Chapter 14 Adri #2
“I don’t know. The cases I studied were shielding entire above-ground cities from discovery.
There wasn’t any power spare to do anything more.
This one would only need to screen the exit points from casual view.
Just the proximity of the meteorite would hide the rest from magical inspection.
If they had enough time and expertise, they may well be able to do more with the power source. ”
“The kind of time and expertise it takes to develop a neural chip that interferes with shifter magic?” Adri asked. He had a really bad feeling about where this was going.
“Yeah, just like that,” Rocco replied. “I need to let the MC know about this and see if anyone knows anything more.”
“So, just to be clear, the Supernatural Council you’re all so careful not to piss off has given a terrorist organisation access to an uncontrolled power supply and hidden pathways across the city?” Adri asked.
“It would have been a concession to reassure the humans who became aware of our existence during the wars. A way to make them feel safer. It’s possible the people dealing with the D-2S threat at the Council aren’t talking to the people who are aware of the historical arrangement with the humans,” Leah said.
Adri rolled his eyes. Fucking bureaucrats.
“Perhaps. But it’s more likely someone in the Council is corrupt,” Marco said, voice low and dangerous.
Leah tipped her head in acknowledgement.
“Yes and no. It may not even be a question of corruption. If there is an active risk of exposure of our kind, the Council can justify almost anything. The D-2S is only targeting New Trinity City right now, whereas an exposure event could affect the entire world. Once our existence gets out, there’s no going back. ”
“You’re saying the Council could be catering to the terrorists?” Rafe asked.
“If they are, they would keep that information tightly contained. Their power is dependent on the trust of the supernatural community. It’s a delicate balance. They probably think if they bide their time, they’ll get an opportunity to take them out.”
“Do you think the mayor and police chief are involved? The Council has always limited their human communications to those two,” Silas said.
“As far as we know,” Luca muttered.
“If they are, they’re dead. I can’t tolerate support for supernatural terrorists, and I doubt the other families would either. The Council can find new humans to dance to their tune,” Marco said.
“When’s the next time you’ll see them? You don’t want to tip them off with an unusual meeting,” Leah said.
Marco glanced over at Adri, and he straightened from where he was pressed into Rafe’s chest. “There’s a charity fight at the hospital in a couple of weeks. They’ll definitely be there,” the Alpha said.
“I can sound them out,” Adri offered, sparking a sharp nip at his neck from his mate.
“We can sound them out,” Rafe corrected. “As a pack.”
“I was already planning to attend,” Marco agreed.
“I’ll sort a security plan and extra coverage,” Angelo said. “Although without the details of where these tunnel entrances are, I can’t guarantee we can corner them.”
“They’re human. They can only run so fast,” Marco growled.
Strong fingers dug into Adri’s shoulder muscles as he hunched over his computer, and he suppressed a groan as he leaned back into Rafe’s touch.
“I don’t care what you were planning. You owe the pack. You’re not kicking my guys out,” Adri growled into the phone.
The scramble between finding places for his people to stay, rescheduling upcoming fights because of missing fighters, and searching the streets for any sign of them any chance he got meant he hadn’t paid as much attention to his emails as he should.
Otherwise, he would’ve noticed this asshole was trying to back out on his commitment to Marco earlier.
The owner of the hostel snivelled something about going over his head, and Adri laughed.
“Go ahead. Try bothering Alpha Lunetti with this and see how much patience he has for people who go back on their word against his interests.”
“There’s a fucking vampire in my building, and you’re a damn cat. I didn’t sign up for this shit.”
Rafe was vibrating with anger behind him, and Adri twisted so his protective mate couldn’t reach to grab the phone from his hand.
To his credit, Rafe managed to hold himself back, but Adri could tell it was a near thing.
He could also tell the doc was texting someone about what he’d just heard—probably Silas.
This guy would be lucky to make it through the night.
He hadn’t needed Rafe to jump in, and he proved it by bullying the guy into doing what he wanted before hanging up.
