by Lexi Blake
He’d really only heard one thing in that exchange. “You can get on the Seelie plane?”
“See, I told you he can learn,” Taggart said. “Roan and his men can get on and off the Seelie plane. They’ve been smuggling for years now.”
“It isn’t hard, if you know where to go,” Roan said, his voice still raspy. “And who to kill.”
Julian stepped back. “I thought he might prove useful to you, Dellacourt. You see, I know something the rest of the world doesn’t know yet. According to Taggart’s sources, the Council is meeting secretly tonight. They’re voting on a resolution concerning Torin and his place on the Seelie throne.”
Dante’s stomach took a deep dive. “We’re going to lose.”
Julian nodded, his mouth a grim line. “Yes, I believe so. I think that by morning, the Vampire plane will officially open negotiations with King Torin, and your cousins will become the most hunted men on all the planes.”
It was happening too fast. Gods, it had been thirteen years and it was still happening too fast.
“I have more bad news,” Taggart said. “I got a call from a man I have on the inside at the door that separates our plane from the Refugee plane. Your cousins are on their way here, to the Vampire plane. They’ll be here in a couple of hours.”
They would be walking into a trap. “They haven’t called. I don’t know how to stop them.”
“Calm down,” Roan said. “They’re smart and apparently can call the trees to their aid.”
But there weren’t any trees on this plane for Cian to work with. He might find the occasional houseplant, but he would have to be on the surface to find trees. This fight wasn’t going to happen on the surface. This was all about the royals and the lack of available consorts.
Torin was going to win.
“I have to find them.” He would get on a bike and head for the south door. He knew the route they would take.
“I already have men on it,” Taggart promised. “They’re waiting at the door and will make sure the kings get to the Dellacourt building. We’ll make arrangements to protect them.”
“I picked my side of this fight long ago.” Lodge nodded toward the door at the end of the hall. “I’m related to the Unseelie king. He doesn’t want the true Seelie kings dead. Torin killed his daughter, my cousin, Gillian. We’ve been looking for revenge ever since.”
“And I just think Torin is an asshole and we’re way better off with the twins on the throne,” Taggart added.
“Good, then please go and protect them. I know you’ve got men on it, but I want to know you’re watching out for them.” He didn’t know Taggart’s men. He wanted the best.
Taggart looked from him to Roan. “You going to kill my new hire?”
So that’s why Taggart had really been here. “No. He’s safe. But my cousins aren’t.”
Taggart nodded. “I’ll make sure they’re safe.”
Lodge watched him leave before turning to Dante. “Now, come into my office. Roan here has some things to go over with you. Your night is going to be rough, I’m afraid.”
Roan straightened his clothes. He looked odd out of camos, as though street clothes didn’t quite suit him. “I took a job I shouldn’t have taken. I made a mistake, but I’m here to make it right. What do you know about Chalen Palgrave?”
“I know he’s a douchebag who can’t run a company.” Why were they worried about someone like Chalen Palgrave? They had much bigger problems.
“He’s a douchebag who’s trying to kill you, your wife, and your cousins. He’s the man who hired me.”
Then he would be the man Dante killed. “Tell me everything.”
He followed Roan and Julian into Julian’s private office.
* * * *
The lovely blonde woman passed Kaja another drink.
“I don’t know if I should.” Kaja giggled just a bit. The drink was doing strange things to her head. She knew she really shouldn’t drink more. She was becoming intoxicated. Yes. That was the word she was becoming. Drunk. Funny feeling. Still, when the glass was pushed in front of her, she leaned forward and took another sip.
“Oh, live a little,” her new friend said. “Come on, it’s only two. Julian doesn’t allow anyone more than two drinks here. Although, we might be able to get the bartender to sneak us one more.”
Kaja focused on the bartender. He was an attractive young vampire with dark hair and a slender body. Jeremy. He’d introduced himself as Jeremy. Well, Jeremy might be attractive, but he had nothing on her Dante. Her Dante was the most beautiful man in the world. He was kind and gave a very good spanking. He had all the best sex toys.
