Chapter 17
Kaiden
“What now?” Dominic asks while raking a hand through his raven hair. He’s standing next to the floor-to-ceiling windows in my library, the night sky and city lights glimmering at his back.
“We just have to wait and see how the Council reacts,” I reply, massaging my pounding temples as I sink further into the soft leather of the armchair.
“But they have nothing on us.” Barnabas dragged the interrogation until I could barely contain the urge to shove that ridiculous cane down his throat.
His blatant show of repugnance almost pushed me over the edge.
Between this never-ending day and the countless board meetings I had to attend this week, I feel like I can’t catch a fucking break.
But I ignored the legitimate side of the Obsidian Conclave’s business for far too long while I was Iris’s shadow.
And now I have to deal with the consequences.
I don’t regret it, though. Hell, if it meant we could be together again, I would relinquish my position within the Conclave and give away every cent I possess in the blink of an eye.
Logan’s amber gaze flicks to Malik. They’re both seated on the brown leather couch on my right. “Did you erase Erik from everyone’s memory?”
Ava’s absence is notable. Since becoming Luna of the Silverfang pack, Ava has been a permanent fixture at our Conclave meetings. She and Logan make all decisions for the wolf shifters together. But because it’s past midnight, and she had a tiring day running her bakeries, she decided not to attend.
Malik shakes his head before replying, his septum ring catching the light cast by the chandelier. “That would have been too suspicious. Only of those who saw that shit stain with Iris.”
“We couldn’t deny he was at Sin because of his phone’s location,” I chime in. “As long as the Order thinks Erik fled the club in a panic when the fire broke out alongside the other patrons, we’re good.”
“I wish I was there to see that inquisitor’s dipshit face when he left empty-handed,” Dominic says.
“It was fucking priceless,” Malik chuckles out, then takes a long pull from his beer. “Smoke was coming out of his ears all the way to the exit.”
“What about the Kabal? Did you find anything?” Logan inquires. Malik and Dominic were investigating a lead on the Kabal the night Adramelech escaped and Iris killed Erik.
“No. They burned down the building before we got there,” Malik answers.
Logan swears sharply under his breath. He jumps up to pace the room. Frustration is pouring out of him in thick, noxious waves. And for good reason—he’s worried about his wife.
The Kabal, my father’s organization, operates in the shadows, kidnapping and experimenting on dark creatures.
This is why I endured years under Mammon’s thumb to become the leader of the Obsidian Conclave—to finally obtain enough power to undo the gruesome crimes committed by my father.
To atone for my part in them. After we blew up their secret lab in the Vatican five years ago, we thought we had eradicated them.
Or at least hindered them enough not to present a problem anymore.
But like a damn hydra, when we least expect it, the Kabal grows two more heads.
Before Logan met Ava, she was just a human who had a miraculous heart transplant.
Turns out, this was another one of the Kabal’s sick experiments.
Ava received the heart of a wolf shifter whom they kidnapped when she was only a teenager.
Somehow, by receiving Hope’s heart, Ava became a wolf shifter and Logan’s new fated mate.
We know the Kabal has been watching her.
Not only because Ava felt like someone had been following her ever since the surgery, but also because Tony warned Iris about them.
The friend he was so worried about is Ava.
Before a rogue wolf shifter murdered Tony, he and Ava became close while working together at the Shabby Shotglass.
Logan flew off the handle when I told him about Tony and doubled the wolf shifters and vampires guarding Ava twenty-four-seven.
If we thought he was overprotective before, it doesn’t even compare to how feral he has become—understandably so.
However, despite everything we’ve done over these past two years to find them, the Kabal have somehow managed to stay under the radar.
The most vexing part is that for the last three months, the dark creature kidnappings around Ashville have increased at an alarming rate, and we don’t know why.
“What about that vampire who disappeared in Salem?” Logan clips out, his fingers flexing at his sides.
“Another dead end,” Dominic replies. “But we don’t know if it was the Kabal because the only witness vanished without a trace.
Before disappearing, though, they told an old warlock who owns an apothecary that they last saw the vampire in a dark alley alongside a hellseeker.
So maybe it was just a hellseeker showing their true colors. We can’t be sure…”
“And I can’t file a complaint to the Aureal Council on hearsay alone,” I add.
A stifling silence falls over the room. The only sound is that of Logan wearing down the Turkish rug.
