“Yes. That night, Claudius, Edmund, and one other vampire entered Ronald’s room while Ronald was working. Claudius used vampiric trance to paralyze him, then fed until Ronald’s heart stopped. Edmund and the other vampire watched from the doorway.”
Ant always tried very hard not to show any emotion when recounting a scene reading, but Viktor felt the undercurrent of distress through their bond. “After Ronald died, they switched out his fountain pen with a cheap ballpoint, and likely replaced the documents on the desk as well, to remove any evidence of the notes he’d been writing about Raven Industries.”
Viktor crushed the washcloth in his fist, water dripping between his fingers. “Being a pretzel is too good for that worm. I’m going to rip his fucking head off.”
“You’re not.” Ant reached out, lightly touching Viktor’s wrist. “We’re going to do this the legal way. I have the testimony now. I watched Claudius plan and execute a murder to cover up financial crimes. That’s enough for the Justiciary to obtain warrants, seize the safe’s contents, and charge him.”
“Assuming we get out of here alive to report it.”
“We will.” Ant’s certainty would have been reassuring if Viktor didn’t know exactly how paranoid and ruthless Claudius couldbe. “We were sent here – people are going to notice if we’re missing.”
Viktor opened his mouth to argue. He genuinely felt that his sweet Ant might have missed a few facts in his thinking. The fact that Claudius had already committed murder, for example, or that he seemed to have no issue with turning Ant’s brilliant brain into a confetti bomb. Viktor didn’t think it was a stretch for the coven leader to decide two more bodies were worth the risk. But his mouth snapped shut when multiple heavy footsteps echoed in the corridor outside their suite.
“Shit, it can’t be nine o’clock yet. What the hell? Is he hoping to get his jollies seeing us both in bed?” Even as he said it, Viktor knew that wasn’t the case, and Ant confirmed it.
“Claudius has an attachment to the wards in this house. They must’ve alerted him somehow.”
“Shit, damn, and fucking hell.” Viktor surged to his feet, positioning himself between the door and the bed. Able’s ears were up, and there was a curl in his lip as he growled.
The footsteps stopped directly outside, then the door exploded inward. Wood splintered across the threshold as the lock tore free from the frame. The door slammed against the interior wall hard enough to crack plaster, and Claudius stepped through the ruined entrance with six vampire guards flanking him in the corridor.
Any sign of the polite, arrogant coven leader had disappeared. His eyes blazed with fury, his fangs were fully extended, and his fingernails were already claws. He looked like a man who’d just discovered his entire empire was about to collapse - which, Viktor supposed, was exactly what was going to happen.
“You.” Claudius’s voice shook with barely controlled rage as he stared at Ant. “I know you’ve already done the scene reading. Doyou think there was anything you could do in this house that I don’t know about? What did you see?”
Ant didn’t flinch. He sat straighter on the bed, one hand still firm in Able’s ruff, and met Claudius’s eyes calmly.
“Everything,” Ant said simply. “I saw everything. I watched you discover Ronald Finch breaking into your study. I watched you plan his murder with Edmund. I watched you use vampiric trance to paralyze him before draining him. I saw the journals documenting your financial crimes, and I noted that you removed evidence from the scene afterward.”
Claudius’s expression twisted. “You can’t possibly - the wards should have…”
“Your wards did exactly what you designed them to do. They trapped me in a vision loop intended to fragment my consciousness and prevent me from retaining coherent testimony.” Ant tilted his head slightly. “It worked for all of two minutes, maybe five. However, you underestimated two things. First, my skill level as a scene reader is second to none. Second, you totally ignored the strength of a fated mate bond. Viktor anchored me through the trap and allowed me to observe all I needed to see in perfect detail.”
Viktor felt the temperature in the room drop as the magic from the wards seemed to swirl around the coven leader. Claudius’s rage shifted into something colder and far more dangerous. He was weighing up the odds, Viktor realized Claudius was doing the one thing he had warned Ant he would, and hoped he wouldn’t. The cowardly vampire was choosing self-preservation over anything else.
“Then you leave me no choice.” Claudius stepped fully into the suite, and his guards pressed closer behind him. He raised both hands and began speaking in a language that predated English- harsh, guttural syllables that resonated with power that raised the hairs on the back of Viktor’s neck.
The sky outside their window darkened, as if a sudden storm was looming. Viktor felt the estate’s wards slam into place with physical force - layer upon layer of ancient magic locking down the entire estate like a prison door slamming shut.Fuck!
The mate bond flared as Ant recognized what had happened and was immediately trying to find a solution. Viktor didn’t need their bond or a degree from the Academy to know they were trapped. He could feel it in every cell of his body. By invoking the wards completely, it meant no one could get in, and more importantly, no one could get out. They were sealed inside with Claudius and his entire coven.
“That was unwise,” Ant said, his voice still calm. “The Justiciary knows we’re here. When we fail to check in, they’ll send reinforcements.”
“By the time they find enough puny mages to break through my wards, there will be nothing left of you to find.” Claudius’s smile was all teeth. “You should have accepted the limitations of your investigation and left when you had the chance.”
He gestured sharply at his guards as he stepped back out the door. “Seize them both. Kill the dog if it interferes.”
The guards surged forward as one - a clearly coordinated attack pattern - but they’d made one critical mistake. Their mere presence threatened Ant, and Viktor’s second form was already hanging on by a thread, desperate to be free.
This time, Viktor let him go. His body expanded, muscles bulging beneath his shirt until the fabric tore. His fangs lengthened into weapons, his fingers curved into claws, and he knew without looking in a mirror that his normally blue eyes would be bright crimson. The civilized façade he maintainedaround Ant and Bridget burned away, leaving the true essence of his being - a being who was faster, stronger, and more vicious than anything else that challenged him.
The first guard who crossed the threshold toward Ant never saw Viktor coming. One moment, Viktor stood between the bed and the door. The next, he had the guard by the throat, lifting him off his feet and hurling him backward into two more guards with enough force that all three vampires went down in a tangle of limbs.
Able launched himself at the second guard who tried entering, sinking his teeth into the vampire’s leg. The guard yelled - Able was registered as a weapon for good reason - and tried to shake the dog off. Viktor grabbed that guard by the shirt collar, twisted him into a pretzel-shaped configuration that would take hours to untangle, and tossed him into the corridor like a sack of potatoes.
“Stay behind me,” Viktor snarled at Ant, not taking his eyes off the remaining guards. “Don’t you dare try to help.”
Through their bond, he felt Ant’s mix of exasperation and trust. His mate wasn’t afraid - which was either the smartest or dumbest response possible, Viktor couldn’t decide which - but he didn’t have time to ask.
