“And there are innocents in here who can’t see that shit,” I said, tipping my head at his shifted hand.
He glared at me for several seconds before looking at his hand. A second later, the appendage shifted back to human as the man straightened.
“What do you want?” I asked.
Floyd glared through yellow eyes, and then turned to Sam, pointing. “I want to know why a member of my pack is drinking with the enemy?”
“Th—they invited me to sit down,” Sam explained in a shaky voice.
A throat suddenly cleared behind Floyd and his men. “I have food for everyone.”
I looked up to find Greg standing behind the three huge wolves holding a massive circular platter on which dishes of steaming food were set. He turned and put the platter on the table beside us and picked up two plates of burgers, looking innocently at Floyd as he waited for the alpha and enforcers to move out of his way. Reardon glared at Greg for a few seconds, and then he and the other two wolves stepped back to let him begin setting down food.
The air was thick with menace coming off the men, but I didn’t think they were going to do something when the bar had human patrons in it. I also felt like Floyd understood that, if necessary, I’d use my powers to protect everyone in the bar. He’d felt my power once before and I didn’t think he’d want to be subjected to it again. Then again, maybe he’d prove me wrong and act as stupidly as he had before.
Of course, there was always Sid and his powers to consider. I wasn’t sure if Reardon was even aware that Sid was a witch, but I figured he had to be since they’d both occupied the town for decades. Actually, Sid had been around longer than that…at least a century from what he’d told us.
Greg set down Sid’s food as well as mine. And the scent of perfectly cooked cheeseburgers and deliciously breaded and fried onion rings, hit my nostrils, mingling with the scent of Sam’s fear, and Vincent’s rage. I thought about that for a second, realizing for the first time that my sense of smell really was getting stronger along with my hearing and eyesight, just like Vincent said it would. I could actually smell Vincent’s anger, and I glanced at him, seeing the glint of hatred in his eyes as he stared at Reardon. When he tore his gaze away from the alpha wolf and turned to look at me, the glowing red swirl in the pupil of his eyes was on full display.
Greg went back for Sam’s plate and when he turned to set it in front of his best friend, Floyd’s hand shot out and grabbed the bartender’s wrist. “Stop! He’s done here.” Floyd held onto Greg’s arm, but turned to look at Sam. “Get up. You’re leaving.”
“Stay where you are, Sam,” I said. “You’re welcome to eat with us.” I turned to look at Greg. “Right? Greg?”
“I’ll leave,” Sam said, looking worriedly between me and Greg.
“If you leave, they’ll punish you, Sam,” Greg said, looking straight at Floyd and then turning to nod at the two large wolves he had with him. “They’ll punish me too. You know what that means.”
“But, Greg…” Sam whimpered.
“If you don’t come with me and face the consequences of communing with the enemy, you’re done with the pack,” the alpha said, glaring at Sam. “We might even let you live when the scourging is over.”
I felt Sam’s terror as the alpha werewolf promised him punishment simply for sharing a booth with us.
“Sam…” Sid said, “the scourging means you’ll be flayed in human form until you’re nearly dead. You’ll be locked in silver chains, so you won’t be able to shift and heal. Greg will be punished right beside you and he’ll be unable to help you get away. Do you understand? You most likely won’t survive it and if that happens, who’ll protect Greg?”
Sam turned to Sid who was frowning beside him. His eyes were wide with terror as he nodded.
“You’ve done nothing wrong, Sam,” I said.
The man looked over at me.
“No one should have to subject themselves to such brutal punishment for sitting down to a nice meal with friends.”
“Let go of my arm,” Greg said, his voice as scary as Reardon’s. “You’re hurting me.”
I watched Floyd glare at the taller man, but he made no move to let go of his wrist. “You’re done with the pack too, Greg,” Floyd said. He let go of the bartender’s wrist so suddenly, Greg almost lost hold of the plate… He would have if Sam hadn’t reached up to catch both sides of it. When Greg set it down in front of Sam, I noted how badly his hand was shaking, not to mention the blood that was dripping freely from his arm.
