37. Chapter Thirty-Seven

The wolf within Riaz waited impatiently for his own alpha to arrive. Pacing a path through his mind, the beast growled his disquiet, eager to be reunited with the man who'd saved him all those years ago.

The two males set to arrive inside the hour were amongst the few who matched Riaz's own dominance. Aidan was the origin of their breed and as such, Riaz continually strove for his respect. Except for the occasions he played pranks on him— which wouldn't happen today.

Shifting uneasily from foot to foot, the wolf happily waged his invisible tail, a nervous energy settling over him. Cortana, clutching his hand, cast a questioning gaze up at him.

"Nervous, are we? Anxious your vampire mate won't make a good impression?"

He chuckled. "Nah, Pet, just worried that you'll see the submissive part of my wolf and start thinking of me as a puppy, belly rubs and everything."

The sound of her delighted laughter tickled over his skin, a healing balm to a nervous soul. "Well, I'll certainly promise to never rub your belly … unless you want me to."

His gaze hooded. "You devilish temptress, you. Perhaps I'll let you rub my belly in private—and only on special occasions the pack must never find out about."

Her sweet smile had almost quieted the anxious wolf.

Nipping at her neck, he was distracted by her hum of contentment until the sound of gravel beneath car wheels announced the arrival of his alpha. Aidan had been vacationing in the area with his mate, Lucy, and had elected to drive instead of hitching a ride with a Raeth.

Riaz unconsciously ran a hand down his shirt and stood taller. Cortana chuckled beside him. "Stop, Fido, you look fine."

Throwing her a lopsided grin, his attention jerked back to the doors when they opened, and his alpha caught sight of him.

"Riaz."

Resisting the urge to jog the distance between them, he clung to Cortana tighter, grateful for the calming waves of reassurance that washed through their mating bond. "Alpha."

Eyes dancing, Aidan pulled Riaz into a hug. "Matehood suits you, pup."

"Thank you, alpha. Allow me to introduce Cortana, my mate."

"Pleasure is mine, Cortana." Taking her hand, Aidan gently brushed his lips over the top of her hand in old-school chivalry.

"I carry a debt of gratitude to you, Aidan. For finding my mate all those years ago and caring for him when I couldn't. I can't tell you how much it means to me." Cortana dipped her chin in a short bow.

"He's a good man, and I'm glad we both found him." With a smile, Aidan stepped back and the wolf's green-grey gaze flicked to his mate. "This is my mate, Lucy."

Lucy grinned. "We've met!"

Throwing her arms around Cortana in the next moment, Lucy reminisced about the last time they'd seen each other in New York when she'd come to visit Toni.

Minutes later, the cohorts of dignitaries started to teleport in. By the time the hour was out, four representatives of each immortal breed had gathered.

A far cry from where they'd begun, the dignitaries mingled and chatted easily, familiar with each other because of the inter-species collaboration of the last three years. Among them were several mated couples: Kane and Nova, Gideon and Rona, Rukia and Isaiah, and the most recent pair, Zeke and Nina, who were currently doing a poor job of keeping their hands to themselves.

Riaz's eyes shifted to his own mate who'd clearly seen the same and wore her blush prettily on her smiling cheeks. "What I'd do to you, Pet, if we were alone."

Dark laughter preceded her wink. "Keep nipping at my neck and I might just jump you."

Having taken their seats, Nina ruefully extracted herself from her mate's arms. Zeke's hand lingered on her waist even as she stepped away, his hooded gaze riveted to her.

"Riaz, Cortana," Nina's melodic voice instantly took command of the room, "please give us an account of what took place before the events at D'Ancouer."

Shifting his gaze to Drake, he noted the ashen pale of the vampire's skin, the man still recovering from his pernicious sunlight poisoning. At the other man's nod, Riaz described the reconnaissance he and his pack did of the manufacturing facility, and the information they uncovered while doing so.

Cortana interjected as she entered the picture, retelling what occurred in the timeframe between then and D'Ancouer. She left out the parts about her and Riaz's courtship. When they'd finished, their attention transferred to Jeremiah, who reclined leisurely with the rest of his delegation. The powerful air Elemental had single-handedly cured the air in D'Ancouer of gaseous sunlight.

