This Wicked Sin

Chapter 5: Gabriel

“That’s f*****g impossible!” There was a series of expletives and exclamations after everyone got over the revelation.

“It is quite hard to believe. The Amerys were wiped clean out; absolutely no survivors. Their entire line is dead,” Siofan said with his chin resting calmly on his hand. He looked completely unphased.

“It might not be them directly. Might be leftover sympathisers or a copycat trying to throw us all off,” Karina Volkov suggested.

Nelia nodded slowly. “It might have absolutely nothing to do with that wretched family. Someone is most likely trying to throw us off the trail as Volkov suggested. Confusing us into searching for ghosts while they continue to wreak havoc on our ranks.”

“And who would do that?” Alphonso asked.

“Who wouldn’t? The world is full of rats trying to get little scraps out of us. We are not lacking in foes,” my father spat out.

“The question then is who is powerful enough to do this? Taking a child of the Syndicate right from under our nose is no small feat,” one of Siofan’s people asked. Her name was Shamira, an alpha shifter.

“Might be that a few fringe families and gangs have banded together, trying to throw us off balance for their plans. We all absorbed some of the Serpents’ clan families who chose to defect. Others were not so pleased with that option. If they think this is enough to destabilise our ranks then they are sorely mistaken.” Nehemiah said. He might have lost his granddaughter, but that didn’t make him lose his focus. He was a clan leader for a reason.

“We won’t fall,” Nelia said with no doubt in her convictions. “What’s most worrying is the fact that Nehemiah’s kin was taken with neither word nor warning. We need to act fast.”

“Hmm. The thought of missing children is a disturbing one, even for one such as myself,” Alano’s son said with a sigh.

“We need people that can work on this fast and efficiently,” Siofan suggested.

“I have all my resources working on this as we speak,” Nehemiah replied.

“Nothing hurts worse than a missing child indeed. My heart aches for you, dear friend, but I’m not about to cut my resources looking for one little girl and a few other worthless souls no one bothered to miss until it dug into profits. Especially when it seems we will need all the resources we can spare to protect ourselves and our businesses. Security details for everything will need to be doubled as it is,” Alano said.

“Of course, you’d be like this, you old cunt,” Nelia growled in anger.

“I do not take this lightly as I have people I care about just as you do, but we need to be realistic here. These assholes are thriving on the fact that we are unprepared for their modes of attack. They work smartly and efficiently. I’m sorry but I’m not willing to waste my men and weapons for a child that is already probably dead!” he shot back.

“How dare you! You better watch your next few words before you lose your tongue!” Nehemiah growled out as fangs protruded out of his mouth, all traces of his gentlemanly demeanour gone. I forgot sometimes that he was a shifter himself. His eyes had turned into burning embers with his anger.

“I have a plan that I think will suit all of us,” a voice somehow cut through the argument. All eyes turned to the source. It was Dane. Because everyone’s attention was on him, I felt I was finally justified in drinking him in, in all his glory. Dane met the eyes of the entire room with easy confidence and a smirk.

“It might be better to have a specialised force focusing on nothing but the missing people and goods,” he began. “A small task force of people with a talent for… sniffing out their prey so to speak. They’ll work faster and free up a lot of resources and men that can be used in other pursuits.”

Alano grunted in grudging acceptance. “And are you going to offer your services for this plan of yours, Daka heir?”

“Why, of course,” he replied with a smile that looked more like a showing of teeth than anything else. “I already offered myself up to lord Nehemiah as soon as I heard the news.”

The Olakas and Dakas were known to be close allies so I didn’t find it entirely surprising that they knew of this news before the rest of us.

“And you’re okay with offering up your son for this, Nelia? Giving up a shifter so easily in such uncertain yet dangerous times?” Alano asked in disbelief.

“What my son chooses to do with his time or where he decides to expend his power is entirely up to him, Alano. And I have enough shifters in my clan that the loss of one or two, no matter how powerful, is of no consequence to me.”

I couldn’t tell if that was meant to be a threat, a boast, or both. Alano grunted out something under his breath while my father snorted.

“We’ll all offer up something for the cause as a token of our goodwill and as a testament to the power of this great council,” Klaus said before the discussion could devolve into fighting again. No one objected.

“Do you need anything of us, Dane?” Siofan asked. “I’m willing to spare a body or two for your endeavour.”

