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I reluctantly slid out of the same hole I had entered the panic room through and started out of my study. "Sato, you're with me. Tashi, Sisko, stay with my mate and his family."
Guards were just starting to gather in the entryway when I reached it. I glanced at them in passing, meeting the eyes of several of them. Since I could hear René and the others coming down the hallway, I walked right past the guards and headed for the basement.
There was a guard in front of the basement door. When I reached him, I motioned to the staircase. "Go up to the entryway and wait there with the others."
The guard gave me a quick nod before hurrying past me. I pulled the basement door open and stepped inside. There was a low light on the other side of the room, so it made it a bit easier to see everything.
And the room was very clearly empty.
Fear grabbed me and almost made me choke. I instantly spun around and started racing back up the stairs and then down the hallway. When I reached the end of the corridor, I heard René speaking and slowed, my relief so big I could barely breathe.
Until I heard what he was saying.
Chapter Twenty
~ René ~
I stood on one of the stair steps, arm crossed, and glared down at the three men standing before me. They looked so damn smug, smirking up at me as if they thought they had won.
They hadn't.
When a couple of the guards took a step toward them, I waved them off. This was something I needed to handle on my own. If I couldn't stand up for myself now, I had no business being Alessandro's consort.
"Is this really the path you want to take?" I asked. "It won't end well for you."
Benito snorted. "The only one this isn't going to end well for is you, bloodsucker."
I tilted my head curiously. "How do you seem to know so much about me, Benito? You're just a butler, aren't you?"
I lifted an eyebrow when Benito stomped his foot. He reminded me of a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum. "Did I say something wrong?"
"I am not just a butler!" Benito snapped. "I am the butler to the prince."
"I believe you were relieved of that position." I smirked. "Something about thinking you have bigger balls than you really do?"
Benito pointed at me after gesturing to one of the guards. "Kill him!"
No one moved.
"Kill him!" Benito shouted again.
"You're not in charge here, Benito." And it was about time he realized that. "You don't even work here. In fact"—I squinted at Benito—"Aren't you supposed to be locked up?"
"It's you who should be locked up," one of the other men said as he stepped forward. "You have no right to even be here. The prince of gryphons cannot have a bloodsucker for a mate. We won't allow it."
Oh, this old argument. I'd been dealing with it most of my life, so his words didn't bother me. On the other hand...
"How do you even know who I am?"
"We've always known." The man laughed. It wasn't a pretty sound. "Benito here is a font of information."
"Oh, really?" I glanced at Benito. "My understanding was that he received his information from an anonymous phone call. Are you saying he gave it to you?"
The alpha rolled his eyes as he glanced at Benito. "This idiot couldn't find his ass with a map and a GPS."
I couldn't disagree.
"Hey!" Benito shouted as he glared at the man. "I gave you all the information I got from Paolo's phone. I didn't have to do that."
