by Alanea Alder
“You’re not mated are you?” Ashby asked. Roddrick shook his head. Jerimiah chuckled and clapped Roddrick on the back.
“You’ll understand when you get a mate. It seems the smaller and more delicate they are the pushier they are about keeping you safe,” Jerimiah said as they filed out of the VIP lounge. Ashby stood at the top of the stairs and laughed. The leaders stopped and turned to face Ashby.
“One of my best friends is the Alpha Mother to Arkadia. I’m taller than she is and her mate is taller than Baptista, but she knows how to put him in his place.” He winked at the men. Roddrick laughed.
“I’d pay to see that.”
“Maybe someday,” Ashby said with a cordial smile.
“Good evening, Prince Ashby.” Clay waved as the four coven leaders made their way down the stairs and out the door. As soon as the front door closed Ashby felt his legs give out.
“Whoa there, killer.” Baptista caught Ashby before he hit the floor. He carried him back into the VIP lounge and sat him on one of the leather chairs.
“I can do this, smile, don’t look down. Smile, look them in the eye. Be confident, do evil Gabriel stare. Don’t sign anything, don’t agree to anything. Don’t look down.” Ashby recited each action over and over again.
Roman walked over and took both of Ashby’s hands in his.
“You represented this coven with dignity and aplomb. Gabriel would be so proud, as are we all.”
Ashby looked up to see more faces peeping into the lounge smiling. A lot of the members gave him a thumbs up. Feeling encouraged he took a deep breath and faced the room.
“Prince Ashby, we couldn’t help but overhear…” one of the onlookers began.
“Because you had your ear to the door…” someone else countered. The first man blushed.
“Anyway! We heard you say that the prince is recovering, is that true?” he asked, his eyes full of hope. Ashby closed his eyes and shook his head.
“I didn’t think them staying here would be a good idea. Roman looked like he was about to murder that Dorian guy,” Ashby began.
“Only a little bit,” Roman said straight-faced.
“I actually have no idea when he will recover. Aleks Arkadion said if he hasn’t died by now, he’ll recover, but I would feel better if I knew what happened to him.” Ashby stood.
“I’ve taken the liberty of calling in Mikhail. This goes above my head. I hope that’s all right,” Roman said, looking slightly guilty. Ashby looked around and couldn’t miss the expressions of relief on the coven members’ faces.
“I thought you were all scared of him?” Ashby asked.
“We’re not scared exactly. You definitely don’t want to piss him off. But he has yet to kill any member of the coven, not even the twins,” Baptista explained.
“He’ll know what to do about Gabriel,” Roman said. Ashby just nodded.
“Then you did the right thing. The sooner Gabriel recovers the better. Aleks Arkadion is also sending two shifters to help keep an eye on things. They should be here in the next forty-five minutes.” Ashby sat down in one the chairs.
“The Arkadions are getting involved?” Roman asked, sounding shocked.
“I am bonded to the Alpha Mother and through my bond Gabriel is now tied to Arkadia. Rebecca Arkadion takes her bonds seriously,” Ashby said, touching his chest where the bond to Gabriel felt faint.
“What do we do?” Roman asked, looking at Ashby. Ashby looked at Roman and then looked around at the expectant faces staring at him from the coven members.
Aleks said it was like a business, what would I do if Purgatory was Sweet Nothings? Ashby thought about it for a moment before his head snapped up and he jumped to his feet.
“OK. Roman, until the Arkadions and Mikhail get here we’re closing Purgatory. Organize a cleanup crew for the VIP conference area, make sure it’s repaired and set to rights.” Roman nodded and started taking notes.
“David, Daniel, I want you to scour the internet, vampire archives, anything that might explain what happened to Gabriel,” Ashby said, pacing back and forth in front of the sofa.
“Thank God we have something to do!” David exclaimed giving Daniel a high five.
“Baptista, I want you to organize security so that each coven member has a buddy, no one goes anywhere alone,” Ashby said before turning to Rhys.
“Rhys, I want you to go online and arrange deliveries for the coven leaders that just left as an apology and a thank you for their assistance.” Ashby tapped his lips and thought about it for a second more.
