absent and you treat your product better, I, as well as others, will continue to pay you handsomely. My clients want pristine paranormals, not ones who appear as if they haven’t showered in a week.” Irus wrinkles his nose at me in disgust.
“I vow it. The next ones will be to your standards. Tell me what you want. I’ll find them and treat them with care until they are delivered to you.”
“For the money I’m paying I expect the highest quality.”
“Of course.”
“Let’s go, then. I don’t want to waste any more of my time. To my office, Realdo. I trust you recall the location.”
He nods. “I remember.”
Irus grips my wrist as Mya walks over to Realdo and holds his arm that’s still gripping my brother. His free hand raises and he snaps at the same time as Irus does. When we arrive, I’m in a room that looks all too familiar. A beautiful library and a desk with a certain picture absent. Glancing around, I notice that’s not the only change. While this does look like Irus’ library, something isn’t right. It doesn’t have the same feel.
But that’s not all. That spot in the center of my chest where Whit has been absent since Caiden and I were taken, it’s filled again. Brimming with hope, love, and so much anger.
Irus lets me go then stalks over to Caid. “You can release him now. I paid for him.”
Realdo glances around the room, his eyes never staying in one spot for long. Mya does the same. “Something isn’t right,” she murmurs.
Realdo glares at Irus. “You better not have set me up.”
“How?” Irus asks in a bored tone. “You’re in the same place you’ve been before. Where you satisfied your urges with my employees.”
“That’s not what I’m speaking of. The air, there’s magic here.”
Irus rolls his eyes. “As you’re well aware, there are fae on my staff. If I remember correctly, they were the ones you and your mate indulged in together. It’s not surprising that you can feel magic.”
Realdo opens his mouth to say more when a blast of magic is shot toward him. The blade at Caiden’s neck slides across his skin. My brother gasps and falls to the floor. He’s not dead. His head is still attached. With every beat of his heart, blood gushes from the wound. With the handcuffs on, he can’t heal. He chokes and sputters.
Thay steps forward and blasts Realdo again, but Mya is there doing the same back to him. Irus comes toward me and works to free my wrists. Other members of the team pour into the room.
A pained sound reaches me, causing my head to whip in the direction of my brother where Realdo has crawled back over to him while Thay and Mya fight. Realdo grips his blade and drives it into my brother’s chest, right where his heart is.
Thay and Mya continue to square off. Irus tries to get my cuffs off but struggles with the key. Aries and Austin rush forward to help Thay while Sawyer comes over to assist Irus. Whit storms toward Realdo with his hands splayed; Sevan, Des, and Echo right behind him. However, none of that matters. Because right before my eyes, Realdo removes the knife, throws it to the side, and plunges his hand into Caid’s chest.
28
Whitlock
Never in my life have five days dragged as long as they did with Cam gone. It wasn’t that anyone wanted him away that long. But we had to set the trap. Bringing Irus in was step one. Step two was hooking Realdo.
We knew he wouldn’t kill them. Not when he could make a lot of money off two related paranormals. Aries did a lot of digging. Found out even more about the male than what we knew before the mission. He didn’t kill the ones he wanted to sell. He loved the money he got. So, we had to set the stage and offer more money than anyone else.
Thay and I used our magic to turn Irus’ home into a whorehouse, for lack of a better term. Then Aries used his connections to spread to those who knew Realdo about the new high-end place that opened up. Realdo took the bait and showed up repeatedly with his mate. Thanks to Thay’s magic, we didn’t have to find someone to sleep with him. It was all done as a figment of the imagination. Everything from a full, voluptuous female body to her scent and voice. Realdo didn’t know it