Thoreau - Chapter 69: Chapter 69

Grey
What the hell am I doing? I whispered to myself as King Brioc introduced me to his three sons. I'm acting like I belong here amid all this royalty!
Royalty invited you, Matthias pointed out with a shrug. Besides, a cat may look at a king.
I am not a cat.
It's an idiom, Grey, and pay attention so you can remember which brother is which.
"This is my oldest son, Aerin," King Brioc said, and I instinctively stuck out a hand to shake with him.
Prince Aerin was twenty-five, had pure white hair that turned to platinum when it was plucked or fell out, and seemed like a quiet guy. I got the sense that he was a deep thinker who took his time making decisions or before he opened his mouth.
A lot like Alpha Mason, Matthias agreed.
Prince Lyr, who was twenty-three, had the same white hair, but wore it in a longer, more traditional style with the top and sides pulled into a braid that snaked down his back. He was Prince Aerin's right-hand man, kind of how a beta was to an alpha, and had a quick temper and a grumpy personality.
Like Alpha Cole, I said before my wolf could, which made Matthias roll his eyes at me.
The last son, Prince Aero, had just turned nineteen. His ash blond hair became white gold, and he liked a lot of the same things I did, such as skateboarding and video games.
I also found out pretty quickly that he was a jokester like alphas Wyatt and Ash.
"So tell me, Grey, what kind of salad greens do wolves eat?" he asked as we shook hands.
"None, usually, my lord. Most of us don't like salad."
"Huh. I would have thought even a wolf would eat arooooo-gula!"
I blinked at him as Matthias snickered and Prince Aerin covered his mouth with his palm.
"Oh, Goddess!" Prince Lyr snarled. "Bàba (Dad), make him stop before I do!"
"Yes, Aero, enough." King Brioc pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "Grey, I apologize. He's handicapped by a natural immaturity."
"It's okay, sire." I deadpanned. "It's easy to see that his royal highness has elf-control issues."
King Brioc burst out laughing as Prince Aero grinned and gave me a high-five.
"Not another one!" With a groan, Prince Lyr massaged his forehead with one hand.
"I can see now why Rhys likes you." Prince Aerin shook his head, his dark eyes glittering with amusement.
"She doesn't like me." Feeling heat in my cheeks, I ducked my head and fixed my eyes on my shoes. "I'm only an acquaintance, a classmate she tutors in science from time to time. Nothing more."
"And why is that?" Prince Lyr demanded with a fierce scowl. "You've had nearly a year to become her friend. Is an elf not good enough to befriend a werewolf?"
"More like the other way around," I assured him. "I'm a middle-class, mid-level shifter who's going to pass high school by the skin of his teeth. She's a princess and powerful, not to mention beautiful and funny and so intelligent—"
Ahem! Matthias interrupted before I could make more of a fool out of myself.
"You're more than an acquaintance, Grey," Prince Aerin told me in a quiet voice. "She's told me all about you."
I blinked, curious about what she'd said. What could she have said? How terrible I was at remembering the difference between protons, neutrons, and electrons?
"You can believe him," Prince Lyr muttered, a frown twisting his lips and drawing his eyebrows together. "He's the only one in the family that she'll talk to, so he would know."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"She never told you why she moved to Five Fangs?" Prince Lyr asked, exchanging glances with his brothers and their father.
"No. She might have told her closer friends, like Briar, Ayla, or Leilani, but not me."
King Brioc rubbed his fingertips on his forehead and dropped his eyes to the floor.
"Last winter," he began, "she decided to leave after―
"Sorry, your majesty." I raised my hand and quickly interrupted him. "Please don't tell me any of her secrets. I have not earned that right. If she wanted me to know, she would have told me herself."
That hadn't prevented me from putting two and two together. Of course, I was so bad at math, it was always possible that I'd come up with the wrong number, but I had a good hunch of what happened.
I wasn't any better at history than I was at math, and the subject didn't interest me enough to put a whole lot of effort into it, but I had educated myself on the Winterlight family once I found out that the youngest princess was coming to Five Fangs.
It had seemed like the smart thing to do.
I learned that her dad, King Brioc, was originally from Wales, and her mom, Queen Ginshi, was born in China. They had six children, three boys and three girls, none of whom were married or had children of their own yet, although Princess Isolde, the eldest daughter at twenty-one, had been engaged to Prince Mats Iversen of the Ice Cloud Kingdom.
