Alec sat in the chair patiently as guards filled the cellar preparing for their leader's arrival. Despite his back to the door, he knew exactly when his mate strode into the room. The flaming scent that clung to his body latched onto Alec, it was tantalizing and powerful.

"Everyone, get out," Kade commanded coldly as he grabbed a chair and swung it around before taking a seat.

Alec didn't hesitate before he looked into his mate's sizzling green eyes that were fuming with rage. All the guards left the room except two men who stood at the door. They didn't feel like normal guards and they stayed despite Kade's order. He must trust those two enough to let them stay.

"All the security footage has been wiped from the system," Kade talked calmly.

"I'm not a technician," Alec remarked.

"Don't fuck with me," Kade snapped coldly. "Your brother snuck in."

Alec didn't bother lying to Kade. "Yeah, he did," he answered.

"Why didn't he set you free?" he asked as he leaned back on the chair, his eyes glinting with suspicion.

"The alarm rang," Alec said which wasn't much of a lie if he thought about it.

Kade shook his head. "What are you hiding?" he said. "Tell me right now or I don't give a fuck what happens, I'll kill you."

"I told him to leave me," Alec admitted.

Kade raised a brow. "You told him to let you stay captive," he questioned.

"There's no point if both of us die," Alec said. "Then you get your wish and I can't let that happen."

A dark gleam passed through Kade's eyes as he was faced with a challenge. "I wouldn't count on that," he said.

"My brother's already on a plane getting out of the city," Alec baited. "You can't catch him."

"Challenging me won't save you," Kade growled.

"It will save my brother," Alec snapped back.

"All this for what?" Kade said. "Your pack was a disgrace and so is that bloodline you protect."

Alec knew that from the goddamn day he was born. This bloodline was vile and worth throwing away. But how was that his fault? He was just a man born under the wrong name. However, wolves thought differently. We made our own pack. Vadik was Alec's responsibility and only family. He'd die before letting anything happen to his baby brother.

"You're avenging your family," Alec answered. "I'm saving mine."

"Let's see who wins then," Kade taunted as he rose to his feet.

Alec's body trembled at the raw power that clung to Kade. This darkness that swam around both of them gelled together and it was like he faced a mirror. Both of them carried these demons that knew exactly the pain they carried. Family was their burden.

"Get me out of these chains," Alec claimed sternly. "If you're going to keep me here then this can't continue."

Kade put his hands in his pockets. "I don't give a shit," he said and walked off.

"Is this how you treat every prisoner?" Alec remarked behind him.

Kade stopped in his tracks.

"I thought you had more honour than that," Alec continued.

Kade and the two guards walked out of the room, locking it behind them, which they hadn't done before.

After an hour or two, the door behind Alec opened and the man with the scar on his face arrived. Two other guards followed him and they unlocked Alec's chains.

"Your name," Alec demanded.

The man with the scar held an indifferent expression. "Dario," he answered.

"Thank you for getting me out of the chains," Alec said.

"Don't thank me," Dario remarked. "This wasn't for you."

The guards cuffed Alec's hands together and grabbed his arms as they led him out of the room into the hallway. He finally caught a glimpse of something else other than four concrete walls. The hallway was colder than the cellar though. He saw the security room and the two-way glass where he was watched and surveyed. They walked to the door next to them and Dario unlocked it.

Alec was taken inside by the two guards as Dario unlocked the heavy metal door to the room that was barred like a prison cell. He walked into the small space and Dario shut the metal door, it clunked into place and he locked it right away. Alec held his hands out and Dario unlocked his hands through the space between the metal beams.

Alec rubbed his wrists and looked around the room. There was a mattress on a metal frame with another room that must be the washroom. Across the cell was a small window that had metal covering the outside. Well, at least he had fresh air and could see the moon from here.

"How long have you known, Kade?" Alec asked.

Dario dismissed the two guards. "A very long time," he answered.

Alec smiled. "Tell him the cell is cozy," he remarked.

Dario shook his head and repeated something in Italian as he locked the door behind him. Alec grabbed the bed and faced it around towards the window. He laid back on the stiff mattress and faced the night sky. He watched the crescent moon glint in the sky, the ache in his shoulder from the stab wound throbbed painfully.

Although, the chaos ended tonight, it only prepared Alec for the war again tomorrow.

Kade didn't sleep last night.

He walked out of his office and went to the kitchen where he was greeted by the staff. He dismissed them and stood alone to make himself an expresso. The sleek silver machine blinked alive as he pushed in the piece with the ground beans in it. He clicked it into place and waited for the buzzing to stop, the dark, rich expresso dripped out of the canals into his white cup. The warm aroma filled the kitchen and he remembered his mother. She would have an expresso every morning with a brioche. Kade grabbed his cup and went to the table where pastries were laid out on white plates. These must be from Francesco's bakery because no one made authentic Italian pastries around here apart from him.

Nikolai came around and grabbed a pastry for himself.

