13. Frederick

Chapter 13

Frederick

W e filed into the conference room we’d been in just minutes ago when Dominic reached out to me through our bond. Never before had I interrupted a meeting, but if what Dominic was saying, was even partially true, it was possible that Marco was closer than we thought.

“You can sit here beside me,” I told him after we entered the conference room. “Do you need anything? Something to drink?”

Dominic shook his head in response, then continue to look around the room as everyone took their seats.

Once everyone was situated, Master Edison held up his hand in order to get everyone’s attention. When I shouted out that Marco might be in the area and then rushed off, well, let’s just say that it wasn’t my most shining moment. But my only thoughts were of getting to Dominic and making sure he was safe.

I glanced over at my One and realized that I was falling for him. Hard. We had only been together for a short time, but already, I couldn’t imagine having to go on without him. Was it love? If it wasn’t, I wasn’t far from it.

“Dominic, if you could tell us what it is that you heard please?” Master Edison said. “Frederick was a bit abrupt when he shouted out that Marco was in the area possibly.”

I winced at Dominic, hoping he would understand.

Dominic, the wonderful person that he is, reached out and took my hand under the table and gave it a squeeze. “I don’t mind sharing, Master Edison. I’m not sure of the validity of this information.” Dominic glanced at Drew, who nodded his head in encouragement. “We were at the bakery, and was talking to Liz, who I assume is the proprietor. Drew asked about someone named Malorie and Liz informed him that Malorie was off spending time with her newly found mate who happened to be named Marco.”

“Marco happens to be a quite common name,” Master Edison said.

“Yes, sir. It was the fact that she mentioned that he was one of the council’s new enforcers and that he was a warlock.” That had several in the room looking at one another.

“There are no new enforcers named Marco. In fact, we do not have an enforcer named Marco. There is a Marc, but he is already mated.”

“When I said something to her, she became quite excited about my accent. She asked if I was from Italy as well, as Marco was from Italy. I told her I was, but that Italy was a rather large country, and I did not know her daughter’s Marco.”

That information there seem to do it, and the room was suddenly in motion. “Atticus, you, Damien, Warwick, and Dante. I need you on patrol immediately,” Master Edison said.

“Yes sir,” they all said as the stood. The left the room without any further instruction.

“Benjamin, I want you to go over to the bakery and tell James and Elizabeth that they are needed here at the council immediately.”

Benjamin left with a wave. I was sure he had already talked to Eli.

“If it really is Marco, he can’t get up here on the mountain, can he?” Dominic asked.

“No. Even if Malorie actually is his mate and even if they’ve claimed one another already, she can’t get him up here on Treasure Ridge. You have to have been cleared by Master Edison or someone on his committee. They have to meet you in person before you can be cleared because he has the mountain warded.” I told him.

It was a relief because Dominic was home alone when I was here at work. As were all of the other mates, beloveds, and Ones. It was to help the peace of mind of the enforcers, and their mates. I’d heard that back at the beginning, when the council was still being formed, there was a set of parents that showed up on the mountain, and well, they were only there because they wanted access to who their son was working for—Master Ambrosius.

“I guess that is a good thing then. But what happens to her if she has been claimed by him?” Dominic asked. “He’s going to be killed for his crimes, is he not?”

I nodded. It was incredibly sad, but there was no other way around it. Marco, as will Riccardo, will both be put to death for their crimes against other paranormals. There would be no option for them to spend time at the prison that was in the middle of Alpha Sergei’s territory.

“Frederick,” Master Edison said, pulling my attention away from Dominic.

“Yes, Master?”

“Please take Dominic to my office. I wish to speak to him a bit more about this.” Master Edison looked to Sebastian who was sitting beside us. “Sebastian, take Drew and Flora there as well. I’ll be along shortly. I need to discuss some things with Sergei and Ambrosius.”

Sebastian and I both nodded in response. I stood and held out my hand to help Dominic to his feet. When he placed his in mine, I gave his a squeeze before I stepped away from the table. Sebastian leaded, Drew and Flora from the room with Dominic and I closely behind him.

