didn’t start."

He looked down for a moment, then back into my eyes. Tristan and Damon’s eyes turned green with jealousy at Aven’s possessive words.

"You said you didn’t want any of us," Tristan murmured. "And I get it. But this... this isn’t about what we want anymore. It’s about survival."

I stared at Aven. At the bruises blooming down his arms, the dried blood on his neck, the fire still alive in his eyes.

I shot them a glare because I hated being gazed upon like a damsel in distress. "Who told you three that I couldn’t defend myself?"

"This is no time to play hero, aria," Damon’s voice came out firm and serious for the first time.. "You’ll be with us. It’s obvious this is different and risky, and we could lose you."

There was a beat of silence.

I looked down at the shape-shifter again. His face was slack, lifeless for now. But he wasn’t dead. "So what would you do to his body? He has lost much blood."

"We have to kill him, because he will be killed anyway by the person who sent him," Aven said coldly.

"Why?" My mind was racing, and my heart was pounding hard.