"What's the intel from last night?" Kade said sternly.

Nikolai sighed. "Can I at least get a macchiato in me before you ask about work," he requested.

Kade gritted his jaw forcing his curiosity down, as he heard the coffee machine spring back to life brewing another expresso shot for Nikolai.

"Good morning," Mia strode into the kitchen then, Kade noticed right away that her limp was more prominent. She was in jeans and a sweater with her hair tied up in a pony-tail. "These must be from Francesco's?" she asked as she spotted the pastries on the counter.

"They definitely smell like they are," Nikolai answered.

"Are you okay?" Kade asked her. "Is your brace on properly?"

Mia smiled. "It is," she said. "I pushed myself a bit too much at therapy and my leg's sore now." She grabbed a croissant as Nikolai made her a cappuccino. Dario walked into the kitchen dressed in a suit and white shirt with no tie, which was his usual dress-code. He stood beside Kade and put a brown folder on the table but didn't open it.

"Did you get these for us, Dario?" Mia asked.

"I got them for you," Dario answered as he glared his brother for having his mouth full with a pistachio-cream brioche. "Thanks for the pasta last night, it was delicious, Mia." She smiled over the cup of her coffee at him.

Kade knew from the rigid expression on Dario's face that he didn't have good news. Dario was withholding the information since Mia was sitting with them.

"The alarm rang last night," Mia asked them. "Is everything alright?"

Dario and Nikolai shared a grim expression, but they avoided looking at Kade who was standing on his own. Mia looked over at her brother and sensed the tension that sizzled off his body.

"Brother," she said softly.

Kade looked away from his sister's gentle eyes. "Everything's fine, bambina," he said, "it was a false alarm."

Mia nodded but it was clear that she wasn't convinced. She didn't raise any questions and got to her feet from the tall stool. She put the pastry on the dish and grabbed her coffee thanking Dario for the treat before leaving the kitchen.

"You shouldn't keep her in the dark about what's going on," Nikolai said.

"Niko," Dario warned sternly.

"What do you have?" Kade ignored Nikolai's judgmental eyes and let Dario open the folder.

A series of photos spilled out in front of Kade and in each one was a photo of a man in his late-fifties with white hair. He had a dark suit on with a fur jacket piled on top of his broad shoulders. He was definitely strong rather than a feeble old man. His face riddled with scars, but he had sharp eyes that resembled a shark more than a wolf.

"Who is that?" Nikolai asked.

"Mikhail Waldorf," Kade answered.

"Lucas's brother," Dario said.

"This is such a pain," Nikolai rubbed his neck.

"We don't know anything about him, Kade," Dario said warily.

Kade put his cup down because he knew one person that knew about Mikhail Waldorf better than anyone. He got up from his seat and grabbed the photos as he went to the prison in the basement. The two guards stationed outside the door bowed to his arrival and unlocked the door for him. He stopped Nikolai and Dario from entering with him.

He strode into the room, when he froze in his tracks as soon as he saw Alexander Waldorf, shirtless while hanging off the rails above him, doing pull-ups. The sun that beamed through the window cascaded over the prisoner's body, he was sweating and it dripped off his torso. Kade didn't realize that he'd have tattoos. There was dark ink on Waldorf's left forearm and right shoulder, there was a tattoo on his back too, it flexed as he pulled himself up and down on the bar. He caught a name on his rib-cage, it spelled Natalia in beautiful letters.

Who the hell was that? Kade thought irately. It couldn't be a mate otherwise he'd sense it.

"You're late," Waldorf said as he jumped down snapping Kade out of his head. "I'm guessing you don't like waking up early." He smirked as sweat dripped down his neck to his shoulders.

Kade ignored the mockery in his tone. He threw the photos on the table beside them, displaying the images to Waldorf to see for himself. "Your uncle's in town," he announced.

"Where'd you get these?" Waldorf's amusement dropped and his eyes blazed with a dangerous rush of tension.

"They were shot last night just outside the city," Kade answered.

He reached through the bars and grabbed the photo bringing it inside the cage. "Mikhail," he gritted out.

"What's he doing in New York?" Kade said as he crossed his arms.

Alec didn't answer, he continued to stare at the photo but his eyes had disappeared somewhere else like he was lost in a memory.

"Alexander," Kade prompted sternly, not liking the fact that he was being ignored.

"My uncle was exiled by his father for his crimes against the pack," he explained.

"Once exiled, a wolf isn't allowed back," Kade said.

Waldorf went quiet again and put the photo back on the table. "That's because there's no pack anymore," he answered.

Kade's frown deepened. "What do you mean?"

"The Waldorf pack was terminated," he said.

"But you're alive," Kade said.

"I never officially took the seat for alpha," he explained. "The wolves were all freed once I killed Lucas-"

"Including Mikhail-" Kade finished.

"His exile ended when I stepped down." Waldorf raked his damp hair back. "Fuck, I need to warn Vadik."

