Page 19 of Sylas's Captivating Mate

While a romantic comedy started on the big screen on one wall, the lights were dimmed, and snacks were passed out to the ones who could eat and bagged or synthetic blood to the vampires.

Georgia sat next to Lia and glanced at her phone.

“They’ll message when they’re on the way home,” Lia whispered.

“I know, I just wanted to check.”

Lia bumped her shoulder and smiled. “They’ll be home before we know it, with heroic tales to tell, Belle Terra safe once more.”

The sooner the better.

* * *

Sylas rolled his neck and stared at the building. The street was deserted as it was nearly three a.m. Devon had told the others that Julian and his kiss were holed up in an abandoned bakery that they’d boarded up and were using as sleeping quarters during the day. On either side of the bakery were two more closed businesses, a laundromat, and a hardware store.

They were fifteen minutes outside of Belle Terra, in a tiny town that didn’t have a single supernatural creature in the town limits, aside from the vampires that had stolen into the foreclosed businesses and taken over. He wasn’t sure that the humans in the town even knew that vampires were living there.

Ronan was on his right and Galen was on his left.

They’d discussed shifting, but in the end they’d opted to stay in their human form and fight hand to hand, using stakes and blades to take out the vampires if they couldn’t subdue them. Caleb didn’t necessarily want to kill everyone, but he wanted their mates and the kiss to be safe, and if blood had to be spilled to make that happen, then it would happen.

They moved silently into position at the back of the building, several of their people in front to catch anyone who ran out that way. There was a muffled pop as the back door was forced open, and then they rushed inside, stakes at the ready.

The moment they breached the building, it was clear the vampires had been waiting for them, because the battle went from zero to full force in seconds. He and Ronan fought side by side, slashing with claws and stabbing with stakes, hacking their way through the crowd to try to get to Julian. He’d seen a picture of the male who’d been turned in his late teens and had a baby face, with pale blond hair and thin shoulders.

“There, damn it!” Ronan shouted as a vampire slammed his fist into his jaw and sent him spinning.

Sylas saw his brother had pointed to a wall where a blond disappeared through a doorway.

Sylas jumped on the vampire and broke his neck with a swift tug. Then he grabbed Ronan’s hand and hauled him to his feet and the two took off after Julian. They were joined by Caleb and Alaric, chasing Julian down a long hall. The young male slammed his shoulder against a door, but screamed when he tumbled right into Slade, who grabbed him by the face and slammed him against the wall of the building.

Vampires, who hadn’t been inside when the battle started, poured around them from the outside, and Sylas and his brother found themselves fighting their way through another throng as Caleb fought Julian, demanding he call an end to the battle and stop coming after their people.

“You won’t win, I’ll never stop,” Julian screeched like a peacock, darting just out of Caleb’s reach. He looked like a lunatic, dancing around Caleb, trying to get away but also seemingly interested in mocking the furious male.

“You won’t live to see another dawn if you don’t stand down,” Caleb said.

“I think I’ll live just fine, and one day I’ll take you out, but not before I fuck your female and tear your baby from her belly.”

Alaric let out a furious roar at the threat to his sister, shifting into his beast. As his clothes shredded around him, Sylas ducked to the other side, rolling under Alaric as he leaped at Julian.

The young vampire spun out of Alaric’s way, avoiding Caleb as he struck out with both fists, but he didn’t avoid Sylas, slamming into his chest with a grunt.

Sylas grabbed the male by his arms and spun him around, slamming him into the building with every ounce of force he could muster. The vampire stumbled to the ground, and Caleb and Alaric moved as one, parting his head from his body and sending him into the afterlife, where Sylas hoped he’d pay dearly and forever for the terrible things he’d done in the name of vengeance.

Sylas and Ronan returned to the inside of the building, rounding up the remaining vampires, along with Slade and Galen, who used their brother’s shifted form to keep everyone in line. Some tried to escape and they met a swift end, but the rest resigned themselves to their fate at the hands of the ruling council of vampires and their court system, which at a minimum would see them imprisoned for a few years before they’d be allowed to join other kisses with masters that would ensure they stayed on the straight and narrow.

It apparently wasn’t against the law to try to take out a master, but with Julian dead, they were without a leader and they’d participated in illegal activities in their attempts to take out Caleb. They were guilty of many infractions, and Sylas was glad that none of them would see the light of day for a long time.

He texted Georgia.

I’m so glad you’re safe and the threat to the kiss is gone. When will you be home?

They were waiting for the vampires to be picked up and taken to the state’s prison system, and were told they were about an hour away.

Over an hour, but I promise I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. All’s well there?

Yes, I just miss you. I’m so glad you’re safe.

---