Virgil [Marius Brothers 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) (5 page)

“Then the shit goes down with the margays and their King is attacked. The secret of their blood was highly guarded information that we didn’t even know about. You’d have to have lots of pull or friends to know about that. Say like leader of a High Council who has a large margay population in their territory?”

“You think the head of the Western Europe High Council is in league with the demons?” Caleb’s eyes looked ready to pop out of his head. I’d get to my proof in a bit, but I wanted to put the idea in their head so I nodded.

“Right. So then we end up having a Kappa who’s an Alpha, mated to a powerful founding family.
We
barely learn about all this and the demons take such a risk as to try to take Caven out right away?”

“You think they were targeting Caven and not just trying to attack that night?” Stefan asked, blinking at me in shock.

“Yeah, I highly doubt they just so happen to get in an accident with Darcy’s SUV on the way to gathering for an attack,” I drawled. “The target was Caven. He’s an asset. They needed to take him out before he became as powerful as King Rylan and got the wolves to be an asset. Fletcher wasn’t a good or well-trained Alpha. He wouldn’t have been a threat to the demons, but Caven? Mated to Gabriel? Oh yeah.”

“So you think it had to be one of the warriors that day who bared their necks to Caven?” Patrick asked, getting the point I was making about the inside traitor in our coven.

“I do. The demons knew way too fast for it to be through the normal gossip channels. It was within a few days that the attack happened. The wolf elder explained to them right away why they had done that. If you were the traitor, a wolf who could make a vampire submit like a wolf would have
screamed
power and scared them.”

“Holy shit,” Liam whispered.

“And of all the lack of attacks in Western Europe, there have been only two in the past few years. The margays, where the goal was to get their blood that can let demons go into the sun temporarily,” I explained and then looked at Liam and Lorcan. “And your family. Now why would demons all of a sudden show up at a remote farm in Ireland? There’s been
one
demon sighting in Ireland in the past decade. But yet your family gets attacked?”

“Our das hate the head of the Council,” Lorcan answered, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. “They be the man’s biggest rivals. They also be next in line for head of the Council as your da be. They hate Councilman Dubois.”

“Exactly. Your dads die and there are several goals accomplished. One, he gets rid of two men who would vote against him and won’t fall for his bullshit. Also, they speak out against him. Two, they would side with us. Three, they’re
your
family and you’re mated to Caleb. How devastated and distracted would the palace have been if they were dead along with Brighid and your brothers?”

“I wouldn’t have given a second thought to letting his liaisons in because I would have been attending to other things,” Caleb mumbled, shaking his head.

“And if you did, we probably would have,” I added. “But it didn’t work. So now, the goal is to at least get them out and liaisons in here, in our coven as well, while they’re not here to tell you not to because they don’t trust the guy. Also, the O’Hagans are stirring up shit that the head of their Council didn’t tell everyone that other Councils were giving mandates to pull vampires into covens for protection. He’s got witnesses to what can be seen as his screw-up. That’s bad for him.

“There’s one big piece no one seems to have put together either. Cyrus’s dad. The man is in charge of all the demons now basically, from Spain, and yet we really think he’d leave
all
of Western Europe pretty much alone? There has to be a reason for that. Like not shitting where you sleep or drawing attention to themselves by acting like they are perfectly safe there and in control of the demon problem.”

“Very impressive,” Mareo said. I glanced at him, our eyes met, and I blinked in shock when I saw pride in his. He gave a nod and I noticed Foma doing the same. “Sound logic, impressively backed up facts, detailed research from different angles, and an astounding approach as if you were an outsider as opposed to someone right in the middle of it all.”

“Did you just insult Virgil with that last one?” Patrick asked, narrowing his eyes at the fae warrior. “He’s one of us.”

