Chapter 1
After The Fall
Mikael stepped through the front door of the three-story brick building downtown and looked around. He’d received a phone call about twenty minutes ago from King, saying that he was needed here. Since it was after work hours and Avery was home with Mikael’s brothers—meaning that she was protected—he’d slipped out.
“Thank you for coming,” King said as he stepped out of a half-open door where two other wolves were sitting inside talking quietly.
He shut the door behind him. In jeans, boots, and a long-sleeved black T-shirt, the male with brown skin and his wolf in his eyes reverberated with power. Especially for one so young—King was only a hundred or two hundred years old per Mikael’s information. But energy sang around him, a soft, lilting melody right underneath the surface.
Mikael thought the place they were standing in was called a lobby. There was a cluster of chairs off to the right, exposed brick along two of the walls, and a big desk to the left that appeared to be a hundred or so years old. The only reason he even knew that was because his Avery—who was not really his at all—liked to tell him about different types of designs, and he paid attention to everything about her.
“What is this place? And why am I here?” He didn’t like being separated from Avery for long. His dragon rippled impatiently underneath his skin, wanting to get back to her.
Always.
“This way.” King’s expression was dry as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
Mikael had been a general long ago, was used to giving orders and undertaking covert missions, though he’d always had an Alpha, so he knew how to take orders as well. His dragon hadn’t quite decided if he was fully committed to following a wolf, but he found he liked this young Alpha, regardless. They strode down the quiet hallway decorated with random artwork on the walls, and Mikael could smell plenty of humans behind some of the doors. But not many supernaturals.
That was interesting. Then he scented two very familiar humans, Avery’s two younger brothers.
King jerked open the door and Mikael’s eyes widened.
Anthony and Riel were stretched out on a hard-looking bench against a wall, both dozing, their soft snores filling the air. Mikael narrowed his gaze on Axel, the annoying lion who liked to flirt with Avery. The lazy male was a little farther down the same bench, reading a paperback book, one leg crossed over his knee, looking perfectly at ease as he glanced up at Mikael.
Axel gave him an obnoxious grin. “You’re here to bail me out, dragon? I’ve gotta say, I’m touched… Also, I’m not even sorry about last night.”
Mikael took in the lion’s rumpled appearance, his torn shirt, the jeans ripped at one of the pockets. It looked as if there was…some type of frosting in the lion’s thick hair. Mikael didn’t respond, but looked at King instead.
It was clear that the wolf was fighting a bit of amusement.
“I’m afraid to ask what happened,” Mikael muttered.
King lifted a shoulder. “I don’t actually know. There was a fight, that much I’m clear on. My people are still trying to figure out what started it.”
Around that time, Anthony and Riel both stirred, sitting up. Anthony, the youngest, looked at Mikael with wide eyes. “Did you tell Avery we’re here?”
Mikael was an ancient dragon warrior, millennia older than the two human brothers, but the young men were more afraid of their older sister, who was not even thirty. Mikael understood, however, because while he wasn’t afraid of her, he never wanted to disappoint her. “It’s just me, younglings,” he murmured. They might not be supernatural, not dragons, but he still viewed them as his to protect. “What happened?”
The two human males flicked a glance at King, who still stood next to Mikael, all humor and amusement gone as he stared them down like the Alpha he was.
“May I have a couple minutes alone with them?” Mikael asked. It was pretty clear this place was a makeshift holding center. Not a jail exactly, but given the bruised and bloodied knuckles of both brothers, and Axel’s condition, it was clear they’d all been in a fight. He also scented blood in the air. Faint though it was, it still lingered.
King nodded and stepped out. Mikael knew the male would hear every single word he said even from outside the room. At least it would give the young humans the illusion of privacy, however.
“You two got into a fight?” That didn’t sound like the two young men he knew. “Did the lion start it?” Mikael crossed his arms over his chest. He knew he was intimidating to them and that they looked up to him. He would use that to his advantage.
“Hey! I didn’t do shit,” Axel grumbled. “I was just there to have a good time.”
Anthony looked at the floor, studying his scuffed-up sneakers. He was about twenty-three, but looked even younger in that moment.
Riel’s jaw jutted out. “I got into a fight, I started it. And I’m not sorry either.”
Anthony’s head snapped up. “It’s my fault! My ex-boyfriend was there and he said something nasty about my mom.”
Their mother had died from cancer ravaging her body.
“So I punched him right in his stupid smirking face,” Riel continued. “He was trying to hurt Anthony and had the nerve to talk shit about our mother. Screw him!”
Mikael simply nodded. “Punching him sounds like it was likely the right decision.” Speaking ill of one’s mother was simply not done.
Both men looked surprised but settled back on the bench.
He flicked his gaze to Axel. “Why are you here?”
The lion just grinned and shrugged.
Mikael gritted his teeth, deciding that he was going to ignore the lion today. He turned back to the brothers. “Are you ready to go home?”
They both jumped to their feet, then winced and slightly swayed, and he had a feeling alcohol had played a huge part in last night’s activities. That was when he saw there was frosting smushed into the brothers’ hair as well.
“You’re not going to bail me out too?” Axel asked, still looking like the smug asshole he was.
Mikael snorted softly. “Ask one of your crew to get you out.”
Axel stretched out on the bench, putting his hands behind his head as he did. “I think I’ll just take a nap.”
“Why am I not surprised? Come on.” He motioned for the boys, who weren’t boys at all but somehow seemed like actual children some days.
As they stepped out into the hall together, the brothers’ eyes widened to see King standing there, leaning against one of the walls.
The wolf pushed up, the motion languid, almost feline despite his lupine status. “The human you got into a fight with last night,” the Alpha murmured. “He was speaking disparagingly about your mother?”
“Yes,” Riel answered, his shoulders straightening. “My mom died of cancer and he was trying to upset Anthony. He said… I can’t even repeat the words. But they were hateful and ugly. No one talks shit about my family like that.”
King’s wolf flashed in his eyes for the briefest of moments before he nodded. “You’re free to go. Don’t get into any more fights. You have them?” he said to Mikael.