by R. E. Butler
“Yeah,” she smiled. “But I think for our people, the mating bond is kind of like a wedding night, which means you guys should still be chilling out together somewhere private and not at work.”
“If only. Did you need something?”
She walked into the room and handed him a folder. Inside was a purchase order and plans for the room renovation. They were going to open the wall between the two rooms to create one large space, add a kitchenette, an area for Angie to paint, and set aside a corner for a couch and television. Although he and Vex weren’t much for television, Angie followed several shows and had asked if they could have a TV somewhere in the new room.
“We’re going to stay in the spare chamber while the renovations are being done,” he said as he signed next to Vex’s name that he agreed with the changes. They’d asked Angie’s input on the renovations, but they also wanted her to be surprised, so she wasn’t allowed to see the designs or go into their chamber until it was finished.
“I’ll get some of the trolls to move your clothes and things over in a few days. Should take a month.”
“Thanks for overseeing this,” he said and handed her the folder.
“I don’t mind. Someday, I’ll have a mate and need to renovate my chamber, so I’ll have lots of practice.”
“How are things going with your male?”
She pursed her lips. “Fine.”
He arched a brow. “Doesn’t sound like it is.”
“It’s not like I thought it would be. He’s nice and it’s fun, I guess, but not what I expected.”
Rage sat up straight and rested his forearms on the desk. “We’ve all been there, Cella. No one likes to be alone forever. Vex and I thought about taking someone under-the-fang, but we never followed through. The timing just wasn’t right.”
“I feel like that’s what’s going on right now. Like I’m forcing it.”
“If it doesn’t feel right, then don’t do it. That’s my advice.”
She chuckled. “It’s so interesting when you males find your mates how quickly you change. A week ago, you would have told me to chuck the male out of the club and find someone to ride like a horse until I felt better.”
He couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah. Angie’s changed me for the better.”
“I’m glad you and Vex are happy. I’ll get there someday.”
“Timing’s everything.”
She nodded, hope gleaming in her eyes, and left. Picking up his cell, he texted Angie.
You’re amazing.
Oh? I think you are, too.
I’m a better male because of you.
You’re so sweet.
Don’t let that get out. I have a reputation to keep up.
She responded with a laughing emoji and a kissy face emoji. He sent her back a red heart. The night couldn’t go fast enough. He’d get to see Angie at their break, and she’d spend the rest of the evening with him to see what he did at the club. He was looking forward to the time with her, and he was a little jealous of Vex right now.
Putting down the cell, he turned his attention back to the computer. Clicking the arrow to speed up the footage of the last twenty-four hours at the SyBl factory, he watched as the morning shift of workers walked through the security gate. Several slipped off the route from the gate to the front door of the building, disappearing in between the trucks. He marked the time and enhanced the feed, but the images were too grainy to make out any facial details. They were wearing the factory’s uniform, however, which meant they either actually worked there, had stolen uniforms, or created copies that were good enough to fool the security team. During the daytime, humans and shifters worked security and at night, vampires handled things. He watched the footage twice but didn’t see the males go in the front door or leave.
He picked up the desk phone and called Brone, who joined him a few moments later. Sharing what he’d seen, he looked at the large male and said, “Isn’t the only way into the building through the front door?”
Brone nodded. “There are fire escape doors in the building, but they only open from the inside.”
“Then they’re still there, or they’ve found a way to get out of the fenced area without being seen.”
“There are cameras everywhere,” Brone said, rubbing his chin. “They’re either very good at avoiding detection, or there’s something wrong with the camera feed and we’re missing them leaving. It’s troubling.”
“It has to be the church,” Rage said. “They’re targeting our state’s SyBl supply by going after the trucks. The report from today is the same as it’s been every couple of days. The trucks are being tampered with and the deliveries are either late that day or don’t go out at all.”
“We need to increase the patrols at the factory.”
“I think we need to pull the trucks from the factory entirely.”
Brone’s brows rose. “And do what with them?”
Rage closed the video feed and opened the map of the coven’s properties. “We can take the trucks to one of the warehouse locations and keep it under heavy guard. We’ll use our guards to drive the trucks to the factory, load them, and make the deliveries.”
“That could work.”
“At least until the church figures out some other way to screw with us.”
Brone nodded gravely. “Gather a team. We’ll leave in an hour.”
Rage quickly calculated how many drivers they needed, going through the coven’s database to locate the appropriate males and females. He put in calls to everyone on the list he’d compiled and had them meet in the underground garage. From the closet in his office, he grabbed a bullet proof vest and a knife sheath, which he attached to his belt. He selected a tactical knife and secured it inside the sheath.
“You look like you’re going to war.”
Rage spun with a soft growl and saw his beloved in the doorway. He jogged to her and swung her around, kicking the door shut and burying his face in her throat. He inhaled her sweet scent and bit gently on her pulse that thundered under his tongue. She went lax in his arms, her fingers tunneling into his hair as she moaned.
“Oh, wow,” she whispered. “Greet me like that anytime.”
