“Rogues?” The fae spoke again.

  “Okay, I spoke too soon,” Cain said dryly. “Clearly, being in the human realm has dumbed you down.”

  “You might find some willing to work with you,” she finished.

  “Why are you helping him?” the fae’s brow dropped low.

  “Do you ever shut up?” Cain pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “Because Perizada killed four of my kind when she used cold fire on the Order compound, and she’s not even apologized to the sprites.” Bitterness dripped from the sprite female’s lips. “Their deaths deserve to be avenged.”

  The fae shifted on his feet and clasped his hands in front of him. “And working with your enemy does that how?”

  Cain shot the fae a glare that would have sent a human running. “Stop. Talking.” Then he looked back at the sprite. “You have been most helpful, and I assure you, any sprite who stands with the vampires will be treated well. Our friend here—” He motioned toward the fae.

  “I prefer associate.”

  “Whatever,” Cain muttered. “Will take you where you’d like to go.” He looked back at the male. “I’ll meet you a hundred miles north.” He pointed in the same direction the sprite had. “If you don’t follow through, I will make sure you never return to the fae realm.”

  The male didn’t say anything as he walked over to the simpering sprite, his eyes remaining on Cain. He held his arm out to her, and she gingerly laid her hand on it. “I have—” she began.

  “Just show me in your mind,” the fae told her. Then they were gone.

  Cain pulled out his cell phone and glanced at the time. “Damn, I’m good.” He smiled as he checked his messages. Making allies was so much easier when you had a vast network of vampires pounding the pavement on your behalf. Not to mention the ability to send them on petty errands whenever you wanted. Sincaro had been a fool with no vision. Now, Cain would move his people to the top of the food chain, where they should have been all along. In just over a few months, Cain had come up with a way to curb the impulse control vampires struggled with, take down the alpha, and create the perfect species which would also take care of the cockroach infestation otherwise known as human beings.

  He put on a burst of speed and headed in the direction of the rogue pack. With any luck, Cain would have a full-blooded wolf, or more, to take back to the scientist. And by this time tomorrow, Alston would be dead. “Life is good.”

  “Are you sure about that, bloodsucker?”

  Cain whipped around and held up his hands in a placating gesture at the massive male Canis lupus standing a few yards away. “I can’t complain,” Cain said with a dismissive shrug. The male wasn’t wearing a shirt, only dark shorts that looked like they’d seen better days. Is this how the rogues were living? In squalor?

  “You may not have any complaints, but you’ve just entered our territory uninvited. And that gives me a grievance with you” The male took a menacing step forward, and fur rippled across his bare arms.

  “I come in peace.” Cain forced his voice to remain calm. He did not take a step back, of course. That would send the message he was prey, and he certainly was not. “I have a proposition for you.” The more he’d considered his scientist’s request, the more Cain realized he didn’t actually need to abduct a wolf. He needed one, or more if possible, that would work with him willingly.

  “Why in seven hells would we work with a vampire?” the rogue asked, his eyes raking down Cain as his lip curled up in disgust.

  “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the world is changing.” Cain dropped his hands and slipped them into his slacks. He took a step to the side and glanced down at the ground. It was not a submissive reaction, but a calculated gesture to show the wolf that Cain didn’t fear him. When he looked back at the male, his eyes glowed with his beast. “Since you’re the one who confronted me, I’m going to assume you’re the alpha of this little rogue pack. But,” he said the word sharply, snapping his teeth together, “you’re not really an alpha, are you? Not if there is one above you. Right?” Cain’s brow rose. “The alpha of alphas. That’s what he’s being called. And so you must bow to him.”

  The male growled, his eyes glowing even brighter.

  “Do you really want to spend the rest of your life having to lower your eyes to Fane Lupei?” Cain turned to face the wolf and raised his chin. “Or would you like to make history with me and become something more? Something that doesn’t fall under the baby alpha’s dominance.” The growling stopped as the man’s head tilted slightly. “I’m offering you the chance to crawl out from beneath the table the Great Luna has put you under, where you have to take the proverbial scraps from Fane and join me at the banquet as equals.”

