Blood Lust - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,68
rolled her eyes, torn between the desire to scorch his fine ass with a blast of magic, or grab him by his hair and kiss him senseless.
In the end, she watched in silence as he walked away.
Chapter Fourteen
Kaede glanced around the group of males who seemed to take up far more space than was reasonable.
He’d gotten the text from Wolfe an hour ago that he was arriving with a few of his friends and demanding that Kaede meet them just beyond the perimeter of the ranch. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it hadn’t been the two dozen Sentinels who were dressed in black to blend into the night.
They ranged in size from extra-large to overly massive, with enough power to send tremors through the ground and heat the air. And all of them had a variety of lethal weapons strapped to their bodies. Kaede grimaced, feeling as if he were drowning in testosterone.
The Tagos clearly wasn’t there to screw around.
“Have you ever heard the term ‘overkill’?” he couldn’t resist taunting.
Wolfe stepped forward, the moonlight shimmering off the streak of silver in his hair.
“Don’t push my buttons,” the older man growled, the air prickling with warning. “If I had my way you would be locked in my dungeons.”
Kaede’s lips twitched. A wise male would avoid pissing off the Tagos. Wolfe could easily have him arrested and even executed if he decided he wanted to be rid of an aggravating enforcer.
Kaede, however, had a pathological need to mock authority.
“I thought the dungeons belonged to the lovely Lana?” he drawled.
Wolfe reached out with blinding speed, wrapping his fingers around Kaede’s throat.
“She’s the Mave,” he rasped, his fingers tightening until Kaede grunted in pain. “I hear her name on your lips again and I’ll rip them off. Got it?”
Kaede gave a grudging nod, sucking in a deep breath when Wolfe released his punishing grip. Still, he couldn’t resist one last jab.
“I sense a little frustration, Tagos,” he murmured.
The older man ignored his taunt, his expression hard as he pointed toward the nearby ranch.
“Tell me about the compound.”
Kaede instantly crouched down, his mocking smile fading as he concentrated on business.
Bas needed him to work with Valhalla.
For now, he would play nice.
“This is the bunkhouse and chow hall,” he said, using his finger to draw a map in the dust. Despite the darkness, each of the Sentinels would easily be able to see what he was creating. “That’s where the majority of the Brothers are located. There are six stationed guards.” He moved his finger to make a series of Xs to represent each sentry.
The men crowded around, each memorizing the layout of the compound.
“Weapons?” Wolfe at last demanded.
Kaede circled an area in the middle of the map. “In the training center.”
“What kind?”
“Mostly garden variety,” Kaede said. After he’d left Stella, he’d done a more thorough exploration of the area, including the locked rooms where they kept their guns. “A few high-powered rifles and a couple grenade launchers.”
Wolfe cocked a dark brow. “That’s all?”
“I’m not sure,” Kaede admitted, standing upright to point toward the rolling hills at the north side of the property.
“There are abandoned mines on the opposite side of the lake.”
Wolfe narrowed his gaze. “That must be where Myst was held.”
Kaede clenched his hands. The mere thought of the delicate female being tossed into a pit like she was nothing more than a piece of trash made him want to kill someone.
Slowly, and with as much pain as possible.
“Yeah. Bastards,” he muttered. “They told me it’s where they keep their hostages.”
Wolfe sent him a puzzled frown. “And?”
“And I managed to get close enough to be confident that there are no current prisoners,” he said. “So why do they have two Brothers on constant guard duty?”
“There must be something of value they’re protecting.” Wolfe easily leapt to the same conclusion as Kaede. “Weapons?”
“That would be my guess.”
Wolfe grimaced before turning his attention to the other possible threats.
“What about the leader?”
Kaede swept his hand toward the A-frame structure that was barely visible.
“As far as I can tell, Stella rarely leaves her house. She’s more of an opportunist than a true believer.”
Wolfe nodded. “How many guards?”
“I only sensed one.”
“Inside?”
“Nope. He’s stationed on the outside of the gate.”
Wolfe looked predictably confused. “She doesn’t trust her own men?”
“It could be that,” Kaede said with a shrug. “Or she doesn’t want any of them to guess she’s using a high-blood lover as her source of information.”
“True.” The Tagos gave a humorless laugh. “It’s always better PR to claim