Chapter 24
Chapter twenty-four
Tate
Vamp Daddy: Got him.
“Kyren has the wolf in his sights.” I glanced up from my phone to the others in the car.
“Are we sure that he’s going to lead us to rebels?” Jack tapped her fingers against her leg in a nervous pattern next to me up front. “Maybe he’s just going to the store.”
“Jack,” Julian placed a hand on her shoulder from the back seat. “Kyren’s been following him all week. This is the first time he’s gone off campus.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. You know that.”
I took her tapping hand in mine. “Princess, he was acting super suspicious. Believe me, Kyren knows when someone is up to no good. This is it.”
She blew out a long breath and then straightened her shoulders. “Alright then.”
“So, once Kyren texts me where the wolf is going, we’ll head out. Are you calling going to call the Guild for backup?” I met Julian’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
Julian frowned. “We can’t call them in until we know for sure that this is a rebel meeting.
” He reached up to push his glasses up his nose, only he’d taken them off at the apartment, leaving him to rub his nose.
“I can send a message to the president to have them be on standby, but it’s against protocol to just run in guns blazing without proof. ”
“Bet you miss the good old days, huh?” Jack chuckled, her nerves coming through with the sound. “When the hunters could just break in anywhere they suspected supernatural activity?”
I snorted. “No, I don’t miss that. But I admit it would be helpful.”
My phone dinged.
Vamp Daddy: At Afterglow. Lots of movement.
“The wolf went to Afterglow.”
“To Afterglow?” Jack’s brows rose. “So that vamp dick who tried to kidnap me is part of this?”
I shrugged, staring down at my phone. “I guess. We won’t know for sure until we get in there.”
Not waiting for Kyren to give me the go ahead, I pulled out of the academy parking lot and onto the street.
There was a chance this was all a coincidence, and the wolf worked at the club.
Or maybe he was meeting up with friends from school.
However, his skittish behavior paired with the charmed note and the same club where Jack got attacked?
That was too many coincidences to not be exactly what it seemed.
My phone dinged. I handed it to Jack while I drove.
She giggled. “Vamp Daddy? Really?”
I threw her a lopsided grin.
“Kyren says there’s lots of people going in, but the club’s sign is off like it’s closed.” Jack frowned down at the phone. “That’s a bad sign, right?”
Julian sighed in the back seat. “It definitely isn’t good.”
“Now can you call in the calvary?”
Jack answered me instead. “Not yet. We don’t have enough proof. So far we just have a bunch of supernaturals going into a closed establishment.”
“Even though their owner tried to kill you?” I shot back, keeping my eyes on the road. We weren’t moving fast enough, but I feared getting delayed by speeding. I didn’t want to leave Kyren alone for much longer. Who knew what he would end up doing?
Jack inhaled sharply.
“What?” I quickly glanced over at her, where she stared down at my phone. “Jack, what is it?”
She lifted her gaze from my phone, visibly swallowing. “Kyren just said Iris is there.”
My eyes narrowed. The devastation and confusion on Jack’s face being the final straw.
Fuck this.
I pushed the gas down until we were zooming through the streets. If any cops decided to come after us, then I’d handle it once we got to the club. But I wasn’t going to sit here and watch my girl’s world fall apart when there was something we could do about it.
“Maybe it’s a misunderstanding?” Jack murmured, sounding like she was trying to convince herself. “Maybe she forgot something? Xinyi’s always talking about how they love going to Afterglow. They go almost every weekend.”
“I’m sure it is.” Julian stroked the side of her head. “But you should prepare yourself for the possibility that your friend isn’t really your friend. She’s one of the people who are trying to hurt you and your family.”
Rage roared through me, wishing I could give Iris the benefit of the doubt, but I’d seen what happened when you refused to believe someone you trusted betrayed you. You ended up dead, and I wasn’t about to let that happen to Jack.
“Kyren’s asking our ETA,” Jack said, no emotion to her voice.
“Like ten minutes.”
I wanted to stop this car and wrap my arms around her. Tell her everything was going to be alright. Anything to keep the sadness off her face.
Unfortunately, all I could do was get us to the club as quickly as possible. The sooner we handled this, the safer she would be. Even if she had one friend less by the end of it all.
“Park over there,” Julian pointed when the club came into view. “We don’t know what cameras they might have outside.”
I pulled the car over near a gas station a couple of blocks down. Before I even had the car in park, Kyren appeared at my window in a swirl of shadows.
“It’s quiet,” he explained. “I sent a shadow in after the wolf. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but that vampire you snatched you before was there, and they clearly were making some kind of plans.”
Kyren paused and looked at Jack. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Jack licked her lips and nodded. “Yeah, Iris or no Iris, these people have tried to use me to get to my family for the last time.”
“Now, can you call in the calvary?” I asked Julian. “That vampire—”
“Hamish,” Jack supplied.
