“More than you could possibly imagine,” he said. “Baby alpha…” Claude looked at the phone as if he could see Fane through it. “Even your father, as powerful as he thought himself to be, didn’t have any idea how many dormants existed in this world. And now, they belong to us.”
Several moments of silence ticked by. When Fane finally spoke, his voice held an eerie calm. “No. They belong to the Great Luna. The lust for power makes fools think they can take what doesn’t belong to them and actually keep it. Mark my words, bloodsucker, you will suffer my wrath, along with any who think they can harm those that belong to the Great Luna. I am the arm of her justice. I am her sword. I am her claws and fangs. I will tear you down and send you to where you belong.”
“And where is that, baby alpha?” Claude chuckled, but the sound was hollow. No one else in the room made a sound. Even Myanin shivered at the tone in Fane’s voice.
“Hell,” Fane said coolly. “Where you will burn for all of eternity.”
The vampire snapped his teeth together. “Good luck with that. Our sheer numbers will overwhelm you. And my king is building a hybrid army that will be more powerful than anything you have ever faced. This only ends one way, pup—with you and your pack ground under our boot heels.”
Myanin shook with rage. “Now can I kill him, Fane?”
“Not yet, Myanin. Tenia, glean any information you can from him. I don’t care what you have to do. We need a way into that facility. I gave Finn my word we would get him and his female out. Not to mention the dormants Cain has captured. Also, did Claude have a cell phone on him?”
“Not that we found,” Dillon answered.
“Okay, Tenia, see if you can get a cell phone number for Cain. I think it’s time the king and I had a chat.”
The fae lifted her chin and pulled her shoulders back. “I’ll do my best.”
Myanin put a hand on her shoulder. “You got this.”
“Dillon,” Fane continued, “I need your beta and his healer mate to make the trip to this Area 51 once we get things figured out. I’m going to ask Drayden for Nick and Kara’s help, as well. Hopefully, they can use their witch power to help us with the situation and to talk to this new healer. We can’t even hazard a guess as to her mindset. Is Cain controlling her? Has he poisoned her mind with lies? She is a total unknown, and that makes me uneasy. It might be helpful if she speaks with others of her kind.”
“Consider it done, Alpha,” said Dillon. “If we can help in any other way, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Lilly,” Fane said. Her eyes turned back to the phone. “Have you seen anything?”
The queen shook her head, and Myanin noticed her hands fisted tightly at her sides. “My visions are annoyingly absent at the moment.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Fane offered. “Stay ready. Good luck, Tenia.” With that, the phone clicked and went silent.
Skender, Tenia, Myanin, Gerrick, Tanya, and Dillon all looked at one another. Several moments ticked by before Skender spoke. “You’re up, love. I’m right here beside you.”
Tenia nodded and stepped closer to Claude. Skender walked around behind the vampire and grabbed him by his hair, yanking his head back. “This might hurt a bit,” the wolf said with a wicked smile.
The fae placed her hands on either side of Claude’s face. “Look at me.” His eyes snapped to Tenia’s. “My mate is wrong.” She tilted her head to the side, and a very wolfish expression crossed her face. “This is going to hurt a lot.”
Chapter
Three
“Despite my youth, I’ve managed to make a ton of mistakes. Some I regret more than others. But the thing I regret the most, the thing that still keeps me up at night, is that I didn’t try harder for her. I thought I had only failed her once. Turns out, I actually failed her twice. And the second was far worse. My first failure only left her dead. The second failure brought her back as a monster and left her in the hands of our enemy.” ~Kara
“Nick, I need you and Kara to come to my office.” Drayden knocked on their bedroom door.
Kara froze mid-step on her way to the bathroom. Morning sickness is about as fun as riding a roller coaster after stuffing my face with five funnel cakes. Plain and simple. She was trying not to let her constant nausea rob her of the joy of having their child, but Kara was seriously sick of puking.
“Can you give us a few minutes?” Nick put his hand on the doorknob. He glanced over his shoulder, no doubt checking to see if his mate was fully clothed before answering the door. Mostly, he wanted to make sure her markings were covered. Possessive male.
“You better believe it,” Nick said through their bond. Kara felt an invisible hand run down her spine.
He cracked the door just enough to see their alpha. “Kara’s been having morning sickness. Let me get some crackers in her stomach.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Drayden said gently. “I wouldn’t ask, but Fane called. It’s important.”
Nick nodded. “Understood.”
Kara didn’t listen to the rest of the conversation. Her stomach wouldn’t let her. She hurried for the porcelain bowl that had become the bane of her existence. Once she’d emptied her stomach of what little contents it contained, she rinsed the taste out of her mouth with mouthwash and then wiped off her face. “Ugh.” She groaned and ran a hand over her stomach, which was finally showing a slight bump. “Are you feeling as nauseous as I am, little bean?” Kara imagined a day when her child could respond. It seemed to Kara as if it would be forever before her daughter arrived. Yet Kara wondered if she’d ever be ready to be a mom, no matter how much time passed.
