“We can’t,” I said. “Two dead Federal Police aren’t going away, and we can’t explain them here.”
“Get Nicholas to a hospital,” Vicki said.
I shook my head, no. “Taking a man to a hospital with a gunshot wound raises too many questions, Vicki. Questions you can’t answer while you sit here covered in blood with two dead cops.”
She was shaking as she pulled a phone out of the woman’s pocket. “They made me shoot him, Alessandro. Master Caroline made him give me the gun, and they wouldn’t help Nicholas unless I shot him. Traci recorded me doing it.”
I took the phone from her. Frank had hog-tied the unconscious woman using copper wires, plus he taped her mouth closed. “You know these two?”
“I’ve got Timothy’s brains on my shirt; he was my fated mate and rejected me for Traci here.”
“We’ll find out what she knows later.” I looked back at Nicholas; I had to save her mate if I was to keep the Australian Council idea alive. “I can save your husband without a hospital, but I need your permission and your promise.”
“Anything you need is yours, Alessandro.”
“I plan to put my blood inside his wound to spur healing, Vicki. I’ve done this with humans but not werewolves, so I’m not sure if it will work or if there will be side effects. Whether it works or not, I need you to promise that you will not tell anyone about how I saved your mate.”
“I’ll take the secret to my grave, now SAVE HIM!”
I leaned over Nicholas, removing the bandage as I used a fang to slice open my fingers. He woke up and screamed as I pushed two fingers into the wound, finding the bullet and pulling it out as my blood mixed with his. I dropped the slug on his stomach, then squeezed out more blood onto the wound before I allowed my body to heal itself.
Nicholas was out of his mind with pain, and Vicki was too weak to crawl to him. “Did Caroline feed on you?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m not feeling that good.”
“Rick, check out the Range Rover, see if it is clean and driveable.” While he checked it out, I picked Vicki off the ground and brought her over to stand next to her mate. I could see the healing progressing; the bleeding had stopped, and the torn skin was closing up.
Nicholas took a few deep breaths as his body went back to normal. “That stung a little,” he said as he sat up. “Are you all right, baby?”
I helped Nicholas to his feet. Both of them were covered in blood, looking like extras in a horror film. “Strip out of these clothes and leave them here, and we’ll dispose of them later. There should be a locker room through that door, so take a shower and shift. Do you have more clothes?”
“In the back of the Range Rover,” Nicholas said.
“Take them while we hose this place down,” I told them. Oksana and Rick arrived while they were cleaning up, and I detailed the plan. We rolled the dead bodies in tarps, taping them closed and stacking them in the back of Frank’s SUV. The prisoner we secured to a stanchion, ignoring her muffled cries and struggling. We’d find out everything from her later.
We used hoses to rinse the blood down the drain, and Becky did her magic in the office. She made sure the on and offsite security camera archives were deleted and disabled the fire protection system. “Someone will figure out that something happened here,” she said. “We clear out now, and one of us comes back just before sunrise with some Molotov cocktails and burns the place. They won’t suspect the real crime happened eight hours earlier.”
It was a decent plan, but we still had to figure out what to do about the two dead cops. Both had worked off the clock for me for years, and there was a paper trail showing they were on the job.
We had things somewhat clean before Nicholas and Vicki came back out, and Vicki was panicked. “Traci has a baby,” she said. “The sitter might know about where she is.” She walked over and ripped the tape off her mouth. “You’re a dead woman, Traci, and we both know that,” I told her. “If you answer questions honestly, I’ll make sure your son grows up safe.”
“PLEASE,” Traci begged her. “My baby, Todd, he’s at the hotel with one of Caroline’s vampires. She’s keeping him to make sure we keep up our end of the deal.”
“What is that,” I asked the crying female.
I didn’t like the answer.
*****
Nicholas Corcoran’s POV
“We have to get that baby back,” Vicki said as I carried her to the Range Rover and set her in the back. She was barely staying awake, the cumulative effects of blood loss over the past two weeks too much for her body to handle. “Timothy was a piece of shit that you cursed at as you scraped it from the bottom of your shoe. Traci was the piece of shit you stepped on in the dark in your bare feet. Her baby is innocent and is a mantled Alpha blood. We need to save him.”
“I know. We’ll take care of it,” I promised my mate as I laid her in the back seat. “Get some sleep while we figure out what we’re going to do.”