They were chosen mates, not fated, and the two kings had dissolved the marriage contract after the prince went missing in late February last year. To date, he hadn't been found, and Beta Tyler had told me that it was probably for the best.
"To be honest, I don't know why King Brioc even wanted his daughter to marry into the Iversen family," he'd told me. "The Frost Folk in general aren't evil, but a strain of dark fae magic runs in their royal bloodline."
"Maybe Princess Isolde loved Prince Mats enough to convince him," I'd suggested.
"Maybe," beta had shrugged. "I sure do wonder what happened to the guy, and if he really disappeared or was made to."
I was curious about that, too. The week after Prince Mats' disappearance, Prince Aerin contacted Luna Posy to arrange for the youngest Winterlight daughter to be our pack's first exchange student, and it didn't take a genius to see a connection between the two events.
King Brioc drew me out of my thoughts as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"I miss my little girl so much. If it weren't for Aerin reporting back to us every time they talk, I would have lost my mind. Now this has happened, and I'm even more convinced she should come home."
"We will take her home with us, Bàba," Prince Lyr decreed with a hard look on his face. "
"May I speak freely, your majesty?" I waited until King Brioc nodded. "I'm just a kid. I'm not even eighteen yet, and I'm only in training to be an ambassador, so this might come out as less than diplomatic. If so, blame my inexperience and not my intentions."
"Just spit it out, wolf," Prince Lyr barked.
"Despite not knowing what happened, I can say with certainty that forcing Princess Rhys to do anything before she's ready will only make things worse. Besides, even if you convinced her to go home with you, would that solve the issue between you?" I dared to look into the king's eyes. "It's not really distance that's separating you, is it?"
The king held my gaze for several long moments as his sons stood in shocked silence around us, and I figured I'd just terminated my career before I even started it.
Or terminated yourself! Matthias went on high alert as Prince Lyr's hand gripped the hilt of his sheathed sword.
Aw, if it saves Princess Rhys a load of grief, it was worth it, I told him with a tiny smile. Besides, they're angry at themselves, not me. Can't you tell?
Finally, King Brioc gave me a grave nod.
"Young you may be, Ambassador Grey, but you are wise beyond your years. Five Fangs is lucky to have you."
"Indeed, and we truly appreciate your care and concern for our baby sister," said Prince Aerin and thankfully changed the subject. "Now, could you tell us a bit more about the boy she calls Reau? I was worried at first because she seems so attached to him, but she didn't sound heartbroken when she told me that he found his mates."
"Thoreau del Vecchio is the pack's darling. Our special boy. Everyone loves him." I blew a chuckle out of my nose. "You can't help but love him."
With a smile, I told them how we were all too intimidated to even approach Princess Rhys on the first day of school, but Reau had run right up to her and introduced himself and asked her about her metallic hair.
"It's because of Reau that we all accepted Princess Rhys. My big brother Crew once told me that you can tell a lot about people's character by the way they treat others, especially those who can do nothing for them in return. It kind of became our test, you could say, to see who a person is based on how they respond to Reau."
"I bet Mèimei (little sister) was fascinated with him," Prince Lyr said, and his hand finally left his sword hilt.
"She gave him a strand of her hair." I paused as they all gaped at me. "Reau, of course, didn't understand the significance of that. He was just happy that his new friend gave him a gift. He turned it into a ring and never takes it off."
Like all of us, elves' hair fell out all the time, and anyone who wanted to could pick up the precious metal threads and use them or keep them as they wanted. To elves, shed or cut hair meant nothing because it was no longer a living part of them. But to pluck and present a strand to someone? That was a great and rare honor.
Princess Rhys had made a lot of friends at Five Fangs, and only one wore a rose-gold ring on his forefinger.
Or used to, I corrected myself and had to open my eyes wide as tears flooded them.
Last evening, Wayne found Reau's ring at the diner. Gelo told me that the security footage showed Reau shifting into his skunk form to hide under a table, and the ring dropped to the floor, where it had lain until Wayne found it and crammed it on his pinkie finger for safekeeping until he could return it to his baby boy.
Which, Goddess willing, will be very soon, I prayed.
"Father, Queen Parvaneh is here," Prince Aero spoke for the first time in a while, and I wondered what part he played in whatever had driven Princess Rhys from her home.
I might be shit at school, but I could read a person's face like a book, and Prince Aero's told a painful tale of guilt and regret.
"Come. Let's greet the queen and see if she brings any news."
