Huntress and The Alpha

6. Disposable

Irina

The triplets were seated across the conference table, and all of them avoided eye contact with me. They looked pissed off. I guessed their single bear had a lot of healing to do on all three. I had three beasts to heal me, so I healed fast. In fact, I had already felt better after showering and changing clothes.

“Jeez, they look like you stole the last bowl of porridge in Russia.” Alec’s shoulders heaved up and down in an effort not to laugh.

He loved nothing more than pissing the triplets off; it was like a sport to him. Three chiseled and bruised jaws tightened as identical cheek muscles ticked. The clenching must have been painful for Roman, as his jaw hadn’t fully healed. I sniggered internally. It was not my fault he had a glass jaw. It was too easy to rile them up. For a set of supposedly ruthless killers, they were a lot like children who couldn’t take a bit of teasing.

I kept my face impassive; if Demetri found us scrapping in the conference room, we’d all be in the cells for a week, regardless of the mission plans. My mind flicked back to Demetri and his weird behavior; I’d almost forgotten why I’d needed to let off some steam so badly. Suddenly, being anywhere but here sounded great. My beasts immediately conjured images in my mind of much more appealing places. Tropical beaches, mmmm.

Demetri swept in, and his presence pulled me from my spiraling fantasies about tropical beaches full of hot men. He launched into the briefing without a preamble or even acknowledgments. The interactive screen flickered to life with mug shots and location maps. It looked likely we’d be back off to the States. I hoped it wouldn’t be too far north as I needed some sun on my skin and warmth in my bones.

“And a man in our bed,” said my siren.

My thoughts drifted off to a warm sandy beach with a cocktail in hand until I realized I’d missed the first part of what Demetri said.

Focus, Irina!

“They are an organized gang, working out of the west coast of America.”

Bingo. Warmth and beaches. s**t, best pay attention.

“Why? Alec will fill us in,” said my siren.

She filled my head with more images of golden sands and gorgeous men. She was a horny one, my siren. My dragon and wolf wanted our mate, but she just wanted s*x.

“The activity is all connected — trafficking rings, drugs, and experimentation on supernaturals and humans alike,” Demetri said.

Double s**t! This sounded bad. I wracked my brain. Did he say what type of supernatural? I needed to pay attention. I batted away the spiraling s****l imagery my siren was conjuring from who knows where. Google images for horny beasts, maybe?

“Rurik, Roman, and Romeo, you are going to Oregon, a wolf pack is missing warriors. They vanished from their patrols without a trace. The alpha is expecting you. Investigate, capture, and interrogate. It’s thought these warriors are being taken to experiment on.” Demetri concluded. “I’ll send you the file.”

They’ll love that mission, as they had a penchant for she-wolfs. I watched as the triplets filed out without a backward glance. Bye, boys!

“Irina and Alec, I want you at our base in LA. Nina identified a string of locations stretching right up to Las Vegas. Her communications have gone dark, but we have two targets identified.”

Nina was a hybrid hunter, she specialized in surveillance and extracting information without a trace. They did not use her assassin skills much, and I wondered what had happened to her.

“Frederico Mancini.” Demetri enlarged one of the mug shots.

An olive-skinned man with slicked-back hair and multiple gold chains around his neck stared back at us. His eyes looked small and shifty.

“Location, LA. Small-time human mob enforcer turned vampire two years ago. Sire: Stefano Ricci - we will come to him next. Evidence links him to trafficking.”

More pictures appeared of vans full of chained people, Frederico handling money and closing the doors of vans.

I felt sick to my stomach thinking of what was happening to these trafficked humans and supernaturals.

“Council ruling: Kill on sight.”

Well, that’s simple then. No interrogation.

“A justified death,” said my dragon. She always liked the idea of killing.

“Stefano Ricci.” Demetri wiped the screen and enlarged a picture of another olive-skinned man. He was portlier than Frederico, with dark, slicked-back hair and a goatee.

