Order of the Alpha #2

21

CHAPTER 21:

I wondered if he ever regretted hurting me. If any of them ever do. What Reina and Robert followed was protocols and standards of old, reckless times that had changed. The way they allowed the dangerous notions of fear and despair to manifest themselves in between the very connection Nicolai thought we had was a figment of an imagination that knew no bounds and yet had its limits.

Athena located the room I was in, clearly she'd rifled through the feeble minds of the front desk clerks, "What intel did you gather?" I question, studying every labelled member on the grid I created of the hotel next door.

She purses her lips, staring out through the blinds, "Not enough. The spellbinder with...my source—he isn't willing to cloud auras. However, I see you've been able to do so." She noted, moving to sit in front of me at the wooden table with indented patterns at each corner. I traipse one.

"I returned to London quickly. I didn't realise what the object was until I made the connection—I'd had one of the ornaments a spellbinder may use in these sorts of situations. Only one though, so unless you can find a way to hide your appearance, then you may just walk in as his sister." I tell her, tilting my head in thought, only to make certain I don't think of other things.

She blinks, "I can get us into the event they have on tomorrow, but we need to discuss plans. We can't go in there, guns blazing—so to speak. We need an extraction after capture and a way to sedate him somehow. Are we taking him discreetly or making it public. To enforce change publicly or remove him and return back to the elemental realm." She demonstrates, straightening in her form.

I study her, "You don't want me to kill him." And didn't we sort the rest of it out with the rules and regulations her screwed up, cold-blooded vampire set in place.

"He's done horrible things—terrible things. He is my blood, however." She whispers under her breath. Her words should've displayed more meaning. Blood meant nothing if it was as vile as it is.

I argue such a fact, "He's killing on instinct, reacting fiercely to the supposed loss of a mate. If anything, I see it as an act, something that shouldn't just be reprimanded as consequence." I mutter, shaking my head and massaging my temples.

"Why would he leave the Darkling throne?" She retorts, studying me, "If not for being as upset as he was. I'm not defending him, but if we're going to lure my brother, we should use tactics to understand his reason for killing." She proposes in addition.

I blink. Exactly what has Rowan poisoned her with? Some crazy bloodlust aftermath? Thirst quenched over time for a better taking? Somehow I didn't want to know, but before him, she was set on helping me. Leaving Nicolai, attending a school that could help me control my abilities and stopping anything dangerous from escalating between Alastair, Elias and myself. Given the lies that have already been shed, I needed more information and I doubt I'd get any here.

"How do we know he wasn't completely kicked out? I never asked you before—but in those first two weeks before I was enrolled into Nocturne, you were there. You stood by that throne. You're telling me he walked after the death of someone he fabricated to be his mate and that it wasn't the council?" I wonder, looking at her, tilting my head, I scrutinise her.

She looks back at me, silver eyes penetrate mine, "He walked out those gates...I read him for everything he felt in those moments, he was devastated. Those nanobots we'd inserted in him from that time have far dissolved since. If you plan to use those again, we'll have to get close to him." She suggests.

She also thought of the time I handed Genevieve that earpiece, when her skill transformed the second the serum kicked in and the ability to make it look like a video game was a simulation I could not repeat here. Especially if I wanted the element of surprise.