“So there’s no way that guy is getting out of the tunnel?” I asked.
“He doesn’t have the access code and no one here will help him. Even if he somehow got through, there are over fifty of us,” she said with a shrug. “That said, until we figure out how to neutralize him, we won’t be leaving. We weren’t planning on going anywhere for at least a few days anyway.”
Once we were past another steel door and it shut behind us, a lock clicked and Natasha breathed a sigh of relief. We’d ended up in a small space that looked to be a holding room of sorts.
“There,” Natasha said. “Safe. Whoever got in isn’t getting into the parking structure, much less out of the tunnel. And certainly not in here. I’ll be fine,” she told the werewolf guard. He nodded at the men, then everyone disbanded and disappeared through the next door, except him and three others.
Natasha twisted, hitching a pinky at the four remaining men as she named them off, starting with the werewolf. “This is Egon, Rakin, Kieran and Haji.” On the last guard, she ended up face-to-face with Dathan and her eyes narrowed. “Been a while.”
He flashed a slow grin as his gaze swept the length of her. “Too long?”
“Not nearly.” Natasha scrunched up her nose, then refocused on my parents. “Why don’t you introduce me to your friends?”
My mom gestured to me. “This is our daughter. Autumn, this is Natasha, a dear old friend.”
Natasha blinked slowly, studying me a beat before speaking. “It’s wonderful to meet you.” Her mouth parted like she wanted to say more and I wondered what the rest of us were missing. Definitely a story there. Fat chance of getting anything out of my secretive, tight-lipped parents.
“Nice to meet you too.” I offered a smile, squashing the urge to hunt down that dog who’d slipped into the tunnel with us.
“Don’t worry,” Natasha told me. “Even if he got out of the tunnel, he’s not getting past that door. Our security is the finest anywhere.”
“Good to know.” But I’d heard that line before. At the vampire palace, the enemy had found a way to attack King Cedric in his own chamber. He'd almost been killed. I’d stick to the harsh reality I’d learned to hate—always be prepared for the worst.
She switched to Dathan. “I’m curious how you became aligned with werewolves and shape-shifters.”
“These werewolves are Autumn’s friends. Her friends became mine when she agreed to marry me,” Dathan said, slowing down on the last two words. “I took the time to get to know them and I’ve seen for myself that they’re trustworthy.” He draped an arm around my waist and shot Zack a glance over his shoulder. Just go along with it and I’ll explain later, he told Zack and me telepathically.
His fiancée? Dathan had to be kidding. Unfortunately, I was dealing with Dathan which meant he was likely deadly serious and I had to proceed with caution until he let us in on his secret plan. Whatever he was up to, I probably wouldn’t like it.
Chapter Two
Zack
A growl caught in my throat. Autumn’s gaze whipped to me but she didn’t object or try to push Dathan away, which made me think she’d heard what he’d told me.
Damn right he’d explain. Autumn’s fiancé? What the hell? I demanded.
Natasha studied Autumn a moment, then aimed a look at Dathan. “She’s awfully young for someone your age. Midlife crisis?” she asked wryly.
“You wish.” Dathan hit her with a smug, lopsided grin then tilted his head toward my dad. “This is Renzo. He leads SWAAST.”
“Nice to finally meet you,” Renzo told Natasha, extending a hand.
She accepted, shook and released his hand. “The honor is mine. There are many grateful shape-shifters here who I’m certain would love to thank you personally.”
“I’d be happy to speak with them.” Renzo flicked a thumb at me. “This is my son, Zack.”
“You are very welcome here, all of you,” Natasha said, and flashed me a warm smile before drifting to Autumn, her gaze lingering there an instant too long. Her fascination with my girlfriend was the least of my concerns after the stunt Dathan had just pulled. “I’ll show you around the compound, then get you settled into your quarters.”
Keep it down, Zack. I sense your mutinous thoughts from here, Dathan told me silently as we all moved to follow Natasha and her men. First Dathan and Autumn, then her parents. Renzo and I trailed at the back while I fumed at Dathan for ignoring my question.
