DANTE GLANCED DOWN at the thick manila envelope that lay on his desk. There was no name on it, just the compound’s address.
Curious and relieved to have something to keep his mind off Phoenix, he sat down in his chair and opened the envelope. He pulled out the stack of papers. It looked to be a report of some kind on…he shuffled through the paperwork…six different people. Dante didn’t recognize any of the names, and the business card that came with the report was for a human private investigator. All vampire businesses were registered with the Guardians. So, Dante didn’t know if these were six humans or vampires. Maybe the investigator got the wrong address.
Dante leaned back in his seat and started to read.
An hour later, he heard a commotion in the hallway. Since he had been the only one home, Dante had left his office door open. He now heard Lexine and Sterling whispering as they moved closer to him. He couldn’t make out their words, but it was just the vampire he wanted to see.
Sterling knocked on his open door. “Hey, boss.”
Dante nodded in greeting. “Sterling.”
“Lexine has something she needs to discuss with you.”
Dante raised a brow because Lexine was absent from view.
Sterling rolled his eyes and reached over. He pulled Lexine in front of him and pushed her into the office.
“Uh, hello, Dante.”
“Lexine.”
“I, uh, need to tell you something.”
Dante held up the report and envelope. “Does it have to do with the reason you hired a human private investigator to do research on six vampires and why these six vampires are photographed vandalizing both shifter and vampire areas? And does it also have to do with the cut on your neck?”
Lexine’s face turned white, and she covered her wound with her hand.
“Why don’t you come in and shut the door? I think we have a lot to talk about.”
A couple of hours later, Lexine stood in front of all the Guardians—Dante, Lennox, Sterling, Hunter, Morgan, Ram, Tempest, and Declan—and told them her story. Everything, including how Lucas had chained her up, blood-raped her, and how he and the guys had ejaculated all over her. That was the hardest part of all, and she couldn’t look at Sterling when she said it. The only thing she hadn’t shared was how she’d gotten started hanging with the group. She couldn’t have them knowing she’d done it because she was jealous of Phoenix and Dante.
“So, you knew about this?” Dante asked Sterling.
She’d tried to leave him out of the story, especially when she talked about how she’d turned around and stolen their blood in return. Technically, it was the same thing they had done to her, except she had done it to protect her family. Plus, she and Sterling hadn’t taken so much that they could have died from it. But, in the end, Lexine wasn’t much better than Lucas and the others.
“Yes,” Sterling said without any shame. “But only recently.”
With those words, she realized that Sterling had defied Dante, the Council, and the other Guardians. She had made Sterling do something he never would have done without her influence, and her shame deepened.
“Please, don’t punish him,” Lexine said. “He was only trying to protect me. I asked him not to say anything. I realize now that it was a mistake.”
“Ya think?” her brother said.
She could tell he was very angry with her, and he had every right to be.
“I’m not punishing anyone,” Dante told her. Lexine felt relief. “The two of you will have to go in front of the Council, and they will decide what happens to you.”
Lennox felt a moment of dread. The Council was not going to go easy on them.
“But, first, we need to take down this group. I can’t lose you before we eliminate the threat. You and Sterling are too valuable to the mission,” Dante said. He walked over to his desk and grabbed a stack of papers and some photos. “Lexine, pass a packet out to everyone, and, Sterling, hang these pictures on the board.”
Lexine grabbed the pile of papers while Sterling pulled the whiteboard from the corner of the room.
“What’s this?” Lennox asked as Lexine handed the stuff out.
“It’s a copy of the report from Lexine’s private eye. I want you to look it over now. Sterling is hanging the pictures the investigator took, and I would like you to look at those also. It would have been nice if he had emailed a report, but apparently, Lexine found the only guy who enjoys killing trees.”
Lexine winced. She wasn’t about to argue, but she’d picked the guy because he left less of a digital trace by doing things the old-fashioned way.
Lexine started poring over her own copy of the report. She was making her way through Michelle’s section when Morgan spoke up, “Lexine, where did you say you met these guys?”
“I met them at a bar by the vampire clinic.”
Morgan tilted her dark head. “And what’s the name of it?”
“Jack’s Place.”
“What are you thinking, Morgan?” Dante asked.
Her brown eyes glittered. “This is probably far-fetched, but it says Lucas’s father and grandfather are both named John, and the nickname for John—”
“Is Jack,” Sterling finished.
“Declan?” Dante said.
“Already on it,” Declan said as his fingers flew over his laptop keyboard. After a minute, he sat back in his seat. “It looks like Jack’s Place is owned by a shell corporation. Hold on.” He did some more typing. “Is there anyone with the name Porter?”
They all flipped through their papers.
“Yes,” Lexine said. “Lucas’s grandmother was Elsbeth Porter before she was married.”
More typing. “Yep, it all comes back to Elsbeth Porter.”
“Why would they hide their bar?” Hunter said.
“Nothing good,” Dante said.
Lexine looked up at everyone with tears in her eyes. “Do you think this is where my parents are?”
“Only one way to find out,” Lennox said.
Lexine looked at her watch. “But the sun is going to be up soon. We don’t have time.”
Dante looked at her. “Well, the thing that your friends don’t understand—”
“They’re not my friends,” she said. She knew she shouldn’t have interrupted Dante, but she had to let everyone know those people were not her friends.
“Fine. What your former friends don’t understand is that it pays to have an alliance with the shifters. Because they can do things we can’t and vice versa.”
Lexine hung her head and nodded at her feet. Dante was so right.
“I’m sorry,” she told the group. “Thank you for helping me.”
“That’s why you don’t try to do things on your own,” Sterling said with some bite. “I’m sure we could have found some of this out earlier. Declan could have found out everything the private investigator did and then some.”
“I know. And all I can say is, I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
Dante grabbed his phone from his desk. “I’ll call Vance and Damien. We’ll have them raid the bar while the vamps are sleeping, and then we’ll have him watch Lucas’s and the others’ homes. At sundown, I want you all to be ready because we’re going after them.”
They all exited the office, except for Dante, and Lexine waited for her brother. When Lennox saw her, he glared at her and kept walking.
“Lennox, I’m sorry!”
Her brother turned around. “You should be. I can’t believe you kept that from me. Mom and Dad? How could you?”
“I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“Too late.” He swung around and walked away.
Sterling came up beside her.
“I’m a horrible sister.”
Sterling put his hand on the back of her neck. “He’ll forgive you. Just give him some time.”
She looked into his gray eyes. “I sure hope so.”
At least she still had Sterling.