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Neither of us moves. Neither of us speaks. I’m afraid if we do, this will end. I never want it to end.
But all good things come to an end in my life. Once again, the shock alarms go off and the lights flicker out.
“It’s just the hotel going on lockdown. We are safe. Don’t worry.” Cooper strokes his fingers along my cheek.
If only I could believe in his words. Because I’m not safe. I have a secret I need to tell everyone together. One that will change our lives. It puts us in more danger than ever.
“Can you call the others? I really need to see them,” I say, sliding off Cooper and onto the bed.
He frowns at me, worry crossing his face. “What’s wrong?”
I release a long breath. “We have more than the renegade donors to worry about. Alexander used them as a distraction. He’s coming for me.”
Searching my gaze, Cooper tightens his lips. “We won’t let him get within reach of you. If he tries, we will take the war to him. His reign is over. It’s our turn to rise.”
Chapter three
Sawyer
Surprise
“Thedonorsarenotgoing to go for it. We have to remember that not all of them are a threat to us. We can’t punish everyone, Sawyer.” Tatum taps her fingers on the old roulette table, staring around the empty casino floor.
“I know, but this isn’t punishing them. This is keeping everyone safe. You know what will happen if the leadership realizes that renegade donors have infiltrated the city. It’s bad enough that we are constantly having to deal with pushback for control.” I fucking hate this. I knew the day would come when we would split the Strip between the ruling covens and the rest of us. The leadership can’t control the Strip dwellers any longer, especially now that the foundation of their authority has been shaken.
“What if they don’t agree?” Tatum purses her lips, placing her hands on her hips and squaring her shoulders. I knew she would be the one to give me a hard time, considering how much time she spends with the humans here. She is their caretaker, after all, and in charge of our donor population while the rest of us handle the bullshit coming our way. This is one of the few times that we’ve ever had a problem with donors, but I can’t just brush it off. They attacked Hayley. They hurt and traumatized her. We need to figure out who is against us, so we can handle it accordingly. My priority is my coven. It’s Hayley and her friends. As for everyone else? If they even think about pulling shit, they can just leave. I am beyond caring.
“Lie to them if you think they won’t. Tell them there’s a threat. Vampires are loose and after them. I don’t give a fuck. Just get it under control, Tate. I’m counting on you. We need to lockdown and find the renegades. They can ruin everything.” I hate having to order her like this, but I don’t know what else to do. Her compassion clouds her judgment, and we sometimes have to make decisions that benefit us despite what the humans want. Many won’t willingly line up and let us interrogate them, and I don’t want them to no longer feel safe, but I need to find out who else is involved. They were going to rape my girl, and they will suffer for it. I don’t care if they weren’t directly a part of it. We don’t allow that kind of bullshit under my roof and in my hotel. No woman, especially Hayley, should ever have to feel unsafe. They get enough of that in the world.
Tatum hisses with a flash of her fangs. “Fucking fine. But no one touches the kids. I swear to fucking hell, Sawyer. If you—”
I hold my hand up and cut her off before she explodes in a rant. “No one touches the kids. I can agree with that. Now set the alarm again. I want to make sure that if there are any disgruntled vampires working with the renegades that we get them handled. There’s no mercy. Anyone against us in this hotel is dead.” I turn and look at some of our crew members, the most loyal to us and the ones allowed to be a part of our strategy planning. “You hear that, everyone? If you find a traitor, you bring them to me. If they fight, take care of them yourself. We cannot afford to lose control.”
Walcott salutes me with a finger, his eyes flashing silver with his wicked smile. He will be on top of it more so than anyone. I’m nearly certain he’ll open every goddamn door in this hotel just to make sure no one’s hiding within the thousands of rooms.
Monroe drapes an arm across my shoulder, finally pulling himself away from the security feeds. “We got this, Sawyer. Let’s go check on our girl. Cooper says she needs us.”
Nodding my head, I glance at Tatum once more. “If you have any trouble, let me know. If anyone argues or refuses to lockdown, take them to the dining hall. Those donors will be interrogated first.”
Tatum sighs and disappears without a word. I understand why she’s upset, and I hate putting her in this position, but she will understand once this is over. I know she feels protective over the donor population, and rightfully so. I wouldn’t have it any other way. She is one of the reasons we thrive and have made it to this position.
I whistle between my fingers, calling Knox. He bounces on his feet and stares out the glass doors, watching the crowded streets of La Vega. More and more people roam about, the donor population risking the Strip to abandon their hotels in search of safe hotels like us.
Turning toward me, Knox meets my gaze, his face scrunching. He’s pissed off that we had to handle the bullshit down here first before going to Hayley, but we all know she’s in good hands with Cooper. He’s proven himself to be worthy of the Bella Crew, and in circumstances like this, I know that he can handle her better than anyone else. It’s unfortunate that his past is similar to Hayley’s, but I’m glad he has the empathy she needs. I can’t even imagine being in her place. I barely recall what it’s like to be a donor.
Monroe leads the way to the elevators, striding fast and impatiently, smacking his hand to the button to get the door to slide open. If I wasn’t right on his heels, he’d probably get on and leave us behind. He doesn’t say yet, but I know he worries about Hayley’s mental health and how she’s handling all of this. He might be a brute and brutal, but he has a soft spot for our girl and will burn the world down for her. I have to keep on him to ensure he doesn’t, because he really needs the world. If he destroys it, then we have nothing left.
“I swear if I get to any renegades first, I’ll tear them apart, starting with their cocks. I’m going to shove them down their throats so deep that you’ll see the tip come out their ass. How did this even happen? How did they get in here?” Monroe fists his hand and punches the wall, leaving a fisher in the shatterproof glass façade. Nothing is truly shatterproof with a vampire’s strength.
“We will do it together. These fuckers have used us. I thought we were good to them, and they took advantage.” Knox clenches his jaw, his posture stiff. He found Hayley with Cooper, and I can see it in his eyes that he feels like a failure. We should’ve never believed Mya when she had called. But someone messaged from Cooper’s com device. It didn’t sound like him, but then all the bullshit happened with the donors coming in and just opening fire on us. I hate that I had to end their lives because of it. But we can’t risk the hotel. We can’t leave us open. And now we won’t let any new donors in. I feel bad, but we have to take care of our own first. No more refugees. We can let some of the other hotels deal with that.
“Relax, you two. Hayley is going to need us to be calm. We can’t go in there all pissed off and angry. She will feed off those emotions. I’m sure that Cooper has taken good care of her. Let’s just hear what she wants from us. Okay? Don’t make assumptions.” I dig my nails into my palms, stealing myself towards a reaction.
“Yeah, sure. Be calm for our girl. A hard but not impossible task.” Monroe punches the mirrored wall again, getting out his frustration beforehand.
The elevator dings open and we step into the hall, taking in the view. And holy shit. There’s blood everywhere. How the fuck did we miss this? They must’ve messed with our security feeds, and we didn’t even pick it up.
“Holy hell! Those fuckers did us dirty. Look at the damn security feed. That’s some back-world bullshit!” Monroe zooms away and hops up, grabbing a paper from one of the video cameras. He’s right about it being back-world. They just put a picture of the empty hall in front of it, instead of actually hacking our system. “Goddamn it. Now I need to check every camera in the hotel. Do you know how long it’s going to take me? It’s going to leave us open.”
