Shackled (The Lord Series) by Carlos
390. Tyson - The Meeting II

Before a future Lord receives his demon, he has to take an oath before the Elders and Cain, and he will never reveal anything from what he hears or sees in the Blood Lodge. Those who break the oath are no longer trusted and are often stripped of their position within the organization.

Zak Raptou is one of the few Lords who went rogue, betraying everything we stand for, and siding with Dukes in financial and political matters. Since he never crossed any serious line, the Elders never considered him a threat, but Alekos has been warning them about his uncle's shady business for years. The Elders never stopped turning a blind eye, probably because of Nikolas, Alekos' father and Zak's brother.

Nikolas was one of the best men I have ever known. My father respected him greatly. Nikolas was expected to become the Emissary, the only Lord allowed to set foot in Hell. Cain was the one training Nikolas. His death has been a great loss, destroying all the progress we made with Lucifer. This wasn't known by many.

I only found out when I started my training as a Priest. As an acolyte, I was to interact with Cain when my father wasn't around. I learned many things during that time. After my father's death, when I decided to become blood-brother to Rueben and Ansel, the Elders spent many days trying to convince me to continue with my training in another city. They even tried to tell me that they would take care of all my expenses.

The only reason I wanted to become a Priest was that I thought I couldn't share Olivia with others. Even now, I struggle with jealousy, but it's not as bad as back then. Now, Olivia's happiness is all that matters. I'm not the only one she loves or who makes her smile, and I learned to live with that.

It took a while to find a new Priest for the Blood Lodge. Alma's father, Juan, performs most of the rituals in Veross City.

If Dimitri and his blood-brothers are here to kill Zak on behalf of the Bratva, Alekos will do whatever it's in his power to help Dimitri. Zak turned the entire Raptou family against Alekos, thinking he would get his hands on Alanes Tech Company. The company was started by Nikolas and Zak's father, and from what I heard, Zak was furious the day Nikolas was made the new CEO and had a mental breakdown when Alekos took over after his father's death.

Alekos' fists clench. "Zak has been like a festering wound for many years. My father tried to make the Elders see it, but they always held on to the hope that Zak would one day return. I don't know what the fuck they expect." "Maybe they think Zak will return?" Stefan suggest.

Alekos' eyes flash red. "If he dares to set foot here, I won't hesitate to kill him. He kidnapped my secretary and did God knows what to her. Since he refuses to answer my questions, I'm inclined to believe he killed her." Reyes chimes in. "While I don't care about Sherry-"

"Cherry," Alekos corrects him.

Reyes keeps talking."-Angel was fond of her. Zak will pay for upsetting my wife."

Uri snorts softly. "The Elders in Russia would have never allowed this kind of bullshit. The last Lord who went rogue was sent to Siberia along the Road of the Bones."

"To protect it from polar bears," Ivan snickers.

Rueben has always sided with Uri, especially in Lord's matters. "I have been saying this for years. The Elders are too lenient." His attention turns to Alekos. "You know this better than anyone else."

Alekos glances around, making sure no one is listening to us, "The Elders are mostly stuck in the past." His head jerks toward Olivia. "They couldn't believe your woman could be so disrespectful. They are still fuming about it. Women are not as submissive as before."

Reyes speaks next. "If Angel would have pulled that shit on us, we would have spanked her the entire night."

Rueben narrows his eyes. "How you treat your woman has nothing to do with Olivia."

Rueben got over the humiliation Olivia made him endure in front of the other Lords from this Blood Lodge. Even so, he hates it when someone reminds him of it.

One of the pornais lets us know that the Elders are ready to start the meeting.

While my blood-brothers and I have our shit to take care of, I still say to Alekos and Dimitri, "If you need help with Zak, let me know."

Reyes, always thirsty for blood, says, "Only if you let us help with the Senator."

Dimitri has a habit of sticking his nose everywhere. "What Senator?"

"Give me your phone number," I reply.