“Ex-mafia boss turned vampire five years ago. Sire unknown. Location: LA. Head of trafficking, as well as drug and gun-running. It seems he kept his human activities and added some extras since he became a vampire. He holds a surprising amount of influence and is extremely cunning. Evidence implicates him in trying to create forced hybrids. You two have cleared up the mess from forced hybrids before, so we know these experiments rarely work out. However, this group may be succeeding.” Demetri pursed his lips and held my eyes.

Shit. That was bad indeed. I neutralized these forced hybrids, or were-vamps as Alec liked to call them before. The turning of a shifter into a vampire was forbidden and rarely successful. If it succeeded, it usually turned the subject mad, entirely rabid, and they would have to be killed.

Two years ago, a were-vamp had run amok in Madrid. Alec and I had caught it and eventually killed him, but not before many had lost their lives. It was a m******e. He was a werewolf before he was turned.

“The reports are that the successful subject was a former alpha. They are creating a hybrid army.”

Alec’s face reflected my horror. This was big s**t in little China. A were-vamp pack would be an enormous threat to the natural order of supernaturals and humans. They were stronger than the average werewolf, and as a pack, they could work seamlessly under an alpha.

“Council order: Detain, imprison and interrogate, using any level of force necessary.” Demetri fixed me with a stare, then wiped the screen and stood. “I expect you to go after Frederico first, then rapidly detain Stefano before he can get wind that one of his generals is dead.” Demetri turned to go. “Alec, I have sent you the file. Both of you leave for LA tomorrow morning.”

“Wait!” I stood to my feet. “What happens to Nina?”

He had nothing more for us. Presumably, most of his intelligence had come from Nina’s earlier research; it had her name all over it. She was one of the few hunters I considered a friend, a witch-wolf hybrid. Sure, she was distant, but she could be wickedly funny. Nina was only eighteen, not hugely strong, but quick. Her intelligence-gathering abilities were second only to her interrogation skills. She could get subjects to talk with very little torture. She didn’t have the team I did, so I tried to look out for her.

Demetri's emotionless eyes met mine. “She’s dead.”

“What?”

He didn't include that in his briefing. A sharp pain tugged at my heart.

“We do have a heart, you know,” said my siren. She knew I often believed we didn’t.

“How do you know?” I asked Demetri.

She needed a funeral, I thought dumbly. Though if vamps had killed her, she’d be dismembered and scattered. My heart tugged once more at the thought of Nina discarded like trash. Tears prickled the back of my eyes, tears I never let fall. Demetri would beat the hell out of me for showing this kind of emotion. I schooled my features.

His eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared. His dragon could smell the pending tears before the water even pooled.

“Get control of yourself, Irina, unless you need a visit to the tank?”

Alec took a sharp breath from behind me.

No! Not the tank. The place they take you to remove your emotions by any means necessary. No way was I ever going there again. Demetri knew the threat of being sent there was as bad as the reality. Images and sensations swarmed up to me and my mouth flooded with liquid. No! I pushed them away and repressed a shudder. Get a grip, Irina. I drew a shaking breath and slid my emotionless mask back down.

Demetri looked appeased. He drew an envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it to me.

I opened it, and a picture fluttered to the ground. I picked it up and wished I hadn’t. It was bloodstained and crinkled and displayed a single finger on a blue velvet cushion drenched in blood. The finger bore a tattoo of the crescent moon. Nina had that tattoo on her left ring finger. She told me it was to remind her that she would find her mate one day. She believed he would be a wolf. The letter inside the envelope was equally blood-stained and smelled heavily of Nina’s scent.

It read, “We caught your b***h. This is all that’s left of her.”

I passed it to Alec, who held it gingerly between his fingers, not wanting to touch it much. He swore under his breath.

“This doesn’t mean she is dead for sure, though,” I countered.

“They were mobsters before they turned. She is dead.” Demetri’s tone was indifferent. “She compromised us. I disavowed her. Drop it and focus on your mission.”

His words cut through me like a knife. I stood rooted to the spot, trying to compute his response. A hunter, an operative barely more than a girl, was tossed aside, assumed dead, or turned traitor. They trained us from a young age to use and withstand torture. It was almost impossible to get information from a hunter.

