Dante's Dream (2 page)

Shifter
s
healed pretty fast, so to have this amount of injuries
still;
Jax had to have been held prisoner for a few days.  F
r
om the looks of her
,
she had been tortured.

Brin opened his mouth to talk to Quin
when
the woman moved
and
moaned on the floor.  Turning her head a little and trying to open her eyes.  When she did
,
Brin almost fell on the floor to worship her.  Bright
,
beautiful green eyes stared up a
t him
,
and as he watched
, they changed slightly, n
arrowing and the rims turning yellow as she let out a
throaty
growl.

“Uh,” Brin
said
int
o the
phone,
and he could hear
Quin stop what he was doing.  “She
'
s awake
,
and her eyes are changing.
”

“Shit,
put the phone on speaker
,
set it down and back away from her
,
” Quin ordered.

Yes, Brin was
a lawyer, but he was no slouch.
Quin’s
father used to say that if he had been born wolf
,
he would have made
a
fine Alpha.  Standing six
feet
four in height and weighing about 240 on a bad day, he played what Americans called football on his spare weekends.  His hair was shaggy blonde, and he had a round face that
Quin’s
mother said had character. A scar from the accident ran down the side of his face
–
making him seem mean
–
and his steely
g
rey eyes usually made shifters even pause when they came into his office.  It was why they all loved
him; he
looked like he could kick ass and take names
—
on the field and
in
the courtroom
,
he could.  Know
n
for his tenacity, Brin was like a dog with a bone when it came to protecting his clients.

“Jax?”  H
e heard Quin say
,
but Brin
refused to
back up when he set the phone down.  The woman looked at him with a glint in her eye.  If she was a shifter
,
she had heard what Quin had told him to
do,
and he refused.

Moving slowly to her feet, looking like she was in pain but refused to show weakness, she growled
in a wonderful accent
, “Who the fuck are you?”

She lifted her head
and
sniffed; she
was a wolf, only wolves did that
when
they met people.  Cats were more subtle.

“Jax?” Quin tried again from the phone as Brin stood frozen
,
looking into the most mesmerizing eyes he had ever seen.  She cocked her head and frowned.

He wanted to smell himself to make sure he was n
ot sweaty from his earlier work
out,
how embarrassing
.  But he held on and waited.  She never took her eyes off
him,
and she reached for the phone.

“Quin?” she asked into the phone and pushed a button and held it to her ear and listened.

Brin could only stand there and wait as he assumed the New Council Alpha explained who he was.  Jax nodded a few times and then said
, “
I really don’t give a flying fuck who you think he is, this man is my mate.” She
announced,
and Brin frowned.

Dante stood before his master and waited.  He
was called
yet again in the middl
e of the night to come and get
new
orders.  Being the head of the Vampire Guard sometimes was a pain in the ass.  Although he would not change his life or title for anything
, Dante sometimes thought that his master called him first just to piss him off.  There were three others he could have called before him
.
Dante like
d
working at night
still
,
even though
they had completed the ceremony
so
his
Clan
could walk in the sun.  Dante had not gotten used to it yet, and wasn’t sure he actually liked it.  The day brought back bad
memories.

Changed when he was working the grape fields for his
parent’s
winery,
Dante had been shocked to discover there were truly magical creatures
among
them. 
The day
was like
any
other; however,
Dante had not known that getting up before dawn to check his father
’
s special grapes would have been his downfall.
  The Vampire had been hiding in the field, waiting for him.  She laughed when he had tried to fight her.  Even as stron
g as he was, fighting a Vampire
was no use really for a human, especially at the turn of the century before they even knew their weaknesses.

After nearly draining him of blood, the bitch had left him to
die
not know
ing that his sheer will to live
brought the change with what little blood she had given him as a joke. 
But the change
was horrible
.  Now he understood why it was outlawed to change a
human,
unless there was permission.

