Jaxon moved next to me. “Please, don’t ever do that again. I’m not sure I can ever un-see whatever that was.”
I patted his chest. “You don’t want to be the Tarzan to my Jane?”
“Not that way.” He shuddered as Nixie and Mason rejoined us.
Our training continued, and we took breaks throughout the evening. Jenna and Blake had come back as well, and it turned into the fun training session that I had been hoping for, ending with all of us exhausted, but laughing our asses off as we hobbled back into the house.
The following day, we were expecting Zeke, but he still hadn’t shown by dinnertime, and I was beginning to stress that something had happened to him.
“Do you think the Luccovinos figured out he was helping us?” I asked while we were all sitting around the living room.
“That’s always a possibility, but let’s give him until the morning before we come up with a Plan B,” Jaxon answered, not at all making me feel better.
Besides Greggor telling me to work on absorption ability, we had no clue how to move forward. We were outnumbered and outpowered until the guys decided to finally call in favors to anyone that they’d done business with in the past couple of years.
Though, none of them seemed keen on that idea. I wanted to scream with frustration every time I thought about the shit situation we were in and how helpless I felt not knowing how to move forward.
Nixie, Jenna, and I sat on the back porch, enjoying the cool evening weather, and I could smell the dinner the guys had decided to cook after the three of us ditched them to unwind in the cool evening air. We’d continued training earlier in the day, and the relaxation felt amazing to my exhausted and beaten body.
“What will you do if Zeke doesn’t show?” Jenna asked.
She’d done well when she and Blake had come back to training. Her natural predator instincts needed refining, but as long as she had someone watching her back, I had faith she’d be able to hold her own during a fight. She had shocked more than just herself.
“Not sure. I was kind of hoping Nixie already had something cooking up in that mischievous head of hers,” I answered, remembering I still hadn’t gotten the chance to pick her brain about why she’d been so serious the day before.
Nixie’s wings twitched. “I don’t know why you’re looking at me. I’m not here to fix everything for you fuckers.”
“Hey, just because you’re sexually frustrated doesn’t mean you can take it out on us. So, spill it and get over it,” I said without remorse. Though, I truly did feel bad. She and Mason seemed to have feelings for each other even though they acted like they hated one another. But, a six-inch fairy and a six-foot fae didn’t really scream perfect match.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She crossed her arms defiantly.
“Really? So, you’re telling me you wouldn’t screw Mason until his balls fell off if it was possible?” I countered.
She snarled at me. “I wouldn’t touch that piece of faeces if my life depended on it.”
“Lies. All I smell is lies, but I am impressed with the new word.” I grinned at her, further fueling her irritation with me.
She pulled both swords from her invisible vault and pointed them at me. “Fuck. You. Maybe I’m cranky, because I’m tired of being around all of you assholes.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think so. Regardless, something is bothering you. What do you know that has you so wound up?” I asked, trying to turn the conversation more serious.
Nixie paced on the arm of the wooden patio chair between me and Jenna while we patiently waited for her to calm down and get her shit together. She could throw a fit all she wanted. I knew she wasn’t going anywhere. We were BBFs—badass bitches forever—and I hadn’t forgotten it, nor would I let her.
Finally, Nixie stopped mumbling to herself and answered my question. “Greggor can do weird shit with the magic he’s acquired over the decades. I know he may not always seem that special, but he’s an actual demon. Not like Jaxon. If he is helping so willingly, this is bigger than we realize. This may not be just about you and your bloodlines, Cara.”
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew what we were dealing with was serious, but I hadn’t really thought about the bigger picture outside of trying to earn my freedom.
“Well, then we better bring our A-game, because I’m not letting these fuckers get the best of us. We’ll heed Greggor’s advice and keep moving forward until we’ve won or lost. Either way, we don’t give up until we’ve exhausted all options.”
Jenna leaned forward. “Who is Greggor, exactly?”
“He’s a demon you don’t want to piss off,” a deep rumble answered from the doorway to the porch.
Zeke had finally arrived.
At the sound of his voice, the guys came into view as well, and the tension was thick. This was the first time we’d all been around Zeke expecting it to last longer than a few minutes. We had no idea if we could truly trust him, but we’d been left with no choice other than to find out.
“How about we move this inside?” Zeke suggested with an undertone of irritation in his voice.
Jenna and I stood, then Nixie flew to my shoulder as we walked back inside. The smell of food made my stomach growl, but it would have to wait.
Once we were all seated tightly in the living room, Zeke gave Jaxon a pointed stare. “I had assumed you’d have the smarts to stay away from the prison. Why the hell would you go back there?”
“Because there are people there that we still care about, and we had a feeling something wasn’t okay. Turns out, we were right,” I interjected before Jaxon could answer.
“Well, I hope they were worth it. The brothers are looking for you, and their mother is the best tracker this world has ever seen. If you had left this compound one more time, then they would have had you now that they’ve had their hands on you.” His jaw ticked with frustration.
“What’s been done is done. Why don’t you tell us what you know and why you asked us to come here,” Blake said.
