He took a deep breath, trying to remind himself that she was not his mate. He could not have a mate. They were weaknesses. But the scent of her only drove his anger further.

  He appeared near the house and paused as he heard voices.

  “It’s Lucius’ doing. I’m trying to get her out of the territory, but he sent goons after us.” Josh sounded almost convincing.

  Kassity groaned and Josh shushed her. Lucius took himself into the house and smiled at Josh. He knew it wasn’t nice. His lips pulled back, exposing his fangs. “Telling lies again Josh?”

  Josh turned to run, but only appeared a few feet away. Lucius grabbed him and turned to Mae. “I did not hurt the panther.”

  “Run. Mae. Kassity. Run,” Josh choked out.

  Kassity stumbled to her feet and shifted in an instant, darting for the door. Mae hesitated for a moment, looking at Josh and then to Lucius.

  Lucius cursed. Someone needed to rein Kassity in. She wouldn’t get far with how hurt she and her panther were. He threw Josh away from him. “I’ll deal with you later.”

  He disappeared, going after Kassity. He found the panther not a mile away from Mae’s house. Laying on her side in human form and bleeding. He growled as he noticed a dart sticking out of her shoulder. He pulled the dart out and pocketed it. “Come on, panther.” He picked her up and Kassity groaned, her eyes hooded.

  “Can’t. Need to run.” She gave a weak attempt to get out of his arms. “They’re here.”

  He held to her tight and went back to the room he had prepared for her. He laid Kassity on the floor and grabbed his phone, dialing Orion.

  “Tegan’s fine.”

  “I need her here to help me with the panther. Now.” He hung up and didn’t explain. Orion could transport Tegan to the mansion. He looked Kassity over.

  Her eyes closed, and her heart slowed. “Stay with me,” he muttered, and a moment later Tegan appeared.

  “What the hell?”

  Lucius held his hands up, and Tegan and Orion shoved him away to take care of the panther. He had to trust that they would take care of her. “I need to go back to where I found her.”

  Tegan simply nodded as she focused on stitching Kassity up. He would have preferred to call the pack doctor, but the wolf wouldn’t have been able to get there soon enough.

  Lucius took himself back to Mae’s house and found Josh at her throat. Rage took over, and he grabbed Josh. “You do not touch her.”

  Josh had a sick look on his face as blood dripped down his mouth. “I’ve taken too much. She won’t be able to tell you what happened. She’s dying.”

  Lucius shook his head and shoved Josh against the wall. With his other hand, he shoved through the vampire’s chest and tore his heart out, crushing it.

  He threw Josh’s body away and turned to find Mae on the floor in a motionless heap. His stomach fell and panic filled him. He couldn’t let her die. He kneeled by her and scored his wrist. He put it up to her mouth. “Drink. Please,” he whispered.

  After a few moments, she wrapped her hands around his wrist and swallowed. Her grip tightened as the blood continued to flow down her throat.

  She moaned and his body tightened at the noise, making him very aware of his desire to take her the moment she changed. They were mates and there was no denying it now that he was dragging her into his world.

  Her swallowing slowed down, and her moan turned from one of pleasure to one of pain. She would start dying in truth now, only to rise later as a vampire. He needed to prepare for that moment.

  Izzy was slowly making her way out of her dorm room the next morning. She shouldn’t have stayed up so late, but there was something eating at her that wouldn’t let her sleep. She never did put a finger on it, but she felt like a truck had run over her a few times. Susie had texted her constantly that she needed to get up and get ready without an explanation.

  She was unprepared for the excited yelling of Susie coming down the hall. “Izzzzzyyyyy!”

  Izzy almost fell into a fighting stance when Susie came to a halt. “Too early.”

  “I think I found a pattern.” She grabbed Izzy’s arm. “Come on, let’s go.” She dragged Izzy down the hall and to the elevator.

  “You’ve been at it for one night and you think you’ve found a pattern already?” Izzy rubbed her eyes, trying to clear the sleep out of them. “Susie, I’ve had a long night, can we please stop by the cafeteria and get some coffee?”

