Savage Sons (House of Winterborne Book 2)

by Luanne Bennett

  “Maybe not.” Edward spoke up and we all turned to look at him. “I think we have the perfect bait to smoke them out.”

  Jakob was staring at Edward like he knew exactly what he was thinking. “You mean the boxes?”

  “Just the one that turned up at Winterborne’s this morning. Maybe we should have that auction after all.”

  I thought he’d hit his head or something. “Are you crazy?”

  Jakob tried to convince me. “I don’t think Edward is suggesting we should actually sell it to the highest bidder. Just draw them out by adverting the auction.” He glanced at Edward. “That is what you’re saying, right?”

  Edward continued with his idea. “We can show the box during the preview earlier in the day, guarded heavily by Winterbornes of course. They won’t dare try anything with us there. But we’ll remove it from the building before the auction even begins. I guarantee you Vikktor and Ryker will attend the auction personally, giving us the window we need to get back on that island. By the time it comes up for auction at the end of the night and they discover it’s all been a ruse, we’ll have found the third box and left the island.”

  “Let’s hope we find it,” Samuel said. “This is our last shot.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t like it. It’s too risky to expose that box. And what makes you think the Caspians will believe for a second that we’d auction it off? We’d have to be insane.”

  Edward shrugged. “They probably won’t. But they also won’t ignore the opportunity to see for themselves. That box is too important. It’s like the old saying goes—if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. But we still find ourselves curious, don’t we? Vikktor will show up. I know it.” He glanced around the room. “Anyone have a better idea?”

  “I think I might.” I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. Probably because in the back of my mind I knew I’d never hear the end of it when Jakob and Hawk found out I’d kept them. “We can action off the rubies.”

  Hawk whipped his head around to stare at me. “What rubies?”

  “The Caspian jewels,” Jakob said. “You never destroyed them, did you?”

  Edward’s face looked stricken. “How?”

  “How do I have them?”

  He nodded, still transfixed by some thought.

  “Because Ryker used them to control me. When he abducted me and made me drink the blood that forced my transition.” I gazed down at the floor as the memory of that night played in my mind. “I meant to destroy them, but something always stopped me. As much as I hate those jewels, I can’t do it, so I locked them away so no one would find them.”

  Edward finally recovered from his shock. “It’s your Caspian blood. You’ll never be able to destroy them any more than I could.”

  “Where are they, Mora?” Jakob asked.

  I pointed toward the hallway. “In the safe in my mother’s bedroom. In addition to the lock, it’s heavily warded. My mother and I are the only ones who can open it.” Hawk’s eyes were wary when I looked at him. “I should have told you, but I knew you’d worry. But there’s nothing those jewels can do to me now. Especially locked away in that safe.”

  Hawk’s concern eased a little. “I’m sure you’re right, but I’ll feel a lot better when they’re gone.”

  Edward proceeded to give us the history of the jewels. “They’re sacred to the Caspian dynasty. If I recall correctly, they were commissioned by the first king.”

  “There were others?” I asked.

  “Vikktor is the third. The first two kings were killed centuries ago by hunters, but Vikktor has been in power twice as long as any of them. Those family jewels hold a tremendous amount of power.”

  “Tell me about it. Ryker controlled me like a puppet. He did the same thing to my mother.”

  Edward got a stony look on his face. “So that’s what happened to her.”

  “I thought you knew.” Jakob seemed surprised.

  “No,” Edward said, shaking his head. “I just saw her slipping away. But how did Ryker get the jewels?”

  Jakob shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  Edward sank into thought, staring at the table. When he brought his eyes back up, he looked at me. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about your father much longer. The only way those rubies would have left the king’s possession is if they were stolen. Ryker is a whisper away from being executed.” He gave me a sly grin. “All you have to do is whisper the words to the right person, and it’s done. Ryker’s fate is in your hands, Morgan.”