  “We’ve already pledged our loyalty to him.”

  Cain nodded. “What’s your name?”

  “Finn,” the male answered.

  “Did you sign some sort of blood contract with the alpha?”

  Finn shook his head. “But we are a part of his pack. We are connected to him through pack bonds.”

  Cain froze. “Does that mean he can hear what we’re discussing now?”

  Finn shook his head. “I would know if he’d invaded my mind to that extent. It is possible, with this alpha.” He nodded. “I’ve felt his power. Fane has been blessed by the Great Luna. He is her servant, and he wields her righteous power.”

  “What about your own power?” Cain took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Don’t you want your power back? Isn’t that why you were a rogue to begin with? So you wouldn’t have to bow to any other?”

  Finn narrowed his eyes. “I will not discuss my reasons with you, vampire.”

  Cain held up a hand. “Fair enough. No personal questions. Let’s move on.” He cleared his throat. “Do you want to be in control of your own destiny? Or do you want Fane Lupei to dictate to you forever?”

  “I want to be my own,” Finn said simply.

  “Are there others in your pack that feel the same?”

  “Yes. But, there are some who will not defect from their commitment even if they don’t like it.”

  Cain waved him off. “Then let them stay. I am not here to force anyone to do my will or punish those who choose not to take what I’m offering.” At least not yet.

  “What exactly are you offering?” Finn’s eyes had lost the glow of his beast, and his voice sounded human again.

  “A new race and a new era.” Cain’s chest puffed out. “One where vampires and wolves work together and literally become one.” He took a step forward. “I have scientists working as we speak, developing a way to join the blood of our species, to make a new supernatural race. One that will be superior to both. A species that will not be beholden to any.”

  Finn sucked in a sharp breath. “Impossible.”

  Cain’s lips turned up in a wide smile. “There’s a first time for everything.”

  “Is the Order a part of this? Because I want nothing to do with the Order.” Finn’s wolf clearly had an axe to grind against Cain’s former organization.

  “The Order has fallen,” he said in complete confidence. “I am not asking you to bow to me. And I am not asking for an oath of allegiance. I’m offering you a way to regain your independence.”

  “And what would I owe you in exchange for this offer?”

  “Just your blood,” Cain said and then quickly added, “a sample of it. Not all of it. I’m not asking to feed on you or anything. My scientist needs the blood of a full-fledged Canis lupus in order to move forward in our research.”

  Finn stared at Cain, his jaw clenching and unclenching. He seemed to be giving the offer serious consideration. This was more than the vampire expected. Cain had hoped he would be able to convince at least one to work with him, but his hopes weren’t high. And he certainly wouldn’t have expected the alpha. Cain was fully prepared to abduct one of the mongrels if necessary. Though he didn’t want to employ that strategy if it could be avoided. That plan had spectacularly failed the Order too many times in the past.

  “I will join you, but I will not bring any others,” Finn told him. “Not until I can see that you speak the truth … and that you will stay true to your word.”

  “Fair enough,” Cain said. “I have a fae ally who can take us now to the lab where my people are working.”

  Finn lifted his nose in the air and took a deep breath. “You can come out.”

  Cain turned to see the fae male step out of the forest.

  “I didn’t want to alarm you by simply appearing in your territory,” the fae said. “I mean you no harm, wolf.”

  “For now,” Finn said, “that remains to be seen. I need to let my people know that I will be leaving for a time. Please wait here.”

  Cain bowed his head to the wolf and then watched as he loped off into the woods.

  “You’re working with rogues, humans, and hunting dormants,” the fae said. “Anything else?”

