A grumble of agreement went through the group, and Alek nodded.
Ransom moved him up the list, his brow furrowing.
“I’ll take care of him,” I said, putting the combat master out of his misery. “It’s fine. I can handle him and still meet you at the rendezvous.” Odd, but dispensing the justice of Conclave had always been our intended purpose, and now the ongoing war with the Sons of Honor was quickly taking precedence.
Everyone looked at Alek, who shifted slightly in his seat, weighing the options. “Fine,” he answered after a few minutes. “But you take Hawke and two trainees with you.”
“Agreed.”
“Excellent,” Hawke added. The guy never passed up an opportunity to get a little bloody.
“Remember, we have Julian and Gabriel coming in tomorrow night to update us on how the antidote is coming along,” Benedict added as we all stood from the onyx table. “And before any of you ask, I’m fine. It left a scar, but I’m just thankful the Night Thistle didn’t render me completely mad.”
Lyric was the only known source for the antidote for the painful, maddening vampire poison, and the development of a synthetic had been in the works for the last seven months.
“As much of a pain in the ass as you are, we all prefer you sane,” Ransom joked, slapping Benedict on the back with a grin.
“Speaking of sane, are you seriously considering waking the Hunters?” Hawke asked, flipping his dagger end over end. The man seriously needed a safer fidget cube.
A stone sank in my stomach—the kind that recognized the shitty inevitability of a coming problem.
“I haven’t decided,” Alek answered quietly. “From what we’ve learned over the last few months, the ranks of the Sons are only increasing—not only here, but in other territories—and we can’t exactly say the same for the Order. Luka’s pack is stable, and they’re more than willing to defend their territory. The same can be said for Genevieve’s covens and Xavier’s legions, but…” His jaw ticked as he glanced at the marked-up map that consumed the section of wall next to the computer monitors. “I’m not sure we have enough fighters without knowing what they have planned. Waking the Hunters would be dangerous, yes, but it may be necessary.”
“Even Saint?” Ransom folded his arms across his chest. “It’s well documented that he was nearly mad when he went into stasis.”
“I’m sure Samuel would help keep his brother walking the right path,” Alek countered. “And like I said, I haven’t decided yet. There are a lot of variables coming into play.”
The men grumbled their assent, then filed out of the war room, all armed to the teeth. Like Alek, I preferred Glocks, which were holstered at my sides, under my jacket. My daggers were sheathed at my thighs and ankle, not that I ever needed to use them.
My vision blurred as I came to my feet, and I braced my weight on the heavy table until it cleared. It flickered thermal for a second or two, and the fire in my throat threatened to burn me alive if I didn’t quench it. Blood. I needed blood.
“You need to feed,” Alek noted, narrowing his eyes on me. “You’re no good to any of us like this.”
“I fed three days ago.” I pushed back from the table, ignoring the churning of my stomach.
“Right, and exactly how much did you take?” He stepped into my path.
“Enough.”
“Liar.” He clucked his tongue and shook his head.
“I’m fucking fine.” I stepped to the side and walked around my king, heading for the door.
“It’s less each time, isn’t it?” He came after me, and I heard the locks of the war room snap into place as the door closed behind us.
“Why do you have to push the matter?” I growled, climbing the steps. My legs felt like lead. Every step took more effort than it should have.
“Because you’re my second in command, you jackass,” he snapped.
I felt the bond shimmer in awareness. Valor was near, coming down the tunnel from the gym.
My fangs exploded, descending with vicious force in their need. My dick swelled as her citrus scent hit my lungs, the sweat from her workout only reminding me of making her sweat a few hours ago in my chamber. Bite. Taste. Claim.
Oh, fuck off. I slammed my eyes shut and battled my own instincts, cursing fate for giving me a human mate. But the truth of the matter was the real curse—there was no other mate I wanted. Valor’s smart mouth and sharp wit were quickly becoming another addiction I couldn’t live without.