I glanced at Vincent who didn’t appear to be fazed by the scent of Greg’s blood which made a lot of sense since he wasn’t human. I reached for a napkin, holding it out to Greg who nodded gratefully and pressed it into the marks Floyd’s claws left.
“You’re throwing them out of the pack…why?” Vincent asked. “Because Sam is sitting at the booth with me, and Greg is serving us?”
“You know why, vampire,” Floyd drawled. “I warned everyone to stay away from you, that you were our enemy, you and the unicorn,” he said, nodding at me.
“You’ve been mad at everyone since that day in front of the vampire’s house,” Greg said. “You’ve taken mated females—” The bartender’s voice was cut off when Reardon spun around and grabbed his throat drawing blood with long claws.
I shot out of the booth, hand on my gun. “Let him go, Floyd!” I shouted. To Greg’s credit, he didn’t even try and break free of the hold the alpha had on him. His face was turning red as the werewolf cut off the circulation of blood to his brain.
“Let him go, Reardon.” I pulled my gun and pointed it at the tall alpha, hearing the clattering of dishes and the dropping of silverware as patrons all around us gasped. Slowly, Reardon turned and glared at me. Ten seconds passed until I raised the gun and pressed it against the center of his forehead.
Patrons started running out of the bar in terror.
“Let go of him, Floyd. Drop your hand…NOW!”
Just like that, Reardon’s hand dropped from Greg’s neck, and the bartender stumbled backward against the table where he’d laid the platter. Blood flowed freely from the cuts the alpha’s claws had made, and Greg coughed several times before sucking in some deep breaths.
“You’re not leaving with us?” Reardon hissed at Sam.
I watched Sam absently shake his head even as all his focus was on Greg and the way he was clutching at his bruised and bleeding throat and shaking his head at his friend.
“N-no. I-I’m staying here with Greg,” Sam stammered.
“Fine. You’re both banished from the pack then,” Floyd said. “Enjoy your new friends while you still can. Don’t bother coming for your things. Everything belongs to the pack now.”
“My clothes…my stuff…my car…” Sam began.
“…belongs to us now,” the alpha said, laughing as he and his two enforcers turned and began walking out of the bar.
I stopped them with one sentence. “I’ll be out to Frederick tomorrow, Reardon. I’ll be checking on the women, listening to complaints, and picking up Greg and Sam’s things, along with Sam’s car.”
Reardon turned and glared at me as the growling in his chest grew louder. “You won’t find anyone complaining, Sheriff. Come on out and meet the pack. We’ll even throw a welcome bonfire for you.” He threw back his head dramatically and laughed loudly before exiting the bar.
Sid
I watched the scene at the bar play out just as I thought it might. It was one of the reasons I’d shown up at the saloon the second I felt the werewolves enter the town limits. As a witch, I was aware any time one of the wards I’d set up in the forests around the town was breached. If anyone other than the supernaturals who belonged in the town proper decided to make an unannounced visit, I immediately felt their vibration. I could best describe it as a witch’s early warning system. I knew who they were, and if their intention was good or evil.
Sometimes I had to wait to find out what a malevolent force wanted in the
town. In this case, the moment Floyd and his goons left Frederick, heading toward Prosper Woods, I hightailed it to the saloon to offer Vincent and Romeo support. I’d done the same thing when the werewolves surrounded the vampire’s house and most recently when the three other vampires had shown up at the antique store. I admit, I’d hung back watching things play out between the four vamps that day, wanting to see how much of vampire law Vincent knew. I’d been pleasantly surprised and had only stepped in once the new town vamp called for the Law of Embargo.
I’d been impressed with Vincent’s education, though, I probably shouldn’t have been. Clearly the vampire was old. I’d sensed it the moment I felt him drive into town. I wasn’t sure he’d ever been taught the law, though. I’d run into quite a few ignorant members of the vampire race in the centuries I’d been alive. Most vamps who had lived as long as Vincent, had learned the law. But a hell of a lot more had run around killing humans in a carefree manner, living on the excesses of free-flowing blood donors, both willing and unwilling. Those almost never lasted very long.
