Chapter thirty-two
Two weeks.
That’s how long Levi had been on the edge.
The governor’s ball had been two weeks ago, and despite Lucian’s fake ass bravery, the Collective had made no moves against Levi or Amaya.
He’d had her schedule moved to the evenings so that he would be able to get to her faster if something went down.
Plus, it settled him to know she would be in his arms safely when he slept.
It was probably the only reason why his nerves weren’t completely frazzled.
He was going down to dinner when Lucas touched his mind. He tilted his head and waited on his friend to speak.
‘Meet me in the throne room,’ Lucas said.
There was excitement in his tone and Levi changed directions immediately, curiosity propelling him.
He beat Lucas there, settling into his chair a few moments before his friend busted through the door, dragging a mage behind him with one hand and a canvas bag in the other.
Lucas dropped the male, kicking him in the back of the head.
The whimpering mage tucked into a ball at his enforcer’s feet.
“I caught him meeting with some Buru,” Lucas growled. He threw down the bag he was holding and a head fell out. It was Hale, the young vampire from the other coven. “He was also there. I been wanting to knock his head off since our meeting.”
Shock went through Levi before a smile tilted his lips. Finally! He knew following the male would give them information, but he hadn’t expected it to pay off so well.
“I talked to Deonte already, so Hale’s death won’t cause a war between our covens.” Lucas walked over and handed him a few pages of documentation. “This fuck ass mage was giving the Buru information about the borders around the South.”
Levi scanned it, fury making his gums ache. There were schedules of border patrols that protected the zones north of Black Hollow. It noted where the guards were heavier and outlined where the Buru could slip through patrol. Treasonous shit.
Questioning the male would not yield the results Levi wanted, so instead, he reached out to Sebastian.
‘Yeah, boss?’ his best friend answered immediately.
Through their bond, Levi filled him in on what they had just learned. Bas growled and entered his throne room, his gaze going to the traitor on the floor.
“Who does he work for?” Bas asked.
“Instead of questioning him ourselves, call the Collective together. Here,” Levi ordered.
Sebastian smiled and nodded, leaving them to do his bidding. Contacting his other enforcers, Levi instructed them to pick up Amaya. He alerted Bronx that they would be arriving and to pull his mate from work now. He looked down at the joggers and black t-shirt he wore.
“Lucas, let’s get dressed for our company.”
His friend smiled and, using his power, knocked out their prisoner. He wouldn’t be going anywhere. Half an hour later, his mate joined him in their bedroom closet.
“Why did you pull me out of work early? What’s going on?” she asked, her eyes heating as she got a look at him. “Where you going?”
“We have guests arriving in…” He glanced down at his Patek. “Twenty minutes.”
“Guests?” She looked down at the houndstooth slacks she had on, tugging at the maroon tank top she wore with it. “I need to change.”
“You’re fine, love,” he told her, but she rushed to her side of the closet anyway.
He wore a simple black knit shirt with slacks of the same color.
He didn’t do too much. His Cuban link and Patek completed his look, the chain of the pocket watch his baby got him dangling from his belt loop.
He slid his gold fangs over his teeth and mugged the mirror.
He was ready and a zing of excitement hit him.
Amaya came over to his side. She’d exchanged her tank top for a black button-down shirt.
It was unbuttoned to the top of her bra and cinched at her waist. Wide-legged slacks in dark gray conformed to her ample hips.
God damnit, his mate was fine as fuck. She’d added the matching chain to his and he smiled, pulling her into his arms.
“You trying to match your man, baby doll?”
“When we step, we step together,” she murmured against his lips.
He deepened her kiss, slipping his tongue into her mouth. Amaya greedily sucked on his tongue and Levi wished they had time for him to exchange it for his dick.
She pulled back, her eyes low with lust. “Behave.”
“How I’m ‘posed to do that when you looking how you look?” he asked, spinning her and slapping her on the ass.
Amaya sent him a coy look over her shoulder.
“Let’s get out of here before I say fuck our guests.”
She chuckled and left the closet in front of him, waiting for him at the door of their bedroom. “Who’s our company?”
“The Collective.”
Her mouth dropped open and Levi closed it with two fingers to her jaw. He smirked at his mate and guided her downstairs. She paused when they entered the throne room and she spotted the male still knocked out on the floor.
“This should be interesting,” was all she said to that.
Levi took a seat on the throne and pulled his mate into his lap. “I need to get you one of these.”
“No thank you,” she laughed.
‘Boss. Company here,’ Bas informed him.
‘Bring them in,’ he ordered. He lifted Amaya from his lap and set her on her feet. “Our guests are here.”
She stood at the side of his chair, her hand on his shoulder, her head back, looking like the powerful fucking queen she was.
