Queen of Death

If you haven't seen it yet, there's a bonus chapter posted at the end of Escaping Death featuring Mags, the twins, Xander, and Ember 😘

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Dean

If Death came for me right now I'd welcome him as a sated man. Can't say I'd be all that happy to meet him, but I'd die knowing what pure ecstasy Solana's affection feels like. Even now, as we get dressed after awakening unrushed in the tub, her thoughts and her feelings remain open to me.

"I meant what I said, you know?" Solana says softly, tugging on a pair of Ace's sweatpants. "Your pack would never turn their back on you. They'd never abandon you."

She walks into my embrace and lets me hold her quietly for a moment. "I see that now, yes. I meant what I said, too. I want to take care of you, baby. Not because you're not capable. Because it makes me happy to provide for you."

Her bright green eyes swallow me whole. They're open wide and brimming with fire. I lean down, pressing my lips to hers. Savoring the satin softness of her lips, and the taste of her sweet tongue.

"We should probably hurry up and get downstairs," She murmurs between kisses.

"Mhmm, we could do that," I drop a kiss to the top of her head and inhale her delicious vetiver scent. Truthfully I just don't want to move. I want to collapse on this bed and take her down with me, then sleep for a few straight days.

"I'm serious," I feel her smile against me. "Ace is back. I can feel him worrying."

What she forgets is that I can feel him too, and he's past worried. He's a half-step away from frantic, but his cool control is keeping his fear on ice. It's the singular focus of an alpha looking for his mate. The hunt isn't as enjoyable when her safety is called into question.

The door to the bedroom crashes open, leaving us exposed to Ace and Tate. I watch in real time as every muscle in their bodies relaxes.

Smoke swirls out of Ace's nose when he huffs, "I wouldn't worry so much if I didn't come home to a kitchen on fire and a knife on the floor with Dean's blood on it."

A string of curses slips from Sol's lips before she slaps a hand over her mouth to conceal her laughter. Ace is amused by her reaction but you'd never know it by looking at him. He prowls towards us, reaching out to her and inviting her into his arms.

"Nice haircut," Tate says with no emotion, tossing me a clean shirt from the drawer. He nods at me once, relief and gratefulness hidden deep in his eyes only for me to recognize.

"You were worried about me?" Solana purrs against Ace's lips.

"I'm perpetually worried about you, Princess." He grins impishly at her. "I worry if your knives are sharp enough, how many people you're going to kill every time you leave the house, how many bodies I'll have to bury for you."

Her smile is incandescent, her eyes burn for him and him alone. I don't need my gift to know he's head over tail in love with her and she's equally afflicted. What's interesting is how that feeling doesn't fade when her focus shifts to my brother, nor does it fade when she looks back towards me over her shoulder. If anything it blooms.

I'm more resolved than ever to cultivate that flower, thorns be damned.

By the time we get downstairs, the table is littered with take out containers. Eli maintains a neutral face when she comes into view but Hunter takes the opportunity to heckle her.

"Wonderful dinner, Iron Chef. I'm afraid the...well, I'm actually not sure what that started off as. But I do know it was well done. And by well done I mean charred to a crisp."

She folds herself easily into his lap, "sorry about that. There was an intruder." Her eyes swing to me with an accompanying smirk.

I sit down among the pack and start loading my plate with a little of everything they've ordered. "Lucky for me that kitchen knives aren't balanced for throwing." It's a comment meant to add levity to the situation but any smiles it might have garnered flatline after a heartbeat.

"I still hit you, didn't I?" Solana defends her pride.

"That's my girl," Hunter beams at her.

Everyone busies themselves by plating their food and digging into their dinners.

"So, what happened?" Eli asks with a mouthful of chicken wings.

I recount the last two days for them starting with following Hunter out of the window and getting hit in the back. Their expressions give nothing away even as I explain how I muddied myself to mask my scent and moved mostly at night to avoid being seen. Ending with climbing up the service shaft because elevator access to this apartment is from the roof only.

"I thought for sure I was home free once I pried open the elevator doors but Solana is determined to keep me on my toes apparently," I grin playfully at her. A delightful blush colors her cheeks and I can't help but feel my proverbial plumage ruffling proudly.

"Have you met my family?" She deflects. "That's just how we say hello."

"Speaking of your family," I attempt to pivot the conversation, "do we have anything to present to the Queen from the files Tate took?"

