Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Corbin
Fighting my wolf back, I focus on my mate’s scent to calm me down.
I don’t understand how it can do this so easily, and it just does as I face off with Big Daddy.
The very fact that he’d dare state my mate would be a liar pisses me the fuck off.
His disrespect enrages my wolf, who’s demanding he show his submission.
“Corbin,” Karsyn whispers. The uncertainty in her voice is the only thing that pulls me back from the edge.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.
” Big Daddy glowers, shaking his head while taking a step back.
Good choice for him to do, this is my club now.
My pack. I won’t tolerate anyone challenging me.
Not even my old man who stepped down. I still work hard to earn my place to be respected as I have, and my brothers know exactly why I’m not one to be fucked with.
“This is why I was going to discuss it with you later, but you just had to blow the fuck up instead of listening to me,” I bite out and turn from him.
I’ll deal with him later. I glance at Dane, holding my wide-eyed daughter.
Jerking my chin, I motion for him to hand her to me.
Dane does this without a word, and I take Sage from him.
“Why don’t you go play in your room for a while?
I’ll come get you when we’re ready to go.
” She doesn’t need to be out here for the rest of this.
“Okay, Daddy.” Sage’s bottom lip trembles. The sight of it guts me and fucks with my wolf. She’s ours, and I’ve scared her. It’s not often I lose my temper, and rarely have I done it around her.
Setting her on her feet, she instantly darts off, running in the direction of her room, which is setup across from mine and between Dane’s and Justice’s.
Being who she is, she’s protected here at the clubhouse when she’s here, just as she’s protected when I have her at home where it’s just the two of us.
Turning my attention to my VP, I lift my chin. “What did you need to talk to me about?”
Justice looks between Big Daddy and me, then to Karsyn. “Got a call from Orpheus. He wants a meeting with us. Says it’s imperative,” he grunts, bringing his gaze back to mine.
Reading between the lines, I want to slam my fist into something.
Whatever it is that’s imperative won’t be a good thing, and it’s something I’ll need to handle first thing.
Meaning, I’m not taking Karsyn anywhere.
It’ll have to wait, or I send a doxy and my mate will just have to get the fuck over it.
Karsyn can deal with it for the time being.
I’ve got shit to do for my club. She might be my mate and is important to me, very damn important, but my club, my brothers are also fucking important.
Glancing around, I spot Saddle and Big Red.
“You two, I want you to go shopping and get something for Karsyn,” I order, not waiting for them to respond as I turn my attention to Big Daddy.
“You got Sage. Tell her I’ll be back.” Returning my attention to Justice, I jerk my chin.
“Let’s go see Orpheus and find out what the fuck he needs to talk to us about. ”
I don’t bother looking at Karsyn, I can feel her emotions.
I hear her thoughts and know I’ve hurt her.
I’ll have to deal with her later. Until then, she can get over the hurt.
My life isn’t just about her. It never will be.
That’s a damn lie, and I know it. Finding my mate will not ever change who the fuck I am.
I’m the of the Spiked Raiders MC. The Alpha of my pack.
A shifter. A man. A father to my daughter.
This is something the woman will have to understand.
Just as any other would have to. She won’t be able to hack this life if she doesn’t.
Stalking out of the clubhouse, I let out a heavy breath and breathe in the fresh air. My wolf is pissed with me and wants me to go back inside, but I’m not about to give in to him. It fucking sucks, but he’ll get over it. My head needs to be clear for dealing with Orpheus.
I have nothing against the vampire but that doesn’t mean that won’t change.
The vampires aren’t a creature to turn your back on with full hearted trust. You do and your fucked no matter the fact we have a truce or not.
We work with the Vampires simply because right now it benefits the both of us.
If that were to change, I need to be able to see it .
. . to prepare for it before that ever happens.
“That was kinda fucked up, Prez,” Justice notes, joining me at our bikes.
I shoot him a glare and straddle my bike, noticing Dane, Tucker, and Abel all following suit without a word.
“I’ll deal with it when I get back,” I retort, glancing in Dane’s direction, seeing him glaring at me.
