As I approached the conference room, I heard a very familiar voice—one that only amplified my ire.
“I take it you got Victor’s head,” Adam Emery said. “Did the alpha shifter receive my gift yet?”
Gritting my teeth, I stalked into the room, clutching Dane’s ripped clothes and cell phone.
My father raised a finger to his lips as he pointed to his cell phone on the table. He was probably reading my mind because I was ready to spit venom at Adam. Instead, I sat in the chair Dane had been in and tossed his clothes onto the leather seat next to me.
Webb was crushing his pen. Tripp’s jaw was granite.
I passed Dane’s phone around, sharing the pictures of Ross and the note.
“I have a good mind to send Fred’s head to you,” my father said in a venomous tone as he glanced at the image of Ross on Dane’s cell.
“You know you won’t do any such thing.” The cockiness in Adam’s voice made me want to slash his throat. “If you do, you don’t stand a chance with the humans in this country. I’ll show the world that you and your precious Vampire Navy SEALs are predators and that all of you should be wiped off the face of the earth. You won’t win this war, Steven.”
My father glared at his phone as if it were Adam. “If you hate vampires, then why are you working with Roman Brown and Draven Murphy?”
“I never said I hated vampires. I just despise the Masons. Your brother Patrick was a great man and my closest friend. My goal is to honor him. I promised him that after I was successful in building my army of supernatural soldiers, I would kill you and those you care about. I’ll start with your son, Sam.”
I opened my mouth to volley a threat, but Tripp held out his arm and shook his head at me. I snarled at my lieutenant and best bud next to me. I really wanted to say what was on my mind.
“Adam, don’t think for a second that you’ll succeed,” my father said in a tight voice. “Hiring Roman or Draven isn’t your smoking gun. Let’s face it—Roman is dead, which means you’re down to Draven. The Murphy family doesn’t want a war with me. Draven knows that. Don’t you think he would’ve tried before now to take out me or anyone on my team?” My father chuckled, the sound deadly. “Draven’s objective is money. That’s the only reason he’s agreed to whatever deal you two have.”
The sound of a train could be heard in the background.
The four of us exchanged knowing looks before Tripp typed out a text to someone.
“It seems, Steven, you know all. But I hate to break it to you—you have no idea what’s coming. Now, release Fred and Carly, and the bloodshedwill stop for now.” He emphasized the last four words.
My father was digging a fang into his bottom lip. “Carly came to us of her own free will. She’s free to leave anytime. But she doesn’t want to. And I know she has Patrick’s files, and that’s the only reason you want her. But what I’m trying to figure out is why you’re coercing me to release your brother after the several months that he’s been my prisoner. Why now?”
I bounced my foot, waiting anxiously to hear Adam’s response. I wasn’t expecting him to give us a truthful answer.
“I understand that you had no love for Patrick,” Adam said. “But I do for my brother.” Then the call ended.
The four of us sat there, not saying a word for a long minute.
Webb had broken his pen in two, and he lobbed one half of it across the room toward the trash can. “That went as I expected. Nowhere.”
“What do you think Adam meant by ‘you have no idea what’s coming’?” I asked. “Do you think his experiments are working?”
“Maybe he is creating more Noahs and Riannes,” my father bit out. “Maybe he’ll use those as his army for now.”
More Noahs and Riannes would be a shit show. Humans would probably be more frightened of the hybrid monsters than vampires.
“Sir, I have Sawyer finding train stations and railroads in North Dakota,” Tripp said.
“I take it we have confirmation that Draven is partnering with Adam?” I asked Tripp.
“Affirmative,” he said.
My father pushed to his feet, grabbed the last bottle of blood out of the six-pack, and popped the top. “I’ll call Baxter Murphy, Draven’s father. I doubt I can convince him to knock some sense into his son. Baxter is as cunning and money hungry as Draven. But it’s worth a shot.”
If Adam didn’t have either Roman or Draven, then he might be dead in the water until he found another vampire guinea pig with lots of money. Or at least one with an army to fight against us.
During a lull in the conversation, I said, “Not to change the topic, but Dane shifted and took off into the city. The guard had no choice but to let him through the gate. I doubt I could’ve stopped him either.”
My dad took a swig of blood. “Just what we need—a wolf the size of a horse running around Boston. Let’s hope we don’t have repercussions from that.”
