Declan stepped out of the car and tilted his head back to take in the imposing façade of the mansion. Some found it ugly with its high turrets and gargoyles on towering peaks, but it was his home, and after being gone for months, he smiled as he took it in.
When he volunteered to go with Logan to Mexico to work with Alejandro and his group of hunters, he hadn’t expected to be gone for so long—a month, maybe two at most—but they were away far longer than he anticipated.
While there, the two of them helped Alejandra develop a working relationship with the vampires he recruited. Those vamps still weren’t residing in the same compound like the Alliance and hunters did here, but they were working together to combat the growing Savage population in their area.
A growing population that did not bode well for any of them. Things had been quiet since they killed the demon and escaped the bunker in Maine five years ago, but they were starting to ramp up again now, and he didn’t like it.
When they left Mexico, the hunters and vamps still weren’t as close as the Alliance, but Declan felt confident enough in their ability to continue working together to come home. He’d missed his brothers in the Alliance, his family, while he was away, and he was looking forward to seeing them again.
Declan closed the driver’s door and opened the back door to remove his bag before slinging it over his shoulder and shutting that door too. Logan walked around the back of the car to stand beside him.
After Declan turned Logan into a vampire to save his life, he was surprised by how much he wanted him to thrive in this world. In the beginning, he mentored Logan when it came to feeding and controlling his more volatile instincts.
As a turned vamp, Logan didn’t have to deal with the incessant urges male purebreds endured when they stopped aging, but he was a turned hunter, which made his transition and the aftereffects more difficult than normal. He also had to learn to deal with a vampire’s thirst, and that was always a challenge.
“Home sweet ugly home,” Logan muttered, and Declan chuckled.
“Already missing the señoritas?” Declan inquired.
“I do love those señoritas,” Logan said with a sigh.
“Let’s go.”
Declan started for the door, but Saxon sauntered out of it before Declan could take more than a couple of steps forward. Saxon grinned at him, and Declan returned the smile. When the two briefly embraced, they squeezed Saxon’s eight-month-old daughter, Madison, between them.
Madison giggled and tugged at his hair while her arctic blue eyes searched his face. Her sandy blonde hair stood on end, and a small, pink bow was clipped onto some of the strands. Having left shortly before she was born, this was the first time Declan was meeting her in person, but ever the proud father, Saxon sent him pictures every day.
Saxon and Logan briefly embraced before Saxon focused on him again. “How was Mexico?”
“Warm,” Declan told him.
Saxon quirked an eyebrow. “Just warm?”
“And good tequila.”
Saxon laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “You’ll have to tell me all about that tequila when you get the chance.”
“I brought back some bottles for us to share. We’ll tell you all about it tonight.”
Saxon’s smile faltered, and the turmoil churning beneath his happiness over seeing him caused Declan to stiffen. “What is it?”
“We might have a problem. Come on.”
Declan and Logan followed Saxon into the mansion. Declan set his bag down on the gray and white marble floor in the foyer. When Saxon shut the door behind him, the ensuing silence hung heavily on the air.
Declan hadn’t expected a party when he returned, but if everything were okay, more of his friends would have been here to meet him. And once Lucien found out about the tequila, he wouldn’t have waited until tonight before breaking opening it. Whatever was happening wasn’t good.
“What kind of problem is it?” Declan asked.
“Lucien took a group to Maine to check on the abandoned bunker and tunnels. He was supposed to report in last night; no one’s heard from him. Ronan and the others are in the library trying to decide what to do. I came out to get you when we saw you arrive.”
A tendril of dread crept down Declan’s spine as he recalled his time in those tunnels, the creature they found lurking inside, and the hundreds of Savages living within that underground hellhole.
“Why did they go up there?” Declan inquired.
“Some of the cameras went down, but they always do, and this time they went out during a thunderstorm, so it was supposed to be a routine thing.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“No, it’s not. Come on.” Saxon clapped him and then Logan on the shoulder. “They’ll be happy to see the two of you; I know I am.”
“I’m happy to see you too,” Declan said.
“I was happier before we learned something was wrong,” Logan said.
Their boots thudded against the floor, and Madison gurgled as she slapped her father’s shoulders and bounced in his arms while they strode toward the library. The doors were already open, and voices drifted out as they approached.
A part of him relaxed at the sound of those familiar voices, but another part felt like he was walking barefoot across hot coals. He teetered on the verge of something as he walked a fine line between control and giving in to the sucking madness pulling at him since he became an adult vampire.
He’d lost control once before, and he’d vowed never to let it happen again, but the demon part of him was riled up and seeking to be set free. Dipping a hand into his pocket, he pulled out a lollipop and unwrapped it. He didn’t look at it before sticking it in his mouth; he concealed a wince when the grape flavor hit his tongue.
Fucking grape.
It was his least favorite flavor, followed closely by the blue raspberry shit that made his mouth look like he’d eaten a Smurf. No, blue raspberry was his least favorite flavor simply because of the blue-mouth aftereffect.
They’re both atrocious, he decided.
As they walked, he counted the licks while trying to calm himself as well as prepare for the barrage of emotions about to hit him. He believed he was under control again until they stepped through the door.
