Chapter 94

(**Sebastion**) 

As the sun creeps into our bedroom, the next morning I blink my eyes slowly as I pull myself from the erotic dream I was having of my mate. Even now I can practically feel her tongue running up my cock. The sound of her moan makes my eyes go wide when I realize what she is doing and that I am wide awake. 

I thrust my hips upward, shoving my erection further into her mouth. 

“You naught little minx.” 

Irina pulls her lips off my shaft with a wet pop as she smiles up at me. “Your dream was so loud through our link that it woke me. It inspired me.” 

Considering how long it has been since we had sex, I am not surprised I had such a raunchy dream about her. I glance over at the bassinet at the side of the bed. Theo and Oksanna are sound asleep. 

I flip her over onto her back, cover her mouth with one hand, then use my other hand to guide my aching cock to her core. Her eyes flutter closed as I sink deep inside her. I make love to my mate for the first time in over a month.  

My kisses silence her moans of pleasure as I rock us slowly into oblivion. When we reach that blissful peak, we both go over the edge with a contented sigh. In the aftermath of our passion, we both fall back to sleep. 

However, just like any parent with a newborn knows, that sleep is quickly broken by the shrill cries of hungry babies. Irina gets up out of bed then sits in the glider after picking up Theo. I scoop Oksanna up out of the bassinet to rock her while Irina feeds her brother his breakfast. 

Once both twins are fed, bathed, and changed into fresh clothes, I give Irina a kiss on the forehead, then head downstairs to grab her some breakfast. Flynn hands me a plate of scrambles eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit as I walk into the kitchen.  

“Thank you. You are a blessing to this family sent by the Moon Goddess herself.” 

“I am happy you think so. Your sister is thinking otherwise this morning. Callie and Danae are giving her a hard time this morning. So, I have been banished to the kitchen until I see the error of my ways.” 

“That error would be?” 

I hate to ask, but my curiosity it piqued now.  

“Getting her pregnant.” 

Ouch. “I am so sorry, man. As they say, it takes two to tango, so she had a helping hand in those two events.” 

“I am taking the day to do some baking and she will come around.” 

“Happy baking, Flynn.” 

I shake my head then back track to my bedroom to give Irina her breakfast. Katarina and Natalia are sitting on the floor with the twins when I enter the room. Irina is nowhere in sight, but the sound of the shower running is my clue to where she is. 

After sitting the plate on the bedside table, I grab a change of clothes, then head to the bathroom in the guest room. When I am done, I mindlink Irina and Alexei to meet me in my office in thirty minutes. It is time to tell her father the bad news about Pavel. 

Once we are done with that, we have a meeting with Monroe to discuss what information he got out of Treadstone. I am eager to send everything we learn onto the Werewolf Council and the newly formed Shifter Council. The more who knows about the threat that the Collectors pose to the entire supernatural world, the better. 

I am behind my desk, going over some emails from Drakos Enterprises when Alexei knocks on the open door. 

“Come on in. Help yourself to water from the min-fridge or if you need something stronger, there is bourbon on the bar.”  

After sending my last email, I close my laptop and glance over at him. As I suspected, he went straight to the minibar. He pours a generous glass of bourbon, then walks to the sofa and sits down. There are frown lines on his forehead as he stares down at the amber liquid in his glass. 

When he glances up at me, there is a haunted look in his eyes. This can’t be easy for him at all. His son is guilty of heinous crimes against someone he claimed to love and an Alpha who he agreed to weaken for an enemy.  

“I am sorry it has come to this, Alexei.” 

“How did I not see how sick he was? I saw shame on Gustav’s face that morning, but I thought it was...” he stops talking when Irina walks into the room. 

She walks straight to the sofa, then sits beside her father. They share a look that conveys so many emotions that I feel like I should leave them alone. My phone rings as I stand up to walk to the door. I glance down and see that it is my father calling from the road. 