Surprising most of us, Zeke didn’t hesitate to answer. “I’ve been with the Luccovinos for nearly a decade. It took me years to get where I am within their ranks, but there have been bumps in the road preventing me from finishing what I started.”
“And what would that be?” Mason asked.
“Well, I work for the Supernatural Council, and they wanted me to get all the information I could about the Luccovino holdings before they shut them down. If we didn’t hit all of the compounds and any of the main members got away, they’d just continue business as usual. The council refused to step in until they were certain that when we struck, we’d win.”
“You work for the council? How is that possible? You look so young?” I asked.
“Magic is a wonderful thing,” he replied nonchalantly.
“What about Gillian? How did things for him go so badly?” Spencer asked.
“I went my separate ways with my dad about twenty years ago when he began working for the prison. He’d asked me to join him, and I did for a short time, but I saw the way he was running things and we didn’t agree on most of it. Whatever choices he made after I left, I wasn’t aware of until a few years ago when he got involved with the Luccovinos.
“He showed up one day asking for a boost of magic like he was withdrawing from crack like humans do. He was so far gone, he didn’t even recognize me. Nic took him in a room, and when my dad left, he was drenched in dark magic. I told the council about it, but they wouldn’t remove him from his position. They were worried it would compromise the case we’d been building if anyone connected the two of us.”
“So, how close are you to being done with your investigation?” Jaxon asked.
Gods, I hoped really fucking close. Maybe we wouldn’t even have to fight the Luccovinos. Maybe the council would take care of everything for us, and I could resume my normal life. One without prisons and psycho vampires.
“I was really close, but whe
n the council found out about you, they put the whole thing on hold.” Zeke stared at me, and my hope was dashed.
“What does that mean?” Spencer asked.
“It means they want to see how this plays out and how Cara figures into the bigger picture. Until then, they’re staying out of it.”
“What the fuck is the council good for then?” I asked, because really, I didn’t know much about them other than the fact that they were supposed to be the final say in all rulings if situations couldn’t be handled within packs, covens, and the like. They made our rules, and if anyone stepped too far out of line, then they reminded those same people who was ultimately in charge.
I was pretty sure the Luccovinos stepped out of line the moment they got into business with politicians, but maybe they hadn’t actually told the humans they were supernatural. There was a chance the vamps were smarter than I was giving them credit for, or just more powerful than the council was willing to deal with.
My bet was on the latter.
“Is there any chance you’ve fucked something up and the Luccovinos know you’re not on their side?” Nixie asked when nobody had an answer to my question.
He glared and shook his head. “My cover is sound. They have no idea what my end game is with this.”
“What about the prison? We still have friends in there, and they’ve taken it over. Why did they go to Mandora?” I asked.
Zeke pointed to my chest. “That. I’m not sure what happened, since they didn’t talk about it much in front of me, but less than a week ago, the main compound was shut down while Luca, Nic, and Gino sorted some shit out. Then, they left before telling anyone. After asking around, I learned about Cara’s mark.”
Shit. I had forgotten about that. Nixie kept it covered up for me most of the time, but her magic wasn’t strong enough to last for days on end. It usually wore off after about eight hours when it came to the mark.
“Who is in this prison you felt so compelled to go back for?” Zeke asked.
“You haven’t been there yet?” I questioned, somewhat surprised since he seemed so involved in everything else.
“No, why?”
I shared a look with Jaxon, and he nodded, seeming to already know where I was going with the conversation. “Well, I forgot for a moment that you already know Owen.”
“Of course, I do. I’ve been looking for him, but he hasn’t resurfaced since the fight at the prison. I thought maybe he was at our other home, but he wasn’t there when I checked it out this morning. That’s why I got here so late.”
“You guys live together?” Gods, this was going to be so much worse. I actually felt bad telling him, or maybe I was reading it wrong and they weren’t together in that way.
“Yes, I’ve been with Owen for the last two years. I tried to push him away, but he was persistent.” The same look of admiration that I’d seen on Blake’s face appeared on Zeke’s until it was replaced with a sneer. “Do you know where he is?”
I nodded and grimaced. I really hoped he had a good temper. “He never left the prison. The Luccovinos are torturing him, but I don’t know what for. Are you absolutely certain they don’t suspect you of spying on them?”
Zeke’s face paled, then turned red as his fingers wrapped around the arms of the chair that he was in. The wood was beginning to splinter based on the sounds I was hearing.
Blake leaned forward, and I knew he only wanted to help, but I held my hand out to stop the empath.
Zeke needed to feel. Unless he began to really break shit, it wasn’t up to us to calm him down. He was a big boy. Plus, a little extra incentive for him to help us wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“I’m going to kill every one of those parasites.”
Chapter 14
There was a big difference between wanting to kill someone and being able to do so. Zeke was rightfully pissed the fuck off, but after learning that the Luccovinos were original vampires, I highly doubted he could accomplish what he so badly desired.
“I bet you’re glad we went to the prison now,” Nixie snickered. Girl had zero compassion or empathy.
“Shut it, Fairy,” Zeke snarled. “When did you plan on going back?”
