by Jessie Lynn
"Can I offer you a drink old friend?"
"Got any single malt scotch? Thanks."
Coming back over to Rafe, drinks in hand. He gestured for Rafe to sit in one of the high backed chairs in front of his desk. He handed Rafe his glass and went to sit behind his desk. Dominic was very old school. Rafe actually wasn't even sure how old the wolf was exactly. Old enough to have gone through the trials just as Rafe had, but Dom was the alpha even back then. And he had been for quite some time too. Rafe knew he was a very powerful ally or an even worse foe. Rafe chose to keep him as a very close friend instead.
Dominic came from Russia originally. And from what Rafe understood, his family has always held great power in both the supernatural community, and the human world. Dom definitely did not act the way a strip club owner should. He had the mannerisms of a noble man. If you were to meet him outside the club, you would never have guessed he owned one. Being a werewolf, he didn't look over is mid-thirties, even though he had to be ancient. Although Rafe would never think to ask exactly how ancient he really was.
Rumor was the Fates had originally chosen him to be the high elder to the werewolf packs and sit on the council. But he refused them and told them he would be an enforcer or nothing to them. How the hell he did that and lived was a miracle. That's why it was only a rumor; nobody thought it could be done. If the rumor was in fact true, then Rafe was grateful that he had. Rafe much preferred to have him in the League protecting the people. Shortly after Sloan's nomination and him passing the trials, Dom appointed him as his beta. For that and more, Sloan had Rafe's respect as well. That was why Rafe didn't mind Sloan being in on this little pow wow.
Sloan got up and went to fix himself a drink, returning to his chair he said. "Rafe I'm quite sure my alpha would agree with me when I say this is very intriguing the way you're coming to him like this. Do you my alpha?"
Sloan reminded you of a 1920's gangster in his three piece suit and his wing tipped loafers. He looked even more so sitting in Dom's elegant office drinking out of his crystal snifter. Oh look and he even had a cigar to complete the costume. That's exactly what it was a costume. If you saw him on the street, he'd look like a biker. The hair he had tied neatly at the nape of his neck now would be loose and under a bandanna in normal Sloan style. Dom must be wanting to make a more professional appearance now. So whatever. Rafe was about to call Sloan out on it too, when Dom spoke first.
"Sloan has definitely taken the words right out of my mouth. What brings you in here so upset old friend. I can honestly say I've never seen you so on edge like this and it worries me."
Leave it to Dom to get right to the friggin point and call him out on his body language when no one else could. Well except for Rafe's men who have worked under him for centuries. But even they didn't have the balls to call him out on it. Well that and they respected him way too much to do it. For the most part, he was a very private vampire. When you've fucked up as much as he had, you tended to get that way. It was just easier in the long run. Rafe took a fortifying drink of his scotch enjoying the burn as the liquid slid down his throat. He then answered Dom's question.
"First I'm looking for Ed and its imperative that I find him and soon. Do either of you or any in your pack know where he is?"
Dom looked at Sloan for a moment undoubtedly having an unspoken convo between them. They both turned back to Rafe and before Dom could say anything, Rafe cut him off.
"I need to find that fucking meddling demon because he knows where my mate is okay." Rafe blurted out. Well wouldn't ya know that stunned both of them to silence. Not the exact reaction he was hoping for, but he could work with it.
After a while, Dom spoke again. "Are you sure you've found your mate?" At Rafe's irritated expression and head bobbing to confirm he continued. "If you are sure she is yours. I am assuming your mate is a she, yes?" At Rafe's look of complete shock and repulsion, he laughed. "I take that as a yes then."
"Are you fucking kidding me right now with that question?" Rafe all but yelled back at him. "Dom I'm in a really pissed poor mood, so I'd appreciate skipping the smart assed remarks and questions. Yes, I'm sure she is my mate. Now are you going to help me find that damn demon or waste more of my time when I need to be finding her right goddamned now."
