Chapter 4 #2
Sometimes that meant getting your hands dirty.
Sometimes that involved the drug trade, or the smuggling of shifters or humans in and out of the city, but ultimately, we were an organization that was based in money, power, and influence.
In concept, my pack operated similarly to the Italian mafia families, but we were far more influential and far more well connected than that.
We’d been established here for a long time and that afforded us the kind of wealth and power that people could only dream of.
We’d helped build this city from the ground up, but it didn’t stop there.
There was a member of my pack at every level of human government here in the city and within the state of Louisiana.
There wasn’t a single law or ordinance passed without my explicit approval and if anyone ever thought to stand against me, they were quickly dealt with in a way that made sure they thought of nothing but obedience or else they were silenced forever, only to be replaced with someone who would be loyal to me and me alone.
I had my hands in every bank, every business no matter how small.
Nothing happened in my city without me knowing about it, except in the case of Venuti territory.
They furrowed their way into my city, using their own power and wealth to make a stronghold of their own despite years of fighting against them.
The Venuti Clan had long since been my enemy, but we’d come to a peace agreement about fifteen years ago that held on by a tenuous thread at best. I was constantly putting out fires in an effort to keep them and my pack from an all-out war, and that was a full-time job all by itself.
Honestly, the Venuti were a thorn in my side that I’d be grateful to rid myself of, but I wouldn’t risk my pack to do it.
That is, unless I could get my hands on the bullets that Ava had.
That could be enough to changes the tides of war between my pack and the Venuti.
It might be enough to push the Venuti out of my city once and for all.
The door to my office opened and closed behind me and I turned back from my view of the city to see that Toboe had entered the room.
He sat down in the chair in front of my desk and cocked his head to the side. Casually, he sniffed the air and the tiniest smirk edged at the corner of his mouth.
“Don’t you dare,” I warned.
“You positively reek of human female,” he observed carefully, his eyes dancing with amusement. I rolled my lip in kind.
“What of it?” I snarled, daring him to challenge me.
“I recognize her scent,” he continued as he crossed his arms over his chest. His shoulders rounded. He wouldn’t stand up against me. He knew better than that.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself of his loyalty so that I didn’t tear his head off.
“I need to go back into the Venuti tower,” I said, attempting to change the subject even though I knew it probably wouldn’t work.
“Is that where she is?” he pressed, and I snarled openly in aggravation.
“She knows something, and I need to get it out of her,” I replied curtly.
“You need to fuck it out of her is what you mean,” he chuckled.
I glared at him with frustration. I didn’t need to answer for him to recognize that he was right.
“Did she tell you where she got those bullets from when you went to question her last night?” he asked, and I shook my head.
He clicked his tongue in mock disapproval and shook his head.
“Losing your touch then, boss…” he observed lightly, and I growled in warning before he put his hands up in defense.
By the look on his face, he was blatantly ignoring my annoyance in his volley for more information.
Typically, I allowed him to speak freely, but with my mate somewhere within the clutches of my enemy, I felt far more agitated than usual.
I was on edge; any sudden thing could set me off and I only barely recognized that it was her.
My mate was in danger, and it was making me see red.
I wouldn’t rest until she was safe in my arms, no matter if she came willingly or her bottom was marked with my belt.
He must have sensed my worry because his face softened, and he nodded once. He didn’t need to say it, but he quickly recognized how serious this was to me.
“Tell me what you did find out, boss,” he said, his tone softer this time. I sighed and I began to explain myself. “Tell me how I can help.”
“I’ve never seen anything like her. You know how rare it is for humans to know of the existence our kind. It’s even rarer for her to know how to kill us. She sleeps with a wooden stake and a silver knife by her bed, for God’s sake. She knows far more than any normal human should,” I started.
“It’s also pretty abnormal that she has a gun that makes such an incredible display of the unlucky vampire set in her sights. Like a fucking firework show,” he said bluntly, eliciting a chuckle from me. “Boom,” he added while spreading his fingers wide, mimicking the brilliant spectacle.