  Susie let out a huff. “Yes, but let’s make it quick. I have a feeling that this is going to escalate things.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not ready for things to escalate. Hell, I’m not even prepared to follow a lead.”

  Susie nodded. “My hope is since it’s so early, Isaac will move someone else to it.”

  Izzy snorted. “I doubt that.”

  “They want to catch whoever or whatever is killing Elites, so it would make sense for him to want this taken care of.”

  Izzy nodded, and they walked to the cafeteria. This early in the morning there were very few students making their way across campus, so Izzy and Susie didn’t have to wait long to grab their coffee. “I already texted Crystal and Sam. She said that they’d be here in a bit. They live about two hours away from the campus.”

  “Then why am I up so early?” Izzy groaned as Susie dragged her across the campus.

  “To meet with Isaac first. Then once he tells us where we need to go from here, we can talk to Crystal and Sam to make a plan.”

  Izzy wrinkled her nose. “What about classes?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll have to work around ours when Sam and Crystal get here.”

  While they walked across campus, Izzy couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. She glanced around as Susie continued to move quickly to Isaac’s office building.

  When they got there, they found Joey standing outside the door. Izzy frowned. “What are you doing here?”

  “Heard from a little bird that you two were meeting Isaac here. I wanted to see what information you found.”

  Izzy raised a brow. Typically, a ‘little bird’ meant that Joey had heard something in someone’s mind. “Susie found a pattern to the deaths, so we’re talking to Isaac about it.”

  Joey nodded. “Susie, head upstairs. I need to talk to Izzy for a moment. It’s regarding her eventual Master test.”

  Susie glanced at Izzy. “I’ll see you upstairs.”

  “Yeah, tell Isaac I’ll be there in a moment.”

  Susie walked in and Joey waited until the door shut to speak. “Professor Belle knows that you guys are meeting this morning.”

  “Professor Belle is involved in the assignment. He was the one that brought Susie in.” Izzy crossed her arms. “So that’s not surprising. That also has nothing to do with my master test.”

  Joey hesitated for a moment. “A source told me that Markus is a Circle member.”

  Izzy’s world spun at that.

  “What? The Circle is supposed to police and keep order to the vampires, not attack humans and ruin their lives.” She tried to think back to anything the night of her parents’ death that might have hinted at Markus being a Circle member. But instead, her mind flashed to the drawing she’d done during Isaac’s class. Somehow, she’d already known that Markus was a Circle member. “That means I can’t kill him.”

  Joey nodded. “Unless there’s a reason to and the other Circle members agree.”

  But she doubted they would turn one of their own in. “They’re all evil, Joey, every single bloodsucker,” she snapped. Anger filled her. There was no way vampires could be innocent with a corrupt leadership like the Circle.

  Joey sighed. “They aren’t all purely evil, but I understand what you’re thinking. Now, go to your meeting with Isaac. I’ll see you in hand-to-hand combat.”

  Izzy wrinkled her nose. She was tired of getting her ass handed to her. “What’s the point of hand-to-hand if we know we can’t take on creatures in close combat?”

  “Not everyone enemy you’re going to run into will be supernatural.” Joey shook his head. “And sometimes hand-to-hand is all we have. Now go.”

  Izzy pulled open the door and walked inside the building. She jogged up the stairs to Isaac’s office to find Susie and Isaac already looking over the information.

  “Susie, this is an amazing job for just one night.” Isaac smiled as he read over the information. “What’s your conclusion?”

  “That we send a team down to Florida to talk to anyone who might have connections down there. I stumbled across a website that talked about some big party, but I wasn’t able to confirm that it was a reputable source.”

  Isaac nodded a little. “Gather Crystal and Sam, we’ll send a team down to Florida over Thanksgiving break.”

  Izzy frowned. “Who’s going to be on the team?”

  “You, Crystal, and Sam,” Isaac stated easily.

  Susie looked at me, and I shrugged.

  “You’ll be fine with Crystal. She’s a strong leader.” Isaac stacked up the papers. “Susie has done a great job tracking everything. Now we just need contacts out there and then we can send a team.”