What was her crime - doing her job but getting caught? No acknowledgment of her brilliance at her job, her dedication. It gave no allowance for her ability to withstand torture. Hell, simply for her as a person. I’d not heard of many hunters being captured; few would dare go to such lengths. Supernaturals knew it would bring a hoard of hunters, and the council’s wrath, down on their heads.

But perhaps we were all expendable in the council’s eyes. There were enough abandoned hybrids to replace us these days. Was I expendable? Alec? Erik? They removed us from duty once we found our mates, but I had always assumed that was a sensible choice. Maybe it was just another show of how little hunters meant to the council. My thoughts spiraled and piled on top of each other. I couldn’t trust myself to open my mouth without landing us both in trouble. I didn’t have my usual emotional control.

“Brutal.” Alec stared at the image of Nina’s finger. Emotions flitted across his face, shock and anger among them. Seeing his resolve slip snapped some of my control.

“Are we all disposable to the council?”

Demetri’s lip curled at my tone. He closed the distance between us; his face was once again livid. Alec squeezed my wrist, beseeching me without words to calm down.

“I extracted you from the dragon king’s lair, or did you forget that?” His fingers brushed the burn on my abdomen.

I flinched at the touch and the memory. “Some people are more expendable than others?” I asked.

Alec clucked his tongue, but I was too angry to heed his second warning. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. They rescued me from the dragon king, who had caught me on a separate mission and set his designs on turning me into his dragon queen. Bile rushed up my throat, along with more images and memories I didn’t want to see. I shuddered and stepped further back to stand next to Alec’s chair, finding comfort next to him.

Demetri regained control of his façade, and the emotionless mask slipped back onto his face. “Nina was not as strong as you. She would have broken. We would have released her soon, given her age anyway.”

So that was it. She was nearing her shelf-life, and so it didn’t matter. I felt sick. Something nasty and heavy slid into my gut. Things would never be the same.

Would anyone have even known if I hadn’t asked about her? She had no parents to ask after her. She was raised by the Hunter Council like Alec and me, and they sure as hell no longer wanted her. How many others had been the same?

I felt even sicker. I knew what we did here was merciless, but I’d always clung to the idea that we were keeping humans and supernaturals safe. Keeping order and maintaining balance, but the reality was that the Hunter Council and Elders held all the cards. It didn’t matter how much greater good you did if the hands that held those cards were bloody. If their morality were questionable, there would never be a right or just action. I’d learned a sad reality about the world I grew up in. Life was cheap. It made anger smolder in my gut.

“So that’s it? Her expiry date was nearly up, so we can toss her aside?”

Alec’s hand was back on my arm. He knew my calm tone was more dangerous than shouting, and he knew I was very close to doing something that might land us both in the tank.

“She is a f*****g person, Demetri! One of your own. An excellent hunter, dedicated to the council. Doesn’t that count for anything?” My power rose with my anger. My mind had cleared of whirling thoughts, and now I was furious.

“SIT DOWN!”

The force of his command buckled me to the floor and forced me to bare my neck in submission. My wolf, dragon, and siren screamed and hissed in my mind. Each of them were alphas; they hated submitting to Demetri, even worse when we were so angry at him. Alec hissed and bared his neck at the power that rolled off Demetri.

“This is why we train you to control your emotions! To stop them from clouding your judgment. Our work requires focus, a clear head, and obedience!” Demetri said. “You forget. Get a grip on yourself before you find yourselves in the tank, and I find another team for this mission.”

“Like anyone could replace us,” said my siren, disgust in her tone.

I wasn’t going to the tank, and I sure as hell wasn’t causing Alec to go because I couldn’t control myself. I should never have gotten angry. This showed me Demetri’s true colors and the Hunter Council’s true agenda more than I’d ever seen, and it was a gut punch.

I sat back on my haunches. The yogic breathing that Erik had taught me allowed the anger and adrenaline to seep from my body. I grasped the trigger point between my thumb and forefinger. It was an anchor to bring my physiology in line. My heart rate fell, and my breathing evened. I needed to take this mission and get Nina out if she was still alive.

“I apologize for the disrespect. Sir.” I kept my head bowed and my voice calm.

