“Rourke.” I stopped, dragging him back, trying to accurately read his urgency. “What do you know about this? Do you know who the Southern wolves are working with? Who else is after me?” Panic brewed just below the surface. My wolf let out a low growl. Having our mate betray us was not a good way to start off this relationship.
He let go of me and turned, raking both hands through his hair. Not a good sign. “I’m not sure, but I have an idea. But I swear to you, this wasn’t the plan.” I stayed silent, my mind racing. His hands sought my body again, his fingers tightening around my forearms. “Jessica, you have to believe me. I didn’t lure you up here to trap you. I had no idea you were my mate when all this began.” His eyes were fierce. “Say you believe me. Please.”
“I … I …” I wanted to say it.
“Jessica!” he shouted. “I didn’t bring you here to trap you! I brought you here because it was the best place I could think of to keep you safe until I … I mean we … could figure everything out.”
“Okay,” I said, moving around him to start toward the cabin. “I get what you’re saying. But if you don’t mind I’d like to reserve my judgmen—”
“Jessica, please.” He ran a hand over his mouth, his eyes pleading. “You have to listen—”
Suddenly there was a shout in the distance, followed by something that sounded close to a whoosh, followed by more whooshing sounds.
Rourke eclipsed me and grabbed my hand, racing us toward the cabin. The only place where we had any weapons. “Rourke!” I shouted as I ran. “What’s coming? What the fuck is going on?”
He slid to a halt so suddenly I crashed into his back. I righted myself, but his hands were gripped on to mine so painfully, I’d lost blood flow. He’d stopped right at the edge of the clearing. I peered around his shoulder, his stress and fear radiating into me in angry currents. My wolf reacted to him, barking and growling.
If Rourke was stressed, I knew I wasn’t going to like what I saw.
I gasped.
Creeping into the clearing from all around us were unfamiliar wolves, still in their human form, snarling, moving slowly, eyes pulsing yellow, each one on the cusp of change. All of them with clear intent to harm.
But that wasn’t what got my attention.
Five shrouded figures in dark capes stood in the middle of the yard like they were frozen in time. Even though it was full night, and they were all wearing black, they gleamed oddly in the moonlight, somehow reflecting the very darkness around them.
One of the hooded figures glided toward us.
It didn’t seem to touch the ground.
“Rourke,” it hissed as stark white hands slowly drew its hood back to reveal a shockingly beautiful face, seemingly carved out of ivory and bone, the edges too defined to appear normal in any realm. Its two eyes glowed like wet mercury as they pierced the darkness for the first time. “The Queen is very unhappy with you,” it tsked as it opened its mouth to reveal two of the longest canines I’d ever seen—which was saying something. Its smile filled me with horror and loathing, its mouth twisted at an odd, unnatural angle. “You were supposed to deliver the female werewolf to us yesterday. You’ve been a very bad boy.”
Vampires.
21
“That wasn’t the deal, Valdov,” Rourke snarled. “You know it as well as your Queen. My job was to extract information only. It never involved kidnapping or delivery.”
Pain shot though my fingers as Rourke’s grip on my hand tightened to the point of breakage. His muscles began to pulse underneath his forearms in a dangerous way.
I frantically searched my inner database for what I knew about vampires, which wasn’t a whole helluva lot. I knew about as much as the rest of the supe community—that the vamps operated out of one large Coven headquartered in both New Orleans and France. It’d been ruled for the better part of four hundred years by the powerful Queen Eudoxia, rumored to be sired by Ivan the Terrible.
Vampires, as a rule were reclusive, powerful, and ridiculously dangerous. They had a long, sordid history of cruelty, but since they conveniently viewed themselves as entirely above the caste system of all supernaturals, they tended to keep to themselves.
Which was lucky for us on all counts.
Needless to say, vampires had never needed any help from Hannon & Michaels to solve their problems—and although my father had fought them on and off over the past few centuries, usually because one of theirs picked a fight with one of ours, I’d never seen one up close.
Technically, as a lowly wolf shifter in their eyes, I should be well beneath their notice. They had no use for other Sects.
I had no idea what they wanted with me, and the fact that they’d obviously hired Rourke, and already knew of my change, was nothing short of terrifying.
“Ah, ah, Rourke, our agreement”—Valdov steepled his fingertips together in front of his icy visage—”was for you to gather information for us by whatever means necessary. Of course, necessary clearly implied bringing the girl to us if you were … shall we say … unsuccessful in your quest.” Valdov peered over his pointy nails at us, his steady mercurial stare completely unnerving. “And it seems … your quest has indeed been waylaid … by what is this …” He lifted his perfectly chiseled face, stonelike and eerie in its careful definition, into the air and inhaled an exaggerated breath. “Ahh,” he exhaled as he leveled his gaze fully back on us. “… Lust, is it?”
Rourke vibrated with power. It licked at me, wrapping me in its tendrils.
“I’m doing my job just fine, Valdov,” Rourke said. “I’m doing exactly what you paid me to do, and nothing more. You’ll have all the information you need as soon as I have it. And make no mistake, I will get it. So you can go ahead and scurry back to your Queen like the lapdog you are, and you can tell her to go fuck herself if she tries to change the rules on me halfway through a valid contract.”
Valdov hissed at Rourke, a deep visceral sound that made my skin itch. Then, right before our eyes, Valdov’s features began to shift and change. I watched in horror as his lips slowly peeled away from his mouth and his canines grew longer and sharper, dropping well past his bottom lip. His face elongated, impossibly stretching, his cheeks receding inward as his chin dipped downward.
It looked like his skin was going to slide completely off his face.
Holy horror show.
Then, as the final gruesome capper, his eyes bled to full black, leaving no trace of white showing at all. Then a wave of his anger hit me. I shrank against it as it pummeled me with a taste of magic I’d never experienced before. This vampire was ancient, and his powers were completely off the charts.
My wolf sprang at him inside my head, snarling and gnashing her teeth. My muscles started to jump and twist as the adrenaline she fed me charged its way through my bloodstream. I had to rein her in quickly or we’d be dead before this fight started. Hey, I know you’re itching to fight Creepy here, and I want to too, but we can’t take him and all his cronies at once, so you’re going to have to cool it down. She snarled at me, her teeth flashing, showing me an image of us sinking our teeth into his bone-white neck. Even if we managed to take out the vampires with Rourke’s help, we still have the Southern wolves to deal with, remember? If we attack now we lose. Get it? We need a better plan, one that doesn’t include going balls out on a horde of powerful supernaturals. Just give me a minute. She barked loudly but backed off, her frustration echoing around me in angry waves.
Rourke squeezed my hand in warning, acknowledging my sudden influx of power. I took it to heart. We were going to have to wait this out as long as we could. If anything, I hoped we’d be able to outrun them somewhere in the mountains. Angry Southern wolves mixed with scary vampires did not tip the odds in our favor.