Chapter 593: +Chapter 593+
Asher didn’t say anything to that, a foot already out the door. "What’s the first club?"
"Black Bow-" Jael barely got out the name of the strip club before Asher was out of the car, fur coat splayed out as he got in another vehicle and sped off.
He practiced his breathing as the call rang, he had thought that they could each handle a club, but an unrestrained Asher would deal more damage than a couple of small-time gangs.
There was too much happening in quick succession to process the severity of gangs going after Asher’s clubs, right on his turf. He would deal with that later, right now, he needed to focus on damage control.
"This better be good," Davian muttered as soon as the call connected.
Jael’s lips lifted in a humorless smile, "That depends on your taste. Gangs are attacking Asher’s clubs, and he’s gone completely off the handle."
"Gangs are attacking- wait, what did you say about Asher?" Davian cut himself off.
"I’ll send the locations to you, but it would be real helpful if you could come in person. I’ll need all the help I can get."
Jael wasn’t talking about the gangs, and he knew that Davian knew that. The Mafia King cursing before hanging up was reassuring.
He put the car in gear as he rang up Nikolai, driving right after his boss.
-+-
Nikolai had been heading out of his bedroom when his phone rang, seeing who called didn’t put a smile on his dark face.
"The High Council?" He prompted as soon as the call connected.
"Worse." Jael said calmly, swerving in his seat from how hard he turned at a corner. He was no longer hiding the fact that Asher was the reason he was dragging the other Mafia Kings into what they could easily handle by themselves.
Nikolai cocked a brow, pausing with a hand on his door, waiting for the other to go on.
"Small-time gangs are attacking a handful of Asher’s clubs, I just spoke to Mafia King Davian."
Nikolai’s brow lifted higher; even if the High Council were behind it, it was unlikely that Asher would need both their help for a couple of gang members, unless things escalated.
"I need your help with Asher." Jael went on, his few words hiding a whole lot. "Something isn’t right with him."
Nikolai had to bite back a quip about nothing ever being right with the hard-headed Alpha. But Jael was usually level-headed, if he was throwing out all the stops right off the bat, then there was actually cause for worry.
"Davian and I will be there in a bit," He agreed, the call dropping right away.
Nikolai glanced down at his phone and then the door handle, his day was already going in a direction he hadn’t predicted.
He opened the door to find Angelo waiting patiently for him, his hair down. The sight of him instantly relaxed him, and he had to stop himself from immediately reaching for him.
"Something is up on Asher’s turf, Davian and I have to go down."
Angelo noted that he wasn’t included in the list, "You don’t want me to come along?"
Nikolai usually prided himself on his self-control, but Angelo took a sledgehammer to it by merely existing. He walked over to card his fingers through the assassin’s hair gently.
"The gangs are a non-issue," He spoke quietly, "There’s something wrong with Asher, his second-in-command sounded antsy."
Now Angelo frowned, he wanted to be by Nikolai’s side, but he knew how important this had to be. "I’ll just wait at the bar..."
A new person joined the conversation, "Could I trouble you to stay in the mansion and keep an eye on Lake instead?" Davian walked up, his request polite despite the annoyance in the gray eyes.
Angelo was caught off guard by this request, he didn’t think the Mafia King trusted him that much to ask him to watch his pregnant mate.
"Is something wrong with Lake?" Nikolai had to ask, dark blue eyes murky.
"He’s a little off today," Davian muttered, some of the annoyance bleeding out of his eyes as he spoke. "The doctor already looked him over, he’ll be fine."
"Yes." Angelo answered straightforwardly. Even if Lake hadn’t been sick, he would have been happy to keep an eye on the pregnant Omega regardless.
"Rosie will come find you," Davian said to him, walking off.
Nikolai reluctantly pulled his hand away, his dark gaze lingering on Angelo’s lips.
The assassin was too busy keeping an eye out for the bubbly redhead to notice, or he would have made the move himself.
Nikolai eventually walked off after Davian, catching up to the other Alpha in the foyer.
A car was already prepared for them, Davian getting behind the steering wheel, still strung up.
Nikolai wasn’t much better, his thoughts lingered on Angelo.
"Jael said Asher had gone off the handle," Davian broke the empty silence, his gaze focused on the road.
"Doesn’t sound much different from the usual," Nikolai muttered.
"I hate to disagree," Davian countered, "Ever heard of the Knight bloodline curse?"
Nikolai’s head slowly turned around to look at him, the expression on his face enough of an answer. "That doesn’t sound good."
Davian shrugged, "It’s kept tightly under wraps, but it isn’t necessarily a weakness." He started his explanation.
Lake had given him a visual from his experience on the one business trip he went for, but before that, there was already information about it. Although Lake had padded the few lines that had been gathered over the years as the Knight family grew to prominence in Haines.
Nikolai had an expression of mild disbelief on his face as he listened, "Kind of explains his impulsiveness. But Asher has a mate, wasn’t that taboo?"
Davian shrugged, Jael had only given Lake a vague explanation about why Asher was breaking down steel doors and acting out of it. The knowledge that none of the successors of the Knight Mafia House took mates, was something he knew from records.
"I only know they don’t take mates, fuck knows why."
Nikolai sat up straighter in his sit, looking forward to what they would see for the first time. A bloodline curse that made them inhumanely strong and abhor mates was downright silly and pointless, what could possibly be its origin?