Chapter 12 Rafe #2
A yowl to his right had him spinning back toward Adri, who was pinned down by two more of their attackers.
Howling in anger, Rafe let his healing magic flow out before him in a rush of power that had the vampire’s muscles seizing.
It wouldn’t last long before the magic inherent in their essence would fight off his attack.
He took full advantage by bowling them out of the way to clear a path to his mate.
Adri had held his own as much as a single young shifter could against two older vampires.
Large gashes from his claws had rent the face of one of them, and the other was sporting a broken wrist. Dropping his head, Rafe nudged Adri further away from the vampires, nipping at his haunches until his mate got the message to move outside, closer to their pack.
“Keep touching him and your death will be more painful than you can possibly imagine,” a voice was growling—Emilio’s.
As they emerged from the building, Rafe took in the scene on the street.
Eight more vampires spread across the front of the building—half poised to rush into the building, and half facing off against Marco and the rest of the pack.
Rocco’s glamour hadn’t held. They were no longer hidden.
The reason for that became clear as Rafe turned his nose towards Rocco’s crisp winter scent to see that he’d been pinned to the nearest wall by Kyan’s hand at his throat.
Sending his power out in a quick scan, Rafe breathed a sigh of relief as he realised Rocco wasn’t physically harmed.
Yet. He was, however, being held in thrall by whatever Kyan’s vampire powers were, unable to use his air magic.
The head of the vampire coven must have snuck up on him while everyone was distracted, or Rocco would have used his power to protect himself before it could come to this.
Shifting so he could reassure Emilio, Rafe made his way to where Marco was holding back from launching himself at Kyan.
“He’s not hurt,” Rafe said softly.
“I know that. I can feel it myself. Let me go so I can rip the tendons out of Kyan’s arms and use them to hang him,” Emmy growled.
Everywhere he looked, eyes were flashing gold and silver with aggressive wild magic shining through.
“Let him go before you start a war, Kyan,” Marco called.
“You’re in my territory, wolf. You don’t give the orders. If you didn’t want to start a war, you shouldn’t have come,” Kyan drawled back.
Adri slipped closer, pressing his furred side to the front of Rafe’s legs and screening his naked body from view as he placed himself between Rafe and the coven leader.
The stubborn jaguar ignored his efforts to nudge him to the side and out of the line of fire.
Not that there was anywhere safe now. The scents of more vampires approaching carried on the cold breeze, warning him they were now surrounded.
Before Marco could respond to Kyan’s challenge, searing hot flames flared up around them, shielding their backs from the gathering vampire coven.
He’d forgotten Rocco had brought a fire witch as backup to deal with any explosives.
It wasn’t going to help, though. Kyan had them at his mercy so long as his taloned hand was wrapped around Rocco’s throat, and he knew it.
All it would take was a sharp twist, and he’d snap the air witch’s neck.
That might be survivable from the magical benefits Rocco acquired when he bonded with Emmy, so Kyan would likely follow up by ripping his head from his body.
There wouldn’t be any coming back from that.
“We’re only here to check out a potential terrorist cell and ensure there are no further incidents with the fighters that would bring the Council down on both our heads.
You heard Gray at the winter ball. If we can’t work together to stop the D-2S attacks from being noticed by the humans, they’ll get rid of all our families and replace us here,” Marco said, his voice carefully neutral despite the murderous glint in his eyes and his lengthened fangs.
“Uh, about that,” the fire witch called from nearby, something in his voice drawing everyone’s attention.
Rafe winced as he let his gaze flick in his direction.
Standing next to the witch’s side was the very thing they’d been trying to avoid—a seething mad vampire dressed in Council garb, her eyes flashing bright silver as her voice cracked out like a whip across the supernaturals gathered on the darkened street.
“What the fuck is going on here? You’ve got five seconds to stand down and explain yourselves before I call this in.”
“There’s no need for that, Leah. This was a simple disagreement,” Kyan said, releasing his hold on Rocco and holding his hands out to his sides as he moved closer to the Council vampire.
The move didn’t fool anyone into thinking he wasn’t a threat, but at least with Rocco free of his grasp, they had options.
“The flames were visible from five blocks away.”
