Boss? James thought, freezing with shock. It took all he had to keep from letting his jaw hit the floor.
"Boss?" Lily repeated, looking just as surprised as he was.
Jessie laughed and grinned at them. "Oh that's precious. You had no idea?" She taunted them. "What the hell, for old times sake! Vincent is working for someone. No one knows who. Trust me, I've tried to find out. This person or persons isn't in town with him because they only speak through electronic communication and in private phone calls through secured lines in a sound proofed room.
Whoever it is, Vincent is doing his best to keep them secret, but he can't hide that he wants nothing more than to please them and badly. That's why he's after your little sister so bad. The boss isn't happy that Vincent lost her and caused you two to show up. Apparently the boss doesn't like you two much. Big surprise there," she explained, sneering at them. Lily walked out of the room with James following behind her. She could almost feel his worry burning holes in her. She knew he was worried about her. How Lily would take the betrayal of someone she'd once considered her friend. That he wasn't hovering over her and asking her a million questions about it meant more to her than he would ever know. Nick met them halfway back to the conference room.
Indecision, hurt, and curiosity skewed up his expression into a stern, grim one. Lily had always suspected that Nick had a crush on Jessie. "That in there isn't the woman we knew Nick," she told him. "The Jessie we knew would never think of hurting a child just so she could escape death. I don't know if our Jessie was just a lie or not, but she's gone."
His shoulders tightened with tension and Lily didn't miss the disappointment in his eyes. He'd been hoping, as she had, that there was all some rational explanation that would reveal that she hadn't betrayed them at all. "So what do you want to do with her?" He asked. His tone was flat and void of all emotion.
"As tempting is beating her until she grows back a conscious is, I don't think it'd work," Lily said with a sigh. "I don't know Nick. I'm tired of being angry and crap all the time. Vincent has me booked right now. If you don't want to deal with her, wait until dark and let the Aequivalere deal with her." A smile spread across her lips as she saw Nick's startled reaction.
She couldn't blame him. Lily usually was the first in line to draw blood on someone who'd wronged her. "I'd rather plan on what we're going to do next instead of dealing with some loser lacky," she said, letting venom enter her voice.
"Alright," Nick said, straightening his posture. "Let's go back to the conference room." They led them bath into the large room. Several others were already there. "Let's get started and everyone take a seat," Nick demanded, and everyone took a seat. Lily could feel his alpha influence dance over her skin and push her to sit down in a chair. Any chair. It didn't matter if Nick no longer had a territory that he called his own. He was an alpha, period.
Lily glanced at his brother. The alpha stiffened and narrowed his eyes at Nick. He obviously didn't like being ordered around in his territory. She was willing to wager that Nick's brother wasn't as dominant as he was, which may be half of the reason that the two hadn't come to bloodshed. That their brothers and they love each other, probably was the other half. Also, Lily knew that Nick didn't want to take over his brother's territory. He wanted his own back.
"Lily tell us what the human told you," Nick demanded, leaning back in his chair.
She repeated everything Jessie had told her, the mysterious boss and her selfishness to sacrifice Lily's two-year-old son so that she could live. As she spoke, she saw Donovan's jaw clench as much as his fist. He was furious. Like Jessie, he'd watched A. J. grow up. However, she noticed that Bill didn't look surprised at all. Maybe he'd known the depths of Jessie's depravity. The more Lily watched her father, the more convinced she was that he knew.
"I give the human to the Aequivalere to punish her as you see fit," Nick said once Lily had finished. He looked to the doctor who sat in his chair with his long fingers laced together and resting in his lap. A somber expression was on his grim face. "How's Bonnie doing?"
"I expect she'll be with us for a while yet," he replied in a soft tone. "However, she was severally beaten and even with the help of Xin Qian's magic, Bonnie may be out of it for a while."
"What about the others?" Lily asked before Nick could say another word. Nick gave her a bemused look then nodded to the doctor.
"Recovering," the doctor answered. "Sanders is still out, Lacrosse, is doing well and ready to rejoin the group. I'm mostly worried about Evangeline. Physically she's recovering, but her guilt is slowing it down, and if we're not there to ensure it, she won't eat or take her medication."
Lily rolled her eyes. Trust a succubus to feel guilty for a heroic werewolf streak, she thought. "I'll talk some sense into her," Lily offered.
