“When dinner time?”
“Soon, baby. Alexis is having something sent up.”
“Room service! Love room service.”
They spent the rest of the evening coloring, reading books, eating dinner, and generally just hanging out as a family. Rose savored the peace, and for the first time in a long while, she felt safe and relaxed.
Alexis knocked on the door less than five minutes after Zoe finally fell asleep.
Rose let loose a long sigh when Vlad let her in. “Don’t tell me they want to see us again? Zoe just fell asleep. I’m not leaving her here alone. Besides, I thought everything was settled.”
“It is. You and Zoe are part of the community and safe. The elders are done with the formal meetings for a few days anyway while that mess earlier is cleaned up.” She glanced at Vlad. “Your brother survived—barely. He’s lucky he was here with the medical wing on hand.” To Rose, she said, “That was good shooting. We’re exceptionally hard to kill, but you almost managed it.”
“I should have aimed for his head,” Rose grumbled. Then realized she was talking about Vlad’s youngest brother. She grimaced. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Don’t,” he said. “I was thinking the same thing.”
She held his gaze, searching for clues to his feelings. She hadn’t wanted to bring up the shooting in front of Zoe, so they hadn’t had time to talk about it yet. She didn’t think he was mad at her for it, but what he was feeling about the fact that she’d nearly killed his youngest brother had to be…difficult. But she didn’t see any signs of recrimination, just a very small smile for her.
“Head would have worked,” Alexis said matter-of-factly, as if there weren’t more serious undercurrents to the conversation. She gestured to the couch. “We should sit down for this part.”
Rose sat hesitantly, frowning as Vlad sat next to her and Alexis settled in a chair facing the couch.
“Lei killed himself not long after he went into confinement.”
“What?” Vlad said. “How?”
“Arsenic. Huge dose. Would have killed two elephants. Guess he wanted to make sure.”
“But…why?” Rose asked.
“Remember when I said he might not be as fanatical as Vlad’s father and brothers? Well, apparently, I was wrong. He hated hybrids with the same blind passion that Vlad’s father had. The Trackers are going through his records now with the help of his assistant. The assistant is talking and cooperating. He doesn’t want to face a death sentence for being associated with Lei or helping him in Zoe’s kidnapping. He’s telling them everything. Lei has apparently been working on a plan to eliminate Nila, too.”
“Fuck,” Vlad muttered. “Have you told her?”
“I’ll handle it, don’t worry. Mitch would never let her get hurt anyway.”
Vlad nodded and put an arm around Rose’s shoulders, pulling her tightly to his side. She went willingly. She was glad Alexis had suggested they sit, because she wasn’t entirely sure her legs would hold her up right then.
Alexis continued, “Lei started planning the kidnapping as soon as he got word from Yuri that Zoe was on her way here.”
“So my brothers were working with him?” Vlad said.
“Yuri was, anyway. Lei’s assistant confirms they were in contact through a few intermediaries.”
“Bastards,” Vlad muttered.
Rose squeezed his knee, not sure what to say.
“They’d originally planned to abandon her so they couldn’t be held accountable for ‘killing a human,’” Alexis said, “but when Lei found out she could shift, that pushed him over the edge. His assistant says the whole ‘only a real shifter would survive’ part of the plan started after the kidnapping. His assistant was actually surprised he didn’t kill Zoe outright.”
Rose squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as the full horror of what might have happened swamped her. She turned into Vlad’s hug, knowing she’d have nightmares about this for years to come.
He rubbed a hand in comforting strokes up and down her spine while she regained her composure. “How did Yuri even get into the compound without being spotted? Even with Lei’s help?” he asked Alexis quietly.
“There are still…questions about that.”
“In the hall, you said something about an alarm?” Rose asked.
“Because the soundproofing on the meeting hall is so good, there are emergency buttons under the table for the elders to use if they need help. Those were disabled. Which is why I didn’t know you were in serious trouble until you started to open the main door. Victor is raging about all the breaches. He’s going to be ripping his security team apart after this.”