Page 7 of Hound

Chapter 3

LORENZO DEVON

The CEG skyscrapers were equally daunting as they were lackluster. They parted the sea of trees and concealed the burning afternoon sun. They stood as the middle point between Albany, the human city, and Syracuse, the vampire city. But everything inside it was plain. Cookie cutter. Stark white.

And every time I visited, an eerie chill crawled up my spine. It was a warning, but forwhat?

Six years and I still didn’t have the answer to that stupid question.

Distant, obscure memories danced in the back of my mind, a gust of wind speeding past me as sliding doors parted. Not much had changed in the last five months since I left for my post. From the bustling employees to the mishmash of half-humans, humans, and slightest hint of vampires in the air.

With consecutive short-term posts, it meant my senses became accustomed to human scents enfolding every corner. No half-humans. Definitely no fucking vampires. But their rot-like scents filled my nostrils the moment I entered CEG territory. Why was it so strong?

‘Cause you fucked up.

A crisp, clean scent drowned the muddled smells in an instant. It was a wave that cleared my surroundings and brought focus to one thing. One person.

“Lorenzo.”

Lace’s voice had a way of creeping up on me since his smell hit me first before anything. By the time words escaped his lips, my stomach had already tightened into itself. And when I faced him, my skin welcomed a running fever.

But it all diminished the moment I processed the formal way he called me.

“Lace.”

Alongside the CEG population, he was average height, defined by lean muscle and deep, tawny skin, and while many shrunk when next to my towering height, he didn’t. His head met right above my shoulder, but it didn’t deter him. He held himself as if we were eye to eye.

‘Cause we were.

Instead of the gym clothes he liked to wear to unify himself to guardians, he wore a crisp suit, similar to the ones his brothers and father wore. He even had a stick up his ass in the way he strutted.

A sudden spike of awareness cleared my vision.

“Good to have you back,” he said as he extended a hand. His grip was tight enough to cut my circulation.

“Good to be here.”Something going on?I scrunched my eyebrows at him.

He squeezed once more and released, warm, hooded, brown eyes meeting mine.Can’t say right now.

My senses sharpened to my surroundings. At first, nothing was out of place. But then—there. The rot-like scent grew overwhelming. Guardians were recognized as half-humans because of the way they were engineered to take vampire bloodas an enhancement. Never did they smell like this. Neither did the CEG-employed vampires.

And if Lace’s second brother was building a new force, I would have known by now. Lace wouldn’t have kept it from me. We didn’t lie to each other.

“Let’s meet in my office to discuss a few matters.”

An elevator beside us dinged open and Lace took the opportunity to waste no more time. His crisp scent renewed the enclosed space, but tension strung the air around us. It shadowed us as we stepped through windowless hallways parted by closed doors, except for one at the far end.

His office was never changing, a disaster with papers crowding the floor, but he knew how to go around. Even with the years, I still couldn’t make my way through it without his lead. The one time I diverted, stacks on stacks of files tipped over, resulting in a disaster.

Never again. Especially thanks to my cousin.

The only one who knew how to operate in this space beside Lace was her. If Nina hadn’t been assigned to. . .wherever she was outside of Syracuse since Lace couldn’t tell me the exact location, she would have tagged along to ensure I didn’t make a mess. It was a habit she developed, especially since Lace had a tendency of guilt tripping her into organizing his office.

After closing the door, I stepped closely behind him and took the seat in front of his desk. He hovered beside it.

His soft yet gruff voice broke the strained silence. “There’s been an increase in visits.”

“From the Ministry?” Vampire blood was all the same to me, no matter if “royalty” or not. But status was everything in their world; parting elite vampires from the lower class was like night and day. They carried themselves like they owned the world with elaborate outfits and a matching attitude.

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