“Negative.” Bell hissed. “The tomb is compromised and there’s carnage everywhere. We can’t leave it like this. Send in the reserves and allow me to gather a few suspects to bring in for interrogation, at minimum. This all can’t have been for nothing.”
Bell may have lost his fated. He wanted some heads to roll. Wanted to see justice for his brethren brought before their counsel.
“Granted,” Wick answered tightly. “But be careful.”
Bell cleared the line and motioned his team forward. He tried not to stare at the mutilated vampires on the ground as they carefully stepped over the scattered bodies and severed limbs. “Whoever did this is going to pay severely. This is a blatant declaration of war against the king.”
The moment Bell uttered the words, half-dead vampires descended on them from all directions. They came out of the earth, from shallow graves. They dropped down from the tree tops, so many of them that it looked as if it was raining darkness. The putrid funk of decayed flesh and desperate souls made Bell gag right along with the rest of his men. They formed a protective ring and got into a fighting formation.
“My Lord.” His second handed Bell his weapon—a sword cane that he’d carried since he was young. The outer casing was crafted out of metallic black rhodium, and on the inside it held a twenty-five-inch titanium blade with a poison-tipped carbide edge. A sure death maker.
Bell opened the communication on his earpiece. He was calm as he watched the rebels close in on them. The best he’d be able to do was report as much accurate information as he could so that their backup would have a chance, and not receive the same fate. “We’re being ambushed.”
“I knew it. Get the hell out of there!” Wick yelled.
Bell ignored the panic in his best friend’s voice. “It looks to be roughly a couple of hundred on the outside. We can hear more inside the tomb. They have no weapons.” Bell spoke quickly. “Most are only partially awakened.”
“Got it. Now get the hell out of there,” Wick snapped.
“They were hiding beneath the ground and in the trees. They’re masking their scent with… I don’t know. All that can be smelled for miles is death. Tell the second battle group to proceed with extreme caution.”
“Belleron don’t do this,” Wick warned. “I said abort. That’s an order!”
“You know I don’t run away. I’ll see you on the other side, old friend.” Bell killed the link before Wick could yell again. There was no time for sweet sentiments for his best friend. No time to leave a message for his cherished who he’d left behind. Instead, Bell yanked his blade out of its case. The sound the sleek metal made when it cut through the air was a whisper-soft promise of annihilation. Knowing this may be the last fight of his life, Bell pulled on every ounce of strength he’d acquired over almost a century of living, and started to fight.
His men—the best of the best—fell quickly around him.
“Protect our Lord!” Several of them shouted right before they were all killed. Bell felt the regret just like he knew he would right before he was overcome.
Back at his house, it’d only taken Alek a few minutes to pack a small duffle bag with his essentials. Mac paced back and forth across his bedroom floor, eyeing him warily as if unsure who was on the surface.
“Mac you can relax. It’s just me right now.” Alek zipped the bag and tossed it over his shoulder, hurrying through his home. “I’m sure Wrath will return, soon.”
“So you can lock him away again. I thought he’d gone, Alek. Why do you do that to him?”
“He’s dangerous,” Alek grumbled.
“He’s misunderstood.”
“What’s the difference?”
Mac shook his head. “He’s gonna fix this and I’m standing with him… with you. Are you really going to London… on a jet?”
Alek didn’t answer for a moment. If he was being honest, the thought was frightening, and it made Wolf shift anxiously inside of him. He’d never been on an airplane in his life. He didn’t even have any shifters he could ask about the experience. Wolf wasn’t outwardly objecting, knowing what needed to be done, but he wasn’t excited about it. “If that’s what it takes.”
Mac followed Alek out of his cabin towards his late model F150. “If you go… I’m going too.”
Alek frowned, turning to face his little brother. Neither Wolf nor Wrath liked Mac’s declaration. “Absolutely not. I’ll have more of Bell’s army with me. And Wrath. That’ll be enough.”
“I said I’m going. You forget I’m an alpha as well,” Mac growled, his head held high, making direct eye contact with Alek.
Alek didn’t see it as a challenge. Instead, he pulled his little brother into his arms and hugged him. Mac had disobeyed Justice and had come to find him—as Justice’s second beta—he’d risked demotion and punishment. According to Mac, he’d been searching around for two hours where Wrath’s trail of ashes had ended.