Page 35 of The Vampire and the Tattooist (The Vampire and Series Book 4)

Everyone was back at the wolf pack and Jake and the lemmings were currently being held in the wolf cells. Gabe added protection around them so no one could use magic.

Spencer had seen Jake carried through the portal, shouting his head off and struggling to get down. He let out a cry of terror and ran to hide behind Stefan, grabbing the back of his shirt and pushing himself against Stefan’s back, hiding.

Stefan put his arm around the frightened boy and made sure he was hidden from Jake until Owen followed Ian to the cells. As soon as Jake was gone, Stefan turned round and hugged Spencer. “On my word as King of the Vampires, I will keep you safe,” Stefan assured him.

Bert was standing beside Stefan and touched Spencer’s shoulder. “I promise my protection, as well.”

Spencer pulled back and looked at them, his eyes full of tears. He sniffed. “You both promise? He was the one who took me. I tried to fight him off, but he used magic on me and beat me up.” He pulled his top up and showed them his bruises.

Bert growled. “I will revisit every bruise he gave you on him. I shall make him sorry he ever got involved with any of this.”

“And when the Alpha King has finished, I will drain every drop of blood from his miserable body,” Stefan added.

Spencer screwed his nose up. “Bet his blood is nasty. I can save you a cake so you can eat it afterwards.”

Stefan laughed. “Thank you, but you eat your cake. Annie will always make more.”

Bert looked at Spencer. “You okay now? If you want, we can go and annoy my brother.”

Spencer moved out of Stefan’s arms and wiped his face. “I’m okay now. What did you have in mind for your brother?”

* * *

Hunter was standingoff to one side with Gavin in his arms, watching what was going on. Taha was standing next to him, replying to a message from Luke.

“Luke and Shell all right?” Hunter asked him.

Taha nodded and smiled. “Wishing they were here. They’ve also cleaned as much of your room as they could and contacted your customers for the next few days and rearranged your appointments.”

“That should give me time to sort everything out. It should be easy enough to fix, just rip out the damaged units, replace them and get a new sink,” Hunter replied.

“And paint and pretty sure you’ll need to buy new inks, needles, etc. as your store cupboard was killed, as well,” Taha told him.

Hunter groaned.

Gavin pulled away and turned, signing at Hunter.

Hunter nodded. “You’re right, it could have been much worse. Plus, I have insurance.”

“You could always ask your dad for help,” Taha told him.

“No, he’s busy. This’s why we have insurance.”

“How will you explain what happened on an insurance form? Pretty sure witch spells aren’t covered,” Dave said, having been filled in earlier.

“Yeah, that could be tough. I’ll figure something out,” Hunter assured him.

“We always have money put away for emergencies. If needed, we can just use some of that,” Taha said.

Gavin started signing.

“I didn’t get all that, but did you offer to help with all the heavy lifting?” Hunter asked.

Gavin nodded.

“I will definitely take you up on that,” Hunter said, grinning at him.

“I’m sure I can get Owen to help, as well,” Taha said.

“Sorry, Taha, I should have congratulated you and Owen,” Dave said to him, Gavin having told them all earlier that Owen and Taha were mates.

“That’s okay, everyone is distracted, as they should be,” Taha replied.

Gavin started signing at Taha.

Taha shook his head. “Sorry, Gavin, I’ve only just started learning.”

“He said, ‘Has Owen told you about his impressive shoe collection?’” Dave translated.

“No, he’s not said anything about it,” Taha replied.

“Just to let you know, he has his shoes handmade, and they’re usually around ten thousand pounds,” Dave told him.

“Seriously?” Taha said in surprise. “People actually spend that much money on shoes?”

“Yep, I only found that out when Bruno chewed and then tried to bury one of his shoes. I don’t think Owen knows about that yet,” Dave admitted.

“I’m not telling him,” Taha said.

“Me, either,” Hunter added.

Gavin signed, “No.”

“Have you two met Sean and Kayden yet? They’re witches from Gabe’s coven. It’s their tenth wedding anniversary today, so we’re having a party later,” Dave told them.

“Did we hear our names?” Kayden said, walking over with Sean.

“You did. I was telling Hunter and Taha it’s your wedding anniversary today,” Dave told them.

“It is. But we honestly don’t mind not celebrating it today,” Kayden said.

Dave snorted. “I’ll let you tell my mother, Louise, and Lissa that.”

“Yeah, maybe not,” Sean said. “Has Gavin told you we’re designing a computer game together? Vampires vs. Witches.”

Hunter shook his head. “No, but I can’t wait to play it.”

Gavin smiled at him and leant back against Hunter, wrapping Hunter’s arms around him.

Hunter dropped a kiss on Gavin’s head.

“Do you know what’s going to happen in the game?” Taha asked.

Gavin mimicked zipping and locking his mouth closed.

“You’ll never get Gav to tell. I can guarantee until the game is written, the only people who will know what happens in it will be Sean, Kayden, and Hunter,” Mathis said, walking over to them.

“Should you not be interrogating the lemmings?” Dave asked.

“David is going to fill us in on everything he learnt from the lemmings, then we’ll question Jake Conway.” He looked at Sean and Kayden. “Do you mind if we talk to them before your party?”

They both shook their heads. “Nope, we need answers and it’s best not to wait,” Sean said.

“We’ll go and bring them up then,” Mathis replied.

“Maybe ask Mum to keep Spencer and Jack with her,” Dave suggested.

Mathis nodded. “Will do.” And with that, he walked off back into the pack house.

Dave looked at Taha and Hunter. “You might not like what you’re about to see and hear. Do you want me to get Gabe to send you both back to the coven house?”

Hunter shook his head. “No, I might not like what I see, but these are members of Gavin’s family. I’ll stay and watch.”

“So will I. I know Owen is a vampire, so I should see what they can do,” Taha said.

Gavin smiled at Hunter, leaned up and kissed his cheek.

As they were talking, Bertrum walked over to them.

“How are you doing? Especially with scenting your mate earlier,” Kayden asked him.

Bert gave a small smile. “Impatient to meet him, but it can wait until we question the witches. Apparently, this Jake Conway paled at the mention of my name.”

“I can’t imagine why, puppy,” Troy said, sauntering over to them.

Bert sighed. “How no one has killed you yet is a mystery.”

Troy laughed. “Not really. Dave won’t let David kill or maim me.”

Dave looked at Troy and grinned. “Did you know I’m not allowed to get a puppy because I have Bruno and you?”

“I am not your pet,” Troy ground out.

“Aren’t you, though?” David said, walking over to join them with Kevin at his side.

“Pets don’t usually fell people, and I felled you,” Troy pointed out, grinning.

“I felled you, as well. Remember? With a not-so-little scratch,” David shot back with a scowl.

“You’re so cute when you scowl like that, old bean,” Troy taunted.

David went to step forward when Cairo pulled Troy out of the way, shaking his head at his mate.

“You love living dangerously, don’t you?”

Troy laughed. “I love you more.”

“Aww, now who’s being all cute?” Bert said with a laugh.

“Hey, bossman,” Seth called out. “The gangs all here.”