“I’ma fuck you so good when this is over,” he promised her.
Her laugh cracked the silence and he joined her.
They were both smiling when Sebastian led the first members of the Collective into his throne room.
They grumbled as they entered, their faces a mix of anger and curiosity.
Lucas brought up the rear, going to the male he’d left in the middle of the floor.
His friend woke the mage and brought him to the bottom of the raised dais that held Levi’s throne.
Lucas turned him to face the gathered crowd and a hush went through the room.
“I thank y’all for taking time out of your busy schedules to drop in.”
“What is this about?” The witch was the first to speak.
Instead of answering her question, he pointed down to the male Lucas was propping up. “Whose man is this?”
The Collective members looked amongst themselves, but no one spoke. At least until Lucian stepped forward.
“Levi, you’ve gotten beside yourself. Who are you to summon us?”
“You answered, didn’t you?” Levi taunted.
“What is the meaning of this?” the Chawi warlock asked.
Again, Levi ignored the question, instead nodding to Lucas. His friend pulled out a knife and put it to their prisoner’s throat. A panicked murmur went through the group.
“We won’t sit here and allow you to kill someone in front of us!” the witch snapped.
Lucas dug the knife into the prisoner’s throat and a line of blood oozed down his skin. Lucian stepped forward quickly.
“Don’t.”
Levi smiled. “I really thought your bitch ass was gon’ hang him out to dry. Are you claiming this male?”
“Why have you taken him prisoner?” Lucian parried back.
“Your answer first,” Levi dared him.
Lucas pressed the knife in deeper and the prisoner whimpered, his eyes widening.
“Fine! He works in my cabinet.”
Levi hid his triumphant smile. “So, is it on your orders that he exchanges information with the Buru?”
The Collective reared back as a unit, shock covering their faces.
“What?” the warlock asked.
Lucian turned to face the rest of his colleagues. “We all agreed that the mating between Levi and the Chawi could not happen.”
“But inviting our enemy into our territory? You must be out your mind!” the earth Mujaji representative bit out.
“None of you had any issues with the way we’ve rid the community of these pairings before,” Lucian protested.
The hot lash of his mate’s anger whipped through their bond. “There have been others before us?” Amaya asked.
Lucian turned his attention to her, a derisive look covering his face. “You are no more special than any of the others who don’t obey the laws that hold this society together.”
“Watch your tone when you talking to that one,” Levi snapped, sitting forward. He shook his head and rubbed his hands together, fed up with all this shit. “You know what? I tried to be nice, I tried to play the game the way y’all had it all set up, but fuck this shit.”
He nodded over to Lucas and his enforcer smiled, his fangs hanging low as he swiped his knife fully over the prisoner’s neck, killing him with the silver-coated blade. A gasp went up and Sebastian pulled out his gun, pointing it directly at Lucian.
His mate didn’t need any prodding from him.
Amaya reached down and gripped his wrist, their combined power surging.
She pulled the pendulum that held her heartstone from her pocket, holding it high.
Before they could react, Amaya’s magic swelled and, in an instant, sucked the power from every member of the Collective.
Pride swelled in him. His queen was truly leaning into her power.
It was no easy thing to control chaos, but with her mother’s and Raven’s help, Amaya was a keen student.
She eagerly threw herself into learning just how far she could push her magic.
This trick was but one in her arsenal. If they thought she would be his weakness, the Collective was sadly mistaken.
There was a panicked scream and someone moaned, the mournful sound marking their loss of control over their magic. His mate dangled her pendulum from her fingers, the taunting motion letting the Collective know that she’d funneled it all into her stone.
Levi chuckled darkly and stood. He looked them all in their eyes. “You were worried about what would happen if another Obayifo rose to power? Well, welcome to your worst nightmare. The Collective answers to me now.”
“Levi, we can discuss this,” Lucian sputtered out.
Levi leveled a look at the border mage. “It wasn’t enough for you that I just wanted the Bayi to have a fair voice in the Collective.
You wanted to control and crush my vampires and those in the South that you felt were beneath you.
That shit won’t fly no fucking more. If I find out that any of you are working against this council or me specifically, my mate taking your powers will be the least of your problems.” He sat back on his throne. “Give it back to them, baby doll.”
Amaya nodded and he felt the surge as she returned their powers. He waited to see if any of them would strike at him. When they didn’t, he settled back.
“From now on, we work for the people of the South, and if you can’t get with that shit, you will be replaced.” He smirked at Lucian. “Bas.”
Sebastian fired a single shot into the border mage’s forehead and the male hit the floor.
“The price for disloyalty is death,” Levi announced, and shocked silence greeted his statement.