3. Zachariah

CHAPTER 3

Zachariah

" C orbin. Thorne," I say once I reach the pair near the residence entryway. "Take Warwick and gather any information you can on the bodies we left behind." I take Corbin's phone, typing out the location of the cave in Lycan territory and hand it back to him. "And then burn them."

The pair of rookie assassins nod, but Saint comes around the corner, barely glancing up at me before saying, "I'll supervise."

He's already out the door before Corbin and Thorne have even moved, making me wonder what has him aching to get out.

I give the rookies a nod, and they take off.

Panic still clings to my senses, my every instinct alerting me to the fact that Talia is still standing behind me. Not from any need to be near me, but because my king asked her to stay.

"I'll show you to a room," I say as I turn to face her, my knees almost buckling at the sight of her. Now that the initial shock has worn off, I can't help but notice how exceptionally gorgeous she is. She looks the same as she did centuries ago, yet hardened in a way that makes her absolutely lethal. And it's not just the huntress outfit, but the iciness in her lilac eyes.

If looks could kill, I'd be dead on the floor right now.

"I can find you one in the palace," I continue, remembering she'd been raised with all the privilege and status that nobility affords?—

"I left that all behind me centuries ago," she cuts me off. Her eyes flit to the door where Thorne and Corbin disappeared, a battle raging there as if she might disobey her king's wishes and make a break for it.

"Then you can stay here in the residence," I say, leading her away from the doors and toward my own quarters.

By some miracle, she follows.

"This room next to mine has been empty since we arrived," I explain, stopping in front of the room and opening the door. "All the assassins and hunters live under one roof here."

She snorts out a laugh. "That makes all of you a huge target," she says, shaking her head. "I never like to stay in one place too long."

Silence surrounds us, heavy and thick and suffocating.

She lingers outside the door I opened for her, barely giving the room a second glance.

"I can't believe you're still alive," I finally blurt. "When I woke up, I reached out to Gunther and Noah. Neither one of them knew you were alive. They told me you had died in the sixteen hundreds."

The news broke me.

I never let my brothers see. The mission of finding Samuel and bringing him to justice is what kept me together. Once I finished that mission, I was prepared to go to the ground again in an attempt to outrun the weight of losing her all over again.

It's one thing to think she was living and thriving somewhere, but to have heard she died?

And yet, here she was, living and breathing right in front of me.

"That Talia did die in the sixteen hundreds," she says, her voice breaking. "I can't do this with you. We don't belong to each other anymore..." Her voice trails off and it's the tears lining her eyes that counter all her cold, emotionless words.

"This says otherwise," I say, reaching for her wrist and flipping it over?—

My mark...

My mating mark that grazed her skin...

It's gone.

"It faded centuries ago. Along with my feelings for you." She snatches her wrist back, taking a calculated step away from me.

"Talia—"

"Zachariah." Thorne rounds the corner, an urgency in his tone. He stops short, glancing between Talia and me.

I'm about to tell him to fuck off, but Talia steps into her room and shuts the door behind her.

I breathe out a sigh, at least grateful she hasn't fled the residence.

I walk toward Thorne, eyebrows raised.

"We found ID on a couple of them," he says, handing me a small piece of paper.

I read the names, shock running through me. "These were on the list of half-bloods that Mrs. Zorin turned over to us," I say before pocketing the paper. "We need to find Alek. Conclave should be called."

I spare a glance back at the room that Talia is now in, every instinct shouting at me to stay.

Fuck the mission, fuck Conclave, fuck honor.

I want to stay .

But she shut the door for a reason, and as much as I want her to listen to me, to reconnect with me, I can't kick down that door and make her.

So instead, I follow Thorne through the residence, tracking down everyone we need to, operating on pure autopilot.

My thoughts consumed with one crystal-clear fact.

My mate is in the residence, and she absolutely hates me.

I stride down the pathway with Alek, pushing open the heavy double doors to the Conclave Chamber and only allow him to enter after I've done a quick scan of the space. Four of the high-back chairs are already occupied, leaving the fifth empty and awaiting Alek.

Xavier sits so casually in his throne-like chair, draped in all black, one ankle casually resting upon a knee as he fiddles with something in his right hand—a silver coin that holds all his attention. It doesn't matter how many Conclaves I've attended since I awoke, the sight of the demon king is always unnerving.

Another chair is occupied by the witch queen, Luna, Jocelyn's sister, who is much more reasonable and amiable than Xavier. Another is occupied by the President of the Human Consortium, and in the last chair sits the new lycan king, Fenrir.

