MATHIAS
“Found them,” I inform Jamison as I stride into the living room. With a grimace, he carefully sits up. “They’re alive. Has Gatlin returned?”
His brow furrows. “Not yet. I’m worried. It’s not like him.” He stares at me. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”
Ignoring his question, I press him on Gatlin. “Think the council detained him?”
“Probably,” he says, raising a hand to his head. I grab him a pain pill and some water, which he takes immediately. “I need to contact my father and find out what’s going on.”
He reaches for his phone and dials. When his father picks up, he puts it on speaker. “Where is Gatlin?”
His father gives a harsh laugh. “Where do you think? He’s in interrogation. The council is considering a trial. Against you. They want to gather all the evidence they can before they charge you.” He exhales loudly. “You’ve ruined our family name.Embarrassed me. And the humans are still out there causing chaos, threatening to expose us.”
“You have no right to hold him,” Jamison coolly states, although I can tell he’s worried about what they’re going to do to him.
“We have him on camera, at the hospital, helping you escape,” his father spits out. “He knew the council’s orders and decided to ignore our authority.”
Jamison curses loudly. “He reports to me. I ordered him to get me out of there.”
“Then turn yourself in, and we’ll consider letting him go,” Lord de Vere promptly says. “I’m sure they’ll be lenient on you. Ask for your resignation. Require you to make a public apology to those poor families who lost a loved one. Not too bad, considering.”
Jamison’s jaw tics. “I’ll think about it.” He hangs up and looks at me. “Until we have a handle on our enemies and the traitor, I want to avoid the council. We need a plan to break him out.”
“I built our security systems. I’ll help Gatlin, but first, I need to stash you somewhere safe,” I tell him. Knowing he’s going to protest, I hold up a hand and continue. “It’s only until you recover. If we stay in London, they’ll find us.”
“Damn it,” he curses. “I fucking hate this. Where are you taking me?”
“To her,” I tell him. His eyes drop to conceal the spark that lights in their depths. “Do you need anything before we go?”
He shakes his head. After covering our tracks at the safe house, we step into a portal to her place.
“It’s Mathias,” I call out, not wanting to be shot.
She comes around the corner, gun in hand, but tucks it away the moment she sees us. Her face lights up the second her gazelands on Jamison. Sparks fly between the two of them as they drink each other in.
I glance down at him and catch the daggers in his eyes. He’s pissed that she’s seeing him like this. Vulnerable. Hurt. Even though it’s temporary.
I raise an eyebrow. “Couch or bed?”
“Couch,” he snarls, raising a hand to his head.
I set him down gently and hand his medications to Phaedra. “I’ll be back soon. I have to get Gatlin.” I leave out the part where I’m going to have to break into the council to get him out. There’s no reason for her to worry. “I didn’t have a chance to tell Jamison about Hawthorne. Maybe you can fill him in.”
Jamison opens his mouth, but I shake my head, silently telling him not to say anything. She’ll only worry more. His mouth firms, and he agrees.
Phaedra sits down beside him on the couch, her fingers lightly tracing the tight lines around his face. “How bad is it?”
Leaving them here is tough. All I want to do is stand guard, ready to slay anyone who comes through that door. My fangs ache with the need to tear into our enemies.Damn. The old me is starting to show.Not now.
With a flick, I disappear into a portal and arrive at my favorite safe house in London. Firing up the computer, I watch the large monitors flicker on, one by one. Time to get to work. I flex my fingers and begin to search the council’s numerous holding facilities. Over the years, I’ve slowly overhauled every single security system, conveniently leaving myself a back door in case we were ever hacked. Never thought I’d use it to commit treason.
Each screen shows a different facility. Images fly by too fast for the human eye to see, but vampires have the unique ability to process things at a much faster speed. Maybe because we can move so much faster than other supernaturals.
There. I stop the camera and watch six guards escort Gatlin from a holding cell into an interrogation room. Based on the large scowl he’s wearing, he’s pissed. I’m surprised he’s cooperating.
I switch to another angle on a different screen while this one continues to run. Inside the interrogation room, Daegan walks in with a frown on his face and sits across from Gatlin. That’s strange. Is he going to conduct the interrogation?
“Leave us,” Daegan orders the guards. When they don’t move, flames appear in his eyes. “That’s an order. Unless you want to see how fast I can fry a mage?”
