by Jo Palmer
“How do we proceed from here?” she asked, interrupting the three men’s coffee drinking.
Vampires adored coffee, the very finest coffees. You wouldn’t catch them drinking instant or office sludge. The bloodsuckers clustered around as though it were gold, or blood, savoring every whiff and sip. Remi had once said vamps had coffee orgies, though now, watching their pure enjoyment of the black brew, Ada saw Remi’s meaning. Not a sexual orgy, an “enjoyment of the senses” orgy.
Of coffee. How strange.
“Firstly, we enjoy our espressos.” Lucio waved a hand elegantly at the empty seat beside Nate. “Try, brownie. You will find that in all the world, there is no coffee as splendid as the vampires’ own blend.”
“I wasn’t aware your kind had your own brand.” She sat and cautiously sipped. Surprise had her sniffing the coffee aroma. “You are right, it is splendid.”
“Si, of course!” Nico exclaimed. “We develop, grow, and harvest our own beans, then design the blends. Truly, cara, you must be updated on Galdo.”
“I do believe you’re right,” Ada murmured, growing quite annoyed with herself for having this lack of knowledge. She actually deserved to be reprimanded for letting herself be so narrow-minded in her views on what knowledge to gain. It certainly didn’t help in her dealings when she didn’t know enough to be prepared and how to approach. She would fix this oversight.
“So no one has heard from Div?” Nate asked.
“Is Divij the leader of the sentinels?” Ada asked with curious interest and was surprised by the burst of laughter from Nate, a scoffing noise from Lucio and Nico’s raised brows. “I do not understand.”
“Div likes to think he is the leader.” Lucio smirked and tsked. “Immortals.”
“Agreed, they are…tiresome with their self-importance,” Nico said airily.
Nate shrugged. “Ain’t no sentinel leader, honey. That’d cause anarchy.”
“Anarchy? Why? Oh, I see. Creature petty jealousies and rivalry.”
No one addressed that comment, Nico holding out a plate of petite éclairs, absolutely divine, and Lucio pouring more espressos.
“Nah, we’re fairly civilized, each with our own ways, strengths, and limitations. Helps us work together. What Div does is use his anal retentive ways to organize.” Nate scoffed three éclairs.
“I don’t think it is anally retentive to want to be organized.” Ada stuck her nose in the air, slightly offended. “How exactly do we proceed? Another Hammer hunt?”
“Too soon, Grydern will be expecting it. Nope, we follow up our other leads.”
“Which are?” After all the commotion yesterday, Ada wasn’t quite sure what other leads they may have come up with.
“The locations Ace researched, ones believed to be to Grydern’s liking. We’ll split into groups and scour them. Meanwhile, Penny, Sev, and Ruine are looking deeper into the charm your imp friend wears. Maybe their pooled magic can override some of Grydern’s—”
“With the right spell, we may be fortunate,” Lucio said.
Nate nodded. “Yep. And then there are those cuffs that Carlos, the demon sultan, forged centuries ago. Chase, Div, Missy and a few others are gonna try to break the magic covering them. Ole Carlos volunteered his services so we might be good on that one.”
“Well, at least there are some avenues to pursue. Where does this leave us?” Ada began to feel the tiniest bit optimistic.
“We’re gonna go check out a couple of the locations Ace came up with. Who knows, we might have a bit of luck between us.” Nate winked. “We could negotiate some more on the land dispute while we’re hunting.”
Ada fought a smile, smoothing her features to classically bored. “Oh? You are willing to relent and return the brownies land?”
“What about the imps? Weren’t you waffling on about them being all glorious and in allegiance with the brownies against the wolves just yesterday at the meeting?”
Ada glanced about without real interest. “Goodness, not an imp in sight. Screw ’em, they’ve got enough land.”
“Shit, lufu, I get shivers from your loyalty.”
Lucio laughed, rising from the table. “Please, excuse me. I have an errant fairy to check up on and numerous tedious tasks to see to while my dear cousin is hunting the disloyal immortal.” He bowed to Ada. “A pleasure, brownie Ada.” He nodded at Nate. “Werewolf.”
