Dark Torment ✔

Chapter 26: Checkmate

King hated being awake early.

He was standing alone by the closet putting on his suit to leave with Gabriel. He buttoned the cuffs of his sleeves as his eyes watched Klaus who was still asleep. The urge to slide in bed and embrace his mate was powerful enough that he almost gave in, but his phone buzzed with an alert. He didn't need to look to know that it was Gabriel summoning him downstairs.

He grabbed the leather holster off the shelf and strapped it to his shoulders and secured the blades and guns to his back and under his arms. Retrieving his phone off the shelf, he put in his pocket and went over to his mate's side. He bent down on his knee and caught the red marks trailing down Klaus's bare neck, it brought a smirk out of King as he recalled the memories of last night and the phone he captured everything with.

Klaus made a small sound and opened his drowsy eyes. "You're up early?" he muttered.

"Gabriel has me on a job," he said as he raked away the tousled golden strands of hair from over Klaus's eyes.

"Be safe," Klaus whispered.

Those words ached through him, since he lived most of his life never hearing them. Although, King couldn't find himself promising that today because something told him that where he was headed wasn't going to be safe. He leaned in and laid his lips on Klaus's head before he left the room and shut the door behind him. Making his way down the stairs, he saw Gabriel dressed in a crisp white suit, he was standing alone in front of his mother's portrait. With no one else being awake, the house was eerily silent. The tense air around Gabriel spoke loud enough for King to understand that wasn't on purpose.

King came up beside him and stared at the picture of Rose Centauri who was smiling warmly; it could be felt through the flimsy paper.

"Ready to go?" King asked him.

Gabriel's golden eyes darkened with focus. "Yeah," he said.

Both of them left the house and got in King's mustang. He drove them to the address that Gabriel gave him and it was an old warehouse that he had purchased on Main Street, which was a random location. However, instead of asking questions, King just pressed his foot down on the gas and raced through Manhattan streets, which were fairly empty at this early hour.

"I have a feeling the reason you brought me was because I don't ask questions," King remarked.

"That and you don't talk me out of things," Gabriel answered as his eyes watched the buildings pass by from outside the window.

That answered why he didn't bring the Drakov twins today or tell anyone in the house where they were going. Although, River and Ryder were masters at tracking Gabriel. King didn't worry about being found because the moment that pack caught whiff of what their alpha was doing, they'd cause a riot and storm through the city to find him.

"I know I'm not one to give a shit about feelings but are you okay?" he asked.

Gabriel smirked and glanced in his direction. "I decided it's time to take action," he said.

Against Isabel Morelli, King figured.

"My daughter will be born soon," he said grimly. "I don't want her to enter a world where I couldn't even avenge the honour of a woman who was abused."

King remembered the story of the woman from Ivy Croft's pack who was assaulted by Zane Morelli. She was the reason Ivy attacked the Morelli family and now this entire crusade ruptured into a bloody cold war. But it seemed that in this disgusting political game, the woman's life that was ruined had been forgotten. King glanced at Gabriel whose eyes were burning with rage, an uncontrolled fire that caused him to take this reckless action today.