27. Deacon
Chapter twenty-seven
Deacon
The sun comes up, and I sneak from shadow to shadow as I pick my way through the city.
I’ll find Tamesis if it kills me.
And then?
Then I’ll leave.
That’s all I can focus on. Vasile is gone, dead somewhere, and I can’t shift and return to the packs knowing that I failed him so badly.
I should have gone to the clan house with him. He told me he was going, and what was I doing? Sniffing around for wolves and mages I didn’t even find.
I dart down an alley and head for a park when things begin to get busy, hiding out in the underbrush and ignoring the wildlife that is confused by my presence. I’m not in wolf territory. Honestly, I don’t know whose territory I’m in, and I don’t care.
When I first ran last night, I didn’t know where I was going. A few hours later, I tried to work out where Vasile might have been killed. But if Tamesis is the one to have done it, then he’s the one I need to find.
Did he stake him? The ashes will already be gone, if he did.
But no. I don’t think so. He might have acted rashly—I have no doubt Tamesis planned to kill Vasile last, to drag it out and make him suffer—but he’s always been brutal.
I think I’ll find a body. At least if I survive this, I can lay him to rest.
I wake, surprised, and the sky above me is beginning to turn dark. I don’t know how I fell asleep at all, and I’m angry at myself.
I could have spent the day searching. I should have searched for the wolves, too. Tamesis can’t be far from whoever he has left. Too many of them are dead after the attack.
What woke me? My ears twitch and I get to my feet but keep my body low. The air around me is silent. No birds. I can hear people further away on the street and the rumble of vehicles, but this park…
It’s suspiciously silent.
A low, rumbling growl escapes me as I take a few cautious steps out of the bush I slept in. It’s hard to parse scents in this city, so many all mixed together, but I pick up the scent of a wolf just before she pounces, catching me in the side and sending us both rolling to the grass.
I snarl, snapping at Chaya and making her dart back. We’re not playing, but we’re not seriously fighting, either.
Well, I’m not. I just want her to leave. I want to be left alone.
She bares her teeth, circling me, and she’s not playing either. I can scent her anger even more than her concern, which just makes me angrier, too. What right does she have? It’s not her mate who’s dead. She’s not the one who failed him again .
I lower my head, making my growl more dangerous, but she doesn’t back down. She yelps when I dig my claws into her side but gives as good as she gets, biting my hind leg until I howl and try to pull away.
Chaya lets me go, then circles me again. I limp a little, but the wound is already healing.
What can I do if I go back? The alphas are all there. They know what we were planning. I don’t know who’s left among the vampires, but there must be a chieftain or two. Afsaneh should have healed. And Moreau… Moreau can lead this. His Hunt should have taken care of all of this before it began.
I snap at Chaya again, trying to make her see sense, but she stands her ground. It wasn’t like this the first time around. I was beginning to get lonely back then. I’ve never told her, but part of me was glad when she showed up, even if being the alpha of all the London packs had never crossed my mind.
And now I’m here, in this tiny little London park, fighting with my second because I can’t fail them all again.
She leaps at me, faster than I’m expecting, and her jaws close around my throat. I’m ready for death if it comes to that.
Of course she doesn’t kill me. She brings us both to the ground, a heavy paw on my side, and her teeth dig in until I whimper and tilt my head.
After a second or two, she lets go. Her breath is hot, heavy, and she eyes me for a moment before she retreats and shifts back.
She’s still breathing hard, kneeling naked in the grass. Blood paints her ribs, down one side, but I wince more at the hard look in her eyes. I shift back, too, and her glare never lessens.
“We need you to come back.”
“I don’t want to.” I sound petulant, but I can’t .
“I didn’t ask if you wanted to,” she snaps, and she’s angrier than I’ve ever seen her. She makes a frustrated, strangled sound and gets to her feet, stalking over to where she’s apparently left two bags just behind a tree.
Chaya tosses one at me and drags clothes out of the other, then dresses with sharp movements. She doesn’t seem to care that blood is seeping through the fabric, leaving a stain.
I drag a T-shirt over my head. “I don’t think I can.”
“You will.” Chaya shakes her head. Her expression softens for a moment, but she forces it back. “You will because we need you, and if you want to leave when this is all over, then we’ll let you go. But we can’t do this without you right now.”
“You can—”
“Do you know how many calls I had from Kieran’s pack today?” Her eyes blaze as she spins to face me, still buttoning up her blouse. “Every hour, they’ve had to talk him or Sam out of burning the city down to find Tamesis. The clan is a fucking wreck. The alphas won’t agree on anything, except that all of them aside from Rhea and Levi think we should wrap Kieran up like a Christmas present and leave him at Tamesis’ door. Not that we know where that is!”
“Moreau is—”
“Moreau’s spent the entire day with the Council, who still aren’t doing anything. And I don’t even think that it’s because they’re in cahoots with Tamesis or anything like that—I think they’re just fucking useless , Deacon. We’ve all got lazy, and it’s come back to bite all of us, but you’re the only one who can get us out of this.”
