“Fine. Be a good puppy and go get the little vampire working for the enemy under control for me,” Kyan said, stepping to the side and sweeping his arm out toward Leah.
Every pack member surrounding them snarled in response to the insult to their Alpha, but Marco just rolled his eyes at Kyan, shoulder-checking him on the way past.
Rocco’s sound-dampening spell narrowed to keep whatever conversation Marco was having with Leah from everyone but the two of them. Rafe kept his eyes trained on the coven leader and the vampires who’d encircled their position while they waited, every sense alert for the violence poised on a hair-trigger torestart. His instincts were screaming at him to turn back to the building and seek out his mate, but that would only draw attention to Adri’s absence.
Long minutes passed as Marco and Leah silently argued. They were still at it when Rafe felt a familiar presence at his back, Adri’s jaguar butting his head against the side of his leg before his mate shifted back and accepted a spare pair of sweats from Rafe.
“Find anything?” Rafe asked softly, all too aware that the vampires had moved closer and would hear everything now that Rocco’s power was focussed elsewhere.
“Whoever was there from the fighting ring is either dead or cleared out of the building.”
Rafe glanced over his shoulder at the broken glass and shadows as Adri quickly dressed. Fuck. Another dead end. All they had to show for their efforts was what he’d managed to sense with his power in the guard’s brain.
“Or maybe there was nothing there to start with. Your Alpha will answer for this incursion,” Kyan said.
Adri’s growl rumbled in the air at the threat emanating from the vampire, and Rafe reached out to grip his nape before his impulsive mate tried to take on a fight he had no hope of winning. Kyan was far too old and powerful for the young shifter to face.
“The scouts you had destroying evidence are tied up in the basement when you’re ready to collect them,” Adri snapped back. “I wonder what the Council would think of the fact that they slit the throats of everyone we needed to question.”
“I’m sure it was self-defence.”
“It was a fucking execution I watched with my own eyes,” Adri growled.
Silas jumped in before Rafe could, doing his bit to avoid outright war while their Alpha was occupied. “Neither of our families followed protocol. Let’s call this one even and leave it at that.”
Leah’s voice calling broke the stand-off as Kyan glared daggers at Marco’s second. “Sounds like you’ve worked out your differences. Alpha Lunetti has convinced me that the exposure risks here were managed. If you all go the fuck home without starting any more trouble, I don’t see any reason to report this.”
Kyan spun, abandoning his argument with Silas to stalk closer to Leah as the blood magic he was gathering to himself made Rafe’s senses roil. “What does Marco have on you, traitor?”
Leah held her ground. “You agreed to uphold the Accord, and by extension, the Council, the same as everyone else. My job there doesn’t make me a traitor.”
“But whatever arrangement you have with the wolf pack does.”
“I was never going to remain in the Coven regardless of where I ended up, Kyan.”
There was a story there. Rafe wondered if Viviana might know what it was, given how cosy Adri said she’d been with the Council vampire.
“Exactly. Traitor.”
Leah rolled her eyes and turned her back on the coven leader, stalking away. It was a bold move. A reckless one. She clearly had history with Kyan that the rest of them were unaware of.Marco shifted a step to the left, placing himself between Kyan and the Council vampire, and Silas moved to join him.
“Neither of us wants her to change her mind. We’ve wasted enough time here tonight. Let’s not waste more,” Marco said.
Rafe held his breath as he waited to see which way Kyan was going to fall. The coven leader hadn’t consolidated enough power yet to risk an attack from his brother if he decided to make a play for power, but he was close. Especially if he had an arrangement going with the D-2S in any capacity. The threat of Council retribution must’ve been enough to sway him, though, because the gathered coven enforcers melted into the shadows a moment later without any visible sign from Kyan—creepy vampire mind tricks.
“Agreed. Now get the fuck out of my territory,” Kyan growled, buttoning up his tailored suit jacket like he’d just finished a business meeting and it wasn’t coated in blood from the earlier ambush before leaving in a blur of motion so fast it was like he’d disappeared.
“Asshole,” Adri murmured, sparking laughs from their nearby pack mates.
“Takes one to know one,” Silas teased.
Adri flipped him his middle finger, and Rafe smiled as he wrapped an arm around his mate and directed him back toward the SUV. Marco caught his eye and gave him a nod as they left. They might not have found the information they were looking for, but the way Adri had stepped up for the pack and bonded with them more than made the night’s risk worthwhile.
CHAPTER 13: ADRI
The second thedoors of the car shut behind them, Rafe was all up in Adri’s space, dragging his sexy salt-and-pepper beard over his neck to scent-mark him. With his jaguar still riding his instincts hard and the adrenaline of the attack still racing through his system, Adri found himself tilting his head to give the doc better access, sparking a low, rumbling sound of approval from Rafe.
“I’mnotsubmitting. Cats don’t do that,” Adri complained, moaning as Rafe nuzzled into his skin and caught his skin between sharp teeth.
