The Council Ch. 11

She laughed mentally at the peeved note in his voice. "I respect you all the time, love. At night when we're in bed do I not lavish enough love and respect on your sexy body?"

His loud laughter told her she'd picked the right tack to soothe her irate vampire. "You do that, sweet one," he sighed softly, his tone softening and turning slightly husky as his love rolled down their bond and wrapped her securely in a quick mental hug. He sighed again. "Are you doing your Annie thing on Andrei? Am I going to have to cut him some slack when I get home?"

The weary tone in his voice had her laughing again. "I'm not sure yet, love. I'll let you know when you get home."

The end of their conversation had taken only a handful of seconds. She smiled up at Andrei. "Why don't you join me in the sitting room?"

She preceded him from the kitchen almost hearing his teeth gnashing together. He must want to keep Caleb sweet if he was fighting with himself so hard not to lose his temper with her.

Andrei was struggling not to growl at the little redhead as she made coffee and chattered away as if he was a friend coming to visit. His concern for Loretta was rising, Caleb's absence starting to grate on his nerves. He needed to talk to the Ancient and being made to wait was not sitting well with him.

"Rhianna, it's important that I speak to Caleb." He tried to keep his tone as civil as he could even though he was fighting the urge to wring the little woman's neck until she stopped pissing about and called Caleb.

Lavender eyes connected with his and he blinked slowly at the deep intensity in her scrutiny. For a moment it was as if she was looking right into his very soul and it was almost impossible to look away from her.

"Caleb's on his way, Andrei," she said softly, a faint smile on her lips. "I was letting him know you were here while I was getting your coffee. Have a seat. I suspect he won't be long. I'm sure he'll be able to help with whatever is troubling you so much when he arrives."

He was sitting down on her sofa without even realising what he was doing. There was something just not quite right about the little redhead. It was almost as if she was able to compel people to like her even when they didn't want to. He found himself softening towards her even when he was striving hard not to.

"It's Loretta isn't it?" she asked after taking a sip of coffee. "Is something wrong with her, Andrei?"

He was able to stop himself from reacting to her unexpected question even though it caught him off guard. How the fuck had she known there was something wrong with Loretta? The longer he spent in her company the more uneasy he felt being around her.

"Loretta's fine," he lied smoothly. "She's at home sleeping at the moment." At least part of his words were true. He didn't think that he was fooling her though, not the way her eyes narrowed thoughtfully at him.

He was saved by the front door opening and a furious Caleb Cullen arriving home. The dark scowl on his face was enough to make Andrei suck in a deep breath. Ever since the night in the forest during the war he had kept out of Caleb's company as much as possible. Now he needed his help and it wasn't sitting too well that he had to come to the Ancient for that help.

"Caleb," Rhianna smiled, rising gracefully from the other sofa and crossing the room to greet her vampire, trying not to laugh at how fast he had managed to get home. His over protectiveness when it came to her well being was legendary and often the catalyst to their few disagreements. She would have liked a little more time to try and find out what was bothering Andrei but it appeared her man wasn't willing to leave her alone with the other vampire.

Caleb picked her up automatically, tearing his piercing gaze from Andrei to concentrate on his woman. He took in her radiant expression and his anger quickly dialled down a couple of notches as he bent his head to capture her lips in a slow, drugging kiss. His Annie always soothed the beast within him, no matter how angry he became. He often called her his redemption and she surely was.

He loved her sweet lips leisurely, growling his pleasure as she responded with her usual enthusiasm. Kissing his woman was the most intoxicating thing in the world. He could do so endlessly and probably would have if only Andrei's snort of annoyance hadn't seeped through his distracted thoughts and forced him to reluctantly stop kissing her.

"Be gentle with him, love," Rhianna sighed softly inside his head. "Something's wrong with Loretta and he's really struggling with it. Seems even the meanest of our kind can find a heart somewhere deep inside them."

She saw him roll his eyes but he kissed her lightly on the lips once more and then set her down. "I'm heading over to Mara's," she smiled at him. "Play nice now! If I come home to a wrecked house you're on a month long sex ban."

