He got up to walk outside, but he was speaking so loud I could still hear everything he said."
Now we're getting somewhere. Even though I was exhausted, I had caught my second wind.
"From what I gathered, someone wanted him to do something, and he didn't want to. It escalated rather quickly. I remember him saying something like, ‘Fine, I don't need you anymore. I've got the major alphas locked in to turn on her.’" He rubbed a hand down his face. "Then, he yelled, ‘Yeah, right, what can you do?’"
"Any clue who he was talking to?" Mason scratched the back of his neck.
"No, not really. But it was someone trying to tell him what to do, and he didn't like it." Brent paused and glanced out the windows that faced the woods. "He came in laughing and remarked that no one could tell him what to do. Within thirty minutes, all those vampires showed up."
So not only do they have a witch helping in this but some kind of vampire too. The more we learned, the more nothing made sense.
Chapter Fourteen
The sounds of people talking woke me from my slumber. I reached for Mason, but all I found was cold blankets. He'd been up for a while.
My body was sore from the fighting and digging last night, but it wasn't anything I couldn't push through. I crawled out of bed and took a deep breath as last night replayed in my head. The vampires were somehow after us again. The last I'd heard, there was a bit of a vampire civil war as multiple people were clamoring to claim the crown. I'd hoped it would buy us time, but that obviously wasn't the case.
As I padded out of the room, I followed the sound of voices into the den. Brent and Mason sat on opposite ends of the couch while Louis sat in the love seat. The sacred scent of coffee filled the air.
"What's going on?" I took a deep breath, savoring the aroma.
"Uh-oh." Ella's voice sounded from the kitchen. "I better make another cup before Elena comes back here and kicks my ass."
"That's a valid point." I wandered over to Mason who opened his arms to me. I crawled into his lap, resting my head on his chest. My eyes connected with Brent's. "How's your mate?"
"Stronger." He let out a breath. "Her color is returning. Both she and the baby's heartbeats are strong again. Thankfully, we got her set up in time so her wolf could begin healing."
At least, that was some good news. "I'm glad. I didn't realize you were expecting."
"I try not to let anyone know. It's something that could be held over my head." He sighed. "Of course, the one person I had trusted outside the pack ran as soon as the first vampires appeared."
Yeah, I wasn't about to ease his conscience on that.
"Well, for being an alpha, you aren't all that good at reading people." Ella walked in, somehow balancing three cups of coffee. She headed straight over to me and nodded for me to take the middle one, which was being held up precariously by the other two coffee cups in each of her hands.
I sat straight up toward her and grabbed the cup of coffee. "Thank you." Those words were said with so much love. I moved to sit next to Mason so I didn't spill any coffee on him or me.
"It has nothing to do with reading people. He was just being opportunistic." Mason's jaw clenched.
I loved him somehow more for the fact that he didn't hold back exactly how he felt.
Brent took in a deep breath and nodded his head. "That hurts, but you're right. I deserved it." His eyes settled on me. "And I'm sorry. I'll be honest; I was thinking more about money than the well-being of my pack, obviously. But that changes now."
"I won't lie and say it's okay, but I'm glad that we're on the same side now." I couldn't be a leader, walking on eggshells, and Mason seemed to feel that same way. "Now we need to find time to go to Nashville and talk with the alpha there."
"No need to." Brent bit his bottom lip. "I'll handle it. He was only going against you because of me."
"At least, that solves one problem." It probably should upset me that he was the instigator of it all, but in that moment, I was relieved. We needed to quickly figure out who the witch and vampire leaders were