He didn’t die right away. He continued to gaze at Oliver with desperate love in his eyes. Bleu looked up to see Blacque many yards away, standing still as a statue. As Yves began to crumble to the ground, he looked up to see Drusilla. The silver chain still smoldered against the skin of her hands. April struggled to free her fist from his chest—his heart was clasped firmly in her palm. Dane held him by the skull and lowered the dying vampire slowly to the ground.
Bleu choked back a cry, crawling over to his maker, feeling the wrenching separation of Yves’ soul from his own. April bent over double, staggering until Dane steadied her.
“What’s happening?” Blacque was finally there next to Bleu, his strong hands holding him back from the other vampire. Yves reached out a hand, desperately searching for his offspring.
“Keep him back, Lukas. He’s trying to pull energy from them.” Dane pulled April away from Yves and held her tightly in spite of her struggles. Bleu lunged against Blacque’s hold, frantic to obey the unspoken command to return to his maker’s side.
With a sigh, Yves dropped his gaze and then looked at Bleu once again.
“Oliver.”
He shuddered, and then it was over. Bleu went limp, looking out at the world as he lay on his side in the snow. He looked at Dane and Drusilla and saw burns where the silver chain had bound the two werewolves. Drusilla looked down at her hands as though she finally realized her skin was being charred by the silver. She cried out, throwing the metal to the ground. Another wolf came to her side and licked the lesions on her skin. April was limp in Dane’s arms. He held her like a child, but his eyes were fixed on Blacque and Bleu.
“He thought the silver would weaken us. It burns, but as soon as we woke up, it was easy enough to break loose.” He took a wide path around the body of the vampire and settled April on the ground next to Bleu. “Will she be all right?”
“I don’t know. Makers usually take their offspring when they die. I don’t know why we were able to survive his death.”
Blacque growled in his ear. “You knew his death would mean your own?” His arms went dangerously tight around Bleu’s torso, causing him to gasp in pain. The broken ribs hadn’t mended yet.
“I told you to stay at the house. I told you to stay with the pack!”
“The pack was already on its way out here.” He continued to glare at Bleu.
“We felt Mallory die.” It was Michella, newly shifted to her human form. She was blood streaked and naked and really quite impressive. “Then the alpha called us. Lukas arrived when we did.”
Bleu looked around and saw wolves shifting into ghostly human shapes. An old woman limped over. She’d taken a fierce blow to the leg. It began to heal as he watched. Another woman was bent over Mallory’s body, rocking and quietly crying. His wife. The bastard had put her through hell this day. Hopefully Yves had paid him well. She’d need it.
“Why? You had your alpha safe. You could all have got away from him. Did you have any clue how lethal Yves is…was?”
The enormity of what had just happened settled in. This pack of wolves had destroyed one of the most powerful and unpredictable vampires he’d ever known in all his years. He began to shake, grateful for Blacque’s strong arms around him.
“He claimed you.” A young man was squatting on his haunches a few feet away, balancing on his fingertips. “He stood up in front of us all, and he claimed you. That makes you ours as well.” The kid didn’t look too pleased about it.
“Well fuck.” Bleu literally didn’t know what else to say. He struggled from Blacque’s arms and staggered a bit as he regained his footing. He looked down at himself—his clothing was torn and bloodstained, and he had too many injuries to count. He’d need blood and a safe place to lie for the coming day. As though catching his thoughts, Blacque looked up toward the mountains.
“Morning’s coming. We need to get you two to cover.”
April moaned a bit incoherently, and Bleu reached for her, feeling better even as he clasped her hand. He bit his lip, not caring that his fangs showed.
“It was her…us…I think.” He looked up at Blacque. “We’re blood kin as well as sharers of the same maker. We survived because of our blood ties. When his power left us, we supported each other.” He knelt and gathered April into his arms.
“You don’t have to, Bleu.” Blacque was looking at him worriedly. He carried her a few steps and then paused. “Where am I going?”
