Fated for Forever(36)

“I’ve taken the liberty of calling in Mikhail. This goes above my head. I hope that’s all right,” Roman

said, looking slightly guilty. Ashby looked around and couldn’t miss the expressions of relief on the coven

members’ faces.

“I thought you were all scared of him?” Ashby asked.

“We’re not scared exactly. You definitely don’t want to piss him off. But he has yet to kill any member

of the coven, not even the twins,” Baptista explained.

“He’ll know what to do about Gabriel,” Roman said. Ashby just nodded.

“Then you did the right thing. The sooner Gabriel recovers the better. Aleks Arkadion is also sending

two shifters to help keep an eye on things. They should be here in the next forty-five minutes.” Ashby sat

down in one the chairs.

“The Arkadions are getting involved?” Roman asked, sounding shocked.

“I am bonded to the Alpha Mother and through my bond Gabriel is now tied to Arkadia. Rebecca

Arkadion takes her bonds seriously,” Ashby said, touching his chest where the bond to Gabriel felt faint.

“What do we do?” Roman asked, looking at Ashby. Ashby looked at Roman and then looked around at

the expectant faces staring at him from the coven members.

Aleks said it was like a business, what would I do if Purgatory was Sweet Nothings? Ashby thought

about it for a moment before his head snapped up and he jumped to his feet.

“OK. Roman, until the Arkadions and Mikhail get here we’re closing Purgatory. Organize a cleanup

crew for the VIP conference area, make sure it’s repaired and set to rights.” Roman nodded and started

taking notes.

“David, Daniel, I want you to scour the internet, vampire archives, anything that might explain what

happened to Gabriel,” Ashby said, pacing back and forth in front of the sofa.

“Thank God we have something to do!” David exclaimed giving Daniel a high five.

“Baptista, I want you to organize security so that each coven member has a buddy, no one goes

anywhere alone,” Ashby said before turning to Rhys.

“Rhys, I want you to go online and arrange deliveries for the coven leaders that just left as an apology

and a thank you for their assistance.” Ashby tapped his lips and thought about it for a second more.

“Micah, I am putting you in charge of keeping everyone fed. We’re going to have a rough couple days

and Ma Arkadion always says that full men think better than hungry ones,” he said, then stopped. Everyone

was staring at him as if he were speaking another language.

“Well? Get to it,” he said, making a shooing motion with his hands. Everyone started talking and

moving at once. There was hope in their eyes and purpose in their steps that wasn’t there before.

“A quick question Prince Ashby, what exactly is a Tardis?” Roman asked a questioning look in his eye.

“It’s a—you see there’s this doctor, oh never mind. I’ll explain later.”

Roman nodded his head, walked into the hallway and began barking orders to the other coven members

like a wartime general.

“Prince Ashby,” Kurt said, stepping forward.

“Yes Kurt?” Ashby asked.

“Lauri and I would like to volunteer to guard Prince Gabriel.”

“Yes, of course. I’d like for you to take me to him actually. I need to know that he’s OK,” Ashby said,

rubbing his chest.

“He’s downstairs in our dungeon. We hated to put him there but it was the only place we could chain

him to the wall,” Lauri explained, looking ashamed.

“Don’t feel bad, Lauri. You all did the right thing. If Gabriel were here he would say that the safety of

the coven comes first,” Ashby said, laying a hand on the vampire’s arm.

“So he won’t be mad at us?” he asked hopefully as they started walking downstairs. Ashby started

giggling.

“I didn’t say that. He’ll be understanding, but you did chain him in a dungeon after all. He will definitely

say something.” He gazed up at Lauri innocently, but the guard paled further and swallowed as if he were

going to be sick.

“This way, Prince Ashby,” Lauri said weakly. Baptista was still laughing when the three parted ways in

the hallway on the ground floor.

Lauri walked past the bathrooms to the end of the hallway. He pressed his hand against the wall and a

panel slid open to reveal a keypad. He punched in a code and stood back. The door opened.

“This is the only way in or out of the lower levels. There are approximately ten feet of concrete

separating the lower levels and the club. The club could burn down and those sleeping in the lower levels