There were rules to these things.
Not all vampires were aware of the rules or aware that they’d been written down at some point. Those who had makers who couldn’t care less about them, never taught them the law. Those poor ignorant souls didn’t—as a rule—generally die at the hand of a human, werewolf, or other creature; they died at the hands of other older vampires. The central rule about remaining alive when talking about things like vampire longevity, was not to call attention to themselves…thus the ability to compel memories.
Therefore, a good vampire maker would be responsible and teach the rules to their progeny or face punishment from the Conclave themselves. I knew—because I was an educated witch—that those eight fossils weren’t the forgiving kind. They were eight of the nastiest bastards I’d ever read or heard about. I hadn’t met them, and since I didn’t have any inclination to work my way through the thirty layers of protection they surrounded their compound with, I probably never would. I certainly doubted they’d be travelling to Prosper Woods anytime soon.
Unless…
I knew what was in the books, and I sure as hell hoped it never got out. The fact that they were written in the ancient vampire language which only the members of the Conclave could decipher, had protected Vincent until now. Even his maker, Robert, hadn’t been able to read them. I was grateful for that. Why the Conclave had never reclaimed them, obtaining them from Robert and then Vincent, was a mystery to me. They left Siberia now and then when called out to mediate a claim. Since Sergio’s claim had been adjudicated once already and the books still remained with Vincent, I had to believe there was a reason the old fuckers hadn’t just locked the books up for safekeeping.
I’d been pondering that turn of events for a while now. I still had no idea.
At the moment, I did know this…as I watched Floyd and his enforcers leave, the two wolves left in the bar had decisions to make. It seemed the poor guys had been banished from their own pack. At least they had each other…each other and the allies I suspected they’d made in Romeo and Vincent. If nothing else, the town would rally around them. Though, shifters and werewolves rarely got along, Sam and Greg had always been a couple of good guys. They were well known and well liked in Prosper Woods. Floyd and his enforcers were not.
Before Floyd came around and claimed the title of alpha, there had been a lot of good wolves in the Frederick pack. Most of them had either died off or run off when they saw what kind of a leader their new alpha was. A few of the old ones like Clancy Barrows hung around but that was because his family owned the land the town sat on and every alpha who took over paid him a sizeable piece of the pack income in the form of a tax.
“What are we gonna do now?” Sam said, standing in front of Greg and holding a wet bar rag to the side of his friend’s neck where it still bled. Vincent had gone to lock the saloon after Floyd and his guys left, bringing the compress back to the table. Rome and Vincent were currently huddled around us, keeping watch. The rest of the bar staff was busily busing tables and cleaning the grill, since all the patrons had run out of the place at the first hint of trouble from Floyd and his goons.
The look on Greg’s face was pure agony, not from the deep cuts on his wrist and neck, but if I were to guess, from the fact that they’d both been thrown out of the only pack and home they’d ever known. Tears shone brightly in his eyes, and I had the distinct impression he wished he’d never encouraged Sam to sit with us. Floyd had taken away the only thing the two men had ever had, a familial birthright to their pack. At least they had each other and as long as I was around, they’d stay above ground. I had a feeling our new sheriff was with me. Even Vincent the vampire looked suitably upset about their banishment.
Good.
“Look, guys, you’re welcome to stay at my cabin,” Sheriff Harmon said. He glanced at me. “Your brother won’t have a problem with that, will he?”
“Tommy?” I scoffed. My brother, the Prosper Woods town mayor, had little involvement in the town. Truthfully, though, he was a witch, he had no interest in either his powers beyond what it took to ingratiate himself with the townsfolk when election day came around.
He’d hired the sheriff a month prior but that had been the only thing related to town business that he’d done in the last year. He didn’t show up to city council meetings half the time, preferring to stay at the lake and fly fish. He always cashed the paychecks I wrote as part of my job as town treasurer. But other than coming into town to pick up the check and visit the bank, he stayed out of sight and mostly out of mind. I was pretty sure he wasn’t even aware our former sheriff had quit until I informed him we’d need a new one.
