Chapter 8

Adryan

Ifucking loved when the air went frigid upon my arrival, when the sound of throats clearing could be heard, that unease that rippled through the room. Then there was the heady rush of the scent of apprehension every time I entered a room.

The warehouse was currently filled with Lycans and vampires, both species separated, with the wolves keeping to themselves on one side and the vampires on the other. Our kinds weren’t exactly buddies, but we could play nice when the time called for it. We could be allies when the need arose. Like right now.

I took a second to look around the warehouse, a newer building I’d acquired in the past few months to store shipments for my import and export business… one of my many legitimate entrepreneur avenues I had a hand in.

But this wasn’t where my money really came from. No, I dealt mainly in firearms, weapons to the Otherworld, to organized crime factions in the human world. The mafia, the cartel, hell, even motorcycle clubs and their need for weapons to destroy one another. That’s where the real money was—blood money.

Boxes, shipping crates, and pallets of all kinds of shit littered both sides of the warehouse as I made my way forward, Bear staying right at my side.

I stopped a few feet from the males, all of them side-eyeing the other, then grinned. “Man, you are all a bunch of surly motherfuckers, aren’t you?”

There was a low rumble of growls that came from the Lycans in response, and then Cian stepped forward, his face set in a hard mask of one pissed-off wolf. He was clearly the leader of this little fur convoy.

“Where’s Odhran?” Although it was stated like a question, there was no doubt in the tone of Cian’s voice that he expected an answer.

“See,” I said and pulled a hand out of my pocket to run my palm over my jaw. I glanced at my soldiers, letting a smile move across my face. “You forget who you’re standing in front of, who you’re talking about, wolf.” I wiped all humor out of my voice and off my face. “Remember your place, Cian.” I growled the last part low enough it only traveled between the two of us.

I knew I had to tread lightly, because shit could very well hit the fan with how I worded things, but then again, I didn’t give a fuck either.

The air changed, and electricity filled the warehouse as the Lycans started to sense things were about to go sideways.

“So let’s try that again, yeah?” I stood there, Cian a big motherfucker, but still I towered over him.

He clenched his jaw and gritted through his teeth, “Where’s Odhran, Adryan?” Although his voice was still hard, and it was clear he was biting his tongue on being a stubborn bastard and alpha, I chuckled low that he was trying. Well, trying to be as civil as two full-grown Otherworld males could be.

“Your boy got himself into a little jam, know what I mean?” I tucked my hand back in my pocket and shrugged as I stared at Cian. The wolf bared his teeth at me, and it was clear he was doing everything in his power not to take a fighting stance.

“What the fook does that mean?”

I lowered my gaze to his hands and saw him clenching and relaxing them, over and over again. “It means your boy overstepped bounds, Cian.” I looked back at the Lycan Guard. “And I put him down because of it.”

The growls amplified, total chaos about to ensue as shouting proceeded, echoing off the high warehouse ceiling. Cian bared his teeth even more, his wolf rippling on the surface. I held a hand up.

“Calm the fuck down, the lot of you.” I tipped my chin to Kane, who turned and headed to one of the back rooms. I kept my focus on Cian the whole time, the fucker liable to go for my throat and ask questions later. “How’s that pretty mate of yours doing?” He took a menacing step forward, and his eyes flashed. I laughed low. “I’m such an asshole, aren’t I? Getting you all worked up just to bust your balls.” I shrugged. “I just can’t help it, man. I fucking love getting under everyone’s skin.”

Just as I saw Cian’s body ripple with power because he was about to come after me, Kane was stepping through the back door, Odhran, who was a little worse for wear superficially, following behind him and looking pissed as fuck.

All the Lycans drew their attention to their kin, and the aggression in the room instantly lessened when they saw he was still aboveground.

I chuckled again when Cian narrowed his eyes. “Ye said ye put him down.”

I shrugged again. “Poor choice of words, I admit. I meant I took him out with some tranquilizer. And then we had to make things right for him stepping over lines and killing one of my own.” Cian snarled and I shrugged. “It’s the principal of it, wolf. You know this.” I tipped my chin in Odhran’s direction. “It was either that or put a bullet through his skull, and I was pretty sure that would bother you wolves.” I grinned, flashing my fangs. “And I’d like to point out how merciful I was. What’s a little bruises and scrapes to being able to live a full and product life?” Cian looked seconds away form lunging. “I don’t ever let shit like that slide, not when he fucked over my plans to extract more information out of Matteo.”

Cian growled in irritation.

“Fook ye, Adryan,” Odhran growled, but he stopped beside Cian, glowering at me.

“Sorry, wolf. But you were out of fucking control. At the rate you were going, you’d have attacked anyone who came close to you. I had to defuse that shit quick, yeah?”

Odhran glanced at Cian, and the two started speaking in Gaelic, their voices low. Odhran grunted. “I… I canna think straight these days.”

He scrubbed his hands over his face, suddenly allowing his mask to slip, and the Lycan looked so beaten down that if I had a heart, I might have felt bad for him.

“Yeah, I canna think straight. I’m slowly losing my fooking mind.”

Under-fucking-statement of the century.

“No shit, man.”

Odhran snarled. “Ye are such a fooking bitch, Adryan.”

