13. Deacon
Chapter thirteen
Deacon
Orion lets himself into my office without knocking, and I frown at him from where I’m sitting behind my desk.
“What’s wrong?”
He closes the door carefully behind him. I’m surprised Chaya isn’t here, too, but maybe he hasn’t had a chance to speak to her yet. Usually, they consult each other before they come to me.
“There are some wolves in the city.”
I frown. I know what he means, of course. Aside from our packs, there are a few lone wolves here. They don’t live with our pack, but they fall under my jurisdiction, and I am careful to keep them in line.
This isn’t that.
“Who?”
“I’m not certain,” he replies. “I visited two places they’d been spotted staying today, but I don’t recognise their scents.”
“They were spotted?” I pull my phone out of my pocket and send Chaya a text. She should be here for this.
Orion nods, dark hair falling into his eyes. “They’re not hiding. I mean, not like the mages are. Their scents were everywhere at first, but then they just vanished. They’re playing with us.”
“That or there are too many of them to hide,” I say.
Chaya raps on the door and I call for her to come in. Orion brings her up to speed quickly, and she crosses her arms over her chest. “What should we do? Track them down?”
“They’ve skirted the edges of wolf territory,” Orion says. “If this vampire is in charge of them, he’s told them not to come here.”
“Tamesis,” I correct. He should know Tamesis’ name. Everyone should. We need to remain aware of who we’re up against. “And that’s as good a hypothesis as any.”
“Should we keep searching?” Chaya asks.
I shake my head. “Have Sam and his coven arrived yet?”
Orion blinks at my sudden change of topic, but Chaya simply shakes her head. “Not yet.”
In the end, some of my alphas did come forward with mages who live in their packs. I suspect, on all their parts, that the mages are the ones who pushed to help. Sam and his coven have agreed to come to the pack house today and instruct them on building wards; his are the one thing we know will keep Tamesis out.
For now, anyway.
“Alpha Rhea’s sent over two mages already,” Chaya continues. “Alpha Levi arrived with one mage from his pack about ten minutes ago.”
I tilt my head at her frown, studying her and Orion in turn. “What’s wrong?”
“Some of the alphas are… reticent,” Orion says. He shrugs. “They don’t trust our new pack. And they don’t trust Sam.”
I bite back a growl. I can’t blame their caution, really, but at the same time, this is utter disrespect. I’ve vouched for our newest pack. That should be enough.
“Jude?” I ask.
Chaya nods. “It would appear he’s been talking about Sam’s family and their involvement in the mage wars.”
First Vasile’s link to Tamesis, now this. I’d be more impressed by his ability to discover hidden information if I wasn’t so bloody annoyed. “We’ll deal with what we can,” I say. “Three mages—that’s better than none.”
“Depends how their training goes,” Orion mutters and ducks his head when I look at him.
That’s true, too, annoying as it is. There’s every chance they won’t be able to raise the wards at all. I hope not. It would be useful for us to have the upper hand in something when it comes to Tamesis.
“Better than nothing,” I say. “Come on. I want to meet them.”
The mages and their alphas are waiting in our main meeting hall. They’ve pulled out some of the folding chairs we keep along one wall and are sitting in a circle, with Levi facing the main set of doors. I notice there is one more mage than Chaya mentioned—someone else is willing to work with us, then.
Levi stands when we enter, but before the mages can, I shake my head. “Please, stay as you are. I want to meet the others when they arrive.”
Levi nods. He crosses his ankle over his knee, leaning back before he raises his eyebrows at the mage next to him. “Go on.”
I frown.
The mage tightens his arms around his torso before he speaks. He has to be in his mid-twenties, his dark hair in braids that fall to his shoulders. “Alpha Deacon?”
“Yes?” I take a couple of steps closer. “You are…”
“Uh, Silas, alpha. I was just wondering… Is Sam truly a mage?”
I shrug, looking at Chaya before I nod. “Yes.”
“No,” one of the women sitting in the circles says. She doesn’t blush when I look at her, but she does drop her eyes. “Is he a mage ? We heard he was from one of the mage families.”
“You’re from Alpha Rhea’s pack?” It would explain her confidence. She’s younger than Silas; she looks to be the youngest in the circle by a fair amount.
“Yes, alpha. Enza.”
“Well, Enza. As far as I know, yes, he is.”
Her eyes widen, and she clutches the wrist of the woman next to her. The woman looks worried, and her scent betrays it. But Enza…
Enza’s excited. Silas, too.
“Will that be an issue?” I ask. I need it to be clear. Sam is not responsible for what happened in the wars. How could he be? And now he’s the second of a pack and powerful in his own right. They don’t need to like him, but they need to listen to him and show him respect.
