Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Chapter Four
THE HIDDEN PANEL SLID shut behind Hexius with the stealthy efficiency of advanced preter engineering, sealing him inside a room that didn’t officially exist. No blueprints filed with the city. No contractor records. Just thirty feet of reinforced steel and silence, buried in the heart of his penthouse like a secret wrapped in glass and money.
This wasn’t the kind of study that appeared in architectural magazines. No leather-bound classics or crystal decanters catching light from tall windows. The walls were lined with gun safes and weapon racks, each piece meticulously maintained and ready for use. A katana hung beside tactical body armor. Throwing knives shared space with encrypted communication devices that could reach any snow leopard territory in under sixty seconds. All of it, the natural outcome of a pack lifestyle dedicated to training for war even before the human race forged their first sword.
Because for the snow leopards, the rule was simple, three words that he first heard from his grandfather.
Trust. No. One.
The massive tactical table dominated the center space, its surface scattered with intelligence reports, territorial maps, and photographs that would make L’Alliance representatives very uncomfortable if they knew they existed. Snow leopards had never joined the supernatural United Nations for a reason. They preferred to handle their own problems their own way.
Hexius stepped between the weapon racks and intelligence displays, each item positioned exactly where it needed to be. Everything had its place. Everything served a purpose. Unlike the rest of his life, which seemed to be spiraling into complications he couldn’t solve with superior firepower and ancient training.
His encrypted phone sat silent on the metal surface where he’d left it. The display showed seventeen missed calls, all to the same number.
She had never refused his calls before, but she did so now. For three days and counting. Too bad for her, that would never be enough to deter him. Some conversations needed to happen whether she wanted them or not.
A soft knock interrupted his brooding, three quick taps followed by two longer ones. The code meant intel, not emergency. Hexius touched the panel beside the hidden door, and it slid open to reveal Ajax, one of his most reliable lower-ranking pack members. The younger man’s nervous energy filled the doorway like static electricity.
“Report,” Hexius said without preamble.
Ajax stepped inside, the door sealing automatically behind him. “Ms. Hondros maintained her usual routine until approximately fourteen hundred hours. Then something changed.” He paused, swallowing hard under his alpha’s steady golden stare. “Your brother paid her a visit.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Hexius didn’t move, didn’t speak, but something in his stillness made Ajax take an involuntary step backward.
“Go on.”
Relief flooded Ajax’s system. For a second there, he had been worried that his alpha would forget not to shoot the messenger.
“He’s listed as an executive producer on the film she’s working on. Used that access to get her alone.” Ajax pulled out a tablet, swiping to a series of surveillance photos. “They were in conference room B for approximately twenty-three minutes. She came out looking...upset.”
Hexius studied the images with the detached focus of a hunter analyzing prey patterns. Samira’s face in the final photo showed the same carefully blank expression he remembered from six years ago, and it was that of someone trying very hard not to feel anything at all.
“Did you get audio?”
“Negative, sir. The room was soundproofed, and we couldn’t risk getting closer without compromising the operation.”
“Anything else?”
“She went home immediately after. Hasn’t left her apartment since.”
Hexius inclined his head, and Ajax bowed, correctly interpreting this as a silent dismissal from his alpha’s presence.
Hexius’ mood turned brooding as he found himself alone with questions that multiplied like shadows in candlelight.
Why Samira?
That was the question he’d never thought to ask six years ago. He’d assumed his brother’s choice was random, some business arrangement between old families, the kind of political maneuvering that kept their kind’s secrets safe while cementing useful alliances.
But what if it hadn’t been random at all? What if there was more to his brother wanting him to marry Samira than just jealousy?
Hexius moved to one of the secured file cabinets, entering a code that would trigger an explosion if entered incorrectly. Inside, nestled between psychological profiles of vampire leaders and detailed maps of Fae territories, was a thin folder marked with Samira’s name.
He’d started the file after receiving the compatibility report from Concord Agency. Standard protocol: know your potential assets, understand their vulnerabilities, maximize your leverage.
He had gotten Ajax to look into her family background, and he had been surprised to find out that Vaughn had reached out to the Hondros’ patriarch shortly after Samira’s flight to the States. Unfortunately, that was all Ajax had been able to unearth, and it was frustrating as hell, not knowing what Vaughn and Samira’s grandfather had spoken about.