Chapter Twenty-Two
Lucien couldn’t believe who found Najha and now he would help them. He hadn’t seen Lukas in forever. He’d disappeared back when he was still a teenager and had just moved to the new world. Over four hundred years, his uncle lived in these mountains. He now traveled with Najha. He couldn’t figure out how the man had stayed hidden from all of them for so long. After one’s mate died, usually the vampire walked into the sun. But Lukas had survived. Lucien prayed he would not seek death and join them now.
This was a true vampire warrior if he’d ever had the privilege of knowing one. He felt relieved when Najha opened herself up to let him see and help her decide if Lukas had turned. Even now, it was a little overwhelming seeing his uncle. After Vera died, he thought for sure they’d lost the great warrior. He still reeled from the shock. He couldn’t believe he was still alive. Unbelievable.
They’d pulled into The Bend a little after nightfall. He’d hated himself for riding out and leaving his mate to fend on her own. He needed space between her, Thorn, and the rest of them. Riding with the wind on his motorcycle had immediately cleared his thoughts.
He’d trusted Najha to keep herself safe and now knowing she had help from a surprise family member, made him continue to move forward. He almost turned around when he caught wind of what she planned. Najha being with Lukas only reinforced his decision to concentrate on wiping out the rogues here in town.
He concentrated on driving his bike into town and following Thorn. After Thorn parked the bike, he pulled up next to him and shut down his own bike.
Up the street was the house the trackers had found the mixed rogues who’d set up the MC house. They were going in to take care of the men who were terrorizing the town. Lucien hoped the Bolnav mix didn’t control these men. Otherwise, he might be putting Lukas and Najha into danger when they pissed him off enough to cause that mountain to blow.
Lucien needed this to end. He wanted to take his mate home, then try to fix what was wrong with them. The lies and deceit of his parents and the others involved had to be resolved and then never to be brought up again.
He wanted to find and destroy the mix who still lived inside the mountain and fed off Myra. The beast was ancient and evil. Lucien believed this was the creature that killed his parents.
Thorn walked to his side. “Let’s do this.”
Lucien nodded. “You ready for mayhem?”
“I’m looking for that bastard rogue, Demetri, but anyone else who gets in the way will do,” Thorn growled as he walked beside Lucien.
He turned to his friend. “I can understand that. A fellow lycan kidnapping and almost killing one of your females?” He sighed. “At least Najha is safe now. She is keeping that thing inside the mountain. She reinforced the containment spell at the opening. Someone else had sealed that cave.”
Thorn stopped walking and turned to him. “So she’s okay? I can’t believe you pulled that bullshit back there.”
Lucien knew Thorn was mad at him and had every right to be angry. “She’s good. I have to tell you though, she found a very old friend that the vampires have been missing for a long time.”
“Huh?” Thorn’s forehead creased, and he crossed his arms over his chest.
The rest of the pack had moved forward and surrounded the house.
“I don’t have a lot of time to explain. But my Uncle Lukas is still alive and now walks with Najha, they’re thinking of going inside the mountain to kill that fucker.”
“Oh, my fucking—really? He’s still alive and not turned? I thought for sure we lost him when Vera…” Thorn stopped and shook his head.
Lucien knew the death of his sister had torn Thorn apart. It was a tragic time for all of them. After hearing about his parents being who they were, it didn’t make sense to him about Vera and Lukas. He suspected there was more to the story. Maybe there was something else they could find out about Lukas and that bit of history after they ended this reign of terror. “Let’s get this out of the way then we can go help Najha with that thing up there.”
Thorn patted his leather sleeve. “Sounds like a plan. Stay safe, see you on the inside.”
On the inside…their code when they went into battle. They walked toward the house and met up with the other few men they’d chosen to go with them. Going in there with the entire pack would be too much for the town to believe. So the top men for their MCs were with them.
Aiden stood at the front door, he signaled to Lucien that Vlad and two more of his men had gone around the backside.
Lucien followed suit, whereas Thorn went toward his men at the front of the house.
Lucien touched Blade’s shoulder and nodded his head. The back door was kicked in the same exact moment as the front door of the house. The house smelled like a meth lab. A strong cat urine smell. It was especially damaging to the lycan sense of smell, Lucien knew this by the way Thorn and his men covered their faces. Thorn, Aiden, and Dante had pulled their bandanas over their mouth and noses. Lucien thought it was a good idea and covered his. It helped with the smell a little.
Moving their way through the house, they found and killed four newly turned Bolnav. Another man was found in the kitchen using the stove to cook something that smelled suspiciously like meth.
“What the hell?” Thorn asked.
“Don’t shoot! You’d blow this house to the fucking sky.”
Thorn and his men continued clearing the entire house while Lucien questioned the actual full human in the kitchen. “How’d you get tangled up with these men?”
“I owed them a debt, so they forced me to cook up their drugs for sale. They came back a few days ago all fucked up, and they’ve been stupid and weird ever since. I’ve been minding my own business trying to pay back the debt I owe. Don’t kill me, man,” he begged.
Lucien pointed to the basement.
The man nodded his head. “There’s a whole mess of the fuckers down there. They sleep all day, then come up at night. I think they’re high on something, just don’t know. I try to stay out of their way.”
Thorn came in the kitchen and nodded his head. The house was clean upstairs and down. Any Bolnav or rogues were either gone or dead.
Lucien signaled Thorn to the basement.
The lycan nodded and slowly made his way to the door leading down. He gently opened it and looked down the stairs. “It’s clear,” he muttered softly.
