CHAPTER THREE

L ogan chugged back a bottle of water and let out a noisy ahhh as he joined Oliver leaning on the wall. As the head assassin at The Institute, Oli was technically his boss, although they all reported to Ari.

"You good?" Oli asked, folding his arms across his chest and, like him, watching as all the warriors piled into the room.

"Yeah, headache is almost gone," Logan said, "but that bitter taste in my mouth is still there."

Oliver shook his head, then laughed and gave someone across the room the bird. Clearly, he'd missed the earlier joke.

"Fuck me," Mack said, joining them and rubbing the back of his head. "When does the pain disappear?"

Logan snickered.

At least he wasn't the only one with a serum hangover.

"Toughen up," Ben said, kicking around one of the chairs and dropping onto it.

"Another hour," Logan said, kicking one of the chair legs, but Ben was too fast. He leaped up, spun around, and landed in a crouch.

"Try again, pretty boy."

Logan just grinned back and out of the corner of his eye saw Ari heading in his direction.

"Is it taking longer to recover after two doses of the serum in such a short time frame?" he asked, and Logan lifted his shoulder.

"What time did we get shot with it?" he asked.

Everyone looked blank.

"Darnell!" Ben yelled over his shoulder. "What time did the Russians show up?"

The huge, dark warrior wandered over. "About three. Why?"

Ari shook his head. "Tracking the impact of the serum on those who have had it multiple times. Make sure you let Sage or Brooklyn know after the meeting, Logan."

Brooklyn.

The scared little mouse.

While he hated her kind with a vengeance, the idea of visiting the medical center again and hearing her heart slam inside her chest brought a slight smirk to his lips.

That's exactly what she was, a scared little mouse, and he was the big wild cat who apparently seemed to enjoy playing with her.

Tormenting her.

Well, he was more a tall, dark-haired, solid-as-fuck muscular vampire with a scattering of tattoos than a cat.

But the same.

In this instance, at least.

"Will do," Logan said. Then Ari walked to the front of the room to get the meeting started.

Things were serious.

The prince was missing. He'd gone after Willow and their daughter, and his mobile phone was off and untraceable.

Three Moretti's were missing.

Logan glanced around at all the senior warriors. Having everyone together as they worked to take down the mega-mafia was the most effective strategy.

Nikolay Mikhailov had done what no other mob boss had done. He'd brought the heads of all the mafias together on a common project and they were working together.

How well it was going was anyone's guess.

Inside information told them the promise of mass wealth and control over the planet was the key driver, but other than that, the data coming through their contacts was thin.

They knew the why.

They just weren't aware of all the production facilities so they could destroy them.

Fortunately, they weren't alone.

The president and other UN leaders were just as committed to not letting these criminals gain traction. They had been actively destroying plants and disrupting their plans.

However, it had triggered a reaction from the Russian Pakham. He wasn't aware Vincent Moretti had revealed the vampire race to the world leaders and was working to go public globally.

So, he thought they were responsible.

It had to be the reason they took Willow.

Logan could think of no other reason...except control, or worse, more experimentation. The thought made his trigger finger extremely itchy.

But it was unlikely.

Mikhailov was in the production business. He was not one of those mother fucking BioZen scientists.

Still, Logan wasn't about to add him to his Christmas card list.

The crime families were involved with heinous acts. Distribution of harmful drugs, blood diamonds, arms, and worst of all, young woman and children.

It would be so easy for him as a powerful vampire to teleport to any of their locations and rip their heads off. But it didn't work that way. Growing up a vampire, they learned to suppress who and what they were to blend into the human world.

That meant not being too strong.

Not moving fast.

Not grabbing a criminal by the shirt and sliding him up the wall and ripping out his intestines. There were tidier ways. He was a trained sniper, so a simple bullet to the forehead would do the job.

Far less enjoyable, however.

The reality was, they couldn't just go around killing humans. Frankly, the speed with which they bred meant another one would just step in and take over.

And they did.

It appeared crime families were an accepted dark side of humanity.

If it wasn't them, then something else would take its place, Ari once told him when he was having a hard time after a job.

"Simple history, Logan. Just look back a few hundred years. Once upon a time there were outlaws, then train robbers, now mafia. A very simplified summary, but you get my drift," Ari had said.

He was right.

Now the world was dealing with terrorists along with the less influential crime families.

Less influential, as long as they stopped this mega-mafia strategy. Because if they didn't, and somehow the serum was mass produced and released along with an announcement about their race, then it would cause absolute mayhem.

As the leader, Logan believed taking down Nikolay would be like cutting the head off the snake.

Finding him was the problem.

"Warriors. Quiet," Craig called out.

Huge muscular bodies, clad in black, shuffled into a spot and went quiet, focusing on the directions they were about to be given.