I know him. Known him all my life. We grew up together, so I know he won’t speak out against me right now in front of our brothers, but this is his sister, no matter the fact he just learned of her, she’s his blood.
She’s also my mate.
I jerk my chin up, start my bike, and turn my attention to the road, with one question coming to me as I do so.
How the fuck did everything get turned around so damn quickly?
On the ass of that question, another one comes to mind.
Why is it that finding Karsyn is so important to me?
The words she shared with me about the bond popped into my mind and confused me once again.
Never have I heard of such a thing before in my life.
The further I get away from the clubhouse, away from my mate, I feel a tightening in my chest and wonder if that’s the bond she’s speaking of.
Shutting the thought down before I can finish it, I prepare for the meeting with Orpheus and allow the air to calm me as much as it can. My wolf doesn’t agree with me in leaving the way I did. Not talking to Karsyn but he knows I’ll deal with it all later . . . make things right.
“What’s going on, Orpheus?” I demand the moment my ass hits the seat across from the vampire in the middle of his night club, Dyrk.
“There is talk that you have a mate now.” Leave it to Orpheus to cut right to the reason for needing this meet. It’s one of the things I’ve always appreciated about him, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like the fact he’s asking of my Syn.
“Why are you interested in the fact that I now have a mate?”
Orpheus leans back in his chair, rolls the sleeves of the dark red dress shirt he’s wearing to his elbows, and nods over to the side of the room.
I glance in the direction as the scent of a witch hits me, and I curl my lip in disgust. The sight of the witch, blood coating her neck, her face pale, but eyes that of such hatred is directed at me.
“She cannot use magic right now,” he explains and points to the shackles at her wrists binding her.
I wonder where the fuck he got a pair of those binds. If someone is making those, I need to make sure they don’t get into the hands of anyone who can use them against Karsyn. “Where the fuck did you get magic binding shackles?” I ask, returning my attention to Orpheus.
“My seer, Sibley, she cast the binding spell to keep the witch in place,” he answers, not bothering to lie to me, and nods to Aziz, the vampire holding the witch. “Aziz found this blood witch lurking around my nightclub last night. He took it upon himself to gather the information from her.”
I nod, understanding his meaning, as I knew Aziz was Sibley’s brother and could see into the mind in ways other vampires couldn’t. As Orpheus’s commander, he is only second to him in power. “And what information did he find?”
“The witches really do want your mate. Seems she’s important to the blood witches, and they are willing to drag the vampires into this to get their way.
” I stiffen, preparing for what might be the outcome of what Orpheus says next.
If it comes between the club running protection for them or my mate, I’ll kill them all.
Orpheus’s gaze holds my own, his power against my own.
“Power is a strange thing, is it not?” Orpheus remarks.
“What we’ll do for those we see as our own.
I will not be going against you, Corbin. Nor will I see your mate harmed.”
I nod, sensing he’s not quite done.
“Sibley has informed me of the power your mate holds and that she and you are not just mated but bonded.”
It’s not something I need to get out right now. Not when I haven’t informed my brothers of the whole thing yet. “Why do you mention it?”
“To simply inform you if the news of this goes any further. Those who are not from this area . . . from Redwich and the surrounding counties . . . they might perhaps attempt to steal her away from you,” he warns.
“Appreciate the warning, but I didn’t need it. I know she’s special. A blood witch they call Death wants her.”
“Yes, so I heard. Aziz explained as such when he read the little witch’s mind.” Orpheus nods in the direction of the witch. “Aziz, tell him what the little witch knows.”
Aziz shoves the witch off to one of the other vampires, I believe named Dreven, and makes his way to the table.
He sits next to Orpheus, and glances at the men standing at my back and Justice next to me.
“When I looked into the witch’s head, got past her hatred, which by the way is ingrained in her from birth, I was able to see that Death sent her in to cast enchantments that would affect the weaker vampires who come to the establishment. ”
“If that happened, they could use them against us,” Justice notes, speaking for the first time.
“Exactly, and this is why I’ve asked for this meeting,” Orpheus states, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on the table, hands clasped in front of him. “Sibley has said she isn’t strong enough to cast a spell to protect those who enter any of my establishments.”