King Brioc led us toward a small group of women dressed in white and silver. They had sleek wings frosted with crystals and snowy hair, and each one carried a staff and a sword.
I had no idea who - or what - they were, and Prince Aerin must have known that because he kindly leaned closer to whisper that they were peri, or good djinn, and I gave him a nod of thanks.
As King Brioc greeted the one I took to be their queen, I studied the quartet a little closer. They looked like fragile glass dolls, but I only needed a second to understand that their dainty appearance was a purposeful distraction. The power that radiated from them was more immense than anything I'd ever felt before, even from the king standing right next to me.
"And this is Ambassador Grey Myers from Five Fangs," King Brioc introduced me, and I quickly came out of my head to bow over the hand Queen Parvaneh held out.
"Your majesty," I murmured. "It's a pleasure and a privilege to meet you."
"One of King Julian's wolves? Lovely to meet you, dear. Can you tell us what's been happening? I can see Kerry Harker in the thick of things, so I can only assume this has to do with Darius and his wretched master."
"Who?" King Brioc tilted his head.
"My nephew, Darius," Queen Parvaneh said with a sorrowful sigh. "Centuries ago, an ancient enemy trapped him and his brothers and bound them to a ring. Now he's a slave to an evil human named Reginald Hubler, who is an enemy to all of us. It's his hand behind these kidnappings."
"What is his motive?" Prince Lyr asked and once more gripped his sword hilt, reminding me very much of Gelo, who stroked his pistol butts whenever he was angry or thinking or agitated or ... Well, any time, really.
"Hubler leads a small group that is working with a dark prince of Hell who promised them the secret of eternal life in exchange for their service. They have been conducting experiments on, and stealing souls from, anyone and everyone, but especially nephilim and shifters."
"What does he want with souls?" I asked despite being so far out of my depth, I couldn't even see the shoreline anymore.
"A demon needs them to retain and gain a rank in Hell," Prince Aero told me. "The more it eats, the higher it climbs in the hierarchy of power."
I thought about the lesser demon that had possessed our principal, Leo Halder, a few years ago and tormented Gamma Reuben, Eli's older brother.
Wonder if it had any part in this? Matthias asked me.
There'll be time to put the puzzle pieces together once we've collected them all, I replied.
"May I ask why you are here, Queen Parvaneh?" King Brioc asked. "Be assured that my gratitude for your assistance knows no bounds; however, I am curious how you even knew my daughter had been taken."
"It's a long story, one that we can discuss at leisure once this is done."
Her smile was tired, bone- and soul-tired, and I could relate to that. Sustained stress was not healthy for anyone, and wolf shifters especially were not patient creatures by nature.
If something doesn't give soon, one of my pack mates is going to erupt and—
As if the Goddess herself was listening to my thoughts, a dark-skinned, black-haired man popped up next to the queen, making all of us start, and Prince Lyr drew his sword as fast as lightning.
"Aunt Parvaneh, I need your help!" said the newcomer, his eyes wide and panicked. "Master discovered I had Gemma and commanded me to take her to the lab!"
"Did you?" the queen asked as she grabbed the man by his shoulders and shook him, sending clouds of his pungent scent into the air. "Darius, is she there now?"
"Yes, aunt. You know I have no choice but to obey him!"
"Where? Darius, so help me, you will tell me where this bloody lab is or—"
"It is forbidden! Master forbade me to reveal the location long ago!"
Well, damn! If this was who Kerry Harker had been waiting for, it sounded like we were screwed!
We've been waiting for hours for nothing! Matthias howled. Everyone's going to go batshit crazy when they find out! Arch and Wayne, Gelo and Beta Emerson, not to mention Kerry Harker!
Looking around with wide eyes, I spotted Kerry rolling around on the floor with Sid and Granite. Not stopping to wonder why alphas Ash and Wyatt had shifted into their giant wolves, I knew we had to act fast before Kerry realized Darius was even here.
"Is it forbidden to bring us someone else who knows the lab's location?" I asked, swinging my gaze back to Darius and the queen.
They both stared at me without blinking for a heartbeat, then a wide grin stretched across Darius' face as he raised one finger.
"Wait one moment," he said, then disappeared as abruptly as he came.
Wayne
Watching Kerry Harker with Sid and Granite told me a lot about the guy.
Yeah, I'd heard all about his violent tendencies, which his girl's kidnapping had only made worse, but even I - Captain Oblivious - could see the pure enjoyment on his face as he rolled around with the two wolves.
