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“Yes. I said it was,” I tell him, standing upright.
“You’re seriously letting her go?”
I roll my eyes at him. “Yes, Eli. She’ll come back. I hope.”
I grab my wallet off the bedside table, moving toward the door.
“And if she doesn’t?”
“We’ll deal with that if it comes to it.”
Eli seems unsure at my change of heart, but adds nothing else, instead following me down to his car. I drop into the passenger seat.
The drive to City Hall takes fifteen minutes. The entire time, I am stuck answering emails, when a new one pops up. It is from the morgue, an autopsy report. It is the same as the last three: another body drained of blood.
Twelve people have gone missing. Four accounted for, all drained of blood, and another eight missing. Which is what this meeting is about. Yet we all have the same question: How are they getting into the city?
Pulling up out front, I am shocked to see Derrick has bothered to show up after the other night. Yet his car is parked beside Alpha Thomas’. Great, now to deal with him too. He isn’t even part of the council anymore.
The moment I step out of the car, I spot him standing by the doors, talking to Thomas. Growling, I move toward the doors just as he spots me and starts stomping over.
“Where the fuck are my Luna and son?” he snarls.
“Where you can’t get them,” I answer, ignoring him and continuing toward the building.
Derrick, however, seems to be on a warpath because he grabs my arm. I pivot, shoving him back.
“Remember whose city you’re in, Derrick. Remember who you’re dealing with. I am not your wife or daughter. I won’t allow you to walk all over me.”
“You kidnapped them. I want them back now!” he screams at me, and my hand moves in a blink.
Derrick’s head snaps backward, and he clutches his nose. Khan, having taken over and punched him. Derrick snarls, only for Khan to shove forward and hit him again, making him stumble when I hear murmurs.
“Ax!” Eli hisses as the media, who are waiting around for information on the meeting, start whipping phones out. Lost in thought, I haven’t even noticed them, but the last thing we need is them publishing a headline that a tyrant Alpha is running the city.
“Khan, you fool.”
“So what? He deserved it. And not like it isn’t splashed all over the papers about the fight the other night, anyway.”
Eli waves them off to put their phones away when I grab Derrick, drape my arm across his shoulder, and squeeze it.
“Smile and fucking wave, asshole.” I pass him a handkerchief, and he snatches it, wiping the blood from his face.
“I want in on the meeting,” he grits out.
“Fine, but I can’t afford bad press right now.”
He huffs like he’s won some battle. Not that it matters, anyway. He will be required to attend anyway. We need all packs to be on the lookout.
After barely touching him without killing him for a few minutes, we head inside. Walking, I scan my hand on the panel to enter the conference room and shove the door open. Eli follows me in, along with Derrick, and I take my seat at the head of the table.
Eli hands out the tablets, and we all open them with our fingerprints when Marco from the supernatural council wanders in. He is here to help with the vampire issue, and who better than a bloodsucker to do the job? Marco moves around the room. Thomas sits up straighter, and so do a few of the elders, suddenly nervous about having a vampire in our midst.
Chapter
Sixty-Seven
Ihave known Marco for a few years. He’s helped with my father’s will and also the transfer for my takeover since I was under investigation for his murder at the time. Most pack takeovers are either handed down or challenged for, but each city abides by its own rules. Unfortunately, in the last city where we lived, challenges were public events, so I was in hot water for killing my father. Marco helped me with that.