  Samuel brought the conversation back to the matter at hand. “It sounds like Vikktor will want them back desperately enough to show up for the auction himself.”

  Edward gave a short laugh. “Not only will he show up, he’ll do the bidding personally and bring several of his guards with him to secure the jewels on the way back to the island. Too bad he doesn’t know his prized assassin is the one who stole them from him in the first place.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Samuel said. “Morgan will contact Wilson Woodard in the morning to let him know we have a special auction Friday night.”

  I shivered at the thought of telling Wilson. Most of our better auctions took weeks to prepare for. “It’ll be a stretch to pull it off in two days.”

  “Well then, I guess you should call him this afternoon.”

  “I’ll do that. Now we just need to figure out how to make sure Vikktor knows about the auction.”

  Edward snickered. “I’ll take care of that. I know exactly where he’ll be heading tonight. To find those twin vampires who set him up. They’ll be more than willing to divulge the confidential information about the auction that I’ll be giving them when I leave here this afternoon, in exchange for Vikktor sparing their lives of course.”

  “I have a better idea,” Samuel said. “I think my wife has played with our guest in the cellar long enough. I’ll have her wipe his memory and then load it back up with a fresh memory of the auction before we turn him loose. He’ll head straight back to his master with the news. Between them, Vikktor will get the message. It’ll also scare the hell out of Ryker.”

  My phone rang as we were putting the final touches on our plan. Avery was in the lobby.

  Chapter 26

  “Dear God, I don’t know what you people are talking about.” The denial in Avery’s eyes was painfully obvious. She exhaled sharply and took another sip of wine as the words sank in. “I think I’d know if my fiancé was a vampire.”

  It was the second time I’d heard her use the word fiancé, and it made me cringe to think of them bound in matrimony. I had no idea what Decker’s motives had been when he latched on to my sister, but it had something to do with the clan. That much I was sure of. He was using her, so one way or the other, her heart was about to be broken.

  Jakob sat down next to her. I wasn’t the only child of Katherine Winterborne whom he’d nurtured and loved, and their bond ran deep regardless of how much she pushed him away. Pushed us all away. “It’s true,” he said, squeezing her hand. “The Caspians are an ancient dynasty that all vampires descend from. Decker is one of them. He bears the mark on his wrist.”

  She got an annoyed look on her face and pulled her hand away. “You mean his tattoo?” Brushing a stray hair from her forehead, she laughed nervously. “Don’t be ridiculous. He got it in college. It was a drunken fraternity stunt and he regrets it.”

  Edward walked up to her and started to unbutton his shirt. “He was born with that mark.”

  She sank deeper into the sofa when he pulled his shirt open to expose his chest. “What are you doing?”

  “Showing you the mark of a Caspian vampire.”

  Her eyes grew wider as she shot me a horrified look. “Your driver is a vampire?”

  “Half vampire,” he clarified. “Half Caspian vampire.”

  I looked at the mark myself. “I didn’t know you had one.”

  “Half-breeds don’t always have the mark. I was cursed with it at birt
h.” Buttoning his shirt again, he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her, leaning forward.

  I noticed her move slightly closer to stare into his hazel eyes. Edward had that effect on women. He was very handsome and had an undeniable charisma. A vampire’s charm.

  “Are you even a driver?”

  He laughed quietly to put her at ease. “Well, I do have a license, so I guess I am.”

  “You used to drive for my mother. Did she know?”

  Breaking eye contact with her, he looked down at his interlaced fingers. “Your mother and I were colleagues.”

  “Edward and Katherine were doing the same work I’ve been doing in Edinburg for the past few years,” Samuel said. “Fighting the war.”

  Her brow scrunched tightly as she stared at him. “War? What war?”

  “The war the Caspians have been quietly waging through Europe and the United Kingdom. And now they’ve arrived in New York. Benjamin Fuller is their king.” He let that little nugget sink in before continuing. “There aren’t many here yet, but it’s only a matter of time before they send for more and invade the city.”

