While Randy had been dismissive when he thought there were some FBI agents out there to worry about, now that he knew werewolves were involved, he was far more worried—which was strange considering his nephew had just offered to serve him up as a sippy cup to the younger vampires in the coven.
Dario chuckled. “Forgive me if I don’t put much stock in your opinion when it comes to werewolves. But given your dramatic failure in Dallas, I think you can understand my reasoning. That city was supposed to be supporting a thriving coven colony already, and instead, you had a pack of fucking werewolves in your own department. How blind and stupid can you be?”
“I admit I made mistakes, Stefan.” Ignoring the vampire, Randy reached through the bars, extending his hand like he thought his nephew would take it. “But I’m not wrong about this. They’ll come for her and they’ll come gunning. You could use my help when that happens.”
“They won’t come for her,” Stefan scoffed. “There are four of them at the most. None of them would be foolish enough to step foot in this place even if they know where we are. It would be a death sentence. Even a werewolf—as stupid as those mutts are—would know that.”
Randy opened his mouth to say something, but the ringing of a phone interrupted him. Dario scowled in irritation and reached into the pocket of his slacks to pull out a cell.
“Yes,” he said into the phone. Whatever the caller said must have pleased him because his mouth curved. “I’m on my way.”
Hanging up, Dario looked at the muscle he’d brought with him. “Move them to the main gathering area. Heavy guards all around the amphitheater and the main entrances to the nest. I don’t want any surprises.”
Then he and Stefan were gone, taking two guards with them. The ones who were left looked uneasy, glancing furtively into the shadows around the holding area as if expecting a werewolf to jump out any second. Maybe they’d heard of the damage Zane and the werewolves had done at the club and didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that carnage.
One of the guards came into Alyssa’s cell and grabbed her arm, shoving her out while his buddies did the same to the other captives. She automatically moved closer to Zoe and Chloe, hoping to provide at least a little moral support. Knowing what was coming, the girls had to be freaking out about now. Alyssa sure as hell was.
“Don’t be scared,” Chloe told her softly. “It’s going to be okay. Jake is on the way. And Zane is with him. They’re close. I feel it.”
Chloe might have been trying to make her feel better, but hearing Zane was close to this horrible place—even if there was no way the girl could know something like that—made her stomach twist itself into knots. She didn’t want him anywhere near there. It hit her then that as much as she didn’t want to die, she was way more concerned that Zane would. The thought of him coming here to save her and getting killed in the process was tearing her soul out.
Alyssa prayed Chloe was wrong and that Zane would stay as far away from there as possible.
Chapter 12
Zane strode across the crowded, gleaming marble lobby of Black Swan’s corporate headquarters, his height and intimidating presence clearing a path for him as he worked his way toward the large security desk near the elevator bank of the skyscraper business complex. He was still ten feet away from the nearest guard, and they were already eyeing him warily.
He knew this wasn’t the brightest idea any of them had ever come up with. Walking right into the place and offering himself up like this was probably on the short list of most insane things ever. But when Davina had finally given them the location of the nest—four levels below Black Swan Enterprises off Figueroa—it wasn’t like they could simply sit on the info and keep waiting.
The waiting had been killing them. Him most of all.
Gage and the other members of the Pack were only now landing at LAX because they’d been grounded on the tarmac in Dallas/Fort Worth for over an hour thanks to bad weather. Worse, the help that Alyssa’s boss, Nathan, sent was still fifteen minutes out. Between the delay in Dallas and the hellish LA traffic, it would probably take at least an hour for any of them to get to Black Swan’s headquarters. An hour was too long to wait, especially when they didn’t have a clue what the hell was going on in the nest.
Jake had been close to losing his mind while Zane had been on the verge of throwing up for the past few hours. Neither of them would say it out loud, but the idea that the people they cared about might already be dead was more than they could handle. Zane tried to convince himself he’d know if Alyssa was hurt—or worse. That the bond they had between them would tell him something like that. But the truth was, he didn’t know that for sure. After the way he and Alyssa had left things at the club, he wasn’t even sure they still had a bond.
That was why he, Rachel, Diego, and Jake had come up with this crazy plan. He’d walk right in and hope security would take him downstairs, where he could find Alyssa and the others, all while keeping things from getting out of hand before backup arrived. As plans went, it was so far beyond dangerous it wasn’t even in the same zip code, but it was better than waiting around and hoping for the best.
As he came to a stop in front of the security desk, he wondered if any of the people visiting Black Swan Enterprises ever noticed how many heavily armed security guards were employed there. Certainly way more than one would normally expect to see at an international finance-and-investing conglomerate.
“I’m here to talk to Dario Casteel and Stefan Curtis,” Zane said casually.
“Nobody sees either of those gentlemen without an appointment,” the man said, not bothering to look up from his computer. “And you don’t have one.”
Zane put his hands on the counter with a growl and leaned closer. “Oh, I’m sure they’re going to want to see me. Tell them I’m waiting at the front desk.”
That got the man’s attention. He looked up quickly, face pale. Zane bared his fangs, letting his eyes flash gold.
The guard shoved back his chair and got to his feet so fast the thing almost toppled over. He reached for the gun at his hip with one hand, grabbing the two-way radio off his belt with the other. His movements drew the attention of the other guards in the lobby, and they converged on Zane, weapons drawn.
Behind him, Zane heard gasps followed by a flurry of movement as the other people in the lobby gave them some space. That was probably a smart move. They couldn’t see his extended fangs or glowing eyes, but they sure as hell could tell something serious was about to go down.
Zane pinned the guard behind the desk with a look. “You might want to get Dario on that radio. Now.”
The man stared at him, sweat beading on his brow and migrating all the way up to his receding hairline. Clipping his radio on his belt, he took a mobile phone out of his suit jacket and dialed with a trembling hand.
“Mr. Casteel, it’s Edwin at the front desk,” he said nervously, his voice low. “Sir, there’s a werewolf in the lobby asking to see you and Mr. Curtis.”
The security guard on Zane’s left thumbed his radio, urgently requesting all available security personnel to come to the lobby. Two other guards hurriedly cleared the lobby, rushing people outside. Apparently, no one trusted Zane not to attack Dario and his human sidekick. He couldn’t help but smile at that.
