Chapter 114
“I know this is hard for you to accept, but no matter what the truth is, you will still be the same person, and I will always be here if you need me.” I tried to comfort her, but all I wanted was to wrap her up in my arms and hold her until she could make sense of everything she had learned. “Give me a minute, maybe we could break for lunch soon, I could sneak away, come steal a kiss or two?” I asked, I missed her scent, and the touch of her skin on mine.
“Don’t take any risks, the sooner you and the other Alphas come to an agreement the sooner we can go back to the hotel.” She breathed; it made my pants tight.
“Now I’m definitely sneaking away as soon as I can, and I’m extremely motivated to get this meeting over with as soon as possible,” I growled; my wolf’s gravelly tone slipped through.
“Sounds like your wolf is getting restless, is there anything I can do to tame him?” She teased, which forced an audible groan from my throat.
“You are asking to be punished kitten! Do not push me before I have to go back to a room full of Alphas, or I will take it out on your ass.” I threatened with a chuckle, I could practically hear her gulp, her fear and anticipation saturated the bond. “Now be good and you will be rewarded.” I purred.
“Fine.” She huffed; her bratty response made me smile.
“Okay, I need to get back in there, I'll link you in a bit if I can’t sneak away.” I said I pictured her lips which were almost certainly pouting.
“Alright but hurry up!” She replied, but I could feel the smile behind it, one last barb before she did as she was told.
“I will, bye.” I shut the link, as I heard the front door open, I moved towards the door of the parlour to make sure neither of the Alphas had left the other beaten and bloody outside. I stepped into the foyer, Eric was alone, and still looked pristine, no signs of a fight, yet. I walked behind him back into the meeting room and retook my seat. “Has anyone seen Landers?”
“I saw him when you sent him to spy on me.” Eric sneered.
“He chose, of his own volition, to keep an eye on you. This meeting includes extremely sensitive information, that could be damaging to all of us, he merely wanted to make sure you don’t run off, before we have a chance to talk things through.” I replied through gritted teeth and regretted not bringing Ben with me to talk circles around Eric.
“What information? There is nothing here that endangers my pack. Why should I care about damaging yours?” Eric asked with a smirk, barely suppressing his laughter.
“Fine, you say you have no issues within your pack, I believe you. But, if the neighbouring states learned that three out of the four Alphas in our state had unstable leadership, do you really believe they won’t see an opportunity? Do you truly think that none of them will make a move on one of our packs? And then when they’ve recovered, take over another, and another? Look at our histories, it's full of bull-headed Alphas who acted against their own self-interest, just to make a point with another Alpha.” I explained while praying to the goddess he saw sense.
“First it's the vampires, now it’s the other Alphas, you need to focus on one enemy at a time, it makes the story more believable.” Eric outright laughed, but I saw the realisation on Kasa's face when my words landed.
“Eric, he's right. If the other Alphas hear of the troubles in our packs, we would all be in danger, Astrid would be in danger.” Kasa pleaded with Eric.
“I agree to stay and listen, nothing more.” Eric scowled at his brother-in-law.
“Good, now when Lander and Hyacinth re-join us, we can start negotiations over how to distribute our warriors effectively, or if at all,” I added when I saw Eric start to gear up, I needed an agreement and soon, I didn’t have time for any more of his derailments. The door opened and a dishevelled-looking Lander stomped into the room, irate.
“I swear to the goddess, you have seen your last sunrise.” He snarled, and somehow the quiet way in which he delivered it scared me more than the anger that was making his aura vibrate around him, he was close to a tipping point when your rage combined with your wolf, can be too much for your human side, turning you almost feral, dangerous, and we could all feel it.
“Lander, calm down, what happened?” I asked, as I moved between them, I hoped that the distraction would help him claw his way back before he went too far.
