CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
ALEXIUS
Alexius swung to a stop at the end of what he hoped was the driveway the text tagged Lexi had said. Only a minute later, two more SUVs rolled up. Out of each, a Tribunal member.
“I’m very sorry about this evening, Callahan,” Maria said casually, as if it was two friends here to help move furniture.
“It’s what I get for allowing one of my wolves to date a human connected to the vampires,” Callahan replied, a long-suffering patience in the words.
Alexius could see his flat, unbothered expression.
He wasn’t here for war. He was here to get his wolf out because his wolf shouldn’t have been in the car with Everly coming here.
“Sir… Alpha, I am sorry…” Lucas was nearby.
“I’m not,” Yiva said, smiling. “Our daughter needed something hard to deal with. This will be good for her in the long run.”
“Yiva…” Lucas gave his wife a look. Other werewolves gave the Viking woman a wide berth.
“Maria, we’ll make a perimeter,” Callahan said, ignoring Lucas and Yiva.
“One wolf and one vampire at each point? That way if Lexi comes out first, your pack can get her out,” Maria said, smiling.
Alexius was impressed. They were on the same page. Had they talked on the drive? Or perhaps, because Los Angeles was large and so packed with supernaturals, they had to work on this together before. Werewolves, even the Alphas, were good at working with people. They had to be.
“No one goes to the house,” Alexius ordered, cutting through the Tribunal members.
“My daughter—”
“Made her choices, but if we all rush into that building, we’ll end up killing each other. Henry is one man. There are two trained supernaturals in the building with him already. You will give my vampire time to get out.” Alexius glared at Lucas. It was Yiva who came forward, still smiling.
“My mate is overprotective. Our girl is strong and quick. She’ll get out. You told us she stitched up her own wound tonight. That’s strength I’ve been hoping to see from her.”
“You married her,” Callahan muttered in Lucas’s direction as the wolf stared at his wife like she was insane.
“You knew what you were signing up for when you mated with a werewolf from my wife’s pack.
Don’t start judging her for it now.” Callahan looked at Maria and nodded before looking at him.
Alexius raised his chin, allowing the Alpha to inspect and think on his choices.
Finally, Callahan nodded.
“We listen, wolves. We defend this position and everyone in it if necessary. This isn’t our circus. Alexius—”
“Look!” Maria and Alexius whirled, looking up the long winding drive or what he could see of it.
“Hold!” Callahan roared, looking at the wolves near him. None of them moved as Lexi, with Declan over her shoulders, ran for her life.
“I’ve got this,” Alexius promised, taking a step forward. “Maria, be ready to assist Declan while the pack checks on Lexi.”
He started running because he could see the shape following Lexi.
She was losing ground. He needed to get to her first. He saw the moment her expression changed as she realized help was just down the drive, right where she could see everyone, and they could see her.
She didn’t seem scared of him, recognizing him, and kept running at her best speed.
He barely crossed her in time. If he had been a second later, the vampire would have landed on her back.
Instead, Alexius used Henry’s own momentum against him and could take the brunt of any damage better than everyone else in the state.
He grabbed Henry’s arm, spun himself around, Henry in tow, and flung him back to where he came.
A flash of ginger hair jumped out of the dark, a bullet of red that slammed into Henry from the side before he landed, and both of them rolled off the drive. Alexius turned and grabbed both Lexi and Declan, helping them finish the run back to the group because he knew this wasn’t over.
“Throw up,” he ordered Lexi the moment he released her. He didn’t pay much attention to her, but he was certain she did immediately. He’d moved her faster than she had ever gone. It was only reasonable that it did a number on her gut.
“Body bag!” Maria yelled. “He’s Turning! We need to secure him so he’s not damaged!”
Vampires rushed over Declan, and Alexius knew they were treating him carefully. More carefully than anyone else had been allowed until this point.
But Alexius didn’t pay much attention to that. He didn’t see Everly again. Had barely seen her when she slammed into Henry. He knew she was fast. He never thought something could push her to be faster than she already was.
But it was Henry who revealed himself out of the darkness first. Bleeding, holding his side, Henry was running for Declan. Alexius side-stepped, putting his entire body in the way of Henry, who seemed to comprehend who was in his way at the last moment.
“You,” Henry hissed viciously, skidding to a stop in front of him. “It’s always you!”