“How bad is it?” Alek asked under his breath, knowing that if he spoke any louder, our brothers would hear, would doubt my leadership.
“It tastes like ash when I feed. I can only manage a few mouthfuls, and then it’s all I can do to keep it down.” We continued our climb, making our way up the steps to the main level of the residence.
“I was the same way,” he admitted. “You remember I went days without feeding when Lyric arrived. Our bodies crave our mates.” He stilled, looking me in the eyes. “You’re at the breaking point, Lachlan. You either give in to that bond and feed from your mate as biology intended, or I chain you with iron and force a few blood bags down your throat, and we both know how much you love the canned shit.”
“With all due respect, my king, fuck off.”
“Once you accept the bond and feed, your body will stop rejecting other blood.” He ignored my outburst and forged ahead, determination in his glare. “It’s just part of the claiming ritual.”
“I don’t need to know how the birds and the bees work,” I retorted. “I get it. When two people love each other—”
“Stop making light of this!” he roared.
“I’m not going to force my mate into a position she has no desire to be in! Would you honestly take something from Lyric that she wasn’t willing to give? Would you?” I stepped into his space, and my muscles coiled, preparing to fight. “Or would you go to your unclaimed mate knowing that every time you feed, it calls up a jealousy she has no understanding of because she’s not one of us?”
“You know the answer. We’re not made to abuse our mates. You accept the bond or reject it, whatever makes you happy, but you’ll fucking feed, or I’ll compel you.” Any other vampire would have backed away. Would have cowered. But Alek wasn’t just my king, or the most powerful vampire walking this earth—he was my oldest friend, and he’d never given a shit when my temper blew hot.
He’d also never threatened to compel me, not in the hundreds of years we’d been at each other’s side.
My nostrils flared at Valor’s scent, and my head snapped to the bottom of the staircase, where she stood with one hand on the banister, Olivia and Avi just behind her. Valor’s eyes were wide, her muscles tense, and her scent carried a pungent hint of apprehension.
And Alek had known she’d been listening.
“You overstep, my king,” I warned quietly.
He arched an eyebrow at me and then looked down at my mate. “You feed him, or you see that he feeds. He’s going to get someone killed out there if he goes without much longer.”
Valor’s gasp was soft, but I felt it echo in every cell in my fucking body like someone had taken a dagger and sliced my very skin.
“He’s going to get himself killed, Valor.” Alek left with that parting blow, walking away like he hadn’t just fucked over my relationship or whatever this was, in the name of doing what he thought was right.
Not that he wasn’t right.
He was.
That’s why I was so fucking pissed that my muscles vibrated with rage. This was a no-win situation. Biology demanded that I feed from Valor at least once. My instincts bellowed to pin her to the wall, strip those skin-tight workout pants from her sweet legs so I could fuck her while my fangs sank deep into her vein, filling her while she filled me.
My body was rejecting all other blood sources.
Valor didn’t want this.
I didn’t want…or do you? The thought didn’t have much time to take hold as the three women ma
de their way up the stairs. Olivia and Avi nodded as they passed by. Had we been in public, I would have bowed my head to the princess, but she hated the formalities when we were in the privacy of the residence, so I merely nodded in response.
“Is that true?” Valor folded her arms across her chest, her ponytail swishing lightly as she tilted her head at me. Her heart rate was still elevated from her workout…or was there another reason?
“I’m not sure how much you heard.” I palmed my cell phone, looking for any excuse to get out of this conversation.
“The part where you’re going to get yourself killed if you don’t feed. And I thought you were feeding?” She stared me down even though I was almost a foot taller, but along with the anger, there was that flash of jealousy in her eyes I both craved and abhorred.
She had nothing to be jealous over.
“I’m feeding,” I assured her. It wasn’t a lie. It just also wasn’t the entire truth.
“Then what was that about?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.” I swiped my phone to the home screen.
She fucking took it away like I was a toddler who couldn’t pay attention. “Nope. You’re here with me for the moment.”
