The Vampire And Her Human Mate

27| He knows

Cordon stalked through his house- it was actually the house Vigo had lived in when he was the head of the family. Cordon's team had been unable to locate any images with Freya's mark on his brother. To be fair, it was on his chest, as a witch's mark, so finding a photo that would showcase that was hard to find from the network's files- personal photos though, would be more likely the type of photo to have it. He could only thank the goddess that he hadn't thrown everything away- so sure he had been that it would be profitable at some point.

He ripped into the boxes he had stored. His fury released when he had had to bottle it up since he had seen that man again. That man with a mark that should not have been there.

He growled and smashed some furniture when he still didn't find anything. He breathed heavily as he looked at the mess he had made. Freya.

He pulled his phone out, almost flinging it across the room in his haste. He was being a clumsy oaf and it infuriated him. It was always her. She who could twist him like this.

Freya answered after too many rings. "Find any photos you have of your mark on Vigo." He ordered, not waiting for her to greet him.

"What?"

"Do it immediately." He heard her intake of breath, that was a harsh order. He could hear her rifling through paper in her desperation to action his request.

"Found it," she cried out. She had obviously dropped her phone. He heard her as she brought the phone back to her ear.

"Send it to me."

She paused before she responded. "What is going on?"

"Send it to me now!" He roared.

She made a whimpering sound. Within seconds, he felt the vibration of his phone as the image came through. He left her on the line as he opened it.

He sat heavily, staring at the image. It was of his brother laughing- he had an arm around Freya. They were on a yacht and he was wearing tan shorts and an open white linen shirt. The mark was a pale red, an intricate pattern just like that on the man who called himself the Fox.

"She found her mate," he spoke out loud without meaning to.

"Who"? Freya asked. She was still on the line.

Cordon stared at his phone. "Did you know?"

"Know what?" She asked. He could hear the fear in her voice.

"Bianca. She found her mate."

Freya's silence told him she had known. He continued, "I need to know how to break a matebond. And it's time you came through on how to make someone your fated mate. You have twenty-four hours."

He hung up without waiting for her response. He closed his eyes. The fury in his chest was not abating. He sent a message to his servant to bring him a woman, a human, so he could feed afterward.

He had not shared his plans with Freya, only that he needed a way to force a matebond, knowing that Bianca would never take him as her chosen mate. She had hated him even when Vigo was alive- her feelings souring even more after his death. It wasn't even his fault- well at least it hadn't been his idea. The council had only allowed him to take over with the expectation he would take Bianca as his mate. It had felt an easy task at the time- she was beautiful and a magnificent vampire- vicious and capable. She had not yet turned eighteen at the time so he had originally just thought to wait until she was older. It had become apparent very quickly that she wouldn't do it willingly- even if it was an order.

As time went by his want for her had built. Now he wanted her even without the council's demands over his head. Her resistance to him only strengthened his resolve to have her.

He stood, noticing a picture by his foot. It was of Bianca and Vigo. Vigo had been laughing, a usual occurrence on his handsome face. Bianca was staring at him, her face impassive but you could see the barely contained humor in her eyes. This photo had been on Vigo's desk. Cordon crushed it in his hand- he didn't need a reminder of how much better his brother had been than him.

~*~

He threw the limp body onto the floor. He casually wandered into his bathroom, taking a moment to admire his well-built body, blood painting his flesh. He had been careless with his fun, not wanting to hold back- unleashing his fury in an attempt to quell the noise inside him.

He spent a long time bathing- it would take his staff time to clean up the mess he had made.

There was the sound of a knock at his bathroom door. He called out for the person to enter. His assistant hesitated at the door. "Speak."

"Sir. I'm sorry to bother you so late-"

"Just tell me," he snapped.

"Yes Sir... um. We got a notification that Bianca is meeting with both the Council and the Committee independently tomorrow." He hastily added, "The agenda is sealed."

Fuck. "In person?"

"Yes. A meeting in LA at 11 am and then a meeting in Rome at midnight."

Cordon absorbed this. There were only a few reasons why a meeting agenda would be sealed. He would have been worried about her meeting with them and if it had had anything to do with his own business, but with the knowledge she had found her mate he could only guess she was securing her position- a marriage proposal to her American mate. The council may like that, and even the committee, they would want to marry into their good graces to secure their alliance- this 'Fox' must be high ranking.

Cordon could have sworn the man had been human but now he thought perhaps he was a witch. The council had allowed a witch to vampire marriage before with Carlos and Freya- it wasn't a stretch that they would allow it again. They didn't need to be worried about a broken bond if he was her fated mate...

"Intercept them in Rome before the meeting. Collect Freya as well."

His assistant started to leave, "And Francisco, keep this all off the books. Nothing shared electronically." The last thing he needed was for the Council to pick up on his plans.

~*~

Late Sunday night Beau ventured out of his room. It had been hard to leave Bianca's side. He felt so complete with her. Her love felt unreal.

David was already in the kitchen eating like he'd been starved for weeks.

"Hey," Beau greeted. He smiled easily at his friend. He could see two puncture marks on the other man's neck- like his without the pattern around it. Rose came from the bathroom and briskly walked through the kitchen.

Her nose wrinkled at his food. "Make sure you clean up before coming back to bed."

David grinned wolfishly and reached a hand out to grab her as she passed. He slapped her behind, grasping it briefly. She gave him a look over her shoulder that made Beau think she had let him slap her- she could have easily evaded with her vampire speed and reflex.

Beau noticed a mark on her neck. It was a bite mark but bigger than the vampire marks and there was, what looked like, an imprint of a crescent moon.

Beau cocked his head looking back at David with a question in his eye.

David saw Beau notice his mark on Rose. "Yeah, turns out my dad's not really my dad and my real dad's a werewolf..." he trailed off at the look on Beau's face.

"Oh shit. I thought you knew about all the supernatural crap."

Beau nodded his head. "I do but I didn't know you were..."

"Me neither until recently. I thought I was going crazy." David ran his fingers through his short blonde hair. "My wolf came in and... you don't know anything about werewolves do you?"

Beau couldn't drop the look from his face. He couldn't believe a friend of his- who he'd lived with for two years- wasn't fully human.

"This is all so wild," Beau said simply.

"Yeah," David agreed as he took another mouthful of food.

~*~