Embracing Winter (Lords of Discord 4)

Aiden tightly grabbed Winter’s arm, fingers biting into his flesh. “Winter?”

“She’s gone. I think at rest, finally.” Winter placed his hand over his father’s and looked up at him. “And she was happy.”

Aiden pulled Winter into a tight hug. “Thank you,” he whispered. He released a heavy breath, and Winter could feel his entire body relax, as if he were letting go years of old worry and heartache at last. Maybe both of his parents were finally at peace.

When Aiden released him, the older vampire looked around at the chaos that filled the room around them as his brothers argued with each other. “I guess we should go settle them. And then we can retrieve your Fox.”

Yes, that was an excellent idea. He couldn’t wait to tell the witch that his mom thought he was cute. But only after Damon had been ripped apart.

Chapter 30

When Julianna informed him that Damon had holed up in an art museum, he was sure that the bastard had lost his mind. It would have made more sense to get out of town and away from humans. But as Winter stood outside the structure, taking in its Gothic castle-like façade, he understood the building’s allure. If the Variks were going to attack Damon and his men, then they had to lay siege to a fucking castle to take out the king.

Kneeling in the damp grass outside the building, Winter frowned at the collection of buildings. The Wadsworth Atheneum was made of five connected buildings ranging from Gothic Revival to late modernist. All of them were arranged in a square with a central, enclosed courtyard.

They’d spent close to an hour going over the layout of the building, but with the waning night working against them, there was no avoiding a full-frontal assault. Luckily, they had numbers on their side. Aiden had summoned the full force of the Varik and Montgomery clans as well as the Moon and Novick clans. Several others had volunteered to join the fight. They also had a number of werewolves on their side from the local shifter pack.

And then, they had Winter’s collection of weapons to play with.

Winter’s job was the initial distraction. Once he got inside the building, he was to search for and free Fox. After that, it was only a matter of finding Damon and claiming the fucker’s head.

Of course, they had no idea where Fox was, where Damon was, or how many fighters Damon had on his side. They didn’t know what they were heading into, and fear sat heavy in Winter’s stomach. He worried for his brothers and their mates. For the first time, Marcus was permitting Ethan to join the fray. It was his right to fight for his clan and his future, but God help anyone who so much as breathed in Ethan’s direction. Marcus was ready to rip their head off with his bare hands.

Bel’s wolves looked just as feral when it came to their absent-minded professor, but they were in for a surprise. Winter had seen the type of ruthlessness Bel was capable of when it came to protecting his family. And there was no telling if he had any “science experiments” hidden on his person.

And Rafe was just an evil fucker when he wanted to be.

He had yet to see Aiden in a fight, but then a vampire didn’t live as long as he obviously had without knowing how to handle himself.

No, his family was going to be fine. He needed to keep his focus on finding Fox. He wished Julianna had been able to give him some direction when it came to locating his missing witch.

The cell phone clutched tightly in his hand vibrated and Winter looked down to see the text he’d been waiting for.

Ready.

He glanced over his shoulder at the collection of vampires and werewolves that had chosen to follow him into the building. They were the distraction team. Bel grinned at him while his hands rested on the furry backs of Wyatt and River. The massive wolves looked more than ready to take a few vampires apart.

Pulling on his power, Winter disappeared from sight, slipping into the world of the dead as he left cover and crossed the street. He briskly walked up to the Main Street entrance of the Wadsworth. There were only a couple of vampires loitering outside of this entrance, keeping watch for attackers. Ghostlike, he moved in behind each, appearing long enough only to bury a blade into each vampire’s throat before disappearing again. There was a cough, a gasp, and then one by one, bodies hit the ground with a loud thud. Winter barely stopped moving, his eye always turned toward the doors.

At the entrance, he was forced to drop fully into the world of the living, but he’d brought a present. He attached the explosive device to the doors and smiled broadly at the vampires standing on the other side. With a wink, he set the timer and disappeared. He ran around the side of the entrance, using the thick stone structure as cover as the device exploded.