“I had it covered,” Adri snapped, letting his head fall back with a moan as Rafe continued to knead his tense muscles.
Rafe took advantage of the new angle to claim his lips in a kiss, and Adri let himself forget the mountain of tasks waiting for him for a few seconds as he sank into it.
“He took it too far. He needs a reminder that his loyalty to the pack isn’t a subscription he can fucking cancel.
Marco has no tolerance for that kind of talk, especially after what happened with Gio.
Your job is to make the fighting ring successful.
Silas’ is to keep people like him in line.
You’re part of a pack. You don’t have to do it all alone. ”
Adri sighed and pressed his fingers to his temple as Rafe spun his office chair so they were facing each other.
“When was the last time you got a good night’s sleep, kitten?”
Adri looked away from Rafe’s piercing inspection and shrugged. The doc already knew the answer, so there was no point in lying. Rafe had shadowed his every move whenever he wasn’t busy with his own work. He’d probably had even less sleep than Adri.
That thought had him looking back up at Rafe as his forehead furrowed in concern. The doc had dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was paler than it should be.
“I could ask you the same,” Adri said.
“Come on. It’s the full moon. We’re going to go run for a reason other than chasing down terrorists until we’re too tired to keep going and then get at least four hours’ sleep before we go back to work,” Rafe said, pulling Adri to his feet and into his arms.
Adri couldn’t resist the urge to nuzzle into the base of his neck as Rafe held him close, drawing in deep breaths of his scent.
“I don’t have time for that,” Adri said, but there was no force in his words.
“Alpha’s orders,” Rafe said.
Adri stiffened as his jaguar snarled inside him at the suggestion that someone was telling him what to do or where to go.
“Hush, kitten. You wouldn’t want me running in the forest alone, would you?”
“I know what you’re doing,” Adri complained as his jaguar flipped from fuming to focussed on their mate in less time than it took for him to draw in another heady breath.
“Enticing my mate into fucking under the open sky?”
Adri’s cock swelled so fast it ached, and he bit down hard on Rafe’s collarbone before spinning him to press him up against the wall so he could taste every inch of his throat with rasping kitten licks.
A smirk stretched his mouth as Rafe drew in a sharp inhalation of surprise before gripping his hips hard enough to bruise and grinding them together.
“What’s wrong with fucking on my desk?” Adri whispered.
Rafe reached up and wrapped a hand around his throat, squeezing just hard enough to make him feel thoroughly owned without triggering a defensive response.
“Let me take care of you, kitten.”
Huffing out a breath, Adri pulled back. “Fine.”
They were some of the last to arrive at the pack lands.
The braziers on the grass beside the edge of the forest were mostly surrounded by the very young or old, watched over by a few of Angelo’s enforcers, along with Marco, Vin, and Rocco.
The Alpha’s eyes flashed with satisfaction at their presence as they approached, but Adri kept his contrary annoyance to himself.
He didn’t fancy getting smacked into the dirt when he was already exhausted and running on fumes.
“Not running with your mates tonight?” Rafe asked the vampire and the witch standing nearby.
“We’ll watch over the house until everyone’s back,” Rocco replied.
“Come run with me,” Marco said, stripping off his shirt.
“You made your point about where I belong already,” Adri huffed, tugging his clothes off with more force than was necessary and ignoring the satisfied smiles passing between his mate and his Alpha.
“Hearing it and feeling it aren’t the same thing,” Marco replied right before he shifted into a huge black Alpha wolf that was intimidating as fuck.
Rafe grabbed his nape, pressing a hard kiss to his lips before shifting as well. Adri took a deep, silent breath and let his jaguar take over, sinking into the sensation of his muscles and bones transforming.
Rafe was still taller than him in this form, but not as solid.
His silver and black fur reminded Adri of the sexy silver Daddy vibes his mate had going on as a human.
With his instincts riding him so much harder in this body, Adri butted his head up under Rafe’s chin, a soft purr vibrating in his chest as Rafe softly bit down on his ear in response.
