Roane knew all of this. He read over every document, every witness testimony that the detectives had gotten from the event. None of it made sense to him except one item. It was tied to the Immortal. It was the only thing that made sense. If a vampire had been able to take her, he would've known by now. If another supernatural species had found out about her, he would've known too. He was linked to her and he agreed with the 'blue lady'. Davy wasn't nearby, maybe not even in the country or in their time line. The Immortal had infinite powers. She could be in another universe and he had no idea how to find her.
He smiled politely. "Unfortunately, I haven't heard from Davy for awhile before she went missing. We'd called things off because of, well for various reasons."
Emily ducked her head down and sucked in her breath. Pete glanced at her, but then understanding dawned. He jerked his eyes back up and stared at Roane. Lucas knew it was coming, felt the wolf sniffing through every layer of thought and emotion he had in him, but he steeled himself against the investigation. Yes, Pete knew there was history between Emily and Roane, but he was just now starting to guess the true nature of that history.
Then with a distant smile, Roane thrust Gavin from his head and met the Alpha full force.
'She didn't tell you the truth, did she?'
Pete sat back, shocked and enraged. His lip started to quirk upwards in a growl.
'She told me you two were friends, nothing of what I'm getting from her now. Were you lovers? Did you throw her away once you were done as vampires always do? You discard people who care for you, treat them like garbage.'
Roane's eyes narrowed.
'Emily had a crush on me. That was it. Your mate has never had any sort of relationship with me other than that of a classmate. That is all. We were not even friends. Search her mind. You'll find the truth.'
'I don't go in her head unless she wants me to. I respect her privacy.'
A cruel smirk came over Roane and his eyes mocked.
'That's the biggest piece of bullshit I've ever heard a wolf tell me. You bulldoze your way through her head and heart, sniffing under every emotion she has, any memory from her past. You didn't find me because I'm telling you the truth. She had a school girl crush on me, still does apparently. And it means nothing to me.'
Pete's eyes went feral and he surged to his feet.
Roane stood to meet him, calm as he smiled in his adversary's face. Gavin followed at a slower pace, but grinned in excited anticipation. He had a cocky glint to his eyes as he waited for the wolf to pounce. He thirsted for it even.
Emily sucked in her breath. The blood had drained from her face.
Gavin winked at her. "Don't worry, love. The two baddies need to figure out which is the alpha and who's the loser." Then his eyes found Pete's and he said with more promise, "Because there's always only one Alpha."
Pete drew back his thoughts and his fury was quickly gone. He forced a smile and looked down to grab Emily's hand. After he pulled her up and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, he laughed and forced
a
carefree note. "I can tell that Roane cared for Davy. If he knew where she was, he'd tell us. He misses her as much as you do." A sinister smile came over him as he thought,
'You're right about one thing. I can tell that Davy meant more to you than you want to admit. It's all over your thoughts. You're as desperate to find her as Emily is, but you're not as scared as her. You know more than you're telling. I intend to find out what that is.'
Gavin narrowed his eyes.
'Go and pee somewhere else. This isn't your territory. It'd be a shame if a vampire decided to sneak a little taste from your lover. You know how powerful those spells can be, don't you…or have you already tasted the last vampire that's been in her?'
Pete snarled and showed his teeth.
"Pete!" Emily gasped as she clutched onto his arm.
Alerted by the sounds of a werewolf, the vampires surrounding them dropped their conversations and turned. They squared off against the werewolf.
Gavin taunted, "Everyone here knows what you are. They stayed away because you seemed that you were under friendly terms. Those terms are gone and even a wolf as powerful as you can't take everyone here, not when there's a hunter in the room."
Emily squeaked and fell down. Pete caught her with one arm as he glared across the table at both vampires. "I could kill both of you in a heartbeat, then thirty more before any of them could touch me."
"They'd get her." Roane narrowed his eyes and watched as Emily seemed to swoon unsteadily on her feet.
'She doesn't know who we are. If you hope to protect her, you need to tell her everything.'
The Alpha drew back.
'You talk now as if you care for her. Before, you were disrespectful to her.'
"Not everything I do will make sense to you," Roane chose his words carefully. He wanted the wolf to feel unbalanced. He didn't want the Alpha to start connecting dots.
Pete stood at his fullest height. "I think we should leave. I've gotten the answer that we came for anyway." He watched the vampires around them cautiously as he edged out of the booth and then down the aisle.
Roane caught Gregory's gaze, who had been standing in a far corner. He nodded and then gestured towards the wolf. Gregory bent his head.
Gavin watched Gregory follow them and chuckled. "Let's hope the Viking can jump rooftops. That's the only way he's going to be able to follow that wolf."
"He can." Roane turned away and saw Wren in another corner. She was wrapped around another female vampire.
Both stopped and watched the display for a second and then Gregory burst out laughing. Wren looked up, but then bent her back to her lover's neck, sucking on it. The other vampire seemed unaffected, unaware that Wren had ever stopped and clutched the back of her head. She moaned as she pressed closer against her.
As they went back to Roane's office, Gavin helped himself to a drink. "What do you think of the wolf? He's a powerful young pup."
Roane went to his tinted windows and watched below. "He is strong, stronger than the old Alpha, but he's young."
"Human age, he's what? 30s?"
"At least." Roane frowned as Wren grabbed another female vampire and included her in their embrace. All three were quickly caressing, kissing, licking, and gaining more attention than Roane wanted his second right-hand vampire to obtain. When a male pressed into the group, Roane saw that Wren grabbed his head and shoved it against her breast. He latched on and kneeled with one of the other women.
Gavin stood next to him and lifted his glass in a salute. "Here's to Wren getting an orgy. She knows how to fulfill that need, huh?"