Rafe was about to lose it again. He was in pain, hers and his, and he was about to do something really stupid from the stress of not knowing where she was and not having her in his arms. The longer he fucked around with dead ends meant the smaller the chance he had of finding her before the sun forced him to his apartment at Lair. He couldn't go another day without her safe in his arms. Dammit she couldn't go another day without him holding her, keeping her warm. Now that he thought about it, he was damn cold himself.
"Fuck!" He yelled shooting out of his chair. "Forget it, just fucking forget it. I'll find that damn goat myself." He walked to the wet bar, putting his glass down a little on the hard side, then turned and headed for the door.
"Sit the fuck down now Rafael before I put you back in that seat myself!"
Dominic boomed back at Rafe standing up from his own chair. He looked over to his beta seeing him on his feet as well with the same shocked expression on Sloan's face as he was sure was on his. This was not the Rafe they knew. This was not the Rafe they considered one of their closest friends. The Rafe they had served the community with for centuries. He was their fellow League and he was obviously suffering.
Rafe stopped at the door head down, but did not turn around. They could see the tired sigh that moved his entire upper body. Dom and Sloan exchanged another glance. He still had his hand on the door when he said to them.
"Dom with all due respect old friend, but I don't have the time or the patience to deal with anyone's shit. So you either know where Ed is, or you don't. Tell me now so I can go looking elsewhere before I run out of time before the sun comes up. "
"Rafe I said sit down now. Will you disrespect me in my own house?"
It took everything Rafe had to walk back over to his chair and basically fall into it. Damn he was tired. No sleep will do that to ya. Course going out before the sun was completely set didn't help one bit either. He had to find his mate... His sanity depended on it.
"I do not know where Ed is at the moment, no." Before Rafe could start to protest, he held up his hand. "I will however have teams start looking for him now, as well as go to the other packs for their assistance tomorrow. I am not wasting anyone's time, especially my own."
Dom looked back at Sloan who had sat back in his chair as well. Sloan raised a brow at him, nodding his head.
"Rafe, I will personally help you search during the day while you can't." Sloan said to him.
"Rafe I must admit we're both shocked that if you have found your mate, then why are you are now having to look for her instead of introducing her to us." Dom said to him.
"And where the hell Ed plays into it." Sloan finished.
"No offense Dom, but I sure as hell wouldn't bring her here to meet you."
Dom nodded his understanding. "I wouldn't if I were you as well."
"The how I found her and then lost her is a long story." Rafe replied to both of them. Looking up to see Dominic's raised brow and lopsided grin, he knew he wasn't getting their help or getting out of here easily without his little story time telling. Fucking dammit! This is why he really didn't want to come into the wolf's den as it were. And this is yet another reason why he hated dealing with werewolves. Looks like it was story time boys and girls. Now everybody grab your blanky and sippy cup and let’s cuddle up and listen to Rafe's biggest regret of the last century.
Rafe got back up and went back to the wet bar, downed the rest of the drink Dom had given him. He then grabbed the bottle of scotch and poured him a full glass, was about to put the bottle back down and thought the better of it. So he took it and his glass back to his chair, taking a swig from the bottle on his way back. And proceeded to tell the wolves all about his humiliating royal fuck up.
> CHAPTER 13
The cold eyes that had watched Rafe almost kill his mate the night before watched him enter the wolves' strip club. The place was as disgusting as were the wolves that owned it. The eyes were lucky to have been able to locate Rafe in the first place, let alone follow him here. When they had been able to get to Lair to follow him out for the evening, they were furious to find he had already left. They did not anticipate that he would be able to venture out before the sun fully set.
They were able to track him down only a short time ago and followed him until he went inside. There was no way to enter without their presence being noticed. So they waited across the street watching for Rafe to exit. He was quickly running out of time before the sun would start to rise again and he would be forced to end his search. Surely, Rafe wouldn't allow the wolves to keep him from finding the demon tonight. There was no choice to wait until he emerged. As the night grew to an end and Rafe still had not emerged, the eyes knew he would not. So they instead went to find another method of finding the fire eater, and then Rafe's mate.