My mind was still trying to understand how a Mantled Alpha werewolf could fall so far from everything our species stood for. Today’s attack was Traci and Timothy’s third attempt at taking what Vicki enjoyed. The kidnapping failed spectacularly, leaving them without a family or Pack. The second was when they worked with vampires to have Vicki kidnapped in Mexico, but the Master changed their plan to sell them as sex slaves. Vespucci kept all six of them, paying them a half-million for their help in killing the lawyer. After that, he sent the pair to Master Caroline in Los Angeles, promising she would hide them from the Werewolf Council.
When the Mexico City raids freed the girls and eradicated Vespucci’s coven, Master Caroline was incensed. Traci said she wanted Vicki dead for killing her friend, Master Alexander, and Caroline adamantly opposed any cooperation with other species. Caroline worked closely with Vespucci, arranging to flood vampires into the United States and stockpiling high-ranking werewolf blood. They’d planned to overthrow Master Cyprian on New Year’s Day and take over the Vampire Council.
Their shared hatred led to this latest plan. Caroline’s coven would help kidnap us so she could power-up with my blood, Traci and Timothy would take our fortune, and they’d use us to lure Alessandro to an ambush.
The video she’d taken of Vicki executing a police officer was the key to everything. With me injured and Vicki facing life in prison, we’d have to cooperate in luring Alessandro out.
Killing me would bring retribution, so we’d live under their terms. With Alessandro dead and Caroline’s second taking over the Sydney coven, the Australian Council would never happen. She and Timothy would move to Queensland in Northeast Australia, far from my Pack, and buy land to start a Pack with the money I’d give them. The North American Council had no jurisdiction there, and Vicki and I would have to accept it.
If it hadn’t been for Consuela’s gut feeling, it would have worked.
I watched Vicki’s eyes close and her breathing even out; once she was asleep, I gently closed the door. “She’s going to need food and fluids,” I told Alessandro as I walked back to him.
“You will need the same; healing takes a lot out of your body, and you’ll feel it once the rush wears off. We have thirty minutes until Traci makes her call; we should get your two something to eat.”
“Cynthia’s Café is across the street and a block up, and you can get some food to go there,” Consuela said. “I saw it when I was watching the building from next door.”
“Go with him, and act like his girlfriend,” Alessandro ordered her. “Nicholas, you do all the talking because people might remember her accent.”
“What about the video that bitch took,” I asked.
“Don’t worry about that,” Becky answered. “She never sent it, and I deleted it locally and on the cloud. While I had her phone, I emptied her bank accounts and sent them to an untraceable account in the Caymans. Vicki never finished the transfer, so she never got any of your money.”
“Thanks,” I said. I held the door open for Consuela, and we walked out into the early evening air. The café served breakfast all day, and we’d need protein. I ordered two steak and egg breakfast platters to go, plus two bottles each of orange juice and whole milk. I managed to polish off two donuts and a glass of milk while waiting for the food to come out.
Consuela hadn’t said anything; she was looking at properties in Adelaide on her phone. We got our food and headed out the door. “Are you thinking of moving near us?” I asked.
She nodded. “Alessandro and his Coven have been welcoming, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable here. You wouldn’t mind?”
“Of course not, Consuela. You’re welcome on our lands anytime; if you want to live in the area, we’d like that.”
The streets were nearly empty, and we slipped back inside the electrical supply house. I hated to wake Vicki up, but she needed the fluids and food. She sleepily drank down the juice, finally perking up enough to sit up and eat. We managed to finish the meals in ten minutes, and I helped her get out when Alessandro waved for us.
“Time for the call,” he said.
I held Vicki to my side as we walked over to talk to Traci. “If you cooperate, your son will be safe. We’ll make sure he grows up with a loving family and a future. As for you, I’ll make your end quick and painless. You won’t get a better deal.”
“I understand,” she said. “Tell my boy that I loved him when he’s old enough to understand?”
“You have my word as Alpha,” Vicki told her.
She took her phone from Alessandro and made the call. “It’s me. The guy’s gone, and the woman passed out from blood loss.”
“You were supposed to keep her alive to talk to Alessandro,” Caroline responded.
“She doesn’t need to talk when I can send him a video of her still alive,” Traci replied. “He’ll show up alone when I tell him the deal. I just need to know when and where.”
“Bradley’s Head Lighthouse, two AM. Don’t call him until you are there and you have Vicki chained to the lighthouse; I’ll be watching to make sure you both follow directions. Tell him to make sure he comes alone, or Vicki dies.”
“I understand, Master, and it will be as you direct.” She hung up. “I’ll have to be out there on the lighthouse with Vicki, alone.”