“I told you, pay attention to me.” Cass shook the man again. “What did the vamps pay you to do?”
“Will you give me the juice?”
Cass nodded, his upper lip curled.
“Okay, for the juice.” The rogue looked around, but his friends were still unconscious. “We have to keep the alpha away from the bloodsucker’s coven.”
“Why?”
The man raised a shaky finger to his lips. “Shush. Big secret. The stupid wolf was seen by the head of the coven. Fang boy think’s the alpha is his beloved.” The shifter chuckled madly. “They locked him up. The coven master’s locked in the basement until we get rid of the alpha. But no killing. Just get rid of him. Can’t kill the alpha or the coven master might die. They kept saying hurry, hurry.” The man cackled again. “Why should we hurry this sweet gig? We’ve never had it so good. Now gimme that booze.”
“I’ll give you a piece of advice instead. Never trust a demon.” Cass punched the guy in the jaw and dropped him in with the heap of his friends.
“So, that’s why Paulie wanted you two to get the alpha and the head of the coven together.” Ra clicked the bottle and it’s booze out of existence and started pacing. “Paulie can see connections. He must have known somehow the alpha and the coven leader were fated mates.”
“And in the meantime, someone at the coven doesn’t want the alpha wolf to know about his mate, so they’ve locked him up in the coven basement until they can get rid of the wolf.” Wes shook his head. “No wonder the guys we saw at the coven stone-walled us, and the leader of the coven wasn’t taking our calls. He can’t. That vampire we spoke to said his leader was tied up. Sounds like he meant that literally.”
“And as that asshole wasn’t lying when he said it, we didn’t pick up anything was wrong.” Cass cursed. “How the hell are we going to break into a coven…?”
All three men looked towards the other end of the alley as a loud shout was heard.
“I think that’s our alpha,” Wes said breaking into a run. “He’s in trouble.”
“It just never stops down here, does it,” Ra said as he followed the wolf and the demon into the darker side of the alley. At least, it was supposed to be darker – huge concrete walls on either side blocked out any light from the streetlamps. But Ra could make out the scene clearly – a gorgeous man with dark hair shot with gold highlights, fighting for his life against three brutes dressed in black. But why Ra could see the scene so clearly was because the man with the amazing hair was lit up, as though he carried his own personal streetlight… which could only mean one thing to Ra.
Oh, Fates, no. How could I be given a mate when he already has a beloved? Without thinking, Ra shoved out his power, freezing the fight scene as he slowed to walking pace. Is it possible the coven master is my mate too?
Chapter Four
Arvyn looked around in astonishment, unsure what had just happened. One minute he was in the fight for his life against three shifters who set on him from out of nowhere, the next, the men were frozen like statues, and three other men were coming from the other end of the alley. Well, two were running and a smaller one was hanging back, walking slowly. And ‘men’ was a relative term as well because one of the runners was in demon form, and the musk of wolf came from the second running man. If it wasn’t for the fact, he recognized the wolf as one of the men who’d questioned him a few days before, Arvyn would have sent thanks to the Fates for his good fortune and done a runner.
“Oops.” The one Arvyn remembered was named Wesley slid to a stop, clearly as shocked about the killer statues as Arvyn was. “My Lord,” he called over his shoulder. “Is there something you need to tell us?”
“Nothing relevant to your case. Just making this whole situation easier. Carry on.” The one known as ‘Lord’ stayed back, his face half hidden by the shadows.
Arvyn dismissed him and focused on Wesley. “Why didn’t you tell me my mate was at the coven?”
“Ah.” The demon, Cass, looked around and then reverted to his human form, which wasn’t much smaller than his demon size. “You overheard us talking just before?”
Flicking the hair back from his face, Arvyn raised his chin. “I heard sounds of fighting. I scented wolf. I came to see what I could do to help, but when I saw you weren’t hurting the wolves, I hung back. Those guys have been half-heartedly trailing me for days, and I couldn’t work out why. Now I know. I appreciate your help here, but I have to go. Apparently, I have a mate to save.”
“This mob are out of towners.” Wesley was rummaging through the pockets of the statues. Flipping open a wallet, he glanced through the contents. “Family name of Dearne. Three brothers by the looks of things. I’ll make some calls to Cloverleah and see what I can find out about these guys. I’m guessing the coven hired them to take you out too.”
“Yeah, well so much for the no kill rule. They were trying to kill me, despite what the drunk wolf said.” Arvyn wasn’t going to let on how close to death he came. His ribs hurt with every inhale and just standing upright was a mission. A quick shift would heal him but doing that even on the edge of town was asking for trouble, even if there was no one around. “I need to get into that coven basement and see if the other part of that drunken confession is true. So, thanks for your help, but… you know, possible mate to save.” Arvyn started backing away, but Cass shook his head.
“How are you going to get into the coven, bright spark? Just go up to the front door and knock? Pizza delivery perhaps? Do you even know where the coven is? Let go of your pride for a minute, alpha, and accept you need some help here. We do have contacts. With a bit of higher power intervention, there might be a way…”
“You mean someone like your mysterious ‘Lord’?” Arvyn pointed to the shadows that were now empty. “He’s left you in the shit, whoever he is. And I can’t ask you for help. I don’t know you. For all I know you want to kill me too, although I admit you haven’t done it so far.”
“Why do people always look at me and immediately think they’re going to die?” Cass rubbed his chin. “We were sent to help you. You came to the notice of someone far bigger and more powerful than you or me, blah blah… Oh, shit, look. Wes is the one who usually gives this spiel. I’m more useful for getting people to shit their pants and I can throw a mean punch. Can you wait five minutes until my mate gets off the phone? We do have friends. Powerful friends who could make all this a lot easier if you just give us five minutes.”
Considering Arvyn was having trouble staying upright it wasn’t an unreasonable request. “Wolf and a demon, true mate, huh? How did that happen?” He shuffled closer to the concrete wall, leaning his shoulder on it, hoping his casual pose covered his injuries.
“A totally romantic, but very long story.” Cass mimicked his pose. Wes was still on the phone and the three frozen men hadn’t even blinked. “Short answer is I saved Wesley from the Underworld and now we roam the country, or the world really, helping out shifters in trouble. Like you. Do you want to tell me now, how you ended up in this place and felt like you couldn’t leave?”