“No, Pat,” I answered, shocked that he immediately came to my defense. I shouldn’t have been though. He was one of the few people who always seemed to make sure I was included in things, like the Christmas present the mates all gave my brothers. “It was a compliment. He was saying that it’s easier to see the big picture when you’re not a part of what’s going on and yet I was able to do that when this all affects me.”

“Exactly,” Mareo agreed. “No insult was meant. Only the highest praise of a brilliant mind and fantastic strategist.”

“Yeah, Virgil’s wicked smart,” Pat agreed. “He’s helped me with homework a bunch of times. I bet he’s got as high of an IQ as Riley.”

“Seriously?” Stefan asked, glancing between us. I shrugged, rubbing the back of my neck nervously as I set down my tablet. Now that I’d said my piece I kind of wanted to disappear instead of getting attention.

“You had to know how smart he was. That’s why he’s so quiet,” Pat chuckled as he glanced at his mate. Then he frowned and looked at me. “They don’t know that, do they?”

“I think you’re the only one who’s cared enough to pay attention,” I answered as I quickly sat back down. I made the mistake of glancing up in between bites of my salad when I reached for my water, Stefan and Caleb still staring at me like I was off my rocker or they’d never seen me before. “Fine. Don’t believe me. Whatever.”

“No, I do believe you. I think you’re right on all of it,” Caleb quickly said. “I just don’t know what to say, Virgil. I feel like I’m just meeting you or something.”

“Yeah, me too and I’m your damn brother,” Stefan grumbled. I went to open my mouth but Pat beat me to it.

“And you blame
him
for that? I’m sorry. I think conversations work both ways. He’s still your brother. You weren’t open about being gay until we met. So Virgil didn’t go blabbing he’s a genius because he thought you guys might not react well? Geez, proving him right much?”

Stefan stared at his mate a moment and nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Virgil. You should have been able to come to me with anything. If you didn’t feel comfortable being yourself around me then that wasn’t on you. I’ll try and keep an open mind and pay better attention.”

“Whatever, it’s fine,” I mumbled, shrugging again. Caleb got up and opened the door, letting them know we were ready for the main course. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d sent everyone out during my presentation. Stefan went to speak again and I didn’t want to listen to any more of this. He couldn’t just say he was sorry and all be forgotten now that I’d proven useful. Tomorrow I’d probably go right back to being ignored. “So what’s the plan?”

“If I may?” Mareo asked before anyone could answer. He waited for Caleb to give him a nod before continuing. “I have a call in to our Queen for a personal matter. I feel it best to implore her that I might seek her counsel face-to-face on this matter given this news. She might want to bring along Councilman Marius to see his nephew as long as she’s opening a portal.”

“That would be okay to say over the phone just in case we’re being watched or our phones are tapped,” Caleb agreed. “They need to see what you came up with, Virgil.”

“Father won’t listen to me,” I scoffed.

“Yeah, he would,” Stefan said gently. “Your brothers might be idiots and blind to what’s going on most of the time. Mother and Father aren’t.”

“If you say so.” I shrugged, not willing to take that leap of faith. “Someone else can fill them in.”

“No way. You found all this and you need to take the credit,” Caleb argued. “I just wonder what else you haven’t taken the credit for over the years.”

I winced internally, knowing there had been a few times I’d snuck into Riley’s lab to help on some formulas when I’d known he’d been stuck. He’d be
pissed
if he knew I’d ever done that. I shrugged again and reached for my glass of blood, chugging the large goblet down. I froze as I went to set it back down, my heart racing.

That wasn’t human blood I’d just drank. Why the fuck was Caleb serving werewolf blood? I glanced around, noticing no one else seemed to be acting differently, already having drank some of theirs while I’d been talking. Had I’d imagined it given my conversation with Riley earlier? That had to be it. Caleb wouldn’t set us up to turn into horndogs for the night.

Reaching for my water, I quickly drank it down, hoping to snap out of it. It was probably just nerves from putting myself out there for the first time in a long time. I was just about to reach for the pitcher of water when Mareo handed me another goblet.

