Prologue Jason
Prologue
Jason
Ishoved the desk drawer shut and leaned back on the squeaky office chair I’d commandeered from Kyle’s old office at Nightfall even though I had nothing at all to do with the club. It just gave me a quiet space to think away from dogs.
Dogs. Hell, even after all this time, part of me still thought of the wolf shifters that way. They smelled like dogs, sometimes looked a lot like them… Dogs, right? But I liked some of them. Conri and Simon, his beta. They were both good guys.
Wouldn’t have wanted to get on the wrong side of them, though.
I scanned through the letters in front of me again, spreading them across the desk so I could see them all.
Fucking hell. These had been found in the raid at the Blackbloods’ compound, and if there was one thing I was grateful to Brock for, it was that he didn’t appear to throw any of his paperwork away. Now we had plenty of intel. Or it seemed so, anyway.
I read over the next one in line. Well, shit. It was here in black and white, exactly as Nic and Sebastian had said:
‘The fucking ancients had fucking awakened.’
Whatever the holy fuck that meant.
Even the phrase sent a tendril of dread to wrap around my ribs, tightening until it constricted my chest.
Ancients. Vampires even older than Nic. More powerful.
And likely far more ruthless.
The letters in front of me detailed that they’d heard of Nic overthrowing émile Ricard and his son, Francois and taking New Orleans. They were coming to determine his worthiness to rule.
I scoffed. It sounded so fucking ridiculous. Like Nic should be judged? Like they could really deem him not worthy? But enough doubt lingered in my gut that it made me anxious. Things might not go our way this time. After all the crap the Duponts had just put to bed, things might not go our way.
Luckily, Nic was on the case, and he wasn’t taking the challenge to his rule lightly. Or at all. He wasn’t just waiting for a few old guys to come and decide if he had what it took. That was the part of why I was here.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. I didn’t mind being here and reading through the letters and trying to make a plan — I’d serve Nic in whatever way he needed—but I had major problems with the next part.
Francois fucking Ricard.
For some reason, Nic had believed Francois when he said the rehabilitation program had worked, that the training had made him stronger, that he’d found a new purpose. Blah, blah, fucking blah.
And yeah, right.
If I’d kidnapped Nic’s mate and killed her father while hopped up on dead man’s blood, I’d have found myself a new purpose pretty fucking fast, too.
I rolled my eyes. Now Nic had passed Francois on as my problem.
Maybe because I was Nic’s sireling — we had a bond of trust between us that surpassed a lot of other bonds between vampires.
He was letting him step foot back in New Orleans.
He should have been banished for life after everything he and his father had allowed to happen and caused in this city.
But no. I sighed again. I couldn’t exactly question Nic’s decision. That was treason, even for me. Probably questioning my sire’s decision was worse than treason, but I didn’t have to like it.
There was a knock at the door, and I didn’t even look up. “Come in.” My voice was little more than a grunt. I still had several more pages of these letters to work through.
“Jason!” Francois’s French accent jarred against my ears. “Such a pleasure to be back here in New Orleans, n’est-ce pas?”
I shook my head. No way was this a pleasure for me. “Not so much, Francois. I’m only working with you because Nic has said that’s what he wants.”
“Bon.” Francois sat in the chair on the other side of my desk and his booted feet landed on the surface in front of me.
I glanced up to find him examining his usual flamboyant sleeves. His dress sense hadn’t improved when he came off the drug, then. Shame.
“We are agreed.” He met my gaze, his eyes steely. “Neither of us likes this. We are here because we need to be.”
There was a new awareness in his eyes, I’d give him that much. But full-on rehabilitation? I wasn’t sure about that. I’d definitely need to keep an eye on him and report anything suspicious back to Nic.
I started gathering the letters back into a pile. “If that’s all you came for…” I didn’t finish my sentence as I lifted his feet to get to a letter trapped underneath them. “I actually need to go.” I checked my watch, but it was for pure showmanship.
I was already running late to meet Conri, and that was because this was a meeting I wanted to attend even less than my own funeral.
