“But some of those…” Arvyn could barely speak. “Some of them… hell, they’re still children.”
“I said the gods still watched the people, but the truth is, very few do anymore.” Paulie sat back in his chair, looking drained. “Zeus is one of the few that takes an active role and tries to do his bit without being noticed. He works to save innocents, paranormals that can lead a good life with a loving mate or mates beside them, like me. Even so he’s skating the line and he knows it. Just be thankful those people at the coven were saved today. It might not mean much in the scheme of things, but to those individuals it will mean everything.”
“I don’t know how you can stand it.” Arvyn reached out for Kirill blindly, his eyes filled with tears. Kirill was motionless, his eyes bleak, his lips pressed tightly together. It might have been thirty seconds, it could’ve been an hour, Arvyn had no way of knowing. But when Kirill did speak, it was to ask Paulie for the use of a phone.
Tapping out a number, he said, “Hello, this is Kirill, master of the Dublin coven. I require the council to interview all of the vampires at the address and arrange for them to be transferred to other covens or provided the means to live independently away from the coven estate… yes, you heard me correctly… the Dublin Coven is being disbanded. I am no longer fit to rule, and there is none I trust there to take over for me… Yes, that’s right… No, they have not been informed, but this is my decision and it’s final. You’ll have confirmation of this decision typed up, signed and sent to you within the hour.”
Kirill listened for a moment, and while Arvyn had exceptional hearing, he couldn’t make out what was being said. “No,” Kirill said at last, his tone sharpening, “I am not a danger to myself or others and as far as I’m aware the majority of the vampires living under my roof have not been engaged in any criminal activity. Those that have been, have been punished accordingly.”
He dropped his voice and Arvyn heard a tremble in the bigger man’s voice. “I’ve been doing this too long,” Kirill’s voice was barely a whisper. “Six hundred years I’ve had my coven. Six hundred years of strife, and power grabbing, posing and posturing, and… and… I just can’t do it anymore. I’m done, I’m dropping out. Yes, that’s my final decision.”
Kirill tapped the screen and then handed the phone back to Paulie. Arvyn hesitated, unsure for a moment what he should do. But then Kirill’s lip quivered and Arvyn pulled his mate into his arms. Keeping his eyes closed, so as not to see what was going on in the screens behind him, Arvyn held his mate tight as the vampire cried in his arms. They were still huddled together when Ra and Zeus beamed back into the room.
Chapter Fifteen
Ra’s heart initially sunk as he saw his two men entwined in each other, the horror from the barn and the cleanup instigated still playing out on the screens behind them. Can’t they have the decency to keep their hands to themselves for five freaking minutes? Don’t they care…?
But Ra’s negative thoughts shut down as fast as they began as his brain registered more details. Kirill’s shoulders were shaking, his face buried in Arvyn’s neck. Arvyn’s face was so pale in contrast to his facial hair, and the only reason he was still upright was probably due to Kirill’s bulk and big arms wrapped around his waist.
They need me. This time Ra didn’t ignore his instincts.
Crossing the small space between them, still in his godly form, Ra pulled both men towards his chest, cradling them in his arms. It’d been so long since he’d held anyone except Egan and his body came alive as Arvyn’s heat, and Kirill’s strength pressed against him, the thinness of his robes offering him little protection from a natural reaction. A reaction Ra would ignore for now.
“Please,” he murmured as both men turned to him, their arms holding him just as closely, Arvyn’s nose working overtime against his pecs. “Please, let me take you somewhere.”
Kirill looked up first, his dark eyes red rimmed and puffy. “I gave it up. I gave it all up. The coven’s no longer my home. I can’t… after all that…” He waved a hand in the general direction of the computer screens. “I was living there… they suffered… I was right there… how could I not know?”
“Oh, Kirill.” Ra was floored by the despair in the vampire’s eyes. It mirrored the ache in his soul. “Can you trust me?”
“With my life, I swear.”
“Me too. I promise.” Arvyn looked up at him, his eyes just as bad, but Ra didn’t think he’d ever seen a pair of faces so beautiful. “Just take us. I don’t care where, but please…”
Looking over them, Ra caught Zeus’s eye, his friend holding Paulie as if he’d never let go. Wes and Cass, there was no sign of them, but Zeus nodded, just briefly. That was enough. Taking a breath, Ra tried to think of where to go. His mates were too traumatized, had been through too much to handle being in another realm right now.
But he did have a place – three of them actually, on earth, even though they weren’t in the United States. Letting their molecules disperse, Ra held his mates tight as they flowed on the winds to one of his smallest, but favorite houses overlooking the tiny little harbor known as Cooncrome in Ireland.
Keeping his landing light on the plush carpets that covered original stone tiled floors, Ra kept his mates close as his senses picked up the familiar scents and sounds Ra had come to love. The rush of the wind outside sweeping across the mostly barren landscape. The slight hint of salt in the air, dueling with the scent of wood stacked by the original fireplace by the kitchen range. Oh, the house had all the mod cons too. Ra was looking forward to a soak in the six-man jacuzzi installed in the recently renovated master bath. But there was a history, and a rugged permanence about the place that no mod cons could compete with.
Confident no one else was around, Ra focused on the vampire and wolf shifter who were starting to realize they were in unfamiliar territory. “Where are we?” Arvyn’s nostrils were twitching madly. “Is this your realm? I didn’t expect it to smell so… salty.”
“I thought you’d feel safer if we were still on earth,” Ra said gently. “Admittedly, we’re not in the U.S. anymore…”
“We’re in Ireland.” Kirill’s head came up and he sniffed. “I know that smell. By the Fates, I haven’t been in this part of the world for over three hundred years. Is this your house?”
“One of three I have.” Ra tightened his arm around Kirill’s shoulders, hoping the vampire wouldn’t be in a hurry to move. “I will confess, I don’t interact with the locals, although our nearest neighbor is more than ten miles away, and I haven’t got a clue what sort of eating or entertainment facilities might be nearby, although my handy smart phone may be able to tell me if I can get any signal here. I love this place because it’s small and remote, and so unlike my own realm or my beloved Egypt. But the place is warded, no one will disturb us. You are both safe here.”
“It’s cozy.” Arvyn twisted around, but he didn’t move out from under Ra’s arm. “Does the fireplace work?”