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Sloane bit back his groan. “Absolutely, Michael can give me pointers on how to lose.” He ducked as Michael threw a kali stick at him, which seemed to lighten the mood.
Tegan nodded as she bent to pick up her hooded jacket. “Sounds good.” She smiled at her cousin; she knew what he was doing and she appreciated it. “And then I will put the trainees through their paces.” She ignored the heavy groans of her students.
As she went to put the kali sticks back, she felt the Lycan approach her. “Leonid will be found, no matter what, Tegan,” he assured her quietly.
Tegan nodded as her hand trembled slightly as she placed the stick back in its holder on the wall. “He will, the Castor promised.” She didn’t add that Cord had told her he would find her father, and that he would return him to her, whether he was alive or dead. Nor did she mention that she told her bonded mate thatheshould not return if it were the latter.
Cord sat in the kitchen of the abandoned house and half listened to the droning of the Castor in front of him. Prime Castor Rorik was in a heated argument with an Elite Sentinel from the Headquarters in Moscow. They had been in this abandoned house for the better part of a week, and Cord’s patience was wearing thin.
Well, his patience had been thin before he arrived here. Tegan’s last words echoed in his head, her warning should he fail to find her father doing nothing for his already frayed temper. Cord looked pointedly at Prime Castor Lucas, who was watching Rorik with barely concealed disdain. Prime Castor Garrick merely listened as he ate a meal of bread, dried meat and cheese. Cord’s own food was in front of him, untouched. Again his thoughts drifted to his little tiger. She was already furious with him that she was not to accompany him to Siberia, so when he had—in his defence, he thought he was being encouraging—told her that, dead or alive, he would return her father to her, he had not been prepared for the fury.
“What do you mean, dead or alive?” Tegan snarled at him as she took a step backwards.
“I mean, no matter what, I will return your father to you,” Cord replied a little bemusedly at her reaction.
“Ifmy father is dead, which he is not, you propose to just bring me back a body?” Tegan glared at Cord angrily, and he prepared himself for the blow he knew she so badly wanted to deliver. “Are you suggesting you transport his head separately or will one bag do? Or if he has been burned, are you going to sweep up the ashes and put them in your pouch?”
“You’re being dramatic,” Cord said with a rumble of frustration.
“Dramatic? I’m being dramatic,Storm?” Tegan sneered. “Or should I call you the Mark?”
“My name is Cord, which you know full well, little tiger,” Cord snapped back as the conversation quickly deteriorated. “And you’re being ridiculous.”
“You implied my father is dead.”
“You’re being blind, that’s why!” Cord cried out in frustration. “The Sisters said he has fallen, Tegan, they have seen it.”
“They said he had fallen, but they said he is in Darkness, theydidn’tsay he was dead,” Tegan replied stubbornly. “Youwill find him, and you will return him to me. You need him as much as I do.”
“Darkness could mean death,” Cord argued even though he knew he shouldn’t make it worse.
Tegan took a further step back from him as if his spoken words were a betrayal. “How could you say that? You know my father not. He is mentioned in the Prophecy; he has to be alive.”
Cord hung his head as he bit back the reply. To remind his bonded that her father died the day he became one of the Made would not be received well. Cord also had reservations that the part of the Prophecy in regards to the “father” meant a father tohim.
His reflections reminded him that he needed to study the prophecy more, he needed time alone with it and the Texts, but time was something he didn’t currently have.
“Castor Ivanov, what are your thoughts?” the Elite Sentinel asked him, drawing him out of his quiet contemplation.
“My thoughts are that my mate is going to take great pleasure in stringing me up to the nearest tree if I don’t get into the Vampyre Court and return her father to her,” Cord said grimly as he picked up a grape from his plate. “My thoughts are that I need to prepare, that I need time to do every little thing that I need to do. My thoughts are also that I do not need to contribute to this conversation. You are an Elite Sentinel from one of the most prominent Headquarters.” Cord then gestured to Rorik. “Heis a mediocre Prime, you know and I know and more importantly Rorik knows that you should be having this conversation with Dark Prime Chernov, who sits in silence because he has too much respect for the Headquarters you represent.”
“The climate of my homeland makes you even more eloquent than usual,” Lucas murmured regretfully.
“The climate of your homeland is as inhospitable as my mate will be if I do not get into that Court. Why can’t we break the spell that prevents us from portalling?” Cord pushed his plate from him in annoyance. “I bear the Mark of Velvore, why am I failing at this simple task?” he demanded in frustration.
“You bear the Mark, you are not resistant to constraints.” Garrick picked up his water glass and took a drink. “The protection spell is strong, and it does not help that it was castbythe Vampyres. Had it been Drakhyn, we could have overcome it by now. We need Council Elder Alexander to discover the origins of the spell. He is the only one outside of the Court itself who would know anything about it.”
“And he is in Seclusion,” Cord snapped angrily, “because the falling of his brethren to the Darkness has warranted him withdrawing from his Council duties to seek Reflection fortheiractions.”
“The Vampyres being held under siege have a huge significance to the rest of the Akrhyn, Cord, you know this,” Garrick spoke quietly into the heavy silence that followed Cord’s comment in the kitchen.
“I know.” Cord rubbed a hand over his face. “They said he had fallen. It’s been a week, and I don’t know how long before the Sisters sharedthatinformation that Leonid actually fell prey inside the Court.” Cord’s head dropped onto his hands. “She will not accept his death.”
“Any child will grieve the passing of a parent,” Rorik said dismissively. “We are here for more than the survival of Leonid Novikov.”
“I’ll remember that when we return to the Northern Headquarters and watch as the little tiger removes your head when you tell her that retrieving her father was not your priority,” Cord scoffed as he stood. “Elite Sentinel...” he faltered. “I forget your name, my apologies.”
“Elite Sentinel Kraver, Mark,” the Elite replied reverently.