Demetri stood back a little and appraised me. He seemed satisfied with my submission. “That’s what makes you an excellent hunter, Irina. Your ability to bring yourself under control and detach your emotions. Don’t make me regret trusting you with this. Flight plans and transportation details are on the file.”

“Sir.” I nodded.

I felt sick to my stomach at what had transpired. I’ve always been good at what I did, but I’d never relished killing. To stand with an organization that thinks of its operatives as disposable made me feel ashamed.

Demetri swept from the room, and Alec and I quietly made our way to his quarters. I sagged down on his couch while he sat at his desk and opened his laptop.

The action was almost automatic, but he paused and dragged his hands down his face. “I know what you are thinking, Rina,” he said as he emerged from behind his fingertips. “You want to go after these vamps and save Nina at the same time.”

Alec was great at reading people. He knew me so well that he didn’t need Erik’s mind-reading skills. It was a statement of fact, not a caution.

“Are you going to tell me it’s a bad idea?”

“No, first off, you wouldn’t listen to me, and second, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I had a fair understanding of what we meant to the council before now, but Demetri’s display today confirmed it all. We are all disposable.” He paused; his gaze roamed over me. “Well, except perhaps you. Although whether that has more to do with Demetri’s obsession with you or the council’s desire for you to take over from him in due time.”

“Demetri’s obsession?”

Alec sighed again. He looked drained. We’d been non-stop for weeks, and this was going to be a full-on mission, especially as one vampire needed to be captured, not merely killed. That wasn’t my specialty—killing was.

“Irina, for a trained assassin who misses next to nothing in the field, you can be incredibly blind sometimes.”

Alec never pulled the punches.

“Okay, enlighten me. Since when has Demetri been obsessed with me? What grounds do you base that on?”

“You mean aside from that possessive claim earlier,” said my Siren.

“It’s obvious. It has been since we were young. He favors you. Watches you. Hell, he went in himself to save you from the Dragon king. It’s clear now the council isn’t in the habit of rescuing most hunters.” Alec shook his head. A grim smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

He was probably considering that if it had been him, he’d be six feet under by now. Was it true? Did he favor me? I rarely paid Demetri much attention. Outside of being wary of his punishments and listening to my mission orders, we hardly interacted. He was a cold, distant man. A shiver went down my spine as I connected all the things Alec said with my experience in his office earlier. I wanted to get away from this hellhole.

“It’s something we need to deal with, but right now, we need to make a solid plan. We can’t have you going off-piste.” He booted up the laptop.

It wouldn’t be the first time I had veered off a mission. Sometimes it didn’t end well for me; other times, it was necessary to avoid more collateral damage and lives lost. Alec liked to plan and triple-plan missions and have plans A, B, and C. I was a bit more for winging it if needed.

“Let’s crack on then. We’ve got a three-for-the-price-of-two deal waiting for us in LA.” I smirked.

We worked for a few hours and gained a solid footing for the missions. Alec had some new synthetic scents from the chemical weapons department, where a team of witch hybrids had developed weapons from potions. The head of the lab had a crush on Alec, so we got the drop in new advancements. These new scents mimicked emotions and gave me an idea for baiting a trap for Frederico.

“Come on, Rina, that’s enough for tonight. Let’s get some rest.” Alec stood and pulled me up from my seat into a much-needed hug.

His familiar smell calmed me. It reminded me of the aching tiredness I felt in my body. It was easy to get lost in planning and forget to rest.

“Are you trying to get rid of me? Have you got a date with Mark in the labs?” I pulled back and winked at him. “Say thank you to him for these toys.”

He laughed and wiggled his eyebrows. “I never kiss and tell. You know Mark is due to start rotating to the LA headquarters next week, so how is that for perfect timing? Anyway, my Buffy needs her beauty sleep to be on top of her game in the States.” He smirked at me.

He loved that stupid human show about vampire slayers and always called me Buffy if the target was a vamp, and often it was. He’d even named my favorite stake Buffy. I rolled my eyes at him in amusement, glad to have more of my usual Alec back.

“Sure, I’ll see you in the morning. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” I called over my shoulder.

“That doesn’t leave much off the table.” He laughed and pulled his door closed.