After Rueben and I exchange our new personal information with Dimitri and his blood-brothers, we return to Olivia and the others.

There's a hint of curiosity in Olivia's eyes, so I let her know, "They are some friends from Russia. I met them while Rueben, Ansel, and I were there."

Olivia's gaze goes from Rueben to Ansel before returning to me, "I didn't know you three went to Russia."

There are things I haven't told Olivia. Not because I want to keep secrets from her but because, in many cases, details of missions are not to be shared with anyone, not even other Lords.

"I'll tell you about it on the way home," Ansel promises her.

We go to the Inferno Room and occupy our seats.

Many of the Lords who were present at the gathering that Olivia came to throw us curious glances; some even mention how we still have our nails painted. It makes Olivia happy to have all our nails with matching colors. So what if I have pink and violet nails? Rueben has them neon green and navy blue.

Olivia sits in Rueben's lap and kisses him long and passionately. It's enough to close everyone's mouths. When the gossip centers around another topic, Olivia rests her head on Rueben's shoulder, her palm against his chest. Rueben snakes his arms around her waist and kisses her forehead. She glances up at him, a smile on her lips.

She should be sitting in my lap, her smiles only for me, as those of Jasper's, but for tonight, I'll let Rueben enjoy her attention.

More chairs and tables have been brought to accommodate all the Lords present tonight. The pornais are busier than ever, trying to please the men requesting their services.

After Olivia spoke to them and explained how the Dukes are in reality, many women living in the Blood Lodge became more loving toward the Lords-especially the single ones. I wonder if, with Olivia's help, we can get most of them on our side. Ideal it would be to have all the pornais loyal to us, but even if half of them stop hating us, it's a win for the Lords.

The Elders are on the dais, their expressions worried. Jasper and Rueben told them about the events in Malta and everything we had learned so far. Learning about Asa made them understand the danger we are in. When everyone is seated, Elder Janoah starts the meeting.

"For many centuries, Lords and Dukes alike have been the keepers of many secrets regarding how humankind came to be or who made the Garden of Eden, among other things. But there are secrets that we are only starting to learn about." Elder Janoah makes a slight pause, and someone seizes the opportunity to ask, "Like what?"

Olivia straightens her back.

For now, the Elders decided to keep a secret about who Olivia really is. With so many people around, we don't want anything from what's said here tonight to reach Azael's ears.

Elder Janoah demises the pornais. Tonight's meeting is too important to have any of them around. The only woman allowed to remain is Olivia. Not as the most powerful hellstar but as Ansel's bonded. It is important to show everyone that Nephilims can have bondeds. At least Ansel can.

When the last pornai leaves the Inferno Room, the doors close behind them.

As per accorded, Ansel goes to the dias. "The Blight. Or how strong the Nephilims are."

All the Lords across the globe know about the Blight and Ophyr. After Wasp contacted us in December, we sent the video of that meeting to all the Blood Lodges.

Ansel keeps speaking. "We need to start preparing. Everyone should be training daily, including the women."

"My wife is a homemaker. She has no clue about weapons. More than that, she manages to cut herself with the knife at least five times a week," a Lord says. Other seems to agree with him.

Another takes the word. "I don't want to sound ignorant, but even if Nephilims are stronger than our demons, how would we know?"

Ansel removes his shirt. His wings spring forth.

Olivia tenses.

Mose shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

Ansel makes sure everyone takes a good look at him. Tracing the scar on his chest, he says, "I was once a Nephilim. I had no heart, no feelings, no hopes or dreams. My only wish was to serve Ophyr."

**Hi all! I am finally home - yay! - and I'm trying to get back on track. Someone asked in the comments how many more chapters left. I don't know for sure. I don't plan by nr of chapters. I let the character guide me. I have a few more points to touch and then I'm done. I have this meeting to finish, and after that - spoiler, spoiler, spoiler - the end. Or something like that :) The next update will be in about 2-3 days. PS I am having a giveaway for Shackled in my FB group, in case anyone is interested. I have some very cute covers.**