Marco slunk closer as they pressed against each other, his looming presence pure dominance.
Twisting to face him while still pressing into his mate’s side, Adri let the Alpha press their muzzles together briefly before rubbing his face along Adri’s, scenting him.
Rafe’s wolf let out a low grumble of complaint, but quickly tipped his head in submission as Marco gave him the same treatment.
Throwing his head back, Marco let out a long, loud howl to the moon above them, his body focussed on the forest beyond them as, one by one, their packmates out running responded to the call until a symphony of connection sang into the night.
Adri couldn’t howl, but he added his jaguar’s roar to the mix before dropping his head low to tear into the forest, catching his mate by surprise.
Rafe and Marco’s amused yips followed close behind him as they tracked him into the forest, especially when he took the first chance he could get to bunch his muscles under him and launch himself up one of the thick tree trunks and into the canopy.
He’d always preferred to stalk at height.
The trees were close enough here that he’d be able to keep an eye on the wolves from above as they moved through the forest, so long as they didn’t try to run all-out.
As they made their way into the darkness, his jaguar became more playful, dropping down from above unexpectedly as Rafe and Marco ran together and slipping off into the shadows before they had a chance to do more than brush against him.
The cat side of himself was having the time of its life.
The human side was wondering if he’d ever live this down.
Eventually, Marco caught him in one of his ambushes, twisting to bite gently on Adri’s scruff and using his head to nudge him at Rafe before running off to connect with the rest of his pack.
Adri twined himself around his mate as Rafe used his long tongue to lick at the places Marco had touched him, covering his scent with his own.
Adri’s eyes slipped closed as he indulged in Rafe’s touch, and he didn’t immediately notice when tongue and muzzle changed to human fingers stroking through his fur.
“You’re so beautiful like this, kitten,” Rafe murmured.
Lifting his head from where it was resting on his paws, Adri blinked up at him.
They’d stopped on the edge of a small lake, the water glinting in the moonlight and soft grasses rustling quietly beneath them.
Stretching deeply in a move that made his back arch and his tail lash, Adri let the shift take him.
A low groan escaped Rafe from behind him as he continued to stretch in his human form—his chest brushing against the ground as his hips stayed high. He wasn’t presenting to his mate. He was just being very dedicated to his flexibility.
“If you stay like that, you know exactly how we’re going to end up,” Rafe growled, his voice dropping an octave as his hand brushed down the curve of Adri’s ass to his muscled thighs.
“Can you do it without biting and knotting me?” Adri asked.
A pained moan left Rafe as he leaned in close, pressing a kiss to Adri’s tailbone. Adri’s arch grew even more pronounced as he tried to entice those lips lower.
“There’s no way I can control myself when you’re like this,” Rafe said, his tongue slipping out to circle Adri’s aching hole like he was about to make a whole fucking meal of it.
Hissing in annoyance at himself for denying them both, Adri flopped onto his back, the move taking him out of reach of that clever tongue.
“I can’t,” he said.
Rafe’s eyes shone gold in the night, and Adri’s gaze traced down the veins of his arms to his fisted hands, but none of the tension thrumming through his body was audible in his voice when he spoke.
“Okay, kitten. Whenever you’re ready.”
“You have the patience of a saint.”
Rafe shrugged. “I want you willing, or not at all.”
Adri groaned and threw his arm over his eyes to hide the view of his mate before he jumped him. “I’m plenty willing. I just can’t. Not yet. Not until we find them.”
“You don’t have to earn your happiness, kitten. You deserve it all.”
“I can’t take our forever while five of the people I’m responsible for might be about to have theirs cut short.”
“So, we find them. Together. Now shift back so we don’t get hypothermia sleeping out here.”
Adri’s jaguar was slow to emerge as he shifted, reluctant to give up on the potential mate bond he was denying.
Once he was settled in jaguar form, Rafe wrapped human arms around him for a moment, whispering in his ear before shifting to his wolf—“Our forever is here already, kitten. Whether we ever complete the bond or not. I will always be here for you.”