Temptations (Alpha City Book 5) Read online

  “But they are—”

  “Let him finish!” Master Privet’s voice boomed throughout the room. He watched as Locke nodded to him. It obviously killed him to shut up, but he couldn’t suppress a small smile. Locke wanted controversy among the members so he could control and sway opinions. Jacob had shut him down this time, but Mick knew he would try something else.

  “I have been assured that the Toland clan does not want any trouble with us. Alpha Walsh has assured me the same thing. And before you ask, the Tolands have over two hundred members, and Walsh has more. I don’t think any of us want a war that we can’t win. Our main objective should be in defeating the witch and the dragon. I certainly have no plans to bow down to them and become a slave. We have come a long way, and it’s time to make peace with the hybrids before we’re left out in the cold.”

  Locke banged a fist on the table. “Why should we help them? If we don’t join with them, maybe the witch will leave us alone. It seems her battle is with the shifters and hybrids, not us!” His voice hung in the air. Some of the other members nodded.

  But Mick had an ace in the hole. Leaning on the table, his blue eyes focused on Locke. “Because she has the Book of Thoth.” Mick’s voice was cold as he dropped that bomb.

  “What?” the members shouted, nearly in unison. One of the councilors pointed his finger at Locke. “You were in charge of destroying the book. You said you watched it burn. You lied.”

  Mick backed up as another member started to come across the table toward Locke, who actually looked terrified. Good, he thought. He deserves that and more.

  “I watched that book burn and then buried the ashes. I did. I would never betray our people.” Locke protested, edging away from the table. Mick could see the fear in his eyes.

  “Order!” High Master Privet slammed the gavel against the table, getting everyone’s attention. “I will have order, or else.”

  Every High Master had a gift, one that other members didn’t have. Each gift was different, but Jacob’s was his skill with magic. The table started rocking on its own, until every member had calmed down and was back in their seat. “Now, Mick. Tell us how we know this?”

  “As you all know, the Order was activated once the dragon king was released from Hell. One of the members is an eight-year-old panther named Carina, who is also a witch. But not just any witch—she is a Seer, and her visions have never been wrong. She is wise beyond her years. Claudia kidnapped the young girl, Carina to open the Book of Thoth. They tortured her until she was unconscious, trying to make her do it. Another member of the Order rescued the girl; both of them described the writing and inscriptions on the book. It was the Book of Thoth, and the witch is desperate to unlock it. We all know what that book contains, and what will happen to all of us if she gets it open. Alpha City is asking for our help.” Mick nodded back at the High Master and sat down.

  “I don’t think I have to tell you that if that book is opened, life as we know it will cease to exist,” the High Master warned. “What say you, Master Vanguard?”

  “I vote to help them,” Mick answered.

  “What say you, Master Ford?”

  “I vote yes.”

  “What say you, Master Gulling?”

  “Yes.”

  “What say you, Master Fortune?”

  “I vote yes.”

  “What say you, Master Dion?”

  “I believe we should help them.”

  “What say you, Master Locke?” Mick and the others glared at him. This was one vote he wasn’t going to control or get out of. Mick knew this would only help them in Alpha City. They needed to lure Locke to Alpha City in order to keep an eye on him and then take him out. Locke hesitated, staring down at the table, until he looked up and found all the other masters glaring at him. He was the one that had given the book to the witch. He was a traitor, and Mick knew it. This was his chance to help Alpha City and get rid of a traitor at the same time.

  “I vote to help, and I burned that book,” Locke answered with a pained expression. Mick wanted to laugh, but now wasn’t the time. Soon he would get his revenge on the vampire.

  “I vote to help,” the High Master answered. “Mick, get in touch with your daughter and find out what they need. Each clan will send forty members, and two masters will assist. I would think that you would volunteer, Mick, seeing as your daughter will want you there. Who else?”

  Mick watched as all the other members looked directly at Locke. It didn’t matter what he said, they would all demand that since Locke was responsible for the book, he should be the one to go.