She giggled again. She was losing it. “I don’t think I can handle another one, Ashton.”
“It’s Amanda, sweetie,” the woman said. “And I’m surprised you’ve made it this long. You have some kind of crazy metabolism.”
She wasn’t sure what the pretty blonde was talking about, but she seemed so nice. Everyone was being nice to her. “I will have to tell the machine at home that I like these drinks. And when it is rude to me from now on, I will make it pay.”
Amanda regarded her. “You should. Those machines can really get you. Today, my mirror told me my hair didn’t look good. Bastard. Bad programming. It’s supposed to be supportive. It’s supposed to tell me I look good.”
“You do look nice,” Kaja offered. In the few weeks she had been on this plane, she had noticed that women liked to be told they looked pretty. She liked it herself. “My mate tells me I look nice.”
Amanda smiled, but it seemed a bland thing. “Does he? He never really noticed with me.”
“He tells me often, though mostly when I am naked. He likes me to be naked. A lot. He gave me the option of coming to this place naked. I did not think it was a good idea. You vampires seem extremely concerned with clothing. Alana is always trying to buy me more clothing. And shoes. I only have two feet.”
Something Amanda had said skittered at the back of her brain. What had she said?
Oh, her mind was foggy. It had felt good just a minute before, but now there was a queasy feeling in her stomach.
“I thought she had four.” Jeremy, the bartender, was staring at her. He didn’t look so nice now. There was menace in his gaze. “I saw the press coverage of the freak.”
“Shanimal,” Amanda said with a frown. “She’s a shanimal, not a freak.”
Kaja hated that word. The room was starting to spin. “I am not a shanimal. I am Kaja. I am Dante’s.”
He’d said it. She was his. She wasn’t going to let these vampires make fun of her. She was the consort of Dante Dellacourt, and more than that, she was a good person. She was worth respect with or without her fur.
“Yeah, I know that’s what he told you.” Amanda sat forward. “You’re different than I thought you would be. I’m actually sorry this is happening to you, but you should know that I’m Dante’s mistress.”
Kaja felt a growl deep in her throat, but she couldn’t force it out. “You are not.”
She pulled out one of the tablets that vampires seemed to always have on their persons. “I’m sorry, but this is who your husband really is.”
A video started. There was her Dante and this woman. He lay back and allowed her to service him. His cock gradually became long and thick. He finally ordered her to climb on top of him.
“He never lets me do that,” Kaja grumbled. “I told him it would be fun.”
Amanda’s mouth dropped open in apparent surprise.
“This was before we were married. I can see the date stamp. I know when we were married.” And beyond that, it was so obvious to her that Dante wasn’t engaged in the sex. Oh, Amanda was attractive, but he didn’t even tie her up. He couldn’t be too involved. This was how Dante had sex when he wasn’t in love.
Dante loved her. Some silly video wasn’t going to make her question that. She’d felt it in her bones.
“Fine. How about our afterglow? Maybe that will convince you he
isn’t what you think he is.” Amanda turned the volume up.
They were talking. It penetrated her brain. They were talking about Dante finding a consort. His father had demanded it. Amanda told him to find someone unsuitable.
Kaja turned and smiled at Amanda. “Oh, I know this about my husband.” She groped for the proper words. What had Susan called him? It seemed like the right word for him now. “He is a dumbass.”
He was. He’d gotten caught in his own trap. He’d sought out a consort who would horrify his family. And she’d managed that. He’d sought a consort so unsuitable no one would question him when he set her aside. He’d found the perfect one. No one would say a word against Dante if he found her someplace far away to live.
He could never let her go. She was half of him.
Kaja bet he’d never expected that.
