Bound by Night(86)

The fuckers had killed Wolf? Shit. The warrior had been one of their best archers, and his loss would be felt for a long time. Tena wasn’t a physically powerful fighter, but she was wiry and fast, with an uncanny ability to navigate tree branches like a lemur. The two of them had partnered for patrols for three years, and while they hadn’t been romantically involved, they’d been close. Tena was going to be devastated by Wolfgang’s death.
“Send Nicole to help Grant,” Riker said. “Her knowledge of our physiology could be an asset.”
Hunter jerked his head at Takis, who was seated next to his partner, Aiden. “Message Grant with Riker’s suggestion.” As Takis whipped out his cell from his jacket pocket, Hunter addressed the room once more.
“Before Tena passed out, she said one of the ShadowSpawn warriors taunted her with the coming deaths or capture of our entire clan as punishment for letting Neriya die.”
“Wait,” Riker cut in. “How did they know about Neriya?”
“That’s what I want to know,” Hunter growled.
“They either have a friend inside Daedalus, which seems unlikely, or they have a friend inside MoonBound.” He raked his gaze over each warrior. “If the
spy is within our clan, his head will grace the center of our table for a year and a day, and his body will be fed to the animals.”
Everyone nodded. If anything, Hunter’s punishment for a traitor sounded light.
“What about Lucy?” Riker asked. “Is she with the war party?”
“Unknown,” Hunter replied. “But what is known is that we’re out of time. We all put up dozens of options for how to deal with ShadowSpawn, but we’re down to the wire. We have to arm everyone of fighting age and get the children to our secondary location.”
“If we have a member sympathetic to ShadowSpawn, they could know where our secondary location is,” Riker said. “Hell, they could have an ambush waiting there.”
“If you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”
Aiden stood. “I have an idea. We fight to the end.
We can’t let them take any of us alive, or they’ll make slavery in a human household look like a vacation.”
An uncomfortable silence fell as the reality of the situation sank in. Yes, they would fight. And they might even believe they could win. But even if they did win, it would inevitably cost them lives. So much death and blood between vampire clans when it should be the humans they were battling.
Takis tugged Aiden’s arm until he sat. “We can send the children and those who can’t fight on the run.
Even if the location of our vehicles is compromised by a spy, they can flee—”
“To where?” Taggart said. “The forest is full of hunters and VAST, and even if they get past the humans, they’ll be out in the open until they can make it
to a friendly clan.”
“And there’s no guarantee any clan will take them in,” Hunter said, echoing Riker’s thoughts. Any of the plans they’d come up with over the last few days would have at least given them a chance, no matter how minute.
But if the clan had been compromised, all bets were off. katina cursed. “We should never have borrowed
Neriya. Things were already tense between our clans.
This was the excuse they needed to engage us.”
Tense was an understatement. Riker’s mating to Terese had been the spark that ignited the smoldering fire. And once again, because of him, because he’d failed to save Neriya, another spark had started a firestorm.
This was his fault. He’d been so full of anger since the day he’d turned into a vampire that nothing mattered but sticking it to the enemy. Any enemy, human
or vampire. He’d been reckless with not only his life,
but the lives of everyone around him. Nicole had said
something similar, and she’d been right.
And now, MoonBound was going to end up like
the clan depicted in the bloody battle scene in the painting behind Hunter. Extinct.
Riker inhaled sharply as a thought whacked him upside the head. If he’d started all of this, he could end it.
Hunter turned to Riker. “What is it?”
Damn him. How did he do that? “I know how to end this. It sucks, but it’s probably the only shot we have to prevent war.” He stood, meeting his chief’s steady gaze with one of his own. “kars has been gunning for me since the day I mated Terese and humiliated him. I’ll offer my life as payment for Neriya’s.”
The room exploded in curses and “Screw thats” and “No ways.” Only Hunter kept silent, and Riker knew the male was searching his brain for a counter— argument.
But Riker knew there wasn’t one. Hunter had to know that, too.