“Well, we figured that depended on when you showed up and what we learned from you. We don’t have a death wish, so we were hoping for help before we went back,” Mason answered.
Zeke was standing by then, his fists flexing over and over again as he tried to calm down. “I have a few ideas, but I need a day or two to put things into motion. I’ll be in my room. Don’t bother me.” Then, he disappeared. Super. Another annoying supernatural who could just disappear on a whim.
Spencer excused himself and took a call while the rest of us tried to figure out our next steps. We couldn’t just sit there for the next two days. Well, at least I couldn’t without going stir-crazy. Sure, I still needed to perfect my absorption skills, but there was only so much of that I could handle in a day.
Jaxon and Blake had shot down at least four asinine ideas from Mason by the time Spencer came back in with something to keep us busy. “I have a friend who needs some tracking help.”
“I’m not sure leaving here is a good idea. You heard Zeke. They have the best tracker out there, and we can’t risk them finding Cara before we’re ready,” Jaxon answered.
Nixie piped in. “I can shield her like I’ve done before. We need to do this. I need to get the hell out of this house for a little bit.”
“We’ve only been here for a couple of days,” Blake replied.
“And your point is?” she snapped.
She was a cranky fairy. Something more was up with her, and as I watched her side-eye Mason, I was positive their unique attraction to each other was to blame. They’d been actually fighting lately instead of bantering, and I wished she would talk about it more with me, but she was also a stubborn thing, so I didn’t push too hard.
“Let’s clear it with Zeke first. We don’t need him losing his shit if he comes back up here and we’re gone,” Mason said.
My stomach growled again. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not leaving tonight, and I still smell dinner, so you all can talk to Zeke, but I’m going to go eat.”
I stood up, ignoring their pointed glares and enjoying the moment greatly when Jenna stood as well, and Nixie flew ahead of us. As the grumbles of the guys faded away, the smell of spaghetti sauce filled my senses. I found that along with noodles in two separate pots warming on the stove, and then found bread already cooked in the oven.
Jenna began cutting the bread after I took it out, then I grabbed plates and forks. When everything was set out, I served myself a plate and Jenna grabbed her mug of blood from the fridge, hunger still in her eyes as she watched me eat.
“That looks so good,” she moaned.
“Why don’t you have some?” I asked.
Her eyes widened. “Can I? I thought I had to drink blood.”
I turned to Nixie. “Can she do both?” Again, my lack of knowledge about other supernaturals was biting me in the ass.
“I mean, you still piss and shit, right? I don’t see why not,” Nixie answered.
“Always so proper with your words,” I replied with an eye roll, and Jenna was already back in the kitchen, getting her own food.
“Go fuck yourself.”
“And how about you go fuck Mason, so you quit being so bitter and cranky.” I hadn’t meant to be so crass, but she was pissing me off with her surly attitude.
She glared at me, stole a chunk of my garlic bread, and then flew away. Yep, it was Mason and the sexual tension that was causing her to be all wound up. We really needed to figure something out for them.
By the time Jenna joined me, the guys were finally coming to get their food. I watched as Mason searched the dining table for Nixie, but when he caught my stare, he didn’t say anything.
“So, are we going?” I asked when everyone was seated and I was almost done with my food.
“We are. Zeke was ac
tually very eager for us to get out of his house. He’s going to put the spell on us, so it doesn’t take too much from Nixie in case we run into real trouble,” Jaxon answered.
“Is everyone going?” I really just meant Jenna. She’d stopped flinching so much on the second day of training, and she had alright defensive moves, but her offensive ones were severely lacking.
“Yes, but we won’t go out together. We’ll grab a hotel, and while two or three people go out, the others will at least be close by,” Spencer answered.
“Who is this friend of yours, and why are we helping him when we have our own crisis to worry about?” The dryad didn’t ever talk about his past, so I was genuinely curious.
“His name is Raymond. He’s the leader of a small coven down in Louisiana. They stay under the radar, for the most part, but he knew my family when I was growing up. If he needs something, I won’t turn him down.” Spencer’s tone was serious, as was the strain in his neck. He was really worried about the coven leader.
“Well, if he’s like family to you, then he’s family to the rest of us as well. What or who will we be tracking?” I asked, and could see the tension leave his body when no arguments were made.
“His son Seth. A teenage witch who got wrapped up with the wrong people when he tried to branch out on his own, thinking the grass was greener on the other side. He is now in too far with the wrong people to get out on his own. He’s not a bad kid, just naïve.”
Huh. Sounded like the four guys sitting around the table with us. After hearing that, I was certain even if Spencer didn’t know Raymond, we’d still have taken the assignment after learning the story about the kid.
My Fabled Fuckers might act tough, but each of them had a big heart. People just had to dig through all the layers of asshole-ness to find any glimpse of kindness. Very few were brave enough to do so, but I was sure as hell glad I had been.
Having Zeke throwing shit against his wall and yelling at whoever he was talking to had put the wrong kind of kink into the morning sex routine I had become used to. Not getting laid was worse than not having my liquid gold, and I never thought anything could be more devastating than going without caffeine.
Escape (Elite Supernatural Trackers Book 3) Page 10