Bitten by the King (Virgin Blood 4)

I stand there knowing the sun is setting and I need to make a choice. Greg is right. I won’t tell on him because I know it will mean his death. I don’t know if I can run, but what I do know is I can’t let my dad go on killing women. Even if it means sacrificing myself.

Four

Bishop

“What’s the plan?” Kane says as he crosses his arms over his chest.

The whole family came over an hour ago and I’m just finally able to get out of bed and walk to the study. As soon as I sit down, Kane starts in.

“The man just got out of bed. Do we really have to make a move right this second?” Ravana asks as she looks around the room.

A silence falls over everyone and I smile softly at her. “As I’ve said before, I don’t have much time left.” I turn to Dove and nod. “Tell us what you know.”

“Not much, but I think she’s being held either against her will or under false pretenses.”

“What makes you say that?” I ask, hanging on her every word. This could be the mate I’ve been searching for and I have to find out.

“Just a feeling when I looked at her. I think the fact that she had a secret escape route is a big indication that it’s not safe for her. All I know is that her name is Loren and she’s Gordon’s daughter.”

“Did you know he had children?” Ezra asks, and I shake my head.

“No, the last I heard he was still without a mate and trying different ways to stay alive forever. He didn’t believe that love was the key to eternity,” I say, and I see the mates all look at one another.

“He couldn’t have had a child without a mate,” Valen says, his eyebrows pulling together. “It doesn’t work until you find one, right?”

“Right,” Kane says in agreement. “Unless he had a mate, it would have been physically impossible for him to have a child. Are you sure he hasn’t found his?”

“There’s always the possibility,” I say, but it doesn’t fit with the Gordon I know. “I think he would have seen a mate as a sign of weakness. It’s not his style.”

“What do we know about where she’s being held?” Kane asks, and Erik walks over to the monitor and turns the screen on.

“This is where we found Dove,” he says as images come up on the screen. “Ezra and I went and got as much intel as we could yesterday, and from what we saw, the place is heavily guarded.”

Valen lays down blueprints of the house and rolls them out. “I called in some favors and got this a few hours ago.” He points to a room that faces the woods where Dove ran through. “From what I could tell based on the twins’ pictures of the outside, this is where Loren is being held. She’s guarded by two men that trade out day and night shifts. If I had to guess, it would be between a human and vampire based on the sun,” he says, and I nod.

“We’re afraid the path that our Dove took has already been breached so that point of entrance is out.” Erik says as he clicks through more photos. “The exterior guards line every exit with heavy weapons and the fact that Dove got out alive is a miracle.”

“If we can’t break in, can we draw them out?” I ask and Valen nods.

“That’s my suggested plan of extraction.” Valen turns over the blueprint to reveal a plan of the surrounding block and nearby properties. “We line explosives here and here,” he says, pointing to four key points around the house. “I say we time them to go off in intervals to create confusion.”

Kane steps forward and points to a place on the map. “I’ve hacked into their security system and this is their emergency exit. If there’s a problem, this is the way she’ll go.”

“This is the plan?” Ravana says from over in the corner and everyone turns to look at her. “You just blow a bunch of shit up and hope we can snatch Bishop’s mate on the way out?”

“Do you have a better one?” Valen asks without heat in his words. He sounds genuinely curious to see if his mate knows better, and I like that he’s willing to explore other ideas.

“What if we have someone go in and retrieve her?” Ravana says and shrugs.

“No.” The word rings out from all the mates in the room except one.

“It could work,” Dove says, and now all eyes are on her. “I’ve been in that house. They are armed to the teeth. But Gordon seemed to be losing it and I think if we could get someone inside it would be easier to sneak her out than to blow up a city block and start a war.”