“No!” Enza’s exclamation is enthusiastic, and beside me, Chaya’s lips twitch. Silas nods.
I look at the woman next to Enza—Rhea’s other mage—and the man sitting a little further away from both of them.
“Your names?”
“Odette,” the woman says.
“Theo. Alpha Axel sent me.”
Levi raises his eyebrows again, and I nod. Interesting. It’s clear Enza wants to be here, as does Silas—Levi’s own presence is not concerning, considering how timid his mage seems to be. Perhaps Odette feels she needs to accompany Enza, though judging by their scents, they’re not related.
But being sent here? Theo might cause trouble.
“If Sam’s family history is going to prove problematic for either of you,” I say, “then we should address it now. He is doing us a favour by bringing his coven here to teach you how to do this, and I need to know that we can rely on you to learn properly. What you learn will be used to protect your packs. It’s important.”
Odette frowns. “His coven?”
“Yes. Two other mages will accompany him.”
Silas tilts his head to one side. “And they’re… mages, too?”
He means that difference I can’t really define.
“One of them is from a pack, like the four of you. Her mother is a wolf. I do not know about the other.”
He nods, thinking it over, but Theo’s shoulders loosen as soon as I mention Ophelia’s mother. Good.
The door behind us opens again and Noah leads Sam, Ophelia, and Dante inside. This time, Levi does get to his feet, and I let him.
Sam’s clearly dressed down for the occasion; at least, as much as he ever does when out and about in the world. He pauses before the chairs, shoving his hands into the pockets of his fake leather trousers, the black crop top he’s wearing revealing the bottom of his tattoo. Ophelia stands to his left, expression just as inscrutable as she looks the mages over. Her outfit—jeans and boots and a soft jumper—seems more practical than anything else, but it’s sharp enough I know she’s making a statement, too.
Dante stands a step behind both of them. He looks curious. His gaze lingers on Enza as though there’s something about her magic that speaks to him.
“Sam, Ophelia, Dante, meet our mages,” I say. “Silas is from Alpha Levi’s pack, Enza and Odette from Alpha Rhea’s, and Theo from Alpha Axel’s.”
Sam nods, then looks at me with his eyebrows raised. “No other takers?”
Theo frowns. “What makes you think there should be?”
Dante answers before anyone else can, voice as soft as ever. “Statistics. Even before the mage wars, there was hardly a fae-blessed mage among the packs, so there’s no reason for an actual decline, just a perceived one because of the potential threat.” His hands move as he speaks, and Theo listens to him with wide eyes as if not expecting an answer at all. “So there really should be more than the four of you in general, even taking into account the number of packs forced into such a confined area…” He trails off, pressing his lips into a thin line.
Sam leans into him, knocking their shoulders together. “You’ve got this,” he murmurs.
“Uh, yes. So. Are we ready to get started?” Dante looks around at all of us as though he’s not certain who’s to give the order.
I step back. As much as this is my pack house, it’s out of my hands. Sam and the coven can handle this—the only alpha they might have to deal with is Levi, considering he’s still sitting there.
Enza seems to make the decision for everyone, almost vibrating out of her seat before she jumps to her feet. “Yes! How do we—What do we get to learn?”
Ophelia grins at her enthusiasm and even Sam’s lips twitch.
Dante steps into the circle of chairs. “First, we need to assess the level of power you all have. We’re all—I’m not fae-blessed, like you, so what we’ve got is what we’ve got. We’ll teach you how to power up certain objects, too, to keep your wards steady, if that’s something you don’t already know?”
Chaya’s phone rings and she brings it up to her ear to answer, heading for the door. I’m considering staying. I know little enough about mages, and this might be my chance to learn more—not to mention that Dante’s obvious enthusiasm, coupled with Enza’s desire to learn, makes for an interesting combination.
Sam rounds the chairs and takes a seat next to Levi, while Ophelia remains where she is, watching. Silas flicks his eyes between Sam and Levi at first, clearly wary, but when he notices his alpha’s body language is relaxed, some of the tension leaves him. I frown. We’ll have to see to that. I have no doubt he’ll do fine, but I don’t know how I feel about a nervous mage.
“Okay, that’s good,” Dante says. “Just pull a little for me. I need to see how easily you can do that. No, not too much—”
Enza’s eyes are closed. Odette leans forward in her seat, eyes narrowed as she watches. I can’t sense magic myself, but I suppose that’s what Dante is doing—getting a sense of it.
Chaya comes back into the room, and my head jerks up when I realise I can’t pick up her scent. She’s keeping it under wraps. Orion frowns at her too, but she shakes her head.
“Alpha?”
“Orion, keep an eye on them,” I say.