He lost count of the licks as a sledgehammer of feelings blasted him in the chest and nearly staggered him back a step. Instead, his stride never faltered as he plastered on a smile and tried not to ram his fist into something.
“Declan,” Ronan greeted and broke away from the others.
Declan’s smile was more genuine as he embraced his friend. They squeezed each other’s shoulders before parting ways. Ronan shook Logan’s hand next. “Good to see you.”
“You too,” Logan said as he shifted his bag on his back.
“How was Mexico?” Ronan inquired.
“Good. I’m glad I went. We’re confident the vamps and hunters will continue to work well together. What’s going on here?”
Ronan turned back to the table where the others stood. “I wish you’d come back to better news.”
Ronan led Declan and Logan over to the large table. The tension inside Declan increased with every step they took. Vicky stood by the table with her head bowed and her hands resting on the flat surface. He didn’t have to feel the anxiety radiating from her; one glance at her pale face and pinched lips told him that her sister was with Lucien.
Declan didn’t realize he’d put his hand back in his pocket until he crushed the lollipops. Chunks of sugar seeped out from the wrappers and stuck to his fingers. He clearly recalled the beautiful girl with dark blonde hair that had shades of gold and wheat threaded through it.
It wasn’t easy to forget her long, lean body with curves in all the right places. And then there were those astounding violet eyes; he’d been alive for centuries and never seen anything as beautiful as they were.
She was the main reason he jumped at the chance to go to Mexico. His desire for her rattled his ironclad control in ways no one had before, and he couldn’t allow it to happen. The last time he lost control, too many people paid the price, and he’d been living with the consequences of it ever since.
So he packed his bag, hopped in his car with Logan, and took a trip to Mexico where Willow haunted his dreams almost every night. And now, she was missing.
His fangs unexpectedly lengthened, and for a minute, a haze of red coated everything in the room as he resisted his impulse to destroy and kill everything in his way of her. He worked to retract his fangs while he focused on the others.
Nathan stood beside Vicky with a hand on her shoulder and another resting near the map. Next to her brother, Kadence stared at some pictures of trees. The photos were upside down to him, so it took a few seconds to register that they were camera footage taken outside the massive bunker in Maine.
Standing next to Kadence, Roland, the head of security, pointed at something in one of the pictures. “The computer programs I’m running threw up a red flag on this one the day the cameras went down. At first glance, I didn’t see anything wrong with the photo, and after knowing what caused it to be flagged, I put it aside. After their disappearance, I decided to take a closer look at some of the flagged photos. That was when I spotted this.”
They all leaned closer to get a better look. It took a couple of seconds before Declan made out the shape of what looked like a human, or possibly a Savage, in the photo. But it could also be a tree or a deer or a shadow. If it was a human or Savage, they had their back to the camera and were nearly out of range.
“Do you see it?” Roland asked.
“Yes,” Kadence said.
“Is it a Savage?” Elyse asked.
When Saxon went to stand by his mate, Madison held her arms out to her mother, and Elyse drew her daughter into them. She cradled the little girl against her chest while Madison rested her head on her shoulder. The love emanating from them helped calm Declan a little.
“It could be anything,” Kadence murmured.
“It could, but I’m going to assume it’s a Savage after losing contact with them,” Roland said.
“Why are we just seeing this picture now?” Ronan inquired.
“We have close to fifty cameras up there,” Roland said. “I have the footage from each running through computer programs for face recognition and that are designed to pick up movement and people, but they’re not perfect, and they miss things. So do I. There are no faces here, and this isn’t even one of the cameras that went down. This camera is still running. That is the only reason this photo was flagged.”
He pointed to a speck of red in the upper left corner of the photo.
“What is that?” Saxon asked.
“A ladybug,” Roland answered. “It landed on the camera.”
“Why would a ladybug send up a red flag?”
“The programs monitoring the footage are set to pick up any red, or a vampire’s eyes. They’re also set to pick up the white-blue color of a turned hunter’s eyes. The red of the ladybug’s wings set off the warning system.”
Before leaving for Mexico, Declan was working with Roland on the programs and monitoring, but the hunter had done a lot more since he left.
“And possibly caught a Savage on camera,” Killean muttered.
“It has to be a Savage,” Saxon said. “There’s no other reason for them not to report in.”
He was right, but if this was the only Savage caught on camera, it made him think they were aware of the cameras and knew how to get around them.
“How many are with Lucien?” Declan asked.
“Four,” Asher answered. “One newer recruit and three hunters.”
“And your sister is with them,” he said to Vicky. He knew the answer, but he had to have it confirmed.
Terror shone in Vicky’s emerald eyes when they met his. “Yes.”
Declan couldn’t stop himself from chomping down on the lollipop. The acrid taste filling his mouth gave him something else to focus on, besides the rage trying to take him over. He chewed on what remained of the pop before using his tongue to pick away the pieces sticking to his teeth.
Willow should not be out there. She was a member of the Alliance, a choice she’d made, but she couldn’t become one of those monsters. He would not allow her or Lucien to be tortured and brutalized until nothing of them remained.