Zodiac Aligned

19

"I thought vampires were a myth," he said, his voice low.

We once thought that about the Ophiuchus pack too, I thought, though I didn't say it out loud.

"They're real." Larkin wiped her hands on her jeans, but all that did was smear blood all over them. "Although these vampires were out during the day, which shouldn't be possible with the Sun Curse."

"What were they doing in my hotel?" Ethan growled. I'd never heard him sound so pissed off before.

“They’re working with the Sun Witches,” Jordan said.

“How do you know this?” Kaden asked, as he crouched by one of his fallen warriors. Most of the fighters had been Ophiuchus, since we were the ones living in the hotel, and I could see how much it hurt him to see even more of his pack members dead or injured. It hurt me too.

Jordan shrugged and then winced. I had a feeling he'd be a bit sore for a few hours until his enhanced healing took care of it. “One came to visit the Leo pack when the Sun Witches were controlling me. I’ve never seen them in action though. I didn’t know they’d be so…deadly.”

In wolf form, Jack rushed in from outside, along with Harper and Dane. They must have tried to follow the vampires as they'd escaped. Jack shifted back and shook his head. "They're gone."

“Why did they leave so suddenly?” Ethan asked.

At the time, I'd thought they were running because we were overpowering them, but now it did seem odd how quickly they'd broken off their attack.

It hit me like a kick to the chest. "Roxandra!"

"s**t," Jordan muttered. "It was a distraction."

We bolted back up the stairs, not even bothering to redress as we raced to the conference room, but we were too late. The two guards were dead in the hallway, still in human form with huge gashes in their chests, their throats ripped out by vampire fangs. Two other shifters, who must have been sent to help guard Roxandra, had also been killed.

"f**k!" Kaden yelled.

Ethan went into the conference room, though he must have known it was pointless. Roxandra's chair was empty, the camera tripod knocked over. Her bonds had been cut clean through, likely with a vampire's nails, and her moon collar was on the ground, broken in half. Ethan swore and kicked the collar across the room.

I bent down and grabbed the camera, worried the footage might have been lost or wiped clean, but when I rewound it, it was still there. Thank the goddess. At least we had Roxandra's confession recorded so that the other alphas could see it.

Back in the hallway, a nearby window was broken, clearly from the inside. Jordan stalked over to it and looked out. He shook his head, confirming what we already knew.

Roxandra was gone.

CHAPTER TEN

We all helped clean up the lobby, needing to do something after Roxandra had slipped out of our grasp. This gave us somewhere to focus all the energy left over from the fight, though the mood was a lot more subdued now. Bodies had to be moved, and the wounded had to be tended to before they could return to their rooms to rest. Piles of debris had to be swept up, and blood had to be scrubbed off the walls and the marble floors.

Almost every inch of me was covered in dried blood by the time I teleported back to my room. I took a long, hot shower, and used the time to go over everything that had happened in the last few hours. I practically had whiplash trying to keep up with it all. Not just the vampire attack, but everything that had come before it, including all the revelations about what the Sun Witches had done to Kaden.

Roxandra had admitted that they’d tried to drive a wedge between us, to ruin our relationship, and they'd succeeded. Kaden and I needed to get past this somehow if we were going to be allies. The Zodiac Wolves needed both of us, that much was clear, and we had to work together if we were going to defeat the Sun Witches. I couldn't dent it any longer—I needed Kaden's help, and he needed mine. And maybe someday we'd be able to become more than allies again too.

I had to talk to him—and Larkin had given me the perfect excuse.

I took the elevator to give myself a bit of extra time to think about what I would say. Kaden was still staying in the penthouse suite, which had once been mine too before our relationship had fallen apart.

When I reached the door, I hesitated for a few seconds before knocking. There was a brief pause during which I considered going back to my room, but then Kaden opened the door. He’d also showered, and the ends of his hair were still wet. He wasn’t wearing a shirt either. Typical.

He leaned against the doorway, causing my eyes to take in a large expanse of his perfect, muscular chest. "Hello, Ayla."

“Hi,” I said, suddenly overcome with awkwardness as I fumbled for my next words and tried not to stare at his naked skin. “I think we should talk.”

“Come inside.”

He stepped back and gestured for me to join him. I stepped into the living room, and when he shut the door, tension raised between us. I swallowed as I remembered all our time in this penthouse together, like when he'd made breakfast for me in the kitchen, or how we'd gazed out at the city together, or how he'd bent me over the couch and taken me from behind... I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry, my blood suddenly warm. Kaden looked down at my mouth like he was also having similar thoughts.

I cleared my throat. “I brought something for you."