Chapter 134 2-6 - WE NEED TO TALK
\-VANCE'S POV-
It was Sianna who charged at Ezekiel this time. She blew a fuse at the mention of our pup. Rage consumed her. I held her around the waist to stop her cute little attack. She fought against me but my robust strength kept her feet from moving forward.
He was the creepy Alpha who had been stalking Sianna with his presence all night and was very much an accomplice of the mermaid.
"No-no," Ezekiel cried in desperation. His face was stained with tears. "I would never go against you, my king! It was her, the fucking mermaid!"
"Foolish son of a bitch." Gong spat out in hatred.
"He's good as dead." I heard Basil say.
Several other murmurs sluiced and I silenced them with a fierce growl. "Enough!" The crowd went immediately quiet and still as a statue, and I continued, "Do you know the consequences of what could have transpired tonight? Do you think that if I had lost my mate that there would be any excuse in the world that you could have given me?"
My arms tightened around Sianna as she tried to lunge at him again. The swaying flame of anger that coursed through her veins was not one that would subside so easily.
"And now you have the nerve to tell me that the fucking mermaid was going to go after my son! I take it that you would have let her into my pack under false guise to accomplish her goal!" I yelled.
Many around us nodded their heads in agreement. Ezekiel's lips trembled and sputtered with pity in his eyes. "P-please your h- highness."
"Lift him to his feet." I instructed the guards as I glared at him with contempt.
"I-I can help you. There's m-more." His shaky voice implored as he was aggressively erected by each guard on his left and right, gripping his arms tightly.
"Burn in hell," Sianna gritted, her icy-blue eyes dilated.
Nail elongated into claws, holding his petrified hazel eyes on my searing emerald. Positioning my claws at the location of his heart, slowly the sharp edged tips pierced into his chest. My fingers went all the way inside of him as he sputtered, coughed and choked on his own blood.
The red metallic liquid seeped down his torso until it began marring the ballroom floor. I rotated my claws around his heart and clamped down on the organ, pulling it right out of him. He gaped his last breath with his eyes wide open. The organ pumped for two seconds and that was it. Alpha Ezekiel died.
An Omega quickly brought a bowl of clean water and a towel for me to wash my hands. My time here was completed.
"The assassin is dead. Gong, Gavin, and Holderfield will update you on what happened tonight. Check your emails tomorrow for an online meeting." I spoke fast and eloquently pronounced all my words while we made our way out of the building. "Luna Queen and I are departing now. Take care, everyone."
They all bowed and muttered their farewells. Sianna was all too restless but happy that we were on our way home.
We did not sleep on the jet. Sianna called Valen a thousand times to make sure they were alright. Each time, she got the same update.
"Mom, we are good. The twins are in their room. Raina and Devin are sleeping over." Valen informed with an exasperated sigh.
"Aright honey, if anything happens you know what to do." Sianna hung up the phone and gave me another worried look.
"Baby, you'll make them anxious if you keep calling like that." I cupped her cheeks as she sat next to me with my right hand encircling her.
I phoned Duke to tighten security and to have extra elites at our house. Besides, Valen could hold his own with his bald eagle and white lion guardian at his side. He was as protective as we were with the pack and essentially our family unit.
It was about 2 a.m. when we opened the doors of our home in Dark Wolverson. Sianna did not hitch to go to all the rooms upstairs to check on the kids before she came to me in our master bedroom. We had a quick shower, no hanky-panky and got some rest.
"We need to talk."
A text like this can only mean one thing. The kids had done something or Sianna wanted me involved in an unfavorable matter. Either way, these four words caused anxiety and were one of the most unsettling statements to hear in a relationship. Notwithstanding that our marriage has been good over the years, reading the single line left me feeling queasy.
As early as the sunlight's crown of dawn emerged, I got to the pack house in my office. Sianna was sleeping when I left the house. I'll take it that she woke up from missing my presence in bed. She probably wanted to cuddle this morning. I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my face with both palms before I sent her a response.
\-Me: Okay baby. How about lunch?
Then, right on time, Duke arrived, bursting a loud, long yawn as he
entered the space. As usual, he went to the bistro table to make coffee. "Good morning, Vance." He greeted hoarsely as he pre- warmed the cafetière.
The sleep was evident in his bleary Nordic blue eyes and I would assume he did not bother to comb his blond hair this morning since his head looked like a rooster's nest. It was the only thing unkempt about him because his denim jeans and yellow T-shirt were neat.
The omegas were already shuffling around to perform their duties, but I must admit that there were times that I preferred to have them
out of
way.
"Duke," I responded as my mind trailed off to think about a possible new threat. There was never a dull moment in a king's life. I'll have the meetings with the Alphas after meeting with Sianna later.
"I see that your Gamma thinks it's alright to slack off his job at his age." Duke groused, adding freshly ground coffee to the hot water.
I snorted, feeling the base of my chin.
"Vance, are you going to talk about it?" Duke retrieved two white tea mugs and placed them down. He knew I was bothered by something.
"We have a werelion situation." I replied, resting both hands on the armrest of my chair.
Duke laughed, finding humor in it as he sweetened the coffee in my mug, stirring the spoon. "Wait, you're not kidding?"
"Nope." He was right about Blayne. I wanted to get into details as
quickly as possible and the bastard wasn't here yet. I decided to blast at him through the mind-link, "Blayne, wake the hell up! If you're not here in two minutes I'll cut your fucking pay!"
