I thought back. The wolf shifter PT dude had stood in for him. The same fuckhead who put my mate in danger during the flag exercise.
Something in the gleeful way Dad talked about the feral shifter case had me on full alert.
“Did you infect the bear’s relative with feral shifter disease?” I had long suspected he was behind that and the bloodborne virus. Both events played into his hands a little too perfectly.
“That’s not important right now, Alaric. We’re getting off topic.”
“I need to get back to campus,” I told him, trying very hard not to explode. He was damned lucky the cuffs blocked my magic or there’d have been nothing left of him but a scorch mark.
“Montgomery has granted you an extended leave of absence, so don’t worry about school. You have more important tasks to take care of.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? What tasks?” Dad’s left eye twitched. He didn’t like it when I failed to show enough respect. Well, tough fucking shit. I was all out of fucks to give.
“You are the witch’s last soul-bonded mate. Sealing the bond will unlock her powers.”
“Really?” I yawned. “I thought you were plotting to marry me off to Petronella. I’m not sure I have the energy to keep two females happy.”
“Petronella will be your wife, Alaric,” Dad said with a dramatic eye roll. “I’m not expecting you to wed the mongrel witch, but her magicisessential to my plans, so you need to fuck the little bitch and seal the bond.”
Wonderful. Nothing like prescribed sex in a laboratory setting to get my motor running.Not.Was he for fucking real?
I stared at him, only to find no trace of amusement in his expression.
Fuck my life.He was serious about this.
“Not sure I can get it up these days,” I said regretfully. “Too much elkwine and witch weed has made me impotent. Something you’d know all about,” I added with a smirk.
But he didn’t bite.
“No need to worry, son. Siren magic never fails.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Remember your mother.”
Three words were all it took for my resolve to crumble.
11
Kai
Istood against the wall, watching as the bear grunted into his phone. We’d found the device in the club, lying under a broken table. The local human cops had placed crime scene tape across all the entrances, but Zane teleported us inside, right under their noses.
From the many bloodstains, the demon attack had been a massacre. I silently wondered how long it would take Tiberius Vane to discover the additional carnage back at his estate.
The others had killed most of the guards, but I’d slain three.
Killing demons was one thing, but ending the lives of other magicals didn’t sit well with me. Acts of violence were not in my nature. It was partly why my mother and I never truly bonded. She relished a fight, whereas I hated them.
I tried not to think about the dead mages. About whether they had families. Time was running out, slipping away like sand in an hourglass.
Tiberius had taken Raven for a reason. The why remained unclear, but I suspected he wanted to harvest her demonic power.
“Thanks, Boon. I owe you one.” Maverick ended his call and sat in silence, his attention focused inward.
“Do you know where he’s taken her?” the incubus demanded, losing patience after two seconds. Ever since we’d blinked back onto campus, he’d stalked around the living room like a caged panther. Unwilling or unable to sit still.
I was expecting the headmaster to beat a path to our door after we triggered the wards, but so far, no guards had shown up.
