Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 94234 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94234 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“No apologies needed, Lord. We’ll be there whenever you call,” Ramon said, sitting on the other side of Bell.
Bell clamped the vampire on his shoulder, and Alek almost catapulted across the table and tackled them both. For Christ’s sake. His mate was just being the humble, understanding commander they’d come to know and serve for many centuries. Alek had to get a grip.
“I think you will understand the urgency, Belleron, all of you, when you see this,” Wick said. He nodded to one of his assistants who wheeled over a flat screen television sitting atop a utility cart. The young shifter quickly inserted a disc into the player and pressed a few buttons on the remote control.
Alek had to pry his gaze away from Bell’s when the video began to play. Some kind of surveillance camera had been set up to monitor a set of steel doors nestled inside a cave-like structure. Six vampires—guards similar to ones standing along the wall—stood remarkably still at their posts, as if they were guarding the gates of Buckingham Palace. Out of nowhere, they were ambushed by vampires moving so fast Alek had to squint to keep up. The guards were brutally slaughtered, one even having his head ripped off as four vampires held him down. The video contained no sound, but surely if it had they’d hear the hissing and snarling of the savage feud. The guards had been heavily outnumbered and had been taken down quickly, having never stood a chance.
Alek heard his sister gasp as she slammed her hand over her mouth and whipped her head away. It was probably too difficult for her gentle wolf to watch such viciousness.
Bell stood and walked around the table, his Lord Protector following closely. His mate looked as if he’d seen true horror. A vampire dressed in a black turtleneck turned towards the monitor, his hand flying back and shooting an object—most likely a blade, or throwing knife—at it, instantly killing the feed. Another video began to play a similar scene as the first. Again, a set of vampires stood guard outside a heavily iron-reinforced entryway that appeared to be on a vacant street. A couple of quiet minutes went by when—as anticipated—the guards came under attack by an even larger group of rebels… the same vampire in the black turtleneck standing off and observing. Bell jabbed the power button on the television and spun towards Wick.
“I’d like to speak freely,” Bell said.
Wick nodded. “Of course, Bell. We may be doing away with a lot of the formalities soon. But, please say what’s on your mind.”
“All right then,” Bell gritted. “What the fuck is this? When did this happen and how come I wasn’t notified immediately?”
The Lord Commander stood rigid, “It happened overnight, Lord. Both raids were done in a matter of a couple hours. By the time we sent in reinforcements they’d been long gone. My intelligence team and I have only had a few hours to scan the images and get feedback from the cleaners on the grounds. Now we are meeting here.”
“This is… this is devastating…” Bell whispered. His slate gray eyes met Alek’s, and damn if he didn’t see the regret and disappointment glistening in them. Bell wasn’t going to be accompanying him to his secluded cabin or anywhere else in the near future. Alek tried to take a deep breath, but it was cut short by the pain stabbing his stomach. Fuck.
“Please tell me they didn’t take the…” Bell trailed off.
“Unfortunately, they did, sir. Certain ones. The more violent offenders.” An older-looking vampire sat farther down the table and held a large tablet in his hand. His long, pale finger swiped rapidly across the screen, “It’s believed they’re headed to the Dales.”
That got a dramatic reaction from all the vampires. They didn’t move out of formation, but the stench Wolf was picking up from them was unadulterated fear.
“Will someone please tell us what’s happening? Wick, what was that a video of?” Mac asked while Alek sat there mute, worrying about how this affected his mate.
Wick stood. “Those are two of our tombs that appear to have just been raided by rebels, and robbed.”
“Tombs?” Taleb frowned. “Where you keep your dead.”
“We call them tombs, but the residents are not dead. They’re asleep. Imprisoned,” Bell informed them. “When your shifters are disciplined, they’re sent to shifter facilities that are built specifically for them, yes?”
Taleb nodded.
“We have to also discipline our kind as well. Only vampires wouldn’t be all that affected by a lack of freedom or touch, like shifters. Instead, they are denied blood until they fall into a deep sleep. A coma, if you will. They are kept in a catatonic state until their sentence is up—typically a decade or two, depending on the severity of the crime—when they are then awakened gradually and monitored closely as they become readjusted into society.”