CHAPTER 14
Rafe could feel her. His beautiful mate was here in his bed where she belonged. She was crawling up between his legs. Too damn slowly in his opinion. She was kissing him as she went and he sure as hell liked that. So it kinda made up for the fact she was taking her sweet time. His dick went on instant alert before his brain could register the problem with this scenario. And by the time he shot straight up in bed, he had a nymph sucking his dick into her mouth.
"No! Hell fucking no! Get the fuck off me!" Rafe yelled at her, pushing her by the forehead to dislodge his now limp dick from the nymph's mouth. What the hell was this? He had to admit the whole dick shriveling up like a raisin was a lot embarrassing, but what the hell was the Barbie look alike doing in the room Dom had allowed him to crash in.
Rafe had been forced to stay at The Meat Locker instead of going back to Lair. It had taken longer than he expected it would to tell them what he had done to lose his mate. And then to answer all of Dom and Sloan's questions afterward. He really didn't want to stay, but he was shit outta luck on that one. No way were they letting him stumble his way home while the sun was starting to rise. He really didn't blame them on that one though.
He'd been drinking Dom's very expensive, very best single malt scotch and was pretty sure he'd finished the bottle Dom had in his office. Then he had sent for another one. Even being as shit faced as he was, he knew for damn sure he hadn't taken one of those freakin nymphs to bed with him. They had offered him more times than he could count, but he'd had a piercing pain go through his chest at the mere thought so he had refused every time. He had finally agreed to drink from one even though he had fed more than plenty on his beautiful the night before. The stress of his mate's pain and him going out too early that evening, and his own pain of not having her had weakened him to an almost dangerous level.
He really wasn't sure if the one here in bed with him now was the one he'd fed from or not. He'd been too drunk to remember, and he really didn't care. They all looked the same to him anyway, and they sure as hell weren't his mate. For that reason and the fact that he refused to pay for sex none of them interested him in the least. Not that Dom would have made him pay had he said he wanted one.
Rafe threw the sheet over the girl's body and jumped out of bed grabbing his jeans off the chair he'd thrown them on as he stumbled into the bed that morning. Rafe didn't even bother with a shirt or his shoes, he just went in search of Dominic and, or Sloan. He found them of course in Dom's office. As he stormed in all heads turned his way.
"Rafe I did not expect you to be up so early." Dom said all chipper with a smile. Rafe sure as hell wasn't chipper or smiling.
Rafe just growled at him. "I would have still been asleep had it not been for the little afternoon wake up blow job you tried to send me." Rafe said to him letting the wolf know he wasn't pleased with the gift in the least.
"I'm afraid you'll have to explain further my friend, because I do not know as to what you are referring." Dominic said to him, and Rafe knew he hadn't sent the girl into his room, someone else had. Fan-fuckin-tastic!
"I woke up to one of your nymph's mouths wrapped around my dick. And Dom, you and I both know how I feel about that, especially now."
Dom's entire demeanor changed in that instant. "It seems I owe you yet another apology Rafe. I will find out how the girl gained access to your room and I will take care of it. But since you are up I believe you will be interested to hear this news my patrols have brought me." Pointing at the same chair Rafe occupied the night before. "Please do have a seat my friend." When Rafe sat down one of the wolves Rafe didn't know started talking.
"As I was saying alpha, we found the scent of a vampire across the street and around the building and the surrounding blocks."
Rafe looked at the guy and about fell out of his chair. He raised his hand and waved it at the idiot who thought he'd just discovered America by the way he was acting.
"Ah hello there Columbus, vampire right here. And here's a news flash for ya too, I came from across the street, and I've about been over the whole damn city."
The Columbus flunky spoke back a little too angrily for Rafe’s liking for the mood he was in.
"Yes we know that and we can also tell you everywhere you went last night too. The scent we found isn't yours, but whoever it is has been following you for quite some time."