Turning to mist, the vamp was gone. Nico excused himself to see to the queen before their departure, leaving Ada and Nate in one of the many private drawing rooms at the vampire vortex.
“What are our chances, do you think?” She asked, tense once more with the thought of them hunting the disloyal immortal.
“Can’t say, realistically.” He stood up and offered a big, masculine hand and leering smile. “But I’m a real good hunter, honey, and I don’t stop until I take down my prey.”
She shivered, taking his double meaning and his hand. Prince Dareios was right; a common enemy did make for strange bedfellows. It wasn’t two days ago she would have scoffed and rolled her eyes at the thought of aligning herself with a werewolf, yet here she was, taking his hand. But more, trusting him implicitly. She knew he’d keep his word, and he’d hunt until there were no leads left, or nothing left to hunt.
And it was funny how in just a few short days she could barely wait to make this werewolf her bedfellow.
Of course, not being a lame brain, Ada was cluing onto a few things. No, she wouldn’t make any decisions yet, and she wasn’t jumping to conclusions. But she was far from stupid. Everything had clicked this morning as she was having a shower, her extreme reaction to the werewolf, her behavior, and this unbelievable draw to him. First, she would analyze the situation, possibly within an inch of its life, but a few little niggling points were circling around her head, and she couldn’t ignore them anymore.
The werewolf was hiding something, and a pretty major something too. Yes, they had a common enemy, and yes, he was a werewolf, and they had the “protect and serve” mentally. She completely understood that. He might want to have a few good tumbles on the bed with her, but this behavior of giving selflessly went beyond mere wooing a casual bed partner. The way he protected her, seemed to worry over her safety, was reaching a bit much for what she thought they were leading toward.
Dammit, she had an inkling this werewolf was keeping something very important to himself, as were all his sentinel buddies. If he was in fact what she was beginning to believe he may be, then destiny’s curse, she had a great deal of deep thinking and research to do.
Mate.
Fates and destiny, she had to be mistaken…right? But that would explain her peculiar attachment to the cheeky, scruffy wolf.
There was no time to analyze though, not with everything going on. She would be paying the utmost attention, and if she were right, and they were mates, then that changed the whole state of play. And that had Ada reeling.
And importantly, how did she feel about this? What were the consequences in every respect of her life—and his? It was more than a simple “How do you do? I appear to be your mate.” It was “throw lives into chaos and upheaval,” two single lives trying to merge into one. But in the end, Ada was beginning to see this came down to what she never would have expected. Was she ready to face this? Had she somehow grown in such a short space of time? Had her ideas and philosophy, her future plans, taken a complete turnaround? It did seem possible they had. And she wasn’t the least bit alarmed, for some reason. That warranted thinking about, but for now, she would quietly face what was most important.
Feelings. Wants. Needs. Oh, yes, it was downright irritating. Her orderly, going-in-the-right-direction life had turned on its tail the moment she received Nana Mae’s call. Nate had her re-evaluating so much about her own beliefs, her own stubbornness, that she needed time to contemplate. If only that were possible.
Instead, she collected what she needed for the day ahead and along with Nate and Nico, left Galdorcwide, coming out on the
other side in a hotel room in a small town. A car waited for them, and they drove straight to a little airstrip with a plane fueled up and idling on the tarmac.
Hmm, Ada mused, boarding the plane with Nico’s assistance while Nate double-checked that it was one hundred percent secure.
Apparently there was no discussing anything until Nico received his latte. Ada refrained from rolling her eyes. The vampire had just consumed two espressos not that long ago! She was beginning to think he had a caffeine addiction. Once settled, she demanded to be updated.
Nate was far more forthcoming than she presumed he would be. He went over what Ace had been researching, what others had found, and what the plan was for today. There was no new information.
“Where exactly are we going?” Ada’s mind was clicking over facts, and some things just did not add up.
“Las Vegas. Grydern has, shall we say, a way of turning the cards to his favor.” Nico crossed his long legs, glancing at his iPad. “It is a necessity.”