He had been a Vampire for a century, and during that time, Orfeo’s father had found him wandering the stre
ets looking for rats to drink f
r
o
m because he refused to turn into a
bloodsucker
like the bitch
that
changed him. 
Orfeo’s
father
took him off the
streets
, gave him a place to stay and a purpose to live.
Being educated in the United States, he was well used to their culture and their ways.
When he returned to Italy after bumming around the United States, he returned t
o be a Guard of the
Ambrosetti
family estate.  D
ecades later
,
he
began
to
raise
through
the rank
s
, starting out as the head of his team and then a squad, a battalion and finally made the Head of the Guard, a title he shared with three
others. 
 

Standing before the new head of his family and the new head of the New Council Senate, Dante felt
proud
of his
accomplishments
.  Strong and buff from working in the fields when he was young, Dante was in the same physical shape as the day he was changed.  The only difference being that his long
,
black hair
,
though used to be tied back to stay out of his eyes, now hung glea
ming and smooth down his back.  I
t never grew unless he cut it, to return to it
s former length.  By all rights
,
it drove him nuts sometimes, during a battle it got into his face.  But Caterina, the new Vampire Queen, had ordered him to leave it down when she was around because it was sexy. 

His leader had frowned
and
growled at him, so Dante left it down on purpose to bug his master.  They
had
been together long enough
that Orfeo knew
he had a strange sense of
humor;
he tolerated it
because the two men had grown up side by side.  Neither given special treatment by Orfeo’s father.

It was good Dante was actually called in here this evening.  He had been having strange dreams
lately
.  Not that it was
unusual
.  He had been having them since he was
turned;
only the leader of the family knew of his gift, and Orfeo’s father had told him when he took over the job. 

Orfeo told him sooner or later he was going to have to quit being the Leader of the Guard and take his place a
t
his side.  A Vampire that had
visions of the future was rare
and powerful.  For the leader of a family to have found
one
was unusual.  Orfeo’s father knew of only one other Seer, and they were part of the New
Council
.  Lo
n
g ago, he agreed to keep his secret, knowing that one day it would be needed a
nd
Dante would take his p
l
ace at his son’s side.  Dante had dreamt it.  It seemed the day was growing closer than he thought.

His Master hung up t
he phone and turned back to him.
“Dante, we need to have some of your guards get to Blackpool as soon as possible.  The daughter of the
Pack
that was attacked turned up in Brin’s office
,
Jaden sa
id.”

“I
know; I
am ready with twelve of our best Guards,
” Dante
said.

Orfeo frowned and l
ooked at his friend and said, “N
ot you.”

Dante sighed
and
folded his hands behind his back and stood tall.  “Master, I resign from my post as the Leader of the Guard
, I
have a replacement in
mind,
and I will be glad to make sure she is trained when I return.  Until then
,
the other three Leaders will be ready to take up the slack.”

Orfeo’s
eyes
grew
wide,
and he
looked
at
Dante closely.  “Excuse me?”

“You heard him
,
dear,” Cat said as she
walked
into the room, she had been there longer
than
he realized.  “He
'
s
quitting; you
should have known it was coming.  His restlessness of late.”

The Queen paused by him and pulled on his arm until he bent and allowed her to
kiss
him on the cheek
,
much to his Master’s displeasure.  Orfeo growled and pulled his sassy acting mate to his side before
turning
back to him.

“My mate spent too much time with the Alpha in the States obviously,”
h
is leader said and then smiled.
“Dante, what exactly are you
saying
?”
Orfeo asked.

“Sire,” Dante said out of respect.  Although Orfeo did not
sire
him, he hated it when anyone called him Master.  “The time has come.”

There was really no need to actually explain what he meant.  Orfeo knew, and his mates knew.  He was finally going to
be taking his place by his side a
s
the family Seer.
“I have seen what I need to.  I am to go to England with my men, my destiny and yours is tied with this female.”

“She
'
s your mate?” Cat asked curiously.

