Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
Summer dozed lightly until the sky was lightening and the dawn was edging closer before slipping out of Le Sang.
Fabian had retired to his private quarters a short time ago, and the mansion’s vast corridors were silent except for the soft tick of antique clocks marking time. Time she didn’t want to waste.
Her phone felt heavy in her pocket as she walked through the Quarter’s empty streets. She’d drafted and deleted the text to Marcus three times before finally settling on a brief message:
Need to talk to you about R. Are you alone at the shop?
The response came within seconds:
I’ll be here. Come out back. Door unlocked.
Crescent City Customs, the pack’s motorcycle repair shop, occupied a converted warehouse in the Bywater District, a part of town where tourists rarely ventured.
Summer approached on foot, her senses alert for any sign of Axel or his loyalists.
The neighborhood was industrial, quiet apart from the scratchy sway of Spanish moss hanging from three ancient live oaks.
Legitimate business happened during the day, but many questionable activities probably filled the night hours.
The shop’s main bay doors were closed, but warm light spilled from beneath them. Summer circled to the back entrance Marcus had mentioned, finding it unlocked as promised. She slipped inside, immediately surrounded by the familiar scents of motor oil, metal, and pack.
“Marcus?” she called softly.
“Back here.” His voice came from further in the shop, where she knew the repair bays were next to a small office area. She dipped her head and flushed. She had some lovely memories of the office and a certain enforcer wolf.
Summer found Marcus sitting at the same battered desk covered in invoices and parts catalogs, but his attention was on the woman sitting across from him. Lena rose immediately when Summer appeared, her weathered face creasing with relief and concern in equal measure.
“Summer.” Lena crossed the space between them in quick strides, pulling her into a fierce embrace; Summer was swamped in the aroma of herbs, coffee, and bayou water. “Thank God. We’ve been so worried.”
Her maternal warmth nearly undid Summer’s composure. She’d been alone in Fabian’s clutches for so long that the simple comfort from the pack made tears threaten. The bite scar on her neck warmed, just from being close to her pack family “I should have reached out sooner. I should have?—”
“You’re here now.” Lena pulled back. She sniffed Summer’s scent, studying her face with sharp attention. “Marcus said you needed to talk about Rowan?”
Summer glanced at Marcus, who watched her, his expression staying neutral.
He ran his eyes over her, assessing whether she was still pack, whether she could be trusted after weeks at Le Sang.
Lena’s sniffs worried her more. She’d scrubbed her skin raw in the shower more than once, but could the pack healer still smell the vampire on her?
Would she still trust her if she knew what she had allowed Fabian to do to her?
“The mate bond keeps feeling as if it wants to come back, so I wonder if he’s alive,” Summer said. “Axel came to visit Fabian recently. I think Rowan is in terrible danger, and I need your help to find him.”
Marcus’s expression cracked. “You’re sure? We heard—after the exile, there were rumors?—”
“I’m sure. I found information about severing of mate bonds. How the bond can be severed artificially. I overheard a conversation a day or two ago. I now believe Fabian has been holding Rowan. I don’t know why they took him or where they’re holding him.”
Lena’s hand went to her mouth. “Dear Lord. You say Axel is part of this, too?”
“I’m sure of it, Lena. He knew Fabian would help him take over the pack in return for help in separating me from Rowan.
I heard Fabian on a call; he said the wolf was contained and the bond was being weakened.
I think they are trying to understand how alpha bonds work so they can weaponize the process.
” Summer’s voice cracked. She took a breath and clenched her fists; despite her attempt at clinical detachment, she was struggling to hold it all together.
“I told Fabian the mate bond has gone, Lena. I’ve let him believe they severed it completely.
I said I can’t feel him anymore, but sometimes the bond pulses, then it goes quiet. ”
“But if he’s alive,” Lena said firmly. “All that matters is we find him.”
“I now know they’ve all been working together for years.
Fabian and the Vatican hunters. Remember, how they help us destroy the hybrids?
It was a ploy!” Summer pulled up photos of Vatican correspondence.
“It’s a joint operation—vampire resources and the Church combining to create controllable supernatural soldiers. ”
Marcus moved closer to look at the photos, his jaw tightening with each image. “This is Fabian’s operation? The vampire lord who offered you sanctuary?”
Summer nodded. “He had the research materials I needed.”
“Son of a bitch.” Marcus slammed his fist on the desk. “We knew Fabian was involved with Axel somehow, but we didn’t realize how deep it went.”
Summer’s head snapped up. “You knew about Fabian and Axel?”
“We’ve been watching Axel since the challenge,” Lena explained.