He went to meet the security team that the council sent to escort Pavel to Europe. 

“Hello?” 

“We are on our way back to Redwood,” my father replies. 

“I will have Flint and Justin wait for your arrival.” 

My father disconnects the call. I turn to glance at Irina and her father. Bother of them are staring at me with sadness in their eyes. I don’t want to cause them anymore to pain, but this is beyond my control now. 

“The council’s security team is on the way here.” 

“Thank you fall all you have done for my family, Sebastion.” Alexei says. 

I nod my head, then walk back to my desk chair. “Once he is taken from here, his fate will be in the hands of the council. I am not sure what they will do, but considering he hasn’t killed anyone, the punishment might not be too severe.” 

“They will brand him as a traitor, then label him as a rogue,” Irina says. 

“Would your siblings like to say goodbye to him before he leaves?” 

“My siblings consider him lost to us. They will not want to see him. Kat wanted to, but when I told her everything that he did, she was disgusted. Whatever the council does with him, Pavel is on his own.” 

I glance at Alexei. The torment in his eyes makes me want to say something soothing, but I know there is nothing I can say or do to ease his pain. Pain that his own child brought upon him. I can’t imagine that kind of pain.  

“Do you want some time alone with Pavel before they take him?” I ask him. 

When he stands up off the sofa, that is all the answer I need. Irina stands up, gives her father a hug, then together we escort him to the dungeons. We walk in silence the entire way, but when we get to the door to the dungeon, Alexei turns to me with a pleading in his eyes. 

“I want to go with him to Europe. Do you think they will let me go with him?” 

“My father already secured you a plane ticket on their return flight.” 

Shock, then gratefulness passes over his face. “How did you know I would ask?” 

“If I were in your shoes, I would want to be by my child’s side too.” 

He gives me a hug, then walks through the door that Justin holds open for him. I nod at Irina as she gives me a smile before she rushes off. I can only presume she is going to go pack her father a bag for the travel. 

Two hours later, I watch as the security team escorts Pavel out of the dungeons. They have bound in with the same silver-lined cuffs as I did yesterday. His head is down as he walks out of the doorway. It is only as they are leading him past where Irina and I stand that he looks up.  

Pavel drops to his knees in front of Irina. There is no anger on his face. His eyes are filled with tears as he reaches out for her. The security team tries to step between them, but my father holds his hand up for them to stop. 

“Give him a chance to say all of his goodbyes,” he tells them. 

“Rinny, I don’t deserve to be your brother. I said and did horrible things to you. Please, Rinny, don’t forget the brother that you used to know. The one who taught you how to tie your shoes, how to swim, and how to beat Oleg at cards. I was a good brother once, Rinny. Remember him when I am gone.” 

A tear slips down Pavel’s face before he stands to his feet. He nods his head to the guards, then lets them lead him to the waiting SUV. Alexei and my father follow behind them, then get in the second SUV.  

I wrap my arms around Irina as she turns to me and buries her face in my chest. My heart breaks as she cries for the version of her brother that he wants her to remember. I watch as the two vehicles drive away. There is nothing I can say or do to mend this heartbreak for her.  

All I can do is to be here and hold her while she cries. When her cries subside, I pick her up bridal-fashion then carry her home. She makes me put her down once we reach the mansion. I sit her on her feet, then glance down at her face. 

“I am fine, Sebastion. We don’t have time for my emotional drama right now.” 

“I am sure Monroe will wait.” 

“He has been here with us for months already. I am sure he has stuff to attend to back in California. Not to mention the Werewolf Council. Do you think they know what he really is?” 

“If they have my grandfather’s missing diaries, then I am sure they have figured it out by now. If anyone bothered to read them rather than keep them under glass displays.” 

Monroe says from behind us. 

“Come up to my office and we can discuss what you learned from Treadstone.” 