Dom and Sloan looked at Rafe for a second to gauge his reaction. Rafe was still trying to compute what Columbus had just told them.
"Wait, let me get this straight, you’re telling me I'm being followed?" Rafe said scrubbing his face with his hands. "I’m being followed by another vampire. Could it have been one of my men?"
"Our first suspicion was that it was one of them." Columbus replied.
Sloan then spoke up from his perch on Dom's desk. He was back in normal Sloan attire.
"So I personally followed the scent. I know all of your scents well, and I can assure you it isn't one of your men. I can tell you the scent is vaguely familiar though, but I can't place it." Sloan looked at Rafe for a minute before he continued. "I can also tell you the scent is of a female vampire. Can you think of anyone that would want to follow you for any reason?"
Rafe thought for a moment racking his brain. He couldn't think of just one person who would want to do anything to him, good or bad. Hell there was probably a list over a mile long for the people he's pissed off in his ridiculously long life. He sure as hell couldn't think of a female vampire he'd pissed off. At least none that had ever told him anyway. As far as he knew all the females, vampire or otherwise that left his bed had been more than satisfied. He always made sure they were more than satisfied and made it perfectly clear they were only there for the pleasure of that night, not forever for this very reason.
"I honestly have no clue." He told Sloan. "Males of any species, yeah, but the list is too damn long. Females, I'm stumped. Are you sure this vampire was following me?"
"The scent did overlap yours practically all night and stopped here." Sloan said.
"Were you able to follow where the vampire went after she left here? She had to have left before sunrise." Rafe asked more than just curious now. Something didn't feel right and that made him nervous. Especially since, he didn't know where the hell his mate was so he couldn't keep her safe. This was not good and there wasn't a damn thing he could do till the sun went down.
"We tracked her to a parking lot not far from Lair. She had to have driven to Lair and then left the same way." Columbus told him.
"Dom please tell me you've tracked down Ed."
"I have not my friend, but I have enlisted the help of the other packs around the world and have put extra resources of my own into finding him. We will find him soon I promise you. I would recommend you inform your enforcers to look out for him and the vampire as well." Dom told him the less than desirable news.
"Fuck!" Rafe growled standing up to pace the office
. Why did shit always have to be so difficult all the time? Rafe was gonna kill Ed, revive him, then kill him all over again for putting him through this stress.
"All right I'll go call Marcus; he'll let the others know." Rafe looked at the big grandfather clock in the corner. It wasn't even two yet; Marcus was not going to like Rafe waking him up this early. He turned back to Dom. "You'll let me know the second you have any new info?"
Dom nodded his head once. Rafe nodded back at the alpha of the most powerful pack in the world really. Dom still had family running the pack in Russia, so technically they were all one big pack. Yep he was one powerful ally, and Rafe was damn sure glad he had Rafe's back. Rafe left to go make his calls.
Sloan watched Rafe leave the room. He turned to his alpha after the door had shut. "I have a really bad feeling about this."
"As do I, Sloan." Dom replied not taking his eyes off the door. He then addressed all his pack that were in his office. "I want answers, and I want them now. Gather your teams find me that demon, and find out who the hell that vampire is following Rafe." Even before the last words were out of his mouth, they were on their feet moving for the door. All except his beta. Dom looked at the wolf he considered a son. "I will not allow anything else that is painful to harm him Sloan. We barely kept him sane when he lost Roman, if anything befalls his mate." Dom couldn't even finish the thought.
"I agree and we won't let that happen. We'll find Ed, and when we do, we'll find the girl." Sloan agreed with Dom, they could not fail in this. "He would do the same for us." Dom nodded his agreement.
Rafe returned to his room to find the nymph gone thankfully. After the news he'd just heard, he really couldn't deal with her right now. Something was seriously wrong and he had to find his mate before he lost her this time for good. He picked up his phone off the chair and dialed Marcus' number. Marcus picked up on the first ring.