Caleb shot her an irritated glare for embarrassing him in front of Andrei but his lips did twitch in a little smile and he couldn't help responding. "You couldn't last one day let alone an entire month," he laughed softly as her eyes twinkled with humour and she laughed back at him.

He waited until she had left and then turned his attention back to the Elder watching him with a closed, guarded expression on his face. He regarded him intently for a long moment and then moved to sit down where Rhianna had previously been seated.

"I don't want you ever coming to my home unannounced, Andrei, and I certainly don't want you alone with Annie," he growled softly. "I'll overlook it this time but make sure it doesn't happen again."

Alexei bristled immediately, fighting back the retort on his lips. He had to remember that he needed the Ancient's help. If he lost his temper and they got into an argument it could hurt Loretta. He swallowed down his anger as tried to keep his mate firmly in the forefront of his mind. He managed to nod his agreement.

Caleb had been particularly harsh with Andrei, pushing him to see how he would react. The fact that the Elder had allowed his disrespect was a sure sign that Rhianna was on the right track with her guess. Andrei had the right to slap him down by the fact he was a Council member and Caleb should concede to him. That he hadn't spoke volumes.

"You appear to have achieved the impossible," Caleb said after a brief pause. "My Annie is championing you. Considering she was quite happy at the thought that I would kill you last year, that's quite an achievement." His tone was mocking and his smile widened as he saw irritation sparkle in the other man's eyes.

He couldn't help needling Andrei and he had no real reason why he liked doing so. It wasn't that he disliked the other vampire. He didn't mind the Romanovs really, though he thought they were a bit on the wild side. He wasn't as friendly with them as Demetri was but he still didn't actively dislike them. They could be counted on if they were ever needed to supply some back up, as they had done so in the war with Graves.

Andrei was beginning to think coming to see Caleb had been a mistake. He didn't know if he was going to be able to hold his temper with the Ancient. At the moment it was all he could do not to fly across the room and smack Caleb Cullen in the face. He tried to soothe his rage at the other man's taunting. He thought of Loretta, how pale she was, how weak she sounded and his rage quickly started ratcheting down.

"Why are you here, Andrei?" Caleb asked as he watched the other vampire carefully. Rhianna had asked him to be gentle with him so he would try his best to do as she asked. Truthfully he was starting to feel a little concerned at the fact Andrei was not reacting to his taunts at all. It was so out of character for him to just sit there and take any kind of verbal abuse from anyone, no matter who they were.

"I need to know what you know about Weres and Vampires mating," Andrei answered, his voice clipped and to the point. "Specifically about what happens when the vampire bites the Were."

Caleb's eyes narrowed instantly and his big body became tense, his eyes flashing amber as he regarded Andrei shrewdly. "What makes you think I know anything about that?" he countered smoothly.

"Because you seem to know everything, Caleb," Andrei bit back, some of his anger starting to show. "You knew things that were impossible for anyone to know last year. You're the oldest of our kind. I'm under no illusions that you know more than you're letting on and I need that information now."

Caleb's thoughtful expression deepened further. Now this was the Andrei he knew, the one that demanded answers and refused to be ignored. He wondered why he desperately needed the information so quickly. There was no doubt in his mind that if Andrei didn't find out what he wanted to know then he was going to hit the roof in a spectacular fashion.

He sat back and steepled his fingers, tapping them against his lips. "Are you asking this of me as a friend, Andrei, or are you demanding this of me as a member of the Council?" he asked in a dangerously soft tone, his expression completely smooth.

Andrei blinked slowly. It was on the tip of his tongue to demand the information again, to order Caleb to submit to him as a Council member. Something in the sudden stillness of the Ancient and the way his voice had become so soft made him wary of taking that tack though. Caleb appeared to have lost all respect for the way the Vampire nation ruled themselves. It certainly appeared so from the way he was reacting to The Council.

He took a deep breath, Loretta's pale face coming to mind again. He could swallow his pride for her, to make sure she was safe. "Loretta's sick, Caleb" he said quietly, letting his usual carefully controlled mask drop to show his concern.

