“Justice you’re scaring me. I can feel you fighting.”
He could hear his baby sister begging but he couldn’t focus on his siblings when he was barely keeping himself together. It had to be the Vampire King doing something to him. If Justice shifted and went crazy right here in a police headquarters, only the heavens knew what would happen to his people. “Get my family out of here.” Justice grabbed Alek’s arm in an authoritative grip. “Everyone. Out. Now.”
“We’re your betas. We won’t leave you, Justice,” Taleb snarled, looking in the same direction as Justice.
“Alek!” Justice thundered. He needed him to act for him.
“You heard your Alpha, Taleb. Warren, get them in the RV and back on the Humboldt pack lands now! Protect them with your lives,” Alek barked to the enforcers, who immediately began to shuffle Justice’s sister and his younger brothers out of the room and to the safety of their vehicle. Alek watched them down the hall until they turned out of view. His brother looked up and down the corridor before dipping back inside the room and locking the door.
“I think the Vampire King just turned the corner. Is it him doing this to you? I’ll kill him right now,” Alek growled.
“No!” Justice’s voice was sharper and stronger than he intended. He was still leaning hard against the wall farthest from the door for support, holding both clenched fists against his chest as if that alone could keep his wolf from bursting free. Justice closed his eyes and tried to center himself. He needed to breathe, relax. But with each second, the feelings intensified, an all-encompassing entity in his head.
“I can feel you too.”
“Oh shit. Was that you, Alek?” Justice grabbed his brother’s arm and yanked him to face him. “Did you just speak to me?”
“What? No? I am speaking to you now. Justice, goddamnit! You’re pushing too much energy.” Alek released a pained grunt. His brother looked like he wanted to break the window behind them and just get them the hell out of there. He’d never seen Justice behave this way, so out of control, and wasn’t sure what he was about to be faced with, but knew he may have to fight it alone because Justice was in a complete state of disorder.
It was an accented, smooth voice. “Something. Someone just said—” Then he smelled it. That faint, delicious scent that appeared last night was back, only it wasn’t diluted by nature’s elements. This time it was full strength, concentrated, and like nothing he’d ever smelled before. Impressive and so damn compelling. Justice’s thick cock pushed against his loose jeans and his wolf howled inside him, fighting to break free. His animal was so strong. Justice gritted his teeth together and hung on. Oh, Mother… please. Can’t… it just can’t. Justice heard footsteps right outside the door and his body began to shake from effort.
“Justice,” Alek warned. “You gotta tell me what’s going on, brother, so I can help you.”
How the hell was he supposed to explain this?
Justice saw the knob jiggle for a second before it was completely ripped from the door. Neither he nor Alek flinched at the show of strength. They had strength of their own. Justice thought dozens of vampires would storm the room, but only two walked in and Justice knew exactly which one was in his head. The Vampire King. The sexy, beautiful one. But how?
“I think you know how.” Wick had to keep advancing towards that amazing scent. In all his hundred-plus years, blood had never called to him so relentlessly. If he wasn’t a disciplined vampire, he’d already have his fangs deep in the shifter. Because he was his.
“You know who I am? Don’t you.” Wick asked, still using their link, since the one other person in the room with the AZ looked like he had no idea what was going on.
Justice wasn’t responding, only staring back at him in shock, but mostly dismay. When he finally did speak, his voice was a rumbling whisper, a prayer. “You can’t be my… my mate.”
He looked repulsed and Wick felt his insides burn and something mewl deep inside him. A sense of rejection washed over him and Wick struggled to keep his face neutral, to not show his initial hurt. But he must not have done a good enough job because his captain gripped his elbow and began to pull Wick behind him.
A fierce growl tore through the large room and was probably heard throughout the building and beyond. The Alpha Zenith moved faster than Wick realized shifters could and was on his captain, slamming him into the wall by his throat so aggressively the drywall and plaster exploded behind him and fell down around the vampire’s dangling feet. Wick’s captain hissed and gasped but nothing he did could free him from the large shifter’s grip. In one quick, effortless jerk, the big Alpha could snap his captain’s neck.