Chapter 3

Dorian's POV

Darkness. The perfect shield for evil and men like me.

I had been watching the hotel entrance for two hours. This has to be a clean job but it was taking too long for the bastard to come out. It was supposed to be 11:43 like the instruction said. Bummer!

When the mafia boss finally stepped out. 1:34Am. I already knew the route, and the blind spot between the door and the waiting car where he always stopped to light a cigarette. Creatures of habit were the easiest to kill, idiots with no sense of suspicion.

I moved before the lighter clicked, a silenced gun in my hand.

“Hey, who's there."

"The devil,” I said, plunging a knife straight into his chest.

The second guard went down fast, elbow to the throat, no sound. The third turned and caught a fist to the jaw that paralyzed him where he stood. The third reached for his weapon and I had the gun at the boss's temple before his hand closed around it.

"Tell your man to put it down," I said to the mafia boss. "Or you lose your head before he pulls the trigger."

The guard lowered his weapon, and I fired at him immediately. A clean headshot.

The boss was breathing hard, sweat already breaking across his forehead.

"Who sent you to take my life?"

"They never state their name, so I don't know." I said coldly. "I only received a parcel. Money, a name, an address, an execution date and a deadline. If there is someone to be killed, maimed or kidnapped, I'm up to the task." I pressed the barrel in slightly. "Affordable rates too."

I pulled the trigger and he fell into a pool of his own blood.

I checked the pulse to confirm his death. Then I stepped over the body and walked to the end of the alley without looking back.

I arrived at the Sovereign Howl Colony as the sky was turning grey.

Vincent was on the castle bannister when I drove in, pacing the length of it with his hands behind his back. I had known Vincent long enough to read that walk, something had gone wrong.

"Talk," I said, dismounting.

"Kael's soldiers hit the border last night." He came down the steps. "The men we sent out for building materials and food. They intercepted them on the road and beat them badly."

I said nothing. But Vincent followed behind me as I walked into the courtyard.

"There's more."

“What?"

“Our spies confirmed it this morning, Kael has vowed to eliminate every rogue settlement in the land."

"He means us specifically." I stopped walking. "He can dress it as a land-wide campaign if he wants. We both know what this is, we're too big now. A colony with its own walls, its own structure, and its own people who aren't starving under its boot." I turned to face him. "That terrifies him."

"Speaking of growing." Vincent exhaled. "Twenty-five more came in last night, escapees and refugees. Some of them were prisoners. People Kael had jailed for next to nothing, three of them were scheduled for execution by the end of the week."

I thought about the money. The parcel from last night. I'd been calculating it the entire ride back, turning the numbers over and over, and they kept coming up short. Building materials. Food for a colony that grew every week, the cost of it all sat in my chest like a stone.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.

"Breakfast for everyone," I said, holding it out to him. "Use what's left to push the east wing construction forward as far as it goes." I paused. "And tell Reina to attend the wounded first, the prisoners especially."

Vincent took the money and nodded.

I turned and went inside. The castle was quiet at this hour. But my head was filled with a whirl of thoughts.

Kael.

That name had lived in my chest like a splinter for years. I had not always been this. Not always a rogue leader running assassination jobs to feed a colony of people the kingdom had thrown away. I had been chief of soldiers once, standing inside the Regalwolf Kingdom with rank and armour and a seat at the table. During this time Kael had been almost a friend. We were so close that I forgot the vileness inside him and let my guard down.

It happened on the day Kael accused me of challenging his order. I and my platoon were assembled outside the castle trying to rest after marathons of training and I only tried to make him understand.

The next thing I saw was the sword. The look on Kael's face when he swung it, and blood bursting out of my side. I retaliated instantly, fire and anger consuming my wolf. I raised my sword, and drove the tip right into his shoulder. The bastard let out a cowardly cry as he fell to the ground. While my wound festered in a cell, Kael landed in the physician's part of the temple, slowly wintering. Rumors flew around quickly, some said I poisoned my sword while others said it was a deliberate act of treason. But Kael was doomed to die, the Kingdom heavy with anticipation until he mysteriously survived the illness.

I broke out of jail before the end of the month. I did not know how much of the infection had already moved through Kael by then and I did not particularly care. I took myself back to my family's old castle on the edge of the territory, and decided it would do.

Slowly, the people started coming, word moved through the land the way it always did among people with nowhere left to go. One man arrived, then three, then a dozen, then more. All of them carry the same story in different faces, beaten, imprisoned, expelled for reasons that were no reasons at all. People Kael had used and discarded.

I had not planned any of it, I had simply not turned anyone away. And now we were a colony large enough to threaten a king. A king who had survived spending every day of that borrowed life making the people around him bleed for it.

I sat down in the chair at the end of the hall and stared at the cold fireplace.

If kael wanted us gone, he was welcome to come and try. I'd started to doze off, trying to catch up to my frequent lack of sleep when a knock sounded on my door. The sudden noise jolted through me, a sharp ache shooting across my groggy head.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"A package came in for you Alpha. We found it in the complaint box."