“He likes to gamble?” Ada did not think this fit Grydern’s mindset. “He is too obsessed with power to lose control over a gambling addiction.”
“His gambling is to make sure he wins money to pay for his pet projects and making problems for us,” Nate explained.
“I see.” Ada tapped her pen absently against a notebook. “Exactly how many problems has Grydern caused, besides the experiments fifty years ago?”
“He’s actually been pretty quiet. Only been two instances in that time, right, Nico?”
“Si, si…what is it you think, caro?”
With his ability to mind thoughts, Nico was most likely receiving jumbled nonsense in her mind as she was trying to make connections with what they knew.
“Grydern has a set purpose. To take power and magic from each species of creature so he can become the most powerful.” She frowned. “Abducting Remi does not make any sense whatsoever. She is only average in power, if above in intelligence, and she uses her skills to achieve what she wants. But realistically he should be going after the most powerful of each species, otherwise what is the point?”
“Yeah, that’s what Chase and Dare said too.” Nate shrugged, wolfing down a roll loaded with beef, cheese and some sort of spicy sauce that had Ada’s eyes watering just from the smell.
“Then what is he really doing taking Remi? A distraction so that all of you are racing around searching for her? But how would he know you would search? And not send out the normal enforcers?”
“Bueno, Ada, we also came to this curious consideration.”
“What did you come up with, Nico?”
The vampire princes elegantly waved a hand. “Grydern, he does many things at once. It is impossible for the sentinels and the council to plan ahead. With so little activity and now so much, we are behind but reaching conclusions.”
“Ones we don’t like. From what we can figure, he took Remi because she was close and convenient. Yeah, a means to rile us up and have us chasing our tails, wondering what he’s up to. While we’re doing that he’s putting plans into motion. He’s got a few, some we don’t even know about, others we’re cluing onto.”
“The ceremonial power bowl for one. I’m assuming he has been searching for it also and coming up against a problem. Perhaps he decided to let you assist in retrieving them. He will then probably attempt to steal them.” Ada mused.
“I’d say he’s trying to replicate it. There have been break-ins at the museums and libraries, some objects taken, some that weren’t cataloged.” Nate smirked at her expression. “Don’t get your panties in a knot, we’ve been taken to task on that and have higher security and catalogers—”
“That certainly does not help after the fact! How do you know what he has taken?” Exasperated, she was momentarily reminded why she felt Galdorcwide was so antiquated. Sometimes creatures were far too sure of their abilities and themselves, and they didn’t think ahead, plan, and be cautious. Now they could be under threat from an ancient artifact that held a power no one was prepared for.
“We can guess to some extent, but—” Nico murmured.
“Ace is a good researcher. Possibly he can go back through the records and identify what was stolen. It’s no good guessing; we must be prepared. Grydern is proving far more irrational and clever than any normal power-hungry brute.”
“True, true, caro. And si, Ace is an excellent researcher, as is Divij. We believe taking your friend Remika was a calculated step in his plan, one we are behind in, certainly, but not unprepared for.”
Still agitated and a bit confused, Ada sighed heavily. “We must find where he is. If he can replicate the bowl, retrieving any more pieces of the original is a waste of our valuable time. He cannot use any pieces he collects, as he would need it to be complete for the ceremony, and we now possess some of those pieces. It would be best to focus on the creatures he would wish to take powers from as we have thwarted his bowl retrieval attempt.”
“You’re right, it’s a good point.” Nate drained a bottle of water and poured both her and Nico glasses. She was no longer surprised by this courtesy, as she knew Nate took care of others. With supernatural speed and skill, he juggled some apples then sliced them up along with strawberries and kiwi fruit and placed them on a plate with cheese and crackers.
“Then who would he want?” She selected a slice of kiwi fruit, apple, and a cracker. “The most powerful are the kings and queens.”
“They are extremely powerful. Dareios is more powerful than his mother, Queen Giselle. Ruine, the war demon may be more powerful than Sultan Carlos, his uncle, but his aunt Tamara, she is powerful also…” Nico paused, popping a strawberry into his mouth.
