He shrugged and walked out of Gabriel’s apartment and down two flights of stairs to the VIP floor.
When he looked over the balcony he could see the club was empty. The lights were dim and no one was in
sight. He stood quietly and perked up his ears, and after a second or two he picked up the sound of voices.
He loved being a fennec fox some days. The superior hearing was one of the only perks of his animal.
He walked back to the stairs and went back up a single flight until he found himself on the level that
looked like it held business offices. He followed the sound of the voices until he reached a conference
room. When he peeked his head inside, he smiled. His mate stood at the head of a long cherry conference
table speaking to a room full of men who ranged in ages and appearances. When Gabriel’s eyes shifted a
fraction and saw Ashby he paused in speaking and everyone turned to look at him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Ashby said softly. Using vampiric speed Gabriel was standing in
front of him and taking his hands.
“You could never interrupt, mon ange, we were just finishing up the staff meeting. This is actually the
perfect time to introduce you to some of my coven members,” Gabriel said, leaning forward and placing a
soft kiss on his lips. Ashby sighed happily and allowed Gabriel to pull him into the room.
“Gentlemen, this is my mate, Ashby Fairfax. He is to be protected at all costs,” Gabriel said in a stern,
almost cold voice. Ashby’s mouth dropped and he elbowed Gabriel in the ribs.
“Ow. Angel, what was that for?” Gabriel looked bewildered.
“You sounded mean. And if you order them to protect me like that it’s like you’re expecting them to
place my life above their own. I’ll never make friends!” Ashby said lowly out of the corner of his mouth.
Gabriel just stared at him in shock.
“I don’t think I have ever heard anyone chastise our prince before,” one man whispered.
“I did once. He didn’t live,” another replied.
“To clarify, Ashby, we will place your life above our own since you are our prince’s mate and therefore
that makes you his consort. If anything were to happen to you, we could lose our prince, and that would
not be acceptable. He is the driving force that has kept our people civilized and progressing forward.
Without him I fear chaos would ensue,” a dark-haired man explained and stood. He gave a short bow
before continuing.
“My name is Roman, I am the acting second-in-command. I assist Gabriel at night in running the club
and manage the finances. We meet every morning so that the night shift can hand off to the day shift
concerning issues with the club. The day shift is responsible for cleaning and restocking the club, making
arrangements for vendor deliveries and watching over those who sleep during the day. We hold a similar
meeting in the evening so that the day shift can prep the night on anything that we have coming up for the
evening. The night shift runs the club’s evening activities,” he said then pointed to his right.
“You may remember Bryn and Radek. They are our two most empathetic vampires in our coven so they
are responsible for guarding the doors and screening people as they come in. Every vampire is empathetic
to some degree. It helped us in the days when we had to feed on humans, to allow us to adjust to their
moods so that they would not become frightened. Bryn and Radek are the best at it.” The blond Bryn
smiled and waved and the surly looking Radek just nodded his head.
“The man on the other side of Bryn is Noel. He is the general manager and he keeps the wheels of this
place turning.” The auburn-haired man smiled widely and waved. Ashby smiled back as the introductions
kept coming.
“Then there are David and Daniel, the twins. Stay away from them, far away from them. They are
nothing but trouble,” Roman said, scowling at the two smaller red-haired men. His left eye began to twitch.
“Who, us?” they both asked in unison. Roman sighed.
“Yes. More trouble than the entire coven combined. Though, you are good in designing and managing
our web presence and keeping our network secure, so I guess it’s not a total loss.” Roman rubbed his
forehead. Ashby had a feeling that those two small, red-haired, sprite-like men drove the acting second-in-
command out of his mind. He turned to the twins and winked. Roman groaned.
“Next is Baptista. He is in charge of security and manages Larry, Moe, and Curly over there,” he said,
pointing to the three giant-like men standing against the wall. Each man turned to Roman and growled.
Baptista grinned from the table and stood. He was huge, standing at least six feet eight inches tall and broad