  “This is ridiculous!” She brushed us off like pesky tricksters trying to pull one over on her. It didn’t seem to occur to her that we had no motive for doing that—she was in utter denial. But in all fairness, if I didn’t know what Hawk was and someone told me he was a vampire, I’d probably react the same way. “Vampires are disgusting creatures with vicious fangs. I’m sure their breath is horrendous, and I assure you Decker’s breath is minty fresh.”

  Now she was just being facetious. There was only one way to convince her that vampires came in all colors, shapes, and sizes.

  “I need to show her.”

  Hawk slowly turned to me. “Show her what?”

  “What a different kind of vampire looks like. A non-Walker.” It was a risk I was willing to take. Avery was a lot of things, but she was discreet. We knew each other’s secrets, and she had never betrayed me before, not even when she met Hawk and found out he was a shifter. I’d left out the part about him being half-vampire because I didn’t want to scare the hell out of her and test her loyalty.

  “Mora?” Jakob gave me the same look. “Are you sure this is wise?”

  “Do you have a better idea?” No one offered an alternative, so I went into the kitchen to get a knife. If I was going to sprout fangs, someone needed to bleed. I walked back into the living room and dangled the blade in front of them. “Who wants to volunteer?”

  Avery took one glance at the knife and got a nervous look in her eyes. “What’s going on?”

  Before I could pick a victim, Samuel pulled out his switchblade and cocked his right brow. “Are you sure about this?”

  “Just do it.”

  Without hesitating, he slashed his wrist. The wound parted, and a thick line of blood oozed out. Avery looked horrified, but her attention quickly shifted to me as my breath began to quicken and my eyes heated up. Most vampires are pale, but I could feel myself igniting on the inside, causing my fair skin to radiate with a soft glow. My fangs slid down the inside of my mouth, tickling the edges of my lips as they descended. I was in complete control of my cravings. Not the slightest bit tempted to rip Samuel’s throat out.

  Avery stumbled off the sofa and backed up toward the wall. “Morgan?” Her voice was shaky, and I detected the scent of fear in the air.

  I could smell fear.

  She shook her head frantically. “I don’t understand. What’s happening to you?” Suddenly her face froze, and her eyes seemed to look right through me as if a memory had hijacked her attention. “The legacy,” she whispered as her focus returned. “I thought it was just a legend.”

  “It’s real, but I didn’t want to show you like this.” I laughed for a second. “I didn’t want to show you at all, but it’s the only way to make you see that vampires are all around you. We’re not all like Night Walkers.”

  “Your sister is a half-breed like me,” Edward said. “My mother was a Caspian vampire, but my father was a mortal.”

  Avery turned back to me with a frightened look. “Please don’t tell me I’m half-vampire too.”

  I could see the relief in her eyes when my fangs started to recede. “We have a different father. Our mother had an affair.”

  “With a vampire? With one of those vampires?”

  I shrugged. “That’s how the legacy manifests. It’s the Caspian gene. I just found out a few weeks ago.” That was a very long story for another day. Right now I needed to make her believe the truth about Decker so she didn’t go running back to him if he showed up. “My father is a Caspian vampire named Ryker.”

  “Ryker?” She looked like she’d been slapped in the face.

  Samuel noticed it too. “You’ve met him, haven’t you?”

  Her mouth gaped as she nodded. “He’s been to the apartment. We hosted a small dinner party for Benjamin Fuller and a few of his colleagues the other night. Ryker is part of his team.”

  Ryker wasn’t a common name, but I was surprised she didn’t try to brush it off as a coincidence. But since she knew about the legacy of the Winterborne women and I’d just revealed my secret to her, a coincidence seemed highly unlikely.

  “By the way,” I said, “Benjamin Fuller’s real name is Vikktor Caspian.”

  It was finally hitting her. She crossed her arms and walked over to the window. “I’m never going to marry Decker, am I?”

