Sweet Submissive Ch. 03

Nolan's eyes reverted back to their normal color but his sneer stayed tattooed to his face. "I know a few witches that would be willing."

The same were from before, Brian, snorted. "A were that's friendly with witches! Is this the man you people want to trust with our lives? He's a fucking traitor to out kind."

"He's not even out kind, he's a hybrid!" One of Brian's cronies shouted. A murmur started up in the crowd, some people getting aggressive and began to push against each other.

"Quiet!" Nolan thundered, and everybody stilled at the fury in his command.

"We will call in witches, we will cooperate, and you will shut the fuck up." Nolan used the full force of both his enthrallment powers as an incubus and an Alpha. He'd decided what had to be done when the first attacks had begun and he'd been trying to be diplomatic up until now. But every day that passed without a protection spell keeping them safe, was another day that Enaera was in danger. He didn't know how she did it but she'd quietly and quickly crawled into his heart until the hollow shell was filled with nothing but her. If something ever happened to her, he'd go feral.

"What's this?" Andrew stormed into the great hall with a few more of his men. "Someone that's not the Alpha of this pack commanding them?"

Nolan got up from his seat, which just happened to be the Alpha's seat. "Someone had to seeing as how you're always off on a hunt."

Andrew narrowed his eyes at Nolan but said nothing. More and more, Andrew and a handful of his men would go off on hunts but come back empty handed. Nolan didn't know whether to be suspicious or disgusted; were they up to something or where they trying to find an escape for themselves?

Andrew opened his mouth to reply but right then a dark shadow flew in from the open window. The weres shouted and cleared the middle of the room where the specter took an ominous shape. A lone vampire unfurled his long, black cape behind and stood between Nolan and Andrew. A dozen more of his coven flew in and took shape behind him, their pale faces and red eyes focused on Nolan. This was a strange occurrence since they usually just attacked at the dead of the night when a few weres were about and were easier to pick off. But directly confronting them was a bold move.

"We sense two alphas in the room," the leader said to Andrew.

Andrew growled and bared his teeth at the vampire. "I am the only Alpha of this pack!"

The vampire tipped his head and smirked. "I suspect not. I can already sense your people's loyalties shifting to this hybrid. Nolan, is it?"

Nolan nodded when the vampire faced him.

"Gregori and this is my coven," the man gestured to the rest of the vampires.

"This is a bold move, coming out here in the open when you've already attacked the pack," Nolan noted, watching the vampire closely.

"Bold, yes, but not stupid like your tone implies." Nolan arched a disbelieving brow and the vampire continued. "Those attacks were just a warning. We want what we were promised." This time, his words were addressed to Andrew. Nolan whirled on the Alpha and saw that the man was avoiding his eyes, suddenly as pale as the vampires.

Nolan turned back to the expectant vampires with a frown. "And just what is promised to you?"

"Omega blood," Gregori purred, licking at his lips in a pantomime gesture of pleasure.

One of Gregori's men stepped forward. "We've been getting a yearly supply of omega blood for the past fifteen years in return for your pack protection."

Nolan inhaled sharply. "And where did you get this omega blood?" he asked Andrew, but the other man wouldn't look at him. Stomping towards him, Nolan grabbed the man's shirt. "Did you take it from Enaera?"

Andrew shook Nolan's hands off of him. "I don't answer to you," he spat. "What I did, I did for the pack."

"Does she know? Does she know what you've been doing with her blood? She would have been a goddamn kid when you starting taking blood from her!" Nolan's voice grew with each word.

On the defensive now, Andrew shot a pure look of venom towards the vampires. "The blood donations were harmless. I took care of her ever since her parent's deaths! I protected her! Her blood was a small price to pay."

Nolan was ready attack Andrew when Gregori's voice cut through the tension.

"Enough bickering, werewolf! We want blood; we don't care about the how's. And if you think a measly witch is going to keep us out, you're pathetically naive. It didn't work last time, and it won't work now."

"And we'd like to remind you, Alpha, the last time we took an omega body for your foolishness," the crony added.

