While killing both assholes in the middle of the lobby of Black Swan Enterprises sounded like fun, he was more thrilled about the security guards focusing all their attention in his direction. That would give Jake a better chance to slip in a back door and hopefully give him a chance to find out where Alyssa and the twins were being held without anyone seeing him. If they were really lucky, it might even give the other werewolf time to grab Alyssa and the girls and get them the hell out of there.
Zane smelled the stench of dirt and death even before the doors of the middle elevator opened and Dario stepped out, Stefan at his heels. Dario had a fresh silk shirt that was minus the bullet holes, but other than that, the vampire still looked as pale and cold as he had last night.
As the vampire walked toward Zane, he stepped into a band of bright sunlight streaming through one of the windows. Unfortunately, Dario didn’t burst into flames, and Zane had to grudgingly admit Davina had been right. Sunlight wouldn’t burn these things to a crisp.
“How’re those ribs, chap?” Zane asked, giving Dario a smile. “I know for a fact I heard a few of them crack when I kicked the shit out of you during our little scrum.”
“I’m in one piece, as you can see. Which is more than anyone will be able to say about you soon.” Mouth curving, the vampire lifted a hand and wiped a thumb across his lips. “By the way, I have to compliment you on your taste in mates. I had a little sip before coming up here and she was exquisite.”
Zane moved before he even realized what he was doing. Snarling, he closed the distance between him and Dario in two strides, white-hot rage burning through his veins. Reaching out, he wrapped his right hand around the vampire’s neck and squeezed until he heard vertebrae crack. His back bunched up, the wolf inside struggling so hard to get free he thought he might drop to the floor on all fours.
Every security guard in the lobby moved in close, their weapons trained on Zane. He ignored them, lifting Dario off his feet and tightening his grip around the vampire’s throat. The only thought in his head was killing this fucking monster.
But Dario simply reached up and put one hand around Zane’s wrist, prying Zane’s fingers away from his neck with his other hand until he dropped to the floor with an amused expression on his face.
“You can’t choke a vampire to death,” he said calmly, waving the trigger-happy guards back, then making a show of popping his neck. “We don’t need to breathe that often. Side effect of not be able to produce our own blood cells, which is an advantage when you live in a city that has as much smog as LA.”
Bloody hell. He hadn’t thought of that.
“You might not breathe much, but something tells me it would hurt like hell if I kept crushing until your head popped off,” Zane said. “I know from personal experience that vampires don’t function well with nothing but a stump above their shoulders. Like those two vampires in the club last night. Hope they weren’t friends of yours.”
Dario bared his teeth, his lifeless eyes going completely black as he took a step forward, but Stefan chose that moment to interrupt, as if he was bored with all the monster testosterone he and Dario were dumping into the air.
“I’m not sure who the fuck you are or what you’re doing in this town, but you’re trespassing on private property,” Stefan said. “I could have you shot right now, and no one would care. I have a hundred witnesses that will back me up when I say you were threatening us. And before you make some stupid comment about being hard to kill, I’m sure there’s enough firepower here to do the job.”
Zane growled. “Maybe, but by then I would have taken out a dozen people in here, starting with you.”
It might have been an exaggeration, especially if they went for a head shot, but Stefan didn’t need to know that.
Apparently, he wasn’t aware of it being an exaggeration because he went white as a ghost.
Dario, on the other hand, chuckled. “I have to wonder if the death toll would be as high if they shot you with those wolfsbane bullets my coven spent so much money developing.”
Zane resisted the urge to laugh. Those wolfsbane bullets sucked for sure, but the Pack’s doctor had come up with an antidote for it months ago, then created a vaccine to protect Zane and every other werewolf in Dallas.
But again, the bad guys didn’t need to know that.
“I guess you’re just going to have to shoot me and find out,” Zane said, baring his fangs and growling again, making the guards closest to him back up. He smirked. “I didn’t think so. Now, where is Alyssa? And if you did more than ‘take a sip,’ as you put it, I will kill you.”
Dario thoughtfully regarded Zane for a moment before giving him a nod. “If you’ll follow us, we’ll take you to see her. I assure you that your mate is perfectly fine.”
Stefan looked surprised at that but didn’t say anything.
Every instinct Zane had warned him that this was a suicide mission. But he hadn’t expected anything less. Going anywhere with Dario was foolish, and while he didn’t believe for a minute that the vampire would take him to Alyssa, if there was even a chance, he’d take it.
Zane motioned toward the elevators. “After you.”
“Of course,” Dario said. “As long as you agree to handcuffs. I can’t have anyone so dangerous roaming free in the building.”
Mouth twitching, Zane let his fangs retract and put his hands behind his back, ignoring the twinge of pain in his left arm at the movement. “I’d expect nothing less.”
He was a werewolf. It wasn’t like he was concerned about something as flimsy as handcuffs.
* * *
Zane tried to pick up Alyssa’s or the twins’ scents the moment they stepped off the elevator onto the fourth sublevel, but the vampire stench was so overwhelming down there he couldn’t smell a damn thing—not even himself.
As they led him down the long, dimly lit stone corridors of the coven nest, he wondered who the hell did the decorating for these vampires. Whoever it was obviously didn’t believe in light bulbs. They also seemed to have a fetish for antique tapestries. Every frigging wall he’d passed so far was covered floor to ceiling with the heavy textiles, most of them so faded he couldn’t even make out any of the details. The only thing missing were torches on the walls. Then again, open flames would probably be dangerous with all the material around.