“Valor—” My vision went thermal as my body went into predator mode. Her nearness was fucking with me in ways I couldn’t deny. Alek had gone ten days before he’d forced himself to feed from Lyric, and he was the strongest of us all. How long could I make it on mouthfuls taken sporadically? Five days? Maybe seven?
Bite. Taste. Claim.
“I know I may have flown off the handle a little, but I’d rather you eat than put yourself in danger.” Her body was a mass of red and pink, heat radiating off her.
I slammed my eyes shut and counted to ten.
“Are you seriously praying for patience or something?” She blew out an exasperated sigh.
When I pried my eyes open, my vision was normal again, thank God. “I’m fine. I’m feeding. Alek is annoyed because the situation we’re in makes me dangerous.” That was close enough to the truth.
“Because of the whole not accepting the bond thing.” She shifted on her feet.
“Yes. It’s basically like sitting in the middle of the intersection at a yellow light. You know it’s about to turn red at any moment, and you’re just hoping you can make it through before it does.” My voice was gruff and dismissive, but the longer I was this close to her while hunger beat at me, the more danger she was in. At least sex distracted the hunger, which was ironic. The woman was safer when she was naked in my bed.
“I get that,” she said softly. “What’s a blood bag?” Her nose scrunched, and I nearly laughed at how fucking cute it was—maybe I was closer to going mad than I realized. “Like…the donated stuff at the hospital?”
“Yep. It does the job but tastes like…” I struggled to find a way to describe the difference without triggering another wave of hunger. “You know how fresh green beans taste? How they’re so crisp, they snap?”
She nodded. “My mother kept a vegetable garden before she died. I both loved and loathed snapping the beans before dinner.” A small smile played across her mouth before it faded, and her scent shifted again, flavored with the heavy, cloying potpourri of grief and the sharp pepper of anger.
What the hell had happened to her mother?
“Anyway, yeah, I know how fresh green beans taste.” She looked at me with expectation.
“Right, that’s fresh blood. Crisp. Flavorful.” My fingers trailed down her neck. Her blood would be flavored with the slight tang of the salt of her for that first swallow. Stop. I stepped back, putting a few feet of space between us as Hawke and Avi started arguing in the background. “Blood bags are like canned green beans you bought last year and need to use before the expiration date. Still nutritious, but soggy and limp.”
“Yuck.” She cringed.
“Exactly.” I leaned forward and snatched my phone back before she could even see that I’d moved. “See? If I was starving, I wouldn’t be able to move that fast, would I?”
“How the hell would I know?” She shrugged, but there was a smile on her face.
Worth it. Easing her pain in any way possible was worth this struggle.
“If I was starving?” I pressed my palm against her lower back and yanked her against me. “You’d know it. Trust me. It’s not something a mate can hide.” The feel of her flush against me had me hard and ready.
Her lips parted, and she twined her arms around my neck. “I’m all sweaty.”
“Since when has that bothered me?” I lowered my mouth to hers and kissed her thoroughly. We were both breathing a little harder when I lifted my head. “I have to go out tonight. Be good.”
She rolled her eyes and ran her hands down my sides, blinking when she skimmed over my holstered Glocks. “Be careful.”
“Always am.”
I left her standing in the hallway and walked to the entry, where the voices grew louder. Hawke and Avi faced off on the Persian rug, flanked by two trainees—Thorne and Corbin—who looked like they’d rather be anywhere than in the middle of whatever was going on.
“Then you’ll just have to wait until I get back,” Hawke snapped, sheathing his dagger in the bands that crisscrossed his chest.
“I don’t have to do anything you tell me to.” Avi glared up at the giant. “If I want to go out and check on the families who have been attacked in this war, I’ll do it. I don’t need you by my side. I’m not defenseless.”
“No, you’re just the biggest fucking target for the Sons of Honor. Sounds like a real fine time to go traipsing about the town with only Olivia to protect you—” He turned toward the bodyguard, who waited halfway up the steps. “Not that I doubt your skill, Olivia, but we were both there the last time you two were overpowered.”
