by A. E. Via
Alek scanned the row, desperately seeking out the only vampire who mattered to him. Belleron wasn’t there. He held in a growl, gritting his teeth as he moved closer to his position towards the head of the table. Everyone was there except the King and AZ, and the Lord High.
Wolf, is our mate close? Can you feel him? Alek could only imagine how desperate and weak he sounded to his mighty animal.
You know I can’t. Not until you mate with him, Alek. But I can smell him. He’s close and getting closer.
Alek settled, glad Wolf was with him. With their minds separated, Alek had to rely on Wolf for his enhanced abilities his human self couldn’t do, like smelling and hearing from long distances. Wolf often alerted him who was coming, and sometimes reacted before Alek could even finish receiving the message. It was why he was always a step behind.
Alek nodded respectfully to each of the vampires but only one returned the gesture. He was the Lord Protector, Ramon, if Alek remembered correctly. The regal titles were foreign to him but he wanted to be respectful and address them properly. And Alek knew none of Bell’s officers had forgotten how he’d unceremoniously dominated their leader in front of everyone a few days ago. Alex didn’t divert his eyes as he stared at the king’s most trusted vampires, all of them highly disciplined and skilled. They’d probably never have done anything so barbaric to one of Alek’s shifters. His shame rode him hard, and he knew he still had much to prove and to atone for.
“Alpha Aleksei. It’s good to see you again,” Ramon said, in his thick Spanish accent. His smile appeared genuine.
“Likewise, Lord Protector. I hope this meeting goes swiftly, I’m sure none of you prefer these kinds of business hours.” Alek smiled slightly, earning himself more stoic expressions from across the room. The vampires in Wick’s army lined the wall in two perfect, symmetrical rows. Alek cleared his throat and anxiously smoothed down his wrinkled T-shirt that’d he’d barely had time to shove on before his animals were forcing him out of the door and down the mountain towards their mate.
Alek took his seat at the table, in front of his other three siblings. They sat in their order of rank like Alek assumed the vampires had. His younger brother Mac was directly beside him. He sat with his hands folded in front of him, picking at his rough cuticles. Alek nudged him with his elbow. “What’s up, Mac? Do you know what this is about?”
Mac turned towards him and shook his head. “Not a clue, but I don’t think it’s good. Justice and Wick have been closed in their office all night watching some kind of breaking news in London.”
London. Shit. Alek had no idea what he thought his brother could do to help a situation overseas. They didn’t have many shifters living abroad because there weren’t enough of them to form strong packs. Shifters who lived over there were typically lone wolves, or shifters who’d shoved their animals so far down they were almost non-existent. Surely, none of them had caused any ruckus.
“Morning, Alek,” his baby brother Taleb said in his deep voice, barely moving his sharp blue eyes from his laptop screen. His wolf was a seeker of information, so it wasn’t often Taleb’s face was out of a book or monitor.
Alek nodded, then peeked around his brothers until his eyes met his little sister’s. “Morning, Farica.”
“Hey, big brother.” She smiled, like always. He turned away but he noticed out of his peripheral that she kept watching him, quirking one arched brow. She used their link to speak to him. “I’m picking up a lot of hostility and discontent… did things not go well with your mate last night?”
Alek stared down at the table. Because of their ancestry, they were able to speak directly into each other’s minds. Alek didn’t particularly like communicating that way, since all telepathy had to filter through Wolf’s mind before it met his. As a man, he wasn’t capable of that kind of skill either, only his animal. He was just glad Wolf never bucked against it.
“Things went well enough,” Alek lied. Proving to his mate that he wasn’t the rabid Neanderthal he’d first encountered, but a gentleman who would be respectful of his mate’s desires and not just his own, was proving to be harder than he thought. And it was killing him. Maybe literally.
“I can come down there and give you a hug. I know it’ll help,” his sister added gently.
