Chapter Twenty-Four

When the mating and marriage ceremony was completed, Cyrus gave Cella’s hand a squeeze and took a step away from her, leaving her facing Midas directly. She gave her bouquet to Aeryn and bowed her head in deference to the king, pledging an oath to Midas and the ambush, promising to protect and help those in need.

“Are there any here who can show just cause why this female cannot become a member of the ambush? Speak now or remain silent forever,” Midas said to the crowd.

Cella pressed her lips together, wondering if someone would protest a vampire joining their ranks. Even though Cyrus’s family had welcomed her, she wasn’t sure if everyone in the ambush was onboard with her. When no one spoke for several moments, Midas said, “Let us welcome our new sister.”

The ambush cheered and clapped, and Cella relaxed and lifted her head, smiling broadly at Midas and Cyrus.

“You weren’t worried were you, sweetheart?” Cyrus murmured in her ear as he drew her to his side.

“Just a tiny bit,” she admitted.

“You’re well and truly mine, beloved, and I’m yours.”

Midas raised his hands for quiet and then spoke, “It’s an occasion to celebrate when mates come together and when a truemate joins the ambush. Let us celebrate the joining of Cyrus and Cella!”

The ambush cheered a second time. Cella took a step to walk down the aisle with Cyrus, but he didn’t budge.

“Cyrus?”

His head was tilted and his eyes were bright gold, his mouth was parted and his fangs had descended. “Did you hear that?”

She blinked a few times and focused her hearing, but there was nothing outside of the sounds of the ambush milling toward the picnic tables for their meal.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Damn it,” he said, rushing from her side, his body a blur as he barreled into the woods with a furious growl.

“What the hell was that about?” Gavin asked, resting his hands on his hips and staring after his cousin.

Midas sniffed the air. “I can’t discern anything. You?”

Gavin shook his head.

Cella looked at her new king as worry streaked through her. Where had Cyrus gone?

 

* * *

 

Cyrus had never been happier than the moment that the ambush cheered their approval of Cella joining their ranks. The vampire coven had welcomed him so readily, bringing him into the family without delay. He’d wanted Cella to have the same experience with his people too. And here they’d done exactly as he’d hoped – opened their arms and hearts to his beloved.

As Midas announced their mating and encouraged the ambush to celebrate their joining with the party that would follow, he and Cella reached for each other, linking their hands. His cat and vampire swelled inside him, wanting to hurry through the party so they could enjoy their mating night.

A sound reached his ears and his natures were on alert immediately.

There again!

A click. Like the camera on a cell phone taking a picture.

Someone was spying on them!

He raced into the woods, trusting his ambush to keep Cella safe. His vision narrowed as he drew on his enhanced senses to locate the source of the clicking. He felt a presence in the woods, his vampire and tiger furious that an outsider had recorded the ambush’s private ceremony. Spinning around a wide tree, he snatched a human male off the ground and slammed him into the rough bark. The human’s head cracked against the tree and he shouted in surprise, the scent of blood filling the air.

“What are you doing here?” Cyrus demanded, holding the male by his throat.

“Fuck. You,” the male said.

Cyrus’s tribrid power filled him, and he ordered the male to freeze. His struggles ceased. Cyrus lowered him to the ground and picked up his cell phone. Using the male’s fingerprint, he unlocked the phone and looked at the camera roll. The male had been taking pictures and videos of the entire ceremony, as well as the preparation beforehand, zooming in to capture ambush members faces.

He opened the email and text apps, searching to find if the male had sent the photos to anyone, and saw no evidence of it.

The question was why the male was taking photos. Because of the tigers? Or because of Cella?

He hefted the prone male over his shoulder and stalked back to the clearing where his beloved, his king, and the confused ambush were staring at him.

“Who is that?” Cella asked, her voice a loud whisper filled with shock.

Cyrus dumped the male on the ground none-too-gently, satisfied that he didn’t move once he bounced to a stop. “I don’t know. He was taking pictures of us.” He tossed the phone to Midas who flipped through the photos as Cyrus had done.

He pulled Cella into his arms and buried his face in her throat. He inhaled her sweetly familiar scent and was thankful his senses were powerful enough he’d heard the click of the camera. It was an idiot move on the offender’s part. A trained spy would have ensured he wouldn’t be discovered by covering all the bases, including the amateur move of leaving the sound turned on.