“Yeah, Hamish,” I twisted my lips at the name, then continued, “already tried to kill Jack once. I think that’s probably cause enough for the Guild to get involved, don’t you?”
“Not usually.”
I opened my mouth to protest when Julian smirked, lifting his phone to his ear.
“But this is the president’s goddaughter we’re talking about.”
“Fawley,” a deep older voice answered the phone, “progress report.”
“It’s what we thought, sir. The vampire, Hamish, is the leader of the rebels. From what we can tell, he’s been using students to infiltrate the school and gather more followers and probably worse.”
“Ah, Hamish Jones. I know him. Nasty fellow,” the president, at least I assumed that’s who it was, replied. “Been trying to pin him down for ages. You’re saying this is the guy who attacked our girl?”
If I didn’t know that the president was Jack’s godfather, I might have tensed at his reference to our girl. But this wasn’t the time to get all possessive and alpha male on someone that was helping us.
“Yes, sir.”
“Alright then, we’ll be there in twenty.” The voice paused for a few moments. “Try to keep Jack out of it, Fawley.”
Julian met Jack’s gaze and snorted. “Little late for that.”
The president sighed. “I was afraid of that.”
The phone hung up a moment later, and we all looked at one another. Then the waiting began.
As the minutes ticked by, the tension in the car grew exponentially. Kyren had gone back to his hiding spot while we waited for back up, but it wasn’t him I was worried about.
Jack’s leg shook. She chewed on her nails, glancing out the window every few seconds to the club.
“Maybe you should text Xinyi?” I offered, trying to distract her.
“Don’t do that,” Julian interjected, poking his head between the seats. “Until we know for sure, we have to assume Xinyi knows about Iris’s involvement. For all we know, Xinyi is part of it.”
Jack wrapped her fingers tightly around her phone.
“I can’t imagine she would know about this, but then again, I didn’t think Iris could do this.
” She stared down at her phone and sighed.
“No, if I message her then she might suspect something. I don’t want to ruin this chance because I’m impatient. ”
“Good girl.” Julian patted her shoulder.
Jack rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t start.”
A long ten minutes later, a black van pulled up to the gas station next to us. We climbed out my car and came up to the van, the side door slid open and revealed an older man with wide shoulders. His eyes moved over the three of us with a level of professional assessment.
“I thought there was four of you.” He frowned.
“Sir,” Julian addressed him, letting me know this was the president of the Hunter’s Guild. “The vampire is watching the building for us.”
“Is this all you brought?” Jack leaned forward, trying to peer around the large man dressed in black. She spoke as if she were talking to a family member rather than the leader of her whole guild. “Seriously, Uncle Tristen, five people? When we asked for backup, we meant, like, the whole barracks.”
The president’s gaze landed on Jack. “You’re lucky I haven’t sent you home. Your mom will kill me if you end up dead because of me.”
Jack crossed her arms. “Try it.”
They stared each other down for a moment before I slipped in between them, offering my hand.
“Hi, I’m Tate. The werewolf boyfriend. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
Tristen looked down at my hand and then met my gaze, his larger hand engulfing mine. “Thank you for backing my goddaughter up in this.”
“Of course.” I took my hand back after a moment, shoving it into my pocket. “We all want to keep Jack safe.”
“Alright, alright.” Jack pushed between us, digging in the van behind Tristen. “Enough with the touchy feely. If this is all you brought, we’re going to have to be sneakier than I expected. Did you bring my flak jacket?”
Tristen twisted to the side, giving her more space. “Yes, and this isn’t everyone. I sent one of the vans to the other end of the street, and we have two more groups waiting at the north and south points of the building.”
Jack grabbed something out of the van and then handed one to Julian. They both put on these sleeveless jackets, zipping them up to their necks. While her godfather explained the plan, I watched as Jack checked the pockets of her jacket, adding a dagger or two. She looked like a real hunter.
“What?” Jack glanced up at me with a smile.
I shook my head. “I always knew you were a hunter, just never thought I’d see you looking like one.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jack spun around for me. “What do you think?”
I grabbed her hand, pulling her in close. “It’s kind of hot. Maybe later you can arrest me.” I waggled my brows at her with a sly smirk.
“I think that can be arranged,” she murmured, pressing her body to mine.
“Alright, stop that you two,” Tristen interrupted us. “Going to make me barf. Does everyone understand the plan?”
Jack nodded, pulling away from me to a polite distance but not completely. “We’ll go through the front and act as a distraction. Then, after we give the signal, your groups will rush in.”
“And the signal is?” Tristen asked, handing her and Julian a small earpiece.
Putting the earpiece in Jack sighed, reluctant to say it. “Just wait until my fathers hear about this.”
“Right.” Tristen grinned from ear to ear, completely giddy over the code phrase. “Everyone ready?”
A chorus of replies responded to him. The older man then looked at me.
“Is your guy ready to go?”
Kyren appeared at my side in a cloud of shadows. Glancing from Kyren to the others, I puffed up my chest.
“We’re ready.”