Page 12 of The Vampire's Storm

“He’s fast.” Lance argued.

“Any idea where he is?” Tristan asked.

Tris and Darnell were the newest SLCs, recently promoted to the senior team.

“He’s destroyed his phone.” Tom updated everyone.

While all the SLCs were powerful vampires and trained in the field, Logan noticed Tom was often the go-to guy for all things technical and data. That wasn’t to say he didn’t get his hands dirty, but he seemed to understand the systems more than the others.

Marcus was the head trainer for the army.

“While the smart thing to do would be to sit tight and wait to hear from Brayden,” Ari said, rubbing the side of his jaw, “we’re not going to do that.”

“Good,” a few murmured roughly around him.

“Not all of you. The king remains our priority,” Ari said firmly, meeting the gaze of every single one of them in the room. “We’re not relocating him and the queen, as I believe they are safe here. We were blindsided by the Russian stowaway after the attack. It won’t happen again.”

Fuck no.

They were all on red alert after that fuck up.

One of the Russians had entered the castle in the previous attack, through—they think—the hole in the roof. Then remained hidden until his mob pals returned for him. Taking the princesses.

Smart.

Though he hated to give them credit. And fucking ballsy holing up in a castle full of vampire warriors.

Still, Logan wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he came face-to-face.

“Ari and I have spoken quickly, given the time we are working with and the king’s directive,” Craig shared. “Marcus, I need you to prepare our new recruits for war. The rest of you, brief your teams. We will put the strategy together over the next few hours.”

The warriors broke into cries of support.

“Consider us one team.” Ari glanced over at him, Elijah, Jason, and Oli.

“Have for months.” Oliver shrugged.

“Just can’t get away from you idiots.” Ben teased. Oliver, his best friend, headlocked him, and a small tussle broke out.

“Not today.” Ari threw a pen at them.

Logan reached out and caught it, sliding it into his Moretti jacket.

The corner of Ari’s lip curled.

“Technically that’s mine,” Ben said, holding out his hand.

“Technically...shut up.” Logan grinned and refocused on Ari.

“Focus, for fuck's sakes.” Craig rolled his eyes. “I’m sure that serum is making them dumber.”

Ari chuckled silently.

Things might be serious—really damn serious— but warriors needed to let out their overload of testosterone and banter was what they did best.

“Brief your mates that you will be coming and going for however long it takes. We are at war. Now with the mafia and if it escalates, possibly a greater conflict.”

With humanity, Craig meant.

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