After Granite got a good snoot-full of Gemma Shepherd's scent, he'd stuck around to play for a few minutes, but Wyatt wanted to shift back and made Granite trot off to the bathroom.
Sid, however, wasn't going to leave Kerry until someone made him. In fact, he ended up laying on the guy, both of them sprawled out on the floor as Kerry buried his face in Sid's thick ruff.
"Thank you," came a quiet voice from my side, and I turned to see a movie-star gorgeous girl whose dark blue eyes were glossy with unshed tears. "Thank you so much for giving him this."
A dark-haired guy looped his arm around her waist and drew her against his side, then kissed the top of her blue-black ringlets.
"Yeah, this is doing him a world of good," he said. "We so need to get him a dog when all of this is over."
"This is Gigi Carnahan and Jax Kosta, Kerry's friends," Kon said, then went around and introduced us all.
Then Kon told us how Gigi and Jax had gone with them to kill the dark witch Bennie and find Eli's little sister. When Arch asked, Kon said Poppy took Ayla and Atticus to join Eli and Imogene at a safe house until we sorted this mess out, and Poppy was already on her way back here to fight with her sister witches.
By the time Kon stopped talking, soft snores drifted up from the floor, and all of us looked down to see Sid completely on top of Kerry, like a wolf did to hide someone vulnerable, and both of them were out cold.
"Take a picture!" Gigi hissed, elbowing Jax. "Gemma will love to see that!"
"Aww! They're so cute!" Posy giggled. "And Sid enjoyed that just as much as Kerry seemed to!"
"He needed it, and the sleep," Jax said quietly as he took out his phone and clicked a few photos, then his head snapped up and he looked around at us. "We should show you what Gemma looks like! Gigi, can you—"
"Yeah, yeah," she murmured as she took out her phone and swiped through it. "These are burner phones, but I upload my favorite photos to my online storage. Here."
She held her phone out to Posy, who cooed over it as the alphas gathered behind her and looked at the photo, too. Then she passed it to the betas and it slowly made its way around to Arch and me. On the screen, Kerry - who was as tall as Dad Emerson at six feet six - was bent nearly in half to hug a girl with long carrot-colored hair and emerald green eyes.
"Kerry said you remind him of her, Posy." I frowned and flicked my eyes over to her. "But you look nothing alike."
"Aside from their teeny-tiny height," Jax snickered quietly, and Gigi whapped him on the bicep when Posy pouted up at him.
"Pretty sure he was referring to the stubborn fighter hidden behind her kind eyes and sweet smile, Jax," Hank snorted.
"She's stubborn, all right." With a grin, Cole looped one huge arm around our little luna's neck and drew her back against his torso.
"I am not stubborn!" she insisted and even stomped her foot.
"There's no use denying it, Sissy." I shook my head with a wicked grin. "I mean, just look at you. You're so stubborn, you even refused to grow!"
Her eyes widened as her mouth dropped open, but before she could get me back, a scent like a desert spice market suddenly filled all our noses.
I'd caught a whiff of it earlier, but hadn't noticed anything different when I looked around. It was stronger and closer this time, and my eyes went right to a dark-haired, dark-skinned dude holding onto an older man who was struggling to get away.
Bet the younger one is the djinni named Darius, Arch linked me.
Yeah, but who do you think that is with him?
The older man smelled like nothing - absolutely nothing - and the second Kon laid eyes on him, he exploded into motion, sprinting over there and grabbing the older man by the throat before I could blink.
Kon? Luna took a step toward him, but the betas hustled in front of her, and the alphas stood in front of them. What is it? What's wrong?
"Why is Papi so angry?" Lanie's confused and concerned eyes never left her mate.
"Any of you know that guy's name?" I asked as luna tried to convince Kon not to kill him until we found out why he was here.
"Yeah." Gigi traded looks with Jax. "His name's Samuel Castle, and he's a horrible man, but we need him."
"He knows where the lab is," Jax added.
"If we want to get our people back, you can't let your boy kill him," Hank told Papa Gelo. "And we need to be quiet so we don't wake Kerry, or he might try to kill him, too."
"Damn!" I smirked. "Everyone wants a piece of this guy!"
"I told you, he's a horrible man," Gigi shrugged, "but right now, he's our only hope of rescuing our friends."
