MITCH CHESTERMITCH AND DRACO were bent over, each looking at their respective screens intently. Dracoe yawned and leaned back, rubbing his eyes. “We have been searching for hours. No, scratch that. We have been searching for two days now... What if the vampire doesn’t want to be found?”“A little more optimism would be welcome here, Draco,” Mitch muttered.Draco sighed and stood up. He went to the minibar to retrieve a drink, but cursed under his breath when he opened the door. “We are out of drinks.” He called, turning around and seeing the piles of empty alcohol bottles at Mitch's feet. “You are going to destroy your liver.”Mitch chuckled.Draco went back to his seat and resumed his work. They had been trying to find Vorenus for two days since Lorna arrived. Draco was looking through all the street cameras and trying to match them with a picture of Vorenus if any result would come back; so far, there was no luck. Mitch was looking through police reports of missing persons, trying
HE GLANCED BACK once to make sure that Aiden was secure as he reached the borders. He looked around carefully, but there was no one there. No Vorenus, not even a sign that the vampire had been there. His mind, waking him up must have just been a result of paranoia. He suddenly caught a whiff of a strange scent in the air. He froze and started to investigate it when Draco's urgent voice blasted in his head, “Come to your office as soon as possible!”Mitch frowned and walked away from the scene. He masked the disappointment at not seeing Vorenus from his face as he retrieved Aiden from his hiding spot.“What was it, Dad?” Aiden asked.Without stopping, Mitch turned and looked at the far distance. “It's nothing, son.”“come on, hurry up. You are going to be late for school,” Mitch urged.“I can't be late for school,” Aiden gloated. “I am going to be the alpha.”“it doesn’t work that way,” Mitch chuckled.“When I am alpha, there will be nothing like lateness for school anymore.” Aiden gri
ANNA KYLIN CHESTER I WOKE UP a few hours after Mitch left. His scent still hung in the air of the room and I could still feel the shape of his lips on my forehead. I got out of bed with some difficulty. My joints ached and my head pounded. Were all these because of the pregnancy? I wondered as I made my way to the bathroom, praying to the moon goddess that Mitch had not used up all the hot water.I turned on the shower and checked the temperature with the back of my palm even though I didn't have to. Steam billowed to the ceiling as soon as the water seeped through. As I made my bath, my mind drifted away again. I was going to do more detailed research on Lycan pregnancy. I needed to know how long I was going to be pregnant and how early the signs were going to start to show.I sank into the bathtub, sighing in relief as the sleep and tiredness were burnt out of my bones and aches.Mitch said something had come up, and he was going to be very busy today. What could that be? Had the
MITCH CHESTERMITCH SWERVED INTO the parking lot and looked at the dilapidated building. It was a low, long old bar. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, he thought of how dangerous this was. And he had left without telling anyone anything. He reached for his phone, wanting to call Draco, but he shook his head.Draco would put on a lot of fuss and spoil everything if he showed up here.Besides, this shouldn't take long, Mitch thought to himself. He would be back before anyone knew he was gone. He got out of the car and headed to the door with purposeful strides. He pushed it and went in, looking around and taking in the sorry state of the bar. The bar was almost empty, except for some leftover drunks from the previous night slumped over their stools and the floor. There was a fat squat man behind the bar, looking bored. Mitch made his way to the counter and sat down carefully on a stool. It was wobbly under his weight."How m' I help you?" The man slurred. He sounded almost
MITCH CHESTERTHEY REGARDED EACHOTHER with mutual respect and apprehension. Mitch stared into the deep soulless eyes of the vampire before him."You punched my bartender," Vorenus said."He shot me," Mitch countered.They remained silent for the next couple of seconds. Vorenus's eyes went to the open wound still bleeding. Any other vampire would be going crazy at the smell of Lycan blood, but Vorenus simply said, "Should you not cover that up?" He gestured with his head. "Meeting a vampire with an open, happily bleeding wound is like playing with fire."Mitch smirked. "And yet, you have not even twitched at the sight. You seem to be in total control."Vorenus chuffed. "I am a sire vampire." His eyes looked. "You didn't seem so thrilled the last time we met, i did not expect you to go hunting for me." Mitch scoffed and said. "Walk with me,” He brushed past the vampire and walked farther away from the border.“you don’t want to be seen with me,” vorenus chuckled. “ashamed now, are we?”
MITCH CHESTERHE WALKED BACK but did not go to where he parked his car, instead, he took the shorter route and came out near the trading center of the kingdom. It was busy, as usual, where women hustled with the truck from the human town for goods and plants they could not get elsewhere.The noise quietened significantly when they noticed that he was in their midst. "Alpha," they bowed. "Your Highness,"As if on cue, he was surrounded by 4 enthusiastic guards, who formed a shield wall around him. Relief was written all over their faces. "Go to the northern border," Mitch said to one of them. "My car is parked there in the snow. Take it to the garage.""Yes, sir!" The guard saluted and marched away.The remaining guards walked with Mitch as they made their way to the palace. As he walked into the palace foyer, he looked around in search of Draco, but the Beta was nowhere to be found. He turned to another guard and said, "I want you to go personally to the house of each senate member,
MITCH CHESTERMITCH INHALED AGAIN to regain his composure before he said, "The vampires are getting stronger, and a war is coming."There was another ripple in the room."We are prepared for a war," Sil said. "We can stay on the bylines and watch them as they have always done. We don't have to get involved..."Some heads nodded in agreement to Silver. They looked at Mitch for him to give his approval, but his lips were pursed."Right, alpha?" Silver cocked her head.Mitch sighed and shook his head. "We can't "not get involved"..." "What? How? Why?" They asked.Mitch sighed. He looked up at Draco for help but the Beta remained aloof and slightly unconcerned. So Mitch knew he had to handle this by himself."Because the war is coming directly to our doorstep," Mitch answered. He nodded in satisfaction at the look of shock written on all their faces. "What the vampire wants is in the kingdom with us.""What is that?" One of the men asked."What it is does not matter," Mitch said. "But we
ANNA KYLIN CHESTER I FELT IT the moment he stepped into the kingdom again. I'm sure Draco felt it top because there was a slump of relief in his shoulders."You feel him too?" Lorna asked and I nodded. He owes us an explanation. A very long one. And while we headed back to the palace, I was expecting him to mind link me with an apology and an explanation of why he left abruptly and where he went to... but the mind link never came.When we got to the palace, where we thought he would be, he was not there, only for Patty to tell us that he said he had a meeting to attend to. I turned to Draco, "Did you know of any meeting?"Draco shook his head. "It would be a meeting in the pack hall..." he said."But aren't you the one that normally calls for them?" I asked.He nodded, a frown appeared on his forehead and he said, "I should have gotten wind of this if he called for the meeting through the mind link..." He stroked his beard."Well, what are we waiting for?" Lorna asked. "Let's crash