“My house.” Blacque moved up on one side, Dane on the other. He didn’t protest as the alpha relieved him of his burden. He was sadly grateful for Blacque’s support at his side. He began walking, his feet dragging in the snow, wondering how he was going to make it to cover before dawn.
“Hey, Bleu. This way.” Blacque tugged his arm. “I’ve got the truck. We’ll drive.” Bleu looked at Blacque in confusion, but he followed, relieved he wouldn’t have to dig a hole out in the forest. The driver’s side door was ajar. Bleu crawled in, then reached out to take April from Dane’s hands. Blacque climbed in, and then the passenger door opened. Drusilla slid in next to him. He eased his great-granddaughter onto his lap, and he tucked her head under his chin. The truck rocked, and Bleu looked back to see a number of injured shifters being loaded into the bed of the truck. There was a slap on the door, and Blacque started the engine. As they began to ease out onto a narrow, rutted road, Bleu could see the shadowy figures of wolves running beside the vehicle.
The slider window opened, and he looked back at Dane. “We can get to the big house faster than your place, Lukas. There’re a couple of rooms in the basement.” The window snapped shut, and Bleu felt himself begin to list to the side. April struggled a bit and then went still again.
“Welcome to the pack.” Drusilla smiled, reaching over to pull the unconscious vampire into her arms. “We’ll take real good care of you two.” She gave him a slight push. Bleu was glad to find his head resting on Lukas Blacque’s wide shoulder.
As the truck jolted from dirt road to smooth highway, he fell asleep with a smile.
Epilogue
The muscles in Blacque’s arms and back strained as he eased the engine from the hoist to the compartment of the Studebaker. He gently guided it into place, grinning as he unbuckled the straps that held it to the metal balance bar. Not much longer now, and she’d be running. New paint glistened, and the freshly upholstered seats had gone in the night before. By tomorrow, he’d have the engine completely finished. He hoped.
“I know you aren’t worried, Blacque, but I am. He’s much too old for her.”
Blacque straightened and stared at Bleu. “You’re still talking about April?”
“And Dane. Can’t forget Dane.”
He grinned and turned away. “You’re saying that my father is too old for April?” He lifted a brow in question. “She’s old enough to be my mother, Bleu.”
“But…she was just a child when she was changed.”
“She was older than you. Besides, if Dane’s robbing the cradle, what exactly have you been up to?”
If vampires could blush… Wait—there was definitely a pink cast to Bleu’s smooth cheeks.
“Dane is a player. I mean seriously, how many offspring does he have?”
“You worried that he’ll get her pregnant?”
Bleu let out a sound of exasperation.
“Frankly, Bleu, if Dane manages to get her pregnant, I’ll be really interested in seeing what their baby will turn out like. It’ll be the first vampire-shifter cross I’ve ever heard of.”
Bleu groaned and reached out to pull him close. “You know, I think I have an idea about that engine hoist.”
Blacque glanced over at the sturdy piece of equipment. It could be raised high, and the balance bar that dangled from it had loops at either end. He grinned, feeling his cock begin to fill. “I’ll like seeing you all stretched out on that hoist, Oliver.” The vampire reached around and pinched his ass.
“Think again, pup.”
“Are we interr
upting?”
They both jumped and moved apart like a pair of errant schoolboys. Michella sauntered into the engine bay, followed by a smaller, very pretty human woman. The human looked normal enough, but power radiated from her. He shivered in reaction. “I know it’s the weekend, but I was hoping to catch you. Alone.” Michella smiled sweetly at Bleu, who smiled back with equally false sweetness.
“I’ve got some work to do in my end of the shop.”
They’d installed a large rolling door between the two businesses, making it easier to move their work back and forth. Blacque gestured toward his office and followed the two women inside. He grabbed a folding chair and set it next to the chair across from his desk. The two women sat side by side.
“Lukas, I’d like you to meet Angie. My wife.”
He looked at her in surprise and then back to the human. She had wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and it took only a second for him to place where he’d seen her before.