“Yes, it is.” Alexius, seeing Henry’s face, hearing his voice, finally remembered that thing that had floated just outside of his mind.
“He’s mine! Give him back!” Henry said, pointing around him at Declan.
“I can’t do that yet. You’re in trouble, Henry. Plus, I wanted to ask you a few questions.”
“You can go to hell, Alexius!”
“I know you’re angry about your sire. He’d killed three people in one night.
Not even Jacob could tolerate that sort of behavior.
I did my job.” Alexius put his hands in his pockets and leaned down a bit to make sure their eyes met.
Henry Abbott wasn’t particularly tall. “But all of this is a bit much.”
“It wouldn’t have to be if I was allowed the claim I deserved! The claim your son stole from me!”
“You wanted to Turn children after their father died,” Alexius boldly accused, throwing his guess into the night for all to hear.
“Twelve and fifteen were old enough!” Henry screamed.
Werewolves snarled. Vampires hissed. Henry said something unforgivable. The repulsion and rage of everyone behind Alexius was palpable. No matter what else happened tonight, Henry would be dust in the dawn for that statement.
“None of it would have been a problem if their father had listened to me like he was supposed to! He just had to get away from the controlling bitch of a wife he picked!”
Alexius once knew Everly’s late mother. Rupert rather liked the woman when they had to coordinate.
“Oh, can you explain that?” Alexius asked, almost as if he was talking to a child.
He wanted Henry to talk because every word he said made the red-eyed monster in the darkness more angry.
He wished he could look at those eyes, stalking, finding a position it liked as Henry ranted, but he needed all of his attention on the clinically insane man in front of him.
Henry, however, didn’t answer.
Alexius leaned a little closer.
“Henry, how did Liam Abbott die?” Alexius asked, now understanding that Henry’s crimes went deeper. Deeper than Jacob had probably understood.
Henry made a face, taking a step back. Alexius took a step forward, following him.
“Just let me have Declan, Alexius. He, Everly, and I are going to be a family. We’re going to fix things and leave all of you alone.”
“You think Everly will go with you? Over me?” Alexius smiled, but he felt murderous. “That’s never going to happen.” Alexius would break every bone in his body before that happened.
“We both know you overpower her, and that’s why she’s with you.”
Alexius made a face. It was an accusation he had been worried about. One he leveled at himself for over a year to avoid letting him and Everly fall for the heat that was between them.
“You don’t know your niece at all, do you?” Alexius finally asked but continued, making the question rhetorical. “That’s besides the point. You know… Jacob should have just told me to kill you. What was the official exile reason?”
“I hadn’t committed a crime! He couldn’t just kill me for having… thoughts.” Henry took another step back.
Alexius sighed. His son. His beautifully soft-hearted son.
Too gentle a soul sometimes. It was an argument they had frequently.
Who was redeemable. Who wasn’t. Alexius didn’t think Jacob thought Henry was redeemable.
Jacob probably didn’t trust his own instincts in the matter. Probably hadn’t wanted to.
“And the only thing he thought I was going to do was kill their mother and raise them myself,” Henry said.
“Ah, that explains it,” Alexius said, nodding.
“Well, Henry Abbott, let’s put things in order, shall we?
” Alexius was playing with him, knowing it gave her more time.
“You do have a very strong claim over the human currently Turning, Declan Abbott. By rights, I shouldn’t be in your way to get to him.
His werewolf has no claim; there are no legal bonds there.
But there is someone else who has a much stronger claim than you. ”
He stepped aside as he spoke one more word. He had to be out of the way.
“Her.”
Everly launched out of the dark up the drive and slammed into Henry before he could even blink.
They bounced and rolled between the two SUVs right behind him and into more darkness.
Alexius waved people to make space, knowing she was lost to it.
Henry was knocked through them again, rolling up the drive now.
Everly revealed herself again, this time where people could see her, moving slowly enough to actually be perceived in more than a blur.
Her red eyes were narrow and full of rage. Her red hair was wild, a crazed mop that made her seem feral. Her hands didn’t end in pretty fingers. No… she had elongated, stretched black fingers that ended in very long, sharp claws. Her hands looked like something from a horror movie.