At that bit of information, Nolan's ears perked up. Omegas were rare, so rare weres killed each other over them. They were particularly useful for Alphas; when they went into a rage only an omega's connection could bring them back to normal. A rage was ten times worse than going feral, where a were only craved blood and was impervious to harm. While useful in battle, it wasn't quite as beneficial after the battle when the were couldn't distinguish between the enemy and his own pack. Past Alphas who hadn't had omegas had been known to slaughter their entire pack after a rage. Andrew already had an omega, where would he have gotten a second one?

"What is he talking about?" Nolan asked Andrew lowly. He could feel his eyes glow red.

"None of your business," Andrew spat.

"Considering you were giving away my mate's blood for the greater part of her life, I'd say it's pretty much all my business!" Nolan thundered, feeling his skin ripple and his claws shoot out from his hands.

A few of the vampires stirred, wondering if a battle was brewing. The weres began to grow nervous as well, some even turning into their were form.

"Keeping secrets Andrew?" Gregori asked with an insidious laugh. "Why don't you tell Nolan here exactly how we were given the dead body of an omega; still full of enough blood to appease the whole coven?"

There was a sudden ominous feeling creeping to Nolan, and he almost didn't want to hear what the vampire had to say. He wasn't stupid; he knew the vampire was only spilling Andrew's secrets now to create discontent in the pack and weaken them.

"I-It was an accident. I swear..." Gregori looked triumphant; Andrew just deflated under all the scrutiny of the pack. He continued "We had been under attack for months now, and more than half of the pack had perished. My father died in the battles with the vampires."

The other alpha had glassy eyes, but Nolan had no sympathy for the man. "Continue!" he yelled impatiently.

"Two omegas were found during a routine patrol on the edges of our territory. We took them in, and the mother helped me with my rages. We were winning against the vampires for a while until..." Andrew was lost in the past and his eyes had a faraway look. "The omega was getting weaker because of the prolonged battle. She feared that we would start to use her daughter, who was already showing to be more powerful than her at her young age."

"Enaera," Nolan stated needlessly.

Andrew nodded. "The omega mated with the wizard we brought in and convinced him to help her escape."

"And were you keeping them imprisoned?"

Andrew glared at Nolan's impertinent question. "It was to keep them safe from the vampires. One drop of omega blood is worth a hundred of any other were's blood."

"That is true. That's the only reason we haven't killed you so far." Gregori interrupted with a superior grin. Nolan narrowed his eyes at the vampire. He'd deal with that cretin later; right now he wanted to get the whole story out of Andrew.

"I should have known better than to trust a wizard, they have never been trustworthy. The barrier he put around the lands was just a distraction for him and the omega to escape with Enaera. I went after them and..."

"You lost control," Nolan finished for Andrew. He could fill in the blanks. If Enaera's mother had acted as an anchor for Andrew, then he would have been emotionally, if not physically involved. The betrayal of her desertion would have sent him into an Alpha rage and he could imagine what he'd done when faced with her leaving.

"I lost control," Andrew repeated. "I didn't mean to, I don't even remember doing...it but when I came down from my rage, I-I ... "Andrew dropped to his knees, utterly defeated. The pack stood still behind him, taking in the shocking news as best as they could.

Seth looked utterly devastated, never having imagined his brother could sink so low. He's been told that Enaera's mother had died fighting the vampires. Once the vampire attacks stopped, Andrew had told him that he'd gone in a rage and killed off numerous vampires. He'd said that it had scared them off and with her dying breath; Enaera's mother had brought him down from the rage before perishing from her vampire bites.

"We smelled the blood," Gregori explained. "We had no idea that they had an omega. We made a deal. If Andrew gave us the omega's body, we'd keep his secret. Of course there was also an addendum. We would be getting yearly supplies of blood from the young omega you call Enaera."

"Now you're two months past the last blood donation due date so our earlier agreement doesn't stand. We've come take the omega ourselves. Hand her over and there will be no more bloodshed."

Nolan was really getting pissed by that other vampire, who even now looked smug in the face of such devastation. The pack was muttering amongst themselves, in disbelief that their Alpha could have done such a heinous thing. All Nolan cared about now was protecting Enaera from ever hearing this. And killing these bastards that could think that he'd ever just hand his nixxa over when he was still breathing.

"Andrew?"

They all turned to see Enaera in the middle of the crowd, her face pale and drawn with a glowering and barely leashed Dietrich by her side. She'd heard every, single word.

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(muahahaha, yes i employed the cliched cliffhanger)