Dane slowly looked around. “Thank you. I’ll make use of your offer,” he said. He nodded to the other person who had come with Siofan, Shamira Shahin. She was a distant cousin of his that he was apparently close to. She gave a nod back and graciously accepted the invite.

“There’s someone whose services I’d like in particular,” he said. His eyes turned to me and met mine in full force. He didn’t look away, making it obvious what he was looking at. My eyes widened and my heart jumped out of my chest.

“I want him.”

What the f**k.

No.

“No,” both my father and Rowan said with no room for argument. My heart settled a bit even though my eyes were widened to what felt like the size of saucers.

I could sense my father tense at the fact the Rowan had dared to speak out of turn and on behalf of the family. My father’s eyes were narrowed dangerously at Rowan, glacial in their nature. Ours weren’t like the other families where their entourage was allowed to partake in the discussion if they so wished. We were only allowed to talk or bring attention to ourselves by his permission alone.

My heart beat fast, in worry for my brother this time.

“No. That is not an option,” my father said turning back to the room after a tense moment. His conviction in this was confusing; I couldn’t tell if it was because of what I wasn't or because of who I’d be working with. Most probably it was both.

“Never took you for the coddling type, Corvin,” Alano said with a mocking laugh.

“What I do or don’t do concerning the members of my house is none of your concern,” he replied with all the warmth of an arctic winter.

The boss put up his hands in surrender and laughed in amusement. “Don’t mind me.”

“Interesting,” his son said from behind him. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and smirked at me. “Since he’s clearly useless in these matters, he’d make a great addition to our pleasure houses. Quite pretty for an alpha pup.”

I moved before I even realised. A blind rage had overcome me in an instant, setting my muscles in motion without a single thought. I had him face down on the table with a dagger pressed to his eye in an instant. My breath came out fast and heavy. My hands shook with the effort it took not to draw blood, not to kill him.

My hasty actions had caused a chain reaction in the room where guns and weapons had been drawn out from hidden compartments and were now drawn on each other.

At that moment, I didn’t care.

“Say another word,” I spat. “I dare you.” I pressed the dagger harder, letting it bite into the skin of his cheek until a small drop of blood welled slowly and ran down the blade. The sharp point of the blade was barely a hairsbreadth from his wide eye. His struggling ceased as he looked at the dagger point in pure horror.

“Tell your brother to let him go, Corvin heir!” I heard someone say through the haze.

“Maybe he needs to learn a lesson in not running his mouth,” Rowan said in a voice that sounded like it could care less.

I looked up long enough to assess the situation. Someone had a gun pointed at my head while my brother had his pointed at theirs in turn. The room was in a tense standoff while the asshole who’d run his mouth whimpered beneath my hands. A dark part of me liked his fear.

Only a few people had remained at their stations and hadn’t drawn hidden weapons. Nelia, Siofan and my father sat undisturbed. Nelia watched me with calculating eyes while Siofan lounged in his seat. He stirred his drink and watched the scene curiously. Dane twirled a throwing knife in his hand, his posture showing he was ready for action despite his calm demeanour. And his friend Rayan was- my eyes cut back quickly when I saw the assault rifle in his hands.

“Gentlemen. Ladies,” Klaus began again with a tired sigh. “Clearly I’ll need to have a word with security about them not doing the simple f*****g job I pay them for.” His eyes caught on Rayan’s weapon with a dubious look just like the rest of us. Rayan simply shrugged at the attention. “Clearly emotions are high. We’ve lost money, some dignity and for some of us, those dear to us. It is imperative that we sort this out with clear minds. Let us take a short break and reconvene in 20 minutes to sort out the finer details.”

There was a stilted moment of silence before everyone slowly withdrew their weapons. I took a second before I let the asshole go. He scrambled away as far as he could from me, leaving the room in a rush.

I walked back to my family in a slight daze. “You’ll never stop being a f*****g embarrassment to me,” my father muttered my way before walking off.

I caught Rowan’s eyes which held resignation and exasperation. “So much for your promise of staying out of trouble right, little brother?”

I wanted to shrink in shame but then a slight proud smile slipped out of him. It made me suddenly feel much better about my hotheaded actions.

I walked stiffly to the exit. A presence appeared beside me, the scent alerting me to who it was without even looking. I’d know that scent from anywhere.

“Didn’t know you had that in you,” he murmured so only I would hear. A shiver ran down my spine. I turned to glare at him for daring to speak to me so casually but he had already walked away in a whiff of wood smoke and new rain.