Chapter 31
Maverick
“You’re alive, then,” Boon said when he picked up.
I ignored the dig about not calling him the moment the rescue operation ended. Boon and I were no longer colleagues, although I still counted him as a trusted friend.
“Has Vane reappeared?”
“Which one?”
“Senior, of course.” Alaric didn’t much concern me. Not after the way he’d handed over my mate to his father. The rational side of me understood it wasn’t his fault, but my bear hadn’t forgiven the bastard. And probably never would.
“He showed up last night at a press conference in Chicago. The humans are becoming increasingly twitchy about all the demon attacks, so he’s announced a task force is being assembled to close the portal and eliminate any remaining demons.”
I snorted. As if he could close the fucking portal. It had taken a magical far more powerful than him to seal it.
“Did anyone believe that bullshit?”
“Difficult to say. His speech appears to have appeased the humans, at least, but the resistance movement is growing faster than he anticipated, I think. Lesser magicals are unhappy about all the restrictions and even more so about the continued disappearances.”
“Are we still wanted felons?”
A snicker of amusement told me yes, we were.
“I’m doing my best to disrupt the investigation at my end, but you’d be safer if you stayed put.
” There was a pause. “Wherever you ended up.” I hadn’t told him about Olaf Firewing.
Not because I didn’t trust him, but because he was better off remaining ignorant.
Boon flew under the radar in his intelligence role at the MIB, but we both knew he could be arrested at any time. All it took was one mistake.
“I’m not going anywhere for now,” I confirmed. My little mate needed rest and recovery time.
“Keep in touch, Mav.”
I pushed my phone into my pocket before checking in to see where my mate was.
“She’s asleep,” Zane said in my head. “I made her come three times first,” he added smugly.
“Okay, good. I’m going to talk to Olaf.”
I knew he’d want to join me, but I hoped he would choose to stay with our mate. Even though this castle was the safest place in the realm, leaving her alone made me deeply uncomfortable.
“Fish boy will watch our mate. I’ll be there.”
I felt the merman’s irritation along the bond a second later. Knowing Zane, he’d teleported him away from the underground pool without warning. That was the kind of shit the incubus did for fun. He was such an asshole.
By the time I reached Olaf’s private quarters, the incubus and the vampire were waiting for me, along with Kenji and the other three kitsunes. Seeing four kitsunes together was weird as hell. Worse still, they all had the same disgusting habits.
I eyed the plate piled high with bacon and hamburgers and regretted missing my evening meal. Kenji’s beady little eyes watched me before he used his claws to pull the plate closer to him and his cousins.
A growl escaped as my bear took umbrage to the kitsune’s challenge to our alpha status, but I shoved him down.
“Maverick,” Olaf grunted before expelling a huff of smoke. “Help yourself to elkwine.”
I poured a large glass of the amber liquid because something told me I’d need the alcohol tonight.
“Have you seen the news?”
Everyone turned to stare at me, which I took to mean they were unaware of Vane’s latest move.
“I am aware, yes,” Olaf replied. “Vane underestimated how disruptive the demon attacks have become. His seer told him there was a hybrid witch, but he didn’t expect the seal on the demon portal to fail and allow her father’s followers to enter our realm in search of her.”
“So Vane isn’t the reason the portal is failing?” I’ll admit, it had occurred to me that the demons running riot might be part of his fucked-up plan.
Zane scrolled through his phone in silence. “Wow, Vane’s trending on every social media channel. Reddit thinks the speech was AI and he’s really a lizard shifter.” What the actual fuck? “Quite a few people are claiming the demons are fake too.”
“If only,” I muttered. We had enough problems dealing with Tiberius Vane without the threat of demons stealing my little mate away.
If only the storm mage had stuck around. I could have done with the mage’s input regarding his father. Nobody knew the bastard better than his only son, with the possible exception of Brianna, his wife.
“Vane will be searching for your mate. Losing her has likely caused him a massive headache and disrupted his plans.”
“He can search all he likes, but he’s not taking her from me again.” My bear surged forward, and my chair creaked under the strain. We can’t shift here, I reminded him. The room wasn’t big enough, and I was not in the mood to leap from a window several hundred feet up the side of a mountain.
“No, but she’s the most effective tool we have to lure him somewhere he can’t escape from.”
I folded my arms defensively, not liking where this conversation was going. “Like where? Even if he fell for such a plan, he wouldn’t come alone, and I’m not putting my mate in danger again.”
Olaf scoffed. “Your mate is a powerful hybrid witch who eliminated an entire facility of enemy mages.”
“Her magic is unpredictable, so no, it’s too risky.”
“Olaf is right,” Rasmus said, much to my surprise. “You underestimate our mate. She’s strong and resourceful. Treating her like a scared little witch that needs protecting does her no favors.”
Was he right?
Perhaps, but my bear mulishly refused to listen to either of them. It was our job to protect our little mate, and if that meant coddling her, so be it. I refused to apologize for wanting to keep her safe.
While she’d not told us much about what she’d gone through while in Tiberius Vane’s custody, I knew it couldn’t be anything good. Not from the little I’d overheard in Olaf’s dining room.
Many of the magicals we’d rescued had whispered about experiments using siren magic, having their blood siphoned, and worse.
I shuddered at the thought of my mate being poked and prodded by sadistic mages. Thank fuck the ones who’d hurt her were now dead.
The door behind me swung open, and a tantalizing hint of cherries and vanilla wafted in. My muscles locked in place as a small witch wearing bunny-patterned PJs stomped past me.
“If you guys are planning a hit job on Tiberius fucking Vane, I want in!”