Page 72 of Mystique of the Fallen
Desperate to allow Roman to fall back to sleep, Grant rolled out of bed.
“Don’t worry about waking me up, what’s going on?” Grant asked as he rushed into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He flipped the light on and leaned against the counter. Not every call required Grant to sprint out into the night to help, but he needed to be alert either way.
“VK, we received a call this morning from friends of Lord James Volkov. It’s a complicated situation, but since it concerns the Vampyress’s family indirectly, I thought you should be involved.”
Grant was grateful for his family connections. The Volkovs were part of the extended D’Vaire clan, and Grant was familiar with James. He and the entire Volkov family were kind, and Grant was happy to help any of his friends. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, VK. I’ll send you a picture of the residence. I must warn you; it’s on human land. We are currently inside.”
“Thank you.”
In short, economical movements, Grant cleaned himself and dressed in his uniform. There was no sound from the bedroom, so he hoped Roman was already asleep again. Sad that he had to leave without kissing his mate, Grant used the picture FK11 Porter had provided and found himself in the foyer of what appeared to be a stately townhome.
“Right this way, VK,” prompted a blonde fallen knight who introduced herself as the Yvette he’d just spoken with.
Grant followed him into the living area. Waiting for him was a raven-haired vampire and his formerly human mate.
“Thanks for coming, VK Valerius,” the vampire said. “I’m Mikhael Novikov, and this is my mate, Raney. Please have a seat. We’ll explain as concisely as we can.”
“Can we get you anything, VK?” Raney asked.
“No, thank you, but I appreciate you asking. What’s the situation?”
“It started years ago, actually,” Raney said. “I was young and married a human man I thought loved me. It turned out what he loved was controlling me. If I didn’t do what he wanted, he liked to use his fists. Eventually, he wasn’t satisfied with just leaving bruises.”
Tears slid down her cheeks as her mate kissed her head. Grant had to swallow so vile words wouldn’t spill from his mouth. What he wanted was to find the human and beat the shit out of him, or worse. But since that was out of the question, he kept his face impassive.
“Her ex-husband tried to murder her,” Mikhail explained. “She barely survived. The only saving grace was that it was all caught on the security cameras he’d installed.”
“He was arrested, and things were progressing through the judicial system, but then we met,” Raney added, taking a handkerchief from Mikhail to dab at her face.
Grant nodded. “So, you had to hide your relationship to keep the humans interested in pursuing the case.”
“Yes. At first, we were content with waiting until things were concluded and he was in prison before we allowed our relationship to flourish,” Mikhail stated, his mouth firming into a line of disapproval. “But the human justice system moves horribly slow. We decided we could learn more about each other without alerting the humans to our relationship.”
“Things were nearly foiled when my ex-husband’s dreadful attorney hired a private detective to spy on us,” Raney said, pain in her blue gaze. “Lord James asked the fallen knights to speak to the man to get him away from here. It didn’t work at first, but the private eye eventually disappeared. We thought we could once again work on our relationship without interference, as long as we were careful. We were told to call the fallen knights again if we ran into trouble; I hope it’s okay that we did.”
“Of course it is, and it’s understandable that you didn’t want to stay apart. The pull of a mate is strong, and you obviously wanted to honor Fate and each other,” Grant replied. “So, did the lawyer hire someone new?”
“The lawyer himself is outside, VK,” Yvette said. “Since we are on human land, we were unsure how to handle the situation. My direct supervisor advised me to call the VK on duty. The last time the FKs were involved, Lord James dealt directly with headquarters.”
“You did the right thing, and I’m happy to take care of it,” Grant replied, standing up. “I’ll speak with the human lawyer.”
“Wonderful,” Mikhail said. “Thankfully, humans cannot detect if a relationship is bonded, so they are unaware we have moved forward despite the enormous obstacles we have faced. We are careful to not appear together outdoors, but we fear they will intrude upon our privacy by growing more aggressive as the court date nears.”
“It’s unfair that such a violent act would go unpunished because of Fate’s choice,” Grant stated emphatically. “I can’t promise that this lawyer will listen to me, but we’ll do what we can to protect you from being discovered. I want your ex-husband to pay for what he did.”
“Thank you, Venerable Knight,” Raney replied, relief in her blue gaze.
Grant was pissed and barely noted Yvette following him until he got to the front door.
“Stay here and make sure the windows are all covered,” Grant instructed her. “This case will go to trial whether this guy likes it or not. Which car is it?”
“Yes, VK,” Raney replied, then pointed out the vehicle. It appeared to be an expensive make and model.
Angered that anyone in a job that was supposed to be about serving the law would actively try to free a man who’d nearly killed someone without a trial, Grant turned the doorknob and scowled. He stalked up to the car and knocked as harshly as he dared on the glass of the driver’s side door.
The window slowly lowered, and a man stared at him as if he’d seen a ghost. “Grant?”