“Oh.” Francois pursed his lips into a coy little pout. “Am I keeping you? You have a meeting with someone more important than moi, peut-être?”
I wanted to punch that expression right off his face, but I settled for slamming my desk drawer closed instead. The force jingled the little buckles on his boots, and the sound grated over my nerves.
I swallowed my initial annoyance and forced myself to sound bored instead. “Everyone is more important than you, Francois.”
“Oui. Oui. Bien s?r,” he agreed, his tone amiable. “But of course. And I must allow you to attend the little meeting you appear to be late for, and you and I will see each other soon.”
Damn it. How did that fucking guy know I was late? I waited for him to leave the office then followed him, locking the door behind me then rattling the handle to be sure no one without the key would be able to get in.
“What’s going on Jason?” Conri leaned his elbows on his worn pine kitchen table, his hands clasped beneath his chin, as he looked at me. “We were promised land and resources. Nic and I had a deal.” He paused to examine his nails. “Or did the king forget?”
My stomach clenched. This was exactly the conversation I’d been trying to avoid. “The threat of the Blackbloods took priority. Surely, you can see their existence threatened everyone’s safety?” I needed to appeal to his morals, to his principles, but Conri shook his head.
“And what does a nest of rogue vampires have to do with shifter politics? I’m sorry you guys can’t tell your ass-end from your head, but that’s not my problem.”
He had a point, and I couldn’t deny it. “Exposure of vampires is a danger for us all,” I said instead. “But we’ve neutralized that threat now, so things should be back on track.”
“Should?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Are,” I corrected. “They are.”
Simon never gave me that hard a time. I preferred dealing with the beta, for sure. Having to talk to Conri was harder because he was more on top of everything, and I had to talk faster to find better explanations.
I tried a different tack. “What can I do to make you happy today, Conri?”
He growled, and it almost seemed like the answer was a big fat fucking nothing.
He leaned forward and lowered his voice, all the more threatening for that. “You can tell Nic that I’m not happy.”
I swallowed and nodded. “Absolutely.” It was easier to let Nic sort this shit directly, anyway. He and Conri had some sort of understanding over Leia. Not exactly a meeting of the minds, but Conri had recognized something fragile in Leia that meant he’d helped Nic out when he most needed it.
It was probably better for me to let their uneasy alliance handle the weight of Conri’s displeasure now.
I stood. “I’ll go deliver that message.”
“You’d better.” The alpha’s voice was a mere growl, and I strode from the room, trying to look a lot more at ease than I felt.
I left the small house he lived in on pack lands, closed the door behind me, then started down the steps that led from his porch.
I’d just reached the track out front when a beautiful aroma teased me.
I’d never smelled anything like it. It was soft caramel and honey with hints of vanilla.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to eat it or wrap myself in it and bask for days.
I was on pack lands. I needed to just get in my car and head back to New Orleans. I couldn’t investigate the source of any smells, no matter how enticing, no matter how much they called to me.
And I fucking knew all of this as I strode down the dark wooded trail, following my nose, walking into who the fuck knew what.
Water. I could definitely hear water. It lapped at a shore, and I could smell a lake, more fresh than swampy, which was unusual. But the sweet, enticing scent eclipsed nearly everything else.
I’d never wanted anything more. I rounded the corner of the small trail and stopped as moonlight glinted off the lake I’d expected to see. It illuminated a woman standing just up to the curve of her ass in the water.
My mouth dried and my eyes widened as I took in her caramel-colored hair where it stuck wetly to her back. I resisted the urge to rush into the water and join her, to scoop her up and run her back to New Orleans to be with me.
She stiffened like she could sense me, but she didn’t turn immediately. As I watched her, her back straightened, and she drew herself to her full height. I wanted her more with each passing moment and flex of her muscles.
I held my breath as she turned, and a low growl echoed over the water from her. I searched her gaze for a hint of wolf, but there was nothing. The eyes looking back at me were entirely human.
Human, and they belonged to my mate.