  “I will go,” Locke answered dryly. This was his way to keep up with what was going on and report it to the witch. He would be watched like a hawk once he stepped foot in that city. Once Judd saw him, he would want to kill him, and that was something they couldn’t have right now. The time would come for Locke to die, but right now they had a majority vote from all the members of the Vampire Council. They needed to keep the peace until that right moment came along. Then Judd could kill him.

  He would need to call Maggie and prepare her. She was their only hope in keeping Judd from killing Locke the moment he arrived.

  Maggie smiled when she saw who was calling on the phone. “Hello, Father.”

  “How are you, my sweet girl?”

  “I’m doing good, Father.” She smiled when her mate sat down beside her. “Judd is here with me. I’m going to put you on speaker.”

  “Good, I have some news for both of you. The motion to help Alpha City passed with a unanimous vote in the Vampire Council, and each master will be sending forty of their top guards to aid you. But…” Mick hesitated. He didn’t even know if he should tell Judd not to do anything yet. “Judd, I need for you to stay calm. There will come a time when we will be able to kill him, but not now. We need him right now.”

  Judd laughed. “What are you talking about, Mick?”

  Mick cleared his throat. “Roman Locke is coming with us to Alpha City.”

  Maggie could feel through their link Judd’s anger and hatred boiling over into rage. She placed her hands on her mate’s face. “Baby, look at me.” Judd’s eyes were glossed over—his jaguar was glaring back at her. She kept her voice calm, but she was anything but. She wanted Locke dead, too, for what he had done to Judd’s mother. He deserved to die by her mate’s hands, but there was more to this and they needed to hear her father out. “You’ll know the exact moment. I trust you will make the right decision. You always do, my love.” She searched his face until she felt his anger being controlled. “I love you, and you’ll have your revenge for your mother.”

  “I’ll be there to help you, Judd,” Mick added. “I promise you that. I know he’s helping the witch, but I can’t prove it, yet. I do believe he sees this as a way for him to see what’s going on, but we’ll show him only what he needs to see and nothing more. We’ll feed him the wrong information to send back to the witch, and when the time is right, he will die.”

  Maggie waited until Judd was back in control. “Do you have a plan, Father?”

  “Yes, but I’ll need the Alphas’ help. I’ll come down tonight and go over it with you all,” Mick answered.

  “We’ll be waiting for you.” Maggie said and hung the phone up. She kissed her mate’s cheek, then stared up into his eyes. “I promise you, he will suffer for what he did to your mother.”

  “I don’t know if I can wait, Maggie. When I see him…I just can’t promise that I can hold it together.”

  Maggie placed her hands on the sides of his face and smiled. “I have faith that you’ll stay in control.”

  “But what if I—”

  She tapped her finger over his mouth. “You will, my love.” Kissing his lips, she whispered, “Trust me, you will.”

  “How do you know that?” Judd pulled away and walked over to the window.

  Following him, she wrapped her hands around his stomach. “Because I know my mate. When you see him again, you’ll be in control. You
will put your pride and everyone here at Alpha City first, and then when the time is right we will both tie him up and make him feel the pain he caused you and your mother. I will make sure he feels every ounce of that pain.”

  One corner of his mouth quirked up, and his eyes gleamed wickedly. “I love you, Maggie Walsh.” Judd kissed the side of her neck and whispered, “Has anyone ever told you that you have a vicious streak? I hope nobody ever crosses you, my mate.”

  Smiling, Maggie could feel her heart racing as her mate licked the side of her neck. “I cannot tell a lie, my love. When you mess with mine, you mess with me.”

  Chapter Three

  Skylar sat on the edge of her bed, trying to get her thoughts together before she met with her clan. Nolan Banks threw her for a loop. Her urge to protect him was almost unbearable. When she saw her brother diving down toward Nolan she couldn’t stop herself; she had to intervene and protect the shifter who would bring her into the war.

