Alasdair was spot on. Sexual arousal had overtaken his sanity and he wanted to be fucked by Alasdair. Even if it meant his very possible death.
One day soon, it will happen. I have promised myself that. But not tonight, Leonidas. Not tonight.
As the words drifted inside his dazed mind, Leo tried to make sense of everything that had happened, but before he could, it all stopped.
Alasdair was gone.
Not only had he vanished from Leo’s mind, but he’d also faded from his kitchen, leaving him alone for the first time in two weeks.
ISADORA PACED BACK and forth outside Alasdair’s bedroom. He’d returned alone an hour earlier from wherever he’d disappeared to with his human. Since then, he’d sequestered himself inside his chambers and had not come out.
Ugh, she hated when he got all broody and irritable. It usually meant he needed to fucking eat. But, being the arrogant ass he was, Alasdair always pushed his control to the breaking point. It was also evident from the fact he hadn’t fully claimed his yielding that the imbecile was waiting until he was ravenous. And with the way he was stalking that human male, she knew he wouldn’t have taken a meal elsewhere.
She knocked twice, waiting for him to grant her access. However, when nothing came from behind the locked door, she decided she’d had enough waiting.
She faded inside and scanned the large quarters for him. When she spotted him walking out of the bathroom, he had only a towel around his waist and his hair was sticking up in wet strands.
Ahh. It appears someone is trying to wash away his evening’s activities.
“Were you planning to let me in or ignore me all evening, cousin?”
“Does it matter?” he asked as he walked by her, dropping the towel to the floor.
“No. Not particularly. I have need for you in the Adjudication Room. I know I’ve been dealing with things for the most part, but I would like you to step in on this particular hearing.”
She watched unashamedly as he shrugged into a black shirt and pants. Then she thought about what a truly handsome male he was by any standards. It was almost distracting. When he raised a bored eyebrow, she shook herself out of her study of him and continued.
“Stratos has been brought to me. One of the guards patrolling the streets picked him up earlier this evening.”
“Picked him up for doing what?” Alasdair asked as he buttoned his shirt. “Stratos hardly strikes me as the sort to be causing trouble. He’s always towed the line.”
“Yes, I know, which is why it’s so odd. He appears different tonight. Almost possessed in a way.”
Alasdair frowned at her and then shrugged as if it weren’t his problem.
“Do you really think I would come to you if I didn’t need your help? He’s hiding something, and nothing I have done has worked.”
“What do you think he’s hiding?” he asked, this last piece of information obviously piquing his interest.
“I don’t know, but every time I think he’s about to say, he shuts down.”
Alasdair crossed his arms as he mulled her words over. “Did you contact the Ancients? What did they say?”
“They seem to be…away right now.”
“All three of them?”
“Yes, all three.”
When a flash of disbelief crossed Alasdair’s features, she knew what he was thinking. It was odd that all three would leave the main lair at the same time. However, if they had been taught anything over the years, it was to never doubt their Ancient’s judgment. If they needed to be somewhere, it was for a good reason.
“Well,” Alasdair finally said. “What are we waiting around for? I suppose we need to pay Stratos a visit and get to the bottom of this.”
“ALASDAIR, HAVE YOU heard a word I’ve said to you in the last five minutes?” Isadora asked, as she tapped her polished fingernail on the arm of her chair. They’d been sitting in tense silence while Alasdair assessed the situation hanging from the center of the Adjudication Room. “If we leave him up there much longer, having him present for a trial will prove difficult. Due to his being dead and all.”
The hard lines of Alasdair’s face were as set as stone as he stared at the male in front of them. “What do I care if he’s dead? He’s not telling me anything useful now, and all I’ve heard so far are lies. Stratos, we know you were consorting with a messenger. You haven’t yet denied it, but on the same hand, you haven’t told us why you would be so stupid. So Isa,” Alasdair said with an air of congeniality about him that was at odds with the situation, “I’m not sure why he would be given a trial, all things considered.”
Isadora let her eyes drift to the vampire who was currently attached to the large metallic hook in the center of the ceiling by ankle cuffs. “Because it’s the fair thing to do?” she ventured, knowing she somehow had to pull her cousin from his volatile mood.
He glanced over at her, looking skeptical. “Have you ever known me to be concerned by what is fair and what is not?”
“Well, no.”
“Then what makes you think I would start now?”
She leaned over until their shoulders touched and lowered her voice. “Because in situations like these, our job is to ask questions, not terminate.”
Alasdair looked back to the male squirming around from where he dangled helplessly. He then faced her again. “Is that supposed to mean something to me? Yes, my job is to ask questions. If answers are not given, I am afforded the power to make life-or-death decisions. It is a job both you and Thanos refused due to…weak stomachs, I presume. You came to me,” he stated, and Isadora was beginning to think that had been a mistake, given Alasdair’s current temper. “So, if you don’t mind, I will handle this as I have always handled such cases.”
“But cousin, we have known Stratos most of our lives. And he’s…”
“What, Isa? What is he, other than a traitor? Messengers are forbidden consorts. Stratos is well aware of this law. If you break it, you pay. It’s no different for an elder than for a newling.”
She sighed—she was not about to win this. Alasdair had not been his usual self for quite some time, and tonight, ever since he’d returned, he had been in a right foul mood.
“Really, Alasdair, you need to snap out of whatever this is. Thanos is having far too much fun trying to think of new ways to annoy you, and I don’t even want to imagine what Vasilios has in store after last time. It’s clear that dealing with that human is the cause of this odious mood, so why bother with him?”
As she peered into her cousin’s mind to understand what was going on, the irritated emotions in his head showed her how conflicted he was. He was remembering his evening and where he’d been with the male. In some sort of kitchen, where they were—
“You kissed him?” Isadora asked, interrupting his train of thought.
“Get the fuck out of my head, Isa.”
“I would if I thought for one second you were using it.”
“Get out, unless you want me to hurt you instead of him,” he barked at her, standing to make his way over to the vampire awaiting his punishment. Or death.
When Alasdair stopped, he was eye level with Stratos, whose pallid skin looked more so than the norm. His cobalt-colored eyes were dark and full of rebellion, save for the flicker of fear as the two wounds through his jugular veins seeped blood, draining him in a most painful way.
“Stratos, you know why you’re here, do you not?”
The vampire’s eyes creased at the sides as they narrowed, but he offered no response.