“Yeah…and where is he anyway?” Sheriff Harmon asked. “He does exist, right?”
I nodded. “He exists. I deliver food to his house, he comes into town once a month to visit the bank, and other than that, stays out of the way until a month before election day.”
Harmon’s eyes widened. “Really?”
I shrugged. “Really. It’s a source of some pain for me, so please drop it.”
Vincent snorted, and I glanced over to see the vampire hiding a grin behind his hand as he watched the exchange.
I shrugged again. “It’s better this way. He can’t get into trouble.”
“Is he also a witch?” Romeo asked.
My glance shot to the two wolves who were listening. I wasn’t sure they knew about me but when they simply blinked back, I realized, yes, they most likely knew I had powers. They’d seen me that night at Vincent’s house as I stood beside the unicorn and vampire.
I nodded and sighed. “He’s a witch but a minor one. We have a hierarchy among those of us with magic and he’s on a rung somewhere between one and two.”
“Between one and two?” Vincent asked. “What rung are you on, Sid? Eight or nine?”
I thought about that for a few seconds, tapping my chin. “Ah…sixteen thousand, four hundred and thirty-two…ah…no…thirty-three.”
The unicorn burst out laughing, and Vincent’s expression was kind of priceless as the two werewolves started chuckling. I looked over to them when they almost immediately sobered, standing side by side.
I cleared my throat. “Well, what’s it gonna be? I’ll box up some more food at the store, and you two can drive me over to the sheriff’s cabin. If you’ll be living there, I want to put some stronger wards around the place to keep Floyd and his pack away. There are already some up, but you’ll need more when the unicorn isn’t around.”
Sam and Greg exchanged a glance before nodding at me. They looked over at the sheriff.
“Would it really be okay to stay with you, Sheriff Harmon?” Greg asked.
The sheriff nodded quickly. “Of course. I stay at Vincent’s home most of the time for…ah…” He paused. “For…ah, reasons.”
“My home is light tight,” Vincent said. “So, when Romeo and I want to have a sleepover, he stays with me.”
I snickered. Sleepover. That was rich.
“Well, that’s really nice of you, Sheriff,” Greg said. He looked over at Sam and threw an arm across his shoulder, drawing the smaller wolf up against his side as the man simply stared up at him. “That okay with you, Sam?”
Sam nodded and then turned to Sheriff Harmon, holding out a hand. “I’m really grateful, Sheriff. I mean, you didn’t have to come to our defense like that. I don’t really know what I was thinking in accepting your invitation to join you at the table but now I see that you’re a really good guy.” He glanced at Vincent as the sheriff shook his hand. “And, you too, Mr. Lasco.”
Vincent took the outstretched hand Sam offered. “You’re very welcome,” he said, bowing over the fingers. I almost expected to see claws spring from his hand, but Sam was gracious and nothing of the sort happened.
“That’s good. Let’s get over to my store, and you two can pick out some things,” I said, standing up and leaning on my staff. As I straightened my back, I realized I wasn’t nearly as tall as the two wolves, the unicorn, or even the vampire.
When everyone started helping the bar staff clean up for the night, I walked outside with Greg and Sam. I reached out with my magic as we stopped in front of the bar and after a few seconds, I turned to the werewolves.
“They’re gone. There’s no threat here. Let’s head down to the store.”
Sam and Greg accompanied me to the general store, and I unlocked the door, walking to the back and pulling out a couple of banana boxes.
“Here you go. Fill these up with whatever you want. Sheriff Harmon has all the basic pantry items, so you should probably concentrate on the perishables,” I said. “I just got some new steaks this morning.”
“Thank you, Sid,” Greg said. “I’ll pay for everything, you know.”
I nodded. “Just the meat, okay?”
“That’s nice of you,” Sam said with a smile.
I watched the two werewolves walk away, Sam taking off to the canned good’s aisle, and Greg to the produce and meat cases. They’d filled up their boxes, and I was adding up the totals for Greg when the sheriff and the vampire walked into the store.
True Mate Page 11