Or so they thought. That box was where I received errands and targets anonymously. It was situated miles away from the Sovereign Howl Colony in case my 'employees' one day decide to attack me and my people. He who lives by the sword dies by it, you see, but I find a little justification in the thought that I only help rid the world of evil and corrupt people. Never the innocent.

I sprang to my feet immediately and dashed to the door, opening it.

"Thank you, Bran." I took the brown parcel. "Will you be joining the other soldiers now?”

"No alpha, I have to attend to the children. Two babies were delivered this morning."

"Oh, thank goodness. Then I'd better run along too."

"Of course."

He walked away and I locked the door. The parcel was wrapped in grey, whoever sent this knew me very well. I put the letter aside, eager to see the money but instead what I got was a photograph of a young, brown haired lady and a bank cheque.

This was strange. Why would anyone want a lady dead? I took a closer look at the picture. She looked soft, innocent and fragile, even though I could spot something gloomy behind her violet eyes. Who was this?

But I still didn't pick up the letter. My eyes went to the bank to check anxiety bouncing in my chest and that was when I got the greatest shock of my life.

5 million dollars! Cashable on the deadline for the job, two weeks from now. This is the highest I've ever been offered for a job. This money code changed the lives of the roads in this colony. This morning could build us a kingdom and help me lay my hands on something good. This was my heart's desire and I prayed for it. The moon goddess finally heard my grievances and answered my prayers. Oh what miracle is she? What miracle is this? I can't refuse this job, I have to get to it right away. But wait, I halted in my tracks, why should I kill her?

I reached for the letter then, tearing it open.

A good tidings to you dear devil.

Herein lies the photograph of Aylin Isadora Moondream. I do not wish her dead, maimed or attacked. You are to apprehend her and deliver her to me before the date on the cheque. Aylin can be found in the Regal palace but careful this job cannot be done in a hurry. You need to spy on her, monitor her and track her movements.

For a man of your prowess I trust that there will be no errors or comebacks.

May the blood guide you.

XN.

I tossed the letter aside, but I didn't do kidnapping. I've assisted sciences and artists with ancient artifacts and unusual rare creatures, but I've never kidnapped a human.

What the hell is this supposed to mean?

"What is the meaning of what?"

I didn't realize that I said this loudly until I saw Vincent behind me.

I picked the photograph and thrust it into his hand.

"Do you know this lady?"

"Oh, the kingdom's beauty." he brought the picture to his face. "She is Kael's fiancé. They've been engaged for 18 months now.”

"Oh," my mouth widened. That bastard.

"She was one of the nurses who nursed him back to health. You know how we thought he was going to die.”

"What else do you know about her?"

Vincent lowered the photograph. "Not much. She keeps to herself mostly; never seen without guards, and never goes anywhere Kael hasn't approved first. Always traveling with a full entourage, even for short distances." He paused. "Rumor has it she refused to visit the lower quarters of the kingdom, the darker areas."

"Of course. She's the tyrant queen, joining hands with her husband to destroy people's lives."

I stared at the picture again. The soft face. The violet eyes with something heavy sitting behind them. Whoever she was, she didn't look like someone who belonged in Kael's palace.

"I don't do kidnappings," I said.

"Dorian."

"I've moved artifacts and rare creatures and I've put down men who deserved it. I don't take people."

"I know that." Vincent's voice was steady. "But look at that number."

I looked at the check still sitting on the table. 5 million dollars.

"That money doesn't just feed the colony," he said. "It builds it. The east wing, the south quarters, the trading structure we've been trying to set up for months. All of it. One job." He let that land. "We've been scraping by on assassination fees and prayer. Dorian, Reina is still waiting. How long are you going to keep her waiting while you rebuild this place, coin by coin."

I said nothing.

"And think about what Kael has done." His voice dropped lower now, something harder underneath it. "Our men were beaten at the border. His vow to wipe us out. Every person sleeping in this castle right now carries a wound he put there." He nodded toward the photograph. "Take something precious from him. Let him feel it for once."

The fire in the hearth had died down to embers.

I picked up the photograph and looked at her one more time. Aylin Isadora Moondream. Violet eyes. A face that looked like it had already seen something it couldn't unsay.

I set it down.

"Fine," I said. The word came out flat and hard. "But this is one job. One. And nobody touches her."

Vincent nodded.

The anger came up slow and settled in my chest like iron. Every raid on our border. Every man he had put in a cell for breathing wrong. The sword across my side and the look on his face when he swung it. All of it stacked up over years of swallowing it and building something from nothing while he sat on a throne he didn't deserve.

This time he would feel the loss.

"I'll track her myself," I said. "And when I find the right moment, I'll move."

I picked up the check, folded it and put it in my coat.

"Pray she's not difficult," I said, and walked out.