Wild and Free (The Three #3)(152)

“They got what it takes to be successful on their own?” Abel asked.

“Phantoms and wraiths are like brothers and sisters,” Callum said. “You watch them, you’d think they hated each other. But you are not one of their own and say one word against them, they’ll rip your head off. So I would assume he’s very determined to be successful. Whether his determination will bear fruit…” He shrugged.

Abel broke it down. “So now we got no inside men, a bunch of concubines who are in mortal danger, a rogue phantom determined to rescue his mate and the outcome of that is iffy, a gaggle of witches in the compound who don’t want to be here because they hate vampires, and they got magic. And last, we got f*ck all knowledge of what our enemies are planning next, but the last shit they pulled was f*cked way the hell up. Did I get it all?”

Callum grinned a grin that was more a grimace and confirmed, “You got it all.”

“So we’re again sitting on our hands,” Abel concluded.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Callum replied.

Abel made a nonverbal snarl.

Callum looked to Calder. “Perhaps you should go back to your network.”

Calder shook his head. “Told you, brother, this True identified, recruited, and closed ranks. There’s no getting in. And the only way out is to give up your head. The single shot we had was the wraiths and they had to give it up to save The Three. Other than that, no one has heard anything and it’d be impossible to infiltrate.”

“I need to get my hands on another one,” Abel declared, and all eyes came to him. “The ones who met Patricio, did our guy follow them?”

“Not his orders,” Xun answered. “Stay safe. Report back. We all know it’s not safe gettin’ near these guys. He did his job, finished it breathing, and is on his way back.”

Dead end.

Abel kept at it.

“During the rescues, were any vampires detained?”

Callum shook his head. “To my knowledge, so far, the need for termination was utilized.”

“Then we need to tell the teams who locate the next concubines to bring a vampire in breathing,” Abel returned.

“Even if we found one, they’re chipped,” Ryon pointed out. “They’d know that he, or she, has been to the compound.”

“Then I go to them,” Abel returned.

“Brother,” Xun said quietly.

Abel looked to him. “Saved twenty-seven women with what I got outta Miko.”

“You did, within the safety of the compound,” Callum noted.

“Yeah,” Abel shot back. “Now we don’t got that choice. So we locate one, or twelve or a hundred of those motherf*ckers, and go to them.”

Callum held his eyes.

Then he turned to Ryon. “We’re tracking the three men who Miko was entertaining, yes?”

“Yes,” Ryon confirmed.

Callum turned back to Abel. “Lucien’s in constant contact with Cosmo. We’ll watch those three men. They might lead us to someone. We’ll notify all those on the hunt for concubines to attempt to bring the vampire captors in alive. And we’ll ask Lucien to tell Cosmo to put together a team to aggressively hunt The True, find a vulnerable one, or several of them, then we go in.”

“Puts Cosmo out there, man,” Xun pointed out.

“He’s already out there as he’s already trying to sniff them out. But we’ll send Stephanie to him. Teffie will have his back,” Callum replied. “And Cosmo will be setting up a team. Won’t be difficult to find vampires willing to undertake a dangerous mission. We just have to approach ones who had their concubines taken.”

“Brother, those vampires will be hostile and unstable,” Ryon warned.

“They’ll also be determined,” Callum returned.

“The vampires don’t want escalation,” Ryon told him. “They want to end this as quietly as possible.”

“Rape and murder were videotaped and posted to share with the masses, Ryon,” Callum noted. “I think quiet is becoming an impossibility.”

Ryon studied his cousin a moment before jerking up his chin.

“Let’s get on this,” Abel growled, bending to snatch up his thermal.

“Right,” Callum agreed.

They finished dressing. They went back to the compound. They did their thing.

Then, f*ck them all, they had nothing else to do but wait.

*

“You got any more of these macadamia nuts, Yuri?” Ruby asked, lounging in an armchair by a window in the library, one leg thrown over an arm, popping macadamia nuts into her mouth after plucking them from a huge-ass silver bowl that lay on her round stomach.

Abel, sitting on a couch next to Delilah and opposite Aurora, who was staring at her bowl on the table between them, her eyebrows pulled together, looked to the witch.

Yuri, standing behind Aurora, looked to his witch.

Aurora twisted her neck and looked up at her vampire.

Then she aimed her eyes back at the bowl on the table and said, “Ruby, can you please be cool? We’re doing something important here.”

“What’s not cool about wanting more macadamia nuts?” Ruby asked. “It’s not like anything is happening.”

“I’d like to know that too,” Jabber said, wandering over to Ruby. “You mind?” he asked her.