Chapter Eight
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Vex
The church table feelslike a war council.
Seventeen brothers packed into the meeting room, some standing against the walls, others straddling chairs they’ve turned backward.The air is thick with tension, testosterone, and the lingering smell of coffee that’s gone cold in mugs no one’s bothering to drink.Blade sits at the head of the table, his massive frame rigid with the weight of leadership, while Prophet stands beside him, hands clasped and expression grave.
Every eye in the room is on me.
The taste of Tessa still lingers on my tongue, and the memory of her straddling my lap burns through my veins like poison.Two hours ago, she was in my arms, grinding against me, whispering my name.Now she’s upstairs in my bed, probably trying to sleep off the adrenaline crash while we decide her fate.
Our fate.
Because that’s what this is, whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
“Let me get this straight,” Rooster says, leaning back in his chair until it creaks.“We’ve got an ancient ice demon that can possess our territory through a mark on some human woman, and your grand plan is to keep her here?In our clubhouse?Where it already attacked once tonight?”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Blade says, his voice flat.Final.
“That’s fucking insane.”
“That’s the call.”Blade’s eyes scan the room, daring anyone else to challenge him.“Tessa is under Kings’ protection.Anyone got a problem with that, there’s the door.”
No one moves.
But the tension rachets higher, thick enough to choke on.
Fury shifts in his seat, the heat radiating off him making the air shimmer.“With all due respect, Prez, keeping her here puts everyone at risk.We saw what that thing did to Hollywood.What if next time it gets through Prophet’s wards completely?What if it uses her to kill us all in our sleep?”
“Then we deal with it,” Blade says simply.
Prophet steps forward, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade through silk.“The creature is called the Khorvath.In ancient texts, it’s described as a devourer, something that feeds on fear, cold, and broken promises.It was sealed beneath Alaska’s permafrost centuries ago by an alliance between angels, vampires, and shifters.”He pauses, letting that sink in.“Tessa’s bloodline are wardens.Her ancestors helped create that seal.The mark on her shoulder isn’t random, it’s the Khorvath claiming what it thinks belongs to it.”
“So, she’s bait,” Cyclone says.“Walking, talking bait that’s going to draw that thing right to us every night until it breaks through and kills us all.”
“Or,” Prophet counters, “she’s the key to stopping it permanently.”
That gets everyone’s attention.
“How?”Blade asks.
“I’m still working on that part.”Prophet’s jaw tightens.“But what I do know is this, if we send her away, she dies.The wards here are the only thing slowing the Khorvath down.Out there, alone, with the mark calling to it?She wouldn’t last a night.”
The room goes quiet.
Then Ranger speaks up, his voice rough.“What about Vex?Can he actually protect her, or is he too compromised?”
Every head turns toward me.
The wordcompromisedhangs in the air like an accusation.They all saw it tonight, saw me tackle her into her room, saw the way she clung to me afterward, saw the possessive fury in my eyes when I threatened to rip Rooster’s throat out for looking at her wrong.
They know.
And now they’re waiting to see if their VP can still do his job, or if I’ve become a liability.