Midas called his protectors over, the males who were assigned as his personal guards. Of the four males – Jorah, Benecio, Kyle, and Donovan – Cyrus had grown up with three of them. But Jorah was a transplant from another ambush in Florida and had joined their ranks several years earlier, taking the place of Melo, a protector who shared a mate with his brother, Tahlon. Cyrus had been up for the job of protector, but he’d never accepted the offer to guard Midas at any and all outings from the territory. Before this moment, Cyrus hadn’t thought that anyone had it out for the tiger king but knowing that the human male at his feet had taken pictures of Midas as well as the other members of the ambush made him wonder just what the hell was up.

“Can you do something with him?” Midas asked as he handed the phone to Jorah to view the photos and then turned his attention to the male on the ground. His eyes were wide with a mixture of fear and hatred, but he was still rendered immobile by compulsion.

“Yep.”

Cyrus hauled the human to his feet and sat him in a chair that Donovan brought over. Grasping the male’s throat, Cyrus leaned close and stared into his eyes. “Let’s see what we can find out. Who are you?”

The human male was no match for Cyrus’s power, and quickly said his name. “Anthony Fielding.”

“Why were you taking pictures of the ambush?”

Without hesitation, the male spilled his figurative guts. “Sean Finnegan brought me here from our sister location in Baltimore as his right-hand. I’ve watched the club since the bomb to look for abnormalities, and the only new thing is you.”

“Abnormalities?” Cyrus asked.

“New additions to the club. You were working with the tigers during the construction, but after the bombing, it was apparent you were living in the club. Jason said it was because you had taken a vampire girlfriend. I was tasked with following you anytime you left the club, and when I realized last night that there was a ceremony today, Sean told me to stake out the whole thing and take as many pictures as I could.”

“To what purpose?” Midas demanded.

“Allies of the vampire coven are enemies of the church.”

“Fuck me,” Benecio said.

Cyrus frowned. “The church knew the tigers were working on the club, but they didn’t send anyone to spy on them until now. Why?”

“It was business before. Jason isn’t against people wanting to use the vampires for their own gain, but when someone marries into the coven, they become an enemy, as do their family members. I was to take photos of everyone in attendance at the ceremony tonight, as well as video of the ceremony itself.”

“Why?” Cyrus asked, having a hard time controlling his vampire’s desire to snap the male’s neck for interrupting the festivities.

“Retaliation.”

“Silence,” Cyrus ordered the male, who snapped his teeth together as he closed his mouth. Cyrus straightened and rubbed the back of his neck. “This is not good.”

Cella nodded. “When the church attacked the newest beloved mate – Angie – when she was on the way home, the worry was that they might attempt to follow her to the pack’s territory and attack. It seems as if we weren’t just speculating – Jason has decided to make that a reality.”

Cyrus turned his attention back to the male and, instead of asking questions, he compelled him to share his memories. As if he were watching a movie, Cyrus could see the male’s memories from the moment he joined the church all the way to him staking out the ambush’s territory and hiding his scent with a tiger essence, the same that had been used in the restaurant bombing. “Sleep.”

The male slumped in the chair and Cyrus rolled his shoulders and let out a growling sigh. “Jason sent his brother Sean to rebuild the Cleveland church, sending his most active members for support. This male doesn’t have any inside information aside from what he already shared. He was on a video call with Jason, detailing following me and documenting everything with emailed reports, photos, and videos.”

Jorah frowned. “Who the hell is Jason anyway?”

Cyrus forgot that the ambush didn’t know all the details about the church. Midas did, because Mishka had shared that information with the leaders of each supernatural group in the alliance. “Jason Finnegan is the leader of The First Church of Humanity. He’s in hiding somewhere, and up until this point, he was with his brother, Sean. He had a sister – Olive – who was killed by Mishka’s mate Harmony, along with a chunk of their Cleveland supporters. They rebuilt their membership, but we took out one of the cells that was responsible for the restaurant bombing, and sicced the human authorities on the leader and followers and shut them down. Clearly Jason has sent his brother here.”

“We’re so careful,” Cella said. “We take numerous security precautions when we leave the club.”

Cyrus stared at the sleeping human. Cella wasn’t wrong – the coven was extremely careful with the safety of their people – but the church was also very determined. Since he’d joined the coven, they hadn’t been able to thwart any attacks, always seeming to be a step behind.

At least he’d caught this intruder before he’d sent any incriminating photos back to the church leader. He drew close to the human and caused him to awaken, then he asked the question that had been niggling at the back of his mind.