“Am I going to get into trouble?” Dominic asked me when we were halfway down the hallway.

I looked over at my One and shook my head. “Why would you get into trouble? You have done nothing wrong.”

“It seems as if I have caused a bit of chaos here at your work.”

Sebastian snorted and then turned around and looked at Dominic over his shoulder. “You have done exactly what you should have in that situation. Master Edison is not upset with you at all. But we all know how ruthless Marco can be and we need to ensure that he is caught if it truly is him.”

Sebastian spoke the truth. If Marco was the one who Elizabeth had been talking about, eventually, Malorie would be able to draw him out or lead us to him.

If it turned out not to be the same Marco, which was most likely not the case, then we would be back to

Searching and had no idea where to look. At this point, there were simply too many coincidences for them to be different people. Both being from Italy, both being named Marco, both being warlocks. There were just too many similarities.

It only took a couple of minutes to navigate Dominic and Drew from the conference room to Master Edison’s office. Once we arrived there, we were greeted by Alistair as well as Rainier.

Alistair was sitting on Master Edison’s desk wow Rainier while Rainier was comfortable in the oversized chair in the corner. I did a double take when I realized that particular chair did not belong in this office. I raise an eyebrow in question and my uncle simply shrugged.

Sebastian helped Drew uncover Flora and get them situated on the couch that was along the far wall. I lead Dominic to the two chairs that were in front of the desk. Once Dominic was comfortable, I sat down in the other chair and reached out for his hand again. Dominic glanced around the room before giving me a look.

“Absolutely everyone in this room is mated. Not a single one of them is going to say anything to you and I holding hands,” I told him through our bond.

Dominic took my hand and once his was once more secure in mine, I gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. I could tell he was incredibly nervous about everything that was going on. I offered a smile and then brought his hand to my face and kissed his knuckles. That finally pulled a small smile from him, but everyone in the room could still tell he was incredibly uneasy.

“Grandfather said he had a few questions. He really is just like anyone else in here,” Alistair said. His head turned to the side and he smirked. “Well, with the exception of Drew over there. But cheetahs are really cool, and they can shift into these magnificent animals. We always look the same.” Alistair gestured up and down his body. There was no man or woman alive that would ever complain about Alistair’s looks. And I was a mated warlock.

I watched as Dominic looked over his shoulder at Drew, who had a rather large smile on his face. Hopefully he would overcome some of his feelings of inadequacy in our family. We didn’t judge for one’s abilities. My own mother was a human. Sebastian’s omega father was a lynx shifter, and Benjamin’s omega father was a fox shifter. It did not matter in our family.

Master Edison came into the office with both Alpha Sergei and Master Ambrosius trailing behind him. Alpha Sergei was talking to someone on the phone in his native language, and I looked over at Alistair. I knew very little Russian, but with Caspian being mated to Dimitri now, it was probably past time to try and learn more of it.

“The first thing I want to say to you, is thank you for bringing this information to our attention. I hope you understand just how important it is that we find Marco. He and his cousin need to pay for their crimes,” Master Edison said.

“I don’t know exactly what to say,” Dominic replied. “To me it just seemed as if there were too many similarities between everything that she was telling us and what is going on with my birth coven.”

“Yes, indeed.” Master Edison looked to first me, and then over at Sebastian. “I understand that the two of you are obviously concerned about Drew and Dominic. Please believe me when I say that their safety, as is everyone else’s on this mountain, is certainly at the forefront of my thoughts. As of now, Malorie is no longer an authorized person for Treasure Ridge. If she attempts to return to the mountain, she will not be able to gain access. This is just a precaution until we know for certain if we are dealing with the same person or not.”

“Is there anything else I can do to help”

“You had mentioned that Elizabeth told you that Marco was from Italy. Did she say where from in the country?”

Dominic shook his head. “I’m sorry, no. I did not think to ask either. I should have though.”

Master Edison looked over at Drew, who shook his head as well. “No. She just seemed overly excited about the fact that Dominic was from Italy as well,” Drew added. “Once she heard his accent, it was difficult to get any answers from her.