I tipped my head back and barked out a hard laugh. “Yeah, man, I really can be, can’t I?” I let my amusement dry up and looked between the two males standing before me. “Buuut,” I let that lone word drag out, “maybe you should thank me.” I took a step toward Cian, Odhran bristling beside the other wolf.

“The fook you spouting on about, Adryan?” Cian snarled the words.

We stared at each other for long moments, this alpha showdown creating a pretty tense atmosphere. But I derived power from that, from those who refused to back down. My soldiers knew their place, stayed where they were until I gave a signal, which I wouldn’t. I knew how this would play out, saw things steps ahead before they became reality.

“Things could have gone down far differently, Cian. But I kept my shit together. Do the same.” It wasn’t a request, and he knew that.

Cian huffed out, and I could tell this was hard as shit for him to do… to back down.

He exhaled, nodded once, and said, “Many thanks from my kind for no’ being an even more psychotic fooker than ye already are.”

I laughed and reached out to clap Cian on the shoulder. He bristled at the contact, and I smiled wider. “Let’s get this started so you can go back to that mate of yours, and I can do my own shit, yeah?”

Kane and Sebastian stepped forward with a tablet in hand and brought up the aerial view of the farmland in Vermont, the property we highly suspected the Assembly was using as a front to perform their fucked-up shit for species of the Otherworld.

For thenext half hour, we went over every logistic possible to infiltrate, or at least see if things could be infiltrated.

“And ye’ve had soldiers canvassing the area? Had them there this whole time?”

I nodded and glanced at Cian. “Since we found out about it. We haven’t done anything more than sit on it though. I kept my soldiers back for obvious, practical reasons. Not about losing bodies without knowing everything and being totally prepared. Although this really isn’t my fight, concerning your boy’s mate.” I glanced at Odhran and winked before looking back at Cian. “But me and mine are really fucking involved now. I want to take down these assholes as much as the next bastard.”

Cian and Odhran grunted in acknowledgment.

“So far there’s been no movement, not even civilians coming to and from the property.”

Cian stared down at the tablet. “Underground.”

“Yeah, which is what we figured at the beginning. These pricks aren’t stupid, not for as long as they’ve been in operation.”

“We go now,” Cian said, and I cocked an eyebrow.

“The fuck you say?” I asked slowly, making sure I heard the wolf’s order correctly.

Cian took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. “We have a good lead that that’s where the Assembly is, or at least where one of the headquarters is. There’s no point in waiting tae infiltrate it.”

I chuckled and took the identical stance he sported. “There is a point in waiting. Let’s not mention this is my fucking territory, and what I say goes.” I paused for effect, to really let that sink in. “The main reason we aren’t going to just attack is because I’m not going to go in guns a’blazing and put my soldiers in danger. I get it; you and your boy want to go half-assed and balls to the wall because you have some vendetta, and he wants his mate back, thinking those douchebags have her. But fuck no, man. We do this the right way, the smart way. We do this my way.” Cian growled but didn’t say anything else. “Give me a couple of days, and I’ll gather more soldiers, tactical gear, the whole nine yards, yeah? Then after that, we go in there with an army.”

Cian shook his head, but I took a step toward him, feeling my impatience grow. I wanted to leave, to go to Kayla, to solidify everything that was between us. But this wolf asshole was trying to take the lead on all this. That, I wouldn’t have.

“We do this on my terms, Cian. You’re in my territory. I’m all for helping you, and trust me, I get it.” I stared into his eyes, saw them glow, knowing mine flashed red. “I. Fucking. Get. It.”

All the Lycans were riled up at this point, shifting on their feet back and forth, the energy in the room growing exponentially. My boys were also getting worked up, the scent of testosterone and aggression heavy in the air.

“We’ll do this in a couple of days. Okay?” Of course I phrased it like a question, but it really wasn’t one. He and I both knew that.

He exhaled and ran a hand over his face, glancing over at Odhran, who looked like he was ready to argue and go toe-to-toe with me, but the stern expression on his face kept the Lycan in check.

And hell, if Odhran pushed, I probably would’ve let them go and just followed after. Now that I’d found my own mate, I knew the turmoil and rage Odhran felt. Because the very thought of someone taking Kayla from me had all sorts of psychotic, murderous feelings rising in me.

Even more so than normal.

But if we really wanted to take down this bastard organization, we had to be smart and work as a team. And if the Lycans went there now, they’d do something stupid. They’d use their strength and their animals to have a lot of bodies dropping to the ground.

“Yeah. Fine. Two days tae get everything in order.”

I nodded slowly, and Cian lifted his hand to gesture for the wolves to file out. I stood and watched them leave, Bear butting his head against my thigh until I reached down and scratched behind his ear.

Kane whistled when the last Lycan left. “Why are Lycans so fucking moody?”

“Their animals are feral on the regular,” I said without pause and then looked at Kane and Sebastian. “Then again, aren’t we all fucking primal creatures?”

The rest of my team were off to the side, their faces expressionless, each one of them ready for… whatever the fuck I needed them to do. Mayhem, menace… murder. For the next twenty minutes I went over all the logistics, all the plans on what the next steps were.

Once all that was settled I whistled for Bear to follow as I left the warehouse and headed straight to my female.