“Micah, I am putting you in charge of keeping everyone fed. We’re going to have a rough couple days and Ma Arkadion always says that full men think better than hungry ones,” he said, then stopped. Everyone was staring at him as if he were speaking another language.
“Well? Get to it,” he said, making a shooing motion with his hands. Everyone started talking and moving at once. There was hope in their eyes and purpose in their steps that wasn’t there before.
“A quick question Prince Ashby, what exactly is a Tardis?” Roman asked a questioning look in his eye.
“It’s a—you see there’s this doctor, oh never mind. I’ll explain later.”
Roman nodded his head, walked into the hallway and began barking orders to the other coven members like a wartime general.
“Prince Ashby,” Kurt said, stepping forward.
“Yes Kurt?” Ashby asked.
“Lauri and I would like to volunteer to guard Prince Gabriel.”
“Yes, of course. I’d like for you to take me to him actually. I need to know that he’s OK,” Ashby said, rubbing his chest.
“He’s downstairs in our dungeon. We hated to put him there but it was the only place we could chain him to the wall,” Lauri explained, looking ashamed.
“Don’t feel bad, Lauri. You all did the right thing. If Gabriel were here he would say that the safety of the coven comes first,” Ashby said, laying a hand on the vampire’s arm.
“So he won’t be mad at us?” he asked hopefully as they started walking downstairs. Ashby started giggling.
“I didn’t say that. He’ll be understanding, but you did chain him in a dungeon after all. He will definitely say something.” He gazed up at Lauri innocently, but the guard paled further and swallowed as if he were going to be sick.
“This way, Prince Ashby,” Lauri said weakly. Baptista was still laughing when the three parted ways in the hallway on the ground floor.
Lauri walked past the bathrooms to the end of the hallway. He pressed his hand against the wall and a panel slid open to reveal a keypad. He punched in a code and stood back. The door opened.
“This is the only way in or out of the lower levels. There are approximately ten feet of concrete separating the lower levels and the club. The club could burn down and those sleeping in the lower levels would be safe,” Lauri explained, and they stepped through the now open doorway and started descending. When they had reached the bottom, Lauri motioned to the left and walked straight to the end of the dark stone hall to a large metal door.
“He’s in here.” Lauri pointed to the room. He walked up and slid the window’s cover open. Ashby took a step forward and placed a hand on the door. He stood on tiptoe trying to peek into the viewing window but was falling short miserably. Lauri took pity on him by lifting Ashby up high enough to look into the small window. Ashby leaned in quickly, he needed to catch a glimpse of his mate. His breath caught and his eyes filled with tears. His proud prince was huddled in a ball on the floor, the chains just long enough to allow him to lie down. If it weren’t for the slow rise and fall of Gabriel’s chest he would have thought him dead. He wiggled until Lauri put him down. Lauri closed the viewer on the window, stepping back to give Ashby some space.
Ashby wanted to fall apart. He wanted to curl into a ball with his mate and let the entire world go to hell. He wanted to rage and cry and scream out his anger and pain. But he couldn’t. He looked up and dashed his tears away
.
“Guard him with your life, you really don’t want to face me if something happens to him,” Ashby said, his eyes narrowing and for the first time in his life, a larger, stronger predator took a step back from him.
“Y–yes, Prince Ashby,” Lauri said he took a position on one side of the door and Kurt the other. Ashby took a deep breath and slowly started walking away from the unconscious form of his mate.
Chapter 13
“I understand that you booked in advance, I’m terribly sorry but Purgatory will be closed for the weekend. I’m sure we can make it up to you at another date.” Ashby winced as the she-wolf’s voice hit new octaves.
“I’m really sorry, yes, yes, yes I know that twenty-first birthdays only happen once, I know your daughter is disappointed but coven business dictates that we be closed. I mean it’s not like Purgatory is the only paranormal club around.” Ashby looked up to see a frantic Roman waving his hands and nodding. Ashby’s eyes widened and he cleared his throat.
“Exactly. We’re the only paranormal club so we are subject to demands placed on us from every faction at every level. Let me see…maybe.” Ashby dropped his voice to a whisper and winked at Roman.