  Izzy thought of one person who might be out there, but she wasn’t sure if reaching out to Ayden would be right in this situation. He could warn the vampires they were coming, and that’s not something they wanted.

  Izzy walked into her hand-to-hand combat class and sighed. She’d been thinking about the mission all morning and hadn’t seen Susie since. She assumed Susie was working hard on finding the contacts so she could prove she was better on the research side of things.

  Then the idea of going into Florida sent warning signals to her brain. They had shut down the Hunter Academy in Florida. Certainly, there were still Master Hunters down there that could have handled the investigation part. She dropped her bag and looked up to see everyone already stretching.

  She started her own warm-up stretches and was almost done when Joey walked into the room.

  “Pair up, work on the break falls and flips.”

  His voice was tight, and he met Izzy's gaze. She nodded and paired up with one of the other female students.

  They started flipping each other to the mats and breaking their falls. Recovering with a flip and jumping back into the form. Izzy grunted as she hit the floor again.

  “Your fall is going to knock the breath out of you each time, unless you figure out how to break the fall.” Joey stepped up and held out a hand to help her up.

  “I know, my timing’s off.”

  “You don’t usually have problems with breaking the fall. Your flip is looking sloppy as well.” Joey narrowed his gaze. “Why are you distracted?”

  Izzy glanced around. “Not here.”

  Joey nodded. “After class then.” He jerked his head back to Izzy’s partner. “Get back at it and get out of your head. That’ll get you killed on the field.”

  And she didn’t want that. “What happens if you get into a situation where you know you can’t win?”

  “With an enemy, you do what you can to keep them from getting information from you. If you can, you don’t allow them the satisfaction of killing you.”

  Izzy frowned. “So you kill yourself?”

  “If it comes to that.” Something dark crossed Joey’s face before he shook his head. “Get back to work.”

  She turned back to her partner, trying to focus on each movement instead of Joey’s words. He was right, she would get killed in the field if she gave into her distractions and she needed to make sure that wouldn’t happen.

  Spar after spar, movement after movement, she finally felt like she was getting the hang of the forms, but then the bell rang, and she sighed. She shook her partner’s hand and then went to grab her bag. A quick shower in the locker room and then she could head to the dorms to do some homework. The paper on why she joined the Hunters Academy was still sitting half-finished and was due tomorrow.

  Joey caught up to her before she entered the locker room. “A moment to talk?”

  “Yeah.” She went back to the bleachers and dropped her bag. “Isaac wants to send Crystal, Sam, and I to Florida to check out something. I’m not sure if I’m ready to take an out-of-state mission with two people I’ve never worked with before.”

  Joey frowned. “And Susie?”

  “She’s doing the research. She stuck up for herself and admitted that she didn’t want to be on the field.” Izzy smiled. “Which is good, because she’s been talking about how she thought she was better suited as a teacher.”

  “I agree that she’s a better fit for that. I don’t like Isaac sending any of our Hunters down there. Especially ones in the Academy still.”

  Izzy nodded. “Shouldn’t that be the job of a Master Hunter?”

  “Actually,” Professor Belle walked in and sat with us. “I just finished talking to Isaac about it. Your team is going in to just gather information, not to engage. If the party is what we think it is, then you wouldn’t survive more than a moment there. The politics alone would kill you, because none of you have had to interact in a vampire-driven situation.”

  Izzy tried not to argue. It was true, but the way Professor Belle said it sounded condescending.

  “It would still be wise to have a Master go with them.” Joey stood up. “I’m surprised no one brought this up to the Elders yet.”

  Professor Belle stayed seated. “We don’t have any Masters to spare, Joey. That’s why we are sending them. The Masters are busy dealing with the murders.”

  Izzy stood. “Anyway, I’m off to take a shower. I have a paper due tomorrow.”

  Professor Belle gave a wicked smile. “That’s right, the essay on why you joined the Academy. I look forward to reading it Izzy.” And with that, he walked out of the gym.

  Izzy glanced at Joey, who remained silent. “What’s up?”

