Chapter Five
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“ARE YOU SURE IT WOULDN’T be better for all of you to come home?” Umberto asked.
Rex wasn’t surprised that his brother was worried enough to call him.
Word of what had happened had no doubt reached pack territory by now, and the wolves who’d picked up the prisoners had probably talked to Kieran.
Kieran already knew everything since Rex had called him, but Rex’s family would only just be finding out.
He wasn’t surprised that the first thing they did was ask him to come home. They loved him.
“I wish we could all come back, but we told the dragons we’d help them find out who killed the guy,” he explained.
“It’s not your job.”
“It’s not, but they were accusing us. The only way for us to show them that we didn’t do anything is to find the person who did.
Otherwise, I’m afraid that some of them will use it against the pack, and that’s the opposite of why we’re here.
We need the clan to stop attacking people.
We can’t afford for them to want revenge, especially for something we didn’t do. ”
Umberto huffed. Rex understood the frustration, but he was glad that his brother was safe.
Umberto and Taylor had just found each other, but Umberto already felt so much for Taylor.
It wouldn’t have been good to take him away from the man, especially since Taylor was wounded.
After what the clan had done to Taylor, Rex hoped he’d never had to return to this house.
He especially hoped that Taylor wouldn’t have to come back to save his sorry ass.
He glanced at the bathroom door, but it was still closed.
He’d already had his shower when Umberto had called, and since he was waiting for Harmon to be done, he’d had the time to answer.
He’d known it would have something to do with the murder, so he hadn’t been surprised when the first thing Umberto asked was if he was okay.
“I hate this shit,” Umberto said.
“No more than I do. We’ll be home soon, though.”
“Will you?”
Umberto’s words made Rex think about his plans.
He didn’t have anything set in stone yet, but he was seriously thinking about not permanently going back to the pack once this was over.
Of course, he’d return to visit his family, but he didn’t know if he could settle down with the wolves.
He had nothing against them, and he wished he could live closer to his family and their partners, but he wasn’t sure he could ever belong there, not the way they did.
He glanced at the bathroom door again. He might not belong with the wolves, but what about a vampire coven? He’d never been in one of those, either. Maybe he wasn’t made to share a home with many people. Maybe his loner tendencies meant that he’d never be comfortable living with so many people.
He didn’t know, and now wasn’t the moment to worry about it. He could do that once they were free of the clan and sure they wouldn’t be attacked for something they hadn’t done.
The bathroom door opened, revealing Harmon. He was only wearing a towel wrapped around his hips, and Rex briefly wondered if they had time to fall back into bed. He glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand—an old-style one with digital numbers—and grimaced.
They didn’t.
“I have to go,” he told Umberto.
“Maybe Taylor and I could come,” Umberto offered. “He knows these people.”
“So do Merrick and Arlen.”
“Yeah, but they haven’t been clan members in years. Taylor knows them better.”
“I’m not saying he doesn’t, but he’s hurt. Do you really want to involve him in this mess?”
Umberto sighed. “No. But he’d come if you wanted him to.”
“I know, and I’m grateful for that. He needs to stay home and heal, though.
I promise that even with everything going on, we’re safe.
The clan might not have a leader right now, but the dragons aren’t stupid.
They know what would happen if they were to attack one of us.
” They’d win because they had numbers on their side, but that didn’t mean that the pack would stand back and not do anything about it.
Numbers could only do so much. If the clan insisted on antagonizing the other supernatural beings in the area and hurting them, eventually, they would be hurt back. They already had been.
They hadn’t only lost their leader and his second-in-command during the fight.
Martin and Lou hadn’t attacked the pack alone.
They’d brought people with them, and those people had been hurt, or worse.
Some of the dragons who’d stayed home had lost family members and loved ones.
Even those who hadn’t, knew to be careful.
Rex hoped that fear would be enough to keep the dragons at bay until they were out of this place.
“Call us if you need anything,” Umberto said. “Even if Taylor and I can’t come, we can send someone else.”
“For now, sending more people would make things worse, but I’ll keep it in mind,” Rex promised.
“You do that, and please, come home in one piece.”
