Page 25

MACK

Three hours earlier

T he pull to get home and be with Ella, to bond with her and make that beautiful female his in every single way possible, was incredibly powerful.

Almost as powerful as the need to destroy the Russian mob boss who was the greatest risk to their race.

Including Ella.

He had, as promised, played that sexy recording a dozen times. Mack never expected her to do it. He knew the little sex kitten would find the toy and enjoy it, but recording her moans and orgasm?

Nope.

Never in a million years.

To send it to him while he was stationed offshore, well, that was the greatest gift right now. But despite how hard it had made him—and the subsequent jerking off he’d had urgently done—it was seeing Ella lying in his bed that had really impacted him.

Mine.

She was his.

Regret overwhelmed him as he waited hour after hour for the Russian to return. His mind going into overdrive about every worst-case scenario. If he never got to be with her, if the race was destroyed, God he would hate his father for his terrible advice.

Even if it was well-meaning.

He loved his father and took full responsibility for his decisions, but the need to talk to him about it was so strong that Mack had messaged him.

You were wrong. I should have bonded with Ella years ago.

...

Hindsight can be misleading. You have your whole long life ahead of you now. At least you had freedom.

Mack shook his head.

How could he say that considering the current world events? He couldn’t tell his father they might be running out of time. That there was a serum which could see them all enslaved or killed.

That was top secret.

He also didn’t want to scare his family.

Mack wanted some answers. He needed to understand why his father would feel like this about bonding. Why he’d tell one of his sons not to bond? It made no sense now he was experiencing how powerful and beautiful the connection was.

Bonding wasn’t a choice, it was nature.

His father loved their mother. That was clear. He figured there was a reason and needed to know.

Mack pushed away from the wall. “Back in a minute.”

“Yup,” Kurt said, glancing at him briefly.

He walked out of the room they’d taken possession of and out into the hallway. Then rang his father.

“Son,” Matthew Mazzini said. “Everything okay?”

“I need to know, Dad.”

“What?”

“A few days ago, I got a taste of the bond with Ella. I’m furious with myself for listening to you all these years.” He admitted roughly. “She’s everything. She’s a part of me. So why? Tell me how you could spend a second of your life regretting what you have with Mom.”

“I don’t regret it. I love your mom,” he replied.

He wasn’t telling him something.

“Dad.” Mack said firmly and heard his father sigh.

“You don’t need to know the details. I love your mother. She is my mate. We would never have had you and Michael if it wasn’t for your mom.”

“And.”

More silence and sighing.

“I was a human, Mack. You’ll never understand what that means, nor what it is to give up.”

Mack leaned a hand on the wall and glanced down at the carpet.

“Try me. I’m listening. Your fucking advice has kept me from Ella all these years. What if...what if something happens?”

He heard the pain in his voice. Being this far from home and Ella was fucking with his head.

“Then leave the army. This isn’t your fight. The king has enough warriors. Come home. Bring Ella. We will find a place to live where it’s more secluded and no one will suspect us.”

God, he was such a coward.

There was no way Mack was standing down and not doing his part for the race. As a powerful vampire, he probably would’ve volunteered if he hadn’t become a hybrid and joined the Moretti army before this.

His claws tickled the ends of his fingers, aggravated with the male he’d looked up as a child.

Then something clicked. Like a lightbulb going off, he saw the truth of his father’s life. As he’d hinted at before.

“You didn’t want to become a vampire.”

Silence.

As the truth sunk into his chest, Mack straightened and ran a hand over his short dark hair, shame filling him.

“Does Mom know?”

“Yes.” His father's voice was deep and filled with his own regret. “She forced the change on me.”

Oh, man.

His father was right. There was no way for Mack to understand how that would feel. However, in some ways, he did. Becoming a wolf wasn’t his choice. It was forced on him. He’d learned to accept it and quickly loved his wolf, but it still wasn’t his choice.

Then again, perhaps it wasn’t the same as being a human and becoming a new creature. Mack hadn’t stopped being a vampire, just...enhanced.

All vampires had heard the stories from former humans, and how they’d resisted being turned. Some ran toward it, excited about the powerful abilities. Most didn’t.

The reality that they’d lived among another race who was as intelligent, but more powerful than humans, freaked them the fuck out.

Understandably.

Then to fall in love with one of them and be bitten and changed...well yeah, Mack could see that being a complete mind fuck.