The doctor looked at her as if he wasn't sure that was such a good idea but Donovan spoke up. "She just might listen to Lily. Bill, Lord Etienne, and I have all tried to talk to her," he said.
Nick nodded, giving the okay, not that Lily felt like she needed his permission to talk to her friend. "Alright, I was wondering if the Aequivalere could give us some insight on who might be this new boss," he said, looking to Bill and Donovan.
Bill ran a hand over his face, looking thoughtful. "No self-respecting vampire would ever consider aiding Vincent and his fascination with Xavier's research. Vampires see themselves superior to all other supernatural creatures, given their immortality, beauty, and habit of turning only what they consider being the best of humanity. They'd never consider mixing their bloodlines with that of the lycans ."
"Are you sure they'd never consider it or that they wouldn't publically consider it?" Lily asked back.
"They'd never consider it. Remember, hybrids have all been actively hunted through the years. You only live because of the association with Aequivalere, Andrew, and myself," he replied. "They consider lycans to be everything they're not: dirty, savage, and completely uncivilized."
Several of the werewolves, snorted, growled, and scoffed to voice what they thought about that. Lily didn't care either way. "Alright if not another vampire, then who? Another werewolf?"
"No," Nick said in an answer instead of Bill, but Lily could tell that Bill was going to say the same. "Vincent seems like a fairly powerful vampire. I very much doubt he'd take orders from anyone that he deemed less than an equal. I don't see him seeing any wolf as his equal, but an alpha," he explained.
"So maybe one of the alphas are working for him," Lily replied.
"It's possible, but I doubt it," Nick replied. "Vincent and his followers have pissed off the vampires, the werewolves, and the Aequivalere, which is nothing short of a death wish. It's an act of desperation, an alpha would never make. A good alpha wouldn't risk his people, and a bad alpha wouldn't risk his power for a slim chance that the vampire can figure out what Xavier had done to turn you into a hybrid."
"So in other words, we have no clue," Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Which makes me wonder if we shouldn't send Tristen somewhere else," she added slowly. The idea just coming to her as she spoke.
"Why would we do that?" Nick's brother asked, and she could tell the suggestion had offended him.
"Why wouldn't we?" James said, finally speaking up. "What real reason would we keep her here. So easy for Vincent to come and grab? She almost got taken last night, and her wrist was crushed. If it weren't for Xin Qian, she'd probably never use that hand again. If we took her to Tony Roberts territory, I think she'd be safer."
Lily grinned over at James where he sat next to her. That had been exactly what she'd been thinking. Her brother's pack would be able to keep Tristen safe. She was sure of it. They had fought off Silvano's brood a few months ago so they knew what to look for.
"Are you suggesting I can't keep one human safe here in my territory?" Nick's brother asked, definitely offended by the suggestion.
"Yes I am," Lily snapped at him. "Now deal with it."
Nick grabbed his brother's arm and kept him from jumping out of his seat. "Don't let her get to you, Bro. She's just pushing your buttons," he told him. "Lily, that really wasn't nice."
Lily grinned at his brother and shrugged. "Tell him not to get offended over stupid stuff. This isn't about him," she told him. "In case you haven't noticed guys, she got hurt. We all, every single one of us, failed her last night."
"I don't think moving her would be a good idea," Bill said, his expression still grim. "I don't know much about Andy's son. He may be a good alpha."
"And he's had to deal with vampires before," Lily jumped in, giving him a hard glare. She dared him to say something bad about Tony.
Bill gave her a slightly irritated glare before he continued. "Vincent has probably drunk enough from Tristan that he could track her as easily as if she had a GPS tracker on her. Here we have several packs and almost fifty vampires working together. If we've failed, how can one pack protect her? And he will go after her, Lily. Go after her with all he's got. In the end, he still thinks she's the key to figuring out what Xavier did to make you hybrid."
Lily scowled at him. She hated that he made sense. She hated that there was nothing more she could think of to keep Tristen safe from that blood sucking leech. James laid a hand on her thigh, giving it a small squeeze as comfort. Lily just might be able to get used to this, she thought was some amusement. The hint of a grin on his weathered lips told her that he knew it too. "Alright, so what do we do? Do you think he'll be coming tonight?"
"We'll keep our guard up tonight," Nick replied. "I'm more worried about what you told me of the little wolves. They were my pack's omegas. They're too passive to have openly challenged you so I think the vampire may have persuaded them to be a distraction."