To spy on them, that was what Bennett and his pack thought. But they would play the game and keep Sarah and Ron’s identity hidden, keep the location of E and his family hidden. Before their hand was forced, when they had finally revealed X was gone, Rhys and the Guardians met with E and made a plan. E, Ana, and Julio had left. None of the pack knew to where, it was safer for them that way. They could reach E when necessary, using a burner phone like Sarah used with her parents. E had left willingly, but not without a, “you’d better fucking call me if you need me” warning. And yeah, when shit hit the fan, it would be nice to have a former Agent’s expertise.
Bennett dragged his feet to the dreaded office. At least they didn’t have the pain in the ass Sigma to deal with anymore. Demetrius and his devoted vampires had been leveling Sigma chapters all over. It was straight-up civil war on the down low for that species. It was old-world vampires who wanted to run anti-shifter organizations versus new-world vampires who wanted to form protection rings, much like the shifters had with their Guardians. That rankled the vampire elders even worse. Their species had always been about underground domination, not living in peace among humans and shifters.
The fact that X was protected by Demetrius took the former vampire rulers’ focus off her status as a shifter’s mate. Those old vamps would shit if they found out she had a brother, and he mated with a human, and he procreated.
Not just vampires would take issue, either. Many shifters would be dismayed that their blood was getting contaminated with vampire blood. Many others, though, would be relieved. Vampires mated to shifters were vampires who weren’t looking to kill them.
Right now, Bennett had to get some training plans ready for the rookies who had arrived two months prior. The rookies showed up thinking they were ready to hit the field, typical young, dumb, and full of cum. Bennett snorted to himself. He would know. He had been that young male once.
Instead, Master Bellamy was putting them through some serious training regimens, proving to them that they were nowhere near ready. It also served to keep them busy, and too fatigued to snoop around and report back to the council. Hopefully.
Bennett sighed and inwardly cursed Rhys Fitzsimmons, even though he would do the same damn thing if he were in the male’s shoes. Stepping into the office, he pulled up short.
Sitting at Fitzsimmons’ desk, with her booted feet propped on top, hands behind her head, vivid green eyes alight with fierce determination, was the hybrid in question.
“X,” Bennett said grimly.
“Actually, I prefer Alex.” She swung her feet down and sat up. “Mind shutting the door.” It wasn’t a question.
Bennett scrubbed his tired face. His usual stony countenance was drawn with stress, his deep-blue eyes didn’t carry their usual light.
He closed the door and collapsed in a chair across from the desk. Resting his cheek in one hand, elbow propped on the armrest, he stared wearily at her. “Do you know the shit-storm you’ve created?”
“It’s totally my fault,” she said sarcastically.
He waved her words off. “You know what I mean.”
“I have one main question.” She swept the hair off her forehead. She’d taken to styling it again, but to sneak not just into the lodge, but into Rhys’ office, she’d had to get through some pretty tight spaces and it had gotten messed up. “Are we going to blow the lid on the council first or bust Rhys out first?”
Bennett huffed out a breath and reclined, his head on the back of the chair. “This pack is toast if we try to get Fitzsimmons out. The newbies the council sent us will either rat us out or be left in charge because the rest of us got dismissed.”
“I can get Rhys out.”
“Please. Not even you are that good.”
“I’m sitting here, aren’t I?”
Bennett flattened his lips at that. She knew she had made her point. It was her first time in the lodge. She couldn’t have flashed into the office and no one had detected her presence at all.
“Malcolm and Harrison grew up around the council. They’d know the layout pretty well,” he grudgingly offered.
“The less people who know I’m here, the better.”
“Agreed.” Bennett’s expression was somber. “You can trust the twins. Sounds weird since their dad is on the council, but they’re straight up. I’ll let Mercury know, and the rest of the pack.” His face twisted. “Except for the three rookies the council sent to spy on us. I trust you can keep out of sight?”
She studied Bennett. “Why are you being so helpful?”
“I’m a nice guy.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
A small grin twisted his lips. “I didn’t trust you, but not for the reasons I let on. I didn’t want to be commander. I wanted to have more time with Sarah before I took over these duties. When you showed up, I had a feeling this is exactly where I’d land. Mates have a tendency to change our life’s course, and as far as mates go, you’re a doozey.”
“Agreed,” Alex echoed his statement from earlier. Then quietly she said, “I didn’t want to hurt him.”
“I don’t think you did. Dude’s a rock. Probably scared more than anything that you won’t return for a century or two. Which would’ve been fine with me. By then I might’ve been ready to take on this dog and pony show. But the council took him instead, and here I am, an adult fucking babysitter for the council’s spies.”
“They’re using him to bait me.”
Bennett nodded in agreement.
“Well, if they want me, me is who they’re going to get. I say we take down that bitch.”
Bennett looked at her, not understanding her words at first. Then he gave his head a quick shake of disbelief because of the magnitude of what she proposed. “You aren’t talking about the council are you?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I agree, they’re up to some bullshit. But the twins investigated for almost a year and came up with nada. They could barely even dig into anyone’s business without being threatened to get kicked out. How are we going to take down the council without starting our own civil war?”
