Page 1 of Keeper of All

Prologue

Alexi

“What’s gotten you into such a tizzy?” Danik rumbled from the bathroom where he’d gone to wash his hands. A house full of children always resulted in something getting sticky.

“Todd, as per usual. He brought up the shifter records we haven’t been back to collect and the fact people are snooping into our business,” Alexi called back distractedly, trying to find the other matching shoe, bending to look under the bed. “Why do the kids always have to move and hide stuff!” he exclaimed with little heat, because half the time he encouraged them.

Danik strolled out of the bathroom looking sexy in a black T-shirt and denim that hugged in all the right places. “’Cause you love to encourage them to seek shit with their tentacles to learn how to pick up scents.” Danik kissed the top of Alexi’s head; the grin he’d sported disappeared and his brows tugged together. “Why is Todd bringing this up now. I thought we were basically letting sleeping dogs lie! I mean it is protected, and Kelvin said he scented someone was taking care of them by the same smell embedded into the files he brought home, which you agreed with at the time.” Danik shrugged powerful shoulders, and Alexi had to focus to not get distracted by his mate. It was hard.

“We figured there has to be a record keeper. How else would the files be in there? We just never discovered who—no that’s wrong, never wanted to discover who, like we were being made to not think about it.” That made more sense, Alexi having a magic kraken within him, understood the power some magic held.

Alexi had felt Todd’s growing anxiety over the past few months. Todd had four daughters, three of which were krakens. Everyone thought the krakens were extinct. Except, with everything that happened with the shifter council, this was no longer the case. The discovery of the program to create killing machines by combining different species' DNA and using shifter children they kidnapped with no moral compass, brought a shit ton of awfulness to their door. The fuckers were uncaring if those children lived or died, and it had brought light to the corruptness within the council. They were there to protect the shifter population, not harm. It was an exceedingly difficult time. After eliminating the corrupt council members, the hope was things would go back to normal with them returning to running their consultant business and becoming once more a mythical creature.

“So, you think magic has prevented us from going back to the records?” Danik came across worried and not just through his voice but through their shared bond.

Alexi reached with a tentacle for the shoe sitting in the center of the floor under their massive queen-sized bed, grinning as he got up and perched on the end of the mattress to put it on. “I do after Todd pointed out how different he felt to six months ago. And when I thought about it, it jibed. He’s brought it up now because of the increasing number of people reaching out on the pretense of it being for business, but in reality, they are seeking information about the family. We knew this could—would—happen, but now the children are getting bigger, the risks of people knowing about their talents are increasing daily.”

“Fuck,” Danik groaned, plonking himself down next to Alexi with enough force that Alexi had to put a hand down to steady him or fall off the bed. “We were supposed to be better off, not fucking worse!”

Alexi tied his shoe, hating how upset Danik was, and silently agreed with him. His bear was very protective of their children and of Alexi’s brothers' children. “We just need to decide what we do with the remaining records stored in the bunker we found. Our history will be there, we know that. Todd has scanned all the files we have here now and uploaded the information to his personal computer. He’s getting tetchy that though about the remaining records because though the place is masked with magic, he feels something is happening inside, and it will only be a matter of time before someone else discovers it. He wants the records brought here! I don’t think that’s a good idea at all, when it increases the risk of assholes coming into the compound.”

Danik knocked Alexi’s shoulder. “Have you told Todd you don’t think that’s a good idea?”

Alexi groaned at attempting to have that conversation. “All he sees is important information. I see trouble coming our way.”

“And you believe Todd’s not just overreacting?”

Alexi had worked to hold back his fears about what it all meant. He had already failed when Danik had picked up there was an issue, so he spoke his concerns aloud. “Todd being the only omega in the family, his kraken is different, it’s more sensitive to things. If his kraken is concerned, then yes, I’d say it’s not an overreaction at all.”

Todd was a genius, especially with electronics. The man could and did create anything with electronics, but his specialty was computers. He made systems with phenomenal capabilities for missiles and satellites, for hacking the unhackable. He could mine and store data at crazy speeds. He sold many of his designs to military and governments all over the world. But the personal one he used, yeah that was a beast that was as specular as his two dragon mates, it held centuries of information Todd had gathered.

Twisting until Danik was looking directly at Alexi, he placed a large hand on Alexi’s knee. “What are we going to do?”

The warmth and strength always centered Alexi whenever Danik touched him. He placed his hand over his mate's, squeezing. “I’ve thought about it, and I need to talk to Ben and then Beaumont.”

“Why Ben? He’s happy on his little island with Teilo and Nico scaring the natives with their wild throuple sex,” he joked, blushing brightly when Alexi caught the fleeting imagine of the one time they’d gone unannounced to the island to find all three men enjoying each other.

Alexi squeezed a little tighter. “Jealous?” He arched one dark brow, staring his mate down, resisting smiling at how he fidgeted.

“As if! You and your tentacles are no match to two dicks!”

Alexi choked out a laugh. “That told us.” His kraken was damn near preening at the compliment. When he got himself under control, he explained. “Ben’s brother, remember he is some form of expert in blowing shit up. I need to check with Ben if the brother does contract work, then ring Beaumont to see if the council would commission the contract.” Alexi picked up Danik’s next question and answered, “We can’t be seen to be involved in this. I don’t want Todd or my brothers to know what I’m planning, as they’ll all want their say, and that complicates things. We don’t want to draw any more attention to the Thalassa name than there already is.”

“Agreed. But I’m not going to play piggy in the middle when it all kicks off because you didn’t tell your brothers what you’re planning.” Danik rose and dug in his pocket for his mobile and tossed it at Alexi when he nodded agreement. “No time like the present.”

Searching through Danik’s contacts, he hit call when he found Ben’s number, putting it on speaker phone. Three rings later the call was answered by Teilo. One of Ben’s two mates. “Hi Danik, everything okay?”

“It is, just need to ask Ben a quick question,” Danik quickly assured the disgruntled man.

Teilo and Nico were lab-created assassins, and they were used and abused for years. When Ben found them, they were barely alive after scientists abandoned them in the place they’d held them captive. They were used against each other to maintain their compliance. This made them wary of others, and Teilo, though a true warrior, worried about losing the quiet space they’d created on the island Ben bought for his mates.

“Nico put Ben down, Danik wants a word with him,” Teilo shouted, the sounds of the pounding surf increasing.

Ben’s breathless voice could be heard in the background. “What do you want?” he gasped, then grunted in a way to suggest whatever Nico was doing he hadn’t stopped.

“Christ,” Alexi muttered, eyes rolling to the ceiling.

Danick chuckled and said loudly, “Does your brother still blow shit up and would he be open to the council approaching him?”