"This morning something happened when we were together. It wasn't intentional but I bit her. She seemed okay. My venom didn't appear to have done any damage, quite the opposite, she said she felt amazing. But she called me to come get her this evening. She's pale, running a temperature, being violently ill. I need to know if she's going to be okay, Caleb. I need to know whatever you know about this interspecies mating thing."

To say Caleb was shocked was an understatement. He had seriously doubted that any of the vampires would have attempted to bite their Weres so soon without having more information. He knew he should be furious with Andrei for biting Loretta but the expression on the other man's face was giving him pause.

He couldn't remember a time he had ever seen Andrei Romanov look so unguarded, almost vulnerable. He knew it would be hurting the other man badly to have to come to him and ask for his help.

He pondered on what to do. Andrei was the first person to actually ask him outright what he knew. He hadn't planned on sharing his knowledge just yet, not until everything was in place for what he wanted to achieve.

The longer he stayed silent the more concerned Andrei's expression became and he actually felt a twinge of pity for the other vampire. If it was his Annie who was sick and he had no idea what was happening to her he would be going out of his mind with worry.

"Your venom is not the reason for Loretta's illness," he finally said with a small sigh. "I don't know why she is currently sick but it is not because you bit her."

Relief swept through Andrei and he couldn't stop a muffled groan from escaping his lips. Loretta wasn't dying because of his bite. She was still sick but he hadn't hurt her. "Tell me, Caleb," he said quietly. "Please."

The plea in his voice was enough to make Caleb's mind up. It was plain that Andrei was head over heels in love with Loretta. He couldn't hide his concern for his wolf, not that he was even trying to at the moment.

"Vampires and Weres can mate, Andrei," he answered with a small smile. "It's not the most easiest of things to do but it is possible. A fact that you know because you are now fully mated with Loretta. Don't think to rush to tell Alexei and Nors they can start biting their wolves though because the mating is only possible for you and Loretta at the moment."

"Why are we different?" Andrei asked perplexed. He couldn't think of anything he'd done with Loretta that would make them special in anyway. All three wolves had bitten their mates and passed the wolf gene on so it couldn't be that.

"Because you healed Loretta last year, Andrei," Caleb explained. "And I don't mean you fed her your blood. It takes more than that to make a Were immune to vampire venom. It was the manner in which you healed her. You mixed your blood directly with hers when you healed her damaged spine. Your vampire DNA was absorbed into her body thereby making her immune to the toxicity in your venom."

Andrei's mind whirled as it flashed back to the night in the forest, when he had punctured a hole in Loretta's back and then ripped his finger and pressed it inside her body to heal her broken spine. She had been immune to his venom ever since then?

"So for a Were to become immune we have to physically hurt them and then heal them by mixing our DNA directly into their body?" he asked, disbelief in his voice even though his wolf was a walking, talking advertisement for just such a thing being viable. "We have to almost kill our mates to be able to join with them completely?"

Caleb nodded. "It's not so very different to taking a human mate and Siring them," he said. "We take our mates to the point of death by drinking their blood and then we bring them back by feeding them ours."

For some reason his statement angered Andrei and he growled loudly. "It's hardly the same, Caleb. The human feels no pain at all only pleasure because they react differently to the vampire venom. In our case we have to cause severe pain to those we love. Do you seriously think Alexei and Nors are going to agree to hurt Cedar and Ashleigh in that manner just so they can bite them?" His tone was incredulous.

Caleb merely smiled and rolled his eyes at Andrei's naivety. He didn't understand wolves at all and it was amusing to see him so outraged on behalf of the two other vampires. He even sounded concerned about the pain required to be inflicted on the Weres.

"I think you'll find that both Cedar and Ashleigh will demand it of them once this becomes public knowledge, Andrei. They will not be tolerant of their mates refusing to complete the mating ritual with them, just because they will have to suffer a bit of pain for it to be possible. They are wolves and they are very resilient."

Andrei still couldn't get his head around it. He could have been with Loretta for the past year and hadn't even known it? This new knowledge probably explained why it had taken her so long to heal from her injuries too. Her wolf DNA was slowly being subtly changed by his vampire DNA which would have slowed up the healing process because her injuries had been so severe.