  “No.” I could feel her pain from across the room. “And even if you did, your children would bear the legacy. That may be one of the reasons Decker chose you.”

  She turned around, her forehead covered with deep lines. “What?”

  “We’re not sure, but I suspect it’s the clan the Caspians are really after. Decker is trying to ingratiate himself with us through you.” I shrugged. “We’re vampire killers, Avery. Maybe they want to destroy us by building a Trojan horse to get inside the clan.”

  “Or harness the clan’s power,” Samuel said. “Marrying the queen’s sister would be a good place to start. Gives them a way to produce a lot of children like you, Morgan. Half-breeds with incredible power.”

  Avery wiped a tear from her face and smoothed the wrinkles in the front of her skirt. “Well, I guess I dodged that bullet.” Her sense of humor didn’t fool any of us.

  Jakob looked downright angry. “He doesn’t deserve you.”

  She smiled at him briefly and then looked at me to bring up the next uncomfortable subject. “Does the clan know what you are?”

  “Most of them do now.” The list was growing by the day. “Michael knows. So do Charlotte and the twins. And of course our grandmother. But you can’t tell the others. Especially Cabot and Rebecca. They’re looking for a way to push me out, and it could get me killed if the Elders find out what I am. In fact, there’s no telling what they’ll do to the clan’s women if they find out about the legacy. And that includes you.”

  She flipped her hand at me. “Oh, they wouldn’t—”

  “We hunt and kill vampires, Avery. What do you think they’ll do if they find out? Throw us a damn coming-out party? Unless you’d like to see us all fry, you’ll keep your mouth shut.”

  “Well, I’m not interested in ending up on a pyre, so my lips are sealed.”

  Edward changed the subject. “You said Decker left a note. May I see it?”

  Avery sat back down and started digging through her purse. “It was pinned to the wall when I got home.” She finally found it and unfolded the paper, clearly uncomfortable with getting her fingers anywhere near the dried blood. “It’s strange though. It’s definitely Decker’s handwriting, but the signature… Here, see for yourself.”

  Edward took the note and read it, his eyes going cold. “I thought he was dead,” he muttered, still staring at the paper.

  Avery cocked her head. “I don’t understand. You thought Decker was dead?”

  He looked at her, his hand shaking as he crumbled the note in his palm. “The man you
promised your heart to is called Malachai. He’s the king’s brother.”

  I hesitated to ask, but we were about to go to war with a bunch of murderous vampires, and Edward suddenly looked very dangerous and unpredictable. “What did he do to you?”

  He whipped his head around. “What makes you think he did something to me?”

  “Because the look in your eyes is as unstable as I’ve ever seen. You already have one vendetta, Edward. A second one could make you careless. There are no secrets here.”

  Avery looked like she needed some air, so I asked Hawk to take her outside to the terrace. And getting her out of the room was the only way Edward was going to come clean.

  “It’s just us now,” I said, glancing at Samuel and Jakob. “The Order is your family. Nothing you say will leave this room.”

  He took a deep breath through his nose and raked his hand over his head, the difficulty of speaking the words clearly visible on his face. “Let’s just say that Malachai is very much like his brother, only he prefers boys.”

  I was sickened by the image that appeared in my head, but I refused to let him see it. I couldn’t stand it if he thought it was him I was repulsed by. Instead, I asked a question. “You said you thought he was dead.”

  “After my mother sold the boxes to the hunter, she set Malachai up.” He shook his head. “She hated him even more than Vikktor. She sent him a message saying she’d meet him and return the boxes as long as he came alone and didn’t force us to go back. But it was the hunter waiting for him. I just assumed he was dead, but it looks like the bastard was right under my nose the whole time.”

  I leaned closer and looked him in the eye with a resolute stare. “We will find those boxes and kill them all.”

  Samuel and Jakob grunted their approval while Edward took another look at the signature on the note. A few seconds later, Edward switched gears and got down to business, putting his personal vendetta on the back burner.