“Are you ready to go back in?” I ask Dominic.
For the past year and a half, we have been working tirelessly to infiltrate Dominic into the vampires that took over Mammon’s dark creature and human trafficking ring when we dismantled it.
They mostly sell fae at auctions to other vampires because of their highly addictive blood that also allows them to walk in daylight.
Dominic has saved three fae so far by pretending to be a buyer.
We’re hoping to gather enough intel to find the vampire den behind it and dismantle their organization from the inside.
He swirls the amber liquid in the crystal lowball glass before downing it. Exhales through his nose. Then locks his blue-green eyes with mine. “Not really, no. Every time I step back into that world, it strips another layer of the little humanity I have left.”
“No one would blame you if you want to get out, Dom. You know that, right? We will use whatever you’ve gathered and go after them,” I say.
He scoffs. “It’s not nearly enough. This is bigger than anything we could have ever imagined. And I can’t back down now. Not after we worked so hard. Besides, I want to help the fae. Someone needs to. Fuck. The things I’ve seen. How they’re treated…”
“Fine. It’s up to you. Can you speak to the fae you rescued and ask them about an oracle? I wasn’t able to find out anything through my connections so far.”
Dominic tilts his head. “I can try, but it’s difficult to earn their trust. And for good reason.” He pauses. “What about you? Did you find out anything about the bounty on Iris while in Hell?”
“Nothing of substance. Only contradicting rumors. Whoever is behind it, though, must be powerful because secrets in Hell have a steep price,” I reply.
Malik leans forward, resting his elbows on top of his knees. “Do you think Mammon targeted Iris to get to you?”
Even though our plan to banish Mammon to Hell a few years back was successful, he is still one of the nine kings—the King of Greed.
That same boundless greed was his downfall.
So when we presented Lucifer with the evidence of not only the atrocities he was committing behind his back, he had no choice but to strip Mammon of almost all his powers.
However, he still holds his title and the reverence of demons in the citadel he lords over.
“I can’t be sure. But why would he need her alive? If he wanted revenge for our little uprising, he would have tried to kill her by now. I still think it’s linked to the prophecy.”
“We all know there are far worse things you can do to someone than kill them.”
Akin to barbed wire, Logan’s grim words wrap around my lungs, pulling blood. Because he’s right. Just the thought of Iris being in danger is enough to push me over the edge straight into a bloodlust frenzy.
“For fuck’s sake, Lo. He’s fucked enough in the head about Iris without your cantankerous ass saying things like that.
” Malik places his beer bottle on the side table before pushing up and striding to Logan.
He opens his arms. “Now stop pacing and bring it in.” He whirls his head to Dominic, then to me. “You too, asswipes. Come here.”
Dominic snorts. “What are we, five?”
Malik gives us a sinister smile. “Shut the fuck up and do as I say before I hex you all.”
Logan rolls his eyes but halts and folds his six-foot-nine frame around Malik’s smaller one. Dominic shrugs, then ambles to them. I shake my head as I stand to join them in a group hug. Weirdly, it’s exactly what I needed.
Logan’s heavy exhale says the same about him. “Cantankerous, really?” he chuckles out after a few seconds. “Have you been reading the dictionary?”
“What, like I don’t know big words?” Malik counters as we all pull back.
“Did you want to discuss anything more tonight? I haven’t had time to eat today, and you fuckers smell like a Thanksgiving feast,” Dominic says. Now that he’s closer, I notice that his normally tan-olive complexion is paler, his eyes glassy—which are clear signs he needs blood.
I hike a shoulder. “I have nothing else.”
When Logan and Malik say nothing, Dominic brings two fingers at his temple in a salute. “Sayonara, fuckers. I’m off to find a pretty lady.”
Malik makes a kissy noise and winks devilishly before they both shuffle out the door. “You can bite me if you want.”
“No thanks, dipshit. I like to fuck when I eat.”
“Pfft, please. I would rock your world, and you know it.”
The corners of Logan’s lips pull up at their banter. “Ava’s waiting for me in bed.”
“You’re staying here tonight?” I ask.
“Yeah. We’re heading back to the pack tomorrow.”
I wrap my fingers around his shoulder. “Don’t despair, okay? We’ll protect Ava at all costs.”
He nods, face stoic, and strides out.