Alek smirked, his eyes catching her pretty light blue ones. That was just like her wolf—the bringer of comfort. She had a special touch, and many of them sought it out often—except him. He kinda felt undeserving of it. There he sat with destruction and chaos in his mind, but no one was the wiser. He’d become an expert at masking his inner turmoil, never wanting to be removed from his position as first beta. Because until recently, there hadn’t been much he and his animals had disagreed on, so the monster had lain dormant and Alek had thought perhaps he’d gone. He should’ve known better. This was in him for life. Whatever he had left of it. Alek tried to tamp down his bad mood, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Instead, he asked Wolf to shield that part of him and he displayed a fake, positive attitude in its place.
“No, Farica. No hugs right now. Let’s save our displays of affection for when we don’t have such a grand audience. The vampires are in strict business mode. They’re not used to seeing that kind of thing.”
Farica tucked her long chestnut-brown hair behind her ear and touched her hand to her pink cheek, laughing delicately. The sound reverberated around the darkened room, her peacefulness rising into the air and settling over them like fairy dust. Multiple heads across the table turned towards the soft melody. And damn, if some of the vampires’ expressions didn’t loosen up a fraction. It was amazing what his sister could do. “Maybe you’re right, Alek. But I think some of those vampires should see what touch could do and most of them wouldn’t look like—”
“We’re on our way,” Justice broke in, his strong wolf linking them all together and speaking to them from wherever he was.
Alek and the rest of his siblings stood, along with the remaining shifters around the table—his brother’s enforcers and officers. Justice entered with Wick by his side. They stood around the same height, making an impressive couple. Alek felt Wolf react to Wick’s incomparable beast. The Siberian tiger that lived inside Wick had been granted to him by the Mother to guard her children. Therefore, the powerful cat never presented a threat to Wolf. His animal’s reaction to it was more reverence than anything else.
From the moment Wick had first introduced himself to their pack, he’d been one hundred percent true. He hadn’t changed one thing about himself, except that he was happier and he smiled a lot more than the average vampire. Wick had on his classic, tailored black suit while his brother wore his customary jeans, hiking boots and a plaid flannel shirt. Stark opposites, and yet fated to live together in perfect harmony. It’d only been a few months since their pairing, but they appeared to be getting it right. Their love, their bonding was so intense it couldn’t be second-guessed.
He really hoped he and Belleron would have that as well. He wanted to believe wholeheartedly it would all work out like in some goddamn fairytale, but there was just so much that still needed to be revealed to his mate, and they’d only just scratched the surface last night. What if Bell hated what he had to tell him? What if he met the beast? What if Bell would rather starve to death than be mated to him forever? Alek balled up his fists at his sides.
I don’t like these feelings. Stop it, Wolf snarled. Our mate approaches.
Alek jerked his head to the right a second before Belleron came through the rear doors at the far end of the hall. Alek was mildly surprised he hadn’t arrived beside his king. The first thing Bell did was turn in Alek’s direction and acknowledge him before he did anyone else, and it satisfied the alpha in him. If only he had a link to his mate’s mind, he’d let him know how sexy he thought he looked.
Alek then registered the fragrance Wolf sent to him. Oh my gods. Bell smelled freshly showered, clean, his natural fragrance as potent as ever. The sweet smell of orange and the bol
dness of earth flooded his nostrils, making him fight to control his breathing. The slight tilt in the corner of Bell’s satiny peach lips—as if he knew where Alek’s mind had roamed—had him hardening rapidly. Shit. Wolf, shield. He was sure everyone in there didn’t want to be bombarded by his heady arousal.
The king and Justice sat in the two chairs at the head of the table and the rest of them followed suit. Justice reached over and gave Alek a fist bump. “You’re looking good, brother.” Justice beamed.
He didn’t know what the hell his brother saw, but Alek must have been putting up a pretty good façade, because he felt like shit on the inside.
“Thanks,” Alek mumbled, still watching Bell as he surveyed the three large vans that’d brought the guards there. He seemed upset.
