Strength in Darkness

Chapter Four

“Ethan!” Max slammed the window to the fire escape shut. “We need to leave. Now!”

Ethan was resting in the small desk chair of the hotel room. “Why?”

Grabbing her few unpacked items, she started shoving them into her backpack. “There’s someone on the roof. I don’t know who or what he is, but he’s here and I think he’s from The Council.”

“f**k!” They scrambled to get everything out of the room, and then to the stairs. The elevator would take too long. While rushing down the sixteen flights of stairs, Ethan asked, “what did he look like?”

“He looked young? I don’t know. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.”

“You get a look of his face?”

“No. He was on the phone facing the other direction.”

“Did you hear what he was saying?”

“All I heard was my name and I ran. Who did you tell about me?!”

Ethan stopped on the twelfth floor, causing Max to halt. “I haven’t told anybody about you. Nobody knows who you are.”

“Does John know? Anyone from your office?”

“Of course not! If I told him about half the s**t I did, he would have me sent to prison!” 

A door from above them opened from the very top of the building. Max looked at Ethan, both wide eyed, Ethan held his index finger to his lips telling her to stay quiet. They quietly started moving down the rest of the flight of the stairs and then entered the door to the next floor. Floor eleven. They headed straight for the elevator, while keeping an eye on the door to the stairs.

When the elevator made it to their floor, they got in. As the doors sealed shut, they both let out a sigh of relief. “Who else would know about me?”

“I honestly don’t know, but I need to rest so I can get my strength back and you need blood so you can get yours.”

The doors opened to the main lobby and they looked from left to right, scanning the room for the person. When the coast was clear, they calmly walked to the entrance. “My car is parked down the street, we can get to it through the alley over there,” Max pointed to a small alley between two restaurants. Ethan nodded and they headed for the front door.

When they opened the door, heading for the streets, they were stopped by a voice. 

“What’s the rush, Ethan?”

Both froze, Max ready with her silver knives in her hands. Ethan turned at the familiar voice, when he recognized the figure, he scrunched his brows together. “James?”

James stood there with a smug look on his face, eyeing the sorcerer and a vampire. She looked weak, so if anything, killing her wouldn’t take much. Killing Ethan might be an issue, considering Kai blindly trusts him without reason. “Where you headed?”

Ethan gestured Max to get behind him, but she stood her ground, ready to fight if needed. She was weak, but wouldn’t leave Ethan behind. 

“Did you follow me?”

With a furrowed brow, James watched Ethan attempt to coax the girl behind him. He was protecting her. She had to work with him, then. He looked to the girl who kept her glare on the stranger before her. “Of course I did. I told you I don’t trust you. Now, who is this?” he nodded toward the girl.

“Not your f*****g business, so keep the f**k away from her.”

James wasn’t sadistic, nor did he truly want to get into a fight in public. However, in his experience, very few people can be trusted, and anyone from The Council was not on his list. Especially a sorcerer with the family name of Greyson. “If you think you can snitch on us or Kai to The Council, you can kiss your life goodbye right now.”

James and Ethan both turned their heads at the sound of a snort coming from the girl. “Wait.” She held up her hands, “you think he’s a council snitch?” she pointed to Ethan with a grin on her face ready to burst into laughter.

“Max, stop,” Ethan warned.

“You’re Max?”

“Who the f**k are you?” she avoided answering the stranger’s question. 

“Max, this is James. He’s a friend of a friend…so to speak.”

“Who is she?” James asked Ethan, knowing the smart ass girl wouldn’t give a straight answer.

“She is none of your business and she can speak for herself,” Max crossed her arms over her chest.

“Okay, both of you need to stop. James, Max,” he looked between the two. “We need to get out of public. We can continue this in the car.”

Max nodded and gestured toward the alley over to her car. “My car isn’t too far away. You’ll just need to tell me where I’m going.” She started to feel her hunger peeking out again. She only tasted enough of Ethan’s blood to get out of her weakness. If she didn’t get anything soon, she risked falling back into all the symptoms or attacking an innocent human.

James was unsure of whether or not he could trust them, but he also knew that public places in the human communities was a dangerous place to talk about inhuman issues. Reluctantly, he followed, but not before sending Darrin a text.

James: Max is a girl. Vampire. 

Darrin: Do you know who she is?

James: Other than a smart ass, she doesn’t work for the council. 

Darrin: Keep me posted.

***

Charlotte finished making dinner and was fixing the tray for Kai to bring upstairs for Katelyn. She was thankful for Brady handling everything with the kids right now. Lately she just didn’t have it in her to deal with more issues. Her husband was taking on the weight of the world, it seemed, and she was in no place to help him. Since the day they were taken, she couldn’t remember anything about being captured. Her last memory was helping some elderly pack members into a safe house and then…nothing. She didn’t even remember coming home. It seemed, she was starting to forget a lot of things on a daily basis. 

Kai came down the stairs with Katelyn in tow. Had she been coming down already? Was she not supposed to make her a separate tray of food?

“Mom,” Kai approached with a sweet smile, “Katelyn is going to try joining us for dinner, so we won’t need to take anything up to her.”

“Oh,” relief washed over her. At least this was something she didn’t forget. “Well, that’s wonderful, Katelyn. I am so glad you’ll be joining us. I’m sure Kellan will be too.”

Katelyn grimaced at the mention of Kel. Kai just finished explaining the mate thing to her, and told her she was able to reject the bond, just as Kai had. Kai said it would be painful for him but not for Katelyn since she didn’t feel it already. “Yeah, we’ll see how it goes.”

Kellan and Brady walked in after their day of training, with Ace dragging behind. His clothes were covered in dirt and he was healing from various bruises and cuts all over his body. Kellan started training him recently and was apparently not going easy on him. 

