Wild and Free (The Three #3)(174)

“Thousands dead. Us sitting on our hands and thousands dead,” Abel snarled.

“Avery is on his way. He’ll be here—” Gregor began.

Abel was in Gregor’s face in the flash of an eye.

“I do not give one f*ck where f*ckin’ Avery is.” He kept his face in Gregor’s but threw an arm toward the TV. “Thousands. Slaughtered!”

“Brother, stand down,” Callum called quietly.

Abel turned swiftly away from Gregor and narrowed his eyes at Callum.

“You down with that?” he bit out.

“You know I am not,” Callum retorted curtly. “Do not turn on me, Abel. Do not turn on your own. Get a f*cking lock on it.”

Abel drew in a deep breath and stepped away from Gregor.

But the fury still burned in his eyes.

“Do we have any idea, whatsoever, where they plan to strike next?” Lucien asked Gregor.

“We don’t,” Gregor answered. “The President of the United States is about to make a statement, one he’s worked on with The Council and we approve.”

“And what’s that going to say?” Leah asked sharply. “Yes, there are immortals, and yes, some of them are evil, but, rest assured, most of them aren’t. We have no idea what the bad ones are up to and only a few more million of you are going to die…we hope…before we sort this. But hang tight.”

It was kinda funny.

It was also totally not.

“We must move,” Abel declared.

“To where?” Gregor asked.

“I don’t know,” Abel clipped. “Somewhere.”

“I know you’re frustrated, Abel—” Gregor started, but Abel cut him off.

“Yeah? You know that?” he asked sarcastically.

“As am I!” Gregor thundered, and the room went completely still at his uncharacteristic loss of control.

But he wasn’t done.

“I have eaten and slept and breathed these f*cking Prophesies for decades, knowing one of the few beings I love on this earth was vulnerable to them.” He swung his arm to Sonia. “Knowing that though we could prevail, we could also not and all would be lost. All. All would be lost. And I’ve been working every moment to see that this does not happen. Yes, Abel, I know you’re frustrated. As…am…I.”

Abel drew breath in through his nose and his voice was a lot calmer when he said, “I hear you. I was out of line. I’m pissed. And you got my apologies.”

“I’m grateful for that,” Gregor returned, also sounding calmer, but his voice was still terse. “And I hope you understand that since we became aware that The Prophesies were about to come true, I have lived nothing but being certain The Three were safe. I hope you understand my caution. You are our only hope. And it has been my duty to my people, to the immortals, to all who inhabit this planet, to do just that. So I did.”

“I get you,” Abel said quietly, perhaps not calm, but now wanting to calm Gregor.

“Now,” Gregor kept going. “I’ve ordered all the teams that were preparing to take the hanger training camps to move as soon as they’re ready. They’ve been ordered to capture as many immortals as they can. Once that’s done, my suggestion is that we move from here to the nearest camp in order that Abel can work his way through the captives. We’ll be certain to have a very tight security detail on you as you travel. The phantoms and wraiths have already been contacted and are at the ready for our command. Although The True will be on alert that we may use them and their invisibility to attempt to get close and gather intelligence, we have no choice but to send them in. This will make these missions extremely dangerous, but we must do all we can. And last, The Council is currently speaking with leaders across the globe to procure their allegiance in military matters and in attempting to calm the fears of their people. That’s all I have. Now tell me, are you ready to move?”

“Yes,” Lucien stated immediately.

“Absolutely,” Callum agreed.

“I’m with this all the way,” Sonia added.

“Me too,” Leah said.

I just nodded.

Abel grunted, “You know what I think.”

“I’ll arrange the detail,” Gregor muttered.

“No,” Abel said. “We got mouths, we’ll deal with that shit. You got enough on your plate. Deal with that, and just sayin’, any of that we can take on, give it to us.”

Gregor looked to him and nodded.

Then, in a blur, he was gone.

My eyes drifted back to the TV.

“It’s begun,” Sonia said.

“It’s begun,” Leah repeated.

A chill slid up my spine that was highly unpleasant and weirdly familiar.

“It’s begun,” I whispered.

*

“My fellow Americans,” the president said on TV.

We all were sitting together in the library. All of us save Aurora, Teona, and the other witches. They were off somewhere trying to find Etienne as well as working like crazy casting protection spells on The Three, on our loved ones, who had since declared they were going with us, and on the teams that were right then invading the training camps.

Gregor also wasn’t there. He had shit to do.

If our morning wasn’t bad enough, through an email communication direct to The Vampire Dominion, as well as one to Callum, we learned that the rest of the concubines being held were murdered, the proof of this further atrocity irrefutable as they’d videotaped each life being blinked out.