Orfeo looked at his mate with exasperation, “C…”

Cat held up her hand
to
one of the most powerful Vampires in the
world
and said, “Listen, oh
exalted
one; I
am the Queen, you told me I had as much standing as you.  I can ask my Lead Guard questions.”

Orfeo
hung his
head,
and Dante thought he must be thinking before he spoke, which was good, since he
has
seen his Queen in action lately.  She had truly
become
the
l
eader of the Vampire
Clan. 
 

Dante, wanting to run interference for his Master
–
although it would be fun to watch him squirm
–
but the plane was due to leave shortly.  “I am not sure whether she is my mate or not, I do know that she needs protection.  I also believe she is your next Senate member, from the wolf shifters.”

Orfeo swore and then pulled out his cell and began barking orders in the phone.  There were already a few of his Clan close that would help guard the woman unt
il Dante got
there; he
knew that. 
The question was
,
what the hell was he going to do when he got there?

***

“Mate?” Brin said and stepped closer to the woman.  He felt a pull towards her, had since she had fallen through his door. 
But mates
?  He was a
human;
Brin wasn’t so stupid to think that it made a difference.  Quin and his brothers explained to him a long time ago what finding their mate meant.  He
witnessed it
himself.  The joy a shifter felt to find the one who was destined to be theirs, but by the look on the
woman’s
face, she was not exactly thrilled.

“My father and mother were killed.  I don’t know how many got out and went into hiding.  I was going to go back when one of the bastards caught me.  I escaped before they could take me to whoever the fuck leads them, and hid.  It took me a few days to get
here;
my father had the
human’s
card.  Now, I plan to go back and take up where my father left off.  I will not let them destroy his legacy.  I was being trained to be the Alpha, and that is what I am now.  The Alpha of the Credence Pack
,
” Jax said and handed the phone back to Brin and looked at him warily.

“Quin?” Brin said into the receiver
,
never taking his eyes off the beautiful woman.

“This is a cluster fuck.  Orfeo is sending Guards to help.  We need to find out if there are any other survivors.  Jax has just claimed herself Alpha, which means they will all be searching her out
,
” Quin said and Brin knew when a wolf claimed a leaderless Pack to the ruling Council Alpha, they were the new leader of the Pack until someone tried to take over.  Looking at Jax, he knew they would have a hell of a time doing it.  She may be small, but she was
strong; he
could feel the waves of magic and power flowing off of her. The Pack would seek out their Alpha.  If she st
ayed in one place long enough they would find her.

Jax stepped back but never
took her
eyes off him.  “What the hell do I do about the situation?”  He was referring to the mating
thing; Quin
would understand, at least he hoped, Brin needed a little guidance.

“Well, she says she
'
s your mate.  I would assume she isn
'
t lying
.
  So if I were
you,
I would get to know her, find out what the hell is going on.  If she is going to trust anyone
,
it will be you.  You said she looked like she was in bad shape, get her cleaned up and clothes.  Feed her, and then if she needs to talk to a female have her call either Cami, or Caterina.  They would both be more than happy to talk to her
,
” Quin
said,
and he heard
Cami in the background.  She must have just
come
in because she was demanding to know what was going on.  Jaden was talking on the other phone, and she was getting pissed.  “Listen, do what I said, we
'
ll work from this end.  Cami will probably be bugging you when I
give
her the scoop.  But for now, just get her comfortable.  You need to stay in the office until help gets there.”

“Got it,” Brin said
and
hung up the phone and looked at Jax warily.  Talking to
her,
he said, “I have a bathroom, just through there, fully stocked.  You can borrow a
t-shirt
and shorts until we can get someone to bring some in.  I
have food in the
icebox
.  Basically, we can stay in the office for a few days before we have to go out.  The door is enforced with steel and magic.  Quin set it up. 
I have
wards all around this place.  Being the New
Council
attorney put a large target on my back for the Rogues.”