The Alpha And His Mate (Silver Hills #1)

Chapter 32

The council felt so dead without Richard. Even when he was replaced by a hissing vampire lord being chained to his seat.

I stood behind Jax, not willing to sit on his lap in front of so many people or claim a dead man's chair. I noticed that Diana also stood behind her cousins chair.

For the first time, I felt a sort of admiration towards the Masons. Their son's body hadn't even gone cold and yet they kept their heads up and attended a meeting to discuss the tragic event.

I was beginning to realise that I wasn't half the person the majority of this council were, yet I had caused them so much trouble.

Genevieve had taken charge of the council now, despite the fact she was probably mourning Richard herself.

"Does anyone have any idea what the hell just attacked us?" Her voice was quiet but unbreakable. I felt a strange admiration for her too.

The council was silent for a moment, showing just how baffled they all were. Oddly enough, I was the first person to speak.

"Ezaryth," I said. "I don't know in what form because so know little about Shadowlords. But it was him. And it was because of me."

Jax swung around to face me, his expression angry and... exasperated. "Persephone," he growled. "Don't you dare-"

"No!" Bellamy Mason cut in. I stared at him in shock, some small part of me remembering how he had asked Angel out. "Don't take the blame off her. Don't try to take the blame off yourself. You two and your reckless behaviour killed me brother. Accept it."

His words didn't sting as much as I thought they would; they were only echoes of the constant stream in my own mind anyway. Still, the fact that nobody spoke up to defend us shattered my spirit just a little.

"I do accept responsibility," I confessed quietly. "I shouldn't have done what I did... this baby," my hand fell onto my stomach, "shouldn't exist. They will live a life of fear and pain because me and the alpha were too afraid to do the right thing. My actions killed and injured people I care about and-" I swallowed, my voice hoarse, "now we will all be hunted."

The silence that followed was deafening to me. Not even Jax said a word on my defence, proving me just how right I was.

"You can't know for sure that Ezaryth will come," Elisabeth pointed out. "We do not even know where he is. All we can do is speculate." Her voice rang confident but we all saw how her face paled. Diana placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

I hated the words that I said next. "I do know," I admitted, as if I were confessing the most heinous crime. "I know for certain he is after me and my child."

Victor let out the manic laugh that often haunted us. "What have you been hiding?" He almost jeered at me. "Clever girl."

I tried to hide the heat that rose to my face at his patronising tone. "I haven't been hiding anything," I snapped, not realising until moments after I would have to contradict myself.

"Yes, you have," Genevieve replied. Her eyes had gone cold and almost unseeing. "We both have."

"What is the meaning of this?" Desdemona demanded of her daughter. I got the sense that the Cranes weren't a family who kept secrets. "What have you been hiding?"

Similarly, I felt tension ripple off my mate. Maybe even a hint of betrayal tainted the link between us. I tried to hide how much I was shaking.

"I've been hearing a voice in my head. Ever since I first saw Jax it's been there. Genevieve was making potions for me at first, but then I annoyed her and she stopped."

Genevieve looked slightly guilty at the last bit, but luckily for her the rest of the council was in so much shock nobody noticed her shame.

"WHAT!" Roared Jax, his fist pounding the table. "Persephone, how could you of lied to me?"

Mrs Mason had gone white. "How does this link to Ezaryth?" She asked, her voice a deathly whisper barely caressing the air.

I turned my eyes downcast. "I wasn't sure at first who it was," I continued. "I was certain it was Jax. And then I believed it may've been my father but..."

"But?" Genevieve prompted, her eyes sparking with the promise of new knowledge.

"But tonight I realised what it was." I had barely let myself think about it since it clicked, yet deep inside I knew the truth. "The voice in my head is Ezaryth."

The tension in the air became palpable. Jax fell as silent as the dead, his face stricken with terror. At least he doesn't look angry anymore, I consoled myself.

"How do you know that, dear?" Desdemona asked me gently. "You've never even seen the beastly creature."

I shook my head. "I've never seen him, but I've heard him enough now. The first proof was that he only began to speak to me once I had met the man who would be the father of my child. And now I'm pregnant he's fell silent again"

Diana looked sceptical. Elisabeth scoffed outright. "That could mean anything! You've no actual proof."

"Fine then," I retorted, my voice strained. "I guess we find proof."

Jax clenched his jaw and reached to take my hand. "How, my love, so you propose we do that?"

I felt every eye in the room fall on me as I gripped the back of my husbands chair. They would be mad. Extremely mad. And call me crazy. But I knew it would be worth the risk in the end.

"We have to summon him," I told them. "We have to summon Ezaryth."