  “I can’t read him.”

  Strange. “Maybe he has mental shields he’s learned to use?”

  Joey shook his head. “Someone else is blocking his mind. The only time I’ve encountered that was with a bonded human.”

  A shiver went down Izzy’s back.

  “Go grab your shower. I have something I need to look into.” Joey walked out of the gym as well. Izzy grabbed her bag and went to the locker room. A hot shower was what she needed to ease the tension now creeping up the base of her neck.

  Ayden glanced at his phone as it rang. He’d answered it with the car’s hand-free system. “What do you want Joey?”

  “I want to know how you convinced Isaac and Steward Belle to send Isadora and her new team to Florida.” His voice was a growl.

  Ayden sat silent for a moment. “I left right after I talked to you, and I don’t have contacts for those two. In fact, Isaac hates me as much as he hates Izzy, so I avoided him at all costs.” He focused on the road. Luckily for him he was taking a back way to avoid traffic so there wasn’t much going on. “I’m halfway to Florida already. I drove through the night.”

  “Then how else would Isaac know to send her there? What information have you fed to other Hunters?”

  “Nothing, Joey,” Ayden snapped. “Honestly, you were the only one that I gave information to and then I got the hell out of Dodge. Maybe Isaac was just able to make the connections himself.”

  He heard another noise of frustration. “They are talking about sending Isadora and two others down there to some party.”

  Ayden’s stomach sank. “Some party?”

  “Apparently just to observe, but you and I both know that when vampires throw a party, they don’t like visitors.” Joey’s voice lowered. “Look, if she goes there, you need to convince her to come home. Do you understand?”

  Ayden snorted. “So we’ve gone from ‘stay away from her’ to ‘send her home.’ You can’t have it both ways.” Of course, he didn’t really want Izzy in Florida near this mess either. “Your Academy should keep her safe and away from this.”

  “The Academy and the Society are desperate and trying to put a stop to this sudden killing of our Elites.” Joey took a deep breath. “Look, Ayden, just promise me you’ll convince her to come home?”

  “If she comes, I’ll see what I can do, but she hasn’t reached out to me, so she’s going to be suspicious if I suddenly pop in.”

  Joey huffed. “I’m hoping you can smooth it out, but only if she gets out there. I don’t trust you, but I know you don’t want to hurt her.”

  “I don’t want her hurt, you’re correct.” Ayden pressed his lips together. “There’s a Hunter in Florida, near where this party is going to be. Her name is Harper. I’ll send you her number. Slip it to Susie as a contact and you’ll have one more ally out here for your team. The other two coming, what rank are they?”

  “They are an Elite and Skilled pair. With Izzy joining, they should be a team to be reckoned with.”

  “But?” Ayden asked.

  “I don’t trust Professor Belle or Isaac. Isaac put Izzy and Susie into a dangerous situation last year, and Professor Belle seems to have jumped on the train. I worry about Izzy getting split up.”

  “And Isaac blaming it on some freak accident. Do you really think he hates her that much?”

  “I do. He has a history with her father, but I’m trying to figure out where Professor Belle fits into this. And the deaths of the Elites.”

  Ayden had a feeling that Isaac had a lot to do with it. He just couldn’t prove it yet. “Have you considered moving her to another Academy?”

  “No, she wouldn’t go. This is close to her home and where she’s building relationships.”

  Ayden wasn’t sure if believed that. “Right. Okay, let me know when she heads to Florida and I’ll see what I can do. Next rest stop, I’ll text you Harper’s information.”

  “Thank you.” The line went dead.

  Ayden gripped the steering wheel tighter than he needed. What the hell was going on at that Academy? All the deaths around the country, sending people on the field when they weren’t ready, the Masters being weird and keeping secrets from each other.

  He couldn’t allow himself to get distracted by it. He’d done what he came to the States to do. Find the Keeper family and realize that they aren’t Keepers anymore. Then came back to help Harper. After the party, he would go back to Nuala and settle in until she woke. Then when the others woke, they would take down the Circle and put the proper rulers in place. The Originals.

 

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