Bell flashed towards the row of vampires and came to a sharp halt in front of the first soldier, his thick black hair falling beautifully back into place. He eyed them carefully as he gradually moved down the line observing them all, a slight pinch forming in the center of his forehead. No one hurried or questioned Belleron, but hell, even Alek was wondering what he was doing and what the problem was.
He’s not happy, Wolf informed him.
I wonder why? Alek wished he could feel his mate. He wanted to run over, grab Bell and pull him onto his lap and kiss that frown away. Again, that was something that would selfishly satisfy him, and make his mate appear weak, so he stayed put, despite the clawing down deep in his soul.
Keep him back, Wolf.
I’m on it. But be warned, Alek, tension is radiating off the Lord Protector.
Bell addressed his clan. “I trust you all are well. I’m not happy about you having to be here at this godforsaken hour, but your highness has called an emergency. We are not trying to be disrespectful, but King Bentley fears time is of the essence. I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies.” Bell nodded towards the army, then came and joined the rest of them at the table, directly across from Alek and on the other side of the king. He turned to his Lord Protector, who returned an appreciative gesture.
“No apologies needed, Lord. We’ll be there whenever you call,” Ramon said, sitting on the other side of Bell.
Bell clamped the vampire on his shoulder, and Alek almost catapulted across the table and tackled them both. For Christ’s sake. His mate was just being the humble, understanding commander they’d come to know and serve for many centuries. Alek had to get a grip.
“I think you will understand the urgency, Belleron, all of you, when you see this,” Wick said. He nodded to one of his assistants who wheeled over a flat screen television sitting atop a utility cart. The young shifter quickly inserted a disc into the player and pressed a few buttons on the remote control.
Alek had to pry his gaze away from Bell’s when the video began to play. Some kind of surveillance camera had been set up to monitor a set of steel doors nestled inside a cave-like structure. Six vampires—guards similar to ones standing along the wall—stood remarkably still at their posts, as if they were guarding the gates of Buckingham Palace. Out of nowhere, they were ambushed by vampires moving so fast Alek had to squint to keep up. The guards were brutally slaughtered, one even having his head ripped off as four vampires held him down. The video contained no sound, but surely if it had they’d hear the hissing and snarling of the savage feud. The guards had been heavily outnumbered and had been taken down quickly, having never stood a chance.
Alek heard his sister gasp as she slammed her hand over her mouth and whipped her head away. It was probably too difficult for her gentle wolf to watch such viciousness.
Bell stood and walked around the table, his Lord Protector following closely. His mate looked as if he’d seen true horror. A vampire dressed in a black turtleneck turned towards the monitor, his hand flying back and shooting an object—most likely a blade, or throwing knife—at it, instantly killing the feed. Another video began to play a similar scene as the first. Again, a set of vampires stood guard outside a heavily iron-reinforced entryway that appeared to be on a vacant street. A couple of quiet minutes went by when—as anticipated—the guards came under attack by an even larger group of rebels… the same vampire in the black turtleneck standing off and observing. Bell jabbed the power button on the television and spun towards Wick.
“I’d like to speak freely,” Bell said.
Wick nodded. “Of course, Bell. We may be doing away with a lot of the formalities soon. But, please say what’s on your mind.”
“All right then,” Bell gritted. “What the fuck is this? When did this happen and how come I wasn’t notified immediately?”
The Lord Commander stood rigid, “It happened overnight, Lord. Both raids were done in a matter of a couple hours. By the time we sent in reinforcements they’d been long gone. My intelligence team and I have only had a few hours to scan the images and get feedback from the cleaners on the grounds. Now we are meeting here.”
“This is… this is devastating…” Bell whispered. His slate gray eyes met Alek’s, and damn if he didn’t see the regret and disappointment glistening in them. Bell wasn’t going to be accompanying him to his secluded cabin or anywhere else in the near future. Alek tried to take a deep breath, but it was cut short by the pain stabbing his stomach. Fuck.
“Please tell me they didn’t take the…” Bell trailed off.
