Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Tucker

Holding my mate's hand in mine, I guide her through the clubhouse and into the main room.

I need to share what she saw in her dream with the others. They need to know what we now know.

How Lake was able to subconsciously dream, walked right into a dangerous situation unnerves me. I don't like the fact that she was able to do that. Her powers are growing within her. The scent of them becomes more potent by the day.

What gets me the most has to be the names she mentioned hearing. Not just the dragons, but Nyx Iceclove.

Nyx is legendry for being the dark Fae, one of the unseelie princes who no one dares cross. The very fact Lake's mother got away from him shouldn't have happened. If rumors and legends are to be believed, he and the rest of the unseelie race have been at war for over a millennium. A part of me wants to dive deeper into the history and find out what it is about Lake and her mother that the Drakon King wants and why Zurri thinks that he'll have my mate at his side.

The only thing I can for sure say is he wants her powers. Lake is special because of the abilities she's coming into. More than that, she's not just part nymph. She's also Fae. The smell of the Fae has gotten stronger since our mating is complete. I can still catch the intoxicating scent of her nymph blood, but it's nothing compared to the Fae, which I caught the first time I saw her.

There's a lot we've got to figure out, and I'm not going to let any of this happen without me. Let them come for me. They'll find themselves against a beast they don't know how to handle. They'll find out why those blood witches didn't kill me. Why I have a design within the stripes on my fur when I'm in my tiger form.

Lake saw it just as she saw it in her night-light. The sight of the mark on the tiger in her night-light caught me off guard, not because it was there, but because Callum put it there. That he shared with his daughter a secret only those of the Wildthorns and my family knew. It's a secret I'm going to eventually have to tell Lake about.

Telling her should be interesting, when she finds out that not only her dad and the rest of the Wildthorns were like royalty to the tiger shifters, but my family was royalty. I'm the last tiger prince and as such, the last true Alpha that can call on all tigers to our race.

"Yo, Tucker," Abel calls out, drawing me out of my head.

"Abel," I greet him, giving him a chin lift, seeing his gaze shift to Lake. There's no denying the look in Abel's eyes. He wants to be able to connect with the only family he has left. Even if that connection is through my woman, who isn't his true family, but the daughter of his uncle's mate.

Abel brings his gaze back to mine, and he clears his throat. "Orpheus will be here in about an hour."

Furrowing my brow, this news catches me off guard. It's still daylight out, and I've never known him or any other vampire who could travel during the light of day.

"Trust me, I thought the same thing," Abel grunts, having read my expression. "Corbin said Karsyn is doing a spell to darken the sky for him to be protected from the sun."

"Orpheus is a vampire?" Lake squeaks out and curls closer, nails digging into my chest.

"Yeah, little Fae, but Orpheus is no danger to you. He's an ally to the club," I tell her, sensing that there is unease still inside her. I could hear her doubt, but it's not as loud as I've heard her other thoughts.

"How is a vampire an ally to shifters?" she asks.

I give Abel a quick side eye and maneuver Lake in front of me, grip her chin between two fingers, and tilt her head back so she has no other choice but to look at me. And I can keep her looking at me when she hears what she's not going to like.

"There are some things you can't know when it comes to the club, Lake. It's club business. You only know what I let you know."

Lake jerks against my hold on her, eyes narrowing. Yep, I knew she wasn't going to like that.

"It's for your protection," I tell her, tightening my arm around her and lowering my head toward hers, holding her gaze. "You don't have to like it, but you've got to accept it. All you need to know is that the vamps in this town they're allies to the club. Orpheus is the Vampire King."

"King?" she gasps.

"Yeah." I nod.

I didn't have a problem with Orpheus. Couldn't care less he is the king of vampires. As long as they don't cross me, I'm good.

The vampires, as a whole, usually stick to themselves, making them no problem for me. They seem to know better than to step out of line when it comes to their king. Orpheus set laws for them all to abide, if they didn't, I heard how Orpheus handles traitors, and it isn't pretty.

Our alliance with Orpheus is in the work we do for them. What my brothers had to postpone in handling for him. The shipment of blood bags was still sitting in freezers, waiting to be taken to their buyers.

Orpheus and his vamps create, and we broker the deals. The blood bags contain something that allows vampires or even shifters who want to drink it to get high.

Guess it's what some would put down as meth or cocaine to humans.

However, working with Orpheus isn't the only one we deal with. We also run shit for humans. A group known for being a militia. They create weaponry that we handle the deliveries of. The group knows what we are and knows to keep their mouths shut. They don't, they'll find themselves without a throat. For years, we've worked together, and it's worked out. We make money. They make money. Same with Orpheus.

"Vampires kill people. They're evil," Lake whispers and licks her bottom lip nervously.

I narrow my gaze and try to remember there's so much she doesn't know about the very world she knew existed. Callum definitely didn't tell her much about it. If I knew exactly where he was, I'd find him and kick his ass. Then again, Lake was his daughter, he was shielding her youth the best he could. The one thing he made sure to tell her about was bedtime stories that weren't stories at all. Not for her, at least.

I am her tiger prince. She just doesn't know it yet.

"Evil is evil, Lake. Not all of one group is evil or good. Think about it, if all humans were good, you wouldn't have war. You wouldn't have people killing. It's the same within our world. Some show humanity where others don't."

Lake remains quiet, but I can see the way her mind is spinning over what I've just said. What I don't do is remind her of the conversation earlier about the tight line she walks with each hour that passes, and her powers grow.

"You get what I'm saying?" I ask.

"Yes," she murmurs. "I don't mean to sound like a bitch about all of this, but it's just?—"

"I know what you mean," I interrupt her. "Now, let's get you fed before Orpheus gets here and the next drama begins."