When I look back, Levi is watching me, but Sam is, too. He nods at me as though he knows something is wrong, and between him, Orion, and another alpha, I know the mages will be safe.
“What is it?” I ask when we’re out of the room, a good few feet away from the door.
“Another wolf has been killed.” I swear under my breath, but Chaya shakes her head. “By a wolf, this time. The call was from Naomi. A hunter’s been killed, too, and a vampire.”
“I—Fuck.” I rub the bridge of my nose. “The wolf?”
“The hunters will return her to her pack,” Chaya says.
“What’s she saying about who did it? Do they think it was one of us?”
“She’s more tight-lipped than Moreau, but she made it clear she didn’t think a pack wolf did this.”
“A lone wolf?”
“No, I think they know about the other wolves as well as we do.”
My phone buzzes in my pocket—a notification, not a call. I ignore it.
“Where was she? I don’t—We asked the packs to enforce a lockdown, we—” I shake my head. It’s somehow even worse knowing that wolves are the ones behind this.
My phone buzzes again. Irritated, I pull it out and frown at what appears on the screen.
“Alpha?”
It’s an email from a sender I don’t know, but—
That subject line.
Come to me, little pup.
“My office, now.”
Once we’re there, Chaya shuts the door and I wake my computer, then open my email account. My eyes widen at what I see.
It’s Tamesis, all right.
Hand yourself over, little pup, and this will all be over with. I’d never hurt my warrior. Once you’re gone, he will return to me.
You’ve seen how easily I can get to you. All your wolves. I’ll tear your packs apart one by one if I must.
I read it twice before I call Chaya over to take a look. She frowns, and when she looks at me, her hazel eyes spark with fury. “That’s a trap, Deacon.”
“Yes, I did work that out myself,” I say dryly.
My phone rings, and Chaya settles herself in one of the chairs opposite my desk as I check the screen. Moreau. I frown and answer it on speakerphone.
“Did you get an email?” he asks in lieu of a greeting. Straight to the point, then.
“You did, too?” I frown. “Chaya can hear you, by the way.”
“Yes. I already checked and Hunter Helene doesn’t have one.”
“But you’re hardly involved in this anymore.”
Moreau’s chuckle is mirthless. “I am, Deacon. I wasn’t the head of the Council then, and that didn’t matter to him.”
No, it didn’t. The Council wasn’t a thing then, either, but I’m not about to point that out. “Your email… General threats about how you should turn yourself over?”
“Yes. Though he’s careful to threaten the hunters, not the Hunt. I don’t think even Tamesis is that arrogant.”
“News to me,” I mutter. “It’s not going to stop him.”
“Of course not. Have you spoken to Vasile? I assume he’s sleeping, but if he’s got one too—”
My phone buzzes, another call incoming. When I see the name, the bottom of my stomach drops out.
“Who’s calling?” Moreau asks. He must be able to hear the vibrations against my desk.
“Kieran.”
We’re all silent for a moment, then I shake my head. “I’ve got to take this. I’ll call you when I’ve heard from Vasile.”
“All right.”
I end the call with Moreau and answer the one from Kieran. Chaya leans forward in her seat, apparently as on edge as I am.
“Deacon?” Kieran doesn’t sound frantic, but there’s just a hint of panic in his tone. “Is everyone okay there? I mean, Sam and the others. They’re—”
“They’re fine,” I say. I’d know if they weren’t. “They’re with the mages. It’s all going well.”
He lets out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, okay. I mean, Adam’s here and still asleep, so I figured, but…”
“Did you get an email from Tamesis?”
“Yeah. You, too?”
“Yes. Kieran, what does it say?”
“H-He’s telling me to hand myself over and he’ll stop everything. He already got to my dad’s pack, so why do I think he wouldn’t be able to get to mine?”
Fuck. The wolves. Kieran mentioned that he saw Adelaide up near his pack, which presumably means Tamesis would be nearby. A vampire told Hale where to go.
“Your father and his pack are likely in the city,” I say, and Kieran’s sharp intake of breath has me shaking my head. “You will be fine.”
“I’m not worried about me ,” he snaps. “Or my pack. They’re the ones who aren’t prepared to deal with him. Why would they—”
“We can talk about it in a few hours,” I say. It’s already three, which means we have an hour or so until the sun goes down and Vasile should be up and about. “I’ll bring Sam, Ophelia, and Dante back to your pack house. If Vasile wakes before then, get him to check his emails and stay with you.”
“Yep, got it.”
“All right, I’ll see you then.”
“Deacon?” My finger hovers over the button to end the call.
“Yes?”
“Be careful.”
I know he doesn’t mean be careful and look after his pack. He means it for me. I nod, even though he can’t see me.
“I will. We’ll be by in a couple of hours.”