It's all I can do to not curl my lip at him. I almost died in his territory, if not for Talia…

No, it's my own fault. My distraction, my lack of will to use all my powers at once.

"You've had a year to get your shit together, Fenrir," Alek opens up the discussion as he takes his seat, myself falling behind him. "You'd think you'd know if your lands were riddled with bloodmad vampires."

"Or are you simply inviting them in?" Xavier asks in a smooth tone, never once taking his eyes off the silver coin he's now rolling over the back of each finger.

"The fuck I am," Fenrir snaps at the demon king, and Xavier stops playing with the coin, drawing his gaze slowly to the lycan.

The beast has enough sense to visibly swallow and avert his eyes.

The demon king returns to playing with his coin.

"I'm not," Fenrir says in a much more civilized tone. "I had no clue. But I'll send extra packs out on patrol after dark to ensure it doesn't happen again."

Alek nods, turning his gaze to the President of the Human Consortium. "And you?" he asks, his tone much softer to the human. "Do we have any new leads regarding Kyle Moorehouse? He's been on the loose far too long for my liking."

The name draws up a memory from when we were briefed on all happenings regarding the current war after our awakening. He's the brother of Valor, Lachlan's human mate, and he used to run one of the main divisions of the Sons of Honor. That was before Valor and the king's mate and some of the others infiltrated their headquarters, saving Valor's cousin Daphne from a forced marriage and sending Kyle on the run.

"There have been no traces of him, your Highness," the human answers. "We believe the blow his sister delivered has him in hiding, if not reorganizing."

Alek nods.

"Speaking of missing persons of interest," Luna draws the attention of the room. "We still believe that Samuel is being sheltered by the Greenbriars," she says, referencing a traitorous witch clan she has since disowned. "But I think we have a new player on the board. There's an older scent with these newly turned vampires. One that doesn't match Samuel's," she continues.

I nod, knowing we'd given her and the rest of them enough of Samuel's things to be able to identify his scent whenever needed, all of us collectively trying to find and eliminate the biggest threat to us all.

And yet there's a new scent? That adds more problems to an already messy mission.

"Was this older scent in any way familiar?" Alek asks.

"No," she answers.

"We couldn't identify it either," Fenrir adds. "We checked out the bodies your hunters left behind before they burned them."

The President of the Human Consortium remains quiet.

Alek's eyes fall on Xavier, who's playing with that damn coin again.

"A name comes to mind," Xavier says, a slight smirk shaping his lips.

"And who would that name belong to?" Alek asks through gritted teeth.

"Such valuable information certainly can't be freely given," Xavier says, not bothering to look away from the silver coin to Alek.

Alek sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What do you want?" he asks as though it's physically painful to say the words.

"How is Daphne's first semester going at Edgemont University?" Xavier asks, gripping the coin and finally looking at Alek. "Midterms yet?"

Alek hesitates, like giving the demon king any information, no matter how innocent, is a bad idea. Especially when it comes to Valor's eighteen-year-old human cousin.

"She just finished midterms," Alek answers. "And from the way Valor tells it, she's thriving at Edgemont."

Xavier gives the slightest of shrugs, a low hum behind his closed lips. He pockets the coin, standing up in one smooth move. "The old scent belongs to Conrad Gladstone," he says, glancing down at Alek before moving those eyes to me.

The name sends a bolt of shock straight down my spine.

Conrad? I knew him centuries ago, when I'd been courting Talia. He's from a noble vampire line as well, and had affections for Talia before her father chose me, and then fate chose me as her mate.

"I believe someone close to you is looking for the same someone," Xavier continues. "Have fun with that." He winks and disappears in a blink of shadows, Conclave apparently concluded for him.

I daresay the room breathes easier upon his exit.

"That's all for tonight," Alek says, and the other territory leaders shuffle out of their chairs, discussing things quietly with those they brought with them.

Alek stands, turning toward me. "Do you think that's who Talia was hunting?"

"I recognize the name." I nod. "Unless the demon king is playing games, but it didn't feel like he was. It would make sense she was on his trail. Killing bloodmad vampires is something a huntress is trained to do as much as we are. If Conrad is creating them as often as Samuel is, then she would've wanted to cut off the source."

"It's now our mission too." Alek flashes me a sympathetic smile as we head out of Conclave. "Looks like you have a new partner," he says. "And from what I can tell, you're going to need all the help you can get."