Even in some of my surliest moods, he could always get me to laugh.
Some of the other alpha kingpins I’d been in contact with over the years that reigned elsewhere refused to tolerate such behavior, citing disrespect as the root cause.
My father had been one of those, but I found Toboe’s humor endearing.
I believed that kinship and loyalty bred a much more powerful pack rather than one ruled by fear, and thus far I’d managed to grow our reach that much farther using that strategy.
As far as I was concerned, I’d been successful.
“I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to slip by Genzo and some of the other wolves keeping watch over her house.
I’d known she was pretty crafty from how she was in the Venuti tower last week, and just how defiant she was with me last night, so I slipped a tracker inside her so that I could monitor her movements.
Somehow, she’s back in the Venuti tower with the vampires again.
I can’t track her exact location in the building until I’m inside it, so I’m going to have to go in and retrieve her myself,” I explained, and his mouth set in a grim line.
His expression turned serious, and I already knew what he was going to say before he said it.
“No,” I growled.
“You know I’m coming with you,” he said.
“I can’t have you with me. It’s far too dangerous,” I started to clarify, and he shook his head.
“Don’t you dare try to keep me from coming with you,” he countered, and I sat back with a sigh.
He knew I could make him stay if I wanted to.
If I commanded him using the power of my alpha, he’d be forced to obey me.
I’d never had to do that with Toboe before and I was extremely reluctant to begin now.
“Don’t. I’m asking you not to,” he added.
I gritted my teeth and he pushed further.
“You need someone to watch your back, alpha. Let me do my job as your beta,” he demanded.
“Dammit, Toboe,” I muttered. “I’m not going to convince you to just let me go in alone, am I?”
He grinned widely and shook his head. I sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to win this argument without force. If he wanted to risk his skin in order to protect me, I would allow him.
“Listen. I just want to kill as many of those pointy toothed fuckers as I can, especially after they reneged on the deal that they made last time and took me prisoner,” he said rather angrily.
“They really need to get their newbie vamp population under control. There can only be so many deaths attributed to the drunk and disorderly in this city. Hell, there were so many of them that I had to have the investigators start blaming them on alligators. Fucking ridiculous,” I mused.
A very long time ago, there was a peace agreement made in order to stop the bloodshed from the constant fighting between shifters and vampires.
Humans were not to know of the existence of our species and right now, the Venuti were doing a shit job of keeping up with their part.
They wanted more than they already had. They thought they deserved even more. Power. Money. God knows what.
If my suspicions were correct, they wanted to rule over more than just the quarter. They probably wanted to conquer the human world after that too.
I couldn’t be certain, not just yet. If the evidence presented itself, I would be forced to take measures that would involve more than just our two families.
I’d have to call in the reigning families all across North America.
If it was a big enough problem, that could involve those all around the world.
This could be really big and really dangerous. I just needed to know more before I did anything drastic.
The signs were there though. I was sure of it.
For years I’d been trying to work with the Venuti to get them to follow a set of more ironclad rules so that we could keep our existence secret from humankind, but they spat on those efforts at every turn.
They felt the need to constantly sire new vampires.
I didn’t know if they were trying to build an army or what, but I did know that they couldn’t control them enough to keep them hunting in their own territories.
More often than not, they crossed the boundaries and fed in the districts in which I reigned.
It had been a source of conflict between our families for a very long time.
This last time I’d gone far enough to send Toboe in my stead, but they’d taken him hostage in an attempt to get to me instead. I’d lost valuable men getting him back.
Ava Winters was priceless though. If I was able to get my hands on those exploding light bullets, it could turn the tides of power here in New Orleans.
It could be enough for me to push the Venuti out of the city once and for all, which was a very tempting thought.
All that considered, however, I was still going to fuck that pretty little bottom when I finally got my hands on her.
That just made me want to find her even more.