Free Savage Magic by Judy Teel Page B

could he turn his back on his niece and the people that his father and grandfather and his grandfather before him had given their lives to protect? How could he turn his back on the brother he'd gone into exile for rather than kill him to be Alpha?  
    "I accept," Cooper said, his voice rough.
    Ryker released a long breath and leaned back as if all his strength had drained away on that promise. "Thank you."  
    After a moment, he pushed himself up from the chair and went to the door to speak to the guards. When he was done, Ryker crossed to the rolltop desk in the corner and pulled a worn leather pouch from the top drawer.  
    "I hope you have the code for this PRC handy," Cooper said as Ryker returned to his chair.
    "No, but I have this." His brother reached inside his shirt and pulled out what looked like an old-fashioned watch face with a magnet on the end of it.  
    "Where the hell did you get a vamp decryption unit?" Cooper asked.
    "Amazing what unwanted guests carry around with them these days."
    Despite everything, the flash of his brother's familiar teasing smile made Cooper laugh. How many times when they were boys had they found themselves doing the worst jobs in the compound after getting caught in one kind of mischief or another?
    His moment of happy nostalgia died as the door opened and Rosalind strode in. She locked the door behind her and turned to face him, her expression set in tense but determined lines. " Aesei ," she said with a polite nod of her head.
    Ryker handed her the decryption unit as she passed him to stand behind Cooper. "As fast as you can, understand?"
    How easy would it be for her to be just a little too slow, Cooper thought, realizing even as he did how crazy that sounded. As Isabel's childhood friend, Rosalind was his niece's godmother. She was also a ridiculous stickler for following the rules and loyal almost to the point of fanaticism. But she'd never approved of racial intermixing. Would she jeopardize the Clan over his relationship with Addison? Maybe. If she knew they were bonded.  
    He forced his mind to focus as Ryker got up from his chair and positioned himself in front of the couch. Opening the leather pouch, his brother pulled out a small knife, carved from the femur of the first Alpha. The blade of the knife was smooth and sharp and stained with blood.  
    Cooper braced himself. What was about to happen could never be undone and it would change everything. He hoped he could endure that.  
    Standing over him, his brother cupped his left hand under Cooper's right wrist and then positioned the knife over Cooper's artery. "Just so you know, Ry," he said, giving his brother a quick smile as he leaned his head back against the sofa to give Rosalind better access to the PRC, "blood is a bitch to get out of carpeting."
    He was rewarded with the flash of a genuine smile across Ryker's tired face. "I'm fairly certain that's the least of my worries."
    His brother's expression sobered and he glanced at Rosalind. "Ready?" Then he raised the knife. "Blood of my blood, bone of my bone, the line of our Clan plunges deeply into this Earth, stretching back to the beginning. Back to the dawn of our people. By the bone and the blood, the will of the Alpha and the blessing of the Huntress, it will reach forever forward into time, into the hearts of those yet to come."
    With a quick strike, his brother swiftly carved the symbol of their Clan deep into Cooper's wrist. Blood welled up, pouring down over Ryker's palm.  
    The black dots flirting at the edge of Cooper's vision gathered into a thick hoard of darkness that crept steadily toward him. As his vision blurred and faded, Cooper idly wondered if his father would let him come back a second time. Then Rosalind was pressing the vamp decryption unit against the code box of the PRC.  
    As he waited to hear the whine of the warning alarm and feel the sting of the laser taking his head off, he pulled his thoughts into the memories of holding Addison in