Chapter 12
Later that morning, Alex walked into the kitchen looking for his brother and found him pouring himself a coffee.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Alex said. “It saves me looking for you.”
“Want one? And what’s up?”
“No thanks. I was going to see if I could locate the rogues’ island. Want to come?”
Baylan was about to take a sip of his coffee and put his cup on the counter, staring intensely at his brother. “Just because Tudor is resting doesn’t mean you can do something dumb.”
“Doing something dumb would be going alone. But that’s fine; I can find someone else to come. I’m sure Saxon wouldn’t mind a break from his research.” Alex turned his back on his brother and smirked to himself; there was no way his brother wouldn’t come now.
“Okay, have fun with Saxon. You’ll probably have to take Tatum and Wynter as well, as I can’t see them letting Saxon go on his own.”
“The more the merrier,” Alex said, throwing a grin at his twin over his shoulder and started walking away.
Baylan let out a loud sigh, and his shoulders slumped. “Fine, I’ll come with you, but I just want to point out what a truly stupid idea this is.”
Alex turned and faced his brother full on and grinned. “Duly noted.”
“What’s a stupid idea?” Donovan asked, walking into the kitchen.
“My little brother’s dumb idea of trying to find Rogue Island.”
Donovan looked at them both. “It is a dumb idea, but also a good one. I’ll come with you both if you want.”
“I knew I liked you, Donovan,” Alex said happily.
“Should you both go though? I thought you two couldn’t go on the same missions.”
“I forgot that,” Alex said. “That’s fine, Bay, you stay here, and Donovan and I can go.”
“I’ll keep him safe,” Donovan said reassuringly to Baylan.
Baylan gave a rude snort. “Yeah, good luck with that. Don’t forget to let Ares know what you’re doing.” Baylan paused and looked at his brother, who wore a sheepish look. “You were going to tell him, right?”
“After we got back, I was,” he admitted.
Ares suddenly appeared in the kitchen in front of them, arms crossed over his chest, a stern look on his face.
Alex glared at his brother. “You didn’t?”
“I was just about to message you when I heard your conversation. Brother, you know better.”
“I wasn’t going alone; Donovan is coming with me. But this is just a normal recon, which I’ve done thousands of times. We might not even find it,” Alex pointed out.
“But never to find a rogue island before. You have two hours. Donovan, stick close to Alex; he can get you both out of danger and back here quickly if needed. If you can’t find the island, we’ll look for another way.”
“Sounds good,” Donovan said.
“It does. See you in a few,” and before Ares could change his mind, Alex whisked himself and Donovan away.
“Thank you,” Baylan said to Ares.
Ares shook his head, leaning against the kitchen island. “Alex loves danger. I had hoped being mated to Tudor would curb that.”
“He needs something to keep himself busy until Tudor finishes resting. Finding the rogue island is a good idea though.”
“It is. Changing the subject, Zeus called in angels to protect Battle.”
Baylan laughed. “How many legions did he call?”
“Just the one, but he ended up with twenty staying. Maletayah is leading them.”
Baylan barked out a laugh. “This should be interesting then. I’ll go and find him and say hello. When is Hades sending protection?”
“Later today. Oh, and the hell hounds made Frederick their Alpha.”
“Nice, that should be fun. I hope Frederick invites some to the next pack run.”
“I’m sure he will.”
Donovan looked around the outside of the bar they were standing in front of. It was a single-story long building, with lots of windows, with designs etched into them. Considering the time of day, it looked busy and noisy. He took note of the motorbikes lined up outside.
He looked around and saw buildings about a hundred yards away; one had a truck near the entrance, and the others looked closed. “Where are we?”
Alex grinned. “This is The Lucky Ducky. I’ve found, if you need to know anything, this is the place to find it. The bar is the home of the Howling Biker fraternity.”
“Are they shifters?”
Alex nodded. “They are, not just wolves either. If anyone knows where this island is, they will.”
“This is fun. Since I was born, all I’ve ever known is training to be king of the gargoyles, and then king. I never got to do anything fun or interesting. I’m enjoying my life much more now.”
Alex laughed. “Glad Tudor and I could help. Come on, father-in-law, I’ll buy you a drink, but if anyone invites you to go into the back with them, say no.”
“Is that part the bikers’ private rooms?”