“Here, you look flushed and thirsty,” he said as if it was no big deal, simply having noticed and reached for me.

“Thanks.” I took it with a shaky hand, careful not to touch his fingers, and tossed it back. Damn. Same reaction. If it was werewolf blood and not just my mind playing tricks on me, I was screwed. Two of those goblets had to be at least a liter and a half of blood, they were so big.

I’d find out
real
soon if it was shifter blood or just my imagination because the effects would drive me nuts all night if it was.

I listened as we ate, everyone discussing possible ways to get King Rylan here tomorrow and maybe the wolf elder, finally deciding to wait for Queen Magdalena to come and then just go back for them. It took them about five minutes to reach that conclusion and by then I was hard as fucking nails, practically sweating as my body went into hyperactive, lust-filled mode.

“I thought it was very brave and remarkable what you did,” Foma said quietly as he leaned in. I shivered as I felt his breath against my neck. Holy hell. I grabbed my napkin and quickly covered my mouth as my fangs popped out. Goddamn it! Why couldn’t I control the fucking things around them?

“I agree,” Mareo whispered as his hand moved to my thigh. “I find smart men sexy. The way you took control but yet let everyone find their way to your conclusions was impressive. I could listen to you talk for hours.”

“Thank you,” I practically moaned, my cock leaking at their contact.

“Are you okay?” Foma asked gently as his hand moved to my thigh as well. “Is there
anything
we can do for you?”

“No,” I panted. “No. I should go.” I cleared my throat and got my fangs under control as my heart sped up even more. I pushed their hands off of me and stood, keeping my napkin over my groin. “Let me know when the Queen is coming or when I’ll be needed. I’m going to get some sleep. I’m still tired from the trip.”

“Are you sure? We were going to hang out and catch up,” Caleb hedged, looking sad for some reason. “I’ve missed you too, Virgil. We were all friends back before I found out who I was.”

“We will tomorrow.” I gave him the best smile I could muster. Caleb had been a good friend to me. He had never tried to get me to shut up when I talked. Hell, he’d gone out of his way to talk to me at parties or when he’d hang out at our house. “Just a lot going on that’s been wearing me out.”

“Just the thought of putting together all that information alone makes me tired for you,” he agreed, nodding to the wall where the projection of the maps was up. “I can’t even imagine how long that took you.”

I smiled politely as I went over and grabbed my tablet. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it hadn’t taken me more than a few hundred hours. It had just been something that I’d been curious about at first and I’d started tracking. Then after Caven’s attack I really started putting pieces together but really, it hadn’t been all that much work for me.

“Maybe Caleb should lock that up somewhere?” Stefan asked as I started to leave the room. “It’s got all your evidence on there. We can’t risk it going missing suddenly.”

“Sure, yeah, that’s fine. I have several backups too,” I quickly agreed, wanting whatever would get me out of there the fastest. I darted over to Caleb and handed the tablet to him, wishing everyone good night before practically fleeing. I sighed when I was in the hallway but kept moving, several guards and staff around.

It wasn’t until I reached the corridor my room was on that I was alone. I practically ripped open the first several buttons of my shirt, hot and flushed in a crazy kind of way. I leaned my forehead against the cool stone wall as I pushed the heel of my hand into my cock, begging it to behave and calm down. I’d never get to sleep with a hard-on like this. I just couldn’t seem to get a handle on myself. That
had
to be werewolf blood I drank!

But why just me?

“We could help you with that,” a deep voice said behind me. I didn’t even have to turn around to see who it was.

“I’m fine,” I lied, shaking my head even as I wanted to whimper and beg for them to take me. I went to stand back up to leave when Mareo grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. He pushed me against the wall and kissed me, pushing his larger body against mine. I gasped, shocked at the bold move, and he immediately plunged his tongue into my mouth. Kissing him back, I moaned as two sets of hands moved over my body.