Harte’s chuckle quickly changed into a groan as the pain from his wound shot through him. Trying to stop it, he closed his eyes and inhaled shallowly before letting his breath out slowly to avoid jostling his shoulder. Giving a small sigh of relief that it worked, he opened his eyes. “Honey, please go…find Smokey and save our son…he needs you more than I do…please…for me.” Closing his eyes once again, Harte fell into the darkness, releasing his tenuous hold on the world.
It took Elen a moment to figure out what was happening to her husband and, refusing to allow it, she started CPR.He doesn’t get to make that decision by himself no matter how much he wants to.Yes, Kevin needed her, but their son needed his father more and she’d be damned if she didn’t do everything within her power to make sure that happened.
Elen placed one knee over the cloth now dark with Harte’s blood and pressed down. The position was awkward, but it allowed her to keep up the chest compressions while praying to the gods. All she had to do was to keep her husband alive until Smokey could reach them. Repeating over and over in her mind that Smokey was coming to save Harte, Elen kept up her efforts, refusing to give up.
Chapter 2
Lucius’ brave words left him as he observed Brady’s friends. The power radiating from the vampire took him back to his life with Valarian but, in reality, it didn’t equate at all because this one was so much stronger. He knew whatever his former master had done was mild compared to what this old vampire could do. And that knowledge frightened him to his core. Suddenly his willingness to meet the vampire waned, forcing his feet to drag the closer he got to him. Only his promise to Brady kept him from vanishing.
Feeling his mate’s tension, Brady stopped and turned to Lucius. Scanning his face, he intuited the source of his fear. Taking his mate into his arms, Brady held him tight against his chest, gently kissing the top of his head. “Leelan, you’re safe…I promise and swear it with my life. I’d never allow any harm to come to you.”
Compassion overcame Vasile when he realizedhewas the cause of the young vampire’s distress. Taking a step forward, he sought to add his assurances to Brady’s, but before he could, he felt Mystia’s hand gripping his arm. Glancing at her, he raised an eyebrow, silently questioning her action.
“Wait,” Mystia murmured. “Lucius trusts Brady and right now he needs to remember that. This won’t be the last time he faces other powerful paranormals, so it’s important the trust he has in his mate be allowed to grow. If it helps, look at Lucius as a young child finding himself in a world without any anchors to give him the security to understand it.”
Accepting the wisdom of Mystia’s words, it nonetheless sat ill with Vasile. The thought that the young vampire could even think he’d cause him harm was so repugnant, it was nearly impossible to agree with the witch. But he would follow her advice if it meant helping Brady and his mate.
~/~/~/~/~
Rapping once on the door to Jackson’s study, Dylon waited until his Alpha looked up from the computer screen before entering and taking a seat in front of his desk. “Have you spoken with Hunter and Sawyer yet?”
“Nope, but will do so soon,” Jackson replied, sitting back in his chair. “Certainly before Brady and Mystia arrive. How’s Cody?”
“Anxious as always whenever we leave the pups, but since Theo did so well with them last time, Cody’s nerves aren’t as bad as they were the first time we left.”
“That’s good,” Jackson murmured distractedly, his eyes shifting back to his computer screen.
Dylon frowned. His senses were on high alert at his Alpha’s behavior. While Jackson’s actions might be attributed to the danger Remy and Carson were facing, his gut told him otherwise. Whatever was bothering Jackson wasn’t connected to the upcoming mission and that certainly wasn’t good, especially if it would affect the Blackwood Pack. “Hey, is there something else I should know?”
Looking up sharply, Jackson stared at Dylon, forgetting for a moment why he was there. Then mentally giving himself a good shake, he shifted his gaze back to the open email on his screen. “Josiah is missing.”
“Missing? When? And more importantly, who told you?”
“Zane. After the High Council received Willow’s testimony, Penn said it would take at least a week before anything would happen, so I asked Zane to keep an eye on him…just in case my uncle decided to do something stupid.”
“More stupid then killing an entire pack?”
Snorting, Jackson nodded. “Yeah…as Penn said, Josiah has nothing to lose since he’s facing a death sentence.”
“Right-t-t…so now he’s missing?”
Nodding, Jackson swiveled his screen toward Dylon so he could read Zane’s email. “Josiah left the day Penn filed Willow’s affidavit. Zane tracked him to San Francisco but that’s where the trail goes cold.”
Dylon read the email before glancing back at Jackson. “During the time I was there, Josiah never left the pack grounds. He always used Rudy and his enforcers if it was necessary to do so. Something happened to make him change his routine.”
“My guess is he found out there’s a witness to the massacre.”
Shaking his head, Dylon replied, “That would mean Josiah has a spy at the High Council…someone who’s privy to highly confidential information.”
“I can’t come up with any other possibility, can you?” asked Jackson.
Thinking it over for a few minutes, Dylon shook his head. It was too much of a coincidence for it to merely be an accident of circumstance. “No I can’t…not in this case, anyway, because of the timing. Normally, once a filing is made by an attorney, it takes at least a day before copies are sent to the Council members. Until that happens, only the Council Clerk and his assistant would know what’s contained in the document. It would be a different story if Josiah had left before the filing.”
“Exactly! He’s up to something, but damned if I can figure out what.” Jackson turned his computer to face him and read Zane’s email again.
“You think he’s gonna target you and your brothers again?”
Shrugging, Jackson frowned. “Iwouldlike to say no…”