“You’re the witch who came in last fall…”
She nodded. “Quite a mess you made out there. But a little concentrated rain and a new layer of snow, and it was good as new.”
He nodded, still gazing from one to the other. Finally Michella spoke.
“We’ve been together a few years now. Last year, we went out of state on vacation. We got married.”
“Congratulations.”
Like him, she’d kept her personal life very, very private.
He waited for her to continue. Michella fidgeted and then looked up at him. “We want to have a baby. Your baby.”
He felt his cheeks go warm. He’d known this day would eventually arrive, and now he was tongue-tied and at a loss. He glanced out the window and saw Bleu back at the Studebaker, leaning into the engine compartment.
“The thing is, Blacque, I really, really don’t want to have sex with you to get pregnant.” He looked back at her in surprise. “I thought we could just go into a clinic. There’s one about an hour from here.” She swallowed hard. “No one would need to know; they’d just know that you’re the father we chose. No fuss, no muss.”
Angie hid a smile behind her hand, and then she spoke. “We aren’t the only ones like this, Blacque. That woman from Nevada? The one staying at your father’s house? She came here hoping to do this without the sex part. She’s got a human husband. They made the decision together, but I know she’d feel much better if you’d consent to doing it artificially.”
“And since you came out”—Michella looked steadily at him—“it’s given us courage. Angie and I aren’t the only ones going public to the pack.” She reached out and took her wife’s hand. “You made life better for us, Lukas.”
He sat back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. That damn cobweb was still up there. With a sigh, he got up, excused himself, and grabbed the broom from the corner. He knocked it down and then returned to his chair. He propped his booted foot up on his desk.
“Sure. Why not? It’s a new century. Well, it was a few years ago.” He looked up and saw Bleu leaning in the doorway, a lopsided smile on his face.
“Guess it can’t hurt to try something new.”
Bonus Excerpt: Silver/Steel
Chapter 1
This wasn’t the first time Travis had fucked up, nor would it be the last. But this time Travis Feris might have gone too far. Up to this moment his life had been a series of bad pranks, off-color jokes, and serious lapses in judgment. He’d been the one to goad the high school football team into carrying the English teacher’s VW Bug up three flights of stairs, then strand the car in the middle of the upper playing field. In college he’d succumbed to the urge to steal a hideously ugly statue from the lawn of city hall and deposit it in the community swimming pool. His mouth didn’t have any better judgment; his biggest lapse to date was calling his half-brother Lukas Blacque a faggot—right in front of the entire pack. That had earned him a psychic bitch slap that knocked him down a few pegs within the pack.
But now he stood naked and defenseless before one extremely pissed-off wolf bitch. A pregnant wolf who just happened to be one of the betas of the pack. Michella was fully shifted, her hackles bristling and bad temper emanating from her very essence. Behind him another female cowered, hunkered low on her belly. The beta bared her teeth in a snarl, and Travis sensed movement; the omega was compelled forth by the dominant wolf. He stepped in front of her, blocking her from Michella’s line of sight.
All around them ghostly figures hovered, weaving in and out of the trees. Tension rang through the air, and Travis wished like hell he hadn’t lost his temper, hadn’t flung foul curses at Michella. But he had, and if he tried to shift now, she’d launch herself in an attack he simply couldn’t defend against. Her pregnancy kept her off-limits. Ironically Michella’s pregnancy endangered the entire pack with her hormonal mood swings. If he weren’t so frightened, it’d be funny. This time he wasn’t laughing. Nope, he was scared shitless.
He straightened and did his best to project calm and confidence. “Michella, back off. She didn’t mean to do it.” He held his hands out, breathing through his nose. If he panted, the adrenaline coursing through him would spike, and fear, like the stench of burning hair, would flood the clearing. If Travis could be said to have a skill, it would be the ability to mask fear, because no matter the situation, if pack was involved, he was afraid. Yet no one was ever the wiser.
Damn them all to hell, anyway.
