“Xias! Xias! It’s me.”
Xias stilled. His heart pounded out of control, thundering in his ears. When his shirt was lifted off his head, the most beautiful face in the world appeared in front of him. Xias jumped at Zhuang, licking his cheeks, whining as he tried to get closer.
Zhuang laughed. “I’m glad to see you, too, mate, but I need you to shift now. We need to know what happened here.”
It was only then that Xias noticed the others in the room. Elder Shen and several guards. He jumped up and started looking around for Osamu, but the man was gone. He shifted so quickly his head spun. “Where is he? Where’d he go?”
“Who, baby?” Zhuang asked. “Where’s who?”
“Osamu!”
Who in the hell did Zhuang think he was talking about?
“The room was empty when we got in here except for you and Elder Yang,” Elder Shen said. “Osamu isn’t here.”
Xias gasped as he looked at the elder. “He got away?”
Zhuang growled as he looked toward the guards. “It looks that way.”
“The cubs.” Xias clutched at Zhuang’s shirt. “He’s going to go after the cubs.”
“Baby, he doesn’t know where the cubs are.”
“Are you positive?” Xias wasn’t. So far, Osamu had been right on their tail, sometimes so close Xias could feel the man’s hot breath on the nape of his neck. “Do you really think he would kill an elder at council headquarters if he didn’t have some sort of plan?”
Xias knew he sounded crazy, but he wasn’t necessarily wrong.
“He killed Elder Yang,” Elder Shen said. “He had to know he couldn’t get away with something like that.”
“I don’t think he cares.” Xias had a strong urge to stomp his foot and scream. “I told you how evil he is. I never said he was stupid.”
“I know you said…” Elder Shen glanced down at his dead friend. “But this…”
“He doesn’t care who he hurts to get what he wants.” When the elder glanced at him, Xias huffed. “He wants Bai.”
“Your son?”
Xias nodded.
“Why not the others?”
“I told you.” Xias had told him. Zhuang had told him. What part of this wasn’t the elder getting? “He just wants the boy.”
Elder Shen’s jaw dropped. “Cubs are sacred.”
Xias snorted.
“This man needs to be stopped.”
He didn’t snort again, but it was close. “Do you have an army?”
Elder Shen drew in a harsh breath. “I’ll make some phone calls.”
After the elder walked away, Xias turned back to his mate. He gave Zhuang a weak smile when the man held out his clothes. He had totally forgotten that he was standing there naked.
“Tao says all is quiet,” Zhuang said as Xias dressed. “I warned him about Osamu. He’ll let me know if he has any problems.”
Xias nodded. He wasn’t going to feel better until he saw the cubs with his own eyes. He knew this wasn’t the end of things. Osamu had something planned. The alpha wouldn’t feel an ounce of guilt over killing the elder, and he had to know the council enforcers would be coming for him, but that wouldn’t stop him.