“My mate, and my son, they were taken, a man called me, told me not to tell anyone in my pack, and he would meet me at the airport before I flew here. I knew he had to be in league with one of you, who else would know about this? You went to a lot of trouble to make sure this meeting was secret, so I doubted it was you, cousin. But then at the airport, the man on the phone, said that to get them back, I had to kill you, and I would know when to attack, from his signal. I followed Eric, he was always my top suspect, I didn’t count on catching him watching a live stream of my son being BEATEN!” Lander screamed, he lunged past me towards Eric, his fangs elongated, his claws reaching for his prey. I spun around, grabbed him around the stomach and used my momentum, to tug him back so he was facing the door. I pushed him against the wall and held him with his arm pinned behind his back. “This won’t stop me for long, and I will not stop until I taste his blood!” Lander growled, but there was something manic about him, that terrified me.
“Lander, listen to me, I will help you, we are family, if Eric has your mate and pup, I will do anything I can for you, and them, and I will make sure he is punished, but if you don’t calm down then when we find your family, you won’t recognise them even if you are alive, which I doubt you will be. You are allowing your anger to consume you, cousin, please? Don’t make your mate have to bury you after we free her?” I begged him to find his way back to sanity.
“Give me your phone, or so help me I will not stop him ripping you to pieces.” Kasa snarled at Eric, all the humour gone from his face.
“I won’t deny that it's a good idea, kidnapping a rival Alpha’s mate and child to get them to do your bidding, but it wasn’t me, I have no idea what he is talking about, and if he saw me watching a video if his offspring outside, why was I allowed to come back to the house without injury? Why didn’t he just shift and I’m paraphrasing Kasa here but, rip me to shreds?” Eric asked, as he pulled out his phone and unlocked it for Kasa, he placed it on the table between them.
“It's a good question Lander, why did you let him live for even a moment? Where were you while he was here with us?” I asked my still struggling cousin, I was afraid I would have to either break his arm or dislocate his shoulder before he would stop fighting me.
“I called my Beta, he knew from the beginning, he was the one that took photos of the man who met me at the airport, he’s a member of Eric's pack, one of his advisors! I have the proof on my phone!” Landers screamed, before he braced his knee against the wall, and kicked off from it quickly, and powerfully, I lost my footing and was forced back before I felt a jolt of energy ripple through me. I planted my feet and shoved him back against the wall, cracking the plaster, and breaking several ribs, I felt the vibrations through his skin to his back as the bones snapped from the force. His face collided with the wall; his hands were unable to protect it due to the speed of my attack, his nose shattered, and blood sprayed the newly formed crack. The other Alphas and I watched with matching shocked faces as Lander slid to the floor, unconscious, from his blow to the head.
“There's nothing on this phone, no videos, no websites he could have been watching it on, there’s nothing here,” Kasa said, but he still kept a mistrustful eye on Eric.
“You checked his bookmarked pages, everything?” I asked, but already pretty sure of the answer, Kasa’s family had made a fortune in the tech industry, and his father had insisted he know all areas of the business before he handed over the reins to his son.
“I checked everything, either he has another phone, or Lander didn’t see what he thought he saw.” Kasa shrugged, as he returned the phone to Eric.
“Wait! What about his search history?” I asked.
“What about it?” Eric asked, a threat in his voice.
“Was it deleted?” I asked Kasa, unsure if I should trust anyone in the room
“No, if it had, I would have to dig deeper, but there was no evidence he’s ever deleted his search history,” Kasa replied, he looked at his brother-in-law uneasily. “There’s nothing on there, I can get into it and search the software, but I don’t think Eric has the skills to manipulate that.”
“We should restrain Lander before he comes to, and we need to find out where Hyacinth is,” I said as I grabbed a chair and lifted the still unconscious Alpha onto it.
“Oh, is that when we are going to discuss you hulking out just now? Or are we still all pretending that didn’t happen? Because I for one, would love an explanation!” Eric seethed at me; he was obviously feeling threatened.
“I don’t know what that was, the more pressing matter is whoever is behind this told Lander to wait for their signal, what is their signal, and how do we prepare for it? We need Hyacinth, now, and to put Lander where he can’t hurt anyone, if he wakes up in the same mood as earlier.” I told them, as I moved to a window and peeked out. A feeling of dread in the back of my mind that soon there would be an attack.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