And in that moment, Alexius didn’t just see Everly’s temper. He didn’t just see her anger or despair from Henry’s betrayal. He saw her power and had to reckon with how her blood called to his, a battle cry and a siren’s song rolled into one.
He was not the only berserker. Far from it.
She was radiant in her rage.
“Everly, please!” Henry begged as she ran to close the distance. She was over him faster than Henry could comprehend.
“You killed Declan!” she roared and stabbed her nails downward. Henry rolled just in time.
In a terrible way, she was the most beautiful monster he’d ever seen.
“You killed my father!” she continued at the top of her lungs, her fangs out, her face seeming inhuman in the wash of rage. She stabbed down again, this time slicing open one of his arms.
He couldn’t look away even if he had wanted to… and he didn’t want to.
Henry scrambled to his feet, trying to get away from her.
“Everly, I don’t want to kill you!” Henry pleaded.
Alexius laughed.
“Alexius, can she beat him?” Maria hissed behind him.
“Yes,” he answered. “Witness her.”
Everly went after him again, and Alexius saw Henry make a decision. He either died to Everly, or he won and potentially got Declan. Alexius knew that Henry had listened to nothing about his own death from Alexius. He was too obsessed with the realities he was creating in his mind.
Henry’s attempt to fight back was pathetically short.
He tried to hit her, his right hook looking strong.
But she was fast, grabbing his wrist to stop his attempt at an attack, and ripped that arm off at the elbow.
With the momentum, she swung back around and hit Henry in the head with his own arm before letting it fly off into the dark.
Henry was in shock as he staggered and recognized his arm was gone. That his own niece could do that to him…
Alexius watched. Everly was possessed. She would do this execution as quickly or as slowly as she pleased, and none of them would be smart if they tried to stop her.
Everly hissed, getting behind Henry, and Alexius didn’t see what she was planning until it happened. He heard her whisper, though. They all heard it.
“A disgusting thing like you could never kill me,” she hissed. “And now I’m taking back what you stole from me and giving Declan the only gift I can.”
A truly grotesque number of sounds and they were all left comprehending what she did to him. He saw Everly holding Henry’s heart in her hand, coming straight out of his chest.
“Like any good siblings, we’ll continue to be Orphans together,” she whispered into his ear, her fingers squeezing tighter around the heart.
She pulled the arm backward, throwing the heart to the ground.
Henry dropped to his knees, his body frantically trying to stay alive without the heart to pump the necessary blood.
As a vampire, he could live longer than a few seconds.
He was in such a level of shock, he didn’t scream.
Everly put a foot to her uncle’s back and grabbed his head from behind by the jaw.
Everyone heard the crunching and snapping of bone as Everly ripped Henry’s head off with a roar.
A roar of pain. Of anger. Of sorrow. Of freedom, possibly.
Alexius felt something break a little inside. He knew the roar. He’d made it himself. Something had died inside him when he’d done it, and he knew something had just died in her.
Something none of them could fix. Something none of them could have stopped. He couldn’t deny her the right to kill her uncle. Not even Maria or Isaiah could have taken it from her.
But Alexius wished she didn’t have to live with the wound on her soul this execution was going to leave.
Everly dropped the head, still screaming. He started walking toward her, careful, unsure if she was coming back to reality outside of the kill. Her hands were quickly returning to normal.
Her scream hitched and changed. He ran, getting his arms around her when the sob wracked her body.
He made sure she didn’t fall to the ground.
She was still a young vampire. Coming down from the fight was going to quickly make her thirsty, and he knew from just the feel of her that she was considerably weaker now, only seconds later.
“Don’t fight it,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.” He lifted her all the way up, carrying her because he felt she deserved to get off her feet for a moment.
“Declan?” she asked softly, but also frantic. “How’s Declan? And Lexi.”
“Safe. Both are safe,” he promised. “We’re going to Maria’s nest. You need blood.”
“Okay,” she mumbled.
Alexius went past Maria at first but then remembered something important.
“Clean up.” It was all he needed to say.
“Being handled. And the body will be disposed of the way you always request.”
“Thank you.”
She tried to move, and he held on tighter. Everly, suddenly realizing she was in his arms in front of people, was almost funny.
“I can walk.”
“But you don’t have to.”
She hissed softly but didn’t fight as he loaded her into the car. Everything else could be dealt with from somewhere with blood.