Once they all made it downstairs, they chose to separate and clear the entire damn thing. Lucien’s eyes had to have only a few seconds to adjust to the pitch black of the area. He found a trap door. He pried it open and saw it led to an underground tunnel system. “Fuck, they’re gone,” he groaned, disappointed they missed the damn monsters and, for the fact, they would have to go into the tunnels.
Thorn came over to him. “It’s an underground tunnel system. Najha is wasting her time. This is how the thing is getting in and out. I just know Demetri was here too. I can smell him.”
Lucien nodded, he tried to connect to Najha, but she had her strong walls up and didn’t allow him to see where she was. He now felt worried something was wrong.
Thorn led the way into the tunnel. There were torches to be lit. He grabbed one and lit it to light their way. “Let’s do this,” he announced.
The two of them were followed by Aiden and Vlad. Kaden and the rest decided to stay in the house in case something or someone returned up top.
They found another set of stairs leading down and suspected they would lead further inside the mountain. Once they’d traveled a few miles underground, they’d found the extensive work that went into the tunnel system. It had been carved out by something and must have taken years. They didn’t end up finding anything, other than a sealed entrance into the mountain.
Lucien and Thorn tried for hours to find a way inside where they knew the mixed Bolnav lived. But each time, they ran up against a sealed entrance. Something extremely powerful had used spells of containment and made it impossible for the lycan or vampires to get in or the evil to come out.
*****
Days later, after walking every tunnel system and working their way through what seemed to be endless tunnels, caves, and underground caverns, hours turned into days as if time had slowed as they searched and found nothing. Anger had fueled Thorn while he vowed to kill Demetri for taking and almost killing Myra. It didn’t matter that Myra wasn’t his mate, he told Lucien while they searched. She was the mother of his child and a female under the protection of the pack.
Najha and Lukas as well hunted and searched for days on the outside. Najha connected with her father and Lucien via their mind path the entire time and only found a few areas that were still sealed with a containment spell. Other areas had rock piles many feet thick in a cave or crack that could leak something vicious out.
They agreed with Thorn and Lucien to call off their search.
The ones who were in the house and otherwise ran the town were executed and sent back to hell where they belonged. Lucien and Thorn made the decision—there was nothing more they could do to make sure this would be the end to the battle that had begun over a week ago.
Myra confirmed the one, Demetri, that had come to her every day in that cave had not been captured or executed. It was an uncomfortable situation leaving The Bend without making sure that evil didn’t start another war like this one. Without any other place they could look, it was time everyone returned to their lives.
Najha, Lucien, and Thorn stood with Lukas in the area where the largest cave leading inside the mountain had been reinforced by Najha.
“I’m going to stay here for a while,” Lukas announced. “I need to continue to make sure that thing doesn’t make it out here to cause any more harm.”
“Lukas, it was wonderful to meet you, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for our people and me.” Najha gave him a hug. They’d grown extremely close since finding each other.
“I’m going to miss you, little wolf.”
His nickname for her. Lukas was allowed to tease her about her size. He was the only one though. He seemed like a wonderful man. She honored and admired him for his strength and love. “I’m going to miss you too.”
Lucien hugged and shook his Uncle’s hand. “Lukas, I need you to lead our people. With Najha being my mate, we need to leave and figure this out. I can’t ask my people nor Thorn to make this decision. I know you want to stay here, but if you could do this for me I would greatly appreciate it?”
“I’ll agree to lead our people if you agree to find the solution and bring your ass back to take over. I don’t do well with people, as you know.”
“I agree. But, I don’t know how long this will all take. I need to find the answers of why the war and why with peace did the laws of lycan and vampire stop them from mating. You were affected as well by this law. I hope you understand why I need to do this?” Lucien shook his hand.
“Of course, I know the why you have to. If you can change it maybe some of the other men and women will be able to find their mates among the other species. This law was put into place for a reason, but I could never find the answer. I lost Vera because of it. It’s a lonely existence out here. I’ll go with the people and lead until you all find your answers.”
“Thank you, uncle.” Lucien shook Lukas’ hand.
Najha grabbed a handful of mane, then swung her legs up and over Lena’s back, settling herself in for a ride. She wasn’t sure where she and Lucien were going
Eric, Jayden’s father, had met and picked up the bikes with the trailer for those vampires who wanted to ride their horses home.
Whistling, she called her wolves to her. Everyone but Athena came forward. The female who’d mated with Red stayed at Lukas’ feet.
“Go on now with you, Athena.” Lukas pushed her up.
Athena whined and made a fuss. She wasn’t going to leave Lukas.
Najha knew the female was torn between the man and her mate, Red.
Red gazed up at Najha, closed his eyes once, then walked over to Athena and sat down at Lukas’ feet.
Lukas glanced up at Najha. The beginnings of a smile on his face told her he was honored the wolves wanted to stay and help him.
Najha nodded once to Red. “It looks as if my pack wants to stay and help you protect the mountain and your people. They are loyal and they will always have your back, Lukas. Go, take them with you. They will always know where to find me.
For now, she had other things to worry about. She reached out and grabbed Lucien’s hand. He was astride Opie and they were all traveling together.
“Father?” Najha looked down at her father.
“Daughter, I trust you and Lucien will find the answers you seek. Dante and I shall do what we can here. I don’t want to know where you’re heading because the law states that if a lycan and vampire mate, they shall be destroyed. I won’t allow our people nor the vampires to hunt for you. Go and live your lives and find the answers.” She leaned down and kissed his cheek.
He waved then straddled his motorcycle. Thorn waited for Jayden to board it behind him. She would miss her people, but this was best for everyone.