Cambion Lord (Dark Warrior Alliance #23) - Brenda Trim Page 0,13
vampires.”
Hayden hadn’t actually gotten that far, but that didn’t sound like a half bad idea. They’d either think he was crazy and treat him as such, or they would make a move against him and show their hand. Either way he would be prepared.
“I haven’t actually gotten that far. I’m still working through it all. I just can’t stop thinking about how we wouldn’t have lost Matt or any of the others in New Orleans if we had more help from the cops there. There is no reason we need to do this all on our own anymore.”
Tia snorted as she stirred the pot on the stove. Smelled like gumbo. She made the best damn gumbo Hayden had ever eaten. “Or are you trying ta be better dan Zander? Seems like you want ta do sometin to upstage his Dark Warriors.”
Hayden lifted one corner of his mouth while sharp canines replaced his teeth. “Watch it, Mambo. I give you leeway because you’re mated to my second in command. But I will not tolerate anyone talking to me like that. I was there when Zander suggested the various factions band together. It was revolutionary and the first time in our history we did anything like that. Just because what I am proposing is the biggest deviation, we’ve ever experienced doesn’t mean I’m trying to upstage him. I am fucking done losing shifters and other supernaturals. The Tehrex Realm has lost enough. We’ve sacrificed more than our share.”
Zeke stood and positioned his body between Hayden and his mate. “Let’s leave that conversation for another day. Nothing is happening any time soon. What can I do to help you now? The east coast really could use a visit from their Omega. I’ve had three reports from pack alphas that their members are getting restless.”
Hayden let his breath out and leaned across the island. “I’m not surprised to hear that. It’s been too long since I’ve been out there. Too fucking many emergencies that have needed my attention lately. I’ll plan a trip, but I will need you here to manage shit while I’m gone. And if Crocell or another archdemon attacks I’m not coming back. I need the normalcy of fighting rabid shifters.”
Zeke laughed and clapped him on the back. “You’ve got it, Sir. Why don’t you go for a run?”
“And ask your grandmother if she wants ta come over for dinner,” Tia added.
Hayden stood up and stretched his arms over his head. “I need to patrol the perimeter anyway.” While Grandma Flo loved Tia’s cooking it was next to impossible to drag her from the main dining hall. She thrived on having the pack surround her and eat her food. There’d been a friendly rivalry between Tia and his grandmother since the Mambo arrived. They both love cooking for others.
“I’ll see if I can drag her from her stove. You know how she is about mealtimes.” Hayden headed for the door.
His mind continued churning through the conversation, getting stuck on seeking sympathetic humans. The cool air of the night embraced Hayden, clearing some of the clogged channels.
Hayden loved living at the Grove. He could breathe out here where he was suffocated anytime he went to Zeum or anywhere else in the city. Located out in the Snohomish mountains, the pack had plenty of space to roam in their animal forms without being too close to the pollution from cars, the noise and the cloying smells.
Hayden headed to the dining hall located behind his house. His grandmother lived in a small home not far from Jesaray House, but she wasn’t there at the moment. For a second, Hayden missed having her in the big house with him.
After his mother and father were killed, his grandmother moved in with him. He was a young shifter. Barely out of his transition. They’d moved from Scotland to the new country shortly after that.
Zander and the other council members moved at the same time. Their big group moved around the country and settled on the west coast a couple hundred years ago. Hayden and his pack joined the natives in the Snohomish mountains and made a home while Zander and the others continued moving around the area before settling in Seattle.
Soft music drifted through the open windows in the kitchen connected to the dining hall. The woman that helped shape him into the Omega he’d become stood before an eight-burner stove with several pots bubbling in front of her.