“We all agreed something about his victory felt wrong. The poison on his claws, the timing, the way trapping you and keeping you out of the way fell into place too perfectly. So Marcus and a few others who have stayed loyal to Rowan have been tracking Axel’s movements. ”
Marcus pulled out his own phone, showing Summer his surveillance photos. “He’s been meeting regularly with someone in the Quarter. We couldn’t get close enough for a positive ID, but the location matched Le Sang’s address.”
“It’s been him all along.” Summer felt pieces clicking into place. “Fabian orchestrated Rowan’s defeat so I’d be vulnerable and isolated. Then he swooped in, offering sanctuary to me while holding Rowan prisoner.”
“The bastard.” Lena’s voice carried a cold fury Summer had never heard from the gentle healer. “What do you need from us?”
“Information about Axel’s activities. Where he goes, who he meets with, any facilities or locations that might be connected to the experimentation.” Summer looked between them. “The files mentioned a facility but didn’t give an address. If Axel knows where it is?—”
“He’s been visiting a warehouse in the Marigny,” Marcus interrupted. “Old medical supply building that’s supposedly condemned. But he goes there at least twice a week, always at night, always alone.”
Summer’s pulse quickened. “That could be it. I found a place in the Bywater, but it was abandoned. Perhaps this processing center in Marigny is where they handle subjects before transferring them to their primary facility.”
“Or it could be a trap,” Lena said quietly. “If Fabian realizes you know the truth, he might use Axel to lead you someplace where he can contain the situation.”
“It’s a risk I have to take.” Summer met Lena’s eyes. “Rowan’s your nephew. You raised him after his parents died. Are you really going to tell me not to risk everything to get him back?”
Lena’s expression softened. “No, child, of course not. I’m going to help you. We all are.” She looked at Marcus. “Call the others. The ones who stayed loyal. We’re going to need numbers.”
“Lena, if Axel finds out the pack is moving against him?—”
“Then he’ll learn that alpha isn’t a title you win through poison and manipulation.
It’s a responsibility you earn and only retain through loyalty and sacrifice.
” Lena’s voice bore absolute authority. “Rowan earned our loyalty. Axel has only our fear, and fear breaks the moment someone stands up to it.”
Marcus nodded slowly. “I can get maybe five, six wolves who’ll move against Axel if they think we can actually win.” He moved out of the little office, his phone clamped to his ear.
“And what about you, child?” whispered Lena. “What’s been happening to you?”
Summer slumped into the chair vacated by Marcus.
“I’m fine,” she murmured.
“I can smell him all over you. Were you willing, or did he glamour you?”
Summer gulped; she glanced at Lena but was unable to hold the old woman’s gaze. Then she shrugged. “A little of both, perhaps. Although I said no at first, I think…”
“Were you careful?”
“Lena!” Summer pushed herself upright. “He’s an undead. He can’t conceive.”
“But you’re Le Voile, Summer. You can create life where there was none.”
“Oh shit! But doesn’t it mean I can control life?”
“You’d better hope so,” replied Lena. “Sssh. Marcus is back.”
Marcus looked from one woman to the other when he came back into the room.
It was clear he suspected they had talked about something they didn’t want to share with him.
He chose not to question them. Instead, he said, “I have found a few who will help search for Rowan. Not as many as I would like, but enough. We will start tomorrow night.”
“I should—” began Summer.
Marcus raised his hand. “You should stay out of harm’s way. Tomorrow will just be reconnaissance. Get the lay of the place. Make plans.”
Summer growled at him as she rose to her feet.
Lena pulled her close again, this fierce embrace carrying approval and fear in equal measure. “Your mother would be proud of you, child. Fighting for what’s yours instead of accepting what powerful men decide you deserve.”
The mention of Sybil brought fresh tears, but Summer blinked them away. “She tried to warn me. About Fabian, about how he likes to keep us caged. I should have listened sooner.”
“You listened when it mattered,” Lena said firmly. “And now you’re going to save him. We all are.”
The return to Le Sang felt different. She wasn’t returning as a prisoner to her gilded cage but as a spy operating behind enemy lines. Every smile she gave Fabian, every grateful acceptance of his care, was going to be a weapon in the war she was now fighting.
As she let herself in Le Sang’s courtyard, Summer caught sight of Fabian watching from an upstairs window. She waved, letting exhaustion show in her posture, playing the part of a woman returning from a late hospital shift.
He waved back, his pale face impossible to read from this distance.
Summer wondered if he suspected anything, if her performance was convincing enough to maintain the illusion of his control. But as she climbed the stairs to her room, she felt Sybil’s journal in her bag and remembered Lena’s fierce embrace, Marcus’s loyal determination.
She wasn’t alone anymore. And for now, it was enough.