Something in Jeremiah's nonchalant posture felt false, almost like he was doing his best to convey normalcy, but Riaz didn't know the other man well enough to discern the truth. In fact, a notable awkwardness existed between Jeremiah and the other three Elementals, a separation that was unlike anything he'd ever seen from the tightly knit group before.

"When Remmus and I arrived, it was clear someone had tampered with the air conditioning units. The sunlight particles were blasting out in heavy concentration, so I focused on curing the air while Remmus disengaged the tech."

"Whoever hacked it knew what they were doing." For once, Remmus was somber faced. "Even with my technopathic abilities, it took time to undo the complex coding that'd brought about the change. When they realized I was meddling, they blew it to smithereens." He shook his head. "We're dealing with someone who's clearly well-resourced and proficient in tech. There's no other explanation."

"It certainly adds another layer of complexity." Aidan crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. "The odds are stacking against us."

"How did they get on the roof?" Riaz asked.

Drake pursed his lips. "The majority of the roof units were replaced a year and a half ago."

"Around the time I was taken," Lucius asserted, catching Drake's eye, "and when they first referenced the Choke."

Lucius had been abducted by the Citizens and tortured for information on the immortal races. The vampire had been retrieved by Circe, the woman with whom he was now mated, and adopted daughter of the Raeth sovereign Isaiah who sat on the Accords assembly.

Sitting forward on his chair, Remmus asked, "How many locations do the Citizens know about?"

"They know of D'Ancouer, the Vampire council building, and potentially Nova's den," Aidan confirmed, shrugging one shoulder. "And Lucius' old House in California, but that no longer presents a problem."

Remmus nodded. "Give me the locations of all of them and I'll slip some code into the HVACs to ensure this doesn't happen again."

"I wonder how long they've been planning this," Nina mused.

When she wandered within arm's reach of her mate, he caught her around the waist and pulled her into him. Newly mated himself, Riaz wasn't surprised when Zeke's lips brushed against her neck, but did find odd that the male Raeth didn't even seem to pay attention to the discussion.

Riaz's attention shifted to the next person in the Raeth delegation, Nero. The Hawaiian sovereign, brawny and beaming, was bouncing a knee as though he had anxious energy to spare. Kaien, too, rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles to dispel a similar energy. Next to Kaien sat Remmus, but as soon as Riaz locked eyes with the him, Remmus grimaced, muttered an excuse and teleported from the room. His brethren didn't even notice.

The last Raeth in the room was Isaiah. He was hovering behind his mate, Rukia, like a guard dog, snarling at anyone who got too close, including the water Elemental's own monarch. That clinched it. All the Raeths were acting jittery; tension surrounded them like a second skin.

Glancing at the other immortals in the room, it was obvious they'd clearly noticed the same thing. Even Aidan had raised a curious eyebrow at his cohort's antics.

"The entire clan has been off their rocker the last few days." Shrugging, Rukia smiled and leaned into Isaiah's touch as he trailed a finger along her collarbone. "Twitchy, the whole lot of them."

Lucius agreed. "Even Circe has been a bit … odd."

A hiss sounded from Isaiah's mouth, a flare of energy accompanying his words. "If we're to continue disparaging my clan, let's dismiss. I'd much rather ravish my mate." His pointed look toward Riaz had more bite than bark. "Or we could do what we came here for and talk about how they almost killed three hundred immortals."

"Thank you, Isaiah." Nodding at the man, Drake addressed the room. "The only thing we know for certain is that no one was on the roof the previous night. I was in my penthouse and would've noticed had it been breached."

"This must have been planned some time ago."

Scowling, Aidan rolled his neck on his shoulders, frowning when he looked at Nina and she gave no impression of having heard him.

His sister had snuggled up against Zeke, locked in her mate's grip while his lips trailed down her neck. The mated couple was having a telepathic conversation that clearly had nothing to do with the topic at hand, based on their telltale smirks.

Riaz was very confused by the antics of two of their normally most reserved citizens. It was woefully out of character.