The now-familiar thrum of Rocco’s magic tingled against Rafe’s senses before the air witch spoke up.
“They’re hidden now. Nothing to see here.”
Leah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s not going to work for me. Give me one good reason not to call Gray in.”
Rafe cocked his head as he watched the Council rep with interest. It wasn’t like them to hold back or give second chances. Why was she hesitating?
“We’re doing exactly what Gray asked of us—hunting down the people responsible for the attacks in the city,” Marco said.
The Alpha positioned himself between Rafe and the threat from Kyan and the Council rep, the rest of the pack gathering close behind them. Fangs and eyes flashed in the darkness as everyone failed to hide their aggression.
Adri shifted back to his human form as the tension grew, leaning close to whisper in Rafe’s ear.
“She’s been fucking Vee in secret.”
His mate’s words were too quiet for anyone further than a foot away to hear, but Marco’s eyes flicked to Adri and away, his mouth twitching into a hint of a smirk.
Rafe tugged Adri closer, nuzzling into his neck as his fangs ached to mark him up and reward him for the information he’d shared.
Viviana would’ve told Marco herself if she thought the information was needed, but the fact Adri hadn’t even hesitated before prioritising helping the pack over his relationship with Viviana was telling.
“Rocco, can you keep my conversation with Leah private?” Marco asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Kyan’s glare in response was sharp and promised murder.
“Sure thing, Alpha,” Rocco murmured.
“No one needs to be having any private conversations,” Leah snapped.
“Are you sure about that?” Marco asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kyan moved closer in a blur of movement, sharp fangs shining in the night as he leaned in to speak to Marco.
“I don’t know what you’ve got on her, but if I’m kept from that conversation, there will be consequences.”
Rocco’s magic flowed around them, and Rafe tipped his nose up to the air, scenting the change. He could still hear his Alpha’s conversation just fine, but Leah’s face on the other side of the road had settled into a scowl.
Movement from the building nearby caught Rafe’s eye. His brow furrowed as he realised the people they’d come to investigate were taking advantage of the distraction to get out of there.
Leaning in close to Adri, Rafe whispered into his ear. “Can you go see what you can find before they destroy any evidence?”
Adri turned to him with a snarl. “I’m not leaving you here unprotected,” he hissed.
“I’ll watch your mate. No one will notice if you slink off. Any of the rest of us would draw attention,” Silas whispered. Marco’s second must have had the same thought as Rafe and moved closer.
“We don’t have time to argue, Adri. Please?” Rafe murmured.
“If you die while I’m in there, I’ll kill you,” Adri snapped, his form blurring as he shifted back to his jaguar form.
“Back at you, kitten,” Rafe whispered, his protective instincts warring inside him. He didn’t want to let his mate out of his sight, but he also didn’t want him to stay on the street where he would no doubt throw himself in front of the next vampire to try and attack Rafe.
Adri’s tail lashed in annoyance against his thigh as he slipped unnoticed between the pack members who’d gathered close and back toward the building they’d just left. His movements were hidden by a combination of his feline stealth and Rocco’s power.
A large hand blocked Rafe’s view as he strained to keep watching his mate, and he glared at Silas as he dragged on the sweats he’d brought for him.
“He’ll be fine. Better in there than here if we can’t get this under control,” Silas murmured, his eyes locked back on where Kyan was facing off against the Council rep.
“Enough with the privacy spells. Do I need to call in reinforcements?” Leah called, her growing frustration clear.
Marco waved a dismissive hand in her direction and didn’t take his eyes off Kyan, who’d stalked closer to the Alpha while they were distracted. Rafe and the rest of the pack kept watch over the rest of the vampires nearby as the two men spoke.
“You breached the founding agreement when you came here without my permission,” Kyan said, turning his back on the Council rep in dismissal as he faced down Marco, his words hidden from her listening ears by Rocco’s spell.
“You breached it first by letting terrorists operate out of your territory. If we don’t present a united front, this place will be swarming with Council operatives. Do you really think they won’t find something to link you to what’s happening?”
“I had no involvement in this. I don’t work with humans,” Kyan sneered.
“You use whoever you can to get what you want, and right now, we both want the Council to get their noses out of our business. So pretend you’re using me to do it if it makes you feel better and get the fuck out of my way.”