Rex wasn’t sure he could promise that he would, but he’d try. He hadn’t been planning on getting hurt, and now that he and Harmon had something going on, he wanted to have time to enjoy it. He wouldn’t if he allowed the dragons to hurt him.
He might not have a choice.
By the time he was finally able to hang up, Harmon was already half dressed. Rex groaned and flopped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. He’d known the situation would be a mess when he’d volunteered to come, but he hadn’t expected a murder.
“Everything okay?” Harmon asked, appearing in Rex’s line of sight.
Rex pushed himself back into a sitting position. “My family is ready to storm the place.”
“It’s good to know we have people who will run to help if we need them to.”
“I hope we won’t.”
“We all do.”
Rex didn’t feel any better by the time they left the room. The hallway was empty, and Rex wondered if the others were still in their rooms. They’d find out soon enough.
They made their way to the conference room.
Rex wasn’t surprised to see that Merrick was already sitting at the table, staring at his phone, but he was surprised to see that Jacob was there, too.
He was clutching a cup of coffee with both hands and staring at Merrick as if he expected him to jump onto the table and grab him. Knowing Merrick, it was a possibility.
Merrick looked up when he heard them. “Arlen and Mallory?” he asked.
“We haven’t seen them,” Rex told him.
He grunted and turned his attention back to his phone. Rex wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he was texting Arlen to ask him where the fuck he was. Arlen knew Merrick, so he wouldn’t be offended. He was probably distracted in the way Rex wished he and Harmon could have been.
But they had work to do. Once that was done and they were able to go home, they could spend as much time as they wanted together. First, though, they needed to find the killer and a new leader for the dragon clan.
Piece of cake.
“I’m not sure what you expect me to do,” Jacob suddenly said.
Rex frowned at him. “I thought it was obvious.”
“It’s not, so if you could please tell me.”
“We’re going to need to talk to you about that list you wrote for us. We also need to talk to all the people on that list.”
“They won’t be happy.”
“I don’t think anyone here cares how they’ll feel about it. If they want us to find who killed Brian, they’ll have to cooperate.”
“You’re vampires.”
“We could be purple cows with wings, and it wouldn’t change anything.
” Rex leaned over the table. He wished he had a coffee, too.
He was pretty sure that Jacob would give him his if he asked, especially if he showed a little fang, but he couldn’t afford to freak Jacob out more than he already was.
“Look, there aren’t a thousand solutions to this mess.
Your clan can’t afford to continue making an enemy out of the pack, and the pack doesn’t want to be your enemy.
We want peace. We want to be left alone to live our lives, which is something that Martin messed up.
I know that some of you still idolize him, but he was an asshole, and he doesn’t deserve any kind of devotion.
He especially doesn’t deserve for people to die for him. ”
Jacob’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything. Rex wasn’t sure there was anything to say. Jacob was aware of the reason they were here and that they wouldn’t leave until they got what they wanted.
“Let us help you choose a new leader, find the murderer, and once we’re done, you’ll never see us again,” he promised.
He hoped he wouldn’t have to break that promise.
He didn’t care what Jacob thought of him, but he never wanted to come back here.
He’d hoped that leaving the pack for a bit would help him gain perspective about what he should do next, but considering everything, he doubted he’d have time to think about anything that wasn’t who had killed Brian and choosing the new clan leader.
So much for going home with his decision made.
* * * *
SINCE THEY WERE STILL waiting for Arlen and Mallory, Harmon decided he might as well call Brad. He hoped that this way, he would avoid Brad calling him while they were talking to people who might be murderers.
He walked to the other side of the room, which would give him some privacy, but it wasn’t like he had anything to say that couldn’t be heard by others. Hell, Jacob might learn a thing or two about leading the clan by listening in.
“Please tell me the castle is still standing,” he asked Brad when Brad answered.
Brad snickered. “It is, and everyone is talking to everyone again, so there’s that.”
“That’s a relief. How did you do it?”
“We locked them in a room together.”
Harmon blinked. “That’s not something I would’ve thought of doing.”
“Well, it worked, so I don’t think anyone cares that it wasn’t conventional.”
“I definitely don’t. I’m glad you managed to fix the problem.”