Page 166 of Claimed

Valentin feels my interest through the bond and sends a warning pulse.

Do not start.

I absolutely start filing it away.

Dorian says, ‘Touching as this reunion is, are we addressing the part where the New York Don’s mate helped seal a route to our beloved blood mother’s chrysalis, or are we saving that for the wedding toast?’

Rafe says nothing.

That’s the problem.

His silence sits differently from Lucien’s age or Ciaran’s volatility. Rafe is listening too hard. His gaze keeps shifting to Valentin’s changed mark, then away. His face gives nothing, but something about him has drawn tight.

Valentin senses it too.

Through the bloodline to the Ten behind us, he commands, quietly.

Put feelers into Chicago. Signs of mark-awakening. Discreetly.

Aaron, who’s taken a leadership role from Malachi, answers immediately. Yes, sire.

I turn my head. Stop meddling.

Valentin doesn’t even pretend innocence. Never. I am owed some payback, after all. And he should have kept better watch over his sireds. Volkov went rogue because Navarro did not control his own bloodline closely enough. Terrible housekeeping not becoming of a Don.

I barely stop myself from rolling my eyes.

Dorian’s eyes brighten. ‘Are you having a private quarrel? How adorable. Mating has made him domestic.’

‘I can hear you,’ Valentin says.

‘That was the intention.’

Lucien cuts through them, voice low. ‘So… the nuisance in your territory is over. Marek Volkov is dead?’

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘So is Tavish Drennan. The only one in the wind is Elian Sorell.’ But not for long, if I have anything to do with it.

Every gaze returns to me.

Did they hear that?

Hear what, little hunter?

I sit a little straighter, even though my body is beginning to complain loudly about being vertical. ‘We killed him in Netheris. Together.’

Something like approval touches Lucien’s distinguished face.

Rafe finally speaks. ‘And this witch? Selphine Rousseau?’

‘Escaped,’ Valentin says. ‘She is now enemy to New York.’

‘To all of us,’ Rowan adds. ‘She sought the Blood Chrysalis route. Her objective was to bring Marek to Morrighan and have him remade as a Five Blood, probably to replace Valentin.’

The call goes silent.

Dorian’s amusement vanishes as Ciaran swears in Irish.

Rafe’s jaw tightens and Lucien’s eyes turn old enough to make the room feel younger by comparison. ‘Then this is no longer just Valentin’s crisis.’