At least he didn’t have to do that with Ella.

Although there were a lot of assumptions in that statement. She might turn wolf. For a human to have the choice taken would be violating, and for that reason alone, Mack began to understand his perspective.

“Dad.”

“Son, it was a long time—”

“I get it. Not completely, but I can see why you’d be pissed.”

“I meant it when I said I loved your mom. I’ve forgiven her. It took a while, but I love my life and you boys.”

But?

“But you wanted me to live the life of a young and free man because you’d had that taken from you.”

His father didn’t respond immediately.

“Yes. It was wrong of me. Parents do this. They live vicariously through their kids. But it’s wrong. You aren’t us. I’m sorry that I’ve taken this time from you and Ella.”

Man.

His chest tightened with a whole range of conflicting emotions. It had taken time from them—at a time when it could be too fucking late. But he truly did understand his father’s perspective.

Mack wasn’t going to say it was okay, because it wasn’t.

But he’d always had a choice to bond with Ella at any time in the past ten years.

That was on him.

“Give Mom a hug,” Mack said, glancing behind him at the apartment door. “I have to go.”

“I love you, son.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

He slid his phone into his pocket, then tugged it out again and called Ella. She would be asleep—the time zone difference very annoying—but even if she saw he’d called, he knew that would make her smile.

Her beautiful face filled his screen—the photo he’d saved years ago of her leaning against his souped-up car. It was old, but in her denim shorts and baggy sweatshirt, she was sexy.

As he suspected, she didn’t answer.

“Just wanted to say good morning.” He rasped into her voice message. “I’ll be home soon.”

He promised himself that if he got back to the United States, he wouldn’t waste another single second.

Ending the call, he sent a text with kissing emojis, then made his way back to the team, engaging his warrior mode once more. When he stepped into the apartment, he felt a shift in the air.

“What’s going on?”

“We just had intel that Nikolay’s in Moscow. Facial recognition software picked him up.” Kurt advised.

Mack let that process.

What would the crime boss be doing in Moscow? Then again, being the head of the Russian mafia, he probably had soldiers all around the country. So, if he’d returned home to business as usual, he could be meeting with all his gang bosses or whatever one called them.

Mack didn’t know the lingo.

The more his mind whirled, the more unlikely that seemed under the circumstances.

“Doing what?”

“We don’t know.” Kurt shook his head once and adjusted his vest, which was weighed down with weapons. “Stay in position.”

Mack knew the SLC was telepathing Ben, Oli, and Logan, but speaking out loud so he could hear what was going on.

“Movement,” Kurt added.

He wandered over to the window and glanced out. There was a vehicle waiting at the gates, ready to drive out of the complex. It had to be Nikolay’s wife or some of the gangsters because they knew he wasn’t there.

They’d already been in, interrogated her, and wiped her memory.

“No. We wait for Nikolay. Fuck. Fine. It’s her. Put a tracker on her vehicle.” Kurt continued his conversation with the assassins.

Mack tilted his head to get a better look, but the car was blacked out and his view impeded. The three assassins would do their job from their location.

Kurt glanced at him. “Logan is going.”

Mack nodded and opened the window, letting the frigid air in. Vampires didn’t feel the cold in the same way humans did, but Russia was fucking cold. It wasn’t even winter.

“She could be picking him up.”

“Doubt it.” Kurt shook his head. “It’s not like they only have one car.”

True.

It was early evening in St. Petersburg, so not an unusual time to be out and about, but the woman was heavily pregnant.

As they watched, a flash of black moved across the street—Logan teleporting—and then, as the vehicle moved through the gates, he saw another flash.

“Done.” Kurt reached for his bottle of water and took a long sip. “Where is this asshole?”

“He could be in Moscow for days. Should we split up?” Mack wondered.

Kurt shook his head.

“Bray wants us to stay here. This is a huge country and because we don’t know what plane he’s on, we can’t track him. We must wait.”

Fuck. It could be days.

The pull to leave Russia and get home growing by the second.

Kurt began to pace after the car drove away and rubbed the back of his neck repeatedly. Then he walked to where his water bottle was, took a huge swig, and then cursed.

“Something is really wrong here.”

“So, it's not just me feeling like a sitting duck?” Mack asked, cracked his neck, and yanked up his black tactical pants. The outfit was getting uncomfortable after days.

Plus, he needed a shower.