Aiden
We all sat in Des’s office as we tried to figure out what the next steps would be. It was clear that finding Vea was step one. She would lead us to Ceril, and Tirah would likely be with him. She could give us all of the information we needed to move forward with taking him down.
“Do you know where he may have taken them?” Milo asked Severn.
“The only thing I can think of is the auction house. The room he used to torture me in is there. If he has other places to keep people, I don’t know about them.”
I nodded, remembering what room he was talking about.
It was the room we escaped through the night we rescued him.
Reaching over, I rested my hand on his thigh.
“We can’t go back to the auction house without any kind of additional protection.
I’m sure he’s hired packs to lock that place down if he is keeping anyone in there. ”
Des leaned forward, placing her elbows on her desk.
“I have an idea. It’s not a good one, but it’s an idea.
” Milo, Severn, and I looked at Des skeptically.
“What if I request a meeting with Myq? He and Mom have always been allies. Since I’ve had to step in as head of the family in her place, it’s only right that I have a chat with him, right?
” Leaning forward, I listened closely. “Aiden, you come with me as my enforcer.” Milo began to protest, but Des just put up her hand to silence him.
“You know why you have a way with them now, right?” She raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah, I do.” Thinking about the fact that I was part vampire, part omega was still hard for me to wrap my head around.
Another anomaly in this world. It did make sense considering how werewolves always gave me such special attention.
It always made me uncomfortable, but now maybe we could use it to our advantage.
“So, Aiden, you and I go meet with Myq. Try to get some additional protection and go looking for her. If we come in with packs from the family, any other packs that they have guarding the house won’t know what hit them.”
“Good point,” Severn agreed.
“Severn, you and Milo will come as well and be an extra set of eyes.”
Severn and I nodded. We began discussing the plan before Des called Myq and set up a meeting for the next morning.
The Volkov mansion was set deep in the woods on the outskirts of Noirhaven.
When we pulled up, a giant black gate opened, and we crept up the driveway.
We walked up to the door, and immediately I saw the pulsing auras of several werewolves surrounding the perimeter of the mansion.
Giving Des the signal that we were being watched, she nodded and knocked on the door.
A beautiful, blonde werewolf opened the door. “Hello, Myq is expecting you, Desdemona. Who are you?” The being focused her attention on me. Reaching forward, she touched my shoulder and smiled.
Cutting my eyes up at her, I leveled my gaze and tilted my head. “Aiden,” I said with little emotion before shaking her arm off my shoulder.
“Mmm,” she brushed off my dismissal. “Right this way.”
The blonde guided us deep into the elegantly decorated home.
The walls were lined with furs and ornate pieces of art.
Styles that I had only seen for sale on the market when I was looking for Senketsu paintings.
I never knew what they were, so they never sparked interest for me.
But now, seeing them hung up and on display, I was intrigued.
“Myq will be with you shortly. He’s finishing up a phone call.” As the blonde walked toward the door, she lightly brushed the top of my back. “Have a seat.” I cringed and shook my head as I sat down.
Looking over at Des, she was doing her best to hide a laugh. “I hate you,” I whispered.
“No you don’t,” she spat back, a small chuckle slipping free.
When Myq walked in, his presence sucked all the energy from the room. “Morning, Desdemona. Oh, I’m sorry.” His attention quickly shot to me. “We’ve never met.”
When I stood, I extended my hand. “No, my apologies. My name is Aiden.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” Myq took my hand in both of his and bowed slightly. “What can I do for you?” His question was directed at me, not at Des.
Pulling my hand back and shoving it in my pocket, my eyes went directly to my best friend. “I’ll let Ms. Shirogane do the talking.” Myq nodded, sitting down and looking over at Des.
“Myq,” Des began. “You know my mother has been incredibly appreciative of your support over the years and our family matters often run parallel with one another.” Myq nodded in understanding, leaning back in his chair.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, or pretend that you aren’t aware of what’s going on with Ceril. ”
Myq nodded, squinting his green eyes at Des.
“We need help.” Des really did get straight to the point. “Ceril has hired packs online, and we have reason to believe that they have captured Vea as well as another one of our guys.”
When Myq leaned forward, his dark hair fell into his face. “You’re sure about this?”
“As sure as we can be.” When I spoke, Myq directed his attention to me. I began to explain what we found in the woods by the Pulse Den. The utter disaster that was Mitz’s car and note inside.
When I passed the note over, Myq nodded. “I know exactly who did this. Don’t worry, Desdemona. We can help you, no problem. I’ll put my personal pack on this. Do you know where they may have her?”
“We think the auction house is the best place to start. It's guarded like a fortress on a regular day. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s even more heavily secured now. You were there the night of the auction.”
“It’s tight but not perfect.” Myq leaned back again, tenting his hands at his nose and darting his eyes between us. “We need a good plan though. Going in blind would be a fool's errand. Is it just the two of you or do you have more support?”
“We have two more.” Des cut her eyes at me. “Another enforcer and Severn.”
“Severn?” Myq asked. “The Senketsu, I’m assuming?”
Des leaned over to me. “Is that a good idea, Aiden?”
“It’s actually a great idea.” Myq stood from his chair.
“Bringing him will make Ceril realize that it’s all real.
He may even see Severn as a bargaining chip.
He wouldn’t be, of course,” he quickly said when he saw me tense at the statement.
“Don’t worry, we will keep him safe. But having him there could be key.
Let’s set this up soon. Vea is precious in Noirhaven. Ceril is a pest.”
“Thank you, Myq. What do you need from us?” Des pulled out her phone, prepared to get to business.
“At this point, we need information. Whatever you can tell me will be helpful.”
We sat with Myq for about half an hour, filling him in on details we could about the auction house.
His pack had specialists in tech that could take down the security system, and the rest could run interference with the other werewolves that were on the ground while we searched for Vea and Mitz.
When we explained the location that Ceril likely had Vea kept, he agreed that getting her out through the side door would be the best option.
“You said the door has to be opened from the inside, Aiden?” Myq confirmed as he typed a note out on his phone.
“Right,” I agreed, leaning forward. “If we get in and through the hallways, we should be able to get to her. Ceril’s right hand, Tirah, is likely turned against him. We can get her to help us out if Severn is with us too. She knows him well.”
Myq nodded. “Okay, this is a good plan.”
We all stood and began walking back through the mansion to the exit.
“Myq, we really appreciate your help. We will repay you.” Des said, reaching a hand out.
“Don’t mention it. I owe Vea for something she did for me many years ago.
It’s the least I can do.” Myq shook Des’s hand before reaching out for mine as well.
“My omega is a skilled sniper. She will be incredibly helpful with this.” He winked and patted me on the back before we walked out the front door.
When we got back in the car, Severn grabbed my hand immediately in the back seat. “How did it go?” His voice was anxious. His aura pulsed a dim gray.
Cupping his cheek, I kissed him softly. “We are going to do everything we can to save them.”