Xavier’s thoughts went immediately to the worst possibility, which was that Layla was currently being held by Sakal.
“Did you at least attempt a rescue?”
Hudson’s back straightened, his face going tight with anger. “We waited at the insertion point, though she’d ordered us not to. The estate was swarming with human fighters and dogs, which leads me to believe they’re both still running free, probably together. If we’d gone in after them, we wouldn’t have found them, and we would now be dead or taken. We came back here to deliver the intel we’d acquired, and to arm up for war. Now that’s done, we’re going back to get them.”
Xavier was every bit as furious as Hudson seemed to fear. But that fury wasn’t about to burst forth in a rage of violence against this human, who like it or not, had done the smart thing, the right thing even in reporting back. He needed the intel they’d brought, especially the destruction of the suspicious sites. He also, like Hudson, believed in Layla’s skill and intellect, and thought it likely that she and the other woman had evaded capture.
His rage remained unabated, but was banked carefully inside him, saved for those truly responsible for this conflict, and for any harm that might befall his mate. It was possible Sakal didn’t yet understand Layla’s importance to him. But they were about to find out.
He let the cold violence of his nature fill his gaze as he studied the human once more. “You will return to where”—he forced himself to speak evenly, when all he wanted to do was howl—“where Layla was last seen. You will find her location covertly but make no attempt at rescue. Sakal will kill her if he knows she’s important to me.”
“We don’t leave anyone behind. Ever. I’m not going to stand around and watch while they—”
“She is not being left!” he roared.
The door flew open behind them to reveal Chuy, fangs bared and ready to do battle in response to Xavier’s outburst.
“We’re fine,” Xavier said with constrained calm. “I’m fine. Thank you, Chuy.” He waited until his lieutenant had closed the door again, then continued. “I will see to Layla’s safety. If, by chance, she has been taken, she will be under a vampire guard by now. If you went in, you would most likely be killed, and Layla along with you. So you will observe and report directly to me. I know you care for her, but know this . . . She is mine in a way you cannot understand. I will reduce Sakal’s estate to rubble and kill anyone who gets in my way in order to find her, to keep her alive.” He gave a slow blink and when he stared at Hudson again, he let the human see the monster in front of him. “Do you believe me, Brian Hudson?”
To his credit, Hudson didn’t shrink back from the display of power, from the uncontrolled rage in front of him. His shoulders stiffened and his head came up to meet Xavier’s gaze directly. “I do, Lord Xavier. But remember this, I love her, too. We all do. Not in the same way, but she is our sister and our friend. Whatever assistance we can render, we will. I’m going to brief my man, and we’ll meet you on the battlefield.” He punctuated that declaration with a sharp nod, then turned on his heels and marched out of the office.
Alone, Xavier closed his eyes and followed the pull of his blood, trying to find Layla. She was alive, he knew that much. But while he detected her determination and an accelerated metabolic response to danger, he sensed no fear. He touched her through their nascent blood link, wishing he could communicate more directly. But the link wasn’t strong enough yet. Not at this distance. But once he arrived in France, once he’d taken Sakal and destroyed his fucking estate stone by stone, he’d find her easily enough. And then he’d let her watch while he showed the sorcerer what happened to those who thought to take him on.
He wasted no time after that. He and his vampires loaded into the Sikorsky helicopter he’d bought from a corrupt Russian general, who’d probably stolen it from his own government. Xavier didn’t care where it came from, or what might have happened to the general who’d betrayed his own people. The helicopter was his now, and it was useful.
He was silent for most of the short flight, speaking only to confirm his attack plans with Chuy. It would be a brute force, frontal assault . . . with him providing the brute force. He’d left any idea of a slow, deliberate strategy on the floor of his office when he’d learned of Layla’s disappearance. And nothing anyone said would dissuade him.
The Sikorsky didn’t allow for a discreet landing, as Layla’s team had earlier. It set down directly in front of Sakal’s estate with its closed and presumably magically reinforced gate. His vampires piled out immediately. They had their orders and would soon be swarming over a wall that might as well have been half its height for all the good it did. Humans might have been deterred, but his vampires were only amused.
As for Xavier himself, he strode to the heavy front gate, with its curlicued designs and elegant wooden crossbars, then lifted his hands, and with a single, concentrated blast of power, blew the damn thing apart.
The sound was enormous—a huge concussive blast of noise that knocked over the estate’s defenders and reduced the magnificent gate to rubble. As more of his vampires charged in his wake, Xavier remained outwardly calm and utterly collected. Human fighters lay everywhere, knocked unconscious by the explosion, while all around his vampires fought bloody hand-to-hand battles against the vamps whom Sakal had somehow persuaded to serve him. Most likely for money and for the simple love of battle. Vampires loved violence, loved the spray of blood from their enemy. It was a truth they tried to hide from the human population, but when it came out, as it did now, it was deliciously brutal and ultimately deadly.
With teeth bared and fangs on full display, Xavier gathered a far greater kind of power and bellowed his enemy’s name. “Sakal!” The sound traveled into every building and room on the estate, sliding through windows and under beds, to every ear with the ability to hear. Xavier was confident the sorcerer would appear, although knowing the vampire lord’s immunity to magic, would no doubt attempt to keep his distance, while still responding to the challenge. Xavier could deal with that. His power was more vast than Sakal could know, greater even than his Sire’s had been.
It took time, but he was a patient man. Well, not truly, but his own vampire warriors were slowly destroying Sakal’s army, clearing a path forward. The sorcerer could either present himself or Xavier would go hunting.
The human soldiers among Sakal’s defenders had already dropped their weapons and stepped to the sides, where they knelt or sat in surrender, and the remaining vampires were few and not long for this life, when there was a stir beyond the immediate zone of battle.
“The coward comes at last,” he thought and wondered if the sorcerer thought he could beg for his life. If he would even try.