“Unfortunately, they did, sir. Certain ones. The more violent offenders.” An older-looking vampire sat farther down the table and held a large tablet in his hand. His long, pale finger swiped rapidly across the screen, “It’s believed they’re headed to the Dales.”
That got a dramatic reaction from all the vampires. They didn’t move out of formation, but the stench Wolf was picking up from them was unadulterated fear.
“Will someone please tell us what’s happening? Wick, what was that a video of?” Mac asked while Alek sat there mute, worrying about how this affected his mate.
Wick stood. “Those are two of our tombs that appear to have just been raided by rebels, and robbed.”
“Tombs?” Taleb frowned. “Where you keep your dead.”
“We call them tombs, but the residents are not dead. They’re asleep. Imprisoned,” Bell informed them. “When your shifters are disciplined, they’re sent to shifter facilities that are built specifically for them, yes?”
Taleb nodded.
“We have to also discipline our kind as well. Only vampires wouldn’t be all that affected by a lack of freedom or touch, like shifters. Instead, they are denied blood until they fall into a deep sleep. A coma, if you will. They are kept in a catatonic state until their sentence is up—typically a decade or two, depending on the severity of the crime—when they are then awakened gradually and monitored closely as they become readjusted into society.”
“So vampires have broken into your prisons?” Mac grumbled. “Not to be a rude-ass, but what does this have to do with us. It seems to be a vampire problem.”
Justice kept his voice low, but Alek could hear the anger in his tone, “Vampire troubles are now our troubles. Wick is my mate. If he has a situation then we all do, and vice versa. When we were under attack by the rebellion that’d had a stronghold in the Ruby Dome, let’s not forget who it was that took care of that situation. It was Wick. And he wouldn’t hesitate to protect us again. I’d hoped my pack would be the first to volunteer to come to his aid.”
Mac looked chastised, and more than a little guilty. “Agreed. But, how can we help, Justice? Certainly we can’t fly, and traveling by sea would take way too long.”
Wick raised a hand in Mac’s direction. “I wouldn’t dare ask Justice to send any of his pack so far away. We’re not even going to ask the lone shifters that live in the UK, since they most likely wouldn’t want their wolves let out. Therefore, I’m going to send our elite soldiers with Belleron and Ramon to sweep in and contain the situation before it becomes public.”
“We’ve barely extinguished the fire from the last incident where a human police office
r lost his life over a frivolous feud between shifters and vampires. We want to continue to show our united fronts,” Justice added. “Members of my pack and neighboring ones will be canvassing the territories and Wick’s remaining guards will be closely monitoring the covens, ensuring there’s no copycat activity on this side.”
“I didn’t think there’d be any more uprisings, Justice. Everyone knows now that your mating is real, and both species have chosen to follow you. And we’ve all seen what Wick can do. The only vampire who can shift into a different animal than a wolf. Who would do this? Take this kind of risk?” Farica frowned.
“We’re not sure.” A vampire stood and nodded first to his king and Justice, then to the rest of his siblings. His suit was crisp and fit his slim frame nicely. He didn’t look a day over thirty but his weary obsidian eyes told of years of experience. “I am the King’s lead intelligence officer, Orwin St. Charles. I’m honored to be here with you all… despite the ungodly hour.”
St. Charles received a few chuckles for that, his smooth British accent somehow lightening the dreary mood. “We appreciate the accommodations, Alphas. You’ve been more than thorough in ensuring our safety.”
Alek noted that not only were the large windows covered with heavy sun-blocking blinds, but with drapes as well. There was dim artificial lighting inside. Shifter and vampires guarded the entrances to make sure no one entered and allowed in unwanted sunlight.
Justice returned St. Charles’ smile. “Your safety will always be my priority. Thank you for coming. We need to come to a quick resolution. Wick and I need strong advisors like yourself to govern our species. And rest assured.” His brother gestured to the vampires still standing along the wall. “We will be doing far more meetings in the evening hours than at this time.”