He chuckled and lifted from her throat, brushing his lips over hers. “I’m not going to war, but it’s always smart to be prepared.”
“Where are you going?”
Vex joined them, and Rage explained what he’d seen on the surveillance videos and the plan he’d made.
“We’ll come with you,” Angie said.
“No,” he said.
Her eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
“Because it could be dangerous.”
“Then don’t go.”
“It’s my job.”
She tapped her nose. “I have a great sense of smell thanks to my wolf genes. Maybe I can scent something you can’t and it could be useful.”
“Beloved,” he said, the word ending in a growl.
She stepped back from him and he immediately missed her warmth. Folding her arms, she looked at Vex. “We can go as a team. I even promise to not put myself in danger. But it’s just a drive in a truck from the SyBl lot to a warehouse.” Her eyes went wide and she said pleadingly, “Come on, Rage. Team Anvera.”
“What?” Vex asked.
“That’s our names smooshed together.” She grinned, a dimple forming in one cheek.
Rage looked over her head at Vex who shrugged. “You’re not letting the factory know ahead of time what the plans are, so the likelihood of there being an ambush is pretty low. And she’s not wrong at any rate – her sense of smell is better than ours and she might scent something that could help nail down how the trucks are being tampered with, or who.”
“We know who,” Rage said. “The question is why. Which I don’t know that we’ll figure out, honestly. But I’d settle for stopping the tampering.”
He looked at his beloved, who was giving him the shifter equivalent of puppy dog eyes. Behind the sweetly sorrowful lo
ok, he could see her determination and through their mating connection, he could sense how much she wanted to be with him.
“You do as we say, beloved,” he said, wrapping a lock of her silky hair around his finger and giving a gentle tug. “No putting yourself in danger.”
“Promise.”
“I’ll grab a vest from Cella,” Vex said, disappearing from the room.
Angie rubbed her knuckle along Rage’s vest. “What’s the point of the church tampering with the SyBl deliveries?”
“We’re not certain, but it’s possible that the church believes if they stop the SyBl deliveries that it might send the vampires into a feeding frenzy.”
“Could that happen?”
“No,” Vex said as he came into the room. “Vampires can be sustained longer on real blood, bagged or from live donors. While it’s a hassle when the SyBl deliveries are delayed, it wouldn’t become a serious issue for us.”
“That’s good,” she said. Vex fit her with Cella’s bulletproof vest. “Why does everyone have vests like these?”
“Only the family have them. When the church started to attack our people, Mishka had vests made for everyone – you’ll get your own soon. We only wear them if we know we’re going somewhere we could be targeted as a safety precaution,” Rage said.
“Would it stop silver bullets?” she asked, tugging on the vest a little.
“Silver doesn’t bother vampires, that’s an urban myth,” Vex said.
“So, what can kill you?”
“Taking the head or heart,” Rage said.
She tapped the space over his heart, the vest thudding softly with the motion. “I like your heart right where it is, let’s keep it there.”
He chuckled and lifted her hand, kissing her knuckles. “I swear.”
“Are all immortals killable that way? Head or heart?”
Vex nodded. “For the most part. Pretty much anything will die without their head, though, immortal or otherwise. And the same goes for the heart.”
She blew out a breath. “I’m ready. Let’s go save some SyBl.”
They left the office and headed to the garage where they met with Brone and the others Rage chose for the mission. He quickly explained what was going on and their plan to move the vehicles away from the plant in the hopes of discouraging the church from messing with them.
“What if they go after something else?” one of the males asked.
“The family is meeting tonight to come up with as many possibilities as we can think of for ways the church could come after our people. We’ll implement plans to combat those ways. If anyone has any ideas, email them to Harmony, she’s gathering the data for Mishka,” Brone said.
Within minutes, they were in the coven’s specially equipped vehicles and traveling to the SyBl factory. Vex drove and Rage sat in the second row with Angie, watching as he reviewed the factory’s footage for the previous month on his laptop.
Angie hummed as he sped the feed up, stopping every time he saw someone approach the vehicles. He glanced at her. “What is it, beloved?”
She paused the feed at a place where three males wearing uniforms skulked toward the vehicles and pointed at the security officers. “They’re waiting for the security people to be distracted.”
He skipped to another day when the trucks had been tampered with, and the same thing happened. They seemed to know exactly when the guards were too busy to see them leave.
“I do know a little about stalking prey,” she said, leaning back against the seat and giving his thigh a squeeze. “How often are the same officers on duty during the shifts when the trucks have been tampered with?”
He flipped to the schedule and checked the roster. “You’re right,” he said. “The days the trucks are tampered with, it’s the same three males, and they’re all human.”
“Does it matter that they’re human?” Vex asked.
“Humans don’t have the same senses as supernatural creatures or vampires,” Angie pointed out. “On the other days, there’s at least one supernatural creature on each shift, usually a troll.”
The coven staffed numerous trolls to guard the club during daylight hours. Although they were enormous and appeared to be slow-witted, they were quite smart and loyal to a fault. And they had excellent senses.