He threaded his fingers through Autumn’s as they walked and I wanted to pummel him. Thankfully, she had a physical connection so she could hear what I said to him. Dathan, what the hell are you doing?
Natasha led us through another door and we trailed after her up a shadowed steel stairwell. “Sleeping quarters are on the next floor up. We’ll skip that for now and fast forward to the top level.”
Just when I wanted to grind my teeth in frustration, Dathan finally answered my question from what seemed like a lifetime ago.
I’m the only vampire in a camp full of shape-shifters and a sprinkling of wolves, he said. I need a way to anchor myself to the community, other than Natasha who clearly isn’t overjoyed to see me; something that gives them a reason to trust me. Being engaged to Autumn was the best way. I didn’t warn either of you because I knew you’d object and it wasn’t up for debate.
Sometimes you’re such an ass, Dathan, Autumn said, her eyes ablaze. I can’t believe you ambushed us that way.
You’ll thank me later, my furry friends. For now, let’s pay attention to Natasha. We need to know our way around this place. Dathan released Autumn’s hand while still staying close to her.
Amusement tugged the edges of Autumn’s mouth. Don’t worry, I can break off our engagement anytime.
True. But something told me that regardless of Dathan’s dick move, he had a plan up his sleeve. And, unfortunately for me, it was probably brilliant. Let’s roll with it for now.
Seething from fury, I willed the corners of my mouth up in an attempt to appear friendly. I didn’t need the shape-shifters sensing my hostility and thinking it was directed at them. I couldn’t risk anything compromising our mission.
Any idea why Dathan said he was engaged to Autumn? My dad asked as he walked alongside me.
Not yet. I commanded my hands to relax and not to curl into fists as we continued up the stairs. Gives him credibility with Natasha’s people. But I’m pretty sure I still want to kill him.
I’ll help you.
Appreciate it, Dad. I wanted to be amused at his attempt at humor—even though Renzo probably wasn’t joking—but I couldn’t make my mouth do anything other than tighten.
Damn Dathan! If his plan helped to get rid of Ulric and King Mortimer though, I’d go along with it. Once we beat them, less would be standing between Autumn and me.
Until I knew eternity with Autumn was in the realm of possibility, I could never tell her how deeply I loved her. The less she invested in me, the less devastated she’d be if we separated. I frequently fantasized about a new werewolf king in place, and werewolves’ prejudice for shape-shifters dying along with King Mortimer. Maybe discrimination would always exist to a greater or lesser degree, but I hoped socializing outside my species wouldn’t always be illegal. And then I could finally get it all out and tell Autumn the truth.
I had a long ways to go before that fantasy became a reality and now Dathan had made the situation more difficult and awkward. Trusting him had been a bad idea.
Natural light illuminated the first landing. If you try to share a room with Autumn, I’ll kill you, I told Dathan. I’d be extremely challenged against the world’s oldest and most powerful vampire, but I couldn’t let him think he could take any of this lightly.
Relax, Zack. If I wanted your girl, you’d already be dead. He glanced over his shoulder for the briefest instant. Listen to your father and keep your emotions in check. Don’t ruin your chance at freedom because you can’t… what’s the modern expression? Suck it up?
Dathan
continued up the stairs toward the third floor, leaving me staring after him. What pissed me off more was that he was right; I needed to stay focused on our mission.
But why did he have to be such a douche about it? One minute he saved our lives, and shared his blood with us—which apparently he never did, not even for his own kind—and the next moment he sabotaged our happiness. I was beginning to really dislike him.
Shoes clanged on metal steps as Natasha neared the landing. “The third floor is for work, training and social activities. But since we’re overcrowded at the moment, a portion of the common areas are being used for additional sleeping.”
“I thought we were underground, but you have windows,” Autumn said, craning her neck to peer over her shoulder. “How do you keep humans from figuring out there’s a whole village inside the mountain?”
