A Werewolf’s Seduction - Chapter 109

Vander Greyson was in a foul mood after leaving the witches.

He went back to his suite of rooms within the palace and began pacing the floor, trying to come up with a way to approach this situation so that Cedric would not immediately turn into a monster and tackle him to the ground.

Vander growled a curse under his breath as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

Damn that Sibyl witch!

Go to the new realm with Talia, she says.

Go talk to Cedric about needing to mark Talia, she says.

Did she not realize this was an impossible situation? What the hell was he supposed to do?

Vander snarled and flexed his fingers as his claws began to extend. He could feel his fangs lengthening as he momentarily lost control of himself.

“Snap out of it, you fool!” Vander berated himself as he took a deep breath and tried his best to return his body to normal.

He knew what his problem was. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make this journey with Talia.

It was because he wanted it too much.

He wanted it far too much and it was making him feel guilty about desiring the woman of a man who was—in reality—the brother of his brother.

On the one hand, traveling into an unknown realm with his very own marked mate in search of his brother sounded so appealing and exciting to him that he had to keep reminding himself to just shut off his brain.

Over and over again, Vander had to keep telling his mind to STOP THINKING about Talia and what was to come. He was starting to rat hole into a mental frenzy, and that was not good.

There were too many things he had to prepare to get ready for the journey.

He also had to keep reminding his heart to stop beating in that strange staccato when he thought of her. Unfortunately, his heart would no more listen to his nagging insistence than his brain would listen to his reasoned logic to stop thinking about her.

Vander took a few deep breaths and forced his mind to go into a deep calm.

Control was key to his peace of mind. He could not work himself into a dither over something that had not yet even occurred.

But trying to think of a way to break it to Cedric in a gentle and reasonable manner was not working. He just had to do it—point blank. Let the chips fall where they will.

Vander cursed under his breath and strode out of his room, slamming the door behind him with a BANG!!!

Ten minutes later, he found himself staring at the door of the throne room. He gritted his teeth but could not find a way to knock on the door to allow the attendants to announce his arrival.

Vander would have continued to stand there staring at the throne room except that someone had tapped his shoulder from behind.

Startled out of his reverie, Vander turned his head and saw the cheerful smiling face of the woman he had been obsessing about all day long.

“Ta—Talia. You startled me.” He huffed.

“Haha!” She laughed. “I saw you standing there staring at the doorway for almost five minutes. Does Cedric scare you?”

Vander closed his eyes and sighed.

“No, of course not. I just needed to talk to Cedric and wasn’t sure if it was a good time to interrupt his work.”

She gave a broad smile and pushed in the door.

“Come on. If we attack him from both sides, he will have to clear out the throne room and give us the time we need.”

Without waiting for him, she stepped into the throne room.

“Presenting, Princess Talia Belladonna and Prince Vander Greyson!” One of the attendants announced.

All of the attendants paused in their activities and gave a slight bow of acknowledgment.

“Darling!” Cedric stood up from his desk, his blond head and broad shoulders rising above all the attendants surrounding him.

He gave a quick gesture and the attendants scurried away. Apparently, they had been warned that if Talia were to show up, it was in their best interest to leave the two of them alone for awhile.

Talia moved towards him with arms outstretched.

“Cedric! I came to tell you some good news!”

“Does it have anything to do with Vander?” Cedric gathered her into his arms and cast a cheerful eye over her head at the vampire who strolled in behind Talia.

“Huh?” She turned back to Vander. “Oh no. He was standing at the doorway when I got here so we both came in together.”

She flashed a grin up at Cedric. “I came to tell you something that has been revealed to me by my godmother!”

“Your who?” Cedric frowned in puzzlement. He’d never heard of any godmother that Talia ever had.

“Her name is Lucile Lecoeur. She is my mother’s best friend.”

“Oh that old witch.” Cedric rolled his eyes.

“Hush!” Talia smacked his arm. “She’s a very nice godmother. In any case, aren’t you in the slightest bit curious in what she told me?”

Cedric pretended to be interested.

“Of course, Love!” He bent down and touched his lips to the top of her head. “Pray tell. What exactly did your godmother tell you?”

Talia pulled back and gave a mischievous grin.

“She told me that the child inside my womb is a boy!”

Cedric’s eyes widened. “Is she sure?”

“Yes. She said she could feel the male aura of the child emanating from my stomach.” Talia laughed. “Since I’m obviously not a man, it must be my son.”

Cedric laughed. “So my first-born will be a male heir. Good. Very good! Today is a very good day.”

“Allow me to extend my congratulations to such good news, King Cedric.” Vander dutifully intoned.

Cedric turned towards Vander.

“Thank you my friend.” He smiled. “So what brings you here to my throne room?”

Vander held his breath.

Coming on the heels of news that Cedric’s bride would be giving him a male heir, the thought of him telling Cedric that he needed to take Talia away and make her his marked mate just sounded so inappropriate and gauche.

And yet, what choice did he have…

“I also have another piece of news for you, but this one is not so joyous.”

Cedric’s face sobered.

“Go on. I can take it.”

Vander leveled a stare at Cedric.

“The High Seers of Chartreuse have located the whereabouts of your sister and my brother.”

“They have?” Cedric’s eyes blazed with intensity. “Where are they and when can we leave?”

Vander took a deep breath.

“They are in a world beyond Earth itself. In order to reach that world, we would have to go back to Earth, and then from there, journey to this new world.”

“There is no direct path from here?”

“Unfortunately not, but that is not the only issue we have.”

“Go on.” Cedric prompted.

“To get there, I will need Talia’s assistance.”

“Talia?” Cedric looked down at the woman who was still in his arms. “Why Talia?”

“Because she is a changeling.” Vander said, searching Cedric’s face for some change of expression.

“Yes, I can vouch for the fact that she is a changeling,” Cedric nodded.

Vander gave him a surprised look. “You knew?”

“Of course. When I marked her as mine, she took my mark but not the virus that would turn her into a werewolf.”

“Oh?” Vander raised an eyebrow.

Cedric nodded. “At first I thought it was strange, but then I realized that our nephew had also bitten her and at that time, she also took in his virus but it had no effect on her either.”

“I see…” Vander’s mind began to jump around at the thought of how it would affect him and what it meant.

“How does that clue you into the fact that she’s a changeling?”

Cedric shrugged. “The only kind of people who are able to be bitten but not become infected are changelings. They use the viral load to mimic and shapeshift into the beings that infect them.”

He frowned. “I don’t understand though. Why do you need Talia, and what kind of help do you need from her?”

Vander took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

“I need to mark her and take her with me into the world that Viviene and Dimitri have disappeared to.”