“Who owns the SyBl factory?” Angie asked.
“All the factories in every state fall under the umbrella of one company, Cuyahoga Labs. At least one master from every state is on the board of directors, so everyone has an equal stake. Each individual factory is managed by people chosen by the board. Why?”
“Who manages the Ohio factory?”
“A human male named Oscar. He’s mated to a vampire in our coven,” Rage said.
“He hires the staff, like the workers and security?” she asked.
Rage nodded. “If you’re thinking he’s been compromised, he was the first person we checked. He’s squeaky clean, and very devoted to his mate.”
“Why hasn’t he been turned? Why would he want to keep aging while his mate stays the same?”
“There’s no timeline,” Vex said. “Eventually he’ll be changed, but there’s usually a reason they wait, most normally family issues.”
“Ah. I get that,” she said. “But I wouldn’t want to be immortal and have you guys be mortal. I’d be worried sick about your safety.”
Rage adored how she cared about his and Vex’s safety. He prized hers above all else.
“So it’s not the manager,” she said. “And a vampire would never work with the church, so we can rule out his mate. Which leaves the actual workers. I’ve never tried to be a criminal, but I think it would be easy enough for the church to have their people apply for jobs and look for security weaknesses. I suppose if you watch a place long enough, you’ll see ways to take advantage.”
Rage growled and sent a message to the manager for a list of new hires going back three months prior to the trucking issues. He kissed her cheek. “We’ve been looking at this the wrong way I think,” he said. “If they work for the factory, they wouldn’t be under as much scrutiny. We thought they were sneaking in as workers, but if they’re actually employed there, that changes things.”
“It wouldn’t be hard to hide someone’s allegiance to the church either,” Vex said.
He pulled behind the factory and turned off the engine. Rage closed the laptop and opened the door, offering his hand to Angie. She slid from inside and hopped down. They entered through the security gate at the back. They met with the vampires who’d been on duty. Then Rage and Brone headed to the trucks to visually inspect them for tampering. Angie trailed behind them with Vex, and the other vampires with them waited for the all-clear to load into the vehicles.
Rage was aware when Angie stopped behind them and made a curious, growling sound. He turned and watched as she paced back and forth and then knelt, opening her mouth and inhaling deeply.
“It smells weird here,” she said, turning her head toward him. Her eyes were glowing amber, and he realized she was in touch with her wolf.
He joined her and knelt, Vex and Brone following suit. He inhaled but didn’t smell anything out of the ordinary.
“I don’t smell anything,” he said. “What’s weird about it?”
She crept along the truck, inhaling as she went. “I can’t place it, but the scent is really out of place. It’s... sweet but floral.” She shook her head and rose to her feet. “I think someone messed with this one.”
Immediately, Brone and Rage turned on flashlights and inspected every inch of the truck. Vex and Angie were standing a little way off, watching as the two males worked over the vehicle.
“I don’t see anything wrong,” Brone said.
Rage shook his head. “Neither do I. But I trust Angie. If she says there’s a scent out of place, then there is.”
Brone nodded and pulled the driver’s door open. “Move back. If this thing explodes, I don’t want anyone else harmed.”
“What’
s he doing?” Angie asked as Rage joined them, and he moved all of them back several yards.
“He’s going to start it,” Rage said.
“Hope he doesn’t blow up,” Vex said.
Brone said loudly from inside the cab, “So do I.”
They could hear the clicking sound as the key was turned, but the engine didn’t engage. After several tries, Brone got out and systematically tried each of the twelve vehicles. None of them started.
“What the actual hell?” Rage asked. The fleet of trucks was useless. They’d made their deliveries that night, so the tampering had happened once the vehicles had returned to the factory, not during the day like the other times.
Brone made a call and then turned to face them. “The coven’s tow company is sending trucks to bring the rigs to the shop. In the meantime, we’ll secure new trucks for tomorrow’s shipment. We won’t store vehicles here anymore. The factory is compromised.”
“What do you think is wrong with the trucks?” Angie asked.
“I don’t know. The other vehicles were tampered with – brake lines cut, tires slashed – but this is different. I think someone tampered with the engines,” Brone said.
Rage kissed Angie on the top of the head and gave her a one-armed hug. “I wonder if what you smelled was the scent of the human who tampered with the vehicles?”
“It must be,” she said. “But I thought the humans only worked here during the day shift?”
Vex looked thoughtful. “They may have stayed behind after their shift was over so they weren’t seen leaving. We’ll go over the recordings again and see if we can match up the roster with the people on shift today.”
By the time the tow trucks arrived and the vehicles were loaded and on their way to the coven’s garage, the night was nearly over and he was more than ready to get Angie back to the safety of their chamber. Although the night hadn’t gone as planned, no one had gotten hurt. When they returned to the club, dawn was less than an hour away, and he was glad to be home.
Angie yawned as she waited for him to unlock the door. “Sorry,” she said, her voice muffled behind her hand. “Long night.”