I open the door, then the three of us head to my office. Once we get there, I walk to the mini fridge to grab three bottles of water. After handing Monroe and Irina a bottle, I take a seat in a chair in front of my desk. Irina sits beside me while Monroe takes a seat on the sofa. 

“I would like to start off by telling both of you how sorry I am if I frighten you. I can usually control Demos, but he has enough of Treadstone’s bullshit. He wants you both to know that he wouldn’t have harmed either of you.” 

“It was quite the sight. The level of power he exudes is almost suffocating. How do you keep it all in? To the point that other werewolves only sense your alpha power?” Irina asks. 

Monroe chuckles. He opens his water bottle, then takes a sip before he responds to her question. “It is almost second nature to me anymore. Demos is great at masking what we are. In a way, it is like a survival mechanism. Lycans were hunted to the brink of extinction.” 

I remember learning about the war on Lycans. Why we didn’t just keep them as our allies, I will never understand. In a way, I guess werewolves are not all the different from humans, what we fear we destroy. 

We did that to our Lycan ancestors.  

“Did you get anything valuable out of Treadstone?” I ask him to change the subject back to why we were here. 

“He gave me the location of Bancroft’s collection. Which I have already shared with our allies. When I pressed him for names, he resisted harder than I expected. He was stronger than he should have been. I managed to get a few out of him, but I have a feeling he only gave up lower-level members of The Collectors. People with no power or major standing in the organization.” 

“What makes you think that?” Irina asks. 

A sinister smiles cross Monroe’s face. His eyes shift to those of his beast before he looks away from us. Once he has his beast under control, he looks back at us, then shrugs.  

“What do you mean by he was stronger than he should have been?” I ask. 

That question earns me a grin from Monroe.  

“I got a good whiff of his blood after I first started the torture. He had werewolf blood in his system. That is why I made him bleed so much. He admitted it was to help him heal the wounds he sustained during the raid in France.” 

Holy shit! 

“Did you get anything we can use out of him?” Irina asks.  

There is anger in her voice, and I can’t say that I blame her for that feeling. It makes me wonder if any of Treadstone’s companions have done something like this. We don’t know what werewolf blood can do to humans. It won’t turn them into one. Werewolves are born, not created like vampires.  

Well, most vampires are created, rather than born. Werewolf venom doesn’t work the same way. If a human survives a werewolf's bite, nothing happens. The movies always get that wrong. 

“Treadstone gave me one name that perked my interest.” 

“Who?” 

“It the who, per se, that got my attention. More of the gender of this individual. I assumed all the Collectors were men. It never crossed my mind that a woman could be capable of such atrocities.” 

A woman? 

“Wait, is her name Bianca Dubois?” 

Monroe looks at her with surprise on his face. “Have you ever met her?” 

Irina stands up then starts pacing the room. I can tell this news has upset her. How bad is Bianca Dubois compared to Treadstone? From the way Irina’s face paled when she heard her name, I have a sinking feeling that Dubois is worse. 

“She came to Vicktor’s office once to make him an offer. She wanted to purchase me and all his female captives from him. When he asked why, she told him she had a breeding farm in place. She breeds wereanimals to sell like humans do with cattle.” 

What the fuck? 

A long, low growl pulls my attention from Irina to Monroe. His eyes are pure crimson as he stares back at me. All the hair on my body stands up, and a chill runs down my spine. I hold my hands up to show that I am not a threat. 

Monroe closes his eyes, then shakes his head. When he opens his eyes again, they are back to his natural color. I can see the effort to contain his beast to a toll on him.  
“I will find her and deal with her personally. None of our kind should ever be born in captivity or breed for that purpose. Dubois is mine.” 

After he says this, he gives us both a nod, then stands up off the sofa and rushes out of the room. Irina walks to me then sits on my lap. She is shaking, so I wrap my arms around her. Monroe is frightening when his beast takes over. 

Five minutes later, I get a link from one of our scouts telling me that Monroe and his guards have left Redwood.  

Bianca Dubois, the demon is coming for you.