“We have problems, and it’s in the form of some very pissed-off Lycans heading this way. As in tonight. Now.”
Interesting turn of events. “Huh,” I said conversationally. “Go on.”
“From what I’m gathering, they sure as hell aren’t coming here for a friendly social get-together.” James gave his neck one more rub.
“Obviously, James. They want to head to Vermont now. And I’m their way in.” I hadn’t given the wolves the exact coordinates to the farm in Vermont for this very reason. I couldn’t have some feral Lycans going balls-to-the-wall insane when shit could—and probably would—go sideways. All that would accomplish is leaving a mess for me to clean up and even more heat for the Otherworld than there already was.
But I couldn’t keep stalling, even if all I wanted to do was lock me and Kayla in a room for the foreseeable future, just memorizing her body, making her come so many times she became delirious, and biting her so many times her perfect body was covered in my marks.
I turned from James and went back to my desk, grabbing the bottle of scotch older than me and taking a swig right from the bottle.
“There’s also something else.”
I took another long pull before setting it down and cocking an eyebrow, the only response he’d get from me to continue.
“Banner’s flown in.”
Huh. Interesting. “Is that right?” I crossed my arms over my chest and smirked as I thought of my brother-in-law, who was also the Scottish Lycan king. “The bastard probably couldn’t stand that he wasn’t in control of the situation, hated that his boys had to follow my rules.” I grinned as dark anticipation flowed through me. Banner may’ve been married to my younger sister Luna and ruled over his kind in the Highlands, but the bastard had one hell of an ego for coming here.
“He’s brought a few others with him. Tagdh, Cathal, and two of his sons.”
“Damn, Banner’s brought in a family reunion to the city.” I assumed he’d brought my nephews, Tavish and Lennox. The third triplet, Caelan, being newly mated, wouldn’t have left his mate. “He’s gonna try and assert some bullshit dominance. He tries that shit anytime we’re in the same room.”
I could handle my brother-in-law, could handle all the Lycans and the Guard, even if he was the cockiest, most stubborn male I’d ever met. Hell, I was as alpha as they came, but that Scottish bastard came in at a close second.
“I want you to call in reinforcements. I can handle Banner, hell, even Cian and Odhran, but all those wolves will be trigger-happy.” I scrubbed a hand over my jaw and stared at the floor, thinking of the next steps.
There was no way to postpone this. I’d keep Kayla here where she’d be safe, keep a few of my soldiers to stand guard. I felt sick at the thought of leaving her, and every single part of me went against it. It was like trying to breathe underwater, unable to stop yourself from doing the act because your lungs burned and your body desperately needed oxygen. But still, you fought it; still, you thrashed against it.
Fuck.
“It’ll take them a couple of hours to get here. If the wolves want to finish this, then fine, we’ll fucking finish this. I’ll make some calls for transportation, protection, and make sure it’s all set up.” I leveled a hard stare at James. “But after you make the calls, James, I need you to do something.”
He nodded slowly. “Of course.”
James had been rubbing me the wrong way lately, which wasn’t unusual for males in the Otherworld. All of us were alpha deep down, the need for dominance ingrained in each of our cells. So there were always those who tried to go against the grain, to assert their need for more power.
And I was pretty sure that’s what the fuck was going on with James. Harmless in itself, but an irritation I didn’t need, especially right now, so shutting that shit down ASAP and putting James in his place had to be done.
I leveled him with a glare and took a step closer. Bear, who’d been silent up until now, made a deep sound of warning in the back of his throat but otherwise stayed by the fireplace. “Take the underground tunnels and get the fuck out of my house and learn your place, yeah?”
21
Kayla
An entire day and had night passed since I sat beside Adryan for dinner and let him tell me the craziest shit I’d ever heard. I stayed in my designated room, not trusting myself around him, and more than a little freaked out by the revelations he’d told me.
I was living in a fantasy world apparently.
Adryan had come by once and surprisingly gave me a cell phone. But only after he made sure to tell me the phone was untraceable, reminding me I didn’t know where we were at, and then ended that spiel with how he was the “most powerful fucking vampire,” so calling the police was laughable.