Natasha paused before a door and glanced toward the sunshine streaming into the stairwell. “The windows have a special film that blends in with its surroundings on the outside while allowing us to see out. We've planted poison oak near the windows and posted No Trespassing warnings everywhere. Should anyone ignore those, which is rare, the motion sensors alert us when anyone ventures too close.”
“Clever.” Dathan grabbed Autumn’s hand again, making me wish she had kept quiet and not drawn attention to herself. “Solid security, sugar. Same as our palace.”
Our palace? Sugar? And how long had it taken to come up with that pet name? Now I really wanted to murder Dathan.
Natasha rolled her eyes at Dathan. “Laying it on a little thick, don’t you think?”
“Jealous?” Dathan’s mouth curved up on one side.
Natasha’s blue irises deepened before she spun around to carry on with the tour.
I didn’t want to imagine what had happened between those two in the past. At least one of them still had feelings for the other, obviously, even if those emotions were negative. I just hoped their unfinished business would work in my favor and Dathan would give up the pretense with Autumn soon.
“Each level is over twelve thousand square feet,” Natasha continued. “Due to the sheer size, stairwells are located at all four corners of the building on every floor, as well as the center.”
Egon opened the door and Natasha slipped through. With the rest of the men behind her, she made a sharp left. My attention drifted from the unpolished plywood floor under my feet to the textured walls as I filled my lungs with air, searching for normal building smells like plastic, paint or other chemicals. The place had been built all green, all natural, and they’d kept it plain—no baseboards or crown moldings adorning the plain white walls.
“Your Majesty,” two men both said, bowing their heads as they passed her.
“Gentleman,” she returned. They disappeared into the security room and Natasha resumed her job as our tour guide. “This is where we monitor the exterior and all possible entry points.” She jerked her head to our left.
The way they addressed her reminded me of her position. Despite my fury with Dathan, I appreciated that we rated a personal tour by the queen herself.
Renzo nudged my shoulder. When you’ve been around as long as Dathan has, you find entertainment in the strangest ways. Don’t let him get to you.
I was more worried about Dathan getting to Autumn than him getting to me. I’ll try.
“Since we house shape-shifters of all ages from around the world, as well as werewolves, we have a nondenominational chapel. There’s also a theater which is equipped with a commercial-size screen and reclining chairs,” she said before hanging a right. “That’s where we’ve been keeping the overflow. But you won’t be sleeping there.”
“I should hope not,” Dathan hissed. “I assumed we’d have more suitable arrangements.”
“My, we think a lot of ourselves.” Natasha raised one eyebrow at him, then carried on with the tour. She took us through another door which opened into a huge room with rows of tables. “This is the cafeteria.”
We’d eaten shortly before we arrived but it was always good to know where to find the food.
“You’ll be dining over there with me.” She indicated the corner where a wide open door lead to a private room, a skylight showering sunlight onto a table that sat eight. “I usually eat around five, before everyone else. Sean insists it’s easier to protect me with fewer people around.”
Upon exiting the cafeteria, we encountered two shape-shifters, a statuesque black woman with razorblade cheekbones and hair clipped extremely close to her scalp, and a bulky man with short light brown hair. Natasha stopped for them and the rest of us bottlenecked behind her.
“Ah, here are the two I depend upon most. Sean and Yvonne, meet our guests Quentin, Olivia, Renzo, Autumn, Zack and Dathan.” Natasha flicked an index finger as she named off each of us. Standing in the back, I struggled to keep a straight face when Natasha said Dathan’s name too softly. As if by barely saying his name out loud, he didn’t really exist. I inclined my head in hello while the rest of them did the how-do-you-do’s.
Natasha agreed to meet with them later and she ushered us forward, stopping in front of a sign that read ‘Research.’ “This side of the floor is devoted to research and manufacturing.”
“Working on any projects you can talk about? Flying cars or anything like that?” Autumn asked.
