Shattered

Chapter 51: Something Off

Kane's POV:

"We don't even ask for happiness, just a little less pain."- Charles Bukowski

The living room was heavy with silence as Tess finished yet another conference call with Elders from all around the globe. I set my hands on her shoulders but she didn't relax under them like she always did. Even the mate bond couldn't take away this tension.

We had no way to cleanly cover up the vampire incident in Las Vegas. All the resources the Elders had couldn't completely erase the hundreds of videos catching the action once it was recorded. Every time we deleted a video, another went viral shortly after. Pretty soon, the humans started noticing our attempt to cover it up and theories about who we were, what else was out there, all of it was spiraling out of control. We may have been able to silence the world the last time our species was revealed to humans, but this was a different world from then.

There was no internet back then. The only way information could travel over great distances, over countries, was if people traveled and so loose ends were easier to cut off. But with the videos, all of it on the internet for the entire world to see...

We were exposed.

There was no getting out of this one. Our supernatural world was revealed, and the questions coming in were nonstop. There was nothing the Elders could do. Nothing anyone could do. There was no going back, but now my mate was part of a council of people who had to figure out how we would handle this change.

Already, human leaders from all over the world were sending out messages into the internet, asking to speak to us, asking for answers. Some were asking for a peaceful meeting to discuss, others were demanding blood for the lives lost. It was all a mess and my mate was in the middle of it.

As if that wasn't bad enough, all the vampires involved in the attack were missing, as were members of the clan that jumped in to try to control it. No one knew where they went officially, but we had a good idea. Corrupted members of the Elders were involved. My mate may have been an Elder, but she wasn't involved with the corrupt ones and despite being on the phone for hours on end, she wasn't able to get any hint to who it was. She'd already cleaned out the ones we suspected over the last couple of years, at least the ones she could reach from her third level into the Elder leadership. The only good thing coming from this was Elder Freya's suspicions rose and she was demanding answers from multiple sources.

It was both a good and bad thing. Her asking for answers would paint a target on her back. Thaddeus already called Tess to ask what was happening and when she explained, Thaddeus cursed in several languages then said he would have protection sent to watch over Freya discreetly, quietly, hopefully off the radar so no one would know she was being watched.

In the meantime, Thaddeus and whoever his inner circle was, were on the hunt for the vampires involved in creating the chaos my mate now had to help clean up, putting a pause on his hunt for the illusive fucker we were calling The Lion.

I wasn't a fan of using that title. If he was too scared to ever show his face, he didn't deserve to be called a lion. Spineless cunt sounded more accurate.

What can I do? I linked Tess, my mate, my Luna, my world.

Nothing, she answered, setting her hand on mine and taking a deep breath. We just have to decide on our next move. We can't wait too long. The humans won't let us. The last thing any of us want is another Salem witch trial where multiple innocents are burned at the stake. We have to figure something out.

"Luna, can I get you anything?" Connor asked, walking over and pausing behind us.

Thank you, I linked Connor. He gave me a subtle nod.