CAELLUM’S POV
Listening to Naledi thrash throughout the night was a nightmare.
Nursing her back to sleep after forcing her door open was a miracle.
I didn’t sleep a wink through the night. How could I? My mate was losing her mind and there was very little I could do about it.
Although I drew comfort from the fact that I could calm her down, I couldn’t shake off the anger that stemmed from the fact she had to go through such horrors.
Throughout the night, she woke up at intervals, screaming, crying and downright trying to kill herself. Muttering something along the lines of being at fault, and needing to die.
To worsen things, I received a message that Luka was in the fucking headquarters and demanding my presence. It was almost laughable the guts he had to show up after murdering my men.
Despite the side of me that ached to kill him, I decided to give him an audience. But of course, after putting Naledi to sleep by drugging her. I knew she was going to be upset but I didn’t want her getting up and meeting my absense.
With the drugs in her system, I figured I had a couple of hours to hear what the piece of shit had to say. A couple of hours to decide when he was going to die.
I arrived at the headquarters in a black Bentley. There was a commotion in the gates, as I saw large numbers of my men standing guard and pointing their guns at someone I couldn’t see clearly.
I didn’t need to be told who it was though. His loud and morbid laughter was telltale enough if his crappy car didn’t give him away.
“I just want to see him,” He said to no one in particular, “Tell him Luka Donatello wants to meet, I promise he’ll be pleased to see me.”
“What do you want, Luka?” I asked as soon as I stepped out of the car.
“Alpha.” He said in a respectful tone, I didn’t miss the snide in his tone. “It’s been a while.”
“I don’t have time for leisure, what are you doing in my property?”
He huffed, “I just thought to pay my respects. I made a big deal recently and I figured you’d be pleased if I brought in your cut. It’s your territory you see.”
In one second, my hand was on his throat, strangling so hard my claws dipped into his neck. “I think I will have a lot of fun killing you like you did my men.”
Luka shook his head, struggling to breathe. The vampire guards he brought in snarled, baring their fangs as the atmosphere became hostile.
“I see you heard about that,” He choked, “Believe it or not, it was an accident. I never knew they were your men. I thought someone was spying on me and decided to create an ambush.”
I let him go and he straightened up.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I didn’t realise they were from your end. It was an oversight on my part.” He said, looking anything but sorry. “I heard from a solid source that I was being targeted and decided to set an ambush. You will have to forgive me.”
“Forgive you?” I laughed in his face. “I caught news of some slimy human traffickers in my territory and acted accordingly. You are quite bold to show up in front of me after what you’ve done.”
“That’s the thing. I am not into human trafficking.” He lied to my face. Yet again. “I know the rules and I play by the rules. Why on earth would I choose to go against the rules?”
I gave him a look that said I wasn’t buying any of his shit.
“You don’t believe me? Then come, do your search on me and if you do find out I am involved in any business of the like then you are free to do whatever you want.”
For someone who was in deep shit, he was quite bold.
“Do I look like a joke to you?” I asked yet again, baffled by his guts.
“I figured if you are going to trust me, I need to earn it. In order to do business freely around here, we need to be on the same page.”
“And for that, you are proposing a search?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
He spread out his arms, “If that’s what it takes. Then be my guest. I have nothing to hide.”
Safe to say the meeting with Luka didn’t pan out the way I thought. One thing was clear though, that motherfucker had become a lot more slippery and slimy in his ways.
Knowing the sort of person he is, it was not far-fetched that he’d figured we were onto him. It was no surprise he sought me out. He knew I was onto him and if I was to go with his patterns of operation, the girls had been evacuated from the cave.
I didn’t bother going back to Naledi. It was too risky. I’d hate for her cover to be blown. I had to be a lot more careful with my interactions with her moving forward if she was going to have a shot at bringing him down.
The men I sent over to Luka’s came back with a report I’d anticipated. There was not a single thing out of sorts in his office. Including the cave. Luka managed to clear out the darned place just in time.
No fucking surprise there. Luka had beaten me twice in the game. And in one day.
“Should I take him out?” Matteo asked after reporting the terrific news to me. “I can take the men and-”
I shook my head. “No,” I said. Naledi wouldn’t want that. I added in my head. “Since he wants to play catch, let him. I’ll catch him red-handed and then he’ll pay for every single life he has taken.”
Matteo nodded, “The men have been arraigned for burial.”
His words were a call to duty, the hardest part about being a leader.
“I’ll be down in a few.”