"Shit! I overslept. Why must you go that far, Vance? I'm on my way." His coarse morning voice complained.
Duke grinned as he heard every word and placed the mug before me. I accepted it graciously. He made the best coffee. I must give him props. He took a chair in front of me and together we sipped. Matron Madeline will bring breakfast shortly.
Blayne arrived looking worse than Duke. His black T-shirt had wrinkling lines and his khaki trousers needed ironing. Wearing a scowl, he ran a hand in his brown hair, scratching it as his half- lidded brown eyes found me and Duke observing him. "You and your flea problem." Duke jeered to aggravate him.
He glared at the Beta and expelled a long tired breath and went to help himself to a cup of coffee. "I'm here, Alpha."
I swallowed the coffee in my mouth and began, "A mermaid attacked
Sianna at the Claiming Ceremony last night. I killed the bitch but she had siphoned Ezekiel of the BryneFalls Pack. He alleged that the
mermaids are after my son."
Both men had a surprised expression that quickly receded in order to process the information that I communicated.
"Which one?" Blayne asked as he placed the decanter on the warming plate and strode over to sit to the left of Duke. "Valen or
Vaheed?"
"It doesn't matter," I took another sip of coffee before proceeding, " I want airborne men at Oscianever Loch in the Pacific and a satellite report of the Islands of Holmeva Ferney."
My phone chimed. I took up the mobile and checked the messages. Sianna had responded, 'Sure (heart emoji).' I put the phone down and softly smiled before going back to our discussion.
"The mermaid alluded that werelions attacked their tribe and are
holding them hostage on the islands according to an order that I
assigned." I related, leaning forward and clasping my hands on the
desk.
"Pfft!" Duke sneered, with furrowed brows.
"Come on," Blayne saw the absurdity too, "We have no regime over
those pussycats."
"They claimed that I am the Beast King." To my knowledge, no one
held that title.
"That's a good one." Duke snickered, finishing the last of his coffee.
His blue eyes darkened with fury. "Nice way to drag us into their beef so that we fight their war for them."
Indeed, this whole thing could be a tactical plot instigated by the
merfolks. A psychological game that the enemy was playing and I had to ensure that I was the one holding all the cards. Had it not been for the threat of my family, I would have left it alone. Now that it was
aired, I had to assess the situation and protect my people at all cost. Werewolves were the dominant species where shifters were concerned. There are approximately two billion werewolves in the world. Whereas the werelions population was around 1.2 million and their residency was in Wisconsin.
With that population, we could fit all of them on one island. If that
was what they wanted, all the councils of each species would have to
approve of it. As you can see, the merfolks refused to give up their
islands.
The system was predominantly dominated by the members of the Supernatural Triad Council. Politics was controlled by the powerful heads of species for each state.
"So, the merfolks want to avenge their fallen ones because they believe we did it." Blayne summarized, leaning his body to the left side of the chair. Annoyance flashed in his face.
His words stoke up a tiny stream of uneasiness in my gut. "I want
our shorelines properly guarded."
"Of course, I'll ensure the kids have guards all around," Blayne
assured.
"Have all the warriors do a refresher course on defense against merfolks' powers," I instructed. Blayne nodded with commitment.
"We ought to let Senior Elites Liam and Donald take a mission to infiltrate their lair in Wisconsin without Assad's knowledge." Duke simply mentioned. "It's better to be safe than sorry and cover all
areas."
Assad was the king of the werelions. Therefore, he was heavily involved in whatever tyranny had been taking place. Nevertheless, it was not time to approach him. Intel was required before I interposed with my foot in it.
The rest of my coffee had gone cold, nevertheless I drank it all down.
Duke took up the empty mug to put on the oval, black resin tray on the bistro table and an Omega would collect it later for washing. "Chad will lead the air force to the Pacific," Blayne added, "And I'll get the satellite images for your perusal within the next hour." "Well that's it for today." I adjourned, powering up my laptop to send out the emails to the Alphas. "Ensure that you decline all entry
of non-pack members."
"Roger that, Alpha." Blayne was the first to stand and exited after putting down his mug on the tray.
Duke also stood and did a stretch.
"
"Duke," I was typing on my keyboard without looking up. BryneFalls will need a new Alpha. I want their file updated with the
new ruler and make sure that he's a good one."
"I'm on it," he said.
With that, I was left alone in the office, leaving me in the silence of
the room. The frustration returned but I shoved it away. My troops would easily outnumber the two warring species. It gave me some
comfort. After all, we had everything that any military would require to go to war.
A knock at the door made me snap my head up. "Enter." "Good morning, Alpha." The brunette Omega bowed upon entering
and proceeded with a green porcelain tray in her hands with my
breakfast.
Smelling the bacon, my tummy rumbled. She came all the way around to my chair and I adjusted my laptop by sliding it over.
A pleased smile appeared on my lips as I looked down at my delicious plate. French toast, bacon, sausage, diced tomatoes, spinach, and scrambled eggs with a glass of apple juice.
"I used to prepare it like that for you. Do you remember, Vance?"
The audacity drew a sudden awareness as her ripe banana scent lightly prodded my nose. My expression changed to several shades of
storm as I realized who was in the room with me. "What the fuck are you doing in my pack?" I snarled.