“So anyone of you could be in danger?” Ada suddenly felt fearful for Nate, and Nico. “Are you two more powerful than your parents? Is Lucio or Blaine?”
“Power struggles are for others.” Nate dismissed. “You’re puzzling something, bro, what gives?” He winked at Ada. “Don’t worry; we can take care of ourselves.”
“Quite possibly, but it is best to be extra careful. Grydern sent Myles after you, though we don’t know if he was meant to kidnap you, or Myles just wanted to kill you for revenge. Or me to make you suffer. Who knows why he thought my death would cause you to suffer. As a Revmiras, he is probably a bit insane.” She covered the fact she was suspicious of being his mate, not yet wanting to bring it out into the open without being completely sure.
“Logical, yeah, but there are other strong werewolves not part of the royal clan. Everyone has to be on guard. Nico?”
Nico had stiffened and was retrieving his phone from beside his computer. “Merda, too high up. I will send a telepathic message to Lucio.”
“What is happening?”
Obviously something she said had Nico reacting. Unfortunately, the way he was reacting gave the impression whatever it was, was more bad news for them. Of course, catching a break wasn’t on the cards. Dammit, this situation was really beginning to piss her off.
“Not sure.” Nate gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand, not letting it go. “So what’s in that big case on wheels you brought along?”
Allowing herself to be distracted, amused by the werewolf being chivalrous, again, she informed him she had brought along her computer, stationery, law books, High Council appointments and the land dispute file.
Dark brows rose. “Yeah? That means you’re gonna work for the council?”
“I am investigating—”
He made a scoffing noise. “Brownie, you either are, or you aren’t.”
Annoyed, she bristled. “Unlike you, werewolf, I take the time to thoroughly check out a situation, not just leap in with a big grin and hairy feet!”
“I don’t have hairy feet.” He gave a lopsided grin. “OK, I do on occasion, but I did take the time to check you out, and I’ve gotta say, love, I’m liking what I’m seeing.”
Ada rolled her eyes, amused despite herself. She actually liked the way he could joke about himse
lf and rather wished she had a small portion of that skill. But she didn’t, so she feigned annoyance and superiority.
“Come on, love, you’re not one to dally over something if you’re not interested.”
Flicking a speck of cracker off her dark green cargo pants, she spared him a dismissive glance.
“I may be contemplating accepting a position with the council, if it is officially offered and meets my standards and requirements.”
Laughing, he squeezed her hand, the one he hadn’t let go of. “That’s my girl.”
“In your dreams, wolf.”
“You know it. My dreams are full of a raven-haired, sharp-tongued brownie goddess.”
She believed him but had no time to respond for Nico had finished his telepathic conversation, a serious expression on the charming vamp’s face.
“Severo. He must be one of Grydern’s plans and a target.”
“Sev? No shit? How’d you come up with that?” Nate growled, looking like he’d just chewed on a lemon instead of a bloody steak. “No fucking way!”
“Oh, indeed, in every way. It is too brilliant, too right. It is one of the ultimate ways to gain insurmountable power.”
“I am completely lost. Count Severo, Penelope’s brother, is Grydern’s target? I am sure I heard a rumor he was far less powerful than his cousin, Divij, his uncle, and Penelope.”
“Sev’s astounding. He lacks much magic the likes of what Div and Penny hold, you’re right on that front. And Div and Penny have their own set of freaky magic skills you don’t wanna go messing with, but Sev’s got something that can—”
“Destroy or bring the greatest joy,” Nico said quietly. “This ability he holds is kept a well-guarded secret, Ada, please do us the honor of holding it safe for us, and especially for Severo.”
Enthralled, she nodded. “You are a lot closer to the sentinels and a few others than I understood you to be. Of course, I will not betray yours or Count Severo’s secret.”
“Grazi. Sev has a unique ability to see who are mates. He can sense them, knows them, can bring them together, or render them apart if so desired.”