Chester quickly gave the note to Glenn, who stood beside him. In his deft movement of receiving the note, Glenn ignited the paper into fine soot before dusting the ashy particles off his palms.
"Like I would ever tell you the location of my brother!" Chester vehemently retorted, his red eyes flashing with defiance.
Cane chuckled as the corners of his lips softened into a more amiable smile compared to his previous stern expression. "I'll hold off my fellow Seekers while you do whatever Kai instructed in that note," he whispered, ensuring his words remained unheard by his fellow Seekers.
Taken aback, Chester quietly inquired, etching the bafflement on his face, "You're offering your help?"
"Yeah," Cane curtly affirmed, "I am."
Beside both Rome and Ace, with a distrusting scoff, Ivan intensely questioned him, "Why would you help us?"
"Because, I don't believe Victoria is to blame for this Rebellion," Cane explained. "Although, if you spare her life now, you'll only be postponing her death. There isn't any way she'll get her votes."
Unmoved, standing alongside his son, Jack growled, narrowing a hostile glare at Cane, "How do we know we can trust you? You claim she doesn't have a chance of surviving, so why would you bother to help us?"
"Before she gets executed, I feel she should at least have the right to hold her babies and say her goodbye," Cane explained, digging a coin out of his pocket and flipping it to Chester. "Consider my coin as my offered truce to trust me. I'll distract them with a diversion once you're ready."
Chester caught the glimmering golden coin and confirmed its authenticity when he inspected it more closely. Counterfeit currency was a definite sign of a deceitful act of treason. Alphas and non-royal vampires trained how to estimate the value of priceless treasures to avoid the aftermath of a betrayal.
"That's pretty sentimental of you for being a Hunter species," Chester remarked as his tone growled with rudeness before he pocketed the coin.
Hunters were hardly sentimental, no different than their Predatory species.
"We're not all heartless," Cane retorted. "Now, quickly do what you need to. Once you're ready, I'll need Kai's clothes for my plan to succeed."
With his final assertion, Cane vanishes, leaving them perplexed about why he required one of Kai's outfits. Nevertheless, they dispersed separately to get preparations done.
~~~~
Another hour elapsed on Devon's and Sean's home planet as vampires prepared for battle. Warriors removed their shirts while handfuls of vampiresses applied an oily substance to their skin that would aid them with bodily injuries when they lost too much blood. Customarily, their wives or another vampiress added the oil as a gratifying gesture for the vampires who desired a female's assistance if they weren't married.
In a doorless room, Kai leisurely unbuttoned his dress shirt as an enslaved vampiress brought him a saucer bowl filled with the oily substance he needed.
"Master Devon instructed me to bring this to you, Sir Kai," she murmured softly, grabbing his attention away from gazing outside the crystal window.
Her cheeks flushed crimson as her ogling gaze lingered on his well-defined pecs before further wandering to his tightly chiseled abs.
Accustomed to such reactions from females becoming drawn to his angelic features, Kai shrugged it off, unfazed by it.
"Set it on the stand," his masculine tone faintly whispered.
Doing as he requested, the vampiress placed the bowl on the crystal stand, and then she bowed her head before retreating until she nearly collided with Princess Diva, Devon's twin sister.
"M-my apologies, Princess," she stammered in fear.
Diva's beauty was breathtaking, but her notorious temper meant that any low-life slave who mistakenly touched her risked a harsh reprimand, often resulting in a slash across their face.
Instead of brutally scolding the low-life slave, Diva's gaze fixated on observing Kai as he peeled off his dress shirt, revealing his boldly toned arms.
With a flick of her wrist, she shooed Devon's pretty slave away. As she entered, Kai greased up his front body with a rag as he sensed her approaching presence.
In a sensual smooth tone, Diva asked, "Shall I do your back?"
"I'll do it myself," Kai curtly retorted, hoping she'd take the hint to scram.
There was no way he would allow another female to diligently rub oil on his back, especially when it came to Diva, his past teenage crush whom he had long moved on from. At fifteen, they dated for six months until she cheated on him. After that, he ended their relationship, but for the sake of her brothers, he maintained a distant friendship with her. For a long time, he secretly knew she wanted him back. Therefore, her offer to add oil to his back was likely her delusional method to seduce him.
Upon his uninterested demeanor, the vibrant beam surrounding Diva's aura dimmed with disappointment, but she should have anticipated a warm reception from him was exceedingly unlikely. Ignoring his coldness, her graceful steps strode toward the window, passing behind his muscular frame as the silky trail of her emerald green gown elegantly trailed across the floor.
"It feels like I haven't seen you in forever," she muttered softly, gazing out the window, although her eyes ogled at his reflection in it.
Not once did Kai glance in her direction as he busily focused on
coating his body with the protective oil, thoroughly working his way toward his upper shoulder blades.
"It has been," he softly replied, continuing his preparations for battle.
With a heavy sigh, Diva veered in his direction, as she apologetically whimpered, "Look, I'm sorry I cheated on you with Orlando. If there is any way I can make it up to you, please tell me."
Kai flopped the rag into the bowl, facing her with a baleful glare. "Are you really doing this now?" he curtly asked. "My mate is going to be executed, and you are bringing up an old past that holds no meaning to me."
"I'm sorry. I've been wanting to say it for a long time," Diva confessed, and Kai didn't understand her timing for bringing this up now. "I never had the guts to say it before. You're so sweet, Kai, but Orlando has this charm..."
Kai grumbled a growl, causing her voice to falter. "Orlando always dug his greedy claws into every vampiress I've crushed on or thought I loved, including my mate. With his assault on my mate, I don't see how a sexual predator like him is considered charming!"
"Orlando never once acted that way with me," Diva defended.
In those ancient periods, Orlando was different from the vampire he is now. Alas, she acknowledged to never go near him as he was a sworn enemy of their Coven.
"Maybe you should ask Victoria what he's done to her! You'd never understand how he outright tortures her heart every day and assaults her every chance he gets! You and my other exes should deem yourselves fortunate he didn't violate you the way he constantly harasses my mate!" Kai fiendishly snapped, tired of everyone's blindness to Orlando.
Diva bit her lower lip as tears welled in her eyes whenever Zane stepped in. "Am I interrupting something?" he whimsically asked as a note of his humor was quite noticeable.