“Very well. Did she happen to mention when it was that their daughter met Marco?” Master Edison asked as he looked between Dominic and back over at Drew.

Both shook their head. “She mentioned that she had just met him. But that could be last night or last week. She didn’t say more than that,” Drew said.

“That is very interesting,” Alpha Sergei said. “Last week would be about when Ricardo suddenly clammed up and started sitting around with the creepy smile on his face.”

Master Edison and Master. Ambrosius both nodded in agreement. “It’s too much of a coincidence,” Master Ambrosius added.

“Thank you for your help,” Master Edison said. “We all appreciate your assistance and clarification on this. We will be asking James and Elizabeth the same questions. We wanted to know what she told you though, just to know whether or not she gives us different answers.”

“I’m sure I’m not much help,” Dominic said. “But I will help in any way that I can,”

I looked over at Dominic and gave his hand another squeeze. I knew he was a warlock and that he was capable of taking care of himself. That did not mean that I felt comfortable with him going home alone knowing that my pregnant One was out there, possibly dealing with Marco Gallo on his own.

“You have already been a tremendous help,” Master Edison said. He then looked directly at me. “Frederick, feel free to take Dominic home and spend the rest of the day with him. We have a lot to do this afternoon, but right now a plan must be formed if we are to locate Marco through Malorie. I can guarantee we are only going to get one chance to catch him before he’s gone again.” Master Edison looked back to where Drew and Sebastian were sitting. “Sebastian, the same goes for you. Walk Drew and Flora home, or use magic to get them there. Since I know neither of you will be able to concentrate for the rest of the afternoon, please except the afternoon off. “Master Edison glanced at Alpha Sergei and Master Ambrosius. “We will hopefully have everything sorted and in place come morning.”

“Thank you, Master,” I said as I stood without relinquishing Dominic’s hand. Without another thought, I lead Dominic out of the office, waving farewell to the others as we left.

“Is it all right to ask questions?” Dominic asked as we walked down the hallway.

“You may always ask questions,” I said as a glanced at him.

“I know just how evil of a person Marco is. I’ve heard about what he and his cousin are capable of. But my question is do you really believe he and Malorie are fated to be together?”

I stopped and gave Dominic a questioning look. “Why would you ask that?”

“Would that mean Malorie is just as bad of a person? Would Marco even be given a fated one? And if so, would he honestly be paired with someone who was associated with the council? Why now? It’s too easy. Is this Malorie person young? Is she a bad person?”

Those were all very good questions and points. And as soon as we got home, and I knew that Dominic was safe and secure, I was going to mention everything to Master Edison. What Dominic was saying was all true. Why would someone associated with the council be gifted to the council’s current number one most wanted?

“I’m not sure,” I told him. “Malorie isn’t too terribly old, but I’m not exactly sure how old she is. She’s younger than both of us, but I think her parents might be a well. You’ve made a very valid point though. It does not make any sense at all that she would be Marco’s mate. Not the Marco we are searching for.”

“Should we mention that to someone?”

“I will. I’m going to send Master Edison an email once we get home and are settled. None of this really makes much sense” I said absently. I thought back to what Alpha Sergei had said in the office. If Riccardo had suddenly started acting strange last week, was it possible that something of this nature was pre-determined long ago by the pair of them? Was Malorie truly Marcon’s One or was she just a na?ve casualty? These were all questions we were going to need answers to.

I waved to Slater as we walked past him at the front desk. Once we were outside, I looked at Dominic and quickly pulled him into my arms. Without a thought, I had us back in our house, and I took a moment to simply stare at my one.

He returned my stare, and after a long moment, Dominic slowly nodded. When he tried to take a step back, I loosened my grip to allow him the freedom to step away. Dominic turned and lead us to the couch in the back room. I sat without hesitation when he tugged me down onto the couch beside him. When Dominic leaned into my side, I wrapped him up in my arms and closed my eyes. I knew he couldn’t feel the worry that I couldn’t seem to turn off but was able to block from him. Despite that, Dominic seemed to know exactly what I needed in the moment.