Ouch. My eyebrows shot sky-high, but I kept my mouth shut, watching to see how this would play out.
Olivia gritted her teeth but nodded. The vampire was alarmingly fast, and that gift was one of the reasons she’d been chosen as Avianna’s personal guard, but that didn’t mean she could overpower a group of the Sons when they were armed with Night Thistle.
“Those families deserve to have respects paid!” Avi’s face flushed red. “We’ve had two vampires slain in the past week alone! They’re going through absolute hell, and I can’t begin to imagine their suffering—”
“Because you’ve never suffered.” Hawke looked like he was going to come unglued at any second, which made me take a step forward. I wasn’t sure anyone in the world was safe from Hawke’s wrath when his control snapped, and Avi was in the line of fire.
“Hawke,” I warned softly.
“You’d rather I lose all of my compassion like you?” she challenged.
He sneered. “My lack of compassion is what has kept you alive for years, Princess. Whether or not you know it. Do us all a favor and stay on the fucking estate tonight so I can continue to keep you alive. If you’re hell-bent on seeing the families of the fallen, we’ll arrange it tomorrow night. Is that too much to ask? Too much of an inconvenience?”
“Fine.” Her chin rose in the air, a signal that I knew from my time with Valor meant her stubbornness had kicked in. “I’ll wait until tomorrow, if that suits you. And if it doesn’t, I’ll take one of them instead.” She gestured to the trainees behind them.
Hawke shot them a glare. They both stepped back.
“You’re not getting killed on my watch, Princess. I’ll be there.” He looked over at me, and the darkness in his eyes seemed even blacker than usual. “You ready?”
I swiped open my phone and hit the button to dial Xavier.
“This had better be good. I’m in the middle of someone,” the demon king answered.
“Right. We’re serving Marcus’s justice tonight.”
“When?” There was a distinct giggle in the background.
“Right now.”
“I’ll meet you there.” He hung up without another word.
“He’s insufferable,” Avi muttered, her face falling the second Hawke was out of earshot.
I looked down at Alek’s little sister. In some ways, Hawke was right. We’d worked tirelessly to make sure she’d never tasted more sorrow than she’d already been dealt. “Your compassion is your strength.”
Her pale blue eyes shot up to meet mine. “Olivia is skilled, and I am not without my own means of defense. If Alek demands that one of his assassins be at my heels whenever I leave the estate, then I’m going to respectfully request Benedict or Ransom. Hawke is…” She shook her head.
“I love you like you were my own sister, but Hawke was assigned to your protection for a reason, Avi. There’s no line he wouldn’t cross to keep you safe. That ruthlessness you can’t stand is exactly why he’s your guard. He stays.” I offered her a tight-lipped smile in apology and followed my men into the night.
* * *
Frost bit at my skin as we wended to the docks on the southeast side of Edgemont City, careful to choose one run and operated by the demons.
“You certainly know how to spoil a lovely evening,” Xavier drawled, walking out of the shadows, some of which came with him as he approached. He didn’t come with a guard for the simple fact that he didn’t need one.
Where Alek had some very real weaknesses—sunlight, blood loss, Night Thistle, and Lyric—Xavier had none that we knew about, and he liked it that way.
To be honest, I couldn’t blame him.
“You didn’t have to come.”
“Holy shit that’s—” Corbin whispered loud enough for the east coast to hear him.
“Shut up,” Thorne punched him in the arm. “Or they’ll never let us out of the training center again.”
“Children,” I muttered to Xavier, flashing him a grin.
“Indeed.” He turned and walked away. “Follow me.”
I shook my head at the trainees and walked after Xavier. Corbin and Thorne were good kids from good families, but they were just that. They needed to be sent off to the battalions on the outer edges of the territories to be hardened if they were going to be of any use to us. It took more than lethal fighting skills and a cocky grin to be an assassin, and there were some lessons that could only be taught by war.
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