All eager to get the members of the royal family back.

"The king has asked me to step into Brayden's shoes as captain." Ari shared, his hands resting on his hips. "Until he returns."

Logan had no doubt that Craig would have stepped up to do the job should Ari have not been here. But he was, so the king's decision made sense, given it was a role he'd done for hundreds of years when the two princes were young. Well before Vincent had become king.

Logan had been a young vampire when Vincent had finally been crowned upon the death of his father. He'd gone to work for Ari at The Institute not knowing he was a Moretti and a member of the royal family.

Technically, he wasn't.

The bloodline of all the vampires on the planet— all ten million of them—came from Ari's twin brother, King Gio.

Fucking confusing.

But essentially Gio had mated and had children. Ari hadn't. He figured.

How else would it work?

The mystery of the origin of their race was unknown.

Still, to vampires around the world, Ari was a Moretti and a member of the royal family but took no royal title. Nor did his mate, Sage.

But the king trusted him to place him in Brayden's shoes, and there was no time for family drama. They needed to get Brayden and the princesses back home safely.

"The Russians have Willow and Isabella," Craig growled. "Brayden, as any mated male in this room would understand, has gone after her."

Heads nodded and a few let out a few fuck yeahs.

"But it was fucking stupid of him." Craig lifted his hand in protest when a few voices began to disagree. "Yeah, yeah, I know he could destroy them in seconds, but remember, they have that fucking serum. We live in a different world now and the rules have changed."

"He's fast." Lance argued.

"Any idea where he is?" Tristan asked.

Tris and Darnell were the newest SLCs, recently promoted to the senior team.

"He's destroyed his phone." Tom updated everyone.

While all the SLCs were powerful vampires and trained in the field, Logan noticed Tom was often the go-to guy for all things technical and data. That wasn't to say he didn't get his hands dirty, but he seemed to understand the systems more than the others.

Marcus was the head trainer for the army.

"While the smart thing to do would be to sit tight and wait to hear from Brayden," Ari said, rubbing the side of his jaw, "we're not going to do that."

"Good," a few murmured roughly around him.

"Not all of you. The king remains our priority," Ari said firmly, meeting the gaze of every single one of them in the room. "We're not relocating him and the queen, as I believe they are safe here. We were blindsided by the Russian stowaway after the attack. It won't happen again."

Fuck no.

They were all on red alert after that fuck up.

One of the Russians had entered the castle in the previous attack, through—they think—the hole in the roof. Then remained hidden until his mob pals returned for him. Taking the princesses.

Smart.

Though he hated to give them credit. And fucking ballsy holing up in a castle full of vampire warriors.

Still, Logan wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he came face-to-face.

"Ari and I have spoken quickly, given the time we are working with and the king's directive," Craig shared. "Marcus, I need you to prepare our new recruits for war. The rest of you, brief your teams. We will put the strategy together over the next few hours."

The warriors broke into cries of support.

"Consider us one team." Ari glanced over at him, Elijah, Jason, and Oli.

"Have for months." Oliver shrugged.

"Just can't get away from you idiots." Ben teased. Oliver, his best friend, headlocked him, and a small tussle broke out.

"Not today." Ari threw a pen at them.

Logan reached out and caught it, sliding it into his Moretti jacket.

The corner of Ari's lip curled.

"Technically that's mine," Ben said, holding out his hand.

"Technically...shut up." Logan grinned and refocused on Ari.

"Focus, for fuck's sakes." Craig rolled his eyes. "I'm sure that serum is making them dumber."

Ari chuckled silently.

Things might be serious—really damn serious— but warriors needed to let out their overload of testosterone and banter was what they did best.

"Brief your mates that you will be coming and going for however long it takes. We are at war. Now with the mafia and if it escalates, possibly a greater conflict."

With humanity, Craig meant.

No one wanted to say it out loud. Or contemplate it. But here it was on our doorstep.

"The king is working with the world leaders to keep communication lines open and our relationship strong with humans," Ari added. "We just need to get the prince and princesses home."

So many wars were fought off the battlefield these days.

This one wouldn't be.

They'd all spent their life remaining in the shadows while living in the open.

Logan's imagination went wild, wondering what life would be like once...because it was inevitable...the entire population of earth learned of their existence.

"Right." Craig pulled the cap off the marker and turned to the whiteboard. "Let's get this strategy underway, Ari. The rest of you prepare your teams and arms for action."

Logan climbed to his feet and slapped Mack, who had been sitting next to him, on the shoulder. "Ready for some action?"

"I was born ready." Mack winked.

"Weren't you an accountant?" he teased.

"Dude, no, that was Callan."

And cue another tussle and Craig yelling across the room at them.