"Okay, Lanie, after luna, you have the best chance of pulling Kon off of him without getting fried." Dad Emerson glanced over his shoulder to make sure luna was still tucked behind him, then gave a tiny smile to his new daughter-in-law.
"Me?" With arching eyebrows, Lanie pointed a red-tipped fingernail at her chest.
"Chime Karma would electrocute anyone, including Kon, who even thought about harming a single curl on your precious head," Papa Gelo told her.
"But you're his parents! He'd listen to you before me!"
"Not when he's this pissed off," Dad Emerson snorted.
"Uh, Lanie? Mr. Castle's turning purple," I pointed out since I'm helpful like that.
"Damn, Papi," she muttered as she stomped over to her fuming mate. "You don't half-ass anything. You fuck it all the way up."
"I like her." Arch nudged my shoulder with his. "Fits right in the family."
"Hell, yeah, she does," I murmured, squeezing his hand tight and taking comfort from his scent, his touch, and the mate sparks. If only my other hand wasn't empty...
"I'd like to see what's happening, please." Posy tried to push her way through the wall of muscle surrounding her, although I couldn't figure out why she'd waste the energy on something that flat-out wasn't going to happen.
"Lanie's trying to pry Kon's hand off of Samuel Castle's throat, luna," Beta Tyler told her. "What's to see?"
"Move, Ty!"
"Your safety, luna—"
"I am surrounded by guards," she cut Beta Tristan off, "and Kon has him. What could possibly happen?"
"Better safe than sorry," Dad Emerson chimed in.
"You always say that and, in most cases, yes, I'd agree, but do you really think Kon would let him escape?"
She doesn't realize the betas are teasing her? I linked Arch.
Of course not, he snorted.
"Alpha said to protect you, luna, and that's what we're going to do." Beta Matthew gave her a smug smile.
"Mason! You tell them to let me out of beta jail! Right now!"
"Little flower, it's for your own good—"
Damn! Mase is teasing her now, too? I snickered a little. Dude was usually too frozen to unbend enough for that, at least in public.
Must realize we all need something to break the tension, I told Ocean, who didn't reply.
I wasn't surprised by that, though. Neither he nor Firth were saying much. They were too focused on controlling themselves until it was time for us to unleash them.
"Mason Andre Price!" Posy snapped.
Ooo! Middle name and everything! I linked Arch again. Dude is in trouble!
Ten bucks says he caves in a heartbeat, my boy linked back with a smirk.
No bet.
"Betas, step aside," Mase ordered just like we predicted, and Jay and Wyatt snickered as Posy wiggled her way free of them.
"You are a whipped puppy, brother." Cole rolled his eyes.
"As if you aren't," Mase countered.
The smell of ozone intensified as the air filled with enough static to make Sid's fur poof out just like the time Arch and I had rubbed balloons all over him.
"Papi, we need him alive!" Lanie tried to reason with her mate, but Kon wasn't having it.
"This filthy figlio di puttana (son of a whore) chained me to a wall, Lanie!" Kon bellowed as his mate pulled on his arm. "For three fucking weeks!"
Then Chime Karma let out a boom that nobody could sleep through, and Sid and Kerry leapt up with wide, wild eyes, both ready for battle.
Angelo Del Vecchio
"Well, it was worth a shot." I shrugged and looked at luna. "I think you'll have to intervene, or I can ask Julian to—"
"Kon. Release him."
The wolf king's voice was heavy in itself. Add in the royal, moon, and alpha power, and no one could stand against it, not even an enraged half dragon.
Kon's hand fell away from his prey's throat so fast, the neph stumbled and dropped to his knees. As Samuel Castle gasped and choked, Kon stood rigidly over him, his whole body shaking as he fought the king's hold. Lanie jumped up and laced her fingers behind his neck, and he instinctively clamped his arms around her waist.
Smart girl, I linked Emerson right as he linked me, Brave girl, and we gave each other tiny smiles.
"About time he got here!" Kerry growled as his hands turned into fists at his side.
Sid, feeding off his new bestie's energy, rumbled low in his throat, and luna dropped to her knees next to her wolf, wrapping her arms around his neck and whispering soothing things in his ear.
"This would be funny if lives weren't on the line." Beta Crew's calm eyes bounced between Kon, Kerry, and Sid. "And if the three of them losing their shit at once wasn't likely to trigger the end of the world."