Her back injury had healed instantly so that seemed to indicate that should Alexei and Nors need to perform something similar, they would probably be able to mate almost instantly with their wolves because there would be no other injuries bar the one required to allow their DNAs to mix.

He frowned deeply. "This still doesn't explain what's wrong with Loretta," he sighed deeply. "She's still sick and if it's not the venom then what is it?"

"There are other changes that occur once the mating is fully complete," Caleb answered slowly, his golden brown eyes intent on Andrei's. "Did you notice anything different about yourself once you had bitten her?"

Andrei's frowned deepened. He couldn't remember anything that struck him as too odd, just the wolf knot thing happening when they'd made love. He didn't particularly want to share that with the Ancient though but he rolled his eyes and did so.

"I grew what Loretta called a wolf knot," he sighed. "She said it was a sign that we were properly mated, that it only occurred between true mates."

Caleb frowned and bit his bottom lip, concern suddenly starting to bubble up inside of him at the news. His mind was suddenly whirling madly and he felt as if he was about to run out of time way quicker than he wanted to.

"Did she also mention that the wolf knot aids in conception?" he asked Andrei drolly, seeing puzzlement cross the other man's face. "Andrei, the wolf knot keeps the couple joined to ensure that the male's seed remains inside the female's body to enhance the possibility of pregnancy occurring." He suddenly felt like he was giving a 'Birds and Bees' lecture to a young adult rather than talking to an Elder who wasn't that far off becoming an Ancient.

Andrei's puzzlement remained for a second longer and then he snorted loudly and burst out laughing. "Well that hardly pertains to us, Caleb," he laughed. "Vampires can't have children."

Caleb smiled slowly. "But you're something more than a vampire now, Andrei," he countered softly, watching the laughter drain from the other man's face to be slowly replaced by complete shock.

"No fucking way," Andrei hissed out, jumping up from the sofa and staring wildly down at Caleb. He couldn't really be serious could he? He couldn't just have implied that it was possible for a Vampire and Were to conceive a child together? Dear God, their people would riot at the very possibility of it. A mixed breed? It was completely intolerable.

"Caleb, tell me you're not seriously implying that I could impregnate Loretta," he ground out through clenched teeth, his mind whirling madly. The expression on Caleb's face answered his question without the other vampire needing to say a word.

"This can't be allowed to happen, "Andrei said, a wild note creeping into his voice as he started to pace up and down.

He couldn't believe it was possible for him to father a child. He didn't know the first thing about children and he didn't particularly want to. He knew that wasn't very fair on Loretta. Weres liked to breed; it was their method of ensuring their line went on. She had probably resigned herself to the fact she would never have children when she mated with him.

Now it appeared that she could physically have children and yet he couldn't allow it to happen. If they had a child together, if they created a mixed breed there was no telling what would happen. "Our people won't accept this, Caleb," he finally said in a quiet tone as he stopped pacing and turned to look at the Ancient. "There will be a total uproar. Tell me how I can ensure this doesn't happen?"

Caleb stared at Andrei with a rueful expression on his face. He had expected this kind of reaction from him. The look of panic in Andrei's eyes was almost amusing despite the direness of the situation. Andrei was right. Their people would not accept a mixed breed child. It was more abhorrent than the actual matings which were taking place.

Andrei was smart enough to realise just what the fallout would be when this became known. Which was why Caleb had needed time to get his plans in place before it became common knowledge. Time he now didn't have because he suspected that Loretta's sudden illness was a sign that it was too late to stop what the Elder so desperately wanted to stop.

"You expect me to solve this problem, Andrei?" Caleb asked incredulously. "Forgive me, but you were the one who decided it was prudent to mate with a wolf. You were the one who bit Loretta. Now you want me to give you advice on contraception?"

He laughed loudly but there wasn't much humour in it. "The only way to ensure you don't make Loretta pregnant is to give her up completely, Andrei. From the sounds of things you made love to her after you bit her and managed to successfully pin yourself to her. She's now throwing up quite violently. I think you may be trying to shut the stable door after the horse has already bolted."