“Stupid bitch exposed us!” The blonde woman who snarled the accusation came up from her four feet, still giving the impression of an angry beast. Michella already stood upright, her tawny hair a ruffled mess around her head, her belly swollen with pregnancy. She glared at Travis, then at the omega cowering behind his legs.
Come on, Mama. Get up!
But he wasn’t telepathic, and neither was his mother. So Travis had no choice but to shield her from the fury of Michella and the other females. The beta advanced on him, and he knew damn well he was fucked. Royally. On a good day he might be able to hold his own, but with her hormones controlling her emotions and his unborn niece or nephew at stake, nobody would dare fight Michella. So he took a step back, sensing Melody moving with him. As they cowered back, his temper began to rise.
“Shel, you know she’s not fast as the rest of the females.” He glared at the assembled wolves. “What’d you guys do? Leave her behind? Push her into losing control? Did you prank her? ’Cause it sure as hell isn’t funny.”
The sharp sound of Michella’s slap echoed through the clearing and burned Travis’s cheek. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
“She shifted in the middle of a road…right in front of a car!”
“A car that hit her. Makes me wonder if you guys led her—”
The second slap hurt worse. He staggered at the force of the third. Her hand came up again, and he flinched, bracing for impact. It didn’t come.
“What the hell is going on here?”
At the sound of his half sister’s voice, Travis’s heart plunged. The last thing he needed was to be rescued by Drusilla. The only thing worse would be his father. Or, God forbid, Lukas. Behind him, Melody breathed a soft sigh of relief, and shame washed over Travis. He could afford to lose face as long as his mom didn’t take the brunt of Michella’s bad mood.
“None of your business, Drusilla.” Michella’s voice went from angry to venomous. “I’m the pack beta.”
“And I’m Travis’s sister. I’d seriously like to know how he got two black eyes and why Mel is terrified of you.” She sniffed the air, not commenting on the scent of blood rising from both Travis and his mother.
Drusilla stood to the side, fully dressed, somehow looking neat as a pin in her sweatshirt and jeans. She’d pulled her dark hair back in a thick tail and appeared to be the dominant of the entire group. Unfortunately for Travis she wasn’t, and Michella was now beyond pissed. Her lips pulled back, baring white teeth.
“Dane is out of town, so I’m in charge of this
pack, Drusilla. Melody ran out into the highway, panicked, and shifted. She endangered us all and needs to be punished.”
His mother pressed forward again and cowered against Travis. He winced but stood firm.
Drusilla lifted her chin defiantly. “Actually, Shel, you aren’t in charge of the pack. Lukas is. I suspect he’ll be really curious why you’ve been bullying the omega and her son. You know Melody is off-limits.”
In spite of the wild energy surrounding the beta, Drusilla didn’t back down. “We all respect you, Shel, but you’re in no condition to be leading a run or handing out discipline.” Drusilla edged closer to Travis, adding another level of protection to the omega. She rested her hand on Melody’s head. The thick fear that had been choking Travis began to abate. She might chafe him like hell, but his big sister walked the talk.
Unlike several of his friends, who watched from the fringes.
It wasn’t like Michella planned to kill his mother, but she’d beat her down, and Melody Feris didn’t need that in her life. He didn’t either.
Travis curled his fingers, but his reaction wasn’t aggression, rather the need to flee, to get the hell out of Dodge. Arcada might be a sanctuary for some, but for Travis it was a trap. He’d have been long gone but for his mother. Outside the city in another pack, she was a target not only for other shifters, but for anyone with the ability to spot a soft mark—or a victim.
A small wave of power disturbed the air, and behind them Melody squatted, her fists on the ground. He reached down and tried to bring her to her feet, but she wouldn’t budge. More important, he caught the scent of blood. Blood and piss. She’d wet herself. A wave of hatred washed over him, and again Travis shut it down.
“Michella, was she hit?” Drusilla’s voice was hard and angry.
The beta, backed up by several other angry pack members, held her ground.
“I smell blood on her. Was she hit by the car?”
“If she was, she fucking deserved it!” Michella spit on the dirt.
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