Kane's voice brought Riaz back to attention. "We're in a poor position. They've got our number and we've nothing to show for it. We didn't even get a chance to compromise their supply in Estes Park."

"Somehow they knew we were going to blow the building," Riaz countered. "They exited that space only hours before we'd have leveled it."

"A mole?"

Riaz shook his head, angered at the prospect and certain it wasn't true. "The only people who knew of the attack we'd planned were me, my lieutenants, Remmus, and Cortana."

A pregnant pause.

"No, that isn't true," Drake replied. "Riaz, both Aidan and I knew as well—because you sent us a text."

Riaz fisted his hands in frustration as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "And they have a hacker."

Obscenities spewed from the lips of several dignitaries, but it was Cortana who broke through the chorus of curses. Straightening in her seat, she said, "But now we know, and we can use that knowledge to aid us in the future."

Aidan nodded. "If we plan attacks in the future, we'll need to use non-technological means to communicate. Telepathy is probably the safest option."

All eyes went to the Raeths in the room … to find that none of them were paying attention.

Isaiah was pawing at Rukia, who was batting away his hands like he was a naughty kid. Kaien was rubbing his temples, glaring at the ground. Behind him, Nero had gotten up and was now pacing the length of the room behind the row of chairs, gritting his teeth and his thumbs flying over his phone. Zeke and Nina, surprisingly, wore matching grins, unable to keep their hands to themselves.

Confusion splashed over the faces of those assembled as they watched the Raeths' behavior continue to escalate. Aidan, fortunately, knew most of them well enough to break the stalemate.

"Nina."

Enough chastisement rung true in the word for the woman's attention to snap toward Riaz's alpha. Instead of laughing it off or merely refocusing on the task at hand, her expression darkened to a sinister degree.

"What, wolf?" No nod to Aidan's name, nor his position, nor his status as her adopted brother. Nothing.

Riaz had never heard such a scathing tone come from Nina, nor had he experienced the primal chill that iced up his spine following the blatant threat that underscored her words. All humor or mirth at the situation dissolved. The vampires, Elementals, and werewolves cast wary looks at each other, sensing the danger that'd suddenly shadowed the assembly.

Aidan stood slowly, attempting to be casual when his concern was anything but. The wolf appeared behind his eyes to study his sister. Instinctively, Riaz knew that it was taking everything within Aidan to keep his posture nonaggressive. His voice, thought tight with tension, was deliberately gentle.

"What is wrong with you?"

It was as if all the air was sucked out of the room when Nina mirrored his stance—except the Raeth lowered her chin as if sizing him up. "Nothing is wrong with me, Aidan."

Aidan's attention shifted to where Kaien sat. "Kaien?"

At his name, the Raeth opened narrowed eyes, throwing Aidan's exact same tone and infliction back in his face. "Aidan."

The single word answer did nothing to quell the growing unease in the room, and Riaz shifted slightly so that Cortana was behind him. Aidan, however, remained undaunted. "Why are you all acting like this?"

"Acting like—"

Nina stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening when a flash of energy, bottomless and heavy, flared through the room. Every Raeth suddenly gasped, jolting against the impact.

With no time to spare, Nina spun and clasped hands with Zeke, the pair teleporting away without a word. Kaien and Nero disappeared within the same moment, and when Riaz looked to Isaiah, he had swathed Rukia in a bear hug and promptly teleported out.

"What—" Aidan stopped when another presence filled the room, directly in front of Lucius.

"Circe?" was the only word out of Lucius' mouth before he and his mate followed the same pattern, disappearing in a single displacement of air.

The entirety of the charade had taken ten seconds at most, leaving the remainder of the group in a stunted silence, pondering what the hell had just happened.

That was when Aidan threw his head back and laughed, bellowing to the ceiling.

"What? What happened?" Riaz asked. "Are they okay? Should we … wait for them to return?"

Once the alpha finally stopped roaring, he looked around the room with glittering eyes. "Oh, they won't be back." Another smile full of teeth. "At least not for a few weeks."

"What?" This time, it was Drake who asked the question, as puzzled as the rest of them. "Why?"

And then Aidan dropped the bomb: "The Raeths are all in heat."