Natasha sent a curt nod to an approaching group—one of them a female werewolf. She sidestepped so they could get by, and her mouth arched up. “Better. It may or may not involve exchanging particles through space.”
“Teleportation?” I asked, bouncing on my toes.
“Possibly.” Natasha’s blue eyes twinkled. “We’re still working on it.”
“How is it that no one figures out you’re here?” Renzo asked, shuffling behind the other shape-shifters. “A structure this size must require a lot of power. How do you stay off the grid?”
Natasha herded us into the atrium and aimed a chin toward several cushy chairs. Once we took our seats, her bodyguards circled her. “We use well water, and our ranch up the road is self-sufficient, producing enough power to support us.”
“Don’t the locals get suspicious when they see all the food you buy?” Autumn asked, cocking her head.
“The ranch has an immense greenhouse where we grow organic vegetables year-round. We also raise cattle for milk and other dairy, as well as poultry.” The corners of Natasha’s mouth slanted up. “When our truck arrives a couple times a week, the humans aren’t privy to where the food goes. Anything else we need, we buy in bulk through different accounts and have the products shipped randomly from multiple sources to various locations.”
“Brilliant.” The shape-shifters had it all figured out so, I didn’t bother asking any more questions.
“And we don’t spend a lot of time making the place fancy,” Natasha added. “Everything only needs to function. When we leave, we want as much to return to nature as possible.”
Quentin offered her a proud grin. “I’m impressed with what you’ve built here.”
I glanced over at Dathan who had frozen, his pinky looped through Autumn’s. Her eyes widened, which meant someone was talking to him telepathically and she’d heard.
What the hell kind of news would pucker her eyebrows that way?
Chapter Three
Autumn
“Dathan, what is it?” Natasha asked, worry lines etched across her forehead.
He ended his silent conversation with Cedric and cast a somber look at Natasha. “One of my men discovered a vampire less than an hour ago in Los Angeles, within a few blocks of the palace. She’d been dead several hours. Drained of blood.” He pivoted to face my parents. “Looks like Ulric’s work.”
Renzo growled. “If she died around the time we left the palace, he might’ve seen us and followed us here. I bet that was him in the tunnel.”
Just great. If that scumbag Ulric had recently refueled on vampire blood, he’d be even more powerful. We’d come to the shape-shifter compound to st
art a war but I’d had no idea the enemy would find us so quickly. My chest squeezed with trepidation.
Natasha dipped her chin in acknowledgment. “We should meet with my people as soon as you’re ready. I’ll show you to your quarters now.” She rose and headed toward one of the stairwells. We followed her down the metal steps to the second floor, made a left, then strode through another corridor nearly identical to the other levels. White walls, plain wood floors—no bells or whistles. “As I said, we’re already full so all six of you will be staying in my suite.” She stopped in front of a door. “Open.” The door swished open.
“It obeys voice commands?” I asked. “Nice.”
“Yes, but the facial recognition software verifies before complying.” Natasha hurried us through. “Close,” she said as soon as we were inside, and then the door slid back together again. She brushed past us, jerking her head toward a door at the other end of the living room. “That’s my private room, but I thought you might like to split up so you’re not all crammed in one space. Olivia and Quentin can bunk with me.”
Geez, the shape-shifter queen offering up her private sleeping area to my parents? My curiosity spiked. Maybe since my parents were no longer trying to keep their shape-shifterness from me, they’d be freer with information and I’d find out how they knew the queen.
I scanned the spacious living room where we’d be making camp—though there wasn’t much to it. The living room offered almost double the space as our home in Los Angeles, except Natasha’s suite had less furniture. An end table sat on each side of the couch with a coffee table in front it. Aside from four cots placed haphazardly in the corner, that was it. Not even a TV.
The left side of the room opened up to a small dining area furnished with a plain oak table and chairs, and beyond that a kitchen. To the right, a portion of a shower and sink peeked out from a bathroom. The only other door led to Natasha’s room.
“We’re sleeping on cots?” Dathan glared at the small beds occupying one side of the room.
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