“Now, if you are willing to be a little more flexible with your dates I could secure you the VIP lounge for no additional cost, yes…yes that’s right you have my word. Excellent! We will be contacting you once we reopen. Thank you again for being so understanding, you’re making my job so much easier. Good-bye.” Ashby dropped the headset to the desk and slumped back in the chair. He opened his eyes to the sounds of clapping from the doorway. Connor Arkadion stood there with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Is that our little Ashby schmoozing clients?” Connor said as he and Emmett walked into the office. Ashby felt as if a ton of bricks was lifted from his shoulders. He jumped up raced around the desk and launched himself, mainly at Connor’s head. He could never reach him to give him a noogie but always tried. Connor swung him around for what Ashby liked to call his “bear hug.” Connor didn’t disappoint. He hugged Ashby and then passed him off to Emmett who also gave him a crushing embrace before he set him down and ruffled his hair. In an instant Baptista was there easing Ashby behind his huge frame.
“Excuse me gentlemen but I’d keep my hands to myself if I were you,” he said, never taking his eyes off of Emmett.
“You must be Baptista, Aleks said that a professional was looking out for Ashers. Nice to meet you. I’m Connor Arkadion, this is my brother Emmett. Connor extended a hand toward Baptista who regarded it with distrust. Ashby jabbed him in the kidney and Baptista grunted before accepting the proffered gesture.
“They’re here to help keep me safe. I doubt they’ll hurt me,” Ashby said from behind Baptista. When the man wouldn’t move he simply walked to the desk in the middle of the room and sat down in his chair. Emmett and Connor walked over and sat down in the chairs across from the desk.
“I don’t like outside help,” Baptista muttered.
“They aren’t outside help, they’re family,” Ashby explained.
“It’s just you haven’t met each other yet to know that.” Ashby smiled at everyone. Connor groaned.
“I swear that sounded just like Rebecca, God she’s infected you.” He just shook his head and Ashby’s eyes narrowed as he regarded his friend.
“You must not want to eat any of Rebecca’s cakes, like ever again. Wait until I tell her you said she was worse than a plague.” Ashby made tsking sounds.
“Wait! I didn’t say that.” Connor sat up in the chair.
“And that she was as disgusting as pox-ridden bodies and a menace to society. Poor Connor.” Ashby sighed and looked up at him with large sad eyes.
“OK, OK, Ashby, you win. She is not contagious. If anything her awesomeness is what is spreading to everyone in town like sunshine. You are awesome too, so awesome in fact I’ll help you unload your next delivery of ice cream and I’ll only need two sundaes to keep me going,” Connor said quickly.
“Oh, in that case I’ll let her know how much you helped and that you pined away for your little sister,” Ashby said with a sweet innocent smile.
“You do know she wouldn’t have believed him right,” Emmett said amused. Connor nodded and winked at Ashby who winked back.
“I really need to meet this Rebecca,” Roman said, sounding impressed.
“He missed me, that’s all,” Connor replied then turned to Roman.
“She is pretty amazing.”
“I miss every one. I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone now that Gabriel and I have mated,” Ashby said as the sunshine drained from him and his eyes filled with sadness.
“Hey, it’s going to be OK, Ashby. Aleks was talking to Ma and she said that the older a vampire gets the stronger he gets, and Gabriel is as old as they come. He’ll get through this,” Emmett said, scooting his chair forward.
“Anything you need little buddy. Anything at all, we’re here for you,” Connor said with a kind smile.
“The one thing I need right now is the one thing no one can tell me. What exactly happened to my mate?” Ashby couldn’t keep the frustration out of his voice.
“Maybe that’s where I can help.” A deep voice rumbled from the door. Ashby looked up to see the most lethal-looking man he had ever laid eyes on. The air around him seemed to race out in front, whispering warnings to stay away.
“Mikhail, thank God!” Roman exclaimed.
“Where is he?” Mikhail looked right at Ashby.
“He’s downstairs in the dungeon. They had to chain him down,” Ashby said, standing and rubbing his chest. He couldn’t shake that bruised feeling.
