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“No!” Marcus tried to shove to his feet, but both Bel and Rafe were there to keep him seated.
“It’s the truth! I swear!” Ethan cried back at him.
“He’s telling the truth,” Winter confirmed, shocking the entire room into silence. Winter crossed the room, pulling a knife out of his pocket.
“What?” Marcus demanded.
Winter paused and smirked at his older brother. “You asked me to look into your new hire, so I did. I found the ties to the League immediately and I wanted to watch them. I bugged his apartment and cloned his cell phone,” he casually admitted.
“Holy shit,” Ethan muttered.
Rafe snorted. “Sneaky bastard.”
Winter gave a little bow of his head to Rafe before turning to Ethan. He cut the ropes tying him to the chair. “He didn’t tell this Carl or anyone else from the group anything of value.” A strange expression crossed Winter’s face, sort of like pride, when he said, “He actually gave a pretty impassioned defense of our family right before getting the shit beat out of him. He also didn’t know about the attack that happened tonight.”
“But I don’t understand,” Bel interjected. “The Humans Protecting Humans League is an anti-vampire group. They’ve been attempting to hunt us for decades. But there were also vampires that attacked here tonight. How could they be working together?”
“I don’t know,” Winter admitted. He wandered back to his chair while folding up the knife in his hands. He flopped down, looking for the first time like the little brother he was. “My guess is that the vamps were using the humans. Maybe feeding them info about their enemies.”
“They were fucking cannon fodder,” Rafe growled. “They came through the door first. It was only when they were nearly wiped out that the vamps followed.”
“Probably hoping to weaken us,” Bel added. “But who would do this?”
“I saw known associates of Meryl among them,” Marcus said. His voice was like a low rumble of thunder, and it felt like it was a warning of worse still to come. “This could be a retaliation for the nightclub incident. Or just the Hidden striking at us again. Or even a larger political move. Aiden thinks they are aiming to take control of the Ministry. Did you see anyone you recognized among the dead?”
Winter sneered at his older brother. “No, and this kind of blatant attack isn’t our way. It’s not a good way of staying secret and hidden. This screams Predators. They’re sloppy and prefer to use bold attacks to scare the humans.”
“I don’t understand. Are we getting pulled into the middle of a political war? Why?” Rafe demanded.
“Someone is making a play for the American Ministry. Both the Hidden and the Predators,” Marcus said. He relaxed against the sofa and released a heavy breath. Ethan watched him, taking in the signs of discomfort clear on his face. But when Marcus turned his gaze back to Ethan, rage still burned bright in his eyes. “Aiden seems to think that the same person is trying to take out clans that might challenge them or cause problems in the power shift. For some reason, the Variks have been listed among the possible troublemakers.”
“This is fucking bullshit!” Rafe snapped. He paced across the room and kicked a box of books before turning back. “What the hell do we care about the fucking Ministry and all that nonsense?”
“Some of us do happen to care about which maniacs are in charge,” Bel said primly.
Rafe lifted an eyebrow and turned a skeptical eye on his brother. “Really? You’re going to climb out of your lab and books long enough to voice an opinion on the rule makers?”
“I care,” Marcus declared, stopping the bickering between siblings. “I’ve heard about some of the recent insanity coming through both the American and European Ministry from Aiden. It can’t be allowed to continue. It doesn’t matter why we’ve been targeted. The important thing is that we have been, and that isn’t going to change. There will be another attack. We all know that.”
“But what can we do?” Bel asked. Rafe walked to his brother and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
Ethan marveled out how Rafe was always the first with the snarky, cutting comment, but he was also always the first to be right there to reassure Bel. Marcus had commented on Rafe and Bel’s closeness, but it was another thing to see it in action.
But then, it was clear that all the brothers were close in their own way. Winter might have physically separated himself from his brothers, but he was right there, watching over them and protecting them.
“Tonight, I say we feed and rest,” Winter suggested. He stood and shoved his blood-smeared hands into his pockets as he stared at Ethan. “They won’t attack again tonight. They’ll need to regroup.”
“And what about tomorrow? Are we supposed to wait around for the next attack?” Rafe grumbled.
