Page 24

brAYDEN

B rayden had just sat back down at his desk when the door flung open. Vincent walked in, looking like he was about to erupt. His face red and shoulders bunched.

“What’s wrong?” He stood back up abruptly.

Willow?

Yes.

He somewhat relaxed hearing her voice in his head.

Are you and Isabella alright?

Yes, why?

Thank God, but now he had to explain.

Nothing.

Bullshit. What’s happened?

Trust him to mate with a bright and demanding female. He had promised not to keep things from her after she was kidnapped. Anxiety had plagued her, and this was part of how she managed it.

He’d failed to protect her once before, and Brayden still hadn’t forgiven himself.

He doubted he ever would.

So, while it wasn’t normal operating procedure to share military information with a mate, even the princess, these were unprecedented times.

I don’t know. Give me a few minutes.

Bray!

Two minutes, Willow.

“Stop telepathing the princess.” The king slammed the door behind him and Brayden went on full alert, his blood pumping double speed in his veins.

Ari teleported into his office.

What the fuck was going on?

That he didn’t know about...

“Nikolay is in Moscow,” the king announced, sliding his angry gaze from Brayden to Ari.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” the ancient vampire responded.

Oh.

Brayden sat back down.

“I heard. The tech team just messaged to say they had picked him up on facial recognition at a private airfield. I’ve advised Kurt.” Brayden leaned back in his chair, waiting for the two vampires to chill the fuck out.

They didn’t.

The king wore a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up, his Moretti tattoos on display. It was tucked loosely into his suit pants, and his hair was tousled.

Ari was in a pair of black Moretti sweats and Nike T-shirt. He looked like he’d finished a workout. Or been interrupted.

Both stared, waiting for him to catch up.

This was good news. They knew where he...wait...his brain cells rearranged themselves and the dots began to join.

Jesus fucking Christ.

“Fuck. He’s making a deal with the Kremlin!”

“ Has done.” Vincent turned and punched his fist through the walls.

Woah.

The king didn’t anger easily—the females putting up Christmas decorations aside—so Brayden knew there was more.

“Who called you?” Ari ran a hand through his hair.

“POTUS. James Calder.” Vincent shook the plaster off his fist and cursed. “Volkov has already gone live on Russian TV saying they’ll be producing a serum to immobilize vampires. And begin distribution in three days.”

He bolted out of his chair.

Fuck.

This was bad.

Really fucking bad.

“There’s no goddamn way they can have production up and running so quickly.” Brayden growled.

“It doesn’t matter. This is modern day warfare.” Ari shook his head. “He can just delay the launch—”

“Forget the fucking manufacturing,” Vincent yelled, flinging out a hand. “All the superpowers are arming up.”

No.

Fuck.

No fucking way.

The blood drained from Brayden’s face, and he felt physically ill. Now he understood why his brother looked terrified for the first time in his life.

One glance at Ari, and he did too.

“They’re preparing for a nuclear war. The world leaders can’t let Volkov have that much power, and for Russia to control the Western World.”

Brayden dropped his hands on the desk and let out a stream of curses while Vincent shared more details about the call and how grateful he was that POTUS had rung.

“Fuck, our ancestors could never have imagined this.”

“We didn’t,” Ari deadpanned.

Oh, right.

One of them was standing right here.

“Well, if it wasn’t for Nikolay, this eventuality would never have occurred. Jesus. I swore I’d fucking protect this race—”

“That’s my fucking job. This isn’t on either of you.” Vincent interrupted Brayden.

“What the fuck do we do?” He glanced at his uncle and brother, feeling helpless for the first time in his life. Nuclear war—that was a whole other level of war that they couldn’t participate in or defend themselves against.

“There is nothing, Brayden.” Ari slowly shook his head, looking at defeated as he felt. “How much time do we have?”

Vincent drew in a deep breath and sighed loudly. “A day, maybe hours. This is a moving beast.”

There was only one thing to do.

Get out of the firing line. Which meant leaving the United States.

“We need to evacuate everyone.” Brayden announced. “Not just you and Kate. Everyone. Now.”

Without waiting for an answer, he picked up his phone and called Kurt.

“Boss.” The SLC answered on the second ring.

“You need to get out of there. Now!”