Chapter 2

“Father! Are you here?” Valentine waited a moment, before deciding to check his father’s study. That was where his father always sought to recharge following a clan council meeting. He tapped on the door. “Father? Are you in there?”

“Come on in.” Libertine’s voice sounded tired, or despondent, and Valentine pushed the door open and went inside. His father sat at his ornate desk that was strewn with sheets of pink paper and peacock-feather quills.

“What is it?” Valentine asked. He didn’t think he’d ever seen his father look so…so crushed. Libertine looked up at him, his black mascara and iridescent blue eyeshadow were smudged, and Valentine rushed to hug him. “What is it?” he whispered as he feathered a kiss to Libertine’s rouged cheek.

“I have to take a mate. Mandrake will force me down in the clan’s standings if I refuse. He’ll use all his power as clan leader to take our home. I don’t wanta mate. At least not one forced upon me, but I have no choice. There’s to be a ball in two weeks’ time after which Belladonna will be my new mate and she’ll bring her two daughters to live here with us.”

“Oh, Father. I’m so sorry.” Valentine didn’t know how he felt about a stepmother and stepsisters, but if it wasn’t what his father wanted, then he knew he’d never be truly happy. “Is there nothing you can do?”

“I thought of penning a letter to our clan Lord. To let him know the mating is against my wishes and see if he might grant my petition to delay it. At least until I have time to get to know Belladonna. But it’s a risky thing to do. If Hades is supportive of Mandrake, things might be worse. It would be bad enough to suffer Mandrake’s anger, but to incur Hades’ wrath can be fatal.”

“Is there nothing else you can do?” Valentine hated to see his father so distraught.

“You’re a good son.” Libertine reached to stroke a long finger down Valentine’s cheek. “When I found you as an abandoned human baby, I thought that when you became an adult, I would have to give you up, once you knew me for what I truly was. When you asked me to turn you, I was both proud, and afraid.”

“Afraid? But why?”

“Because I feared you were doing it to please me. Not because it was what you truly desired.”

“I wanted to stay with you. I like my life here. I have friends like Arsen, I can walk the streets of the city at night without fear, and I like being near to you.”

“Perhaps I should set you up in a place of your own. Why should you suffer the demands of a stepmother that you don’t wish to have any more than I desire as a mate?”

Valentine clasped Libertine’s hands and held them tight.

“I won’t leave you. At least if I’mhere, you’ll have someone to talk with and confide in. Maybe we’re worrying unnecessarily. Perhaps she’ll fit in with us and our lifestyle.”

“She’s a Predator, albeit not an Alpha. They hate and despite Seducers like us. If she’s going to take me as her mate, then it’s for a reason yet unknown. At least to us.”

That thought gave Valentine an uneasy feeling, and a prickling sensation ran the length of his spine. His father was right. If their clan leader was demanding Libertine take a Predator mate, against his wishes, then it could hardly be to their advantage.

Valentine could only hope that the decision had been made due to nothing more sinister than jostling for more advantageous positions within the clan. Anything else didn’t bear thinking about.2

The two weeks leading to the ceremony seemed to be passing by faster than any time Valentine could remember in his life. His heart ached for his father. Libertine spent most of his time in his private study, only occasionally leaving the room, and even fewer times the house itself.

With a soft knock on his father’s study door, Valentine was relieved to be invited to enter.

“Did you hear anything back from Hades?” he asked. In a last-ditch effort to delay the mating ceremony, Libertine had penned a very carefully worded essay to the clan Lord.

“No.” Libertine shook his head. “There’s been no reply. I assume it means that Hades has rejected my plea.”

“Assuming our clan Lord has even seenit.” Valentine wasn’t convinced that Hades had ever received it. He was more inclined to believe that Mandrake may have somehow intercepted it. Mandrake is powerful. If Hades is away, perhaps Mandrake got the letter. If he did, it’s certain Hades will never see it. I wish there was somethingI could do for Father

“You could be right.” Libertine shook his head. “Without being able to speak directly with Hades, I’ll never know. But time has run out, I’m afraid. The mating ceremony will go ahead.”

“There’s nothing else you can do? No one we can turn to, who may petition on your behalf?” Valentine asked, but Libertine shook his head.