  Cain straightened his suit jacket. “I’ve arranged to have Alston disposed of.” Cain turned to look the fae in the eyes. “I’ve been a busy boy.” He took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. “Now, once you drop me and Finn off at the lab, you can head to the fae veil at dusk tomorrow. By then, you will be able to enter.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Who banished you from your realm?”

  “The high fae,” the male answered immediately.

  Cain rolled his eyes. “But which high fae set the order and sealed the veil from you?”

  The male froze, and then his eyes widened. “Alston,” he drawled.

  “Bingo,” Cain said at the same time Finn came jogging back toward them. “What did you tell your people?”

  “That I’m going on an errand for our alpha,” Finn said matter-of-factly.

  The fae male held out his arms, and Finn placed his hand on the right one while Cain set his on the left. “Once you see this lab, that’s it, Finn. You cannot decide to place your loyalty back with Fane.”

  Finn laughed at a humorless sound. “Do you take me for a fool? I knew the minute I took your offer that to change my mind would mean death. Death is nothing if I am beholden to another. I am an alpha. I bow to no one.”

  “Excellent.” Cain nodded. “Then off we go.”

  Chapter 7

  “Just when I think I have it all figured out, I’m reminded that I am still not all knowing and all powerful. It’s an annoying bitch-slap that happens occasionally. But what’s even more annoying is I have the audacity to be surprised every single time.” ~Peri

  “So, did anyone else have the pleasure of running into any French vampires while they were out and about yesterday?” Peri asked as she, Lucian, Boain, and Lorna strode into the large meeting hall within the sprite compound.

  “The vampire we met wasn’t French, but he was a king,” Thadrick, the djinn, replied. His mate, the witch Jezebel, stood next to him, her arms folded in front of her. She looked pensive as she glanced around at the others that filled the room.

  “You met with the vampire king and didn’t kill him?” Jen asked from where she sat on top of a table. Decebel was beside her, one of his large hands resting on her thigh. Peri noticed that every male standing next to their mates touched them in some way, either leaning a shoulder against them, a hand wrapped around theirs, or an arm around their waist. Even Lucian’s hand pressed against Peri’s lower back as he steered her to the side to join the large circle that included a representative or more from each of their allies.

  Thad shrugged. “He had interesting things to share.”

  “Oh, has he decided to behead himself as a sacrifice for the greater good of humanity?” Elle smirked.

  “That’s my girl.” Jen pointed at the fae female. “Busting out with the ‘off with his head’ mantra.”

  “Boain,” Fane said, ignoring the fact that Peri and Thad both brought up they’d encountered vampires, “is this your mate?” The alpha motioned toward the woman beside the large male.

  “It is.” Boain’s eyes softened as he looked at his female. It was a look Peri was used to seeing on the mated Canis lupus male faces when gazing on their women. Unless, of course, said women were annoying them or defying them in a way that would put themselves in danger … which was often.

  “Welcome, Lorna,” Fane said. “This is my mate, and Luna, Jacquelyn.” He pulled Jacque closer to his side, and the redhead smiled at Lorna.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Jacque gave the she-wolf a slight bow of her head as her lips turned up in a gentle smile.

  Lorna’s eyes darted around the room as she chewed on her bottom lip. She bowed her head at the alpha pair. “Thank you, Alphas. It’s an honor to meet you both.”

  “You don’t need to be so formal,” Jacque assured her. “We aren’t big on ceremony here.”

  “Not to mention, Jen”—Adam pointed to the blonde in question—“wouldn’t be able to handle it. If we give her any preferential treatment, her head begins to swell. Honor her too much and … boom.” He made an explosion motion with his hands outward from his head.

  “And that.” Jacque laughed.

  Lorna glanced at Jen, who lifted a hand and wiggled her fingers at her in a strange greeting. She had a wicked grin on her lips.

  “Jen.” Sally sighed. “Quit trying to freak the new chick out.”

  “Fun-crusher,” Jen muttered.

  “Beheading psycho,” Sally shot back.