“You chained my prince to a wall in a dungeon?” Mikhail demanded, his voice barely containing his sense of outrage.
“Yes, as his mate I allowed this, not only to keep Gabriel safe, but to keep the entire coven safe, which is what Gabriel would have wanted,” Ashby said firmly, never breaking eye contact.
Mikhail simply turned around and walked out leaving everyone scrambling behind him trying to keep up. The group made their way through the club and down to the dungeon where Gabriel was locked behind a heavy metal door. Lauri and Kurt straightened quickly, nearly snapping to attention.
Ashby anxiously stood beside Mikhail at the door.
“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” Ashby asked, chewing on is thumb nail. Connor pulled the thumb down from his mouth. Ashby scowled at him.
“What exactly happened?” Mikhail asked darkly, staring through the viewer.
“We were in a meeting with the regional coven leaders when Gabriel started rubbing his chest. He got a panicked look on his face, yelled for me to check on Ashby, and then he started screaming. His claws and fangs elongated to lengths I’ve never seen on a vampire before. Then he started trashing the VIP conference room, it took four tranquilizers to put him down,” Roman said, moving to stand on the other side of Mikhail.
“If he were a shifter I would say that he is reacting as if his mate were killed. That’s the only time one of our people goes bat-shit crazy for no reason,” Emmett said. Ashby winced at the tactless way Emmett divulged that information.
“Actually that may not be too far from the truth,” Mikhail said. Stepping back and closing the viewer, he turned to Ashby.
“Why do you keep rubbing your chest?” he asked, his gray eyes cold and hard as the metal door before them. Ashby’s hand froze midmotion on his chest.
“It’s been aching,” Ashby replied quietly.
“Before or after Gabriel’s episode?” Mikhail continued to watch Ashby.
“After, right before we heard the screams. Why? What does it mean?”
“It means that something has fragmented your bond with Gabriel, causing him to think you’ve been taken from him. You need to re-establish the bond, then the bloodlust and killing haze will lift.” Mikhail explained.
“How do I reconnect with him?” Ashby asked.
“You would need to al
low him to bite you again,” Mikhail said.
“Absolutely not! Gabriel would kill you for even suggesting such a thing, Mikhail. This is his mate, Gabriel would never endanger him like that,” Roman exclaimed. Baptista stepped beside Roman nodding.
“Is it the only way?” Ashby asked.
“We can find another way,” Roman insisted. Ashby turned to Connor who watched the entire scene with his lips pressed together in a straight line. He nodded his head to Mikhail.
“Is this the only way?” Ashby repeated looking up at Mikhail.
“Time is of the essence. The longer he stays in that form the harder it will be to get him back,” Mikhail answered coldly staring down Roman who looked up at him defiantly.
“Everyone, let’s head back upstairs and discuss our options. Mikhail, Connor if both of you could stay a moment I’d like to talk to you,” Ashby said. Roman and Baptista walked up the stairs hesitantly, Lauri and Kurt behind them. Connor and Emmett stood beside Mikhail.
“I thought I said Connor,” he said.
“You did, he would only tell me later anyway so this is quicker. Get on with it squirt,” Emmett replied glibly. Ashby rolled his eyes and turned to Connor.
“If you were me, what would you do?” he asked. Connor looked into Ashby’s face a moment then shrugged.
“We’re shifters, Ashby,” was all he said. Ashby nodded.
“You know what to do then,” Ashby said smiling up at his friend.
“I’ll call Aleks to give them a heads up.” Connor pointed to the top of the stairs.
“We’ll keep them away, but try to be quick. Baptista looks like one dangerous motherfucker,” Connor said. Emmett chuckled and ruffled Ashby’s hair before he followed Connor up the stairs.
Ashby turned to Mikhail.
“OK, I’ll do it,” he said exhaling a deep breath.
“What did Connor mean?” Mikhail asked.
“In the shifter world mates come first, before everything else. Connor knew what I would decide.” Ashby stepped up and placed a hand on the door.
“Gabriel is my everything. Gabriel said that I was his humanity, but he is my reason to breathe. If he needs every last drop of my blood then so be it.” Ashby removed his hand and looked up and met Mikhail’s gaze.