As if it were an extension of himself, Tate pulls out his laptop and casts it to the TV in the living room where we're eating. Pages and pages of files flutter by rapidly, lines of code scurry across the screen like little arachnids.

"The facility acts as a holding place for those they're selling at auction. Mostly hybrids, both female and male, but a few purebred dragonesses, too. Max capacity is 500, current occupancy 412."

"406," Eli interjects. "Ace rescued the 6 from the laundry room."

Tate continues on without acknowledging Eli's comment. "They have auctions twice a month. Each is sold off indiscriminately to the highest bidder. They don't care who these people are so long as they can pay. An invitation to these auctions alone can run upwards of 250k.

"That money gets spread out, washed clean, and then a large percentage gets deposited into Lobo Tech accounts. Coincidentally, a number equivalent to the remaining percentage also ends up in Elder Council accounts.

"It's one big circle. Elders pay Lobo, Lobo pays the facility, then those profits trickle back."

Maps, schedules, bank transactions, and pictures and profiles of every guard and prisoner filter endlessly on the screen.

"Did you find anything connecting Alec to the facility?"

"Yes and no," Tate grits out bitterly. "His name is on half a dozen documents but there's nothing that expresses his role in this operation. He could be a money man, or he could be a high ranking leader in this ring. Hard to say for sure. And, his name only appears on these documents dating back the last four years. That's when the facility was built and enabled the small trafficking operation from the Underdark to grow into what it is today."

The room goes quiet, everyone has abandoned their plates having lost most of their appetite in the face of this discussion. I feel Eli wrestling with quiet discontent, he's working hard to puzzle something out in his mind but the equation won't balance.

"What's on your mind, Eli?" I poke him in hopes that he shares what's plaguing him.

"I...I don't know, it all seems straightforward. Corrupt people doing corrupt shit for money. And they've obviously been doing it for years, maybe decades, without anyone being any the wiser."

"What's your point?" Hunter prods gently.

Eli's face hardens, lips turning into a snarl. "They knew we were going to be there. Not just that someone would try to break in. They knew it was the six of us — one of whom is, and I quote, the hybrid with the bounty."

He looks around the room to each one of us. "Who exactly knew that we were going after the facility?"

"The six of us and my family were the only ones to know," Solana says confidently.

"Somehow someone from this organization knew. The Elders, Lobo, or Alec himself knew and tipped off the guards." Eli argues.

"Other than killing Michael Evans, no one here or in my family has any connection to Lobo. Alec wasn't even in the Grove when we last met with my parents, and it's not like we have any Elders in the family. The closest would be Grandma Ianthe but she was screwed over and..." Her voice trails off and a symphony of expressions play on her face. Her brows furrow, creasing the soft pad of skin on her forehead. Slowly they lift up to her hairline as her mouth opens into a small "o" shape.

"And they gave her spot to Elena," she whispers furiously.

Hunter's heart rate spikes at the mention of this name. "Elena like Annie's mom, Elena?"

"Yes," she hisses like the name is hot acid and jumps to her feet off of his lap.

"Who's this we're talking about?" Eli asks innocently, but it's still enough of an infraction to make Solana snarl and subconsciously move towards Ace.

"She's involved with my uncle Dex. He never officially married her but they might as well be."

Eli looks at me and Hunter quizzically, his question still not fully answered.

"Her sons and daughter kidnapped Sol and tried to sell her to breeders," Hunter's voice is a ghost of a whisper. "And I killed them for it."

The room goes quiet again. Ace has one hand around Sol's throat, the other on her hip, and he's whispering something reassuring in her ear.

"I know she's basically family, but in terms of motive things look pretty damning for her," Eli says to the group but primarily to Sol. "But we can't go to your parents without proof again."

Solana looks at Eli from around Ace's shoulder. His hand still loosely cupping her neck. Then her gaze swivels to Hunter. "I have proof. Death has no secrets. Perhaps it's time we tell my family the truth."

Hunter's on his feet before her sentence is finished. He sandwiches her between himself and Ace, "are you sure, Sunflower?"

She nods confidently, "she's done so much damage to my family as it is. If she's working with traffickers then she deserves to burn. No one will believe me, but if it came from you then they'd have to listen."

"You're saying you want to bring Hunter to the Grove publicly," Tate seeks to confirm her intentions.

A wicked, victorious grin spreads over her face. "That's exactly what I'm saying."