Aelius could still smell and taste the terror that had been coming off of Kyle’s body in waves when he barged into the room, and the idea that, if he’d been ten seconds slower, he could’ve found Kyle, who was so innocent and good, cut open and murdered by that slimy assassin, was unacceptable.
Aelius loved Kyle. He fucking loved the man, and he’d nearly lost him because somewhere, someone from a prominent vampire family was sending assassins out to Mason’s home.
Though the assassin claimed to be freelance and didn’t know the name of his employer, he had spoken of another, a man in a red hood and cloak.
“He works directly with the family. Find him and you’ll find the names of everyone involved.”
Aelius, along with Mason and everyone else, all decided that it had been the Queen family who was mostly responsible, after Aelius finished with his hostage, that is.
“What was your plan?” Aelius asked. “How many of you are there?”
“A small team,” the vampire said, making sure to hold his hands right where everyone could see them. “Makes it easier to get around unnoticed. We were just going to sneak in and take out as many as possible. Quick and quiet. Packs tend to scatter and break apart if enough alphas and omegas are killed. Though the lead alpha and his mate were the primary targets.”
And Kyle would’ve been the first on that list to die if this prick had gotten his way.
Aelius couldn’t stop himself. He snapped the vampire’s neck. This was now the second vampire he’d killed in twenty-four hours. He felt no remorse for that fact either. The other alphas shouted at him for that, but he didn’t pay attention to them.
As far as he was concerned, the vampire deserved to die. There was no telling how many other packs this had happened, or how many innocent omegas this vampire had killed.
However, the idea that there were others was frightening enough to keep them searching. They found another dead vampire in the trees, a little bit away from the property. He had been murdered by a blade, and there had clearly been a struggle. No sign of a man in a red cloak, and his scent wasn’t strong enough to track either, which meant the man was using something to mask his natural smells.
He was gone, and Aelius just wanted to get back to his mate.
Josh’s unmarked vehicle was already at the house, waiting for them, so they knew what to expect when they got inside.
Aelius found Kyle in the living room. He was shaking beneath a blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders. Ryan was seeing to bandaging up his feet, and Josh was taking notes on his pad of paper.
Mason immediately went to speak with Josh. Aelius went to Kyle, who stared up at him with red eyes.
Not because the color of those dark-brown irises had changed. Kyle couldn’t do that, but they were red with the look of crying, and when Kyle opened his arms to him, like he needed to hold Aelius more than anything else in the world, what could Aelius do but fall into them?
“Aelius—” Kyle said in his broken voice, but Aelius cut the man off with a kiss.
There was nothing gentle about this kiss, but it was the most loving one that Aelius could give to him because he just had to touch and taste the man everywhere on his body, making sure that Kyle was all right, that he was safe and healthy, here and alive.
“I was so fucking scared when I saw him,” Aelius said, pulling his mouth away from Kyle’s only long enough to speak those words, and even then their mouths were still touching. “Fuck, I was so fucking scared,” he said again. “Is the pup okay?” he asked, touching Kyle’s stomach.
“Fine, he’s fine. Ryan told me so,” Kyle said, and even though there were still tears in his eyes, at least now he was smiling up into Aelius’s face.
Aelius needed to get his mate out of here. He needed to have the man all to himself, alone in their bedroom. Right now.
“Josh, do you need anything else?” Aelius asked.
Josh just looked at him, and it was a testament to how smart he was that he shook his head and closed his notepad. “Don’t worry about it. If I have any more questions, then I can come back later.”
Josh was the smartest man Aelius knew, and Aelius promptly picked his mate up into his arms and all but ran out of the room with him.
“Wh–where are we going?” Kyle asked, sounding only a little shocked at his kidnapping.
“To my room,” Aelius said, barely looking away from where he was going to peer down into Kyle’s wide eyes. “I want you.”
He could hear the way Kyle’s heart raced at those words, and that was good because Aelius’s wolf wouldn’t be denied. Not right now, not when they’d been so damn close to losing the fundamentally most important thing to both of their existences.