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1122 Words
Her father always seemed to be working and seldom around. But she had her mom and that was fine. They did family vacations and fun stuff when they could, but Dad always did work and was on the phone then, too.
Then Penelope’s constant badgering about having children crept in. Aria had always planned to have a family, in an ethereal sense, anyway. She never gave much thought as to how things would really work. Her three ex-advisors, Chantal, Anton, and Claude, had helped with the workload balance, but she worked the same as Damon: from dusk to dawn.
She needed to sit and analyze her lifestyle. She had a bloodmate, but he was gone, out of her life. That meant she wouldn’t love another. Did she want a child, want to be a single parent her child never saw? If she’d never been able to spend as much time with her mother as she did before her parents died, she wouldn’t have been happy. Great time to think of this. The thought of Trevan out there, wanting him, wanting that bond mates shared and the family she’d secretly been thinking of since she laid eyes on him, but knowing it wasn’t happening…it broke her heart.
“Aria?” She heard Maree say her name, bringing her back to the meeting. The audience was quiet, staring at her.
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” She scrambled to get back to where they were. “The council, right. Tonight, everyone should give thought to serving on the council. It will be a paid position, full-time, and require a lot of energy. I want females on this board, too. So ladies, don’t think you’re excluded. Ever.
“This is your chance to take the clan in the direction you want it to go. And I do suggest that Damon highly consider running for one of the positions.” She glanced at him. “You won’t be working as much, and you’ll still be a leader in the community.” She looked at her watch. It was getting late. Just a short amount of time before sunup.
“All right. Everyone go home and think about all I’ve mentioned. Tomorrow I will pick a delegation to setup and run this first election and get your lives back to normal. If anyone has questions, hold them until later. We’ll meet here at one tonight to give you time to talk things over after rising. Good day, South clan.”
As Aria stepped off the stage, headed for Damon, her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She glanced at the ID. Penelope. s**t. Her stomach churned as she pressed the talk icon.
“Aria, I have bad news. We need to talk at once.”
Aria paced the space between the combined kitchen living room area in the guest quarters next to the clan leader’s house. She pressed the phone to her ear. “Penelope, that is the biggest load of s**t I’ve ever heard.” So much anger built in her, she wanted to tear down the entire building with her bare hands.
“Calm down, Aria. It is what you say, but it could be worse,” Penelope said.
“How could it be worse?” she questioned, immediately hating the attitude she gave the other woman.
“They could arrest you, right now, and destroy you without further investigation.”
Not f*****g likely. It would take a lot to destroy Aria. And even thinking of it wouldn’t go without consequences.
“They will not.” Her hand fisted. “I will fight them to my death. There is no question of innocence on my part. Filip trafficked humans.”
Penelope gave a soft sigh. “Yes, dear. I know.”
“Then what is it going to take for them to f*****g know the same thing?”
Her beloved mentor cleared her throat. “Aria, we need proof of his actions. They need to see a history. And motive.”
“Well, motive isn’t difficult. It’s obvious why any vampire would want a blood slave.”
“That’s not enough, Aria. They want something specific to him. Not generalizations.”
Well, f**k. She’d give them generalizations. Right up their asses. She wiped a hand over her face. Marxius came around the kitchen bar, glass with swirling red liquid between his fingers. He motioned for her to sit in the upholstered chair. She plopped down with a growl and took the cup from him. She mouthed thank you and took a gulp.
“Will the council accept eyewitness accounts?” Aria asked.
“They might. Depends who it is.”
“An alpha wolf and his mate.”
Penelope groaned. “Aria, you know our relationship with shifters. Especially wolves.”
“Everyone else involved in the ring we killed. What do they expect?” she asked.
“Yes,” her mentor said, “that does present a bit of a challenge.”
She snorted. “You think?”
“Aria…” A sigh reached her through the speaker. She knew Penelope was only trying to help. The woman was on her side, but frustrations ran high with such aggravation. She took another gulp of blood then laid her head against the back cushion.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re there to help me.”
“I’m glad you recognized that, child. Now, on a different note. Have you spoken to our lovely Maree?”
She laughed, thinking back to the conversation. “I have. I’ve dilled her pickle.”
“You’ve what with her pickle?”
Aria laughed again. “Translation is she’s happy to see me again.”
“Oh, good then. She’s the only woman I can have a conversation with and walk away understanding nothing said. But I love her to death.”
“You should see her, though, Pen. She’s really aged in the last hundred years.”
“That’s what drinking from humans when young will do.”
Aria wondered if she should mention all she shared with the clan earlier in the meeting. “Is Julian all right with others knowing how old he is?”
“I guess he’s fine with it. He’s never said anything about keeping it secret. But it’s best not tell too many others,” Penelope replied.
Shit. “Why not?”
The line remained silent for a moment. “It’s just another secret of our society. Same as the not talked about effects on our bodies of drinking fresh human blood. Those who know keep it to themselves.” Penelope was quiet for a second, then asked, “Aria, why did you ask?”
She cringed in the chair. s**t. s**t, s**t, s**t.
- Writer