Loraina walked in, sensing Ace and gasped. “Aww Luciano, are you okay?” she cupped his cheeks, taking in all the injuries on him. If she still had her powers, she would clean him up in an instant, but it’s out of her control.

“I’m fine, love,” he kissed her. “It was a long day, but I’m so glad to see you.”

“Ace, why don’t you go get cleaned up and then you two can join us for dinner,” Brady said. “We still have some bags for you, Alex will be back soon with a new supply.”

Ace nodded, and took Loraina’s hand in his before heading upstairs to the bathroom. The only guest bedroom the Thompson’s had was now occupied by two new mates. Though the mate bond was something everyone understood, it was still annoying for everyone to have to listen to at night when Ace and Loraina went to bed. She tried to stay happy for her friend, but Kai couldn’t help but hope they can acquire another living space soon, since their room was directly next to hers. 

“Darrin is freeing up a house for them,” Brady nodded in the direction Ace and Loraina went. “I can’t listen to that another night.”

Kai giggled, “try being forced to listen to it on the other side of the wall. They also knocked one of my pictures off the wall.”

“That’s disgusting,” Kel sneered. “Just gross.”

“You’re one to talk,” Kai rolled her eyes.

“Excuse you?” Kel demanded. 

“Need I remind you of the things mom and dad know that you did in their room? The things I was forced to see and hear from down the hall?”

“You mean you actually SAW it?!” Brady yelled. “Kellan!” He slapped his son upside the head.

“Dad! You already knew that!” he whined.

“I didn’t know your sister saw that!”

Kellan rolled his eyes and grunted. “Because she’s a freak always looking to get my ass busted.” Brady slapped him upside the head again, “ouch! Damn! Sorry!”

***

The Alpha and his son sat in his office going over some of the various duties Callum would be inheriting soon. Though he and Kellan still needed to be at the academy to finish off their training, they were being excused for the time being, since their pack was recently attacked. 

Darrin suggested stopping for the day before there was a knock on the office door. Rose opened it and behind her came Councilman Barnes and Councilman Hawks. 

“Gentlemen,” Darrin stood with a slight bow of his head. Cal watched his father and mirrored his actions. 

“Oh Darrin,” Barnes waved his hands at him, “you don’t need to do that.” Both men entered the room completely before Rose left. 

“Please sit,” Darrin gestured. Both men took a seat in the chairs facing the alpha’s desk. He watched as Barnes sat comfortably, with his knees widened and elbow resting on the arm of his chair, while Hawkes crossed his own legs and folded his hands. While it wasn’t unheard of for a member of The Council to visit a pack, it was rare for a sorcerer councilmember to pay a visit. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Well,” Barnes started, “we heard about your issue with Emerald Mountain and decided to pay a  visit and see how things were going.”

Darrin glanced at the sorcerer who had remained quiet the entire time. Cal stood behind his father watching both of them. “We are doing just fine, my son helped lead us to a victory and in the end, he fought Alpha Roman and killed him, unfortunately.”

Hawkes watched Callum carefully, “I see,” he drawled. “However, it is our understanding that Roman was killed on his own territory and he never actually came onto your lands.” He picked at the lint on the knee of his trousers. “We also understand that half of the attack was from vampires and some rogues. Very few of his pack members were present for the fight.”

“Are you making an accusation, Councilman?” Darrin asked warily.

“No, Darrin,” Barnes interceded, “we are trying to verify details for the record for when the time comes.”

“The time comes?” Darrin looked between the two. “The time comes for what?”

“The young alpha may be looking at a charge for the murder of another Alpha on his own territory without cause,” Hawkes’ cold tone left no room for confusion. 

“What!”

“Your son has been accused of charging onto Emerald Mountain territory without cause and murdered the Alpha. The Alpha of a pack that you also have an alliance by treaty with.”

“Who made such false accusations?!” Darrin demanded.

“The Emerald Mountain Beta,” Barnes said.

“Nathaniel?”

“Yes, Darrin.”

Hawkes continued to watch Callum for any sort of reaction. The expression on his face, blank. He held no emotion for what he was being accused of. Curious…

“Darrin,” Barnes pleaded with his friend. “I know Callum wouldn’t do this out of spite. I know you, Callum, and you are level-headed like your father. Is there anything we need to know about what happened?”

“I killed Roman. In his house.” He watched Hawkes as he spoke. He knew the sorcerer was looking for an admission of guilt for some reason. “He kidnapped a pack member and we went to retrieve her.”

“Who was kidnapped and why?” Barnes asked. 

The alpha and his son remained quiet for a moment.

“Kai,” Hawkes said softly. “He wrote in his admission she was his mate. So you killed him for taking his mate against her will?” 

“She is not his mate,” Cal gritted out.

“And how would you know that?” Hawkes challenged. “Were you hoping to be her chosen? I believe she already has a chosen.”

Cal let out a low growl, “he is not her mate and unless she decides to mate with him, Alex isn’t either.”

Hawkes stood from his seat and looked around the office. It was so plain, hardly anything inside of it. Dark. “You’re not helping your case here, young alpha. Despite what you may believe, I am not here to look for a murderer. There is a lot more going on in our world than you can imagine, and we are simply trying to connect the dots. Now,” he turned to the alpha and the young alpha. “I’m sure you are aware Ms. Thompson works for me, and while I have graciously given her time off this week, I will require her presence back in the office. We just want to let you know you will be investigated on the charges, so expect a summons in the future. Until then, do not leave your territory unless you want to raise further suspicions. Also, I will need to speak with Kai as it seems she has not yet returned to school.”

“Well, councilman,” Darrin cleared his throat when he heard a second light growl come from his son. “She lives right next door, we could take you to her.”

“Perfect.”