69

This is the last thing I expected to happen, ever. Although now that it has, I'm sort of not mad about it. Jasper's been alone for a decade, living with these god-awful creatures and Carmen's been an untethered boat on a stormy sea for a long time. They're sort of perfect for each other and I guess the fates knew that all along. They should have bonded so many years ago, when they first turned, but were pulled apart so everything else in this story could play out.

This also means one very important thing – her love for Colton, it's gone. In the blink of an eye, her emotions, her heartbreak, all her sorrow and pain ... A band aid is applied. It all just goes away, and her heart is filled instantly with the love for the wolf the fates found worthy of her.

In a way I'm sort of happy it was this way and not slow and natural love. Carmen imprinted, she was worthy of that rarity and the fates clearly have other plans for her. I hope she sees it now too. That whatever she thinks she did to call upon punishment, it hasn't been close to true. She had to walk a path to be her own part of this bigger picture.

I turn away blushing when my brother bridges the gap and kisses her without restraint, and Meadow hugs me tight with an 'awww' noise deep in her throat. All her previous dislike of Carmen seems to wash away on the witnessing of this new love. And I know Meds is a romantic at heart.

Leyanne looks instantly bored, plays with her nails and her jewelry seemingly disinterested and the vampire stalks off shaking his head and clicking his fingers at his minion holding the door open. His dark bad mood, and aura of iciness, thankfully goes with him and I shudder outwardly. I don't like him. He isn't overly threatening but yet, something about him is terrifying and maybe it's knowing he's a completely different breed. The vampires we have known are nothing like this.

"You have three minutes, Jasper. The lord will need to see you to be convinced of her existence. We don't have time for any of this." His commanding snarl is delivered before he gracefully slides back into the nearest SUV, clearly done with our presence. Jasper ignores him completely. So homed in on the girl in his arms and I hear the rushed whisper of his hurried words as he breaks from her lips, and nuzzles against her cheek.

"Come with me.... I need to go with him for now. I don't want to leave you when I just found you." There's no denying the utter infatuation in his tone, the intense focus on his mate, and Carmen seems limp in his embrace, flushed and sweet.

My stomach tightens and Meadow too looks instantly worried, glancing at one another in question. Carmen may not be our best friend in any kind of way, but she belongs with us, with her pack, and not running after my brother into some vampire world she's not accustomed to, to see some high lord. There's no telling what would happen to her. Jasper couldn't protect her against them if they turned on her after we left.

"No. I follow my Luna. I'm here to do what she needs of me. I won't let her down and break my word. Find me when you come back. I can't leave her; she needs both of us with he to keep her safe on the journey home. I won't abandon her."

Carmen's words shock me and with a last rushed kiss on my brother's lips. As though she knows longer will make her weak, she pushes him away and quickly removes herself before the emotions caused by the bond take away her will power. Jasper looks instantly lost without her in his arms, and then questions what she said almost in afterthought. A sense of confusion sweeping over his expression.

"Luna?" He utters, his gaze coming back to settle on me.

Of course, he doesn't know, and he won't yet have time to rifle through Carmen's memories to pinpoint everything he doesn't yet understand. It's only just happened, and it takes time to really sink in and open the cavern of things from another mind.

"Me. I'm Luna Santo, Colton Santo's mate and mother of our fractured pack." I stand up on unsteady legs, leaning on Meds for support and smile his way with a soft hint of pride. Jasper's eyes completely burn to instant amber fire, his sweet expression dropping to furious glaring and a growl erupts from his throat, aggression on full show.

"Fucking Santo!!!! Are you fucking kidding me?" the swift change from smooth and steady reliable Jasper, to instantly enraged and crazed makes me jump and step away in shock. His whole aura turning deadly and he seems to grow with sudden intimidation, a warrior showing face that I had never seen on him. The air crackles with electricity and I get a taste of my brother's ingrained hatred and pain in one suffocating blow.

So I guess I should have seen this coming, given the fact Santos slayed everyone he loved and all this time his despisal has clearly grown. I never gave it a second thought that he wouldn't know all the ins and outs, but how could he? He has only just found me.

"I'm a Santo too." Carmen meekly utters the words and Jasper spins furiously towards her with a piercing gaze. Seemingly searching his memories for the truth of her words, his eyes widening, shaking his head with venom as disgust takes over his expression.

"No..... this isn't fucking happening. You? ... Fucking you!!!" he spins back on me, accusation heavy in his knife sharp words. "The Santos killed everyone, Lorey... our whole family. Our parents. Our entire pack! They took everyone we loved. They caused this. You can't get in bed with the one pack I aim to destroy. I swore on my life that I wouldn't rest until I took every Santo from this earth and made them suffer." His fury overtakes his gentle demeanor of a moment ago, a side to him I've never seen, and I'm fueled by his own pulsating rage. It feeds my own internal temper and my need to protect my people engulfs me. Forgetting what he is to me when faced with this kind of intent on my pack.

"They are not all like Juan Santo... not all wolves are to blame for what he did. The Santos are MY pack, my people...I won't let you do anything to them, I won't stand aside and let you try. Your mate is Santo... does that not tell you what the fates want? Are you going to deny that and destroy her along with them. Cast aside your own sister and cause more sorrow in our lives?" Tears mist my eyes, but my anger holds them at bay, spitting at him in fury. The Luna in me showing face and I march to him, squaring up, eyes glowing brightly and warn him with the snarl in my tone. I will protect my people at all costs, even against my own brother if that's what it takes. Jaspers aimed look of rage is thrown to Carmen for a fleeting moment and then back at me, a new wave of something in the depths. A coldness enveloping him that reminds me of Darrius, and I flinch.

"They deserve to die, even if the war stops. There's a debt to be repaid and it's only in the form of Santo blood.... no matter whose that is or what it does to me in the end." He casts a look Carmen's way again, loaded with meaning and I catch her crumbling despair and her lip tremble as she realizes what he means.

In one second, he was her forever... in the next he's swearing to cut down not only her entire pack, but her too, even if it kills them both. His hatred runs deeper than love can reach and in one sentence he rejects the bond and makes it clear that she is no mate that he will ever accept. I lose my temper and I fly at him, seeing red and hating his arrogance, smacking him in the chest with meaning and send him reeling backwards. Seemingly my gifts are still strong.

"I'm Santo... so if you want to maim and kill and rebalance the debt with Santo blood, you will have to go through me. Those are MY pack and in the absence of MY mate.... I'm their queen and I will die to protect them. Every. Last. One. I won't cower because my brother dares to stand against them, I'm clear on where my loyalty lies and it's not in revenge and misguided hate." My venom outshines him, my intent clear. Heart hammering in my chest and trembling all over with adrenalin until my limbs feel unsteady, but I stand my ground.

He stands where he was, unmoved yet not as fierce as before. Eyes locked on mine, amber to my red, claws elongated in both of our human hands. We both pant in heavy breaths, neither willing to back down or relent, stubborn and headstrong and matched in aggression.

Leyanne walks between the two of us in a rather casual manner, pushing him back a step so she can regain some space.