1. Talon

CHAPTER 1

Talon

T he atmosphere in Alek's office was anything but cozy, especially with the way Lachlan refused to sit the fuck down.

Seriously, the Highlander hovered behind the king like a damned nursemaid, but at least he didn't insult me by keeping watch on me. Oh no, the second-in-command's eyes were on the door behind me.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you were summoned," Alek said, shooting a look at Lachlan that said he'd had enough of the pacing, too.

"I can admit I'm curious." I lounged back in the chair across from his desk.

"You have a skill I need," Alek admitted, reaching into his drawer and pulling out a few papers. A quick glance told me they were the lists of names we'd acquired from the Sons. "As you know, we're about to head into the war room for a meeting, and I would like you to agree to my plan before I pitch it to the rest of the table."

"Before?" I arched an eyebrow.

"I'd rather know you're on my side and agree before fighting Zachariah about sending you into danger," he admitted. "You all tend to stick together."

A slow smile played across my face. "You have my attention." I casually crossed my ankle over my knee.

"These lists," Alek said, and pushed the papers my way. "The last one arrived with Warrick Zorin."

I nodded, knowing the others had put the kid through his paces before they'd let him out of the dungeon and into the barracks to train with the others. Not that he was a kid. He was just a fuck-ton younger than I was.

"He says that he got it from his older brother, Edward." Alek looked me in the eye. "Which means the oldest Zorin is in league with the Sons, just like his father had been."

My jaw flexed, seeing where this was headed. "You want me to leave my brother's mission to hunt down Samuel and focus instead on the Sons."

"I'm not saying that Samuel isn't involved—" Alek started.

"Do me the honor of not bullshitting me."

Lachlan's focus changed from the door to me.

"Fine." Alek shrugged. "I'm asking you to switch your focus, because you are uniquely able to get inside the fortress the Zorins call home."

My brow furrowed. "You want me to do what? Change into a hawk? A mouse? How the fuck would that help get past the wards they have on that place?" The protections the Zorins kept on their family home weren't just formidable, they were legendary, and while I'd known more than one Zorin in my time, it seemed this generation had taken their security to a whole new level.

"Not exactly." Alek cringed.

"It's about to get interesting." Lachlan's beard twitched, and I had the distinct impression that there was a joke I wasn't in on.

A knock sounded softly on the door behind me.

"Come in," Alek answered.

The door opened and Cassandra Zorin swept in, her gown rustling around her ankles. The female was still dressed formally, apparently having attended evening repast. Her panther sauntered in after her.

Fuck me, but Cassandra was exquisite to look at. High cheekbones, dark hair that I would have bet looked great sweeping over my thighs as she wrapped those blood-red, perfect lips around my cock made her…well, too gorgeous for her own good. She was tall and lithe, the perfect specimen of a female of our species, and she had a way of walking that made me wonder if her feet ever touched the floor.

She was the epitome of nobility, of grace, of centuries of selective breeding.

She was also as trustworthy as a fucking pit viper.

"You asked to see me, my king?" She dropped into a curtsy, sinking low enough to raise my eyebrows. What a well-trained little snake.

I couldn't help but wonder if my king's mating mark was still falsely tattooed on her skin, or if she'd gone through the rather painful procedure to have it removed after Lyric had shown up and claimed Alek's heart…and his mark.

"Please, sit."

Cassandra rose just as gracefully as she'd dipped, and her dark eyes widened slightly as she saw me. Then she swallowed and sat in the chair next to me. The look on her face was…resigned.

She knew what was going on.

Interesting.

"Have you given thought to what we spoke about earlier?" Alek asked.

"I have," she said, nodding once. She folded her hands in her lap and kept her spine ramrod straight.

"And?" Alek prodded as Lachlan crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'll do it," she said with a note of certainty that told me she'd given a lot of thought to his request. "If Warrick says that Edward has been making use of our family home from time to time, then I believe him." She eyed the papers on the desk. "I'd like to not believe that Edward is involved in any of that, but I'm willing to journey home for a…sabbatical, and ferret out the truth. I'll report back as agreed."

"Good." Alek nodded.

"Sending you doesn't mean we trust you," Lachlan stated, his eyes narrowing on Cassandra.

"I'm well aware that you have Warrick to assure my compliance," she seethed, color rising in her cheeks.

Damn, the female was exceptionally stunning when riled.

I made note to rile her again at the earliest opportunity.

"We'll be sending someone with you to report back and keep you…loyal," Alek said, watching her in a way that told me he was monitoring more than her body language.

"And how do you think that would go over with Edward?" Cassandra blinked, but that was her only physical reaction. "Oh, I've come home to vacation, and happened to have brought a hunter with me?" She arched a perfectly sculpted dark brow.

Lachlan pressed his lips together and smothered a laugh.

Alek glanced at Cassandra's panther, and I cursed, the pieces of his plan falling into place as I took a deep breath.

"You have to be fucking kidding me," I said to Alek.

Cassandra glanced at me, then our king. "Him? You want me to spend months with him ?" Her voice pitched upward.

"Why not?" Alek shrugged. "He is from an ancient, noble family. He knows the rules of aristocracy better than almost anyone?—"

"He loathes me!" She gripped the arms of the chair.

So she could lose her temper. How…enticing.

"She's not lying." I laced my fingers together in my lap, keeping my composure. "I don't exactly hold her in high regard." Months with Cassandra Zorin? Behind what were obviously enemy lines? Gods, we were just as likely to kill each other as we were to discover anything useful.

"See?" Cassandra said.

"He'll control himself," Alek promised on my behalf.

"Eh…" I lifted a corner of my mouth in a slight grimace. "Let's not make promises I'm not sure I can keep."

"And just how do you expect him to be accepted at my family's home? By my family's servants? He's a giant red flag where Edward is concerned!" She was white-knuckling that chair now.

"Because I won't be going as myself, will I?" I asked Alek. There was only one reason it was me sitting in this chair and not Zachariah, or anyone with more years in the king's service.

Cassandra shot me a look that would have withered a lesser male. I, however, was not a lesser male. I was a fucking hunter , trained for years in the execution of bloodmad vampires, and an aristocrat in my own right—if I really felt like pressing it…which I didn't. "And just who do you think you'll be going as?" she asked me, pursing those red lips.

Was that lipstick? Or was the color natural? Would she leave a lip print on my?—

"Well?" she asked, jarring me from my wayward thoughts.

"My guess is that I'll be going as her. " I glanced past her to the panther sitting at her side, currently cleaning herself with massive paws. It wouldn't be the first time I'd posed as the panther, but usually that was just to fuck with Cassandra.

"Absolutely not." Cassandra's eyes widened to an almost impossible size.

"I'm afraid so," Alek said.

"Better pet me really nicely or I'll bite." I winked. If I was going to be stuck with Cassandra for however long this took, I was going to be just as much of a pain to her as she'd been to everyone under this roof.

Alek couldn't take his revenge for the hell she'd put him through, but I could.

This was going to be fun.