  “You’re back?” Cry smiled, sitting in the chair across from her. “You look worried. What’s wrong?”

  “Jamal knows now.” Skylar sighed, twisting the ring on her finger. She hadn’t even thought about how this was going to affect her people. She had just put a bull’s-eye on them.

  “What does he know?”

  “That we’re alive and well and now helping Alpha City.”

  Cry was the Elder of her clan and a great advisor to her. He just sat silently in the chair with his legs crossed waiting for her to elaborate. Nobody would ever believe that he’d been an assassin for hire before he joined their clan. Nobody would guess that he was a killer. It was only after he was paid to kill her father that he gave it up. After meeting her father, Cry knew he couldn’t kill him, so he quit and joined them. Her father told her that he’d known that Cry had come to kill him, but he could see the good in him. And he was right. Cry was a good man, and now he was her most trusted ally.

  “The shifters were waiting for Jamal.” Skylar laughed. “To be honest, they were giving him a hard time. They had nets, and they were water-blasting him. Making it hard for him to get to them. If they had made the nets with gold they would’ve had a shot, but they don’t know anything about dragon shifters. Unless—”

  “Unless you tell them our weaknesses,” Cry finished for her.

  “Yes,” she said. “There’s something else.”

  Cry inclined his head, waiting.

  “Jamal was diving down to get to one particular shifter, and…”

  “Go on.”

  “And I just can’t explain it, but this urge—no, this compulsion to save him came over me, demanding that I help him. I dropped down in time and covered him, protecting him from the fire. He’s the tiger Alpha, Nolan Banks.”

  “Did you get to talk to them afterward?” Cry asked, seeming not the least bit shaken by her words.

  “Why are you acting as if this is nothing? You’re just sitting there, calm. Almost like you expected something like this to happen. Do you know something I don’t?” Skylar narrowed her eyes now, focusing on the Elder.

  “Because you are your father’s daughter. You have been taught in the ways of mating. There’s no mistaking why you feel this way.”

  “Oh Cry, come on. Nolan Banks isn’t my mate. I just couldn’t stand to see my brother kill someone else. Nolan had saved another shifter and was running for safety. If I hadn’t saved him he wouldn’t have made it, and there would be another death on my conscience. I can’t sit back anymore. I have to help. This needs to end with Jamal.” Skylar got up and walked over to the window. “I should’ve killed him a long time ago, but I just thought that maybe he—”

  “That he would change; and we both know that your brother isn’t going to change. He’s a sociopath. In fact, he’ll probably get worse now that you’ve reappeared. He’s afraid of you. His strength and yours are the same, and that scares him. But you can’t ignore that this shifter means something to you,” Cry said.

  “No, Cry, he’s not my mate. Stop saying that, and don’t let anyone else hear you talking about it, either. I need to address the others and prepare them. I need to take a shower, and then I’ll go over what we’re going to do. Tell them that it’s their choice whether or not to fight, but my fate has been chosen,” Skylar told him, walking toward her bathroom.

  “Yes it has, my child.”

  Skylar heard what Cry had said, but she wasn’t mates with the tiger shifter. Nolan had acted no different toward her. If they were truly mates, they would both feel it, and the tiger shifter hadn’t given any indication of that. In fact, the vibes she had gotten from Nolan were disgust and anger toward her: two words that she would never use to describe ones mate. For the first time, Cry had it wrong. Nolan Banks was not her mate.

  An hour later, Skylar took a deep breath before she walked into the living room where everyone was waiting. She leaned against the wall, which was cool to the touch and felt good on her heated skin. Cold air filled every corner, which helped them stay comfortable. Dragon shifters ran hotter than any other shifter, but that wasn’t why she was so hot. She was worried about how her family would take the news. Even though they all wanted to return to the world, she hated leaving the cave that they had created.

  At first the walls had been rugged, with sharp edges, but now they were smooth where they’d used their fire to even them, bringing out all the different colors from the limestone. The vibrant orange and yellow glittered across the room. They’d made the room feel homey with leather furniture and comfortable chairs. No matter where they went, they wanted it to feel like theirs.