“How did you follow us here?” He and Cella had driven here themselves, but they’d been escorted by the coven, who had twisted and turned them around downtown Cleveland for ages before they headed toward the ambush’s territory. Their guards were trained to be able to tell if they were being followed. It was inconceivable that they were being tailed and it had escaped the guards’ notice.

Anthony’s eyes were a little glazed over, but he straightened in the chair and said, “There are trackers on the vehicles the vampires use regularly.”

“No way,” Cella said, shaking her head. “They’re swept for devices before they leave the garage and when they return.”

The human rolled his eyes. “The trackers can be turned off and on at will.”

“How?” Cyrus asked.

“We placed sensors at the gates of the garage where the coven’s vehicles are stored. When the vehicles pass by the sensors, they turn the trackers on, and turn them off when they return.”

“Smart,” Midas said, rubbing his chin in thought. “Where are the trackers on the vehicles?”

“Behind the license plates.”

“How long have they been there?” Cyrus asked.

“Since the bombing. There was a girl who showed up sometimes, and she could make herself invisible. It’s freaky as hell. She’s gone though, and the rumor was that she was taken into another realm by her people.”

“What is he talking about?” Midas asked.

“It’s a fae, right?” Cyrus asked Anthony.

“Yeah. She’d been with Jason and stayed hidden, but she came to the Cleveland location to help out.”

“Do you know where Jason is?” Cyrus asked, in case he’d missed something in his memories.

“Nah. Only the higher ups do, like Sean. I’ve talked to him by video, but he’s always in a plain room. The scuttle is he’s underground somewhere, but it’s a tightly guarded secret.”

Cyrus turned to Midas. “I’m going to remove the memories of his time here. I can plant a false memory.”

Midas nodded. “He needs to report back to his people that he watched the ambush and saw a party and nothing more. His conclusion is that you work for the tigers and not the vampires, and the ambush has nothing to do with the coven outside of business.”

Cyrus nodded and gazed into the human’s eyes, erasing every memory of himself, Cella, the coven, and the ambush, and replacing them with what Midas suggested, and then he sent the male into a deep sleep. Midas ordered several of his males to take him to his vehicle, which Cyrus had been able to see through memories was stowed away on a roadside a few miles away. They were to drive him out of the territory and put his car on the roadside and disable it, so when he woke he’d believe he just fell asleep after breaking down.

“I need to call the coven,” Cyrus said.

Midas nodded. “We’ll need to upgrade our own security here. It’s disconcerting that a human was sitting in our woods recording our movements and no one had any clue. It’s a good thing that you have such good senses.”

“Thanks to me being a tribrid.”

Midas smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, then left him and Cella alone in the clearing. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

She gave him a curious smile. “What was that for?”

“We got distracted by the damn intruder and I didn’t get to love on you properly.”

“I don’t mind.” She brushed her fingers through his hair and he shivered at the pleasurable arc of sensation that wove through him at her touch. “Call Brone, then let’s go celebrate.”

He kissed her once more and lifted his phone from his pocket. He didn’t loosen his grip on her waist, anchoring her to his side so that he could feel her heat and softness. As the phone rang, he whispered, “I love you, sweetheart. You’re the sun in my sky.”

“I am?” Brone asked dryly.

Cella giggled and Cyrus let out a grunt. “You know I wasn’t talking to you, man.”

“If you say so. What can I do for you?”

Cyrus explained what had happened, giving the head of coven security every detail he’d gleaned from the human’s mind. Brone let out a deep, frustrated growl. “I’ll take Rage, Ven, and a few others with me and we’ll comb every vehicle as well as locate the sensors that activate them. I’m going to ground everyone in the coven from leaving the building for the next forty-eight hours.”

“Do you want us to come back tomorrow night to help?” Cyrus asked.

“No, take the time off you’d planned. I know you were anxious to get away. This is handled, Cyrus. You did well. Thank you.”

Pride swelled through him as he ended the call and put his phone in his pocket. He was thankful for a lot of things right then, but particularly that he’d been able to help keep the coven – and the ambush – safe. Because Cella’s safety was the most important thing to him, and the coven was her family, keeping them safe also helped to keep her safe, and that was worth any price.

“Let’s go,” he said, looking down at Cella. “My beloved. My mate. My bride. My world.”

She beamed up at him, the gleaming tips of her fangs visible. “Let’s.”