Kade caught the angst in Waldorf's eyes at the mention of his brother. He ignored the pit in his own stomach because he felt pity for them.

"Do you know why he's here?" Kade asked then.

"Probably to kill whoever killed his brother," Waldorf answered with a deep sigh.

Both of them knew that Mikhail was here to take revenge on the people that killed Lucas and all his friends from the pack.

Kade didn't see it as a problem. "That means he'll be coming after me too since I've openly killed many of Lucas's men."

"You need to let me warn my brother," Waldorf demanded.

"And why would I do that?" he asked cynically as he stepped closer to the cage.

Waldorf's jaw ticked and he simmered with fury. He moved with precision, his arm reached out of the cage and grabbed the lapel of Kade's suit. He pulled them as close as the bars would allow it. Dario and Nikolai rushed into the room, but Kade motioned them to back off. He faced Waldorf alone and took in that spiced fragrance that clung to the man, it seemed to darken as his mood grew dangerous.

"Mikhail might kill my brother," he said.

"You will know how it feels then," Kade couldn't help but be spiteful.

Waldorf's anger was replaced with angst for his brother. Kade wished he hadn't seen it, it only played with the strings in his own damned heart.

"I'll just kill Mikhail," Kade retorted changing the subject.

"Don't be stupid," Waldorf gritted out. Kade was sure he misunderstood when he saw concern on Waldorf's face. "My uncle will kill anyone you send for him."

"My men will do what's necessary," Kade said.

"Send an army then," Waldorf exasperated. "But you don't really want that do you. I can tell, you care for the men that follow you. You're just like me."

Kade's eyes blazed. "I'm nothing like you," he growled.

"Keep telling yourself that," Waldorf let go of his suit's lapel then.

Kade turned to leave to room.

"I can help you," Waldorf announced. "Just like you want my bloodline to end, so do I."

Kade stiffened. "I will never get help from a Waldorf," he seethed before he left the room and the guards locked it shut.

Kade went back upstairs.

"Maybe, you should reconsider," Nikolai said as they reached the lounge.

Kade turned and almost punched Nikolai in the face. "You want me to work with him," he gritted out.

Nikolai held his hands up in a truce. "We know nothing about Mikhail Waldorf," he said.

"We'll figure it out," Dario stepped in.

The one thing that Kade would never do was ask Alexander Waldorf to help them. He was his enemy and what Lucas did was unforgivable. He understood that they knew nothing about Mikhail Waldorf, but Kade's killed powerful men before, they'd just do it again.

Kade was just about to turn and leave for his office to track down Mikhail and plan an attack, when he caught Mia appearing from the kitchen and heading to the door.

"Where are you going, Mia?" he asked.

Mia crossed the space and came to him by the stairs. "I wanted to go shopping and visit the bookstore," she answered.

"You can't go," Kade said.

Mia looked from Dario back to him. "Can you at least tell me why?"

Kade was done from everyone asking him his fucking reasons.

"I deserve the truth, Kade," Mia said. "If you're going to control my life then I want to know what's going on."

"I'm hunting the people that killed our family," he told her bluntly.

"Is that whose locked up in the basement?" she said. "I don't understand-"

"It's for our family!" Kade snapped.

"What family?" Mia alleged softly. "They aren't coming back, Kade. Killing people won't solve anything. It never does." Her eyes like broken shards of glass that had no hope of repair.

Kade had hatred scarring his own face. "It sure will help me sleep at night," he said bitterly.

"Bloodshed never allows peace to anyone. The man who did this to us already died," Mia said. "Drop this madness-"

"Madness!" Kade yelled making Mia flinch back. "How am I supposed to forget what they did to our family or to you!"

"Kade," Dario stepped between them. "You're scaring her."

Kade blinked and like the red flash of anger disappeared before his eyes. He saw the tears running down his sister's face.

"You're right," Mia wiped her cheeks. "I'm sorry for trying to move on and live with myself after seeing everyone killed. I'm sorry for wanting a normal life even though I am reminded every single day that I can't get everything back."

Kade regretted his words. "Mia-"

Mia turned to hastily, when she lost balance and her broken leg couldn't support her shift. She crashed into the table, breaking the lamp.

"Mia!" Kade rushed to her side. She pushed his hands off her and stumbled onto her feet, her limp more prominent as she went off.

"Niko, go with her," Dario commanded.

Nikolai followed his brother's order and went after Mia to ensure she reached her room safely.

"You didn't have to talk to her like that," Dario said.

Kade rubbed is face and he let out a stream of curses. "Is what I'm doing so bad?" he turned to his friend.

"No," Dario answered. "But you have to remember, you have one sister. She needs you more than anyone. Don't hurt her, Kade."

Kade swallowed the ache of his sister's tears. "What's the intel of Waldorf's brother?"

"Our men are looking for him," Dario answered. "What should we do about Mikhail?"

"We will hunt him," Kade gritted out as he walked away. "I don't want any fucking Waldorf alive."