Jan crossed his legs to keep his toes from tapping the floor in irritation. His palms itched, and his shoulder blades tingled where he felt Chris' gaze drill into him. The head of security leaned behind him by the door, keeping a wary eye on the proceedings.
And at the moment, he was probably the only level-headed person left in this conference.
It was barely three hours after sundown, and Jan was already in a foul mood.
He was tired of these long repetitive calls, weary of navigating the deep-rooted prejudices of Lycans and vampires alike, and fed up with struggling to keep this dysfunctional partnership afloat.
Seated on the other end of the rectangular, dark-wood table, Jeb squeezed the bridge of his nose with a frustrated sigh. "Alright. The scouting party we sent has been ordered to fall back to D.C. They'll stay there until we're certain this snafu hasn't tipped off the coven in North Carolina."
"This snafu could have been avoided if your people had told us they were sending warriors there," Ivan grumbled over the phone.
"I'm sure their reasons for doing so were the same as yours when your council sent people and chose not to tell us," Jeb retorted. "No sane leader would choose to act on intel without confirming its validity. This incident simply highlights that working together without having some basic level of trust and communication is a recipe for failure."
Jeb was right, as usual.
The mission had been simple. Adams had gotten a tip that possible hostages were being transported to a camp down south. The councilman had told Ivan, but out of mistrust or mere oversight, he failed to mention he had already sent out a rescue party. Had he done so, Ivan would have told him sending vampires alone to rescue hostages that may include wolves was a mistake.
Upon hearing the news, Gray Oaks exacerbated the error by dispatching scouts without informing their new allies. Subsequently, what could have been a simple rescue turned into a nasty brawl when the two parties clashed on the outskirts of the coven town.
Fucking idiots!
Jan wanted to punch someone. Anyone. And he also wanted a certain tall, hazel-eyed wolf naked and panting beneath him, but that was irrelevant at the moment.
Behind him, Chris shuffled, shifting his weight against the conference room wall. When the stoic head of security cleared his throat, Jan knew the subtle prompt was meant for him. Chris wanted him to intervene before the blame game blew out of proportion.
The problem was that the blond vampire was fed up with the petty squabbles on both sides. On days like these, even the brightest and most logical among them were reduced to elementary-school kids yelling "it's your fault" at each other.
"Ahem," Chris cleared his throat again, slightly louder than before.
Jan ignored the cue and glared at Jeb simply because he was the most visible culprit in front of him. Then he forced down his less-than-friendly impulses by clenching his fists in his pocket before speaking. "At this point, it's best to assume the coven is aware of our presence and rescue attempt. If the hostages are still in that town, I bet they'll cut their losses and hide any evidence of wrongdoing before the sun comes up. There's no time to regroup or make another recon attempt. The longer we wait, the lower the chances of survival for those people. Adams' group is fully fitted for a rescue. We should use them as the main force. The Lycan scouting party can act as the follow-up - keeping half a mile of separation, at least - to ensure the safety of everyone involved. Ivan, how far away is your training base?"
"About three hours. But they're trainees with little experience-"
"It doesn't matter. What matters is they're humans and can act as operational hands to help remove any possible Lycan captives. Their presence alone will reduce the friction between the wolf scouting party and Adams' group. If you don't take this chance now, those hostages are good as dead." Jan made the last statement while staring at Jeb.
YOU ARE READING
Blooded Mate
Fantasy[[MATURE CONTENT]] Pack, family, mate. Loyalty, respect, honor. These are the words that form the foundation of the wolf society. At six years old, Ethan had to choose between his Alpha title and his survival on the night of his father's death. As a...
