Wild and Free (The Three #3)(150)

“Yeah?”

“Miko was assassinated tonight,” Callum shared.

Abel sucked in breath.

“They knew he was taken,” Callum continued. “They found all the cameras but one. We didn’t have eyes, but we did have ears. Your control held—he told them nothing about what he gave up at the compound—but they knew we’d had him, took him to the compound, and then turned him loose. After they took his head, they talked about autopsying him. They think we have a drug.”

“Patricio?” Abel asked.

“His name was mentioned. They’re gonna demand a meet.”

“How’d they know he’d been taken?”

“Got him chipped. They knew he was at the compound and how long. From what Ryon heard, they have them all chipped, including Patricio, so in case they get caught, they know where to send a rescue team, or an assassination squad.” Callum’s voice turned into a disgusted mutter. “Chipping vampires. Unbelievable. We wouldn’t even think to expect something that vile.”

Fuck.

“You got any good news for me?” Abel requested.

“Miko gave us twenty-seven names. So far, fifteen concubines have been successfully extracted. One of them is Leah’s cousin, Natalie.”

“Thank f*ck,” he muttered.

“Yes,” Callum agreed.

“Maybe now I can get some sleep,”

“Yes,” Callum repeated. “Do it well.”

“Back at you.”

They disconnected and Abel put his phone on the nightstand before again joining Delilah in bed.

Then, finally, he slept.

He just didn’t do it well.

*

Abel’s phone sounded with a text the next morning as he and Delilah were walking down the hall toward Lucien and Leah’s room. She wanted to check on her friend. He wanted to let her do that and then find Gregor.

He felt her gaze as he dug his phone out and looked at the screen.

You’re needed in the library.

Gregor.

“I can get there myself,” Delilah told him, and he knew she’d read the text.

“Right, *cat,” he replied, stopping them, curling her close, and dropping a kiss on her lips. “Later,” he said when he was done.

“Later.”

He grinned at her.

She grinned back.

He let her go and watched her continue down the hall for a few seconds before he used his vampire speed to take him to the library.

But he stopped outside it when he heard a woman’s raised voice and sensed she wasn’t the only woman in that room.

“Was dog tired when I got here last night, so I took a bed. But I am not spending another night in a den of vamps.”

He felt his brows draw together as he opened the door and walked into the room.

All eyes turned to him and two pairs of those were in faces he knew, Gregor’s and Yuri’s, who had apparently returned. The rest were five women he didn’t know.

“Yo,” he greeted.

“Holy goddess and all her great sisters,” one of the women breathed. “It’s the hybrid.”

He looked to her and confirmed, “Yeah.” Then he looked to Yuri. “Welcome back, man.”

“Abel,” Yuri greeted.

That was when he looked to the pretty, petite, dark-haired woman at his side who was dressed like a sex kitten schoolgirl who’d graduated two days ago and knew just how hot that was, even though she didn’t want you to know she knew it.

In other words, she was something.

Something a man liked looking at and something to Yuri, seeing as she was standing very close to him, and even though they weren’t touching, there was no mistaking that fact.

“Found a friend,” he muttered to Yuri, feeling his lips twitch.

It was then Yuri touched her. Putting a hand to the small of her back, he moved even closer to her, saying, “I’d like you to meet Aurora Lenox. She’s assisting us with finding your brother.”

Abel’s lips stopped twitching and his eyes went back to the woman.

“Hi, Abel,” she said. “So cool to meet you.”

He jerked up his chin, but with what Yuri said, that was all the good manners he had in him.

Therefore, he asked, “You find him?”

She looked to a wide, flat bowl filled with dark liquid sitting on a table between two armchairs, then back to him.

“It’s not quite ready yet. A few more hours,” she answered.

He turned his gaze to Yuri and rearranged his expression to read, What the f*ck?

Yuri read him.

“The potion somehow guides us to him,” Yuri explained.

Jesus. So far, he’d fought side-by-side with what were essentially ghosts. He’d torn apart men who were close to giants, hairless, and scary motherf*ckers. He’d watched videos of terrified women enduring violation while their blood was drained from their bodies.

Now, obviously, he was in the presence of bona fide witches who made potions.

Yeah, he was with his mate. He was ready for this shit to end.

“Be obliged you tell me when the potion is ready,” he said with little enthusiasm.

He was curious to meet his brother.

But he wasn’t looking forward to it.

“I’ve not asked you here for that, Abel,” Gregor butted in. “These ladies are witches. This is Barb, Aurora’s mother.” He motioned to a woman who looked somewhat like an older version of Aurora. “Ruby.” He gestured to the oldest one of the lot. She carried some weight and had thick, long gray hair, but it was obvious she’d had it in her younger years because she’d retained it in her older ones. “And last, Jezza and Flo.”