“I have connections your shifters don’t.”
“I’m sure you do.” Bennett sighed, lost in thought. “If we do this, we have to time it right.”
*****
Alex aimed carefully down the hallway, then let the dart fly. It hit her target perfectly. The vampire slapped at his arm like he was swatting a mosquito. Only, by the time he looked down at the red-tipped dart sticking out from his sweater, he was slumping to the ground.
She smiled triumphantly to herself. Doc and his drugs were pretty damn awesome. The huge supply of drugs Madame G had designed had been destroyed. A mutual decision between Rhys and Demetrius after the compound had been taken over. As helpful as it’d be to study her concoctions, it was safer to have it all obliterated.
The shifters had been using their own tranqs for a while, and with Doc’s help, they were refined for each species.
Alex trotted forward and wiggled the handle of the door. Locked of course, but a girl could hope. She searched the downed vampire’s pockets and came up empty. Guess she’d have to enter the old-fashioned way.
She pulled the little kit from her belt and went to work on the lock. It was a standard lock, nothing digital. Everything else in the building had been, yet this room had a normal lock. The guard at the door was put in place instead of technology.
Bonus. It took longer to hack an electronically-secured door, and it was not as fun as knocking out a vampire.
The building itself was quite up-to-date, even though the outside looked like a crusty old warehouse that had fallen into disuse. The three floors below ground level were as modern as could be. The vampire in charge had spared no expense building the safe house.
Alex let herself in and dragged the vampire in behind her. The apartment was empty. After selecting a bottle of water from the fridge and having a seat on a barstool across from the door, she kept her tr
anq gun handy in case the guard started twitching. Alex crossed her legs, sipped some water, and waited.
Her timing tonight was crack on because she didn’t have to wait long.
Demetrius opened the door. “Scurn, you in here using the head?”
As the tall vampire entered, he tripped over the massive guard lying unconscious in his entryway.
He reached for a weapon when Alex interrupted him. “Don’t worry, it’s just me.”
Demetrius’ head whipped up and he broke into a big grin. “X!”
She waved off her old name. “Alex.”
He shut the door and strode to her. He was as devastatingly handsome as ever, and had already turned on his signature charm.
“Is that your real name?” He sat on the stool next to her, facing into the kitchen while she still faced toward the door.
“Close enough.” She still needed to protect her family. Going around introducing herself as Alexandria King was a huge no-go.
“What can I do you for, Alex?” His voice had dropped a few notches into a seductive purr.
“I need some information.”
A chuckle rumbled through his chest and she saw a fang flash as he smiled. “My pleasure, love.”
“I’m looking for more of a collaboration than an exchange.”
His grin broadened, his fangs gleaming. “We collaborate so well together.”
Alex propped her elbow behind her on the bar and turned to face him. “I mean, just talking. You and me, clothes on.”
He adopted a seductive pout, but when she didn’t offer anything further, he sighed. “I knew that damn shifter would win out someday. Speaking of which,” his nostrils flared, “I don’t smell him on you. In fact, why didn’t I scent you coming in?”
“Because I didn’t want you to,” she replied cryptically. She’d picked up her share of tricks working for Sigma for a decade.
“So you have mated him?”
“I didn’t say that.”
He looked at her, his pale-green eyes speculative. “The council has Fitzsimmons and they’re offering a sizable reward for you. And you’re here.”
“Like you are doing with the Vampire Council, I think the Lycan Council needs a major overhaul.”
“You realize when I win against our archaic government, I’ll be in charge. You’d answer to me, hybrid.”
“Like hell I’m going to answer to anyone.”
Amusement was written across his face. “Unless you’re going to form your own hybrid council, you need to come up with a proposal of how you, any kin of yours, and any future hybrids, should be treated by each species.”
Dude had a point. She certainly wasn’t going to form her own government. What. A. Headache.
“I’ll give that point to you. Why don’t you tell me what your plan for hybrids is?”
“Same as the vampires,” he said easily. “Obey our laws and keep our existence low-key. The newer generations are tired of the constant war between vampires and shifters. They want to live in peace, be allowed to mate other species, not fear for their children. They’ve even asked me to help them integrate into society like the shifters are doing.”
“Be allowed to mate another species? Have other vampires found their true mate outside of the vampire race?”
“I’ve learned some interesting things since Sigma went down, Alex. For instance, this war between our species and how it’s escalated in the last several decades.”
She nodded, interested to hear more. They had all assumed it was technology and its capability to permeate more destruction.
“What if, like you and I sitting here collaborating,” he gave the word air quotes, “our councils had their own way of working together? I was sent to the equivalent of vampire boarding school, being a royal and all.” She had heard he came from a powerful family and was destined to sit on their own council, which explains why vampires were so willing to follow him as he took over. “Some of my fellow classmates and I would hit the town on the weekends, rip it up. But we started hearing talk. So we hit more towns, partied it up everywhere we could, kept our ears open. We started to see patterns in the tragedies that befell our people. Started noticing how vampires who took a heavy interest in a person outside their species often met a horrible fate, along with the human or shifter who had captured their interest.”
