Page 102 of Ancient Magic

“I hoped your witch would be provoked into losing control of her magic and the demons would demand a new leader.”

“I assume you would be that new leader?”

“Of course.”

Valen battled back the surge of fury at the memory of Peri’s distress at the fear she’d never be accepted as his mate. Kane was fading. He had to get the information he needed before the vampire became too weak to talk.

“Why kidnap Micha?”

“I had nothing to do with that.” Kane swore in frustration as Valen dangled the blood directly over his head. “I swear.”

“Then what happened to him?”

“I don’t know.”

“This isn’t a game, Kane,” Valen snapped. He was tired of feeling like he was constantly running one step behind a mysterious enemy. The shit stopped now. “You share what you know and I’ll allow you to feed. Or you can starve. It makes no difference to me.”

Kane groaned. “Please.”

“Tell me what happened to Micha and Skye.”

“All I know was that last night I tried to contact Igor but he was ghosting me,” Kane snarled. “He wouldn’t answer my calls or respond to my messages. Finally I tracked him to an old theater.”

There was the soft tread of footsteps as Gabriel stepped back into the room. He’d obviously sensed the tension vibrating in the air. Kane was reaching his breaking point. The desperate male would either confess the truth or he’d attack Valen in an attempt to get his hands on the blood.

“And?” Valen prodded.

“And Igor was there. With Azra.”

“What were they doing?”

Kane briefly closed his eyes, his jaws tight as he struggled to remain conscious.

“Igor was demanding the reward he’d earned for assisting the vampire in kidnapping Micha.”

“What did he do to help?”

“Something about making sure one of Micha’s servants was incapacitated and getting a driver.” Kane grimaced. “It didn’t make much sense.”

Valen assumed that it was Igor who arranged the driver that dropped off Lynx in front of his lair and then helped in the getaway. But why? What could Azra possibly gain by kidnapping a member of the Cabal?

Questions for later.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing.” Kane paused, and Valen frowned. Had the bastard passed out? Then, with a pained effort, he continued his story. “Before I could confront them, Azra casually reached out and ripped off Igor’s head. Just like that.” The vampire shuddered, as if genuinely troubled by the memory. “One minute they were talking and the next Igor was headless. Then Azra pulled out a dagger and gutted my servant like a deer. I’ve seen vampires consumed by bloodlust, but Azra...” Another shudder.

“What?”

“He looked bored. As if beheading and gutting demons was something he’d done a million times.” Kane shook his head before wincing as if every movement was agonizing. “That’s when I bolted.”

Valen studied the male’s pale face. The words sounded true to his ears. More importantly, they matched up with the precious few facts he’d managed to uncover. Which meant that Ambassador Azra had been the traitor the entire time, and Valen had been even more blind than he’d first thought.

Anger vibrated through him as he glared down at Kane. The male might not have been the one to kidnap Micha and Skye, but he’d stirred enough shit to distract Valen from the real threat.

Whatever that threat might be.

“How did you get in this room?” he demanded.

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