Page 40 of Chasing Dawn

As we strode through the den, any doubt that Alexander had come through here already disappeared. Everyone looked perturbed.

We walked the halls to Vance’s office, and I kept a confident smile on my face as Dawn pushed out some comforting Omega pheromones. Dawn walked in front of me, and I watched her back. She’d finally mastered the layout of the den, with its confusing turns that would throw off an intruder, and it meant so much to me that she considered this place home, a place where she was comfortable and safe.

We stopped in front of Vance’s office door, and Dawn rubbed her hands across her pants once more. They were yoga pants that hugged her cute, heart-shaped ass perfectly. Man, I loved that ass.

She gave me an exasperated expression, probably scenting my arousal. “Seriously?”

I shrugged, because honestly, I couldn’t help myself. I winked, wiped my damp palms on my jeans, and pushed the door open.

Everyone inside looked relaxed. Vance and Alexander each held a tumbler of whiskey, and Talbot was perched on the top of Vance’s desk. It was only the fact that I’d known them both my whole life that I could tell they were on alert, tense but not threatened. I rested my hand on Dawn’s spine, directing her to sit beside Talbot, only a few feet from Vance.

Pasting on my most affable smile, I walked over and bent my head to Alexander. “Sir.”

He thrust out a hand, and I shook it. “Good to see you, Franklin. As I was saying to your Alpha, apologies for dropping in unannounced.” He looked over at Dawn and bowed his head. “Omega. It’s good to see you looking so well.”

Dawn gave him the bright smile that melted my heart, and I could see the ancient dragon thaw a little under the weight of it. “I’m much happier, thanks to you. I appreciate all your help.”

The dragon’s eyes darkened. “It never should have happened. If anything, I’m indebted to you.” He looked around at the rest of us, his expression unreadable. “That’s why I’m here in person.” He cleared his throat, and I thought perhaps he was uncomfortable. “I’ve recently discovered that I have a grandson. Tex.”

I held back my gasp, but barely. Everyone knew that Alexander’s daughter had disappeared years ago, and his quest to find her was something of a legend.

Dawn smiled brightly at him. “I’m so glad, sir. That’s excellent news.”

“Please, call me Alexander.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, he is mated to a vampire up in Canada, who has enamored two of vampire kind’s most unhinged killers. Honestly, it’s like he’s making up for lost time in giving me gray hair. You may know of them. Lucius and the executioner.”

This time Talbot whistled. “That’s… rough,” he coughed out.

Alexander released a huffed laugh. “You aren’t kidding, but they seem to love him, and Raine, she protects him like he’s the foundation of her soul. I think he’s as safe as he could possibly be outside of my own home. They live in Dark River, which is a colony of vampires who choose not to feed from humans.”

Vance nodded, though he kept shooting looks at me like I knew where this was going. I didn’t. “I’ve heard of it.”

There was a large shapeshifter colony up there, and I knew some of Leighton’s relatives lived there.

Alexander nodded. “I am getting to the point, I promise. While I was up there… visiting, I was surprised that Lucius had acquired a gift for Raine. You must understand, Lucius is ancient, and he doesn’t understand ethical morality the way most of us do. He acquired three wolf shifter pups for her, which he’d retrieved from the underground trafficking market in New York—an Alpha, a beta, and an Omega around the age of five.”

Dawn gasped, and she swayed on her feet. Talbot reached out and grabbed her, holding her tightly against his body. “Is it them? Christopher, Carmen, and Enit?”

Alexander gave her a bittersweet smile. “It is. By a weird stroke of fate, and the whims of a truly psychotic vampire, your cousins are now my great-grandchildren.”

CHAPTER 26

DAWN

Alexander had personally escorted me to Canada on his private jet. Vance had come with me, and I held his hand as we crossed the tarmac. The whole way, he’d told me more about how the pups had come to be in Dark River.

They’d been sold and transported to New York. No wonder Talbot hadn’t been able to find them. They’d crossed the country without anything even remotely identifiable. From there, Lucius—a literal ancient vampire with a dose of crazy so bad that even my tiny pack had known to fear him—had purchased Enit for his new girlfriend.

Alexander said that Raine, who’d only been turned a year or two before, had been horrified and promptly sent him back for Carmen and Christopher. Unfortunately, Christopher had already been sold, so he’d collected Carmen, and then murdered the man who had been my old Alpha’s contact. That was why Stephen had been patrolling pack land when we’d taken out my old Alpha. They were worried Lucius would turn up and murder them.

I kind of wished he had.

From there, Lucius had tracked down Christopher in a fight ring, and when negotiations for his purchase had fallen through, Lucius had killed them all too. He’d delivered Christopher and Carmen back to their sister.

They’d been there for months. Alexander assured me they were happy, but I needed to see it for myself. He’d warned me that when they’d first came into Raine’s care, she’d wanted to reunite them with their family, but the little wolves had rebelled. They wanted nothing to do with wolves or the pack, and that had broken my heart, but I understood. Hadn’t I done the same thing myself?

I didn’t want to talk to them or scrape the scab off healing wounds. I just needed to know they were okay and happy.

A convocation guard appeared with a long, tactical vehicle, which had bench seats that faced each other. I climbed in, and Vance slid in next to me, while Alexander sat opposite. “I haven’t informed any of them that we’re coming. Fortunately, I believe they are in the shapeshifter town of Nîso at the moment, so we won’t have to cross into Dark River and deal with all the politics of that minefield. Nîso is a shifter domain, and that means it’s open to me, but we’ll still try to keep our distance. No need to cause a stir unless we have to. There is a school opening up here, or perhaps a refuge. Possibly both. I let them think I was in the area to talk to their founders.”