"Most of these vampires have crossed the world, pledging their loyalty to me. They came because of my reputation of an honorable hunter. That's not honorable. That's primal. We're above that."
"Oh come on. Looks to me that Wren's just stressed. She's letting out some of her tension. When's Tracey supposed to arrive?"
"You mean with my sworn enemy?" Roane couldn't stop a smile as he regarded his best friend.
Gavin opened his mouth, but it hung there, suspended. Then he laughed and shut it. "I forgot about that little detail. Sorry, mate. You know what you're going to have to do, right?"
"What's that?"
"Just rip the new hunter's head off his body and take his army as yours. It was yours anyway. The Elders forced a new hunter, because they want to kill the Immortal and you want to protect her. Such a trivial little difference, you know? I think all those vampires will be thankful that you're making them follow you. You're a much better leader than they could ever get and you know it. They know it. Hell, even the new hunter knows it."
Roane grew somber, but then a hard glint appeared in his eyes. "They chose what side they were on, as all of these vampires here have. They've chosen my side."
"Because they believe in what you believe in." Gavin finished his drink and spoke with gravity. "There's a civil war brewing in the vampire nation. Every one of us knows it and the Immortal is the reason for it. Half of them don't even believe she exists. They're here because you stand for the new age, for a different standard of our living. That's why they're here. For you, not for Davy. They don't even know who she is or why you've stood your ground against the Roane Elders."
"Don't forget the Romah Elders."
"Forget those old bastards. They're so ancient; I could snap them in half. They've grown rusty, gotten too used to being protected by the Roane Family."
"Jacith is aligned with them."
Gavin narrowed his eyes at his best friend, who stared at the club below. "Maybe it's time for Jacith to end, huh?"
Roane smirked and now looked at Gavin. "And who's going to do that? Jacith is old. He's powerful as a vampire and he's powerful as a sorcerer. He'd snap you in half."
"I'm not saying that I have all the answers. I'm just telling you my opinion of them. I'm sure I'm not alone. If you were to declare war against the Romah Family, I'm sure you'd have more than my Family behind you, maybe even every vampire Family in the nation."
"Not the Mori Nation."
Gavin opened his mouth, but snapped it shut. "They don't count. They're freaks of nature."
Roane barked out a laugh, but stopped. "Are you serious? You know that's where Lucan is hiding. He might even be one of them by now."
"The birthing baby vampire magic circus? No. He's not one of them." Gavin's eyes grew dangerous. "No, no. He's not one of them. He's human. And he wants them to kidnap Davy and force the thread from her. Everyone knows the lore. It'll attach to the closest human. Oh no. Lucan will stay human because he wants to be the next Immortal."
Roane closed his eyes as he heard his worst nightmare. Davy would die. His brother would become the Immortal and he'd have too much power than any being should have in a lifetime. There was a reason why it chose the next holder of the thread, but according to Davy, she wasn't the thread. She was the Immortal, a prophecy no vampire had been foretold about. And that was one of the reasons why his former Family's Elders refused to believe what he had told them. There was no prophecy stating the thread would become an actual entity. The thread was just there. It jumped from human to human and they were always protected by them so no vampire could obtain that power.
"They're stupid. They refuse to listen to me," Roane bit out. "You're right. A new order has to come in power. They refuse to hear what I've told them and it'll be the death of them. She's not a thread. She is something we know nothing about."
Gavin's finger clenched around his glass and it shattered. He was unfazed by the broken shards of glass in his hands. "She might be missing right now, but she's coming back. And something tells me that she's coming back with a vengeance. Your girl will be okay, no matter how long she's away."
Roane closed his eyes. He wanted to believe what he heard. "Let's hope."
"No matter what we think, we have another problem on our hands. That Alpha has to be dealt with."
"He's a complication that I didn't foresee," Roane admitted as he remembered Emily's haunted eyes. No, he saw how she had trusted him. He'd been her last resort and she thought he could produce Davy, no matter how unrealistic that wish had been.
Gavin chuckled and turned for another drink. "Takes a strong man, wolf or human, to bring your lover to a place and ask for help from someone she's got her 'knight in shining armor' fantasy with. I'm surprised he took it that well."
"He didn't know." Roane felt his stomach twist. "She lied to him about her feelings and she kept them hidden from him. He thought I'd had a few classes with her. He didn't know about her feelings or how she'd handled the truth about Davy and me."
"Which she still hasn't." Gavin turned back and looked out the window with Roane. They stood shoulder to shoulder. "She heard about it before Davy went missing, but she hasn't seen it. It's not a reality with her, not yet. And, mate, she had more than a crush on you. I think the girl thought she was in love with you."
"Most humans have stupid idealistic fantasies. They live in a delusional world."
"Regardless, the lass was hurt. I wonder how the wolf is going to handle that. It can't be easy, knowing that your mate has feelings for someone else and a different species too."
"They're not real." Roane turned away and grabbed a bottle of bourbon.
"They're not real to you, but they're real to her."
"Shut up."
Gavin grinned. "Oh come on. You've never had your heart shattered by someone that you only fantasized about? Fantasized so hard that you tricked yourself into thinking she was real?"
"Maybe when I was human?"
"She
is
human. So is Davy." Gavin watched his mate and saw that Roane gave nothing away. He never did. Then Gavin clinked his glass with Roane's. "Here's to us. Breaking hearts and breaking blood. There's going to be a load spilled with this war coming on."
Roane didn't comment, but gripped his glass tighter. Gavin was right, something that Roane tried not to think about every day, but he couldn't get Wren's voice out of his head. She told him that they'd need Davy and that they'd need her powers. He knew it was true. If they were going to survive the future, they'd need a miracle. They'd need the Immortal.