“Don’t play games.”

“What is the only way a weak mate could be useful?”

“Shit. She told her to have a baby right away?”

“Your little human’ish hit the bottle. I took it away from her. She can’t hold her liquor either, Drantos. I admit I made her angry just to see how she’d react. She has potential.”

He growled.

“I expected her to flee into your bedroom to lock the door but she held her ground. I like her but she needs some work. You’re probably telling her not to worry about anything and how you’ll deal with any problems that arise. It’s the wrong approach. She needs to earn the clan’s respect by her actions, not yours.”

“No one would dare hurt her.”

“You’re right. You’d kill them. That doesn’t mean you can force them to like her or be happy she belongs to you. It will cause resentment.”

“Why do you care?”

“We grew up together, Drantos. You mated a weakling. You’d look out for me if I found myself in this position by offering to teach him how to fight and toughen him up. You have a good heart. So do I. She doesn’t have the potential to effectively kill but we can work around that. Lying to another human to avoid future trouble for our clan showed them she had at least one purpose, but it’s not as if we come across too many of them that can’t be memory wiped. She didn’t seem thrilled with birthing babies to prove her worth to the clan. I don’t blame her. Talk her into working with some of the women. We’ll teach her our ways and how to work around her lack of physical strength.”

Drantos debated it.

“Some of us want to help you. I do.” She cocked her head. “You might be Crayla’s son but she’s a terror to most of us. Don’t depend on her to be softer on your mate than the rest of us once the shock wears off that you’ve brought your Dusti home. It’s her duty to see to the harmony of the entire clan. She can’t afford to play favorites. You know it’s true.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Do that.” Yonda suddenly grinned. “You can thank me by asking your father to request an audience with Lord Aveoth. I’d like to meet him.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“He lost his lover.” She ran her hands down her body. “I have a lot to offer him if he’s as sexy as your mate said.”

Jealousy rose. “She—”

“Fears him. Relax. She isn’t attracted to him. The opposite. I figure if he can instill that kind of reaction in her that he’s pretty impressive.” Yonda peered at something behind him. “I’ll leave you now. I’m willing to help if you decide you need it.”

Drantos watched her stalk away before he turned. He saw the reason she’d left. Red approached. His cousin and Yonda had never gotten along well. She’d wanted to test a mating but Red had refused.

Red closed the distance between them. “What are you doing talking to her? Your mate wouldn’t like it.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Red sighed. “Fine. I talked to Kraven. He called.”

“How are he and Bat?”

“Safe so far. He kept it short. His message was that he plans to talk to the doctor. He said you’d know who that is and where he went. He didn’t want to say over the phone.”

Drantos nodded. “It’s the one who treats Dusti. He’s in California.”

“For what? Your mate is ill?”

“Forget it. Did he say anything else?”

“He’d call afterward to share the details. I told him you’d gotten your mate back safely. He was relieved. He said he wouldn’t have to watch his balls anymore, whatever that meant.”

Drantos found that amusing. “The sister he’s with likes to threaten to remove his when she’s angry.”

Red growled. “Why would he put up with that?”

“You’ll understand one day when you find the right woman.”

“It must be something they learned being raised human.” He let his disgust show. “Why did you even test a mating with one?”

“I didn’t see this coming, Red. I was just curious how much of her mother’s blood she carried since I couldn’t pick it up by scent. She takes shots for anemia. It made me think she might have a need for blood.”

“And?”

“I was right.”

“I hope you didn’t tell your father about that. What if she’s unable to breed? He expects you to have children one day.”

“It’s not an issue.” He remembered what Aveoth had said about having Dusti drink from him when she was pregnant to have strong VampLycan babies. “I think their mother might have drank the human father’s blood during her pregnancy, and that made her children weaker when they were born. She must have known Decker would want to use her children, the way he had attempted to do to her. They’d have been of no use to him that way.”

“That’s insane. Who would want to purposely create weak offspring?”

“A desperate VampLycan living in a human world who probably figured she’d never be able to return to the clans. What is our rule when we go out into the human world?”

“Blend and fit in. Don’t do anything that will draw attention.”

“Exactly. I was once told that Decker forced one of the elder Lycans who survived the war to stay with him for the first ten years as an advisor when he took control of his clan. She was the Lycan midwife, so she didn’t stay behind to fight when the younger ones fled the Vampires.” His mind worked. “What if that Lycan had told Decker about sharing blood while a mate was pregnant? It’s possible that Antina could have been passed that information as well. Decker would have demanded all his children give him strong grandchildren.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Never mind.” Drantos looked up at the sky. “I can’t wait for my shift to end. I just want to go home to my mate.”

“Go.” Red waved him off. “I’ll cover for you.”

“Thank you.”

Drantos started to walk away.

“Hey!”

He stopped and glanced back. “What?”

“I want my jacket back.”