Alex took a swig of her water. She knew her parents weren’t crazy to live in hiding, but they had never shared with her exactly why, other than that they feared each other’s council.
“The two deaths were never connected, right? Vampires live in hiding and are rarely involved with another species. Unless we’re killing them, drinking from them, or fucking them,” he amended. “So my team and I looked into it further. Any humans met with an accident, any shifters killed by vampires, and the vampires who showed too much interest in them were killed by shifters.”
So…shifters took care of problem vampires and vice versa. “Nice and tidy.”
“Exactly,” Demetrius agreed. “The Vampire Council kept the Sigma networks in place to keep hunting shifters. Of course, they wouldn’t hesitate to dominate and enslave them, but until then, shifters had their uses.”
“And Madame G, and all the chaos she caused, was a handy distraction so they let her go without leashing her in.”
“She was such a maniacal bitch.” He shook his head grimly. “I’m still finding disturbing evidence of the dark arts she was involved in. Good job on the kill by the way. Love how you rubbed in your heritage at the last minute. Gave it enough time to register, then finished her off.” He slid off his stool and went to the fridge to snag a beer. Holding it up to offer her one, she shook her head. He sat back down next to her and took a big swig. “I got stationed in Freemont’s Sigma chapter and used it as a front to keep researching our theory.”
“The two councils were working together to exterminate trans-species mating?”
“Yep. Another issue I aim to rectify is that shifters have Guardians and, except for a few corrupt exceptions, they protect packs, human mates and all. Vampires have no such protection.”
“The Lycan Council’s been getting greedy lately and targeting more human mates.” Alex couldn’t imagine how the two species’ governments could work together in any capacity and get away with it.
“I’d imagine two of the West Creek Guardians mating humans didn’t sit well. It’s one thing when it’s the lower ranks, but not the warriors.”
Jace wasn’t a born Guardian, but he was an excellent one and Cassie was human. Their mating was followed shortly by Mercury and Dani. Obviously, Mercury’s DNA was special, so a human having his babies must have been like salt on the human-mating wound.
“I need to prove it, or they’ll never leave me and Rhys alone.”
“Love, I’ve been trying to prove it for years. I can’t manage to find anyone alive to act as witness.”
“They kill every one they target, then?”
“Not necessarily. They may leave the more powerful mates alone, hoping they’ll take a new mate and not question the death too much. When my vampires took down the other Sigma chapters, we found prisoners who had been slaughtered as soon as they heard we were coming. Made me wonder what they knew.”
Shifters kept prisoners. Each Guardian chapter had their own jail and a small prison was at the council’s headquarters. Alex wondered what she might find there.
She peeked over at the unconscious Scurn to make sure he was still out cold. “I’ll run all this by Bennett. We’ll keep you informed if we find anything.”
“Ah, yes. Commander Young. I haven’t had the pleasure of dealing with him yet. He’s not as interested in trying to beat the shit out of me as the previous commander was.”
Alex wanted to smirk at the thought of Rhys getting more than a few punches in on Demetrius, but her heart twisted at the reason why. Bennett was wrong. She had hurt Rhys. He was a rock, her rock, but she had given him a few chips.
While her mind threatened
to go all melancholy, Demetrius leaned in close. She could feel his breath on her neck.
“Tell me, love, you’ve gone without for a while?” He rasped into her ear, tickling the short hair that stuck out behind it.
“Demetrius, if one of your fangs so much as touches me, I’m going to pull them both out with my bare hands while I use my foot on your balls for leverage.”
He threw his head back and laughed deeply. “My word, Alex,” he wheezed between busting his gut, “I’m glad that shifter hasn’t made you weak.” Still chuckling and shaking his head, he finished his beer. “Ah, I wasn’t looking to end my dry streak anyway.”
It wasn’t often the male surprised Alex, but Demetrius retaining some semblance of abstinence did it. “You goin’ soft on me, Big D?”
He grimaced. “Lovely choice of words.” He turned to look at her, his pale greens solemn. “You know why I liked sex with you even though it was an ego-crushing event?”
“Ego crushing?”
“Please, love. It hits a male hard when his partner disappears inside her mind as he’s going at her.”
Yeah, she never hid that. It’s not like she cared what he thought, she just needed the sex to serve its purpose. “Then why?”
“Because it meant something. It was for a reason. I got your rich blood, you got some intel. All the club fucking…sure, at first it’s a good time. Then, it’s just empty. Feels like an itch that never gets satisfied, no matter how many screaming cunts rub on it.”
“Nice, D. Nice.”
He gave her a shit-eating grin. “Like that, did ya? I don’t always use that word, but when I do, it’s to a beautiful woman.”
She rolled her eyes and he laughed again.
“I think I like our new relationship, Alex. This whole friends with no benefits thing.”
Smiling, she tipped her water bottle to his beer for a quick “cheers” and stood up. Time to go. She had to sneak into Bennett’s cabin, after knocking loudly so she didn’t catch him and Sarah at it again and pass along all the information she got tonight.
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