Taming the Wild Beast of Alamina

Nero’s administrative meeting had reached its third hour when Arion called.

He had never been more pleased to see his second cousin’s name.

The conference room overlooked Saha’s eastern gardens, although the view did very little to improve the collection of budget reports spread across the table. Winter sunlight reflected off the pale stone terraces outside, while inside, six ministry representatives debated restructuring permits for coastal development as if national survival depended upon the exact definition of temporary commercial use.

Nero sat at the head of the table in a black suit, one elbow resting against the chair arm while he listened to a deputy minister explain a paragraph Nero had already read twice.

Chris had put the meeting into his schedule personally.

That was the only reason Nero had remained.

His phone vibrated beside his hand.

ARION.

Nero picked it up immediately.

"I have to take this."

The deputy minister stopped.

One of the officials looked toward the secure phone, then at Nero. "Your Highness, we are almost finished with—"

"No, you are not."

Nero stood.

Nobody argued.

He took the phone with him into the adjoining private office and closed the door before answering.

"Tell me you have an emergency."

Arion’s face appeared on the screen.

Behind him was unfamiliar pale stone and dark timber.

Snake Island.

"I might."

Nero smiled.

"Excellent."

Arion stared at him.

"You sound too pleased."

"I am currently in an administrative meeting Chris assigned to me."

"That explains it."

"I have been discussing coastal permits for three hours."

There was a brief movement beyond Arion’s shoulder.

Dean leaned into view.

"You lasted three hours?"

"I respect Chris."

"That was not what I asked."

Nero ignored him.

Arion shifted the tablet, revealing Hunter standing near a table covered in maps and photographs.

The amusement disappeared from Nero’s face.

"You found him."

"Yes."

"Amaru?"

"Confirmed."

That was good news.

The expressions in the room suggested everything after it was not.

Nero walked farther into the office and lowered himself into one of the chairs beside the window.

"What is wrong?"

Dean answered.

"Two dominant alphas."

Nero paused.

"Guarding him?"

"That part is unclear."

Nero’s attention sharpened.

Arion gave him the essentials without embellishment.

When Arion finished, Nero was no longer thinking about permits.

"How strong?"

"Strong enough that local surveillance was detected a kilometer from the property."

Nero leaned back.

"That is inconvenient."

Dean gave him a flat look.

"We reached the same conclusion."

"What are their abilities?"

"Unknown."

"That makes it worse."

"Yes."

Nero’s gaze moved toward Hunter.

"Numbers besides them?"

"Ordinary security and local staff," Hunter said. "The problem is not reaching them. The problem is what happens once the two dominants realize why we are there."

Nero understood immediately.

Dean could neutralize.

Arion could kill one.

Hunter could control the ordinary guards.

The second dominant alpha remained.

He was silent for a few seconds.

Then he asked, "When?"

Dean blinked.

"That is your first question?"

"You called me because you need me."

Arion’s expression did not change. "Yes."

"So when?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Nero glanced toward the closed office door.

Through it came the faint murmur of officials who were apparently continuing their discussion without him.

Wonderful.

"We need you here before dawn. Quietly," Arion said.

Nero nodded.

His public status made sudden travel manageable.

His actual value in the operation could not become public at all.

The world knew Nero Altera as Saha’s crown prince, an unusually powerful dominant whose secondary-gender profile was kept deliberately vague in most official records.

Almost no one knew the truth.

Enigma.

"You need me to take the second alpha," Nero said.

"Yes," Arion replied.

"Alive?"

Arion glanced toward Dean.

Dean answered.

"If possible."

Nero smiled faintly. "That sounds conditional."

"It is extremely conditional."

Hunter pushed one photograph toward the camera.

Nero studied the two men.

"One dies before they understand what is happening," Arion said. "I can guarantee that much."

"And I stop the other one."

"Yes."

Dean leaned closer to the screen.

"Preferably without destroying half the villa."

Nero looked at him.

"You have very little faith in me."

"I have met you."

"That should increase your confidence."

"It has done the opposite."

Despite himself, Nero laughed.

It was good to hear Dean sound like that.

Especially with the situation laid out across the table behind him.

Nero studied the photographs again.

"Do you know whether Amaru is physically capable of surviving a fight inside the residence?"

"No," Arion said. "Which is why there cannot be one if we can avoid it."

That changed Nero’s approach completely.

"Then I do not release anything until I know where he is."

Arion nodded.

Dean’s expression became more serious.

"They cannot know what you are."

"They will not."

That much Nero could promise.

An enigma did not need to announce himself to overpower a dominant alpha.

More importantly, if either man survived, Nero had no intention of allowing him to understand exactly why every instinct in his body had failed.

"How are you explaining my arrival?" Nero asked.

Hunter answered.

"You are already part of their public holiday route. Saha is the final destination."

Nero smiled.

"So I became impatient and came to meet them early."

Dean looked offended.

"That is believable."

"Very."

"Too believable."

Nero ignored him.

Hunter continued, "Your aircraft lands at the private section of the island airport. Officially, you are joining them for breakfast before continuing with them toward Saha tomorrow afternoon."

"That works."

Arion’s gaze remained fixed on him.

"You do not tell Dax why you are coming."

Nero raised one brow.

"He will know I left."

"He does not need to know why until this is done."

That was sensible.

If Dax learned two unidentified dominant alphas were physically blocking access to Amaru, there was a real possibility his response would involve considerably more personnel than Snake Island could absorb discreetly.

Nero imagined telling his father after the fact.

Better.

"I will tell him Dean missed me."

Dean looked horrified.

"Absolutely not."

"Arion?"

"No."

Nero sighed.

"You are both difficult."

"You are coming?" Dean asked.

Nero looked toward the conference-room door again.

Somewhere beyond it waited coastal permits, development classifications, and another hour of discussion that Chris had specifically told him not to escape.

Then he looked back at the screen.

"I will be there before dawn."

Dean smiled.

It was brief but genuine.

"Thank you."

Nero’s amusement faded slightly.

He cared about them too much to make that part into a joke.

"Do not approach the residence before I arrive."

Arion nodded.

"We won’t."

"And if something changes?"

"We call."

Nero stood and reached for his jacket from the back of the chair.

Dean watched him.

"Are you leaving the meeting immediately?"

"Yes."

"Chris is going to know."

"Yes."

"Are you afraid?"

Nero paused.

Then he looked toward the closed door.

"A little."

Dean laughed.

Arion’s mouth moved faintly.

Nero ended the call before either could become more insulting.

For several seconds, he remained alone in the office.

Then he opened the door.

Six officials looked toward him.

The deputy minister straightened.

"Your Highness?"

Nero picked up the folder he had abandoned.

"I have to leave Saha."

"Is everything alright?"

Nero considered the question.

"Family matter."

That was true enough.

He turned toward the door.

Behind him, one of the officials asked carefully, "And the meeting?"

Nero did not slow.

"Send the minutes to Chris."

Silence followed him into the corridor.

That might be more dangerous than Snake Island.

Nero smiled anyway.

Three hours from now, he would be on his way to help Dean and Arion break into the most carefully protected residence on Veyra.

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