  She could feel the difference in the air now. Dag, her guard, had his back turned, searching for any sign of danger out the window. Thea was holding her stomach, and her mate Xavier was rubbing her back when she walked in. There were only five of them, but she loved each and every one. This was her family. Now they all had a lot of decisions to make.

  Skylar sat down on the closest chair. She could see the worry in all of their eyes, and she could scent their fear. But there was excitement as well. They could probably smell her fear as well. This could be the end; they could all choose to go their separate ways, and she would understand. They had to know that whatever decision they came to today, there would be no going back for her until her brother was dead.

  “I have met with the Alphas of Alpha City, and I have pledged my help. When I arrived, the shifters were trying to take Jamal down to the ground using nets, and using high-powered hoses to slow him down. But the nets didn’t work, because they weren’t made of gold. The decision you need to make today is whether or not you will go with me, or leave and continue to hide. I can no longer stay hidden while my brother is killing people, but this is my choice. If you choose something different, I’ll wish you well. You are still my family, and I’ll understand.”

  “You really think we would leave you now?” Thea said, sticking her tongue out at her.

  “I don’t want to assume. This will be very dangerous, Thea, and you are with child. Nothing means more to me than your safety.” Skylar bent forward and put her hand on Thea’s stomach. “This is why I’m fighting. So this child, and any others that follow it, won’t have to live in fear. I’m tired of hiding. I want to live. I want a real home for us all. I want this baby to be able to run through the grass like I did when I grew up. I want all of this for all of you.”

  “We are in, Princess,” Xavier said standing up.

  “I will go wherever the princess goes,” Dag answered dryly.

  “And I will also follow and fight with you,” Cry announced bowing his head to Skylar.

  Skylar nodded. “Okay. So, if we’re all in, we will leave this cave. Alpha Nolan Banks has offered his home to us. He said he has ten bedrooms, and only two of them are occupied. That would give us all a bedroom, and also keep us together. I don’t want us to be separated.”

  “Me either,” Thea muttered, rubbing her stomach.

  “The Alphas have welcomed us with open
arms, but I have learned that they know nothing about our weaknesses. If we do this, then we have to tell them that gold would bring us down. I’m not telling them yet about the mark. I have my bow, and I will take that shot and bring my brother down for good. The shifters don’t have to know about that. There are some secrets that we shouldn’t share until we know for sure they can be trusted.”

  “If we can’t trust them, then we shouldn’t go.” Dag’s voice was cold. He was worried, and when he got worried about her safety he became cold. “Do you trust them, Princess?”

  “Yes, I do. I have the feeling that they mean us no harm and only want to live in peace.”

  “Then you’ll know when the time is right to tell them,” Dag answered.

  “Okay. Let’s pack and get to our vehicles then leave for Alpha City.” Skylar watched as the others walked away to pack. Dag was the only one left in the room, staring out the window again.

  “Something on your mind?” Skylar asked, coming to stand beside him.

  “I heard you and Cry talking. You think the tiger is your mate?” She glanced over at him, confused that he had been listening. “And before you can get mad, I was walking to your room to check on you when I heard the tail end of the conversation. I’m your guard, Princess. I need to know things like this.”

  “Well rest assured, he’s not my mate. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Skylar didn’t stick around to beat this same topic over and over with all of her people. Nolan Banks was not her mate. She walked out, leaving Dag behind.

  Nolan Banks stared at the bed for the hundredth time. Fluffing the pillow again, he leaned back to check it. Maybe it needed more pillows? God, what the hell was he doing? He was acting like a girl for goodness’ sake. It was a king-size bed and all the bedding was new. He had bought it on a whim and never took it out of the plastic until now. She was a girl and would probably like it. Why did it even matter? This wasn’t her home, he was just giving the dragons a place to stay. Eventually, she’d move out and find her own home.