Page 29 of Luka

Luka pulled to the curb and grabbed his phone.

“Rayne.”

The panic tried to set in, an unfamiliar feeling to Luka, but he shoved it down. “Name your price, but I need to get my mate back.”

His hesitation to tell Ross that Spencer was his mate should have been a clue. Luka had been so hellbent on getting to Lazarus and ending him that he hadn’t paid attention to that feeling. He should have. Luka cursed the fact that he’d been so unfocused when it had come to Ross. The guy’s true intentions had slipped under his radar, which had never happened before.

“What do you need from me?” Rayne asked.

“Whatever force you have, however many men you can gather. Someone took my mate, is taking him deep into vampire territory, and I need a distraction so I can slip in and get Spencer back.”

“Give me a location and it’s done,” Rayne replied.

No questions. No price. Rayne was just there, ready to help. Fuck, Luka should have gone to him in the first place, but he hadn’t wanted to involve Rayne’s pack. Luka still didn’t know why. Maybe because he wasn’t used to asking for help. Luka was a capable wolf, able to tackle anything, until now.

He couldn’t focus. All Luka kept thinking about was Spencer and getting his mate back. It was as if his entire world had just been ripped away from him, but he needed to calm down and draw from his inner calm. He needed to treat this like any other job, because if he didn’t, he would make mistakes.

Like he had with leaving Spencer with Ross.

“I have a few men already in the city,” Rayne said. “I’ll contact them to help you until we arrive.”

“Do you trust them?”

“Yeah, I do,” Rayne said. “We’ll get your mate back, Luka. You have my word.”

Because if Luka didn’t get Spencer back, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do.

* * * *

“We have a potential disaster,” Shayde said as he entered Eleazar’s office. “I’m talking burn-the-city-to-the-ground-and-kill-every-vampire kind of problem.”

“Let me call you back,” Eleazar said before he hung up the landline on his desk. He didn’t like hanging up with Kellam, especially since the vampire was so close to agreeing to taking over Nelo’s coven.

Especially when Eleazar was against the clock, considering word had it that Lazarus wanted the same position. He’d done his research, and Lazarus wasn’t someone to trifle with. Not that Eleazar feared the vampire, but others might, and if they were afraid, they just might be swayed into joining Lazarus’s side instead of Kellam’s.

Eleazar had never worked so hard to put someone in place before, and to be honest, it was starting to irritate him and give him a migraine.

How Eleazar hated politics. Hated it with a passion, but unfortunately, politics was part of leadership. “What are you talking about?”

Shayde sat on the edge of Eleazar’s desk, which was unusual for his second-in-command. “Luka is on the warpath.”

That was not good. Luka was a formidable opponent, one Eleazar took caution with. True, Eleazar had called the wolf too often lately, but only for his honed skills, for his ability to get a job done without detection. If Luka turned those skills on this city, Eleazar didn’t want to think about the consequences.

“What has happened?” Eleazar hated the fact that Shayde was even making him ask. If Shayde didn’t give him every last detail, he was going to need a new second.

“From what I’m told, Luka found his mate, and that mate has been taken.”

Eleazar flew from his chair. This was worse than not good. This was downright fucked up.

“I guess he had a piece-of-shit uncle who owed Lazarus a great debt. Spencer inherited that debt when Lyle died. Insert Luka who was taking care of the matter, only to be betrayed by someone he thought he could trust.” Shayde shook his head. “The dumb fuck, Ross, is bragging about how he’s outwitted Luka.”

Eleazar wasn’t used to helping wolves. In fact, he despised them. If he could, he’d rid the world of them, but Luka was an exception. He’d helped Eleazar, even if Eleazar had paid him to do so, and now Eleazar felt he owed the guy a debt.

At the very least, Eleazar wanted to save the city.

“Gather our elite.” Eleazar walked around his desk and bared his fangs at Shayde. “Keep Luka’s mate safe at all costs.”

Shayde slid from the edge of Eleazar’s desk. “I know Luka’s whispered to be the boogeyman, but you want to use our elite to help him?”

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