Hegna held back a smirk.
“Hello to you, too, sister.” Hegna chuckled. She ran a hand along her face, sensing she was more tired than she thought. She wouldn’t get any good rest until she returned home. The cot in the room was tiny and the mattress hard. It was nothing like the soft mattress she had back in her castle. Before her nap, she’d washed up in one of the shower rooms to erase the grime and blood from the battle. She’d donned fresh clothing and was ready to go back out in the field.
“You know Velika doesn’t have a filter.” Lethia laughed. Her hologram figure took a few steps around the enclosure before spinning around. “Did you take care of the problem?”
Hegna stood and folded her arms in front of her chest. She and her sisters had trained together since the moment they could wield a sword. As the heir to the throne, Hegna never thought less of her sisters. She valued their opinion and expertise. The three of them had always been stronger working together, and that would continue when she was made queen.
“To answer Velika, I’m in a bunker in Nebraska. Lycans were on the attack here, and we came to take care of it,” Hegna snarled.
When they had arrived, lycans had roamed the city, putting it on lockdown. Vampires and humans were afraid to leave their homes. As warden of this territory, it was Hegna’s responsibility to keep all safe. The human police were not powerful enough to fight against the lycans. It was best for all humans to stay inside and away from the beasts. Their main intention was to capture humans and turn them.
“Do you need assistance?” Velika raised an eyebrow.
Hegna chuckled and shook her head. Her sister was bloodthirsty and wouldn’t hesitate to come to fight.
“Seriously?” Hegna snorted but then became serious. “If I needed you, I would have called.”
That was one thing they all had in common. They would never take on more than they could handle. One call was all it would take to bring the three sisters together. But for now, Hegna didn’t need help. It was touching that her sister was prepared to drop whatever she was doing to come to be at her side.
“So why the call?” Lethia asked.
“There is something I needed to share with you,” Hegna said. She hadn’t had a chance to update them on the situation in Sanlow. They needed to be brought up to speed on what had been discovered.
“What? That you’ve claimed your mate?” Lethia leaned back against the wall. She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and wagged her eyebrows.
“What? No,” Hegna growled. She didn’t want to update her sisters yet on the situation between her and Stormey. If she did, they wouldn’t let her get to the reason for her call.
Velika whistled. She had once shared the same views as Hegna. She hadn’t wanted a mate and tried to resist her human, Quinn. But her sister eventually gave in and claimed her mate.
“I’m not sure if your will is better than mine or you’re just an idiot,” Velika said.
“Fuck off,” Hegna snapped. She rolled her head around, feeling tension in her neck muscles. Everyone always wanted her to do things at their pace. She would determine how and when she would claim her mate. Just for once, she wished she was a normal vampire with no rules or traditions she would be forced to follow. Being a royal meant she would always be in the eye of the public. “Nezera has been tracking lycans for me, and I will need your assistance.”
The room fell quiet. The smiles disappeared from her sisters’ faces as they waited for Hegna to continue.
“What’s going on?” Velika asked. Her icy-blue eyes, same as all the sisters shared, narrowed on Hegna.
“There is a human town, just over the border in Canada, that has been overrun by the lycans,” Hegna announced. The fact the lycans were able to attack a human town pissed her off. She may be a vampire, but she wouldn’t wish a forced turning on the poor humans. They were the weaker race, and it was her job to protect all who were under her rule, be it vampire or human. She was immediately going to have new protocols put in place for other human towns. This could not continue to happen. Thankfully, they had the informant who was willing to share everything with them.
“Are there any humans left?” Lethia asked quietly. Even though her sisters were only there by way of hologram, the tension in the room thickened.
“Negative. They were all turned. At least the ones who survived the change,” she replied.
Curses flew around. She had a plan to try to flush out the alpha that involved her sisters. The alpha would not be able to defeat the three of them. They were too powerful.
“There is one lycan who I am willing to give amnesty to as long as he continues to provide us with information.”
“And why would you want to give one of those beasts amnesty?” Velika growled.
It was eerie how much Velika’s tempter was similar to hers. Hegna shared the story of the informant and the death of his wife and child. Velika, who was mated and a mother herself, settled back and gave a nod. By the look of her facial expression, this hit home. Something like this could happen to not only her mate, but to Lethia’s and Hegna’s as well.
“You made a sound decision. He will be able to infiltrate places we will never be able to go.”
“Lethia, do you still have those two humans in your dungeon?” Hegna asked.
Lethia’s mate had been a part of the human resistance group. It was later discovered that the leaders of the group who were supposed to be helping humans escape their matches—lied. The males were actually taking the humans away and hand-delivering them to lycans. The poor humans had been turned against their will by the lycans.
“I do,” Lethia confirmed. “What are you thinking?”
