William Read Free

raised. Usually, bar fights were great sport, but in a predominantly vampire-filled bar there was no sport, just information gathering—and it wasn’t acquired over tea and biscuits. It always got bloody and it never ended well. A Valentine was on the prowl and no one was about to get in his way—even if the vampire William targeted was scared for his life.
    The way the other customers saw it, the guy getting pummelled shouldn’t have earned a reputation for being a messenger to the wolves. A man supporting both sides of the war.
    “I don’t know, man. No one has talked.” The guy covered his face, denying all knowledge. Adam stood and observed from the dark corner as he watched his older brother lose control. William was completely out of it.
    Since another witch had been taken—Katie, the best friend of his brother Robert’s bonded mate—it was like he was losing his sense of reality. No one could reason with him.
    “Tell me where they are,” William snarled in the young vampire’s face. Adam winced. He was here as a favour to Robert and he loved his brother, but this was too damn much. There was no thought, no consideration of the chaos he was causing. It had hit him worse even than losing Emma. It was like someone had carved out his heart and left him hurt and bleeding.
    Katie White, the last remaining witch, was still alive, and that made it worse. At least Emma had been dead and he’d known there was nothing he could do to change that. But William knew that Katie was out there, and he was leaving a wave of destruction everywhere he went in his efforts to find her.
    William wasn’t the same man. There was no mercy in this guy. Rage, anger and pain consumed him now. His was on a destructive path. No one—not even Robert—could stop him now.
    Adam looked around at all the people observing the fight. Vampires, wolves…shit, even demons sat and watched William. Most of them looked terrified of the vampire who had clearly lost his mind.
    Shaking his head, Adam turned back to watch his brother.
    As much as he thought that this was wrong, he would never get in between his brother and what he felt he needed to do. The witch clearly meant something to him. No vampire went this crazy for a woman unless she was a bond mate.
    Adam didn’t know much about her. He’d never met her. A few months ago, she had been taken by the wolf Alpha, James. The same night his own father—head of the vampire council and the most powerful vampire in all of Beyer West—had been killed. Murdered, actually. Taken from them by the same wolf.
    Everything around them was going to shit and his brother was determined to go down the same path. At any time the other customers could jump them and finally be rid of the unstable Valentine boy. For decades, William had made himself a reputation for being the crazy brother, but now he was driving his ruthlessness to a whole new level.
    Adam tensed as the barman approached his brother. The barman was a vampire and, from the look of it, one of the older generation. Adam moved closer. If it went the wrong way he would back his brother. Whether he believed what his brother was doing was right or not, family came first.
    That was what made him a Valentine.
    Adam watched as William raised his fist, ready to take another set of swipes at the guy he held. The barman stopped his raised fist easily, holding it in his, and span William around as if he were nothing more than a rag doll.
    “Son, he said he didn’t know nothing. Leave him be,” the barman said.
    William hissed and tried to hit the barman, a great insult amongst their community. Out of respect, no one attacked the older generation. Adam swore and moved forward.
    The barman grabbed William and, using the full force of his upper body, threw him against the bar. The bottles rattled and the customers close by dispersed, not wanting to get involved in a fight that was clearly about to get worse.
    Adam ran, going for the man who was holding his