I snorted at that and headed over to where Hank, Brioc, and Parvaneh were gathering around Castle as Lanie pulled Kon away. The peri queen towed Darius the djinni along with her and Brioc's sons brought Grey along with them.
Remind me to talk with Brioc about Grey, I linked my mate. I need to give him a warning not to play any head games with the kid.
You know, he's a king, right? my love snorted.
What does that matter? I'm not afraid of him, and I'll protect Grey the same as I'd protect any of my pack mates.
I meant, you should use his title, angel. Emerson rolled his eyes. Same with the peri queen. At least to their face.
I have no king or queen, I sneered. I bow to no one.
You use luna's title.
I scowled, wishing he hadn't noticed that, but il mio orsacchiotto was smarter than most people gave him credit for when they saw his hulking body and blank face.
"Mr. Castle," Parvaneh's ringing voice saved me from responding to my darling, "you have some information we require."
"And what are you offering me in return?" Castle smirked as he stood and faced us all.
"Your life, for one," growled Lyr, Brioc's middle son.
"That's a poor thing," Castle scoffed, "and not nearly as valuable as the information you're wanting
"Darius," Kerry narrowed his eyes at the djinni, "our deal was that you'd bring me an ally who could get me into the lab. Someone who knew it inside and out."
"And I have done so." Darius jerked his chin at Castle. "Getting him to comply was never part of the bargain we struck."
"Ask him where your girl is, Kerry," Grey spoke up, surprising me. He'd been so intimidated by the kid when they met, he hadn't said a word to him.
I didn't know how Grey found out something before us, but I could guess what had happened and, if I was right, this was all about to go to hell in a handbasket.
"Well, djinni? Where is my angel? You better pray she's not where I'm thinking she is."
"I warned you that you had a deadline," Darius had the balls to sneer at him, "and your way of asking questions is far from subtle. I'm only surprised it took Master this long to discover I had her. He ordered me to deliver her to the lab not half an hour ago."
"You took my girl to the lab." Kerry didn't even flicker an eyelid, but everyone took a step back, even the royals.
Only those with Divine and Diabolical blood could see a neph's power, but I could feel Kerry gathering it around him and knew we were in trouble when I glanced at my best friend's face.
Hank Bishop feared about as many things in this world as I did, which was next to none, and I got a better understanding of just how dangerous this kid of his was when Hank sent Gina to gather Kerry's friends and herd them toward the exit despite their protests.
I need to get the streghe (witches) to spell another hag stone for me, I scowled, bitterly regretting the loss of my last one. If this kid's as lit up with power as I'm guessing he is, this is something I'll never have a chance to see again, and I'm missing out on it!
"I hid her in the lab," Darius corrected Kerry. "She's smart enough to not be where I left her, which will buy us some time, but not much. We need to act quickly to salvage this."
"Castle," Kerry turned to the man, "what do you want in exchange for taking us to the lab?"
"What Amanda Greenaway entrusted to you."
Having no clue who that was or her importance here, I looked over at Hank with raised eyebrows, and he gestured with his hand, silently asking me to wait.
"There are only two people who know about that." Kerry lifted his chin and stared down his nose at Castle with narrowed eyes. "Me and her, and I for sure didn't open my mouth about it."
"What does it matter how he found out?" Arch snarled. "I want our baby boy back, and I want him back now! Give this prick whatever he's asking for!"
"I can't." Kerry shook his head. "I ain't got it anymore."
"Liar!" Castle barked and wadded his hands into fists.
"Gina's a messenger." Kerry tipped his head to Hank's wife. "Have her scan me for lies. Or that dragon there can see through any untruths. Ask him."
"Listen, Harker," Castle said through gritted teeth, "while you stand here stalling, twenty so-called scientists are selecting their first test subjects of the day. Maybe they'll drain an elf princess of all her blood and power, or maybe they'll strap a wolf shifter onto an operating table and cut him open while he screams—"
With a deafening boom, Chime Karma shifted, and I drew my guns and slid the safeties off, aiming both right between Castle's eyes. Next to me, Emerson shook with the need to shift and tear this stronzo (asshole) to pieces, and the low growls of five alpha wolves reverberated around the room.
"Everyone, STOP. Silence." Luna Posy's voice fell on us like a lead blanket, and I couldn't have moved or spoken to save my mate's life. "No more deals, Mr. Castle. Give us the layout of the lab and its location. RIGHT. NOW."
And that was how we learned nephilim could no more hold out against her Ultimate Luna Power than anyone else ever had.