Alex shook his head. “No, they use the back rooms for sex.”
Donovan grinned. “You mean someone might proposition me? How exciting.”
Alex burst out laughing. Donovan was a handsome man.
He had all the bearing and good looks of a fantasy king.
Alex could see others finding him attractive, not that Alex did; his attraction was for his mate and him alone.
He led the way to the pub entrance, opened the door and waved Donavan in first.
As they walked in, silence descended, and all eyes turned to stare at them.
“Alex, long time no see,” the barman called. The barman was built like a tank, quite short and full of muscles. He was bald, but had tattoos all over his head, neck and arms. His white shirt showed them off.
That seemed to be the signal for the patrons to go back to their drinks.
“Hey, Remmy,” Alex greeted as he walked up to the bar.
“Heard you mated the King of the Gargoyles,” Remmy said, wiping the bar counter down.
The bar fell into silence again.
“Is this your mate, or is he too good to visit my poor bar?”
Alex laughed. “No indeed. My sweetheart is currently resting, but you can be sure I will bring him along for a visit soon. This is my father-in-law, Donovan, Tudor’s father.”
Donovan had a quick look around, taking it all in. The inside looked dark, not just from the dark wood used everywhere, but from the dark colour decoration around it and the low lighting.
Remmy nodded to Donovan. “Welcome to my bar. First drink is on me. What can I get you?”
“A beer please, whatever you think I might like,” Donovan replied.
Remmy nodded and looked at Alex.
“My usual please, Rem.”
“So, what can I do for the Gargoyle Consort?” Remmy asked, picking up a glass and pulling a pint.
Alex leaned on the bar. “Information about an email and an island.”
“You talking about the call to arms from a demon?” One of the patrons asked, walking over to join them at the bar, putting his empty glass down. Again, all talking stopped, and everyone looked at them.
“I am. As you can imagine, I’m wanting to try and stop this war from happening.”
“So what, you want to find Rogue Island and kill them all?” A biker demanded, walking to stand in the middle of the bar. A man Alex hadn’t seen before.
Alex shook his head. “Why would I want to do that? No, I’m trying to find out how many rogues could potentially join Barnabus.
I don’t need to tell you that a war in the shifter world would be a disaster for all of us.
We’ve gone all this time keeping our world hidden from the humans; there is no way they wouldn’t notice a war going on around them. ”
Grumbling met this.
“But this is bigger than us,” Alex added, looking around at those gathered. “Barnabus is trying to find the Spear of Hephaestus. If he finds that, he can also declare war on the Gods themselves.”
“He could potentially destroy the world,” Donovan said.
“Nonsense, no one is that stupid,” someone called out.
“Barnabus is,” Donovan said. “He’ll do anything and everything he can to bring about this war.
He’s already tried to pit gargoyles against dragons.
He used dream walkers to cause explosions, which resulted in both dragon and gargoyle guards dying.
Thankfully, it didn’t work, and there is no rift between dragons and gargoyles.
He is dangerous, very dangerous. The only way to defeat him is by all shifters working together,” Donovan added.
“That will never happen,” someone muttered. “Shifters don’t work together.”
Alex noticed that everyone in the bar was listening.
“They do now. My mate is the Gargoyle King; his best friend is Puff McDuncan, King of the Dragons. They both live in the Fortuna Pack, the Alpha of which is Blake Hayes, the Alpha King.”
The patrons started muttering.
“It’s true,” Remmy said. “I saw the email from the council. I didn’t know they all lived together, though.”
“My son, Tudor, and King Puff both joined the Fortuna Pack before they became kings. They are both happy to stay living there, so they can work together and bring their laws in line with each other.”
“Barnabus is also attacking smaller packs. The three kings have put together defence teams to help stave off the attacks, or to help when the call comes,” Alex said, looking at everyone. “These teams are a mix of different paranormal, all working together.”
Shocked murmurs were heard around the room.
“Times are changing, and we need to change with them,” Donovan said.
“And other paranormals are happy to work together?” someone asked in surprised disbelief.
Muttering started up again.
“They really are. If you come to the Fortuna Pack, you can see that for yourselves,” Alex said. “The pack is also offering sanctuary to those that need it.”
Muttering started up again.
“Have your drinks and as you do, tell us more,” Remmy told them, putting the pints on the bar.