“I don’t—I can’t—” I’m wearing a T-shirt and joggers now, my feet freezing in the damp grass. Chaya shakes her head and moves closer, then takes both of my hands in her own.
“I know . I can’t ever know the feeling, but I know you… We can’t ask this of you. But I have to. Because if I don’t come here and ask you to help, then I’ve failed everyone, too.”
I swallow around a lump in my throat. “What—” My voice comes out rough and I shake my head, trying a second time. “What are we planning to do?”
She squeezes my hands. “Kieran got an email from Tamesis, and they’re going to meet at Bite tomorrow night. We need everyone to agree like they did before. As it is, we’ll just have Kieran’s pack going after them, and I know they can do a lot, but I don’t want them to die for nothing.”
I take a deep breath. I don’t like being back in this form, not right now. My feelings are too close to the surface. Everything hurts .
“We kill him, and I’m done,” I say. “I’m out. I can’t stay here now that he’s gone.”
“I know. I’ll handle it. I promise.”
“Okay.”
I don’t fight her as she leads me to the car idling by the kerb. I can’t believe I’m going back again.
When we get to the pack house, it’s practically bursting at the seams. All the alphas are there, as are the remaining chieftains and—to my surprise—the members of the Hunters’ Council.
Moreau is lingering near one of the windows, but he straightens up when he sees me. Rhea gets to her feet, too, expression twisted in sympathy.
“Alpha,” Kieran says. He’s red in the face, like he’s been shouting, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has. He’s standing before the seat he took last time, at the foot of the table, and Sam glowers from his side.
“I am glad to see everyone could make it,” I say. I feel exposed and raw in a way I never have as I walk to my seat and take it. Orion is standing next to it, arms crossed over his chest, and Chaya takes her position at my other side.
The wolves will all smell the blood on her and me. Let them speculate. I’m not ashamed to say she beat me.
How do they think she got me down here last time?
“We—I—” Rhea begins, but I shake my head.
“No time for any of that,” I say and fix my gaze on Kieran. If his mother was right, he’s the person we all need to bet on, and it’s not by throwing him to Tamesis without any assistance. “What’s the plan?”
“Tamesis emailed me late last night,” Kieran says. “He told me he’d take me in place of Adam and the others. I said we could meet at Bite.”
“When?”
“We haven’t fixed a time. I thought tonight, but…”
I shake my head and notice Levi doing the same further down the table. “We’re not ready.”
“Will you be ready tomorrow?” I ask.
“We can be.”
“Deacon,” Moreau says, voice low. “This is all very—”
“Tamesis is holding three vampires hostage,” I say, looking at each of the chieftains who remain. Afsaneh lifts her chin and nods when I meet her eyes. “We need to get them back, and we need to end this. I’m sorry for all that you lost yesterday.”
“So am I,” she replies. Sorrow pinches her expression, too, and it surprises me more than it should. I told Vasile his vampires cared for him, didn’t I? And they’ve lost much more than just him.
“Vasile is dead,” I say, and my voice doesn’t shake, but it’s a close thing. “That means that Tamesis is more unpredictable than he has been so far. We don’t have time to argue if we’re going to save the vampires he took. And we can’t rely on his word. It’s more likely he’ll kill them in front of you than he will hand them back over.”
Kieran nods. “He probably won’t expect me to go alone.”
“I’ll come with you,” Sam says instantly and glares when I frown. “My mate is in there, alpha. I’m going.”
“You have another mate to think of.”
“I know.” Sam’s fierce expression never falters. “He already knows what I’m planning to do.”
“Do you think Tamesis will believe they’re going alone?” Rhea asks. “Or will he be ready for us?”
“It could go either way,” I reply honestly. “But we prepare as though he knows. We’ll have the element of surprise if he doesn’t.”
“And the rest of them?” Afsaneh stands with the other chieftains, but clearly she’s the one they’ve chosen to speak for them. “The wolves? The vampires?”
“We kill who we must.”
For the first time, the Council members begin to murmur amongst themselves. Hunter Helene doesn’t look happy to be here, but I think Moreau might have spoken to her in much the way Chaya spoke to me.
“The hunters will help you,” she says finally. “At the very least, we can secure anyone who is captured.”
“Thank you.” I look around the table, around the rest of the crowded room. I don’t have Vasile here, and the pain of that is still enough to blindside me, but I remember what I promised him.
I look at Kieran again. “Tell Tamesis you’ll meet him tomorrow night. He won’t push, not if he thinks you’re coming out of desperation.”
Kieran nods and takes his phone out of his pocket, brow furrowed as he taps out the email.
I won’t fail Vasile in this one thing. I can’t stay here when it’s all done, but I’ll do my damnedest to make sure our people survive this.