She tried to get to her feet. It was time to find her gorgeous, sexy, dumbass husband and explain a few facts of life to him. She wanted to be on top from time to time. It looked like a nice position, and she refused to accept less than his ex-mistress. “I do not know why you seek to hurt me, but this will not work. I know he makes foolish plans from time to time. I was the odd plan of his that worked out for the best. And I will fit in here. I will make sure of it. You should understand that if you come near my husband again, you will find out how quick I am on four feet. I am not allowed to eat anything that speaks no matter how stupidly it speaks, but Dante never said anything about maiming. I will maim you.”
Of course, she would have to be able to walk first. She grabbed onto the bar, trying to hold herself up. Where had Dante gone? She couldn’t feel him anymore. She couldn’t focus long enough to even make the attempt.
“How much did you give her?” Amanda asked. Her voice sounded far away to Kaja. “Gods, Jeremy, if you’ve killed her, Chalen will have both our heads.”
Amanda’s arms went under her shoulders. Kaja struggled to move. She was beginning to understand that she was in trouble. “I do not want to be killed.”
She felt so weak. What was happening? Did they talk to the demon? Had they given her his elixir? It had made her weak before, but now it made everything fuzzy, and her limbs were limp and useless.
“I’ll take her. I’m stronger than I look.” Jeremy picked her up. “And I’ve carted more than one druggie out the door. Security won’t think anything of it. I want my payout in cash. I’m going to have to leave Dallas. If my boss ever finds out what I did, he’ll pull my fangs out of my head, and that will be the nice part of my day.”
Her world had upended. Her mind sought Dante’s but found only fog. She started to drift in and out of consciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, she was being placed in a large hovercar. A man with cold, dead eyes looked down at her.
“Hello, Mrs. Dellacourt. My name is Chalen Palgrave. I think you’re going to like your new accommodations. Well, until the vivisection begins. Then you might not think it’s so nice.”
The car took off, but Kaja was out once more.
Chapter Eighteen
Dante felt older as he walked out of Julian’s office. He’d only been in there for an hour and a half, but he would have sworn he’d aged ten years.
It was really happening. After all these years, the fight was finally here. Torin would come after Beck and Cian, and he would have the Vampire Council’s support. Well, maybe not their support, but they would look the other way if it meant royals once again had full access to consorts.
Torin was going to be the acknowledged king of the Seelie Fae, and Beck and Cian would be the rebels. He was having a hard time processing it.
And Chalen Palgrave was trying to kill him.
William Roan walked out behind Dante, a grim look on his face. “Mr. Dellacourt, I understand that you don’t trust me, but I’m your best bet to stay unharmed until such time as this misunderstanding with Palgrave can be fixed.”
He didn’t want to fix the misunderstanding. He wanted to eviscerate Palgrave.
“Roan really is excellent at what he does,” Julian said. “I’ll vouch for him. Use him as a bodyguard for a while until we deal with Palgrave. He’s insignificant compared to ensuring the safety of the true Seelie kings.”
Dante wanted to growl his frustration to the world. He didn’t need this shit with Palgrave while his cousins were in danger. “I didn’t kill Kinsey Palgrave and neither did my cousins. If they had, I would have heard about it. If I had killed Kinsey, I damn straight wouldn’t hide it. And, if I’d killed him, it would have been because he was doing something he shouldn’t have.”
Julian walked out, closing the door behind him. “Ian has been working on the problem. According to his sources, Kinsey Palgrave went to the Refugee plane and didn’t come back. He received a message from someone. We managed to find a record of the call. I have excellent government contacts. They’ll tell you they’re all about privacy, but there’s little on this plane that doesn’t get recorded somehow. It’s fuzzy. I can only make out a blonde woman telling him to come pick up a consort. Kinsey left shortly after receiving the call. Am I correct in saying there was a hag stalking the kings?”
Julian’s sources were utterly impeccable. Dante bit back a surge of bile. He could still see that hag. “You’re right. She’s dead now.” He’d had a hand in killing her. “And she was blonde. Her name was Liadan. She was sent by Torin to kill the twins. When she couldn’t manage that, she caused trouble.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the hag was responsible,” Julian said. “She would be strong enough to kill a vampire. It doesn’t matter now. I doubt Chalen will listen to anything I say. You need to get your consort and return to the Dellacorp building. Let Roan handle Palgrave while Ian figures out where to stash the kings until I can get them to the Unseelie plane. I’m in contact with King Fergus. He’s offering them asylum.”
