It was a month later when Tank, Jack, Elio and Marlo arrived on our doorstep. Felix and I had several business interests and we had roped Tank in to do the digging for us. We didn’t expect him to bring the information himself although having them all there was great.“That’s a lot of suitcases,” I said as Felix and I got off the boat and numerous hugs were exchanged.“We sold the house,” Jack said.“In Oklahoma City?” I asked.“You said one cabin was empty, it’s ours now,” Tank said after crushing my ribs.“Just like that?” Felix asked him.“Just like that,” Jack said with a hand on his hip.“Welcome to Florida then,” Felix said with a chuckle.“Marlo, as beautiful as ever,” I said as I picked her up in a hug and kissed her cheek.“If you weren’t practically my brother Ryder, I swear …”“You’ll what Elio?” I asked him.“Never mind, how is the magnificent Megan doing?” Elio asked.“She’s great, we’re all great,” I said.“Come on, they’re all waiting back on the island,” Felix said as h
Two weeks later Marlo gave birth to a girl, Eloise Sherwood. She was an exact miniature replica of Marlo, minus the blue hair. We spent the morning after her birth with them as we helped Elio to assemble the crib and Megan, Ava and Rylee had gone on a massive shopping spree for the baby.“She’s beautiful Marlo,” I said as I held Eloise in my arms.“She’s perfect,” Elio said as he kissed the top of Marlo’s head.“Better buy that shotgun,” Lucas joked as he joined us with a cup of coffee in his hands.“Don’t you worry Lucas, I’ll sever the heads of anyone thinking of even looking at her,” Elio said.“She’s got enough people that’ll teach her how to look after herself,” Jack said as Tank held his arms out for her.“Nobody will ever hurt you precious angel,” Tank said in a surprisingly soft voice.Later that afternoon we took the boat back to the island and settled down for the day. Lucas was on his phone as he started walking the perimeter of the island. Megan and Rylee got started on di
“As discussed at our last informal meeting I’d like to introduce to you exiled Sire Ryder Grey,” Peyton said.“Thank you Peyton,” I said and looked at the group of people in front of me.“I can’t be your Sire here or officially claim this as my territory, but I can be your Chief,” I said.“It doesn’t matter what you’re called, as long as we can unify all of us,” Peyton said and a few men also nodded their heads.“You all make up your own clans, vampires, wolves and dragonkin. Clans that bind together is a tribe, the leader of a tribe is a chief. I’ve had numerous discussions about what you all want and I’ll do this on one condition only,” I said.“Which is?” another man asked.“To my left is Tank, he’s a born Alpha wolf. To my right is Felix, born with master’s blood. They will head up the wolf and vampire clan individually and I’ll head up the dragonkin clan and together we will be the Grey Tribe,” I said.“What makes them qualified to be our leaders?” a woman asked.“Felix and I tra
Three months later …“Grey.” I answered the ringing phone. It was four am and I was so tired I could barely open my eyes.“Ava’s gone into labour, we’re in the waiting room,” Elio said.“She’s got shit timing, we’re on our way,” I said wide awake now.“What’s going on?” Megan asked me as I switched the lamp on.“Ava’s having the baby,” I said.“Can’t I just stay here?” she asked me.“And how would that look to the rest of the tribe?” I asked her already pulling jeans on.“I hate your tribe,” she said as she got out of bed.“No you don’t, you love them all,” I said with a smile.“I hate you,” she said and I laughed.“Get over it because I love you,” I said as she reached the cupboard.“I’ll get over it when I can see my feet again,” she said as she pulled on tights and one of my t-shirts.An hour later I parked the truck in front of our clinic that was run by our own people. It was open to humans as well and cheaper than the private hospital. I had to bite my tongue at how slow Megan m
“What exactly do they want you to do for them?” Lucas asked me.“To be their hunter,” I answered him.“You are a good hunter,” he said.“I used to be a good hunter,” I said.“You once told me you were born to kill,” he countered.“And you once told me I was trained to kill,” I said and he started laughing.“What are their terms?” he asked me.“I’m not sure,” I said.“Arrange another meeting, find out, being out of exile will make things a lot easier for a lot of people,” Lucas said.“I know.”“It’s your choice Ryder, but also keep in mind the doors it could open for Wynter one day,” he said.“What doors? No doors were opened for me,” I said.“You became Sire of Princeton. You went to the Unit, none of that would’ve been possible if I had been in exile,” Lucas said.“Fine, I’ll think about it,” I said.“Call me when you grow a pair,” Lucas said and ended the call as my mouth gaped open.“Why do we love him again?” Abeloth asked.“Not a clue,” I said with a smile.“We should do it,” Abe
“I say we just grab him,” Felix said.We were on the roof of an apartment building behind a row of houses as we surveyed the house in front of us. The man living in the house was named Oliver Carnegie and he was an exiled dragon. His house was on a quiet residential street along with all the other nice houses.His children went to school and played in the street with all the other children of the neighbourhood. His wife was a stay at home mom and kissed him goodbye on the porch every morning as he left for work. What she didn’t know was that Oliver Carnegie had secret dealings with some very unsavoury characters.This was our tenth assignment for the Elders and thus far we had taken out exiled members straying from our laws. He had a small travel agency on a busy street where everyone knew everyone and people waved and smiled at each other.In the back of this travel agency, he had illegal immigrants packing cocaine and runners from different street gangs that sold it. The Elders were
At seven pm I drove the van to the corner of the street where Oliver had his travel agency. I gave it ten minutes and then started the van. The glass door opened and I saw Felix step out followed closely by Oliver.They talked as Oliver locked the front door and I sped up as they reached the curb. Felix was hardly visible as he slid the van’s door open and pushed Oliver inside. I sped away from the curb the moment Felix slammed the door shut.“What the hell are you doing?” Oliver yelled.“Time for a quick chat,” Felix said and punched him so hard in the face that I heard his cheekbone shatter.I pulled the van into an empty warehouse Cameron had said we could use and closed the roller door. The warehouse had recently been bought by Cameron’s biggest enemy and we intended to leave him a little present.Felix had pulled Oliver from the van and we tied him to a chair as he remained unconscious. I squirted water from a bottle into his face and he gingerly opened his eyes and looked around
It was a week later and Felix and I sat on chairs with our fishing rods in the lake. I finished my beer and opened another one as I leaned back in my chair. It was a nice day out, Wynter and Milo were playing on the grass.“Megan really said that?” Felix asked me.“Yeah, she said they sit on the porch and check him out whenever he’s not wearing a shirt,” I said.“There’s only one thing we can do,” Felix said as he looked at me.“We have to kill Max,” I said with a laugh.“We have to get this girl to fall in love with him,” he said.“Oh, yeah,” I said as Felix laughed.“Why would we kill him?” he asked.“Your wife’s checking out another man whenever we’re not around,” I said.“So’s yours,” he said.“Hence the killing,” I said.“He’s still a kid,” he said.“He’s not that much younger than we are,” I said.“Barely married two years and already they want younger men,” Felix said.“We need to step up our game,” I said as Felix shook his head.“So what do we know about this human girl?” Fel