The Paranormal Council: Complete Series

Chapter 7

ARI

Her eyes flicked over to Bjorn’s empty chair without her even wanting them to. She didn’t know where he was, or what he’d been doing for the past two weeks; he’d been at all the other Council meetings, just not this one. Ari told herself that she really shouldn’t care, but being apart from him was starting to take its toll, in more ways than she truly cared to consider. And even if she was struggling to accept how much it was affecting her, it was difficult to ignore her irritability.

“Alden, have you had any progress?” she asked with a sigh. Every time she brought up the necromancer problem, he just waved it off as something he was working on. She almost wished that she’d taken it on herself, but her caseload at work was already stacking up, she didn’t need to add to that. There’d seemed to be a lot of falsely accused humans in the past few weeks, and she suspected that several of them were probably linked to the same necromancer that they were investigating. Unfortunately, she’d been focusing on her failing relationship more than on her work, leaving her further behind than she wanted to be.

“I’m working on it,” Alden mumbled, an annoyed look crossing his face. Ari wondered what was going on, Alden was normally laid back, happy to watch everyone else with his large amber eyes. But like Ari, his mood seemed to have deteriorated over the past week or so.

“Not fast enough.” A low rumble came from Ari’s throat and took her by surprise. She’d realised that her inner-fox wasn’t as calm as normal, a lack of s*x would do that to any shifter, but she hadn’t realised that it was quite as close to the surface as it actually was.

“I’m working on it, Arabella.” Alden’s eyes flared with anger and the two of them stared off, not breaking apart until the doors to the Council chambers slammed open. The two of them whipped around to find out what was happening. Ari had almost forgotten about Nathalie and Drayce, but the two of them looked on too; the former with an amused smile on her face, while the latter had his usual look of disdain. Ari stared in shock as she saw Bjorn stride through the door, a wide grin on his face.

“Evening.” There was a lilt to his voice that told her he was in a good mood. Possibly in a better mood than she’d ever seen him before. Her fox rose even closer to the surface as she realised that he was happier without her, and she had to fight to control the urge to shift and attack. Logically she knew that he’d be several times her size while shifted, and that attacking was a completely lost cause, but her fox wasn’t listening to reason right at that moment in time.

“You’re late,” she snapped and was rewarded with a low chuckle that sent shivers down her spine.

“I had a meeting with the High Council.” He looked straight at her, his dark eyes blazing with something she didn’t want to risk naming for fear of being wrong. “I’ve brought a decree.” His eyes didn’t stray from Ari as he handed the decree to Nathalie. She wanted to break eye contact, to at least give them a chance to deny what was going on between them, but it had been too long since she’d seen him and her eyes refused to be torn away. Nathalie gave a short laugh, before clearing her throat. Even then, Ari didn’t look away from Bjorn.

“The High Council has decreed that as of today, Council members can retain their seats once mated.” Bjorn smiled at Ari, and she was sure that he was watching her as the news sunk in.

“I’ve got a meeting to go to,” Alden muttered, rising from his seat and pushing past Bjorn. The other two following suit. She was somewhat surprised that Drayce went along with Alden and Nathalie so easily, but then again, Drayce hardly ever did what anyone expected him to.

“Wait.” Bjorn held up his hand, but didn’t look at them. “One more thing. As of today, I’m resigning from the Council.”

“Why?” Ari blurted out before she could stop herself.

“The High Council agreed to change the rules about mated shifters, but they stipulated that a mated pair couldn’t both hold seats.” His gaze bore into her and she barely noticed the knowing smile on Nathalie’s face.

“I accept your resignation,” Alden said, “But I really have to go now.”

“Have fun!” Nathalie added, following him through the door with Drayce close behind.

“Bjorn…” tears welled in the corners of Ari’s eyes as she realised that he was the one that had made this happen. While she’d been refusing to see him, he’d been working towards a future for them. A future that she’d been fighting with her insistence on sitting on the Council.

“Shh, it’s alright.” He stepped forward and stroked a rough finger down her cheek. Surprising them both, the tears began to fall and Ari burst into huge ugly sobs.