  Jen’s lips spread into a big smile, and her eyes brightened. “Compliments are not a good comeback when someone insults you, Sal. After all these years, we still need to work on your ability to snub someone.”

  Peri looked at Lorna and shook her head. “I apologize. I should have warned you ahead of time that we have some degenerate, slightly disturbed females in our pack. They tend to verbally harass one another. Then they have hot chocolate and cookies as if they’re six years old instead of grown women.”

  Lorna’s shoulders relaxed, and her teeth released her abused bottom lip. “Sounds like my kind of girls.”

  “Sweet.” Jen clapped. “New, not-quite-right-in-the-head chick to add to our awesome she-wolf slash elf slash fae slash healer pack.”

  “You might want to get out while you still can,” Zara spoke up while her mate, Wadim, nodded. He stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her as his taller form towered over her.

  “You still have time to run,” Wadim added.

  “Shut it, history boy.” Jen pointed at him and narrowed her eyes.

  Wadim didn’t look intimidated. He simply winked at her, which made Decebel growl.

  “Good grief.” Costin ran a hand across his face, the dark circles under his eyes evidence that he hadn’t gotten much rest the night before.

  “I’ve gotten used to the icebreakers that seem to happen before each of these strategy meetings,” Andora, the sprite queen, said. “But I must admit, no matter how many I get to experience, I’m always impressed by the amount of abuse you guys dish out and yet still maintain a strong pack dynamic.”

  Peri couldn’t help but snort. “That’s because at some point all the little jabs become a weird form of acceptance and display of love. It’s a thing.” Peri shrugged. “And, yes, probably a tad unhealthy.” She pointed at the group, moving her arm in a way to encompass the circle. “We’ve had each other’s backs for so long. We’ve stood beside one another in battle, watched each other die and sometimes return to life. We’ve experienced new life being brought into the world by someone we are willing to die for. We’ve been forgiven for things that we never should have been able to come back from. At some point, that weird dynamic is not so weird anymore.” She smiled at the sprite queen. “This pack, Andora, is what we’re fighting for. Not just for ourselves, but for others to have the chance to experience all that for themselves.”

  The room was so quiet you could have heard a pixie’s small feet stepping across the stone floor. Peri saw shimmering tears in some eyes. Some in the group smiled at her, and others nodded in agreement.

  “Well, if that wasn’t a kick-ass pre-battle speech, I don’t know what is,” Jen said. “I say we put our hands in the middle, give a good ‘for the pack’ shout, and ride out to kick Alston’s evil ass.”

  “It might be good to come up with a plan first,” Disir, one of the three other high fae representatives present, said.

  “Ugh.” Jen rolled her eyes. “Technicalities are totally killing my vibe.”

  Fane looked at Thad, obviously ready to move on. “What did Cain have to say?”

  “He wants to meet with an ambassador, or you,” Thad said. “He has a proposition—an idea for the animosity between the vampires and us”—he motioned around the room—“to be set aside and a truce to be put in place.”

  “Seriously?” Boain said. “Because the experience that Lorna and I have had with the vampires for the past two days would not indicate that he has any such notion.”

  “Could those vampires have been acting on their own?” Lilly, the Warlock queen, and the only one of her court present, asked. Peri imagined that she’d left Myanin and Gerick back at the warlock mountain to protect her people, and possibly to put the Romania pack members at ease that there were eyes on Skender, who still hadn’t really been dealt with in regard to his crimes against them.

  “Maybe.” Boain nodded. “But when the French vampire showed up, he took a phone call while he was in the middle of threatening us, and he used the words ‘my lord.’ Who else could he have been speaking with if not his king?”

  “We’ve had peace between the vampires before,” Synica, one of the djinn elders, said.

  “Turning a blind eye while they skulk underground and keep their murders unnoticeable isn’t a form of peace.” Drake growled. He wrapped a hand around Bethany’s neck. No doubt he was thinking about how he’d come to find his mate in the grip of the bloodsuckers.