“In exchange for what?” He wasn’t stupid. The last thing he wanted was to walk his cousins into an ambush.
Julian’s lips turned up. “He’s my uncle, you know. King Fergus married my mother’s sister.”
No. Dante hadn’t known that. The Unseelie were secretive. “Are the twins part vampire?”
Now Julian was full-on smiling, but the fangs he showed off gave it all a menacing feel. “Worse. They’re half-Unseelie-royal, half-royal-vampire, and all symbiotic twins. Lachlan and Shim are more dangerous than you can imagine. And they’ve matured past an age where they must bond. I could smuggle a mate off the Seelie plane, but they insist on only one.”
“That’s insane. They can bond with any bondmate.” Dante thought about how fast Beck and Ci would have taken a mate if they could have found one. They might not have loved her the way they did Meg, but they would have done it.
Julian shook his head. “They’ve dreamed about this one for years. Don’t you think my uncle has offered up any female who could bond? He’s promised the Planeswalkers a multitude of riches if they would bring him a bondmate his sons would accept. But they want the princess in the tower. That’s what they call her. They insist that Beck and Cian Finn hold the key to finding her and bringing them into their true power.”
As Meg had brought Beck and Ci into theirs. He didn’t want to think about what kind of powers the Unseelie princes would gain from bonding with the perfect mate.
Julian stared at him. “Please trust me when I tell you my uncle will do anything to save his sons. The Seelie kings are in no danger.”
It was almost too much to take in. He nodded at Julian. His mind wasn’t made up, but it wouldn’t do any good to argue now. He would discuss it with his cousins.
He knew Julian was right, but it rankled. He wanted to wrap his claws around Palgrave’s throat and not stop until the fucker’s head popped off. But Kaja had to be his first concern. He had to get her home to the safety of his family’s building. Once he had her back in the penthouse he would set security on her ass. At least six. A full unit. Then he could take care of Palgrave and decide what
to do about his cousins.
A worried-looking young man strode up to Julian and spoke in hushed tones. He had to go up on his toes to reach his master’s ears. Julian’s face went stone-cold, his eyes darkening with every word the young man spoke.
“Show me,” Julian said.
The younger man held up a tablet, and within minutes, Julian was cursing a blue streak.
“What?” Dante asked. If there was going to be trouble in The Club, he wanted to get Kaja out as soon as possible.
Roan was on high alert, his every muscle rigid. “What’s going on?”
“Your consort is gone,” Julian said flatly, every word a knife to Dante’s gut. He held out the tablet, showing him a still picture of Kaja sitting at the bar next to a familiar face. “Do you know this woman?”
Amanda. Fuck. He’d sent her a nice note and a large check, but it looked like she hadn’t appreciated being given her walking papers. “She was my mistress until I got married.”
Roan cleared his throat. “I think you’ll find she has ties to Chalen Palgrave. I saw a picture of her in his office.”
A fucking spy and now a kidnapper. He’d never had the best of taste in women until he’d met his Kaja. “Where would he have taken her?”
“Not to his penthouse,” Roan said. “I would bet he took her to his company headquarters. It’s one of the reasons I broke the contract. I suspected he wanted to hurt the consorts, both yours and the queen. I didn’t spend much time there. I know the main office, but again, I think he’ll avoid it. If we call the cops in, it would be the first place they would look. Palgrave Industries has a couple of different arms. Some of the small divisions are in other buildings across the city. Can we look up the building plans?”
Julian whispered something to his employee who turned and took off running. “I’ll do one better. I can get you a guide.”
Dante didn’t want a guide. He wanted that gun Meg carried around. It was still buried where Kaja had hidden it.