“Yes, you may be right, but I can’t stand the thought of those children being scared and alone and forced to bite others.”
The four of them seem to have a silent conversation between them. They are probably using bond telepathy, but they don’t leave us hanging long.
“Very well. We will start the search for the children while you go to Chaos Kingdom and find my son. You can use the rift access point easily enough,” Lena announces, standing up and plucking Stormheart from Liam’s arms. He yowls and tries to scratch her, and she screws up her nose and thrusts him at Johan who takes him. The cat settles down once again, and I can’t help the burst of laughter that barrels out of my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I say when they all look at me, “but it’s a relief to know I’m not the only one he hates.”
She grins wryly. “Yes, it really is.”
“What did you mean about rift access? I thought we would have to cross the desert,” Gem asks, and she winces.
“Zalfari isn’t just the access point to the vampire nation through the rift. There is a secret underground passage that leads directly to Chaos Kingdom.” She looks at her mates and nods like she’s decided. “Actually, all the kingdoms, if I’m honest. It makes it easier than traveling through the desert for days. It’s at the midway point between here and Eryx, and it allows you to pass through to any of them without going through official routes.”
Hunter grunts and tilts his head to the side. “That’s how you make your money, isn’t it? Smuggling things back and forth?”
She has the grace to look sheepish. “We do what we have to for our people,” she says unapologetically.
“How?” Gryffin asks, and it’s Santos who answers.
“The Chaos king commissioned it when he took the throne from his grandfather and approached us.”
“The Chaos Kingdom comes up in every conversation. For an unofficial kingdom, they seem to have their fingers in every pie,” I point out, and I can tell by the looks on my mates’ faces that they are as suspicious as I am.
“You need to be cautious when you go there. King Loki isn’t above manipulating people to get what he wants, and having one of the ruling royals in his kingdom may be too much for him to pass up,” Johan cautions.
“You think he’s a danger to us?” Gem sits up, letting his arm drop from my shoulders, on full alert.
“I don’t know, just be careful. Get in, find our son, and get out. You don’t have time to spend catering to the man’s every whim. He’s kind of batshit crazy. You need to find your last mate and get that crown on your head. Then, we can focus on who is causing all the trouble.” Lena is adamant, and it appears she’s dropped the rest of her hostility and is going to work with us for now. “Once we find the children, we will contact you and let you know what we find, then we can work on that final mate for you.”
“Thank you, I appreciate your help,” I tell her, and she stands up and strides over to me, taking my hands in hers.
“Just look after my son. He needs all the love you can give him. I wasn’t able to protect him from the abuse he suffered, and I’m hoping you can fix all that.” She moves her gaze to the rest of my mates who all murmur solemn promises.
“He will have so much love, he won’t know what to do with it,” I promise her, and her eyes shine with unshed tears as she gives me a nod of gratitude.
A yowl breaks the tension, and Johan curses, dropping the cat to the floor. Stormheart streaks away and up a cat tree situated in the corner of the room.
“That cat may be another story though,” I grumble, and Lena chuckles but gives me a knowing look.
“You will just have to learn to avoid him like I do, because Nox won’t leave Stormheart behind,” she warns, and my stomach sinks. How did I know she was going to say that?
ChapterThirty-Two
Colbie
We decide we need to get moving as soon as possible. We still need to cross a small portion of the rift to get to the tunnel, and although the ferals are usually active at night, the rift is shrouded in shade, so they may be just as active during the day.
The guys and I gear up for war. All of them strap on weapons, and I change out of my dress and into my spare watch uniform Hunter’s dragon provided.
“Keep an eye out for the Chaos Kingdom’s symbol on the wall of the tunnel. When you press a hand against it, a secret passage will open and lead you directly to it. It will still take a few hours, but nowhere near as long as it would if you were going the normal route,” Christos explains when they come to see us off.
Hunter hands over the bag of children’s items we got from their parents. There are DNA samples, items of clothing wrapped in their scent, favorite toys, and photos of each of the children. We weren’t sure what a unicorn needed to track, but Lena assures us she has everything she needs when she glances at the items.
“Keep an eye out for the Tideman family,” Gryffin tells Nox’s parents. “They are wrapped up in this somehow, and they stole a book from the royal vault that we need to get back.”
“We will add it to the list,” Santos assures us.
“I can’t stand that asshole and his stuck-up wife. They were tolerable until they banished their son for mating a man, which is inexcusable. We should love our children no matter what,” Lena growls. “It will be our pleasure to see him punished.”
