Chapter 4 Father cont.

My fingers flipping through the images of a blonde-haired woman with brown eyes, pouty red lips. A black trench coat covering up what looked to be a curvy body, hugged tightly by a black leather catsuit and knee-high spiked heeled boots.

“Gorgeous woman.” Darian laughed lightly leaning over to examine the images, turning his attention back to our father scoffing out a strangled laugh. Shifting my crossed leg enough to silently hide the growing mass beneath the thin silky layer of my black dress slacks.

What is this strange reaction?

“If you’re into that kind of thing, sure, yeah she’s gorgeous.” His bitter tone caused another strange sensation to tingle through my body, looking up from the images to see a flash of sadness dance across his strong features as he quickly refocused himself on the situation.

Returning my attention to the images of Maddox’s bloodied and beaten body, visually slumped over in a kneeling pose, water pouring over his bald bowed head with his bound hands laced overtop his exposed manhood. Sliding out the image underneath of the glass shower wall smeared with sticky crimson and the Japanese symbol for shadow.

Shit! No one knew who the Shadow was, or what they were, but it was clear as day that they knew who we were, and no one was safe. Tossing the photo out onto the coffee table as the thick paper drifted to a stop like a wandering leaf.

“Well, one thing is for certain, whoever this Shadow is, left a clear message for the rest of us. More importantly, you.” Locking onto those cold crimson orbs, pushing the image forward with my index finger as his eyes followed the movement with a visible nod.

“Maddox was from a prominent family of bear shifters, and the Shadow made him look like a fucking teddy bear in death. So, from here on out, all active members of the Supernatural Freedom Council will have bodyguards wherever they go like a fucking shadow and no more late-night rendezvous, are we clear?” Darian made it clear that from here on out, no one was safe until this Shadow was dealt with accordingly.

“They’ll be overjoyed with this news.” Laughing in our link taking another swig of chilled Brandy, side glancing at Darian’s smug scoff.

“Fuck! If your mother was still alive, she would have had me skinned alive for allowing you two to oversee the Council.” Smirking with my brother in agreement as our father leaned into his hands, scrubbing them through his long locks with a heavy exhale.

“No, if she was still alive none of this bullshit would have happened, let alone all her hard work delivered on a fucking silver platter with a diner bell to our enemies. Your so-called Government buddies sold her out to the highest bidders and left her to die trying to protect her innocent specimens. She was human like them but because she was married and mated to you, a vampire-wolf. She was murdered to give them the upper hand over the remaining shifters scattered around the globe, along with genetically engineered soldiers designed from our bloodlines.” Cracking my neck in standing, feeling the tingling heat coursing through my veins as the blood hunger reared its nasty head.

“How dare you!”

“NO! HOW DARE YOU! You left her there to die….!” Gripping his throat as his feet kicked out in protest. Shaking away the thirsty hunger creeping up my throat as his jugular thumped wildly under my grasp. Licking my protruding fangs as Darian stood smoothly placing his hand firmly on my shoulder.

“You know as well as we do, they turned those specimens into trained killers for their own gains, now we have one hunting us as we speak, and it’s their Ace card. They mean business and now we have to stay at least ten steps ahead of them to survive.” Darian spoke calmly, squeezing my shoulder to let our piece of shit father go before I did something stupid before it was his time to die.

“Go back to the yacht and wait for us. We have to meet with our informant in an hour.” Shoving him back into the chair, grabbing the file and discarded images from the coffee table, storming out of the room into the private office down the hallway while Darian showed our father out.

Nineteen fucking years we mourned our mother’s death and now this of all things. One of her precious specimens on the hunt to tie up loose ends left over from those traitors. They’re not even specimens. They were shifter babies abandoned by their human mothers and our father created Project Zodiac to help avoid the extinction of shifters.

What a fucking disaster that turned out to be.

“You want to talk about it?” Whipping around to face Darian leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his black button-up covered chest. Shaking my head sharply, slipping my fingers through my short silvery-black locks.

“What’s the point? We know the fucked-up mess we’re walking into.” Tossing the file down onto the glass-topped desk, grabbing the blood tonic to satisfy my blood hunger temporarily until I could feed later. Exhaling slowly with the tingling heat fizzling out to a soft tingle as the tonic coursed through my veins like rich alcohol, grabbing my black leather jacket from the hook.

“After you young man.” Laughing briskly at his sarcastic gesture as we exited the office, hooking around the corner into the private elevator awaiting our departure.

“Do you trust Blue?” Side glancing Darian’s straight expression watching the matte stainless-steel doors close with a soft hum as the blue digital screen counted back from twelve.

“Guess we’ll find out.” Rolling my eyes at his shit-eating grin rocking back on his heels whistling to the soft elevator music playing ‘Stand by Me’, stepping out into the parking garage once the doors opened again.

We’re screwed…