Bloodlines

by Trisha Lynn

Chapter Forty-Nine

  .... Jake ....

  The human girl had been so easy to manipulate it was laughable. Teenage girls are so predictable, you look and act like a bad boy but feed them a couple compliments and they are putty in your hands. Had he really needed to bed her? Probably not. That, he decided, was just a side benefit that he'd owed himself. His wolf had been restless for days, his primal urges pushing at every pore of his body, looking for release. Jake had seen the opportunity and had taken it. He was but a male after all. Even if it only satisfied his wolf for a short time, it was worth it.

  He shook his head in disgust. Humans were such a weak lot. He pulled the bandage from his calf to see that the deep, gaping wound was now just a long, raised, red line. It was ruddy and angry but he could no longer see the tendons and muscles that were hanging from it three hours earlier. He threw the bloodied bandage away and took a long breath.

  If the damn Princess hadn't had such strong layers of cloaking magic on her and the constant protection of highly trained Fae guards, things would have been done and set weeks ago. He'd have grabbed the Princess and been done with it, but no, he'd had to stoop to the human for help. But when his tracker, Neviin, had smelled the Princess on the human girl, he couldn't help but follow that lead. He'd never guessed that the girl would be her friend, wearing the Princess' clothes and then lead him right to her. It really had been perfect. But of course nothing goes that easy. It had been almost impossible to sense the Princess, and then when they did, she was so heavily guarded that they couldn't safely make a move. The club had just been the most convenient plan.

  “I cannot believe you just let her go!” Cisna paced by the large bay windows that overlooked a small lake.

  Jake growled. His wolf paced at the prospect of a fight. Especially one with a female. His wolf enjoyed a good fight that typically led to a good romp in the sheets. And it knew that's where it would lead with this particular she wolf.

  “I did not just let her go, Cisna! I got hit in the leg with a Fae Vestilselium bolt from a damn crossbow! I also got sliced twice from Vestilselium and steel edged swords!”

  He lifted up his shirt to show the bandage along his right side, and another on his right bicep.

  He'd led the three Fae guards on quite the wild goose chase, through dark alleyways and poorly lit neighborhoods. His animal instincts and night sight had kept him two steps ahead of them. After three hours of running back and forth, he eluded them well enough to make a break for it back to base. Once he was out of human sight he had shifted into his wolf form and retreated through the woods. Shifting had kick started his healing and by the time he was back to the lake house they had rented, his wounds were practically just bloody gouges. He'd quickly bandaged them to complete the healing process. Had he not let the Princess go and made a run for it, he most likely would have been captured or killed. He was smart, fast and agile but no match for numerous trained Fae. He was not so arrogant to even think he was.

  “Maybe if I'd had some fucking backup, I would not have had to make a break for it!” He rounded on Cisna angrily, but his look included Neviin, and Daygle. Each of them looked down.

  “And where is Uvir?”

  Daygle is the only one that dares to speak. “We have not been able to locate Uvir.”

  Jake's eyes narrowed on Daygle, and his voice rose in pitch. “What do you mean, unable to locate him!?”

  Jake stalked closer to the tall, dark skinned, dark haired Fae who had blood from both Ogre and Goblin and stopped directly in front of him. Even if he had to look up, as his face only reached the man’s broad, muscular chest, his rigid body structure spoke volumes of who was in charge here.

  Daygle cast his eyes downward again, and swallowed. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

  Jake shook his head. “Well, locate him, Day. Now!”

  Daygle lumbered his large frame from the room, and Jake turned back to the other two; who looked just as bad as him in the injury department. Cisna had a large bruise across her left eye, which he knew had started out as a monster black eye and even a bruised brow from the look of it. She also had bandages wrapped across her ribs, he could see them under the torn tank top. Neviin had bruises all over his face, and he could see a large bruise that appeared on his collarbone from the V-neck shirt he wore. His team had taken a huge hit, and each of them would no doubt be dead if not for their majorly advanced healing. They were just lucky that none of them had drawn weapons within the club. He was surprised at Uvir's restraint, as he had quite the passion for firearms these days.

  Jake had, had a long pep talk with Uvir before going into the club, which he was not to draw any weapons. No unneeded attention from the humans. No need for any of the Kingdom's to send reinforcements for them drawing too much attention. He hoped that Uvir hadn't drawn a weapon but he couldn't be completely sure as he had exited the club in a hurry and had left his team to deal with the Fae guards.

  “Did Uvir pull out any guns?”

  Cisna shook her head, and Jake sighed. Well, that was something at least, but where the hell did the Goblin go? Had one of the Fae captured him? Or killed him? He didn't even want to think of the hell he would get if he'd gotten Uvir killed. He'd never be forgiven.

  Jake stalked from the room, as he reached the front door, it burst open. Uvir stood, drenched, on the door step. Blood dripped from many wounds, and bruises also covered his face. Goblins did not heal as fast as wolves or the Fae, so he would be of no use to them for a few days, from the looks of the injuries.

  “Where have you been?”

  Uvir shook himself off, like a wet dog, and tromped inside, shutting the door with a hobbling foot.

  “I was being tailed by one of the Fae. I had to run them off my trail. I swam for miles before it was safe to come here.”

  Goblin's loved wetlands and water. In the Faerie realm they could be found in the marsh lands of Gollinheld, which is east of Ravenswood divided by a giant marsh called Quiknas Marsh, loosely translating to sudden death by the ancient goblin tongue. No kingdom had governed over Gollinheld, technically. Gollinheld was the last stronghold of the goblins. However, its leader, Geneside, had, as of late, seemed to withdrawn himself entirely from the world. Even from the precarious alliance that Ravenswood and himself had formed, many years ago.

  In those times, Geneside could be seen at Ravenswood's balls and social events and also sometimes had his hands in their diplomatic positions. But for several years now he hadn't been seen at all. It is known that Uvir was one of Geneside's right hand men, but Jake had not seen Geneside personally. Jake's boss had given him Uvir as the muscle of the crew, he was a ruthless brute.

  Jake shook his head, but motioned for Uvir to go ahead and clean up. They'd royally fucked this one up and he couldn't even imagine what the backlash would be if they went home empty handed. He paced again, trying to come up with some other strategy to retrieve the Princess for his boss.