“It would cause havoc anyway. Bloodlust.” I felt extremely uncomfortable pointing out a weakness, so I kept my eyes on his bowl. “As you said, your species is capable of it, but you have better control over your, um—”
“Our wolves,” Carter suggested.
“Yes, control over your personal wolf. A Vampire’s control slips easily, and they have to drink blood, unlike Weres. You hunt for the freedom and thrill of the chase; you don’t kill innocent humans to feed a craving.”
“Not all of our kind does, but as mentioned previously, it’s possible,” Carter said. His words sounded more like a familiar warning, a lesson he made sure the Pack remembered.
“There are Infecteds at the facility.” I told his bowl, not sure if looking up would be the best idea just yet. “Roughly a hundred.”
The room went quiet; only the sound of steady breathing filled the long pause. I lifted my head and looked at Carter, whose gaze seemed to be lost in the distance. “If what Brendan overheard is correct, and the Infecteds died from his blood, then there isn’t much to worry about.”
“Our two conditions would appear to cancel each other out,” Dante said.
“But I am no ordinary Infected. The virus is built into my DNA, so the ultimate question is, would the Were-gene be able to survive in my body?” The room fell silent, so I continued. “Lance obviously thought so.”
Owen gave me a toothy grin. “I don’t think he will have much to think about anymore, since Brendan cracked open his skull.”
I turned to Brendan, startled. “You killed him?”
“My pleasure, believe me,” Brendan said. His hand crept under the table, found mine, and squeezed.
I shook off my stunned relief. “Well, his research is still lying about the facility somewhere. Someone will find and use it, if they haven’t done so already.”
“We’re forgetting the difference between those Infecteds and you, Heather,” Carter said.
“Some of the Infecteds in the facility might be pregnant; I don’t know. I didn’t get a good look. Every Vampire in this country knows about me. I wouldn’t be surprised if every Vampire in the world knew about me. An Infected baby has a small chance of survival; just because I survived doesn’t mean others will, but I have no doubt they have already tried to infect unborn children.” The thought made me want to throw up.
“He would do that, to pregnant women and their babies?”
I didn’t look to see which female asked. I kept my focus on Carter’s dark eyes. “Yes, in a heartbeat. Which is why I am going back to the facility,” I said boldly.
Carter shook his head. “You’re in no condition, Heather.”
True, I agree with you a hundred percent, but I couldn’t care less.
“I can’t leave them.”
“I have no intention of leaving them there, but if you are right and they are Infecteds, or something worse, we have to make sure they do not leave the facility.”
“Agreed.” I nodded. “But with all due respect, Carter, those bastards kidnapped me. They have cut me, cracked two of my ribs, and starved me.” I decided to be smart for once and leave the rest out. “They have my sword and all my weapons. I am going back there because I personally want to make sure the research is destroyed. That the whole damn place is destroyed.”
“Heather,” Brendan warned, tightening his grip on my hand. I ignored him.
The corners of Carter’s mouth tweaked upward, and after a moment, he nodded. “Well, lassie, I suggest you get a few hours’ sleep because we are going back tonight.”
I exhaled with a nod. Brendan slipped his hand from mine with a soft growl.
I sat through the rest of the meeting, accepting a second, then a third helping of stew along with everyone else. Brendan remained quiet, so I kept my focus on Carter, Dante, and Owen as they worked out the plan for tonight.
They wanted to wipe out the entire facility and destroy all the records and research. Naturally, I was more than happy to help. I just wished the destruction of the facility didn’t mean killing the hundred comatose Infecteds locked inside.
Chapter Sixteen
Once Carter called the meeting over, he, Dante, and Owen left the room. The three females began clearing the table, receiving help from the redheaded Irish man, Solomon, and Alcander.
Brendan stood up, then pushed his chair under the table. “Heather, come with me.”
I followed him out of the dining room and across the main hall; the bong of the grandfather clock startled me as I passed through the right arch and into the long, rectangular living room.
The picture above the massive, mahogany fireplace caught my eye first—a broad-chested, dark-haired man sat in a forest, his arms and torso bare, a Pack of wolves around him. He seemed completely at peace.
I wonder if he is a relative of Carter’s?
The same dark wood panelling in the rest of the house covered this room, as well. Matching burgundy velvet curtains framed all the long windows. Art and colourful tapestries hung on the walls, while small, odd figurines decorated the mantelpiece. A thick bear rug covered the floor before the fireplace, with two long, brown leather sofas on either side.
I wonder if that is a real bear.
We walked past a cosy area with two armchairs and a coffee table, then down three steps into the second half of the room, which looked a little too modern compared to the old elegance of the rest of the house. A brown suede corner sofa faced a huge flat-screen television.
Brendan walked past the couch and pushed open the veranda doors leading to a small, stone-paved area outside.
I inhaled the fresh scents; nature consumed me, bracing and wild. I looked around to see a grill, black iron tables and chairs scattered across the sunlit-covered patio, facing out onto a large strip of garden that ended where the forest began.
This place is seriously huge.
Brendan walked into my line of view.
What is he up to?
I edged past the flower garden and followed him out onto the mowed grass. Thankfully, after a few more steps, he stopped and peered at the nearby trees.
“Are you stupid?” he asked.
“Is that a trick question?”
“What the hell are you thinking?” He looked at me.
“Right now, I’m wondering if you’re bi-polar.”
“You’re in no condition for this, for tonight,” he growled through clenched teeth.
“You’re angry because I am going to the facility?”
“We can handle this.”
“I am capable of looking after myself.”
“Firstly, I know that. Secondly, your ribs aren’t completely healed.”
“I’m walkin’ around, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, but who knows what might happen tonight? You can’t be of any use—”
“I will drink some more of my mix—”
“Your ribs are beside the point,” he said. “You want to go and kill a load of Infecteds? What are you going to do when you can smell their blood? Are you going to be able to resist, when it’s right before you? ”
I actually hadn’t thought about that.
“I said I will be fine.” I turned to look at the trees.
“You don’t even know yourself. You have been out flat for eight days, Heather. I didn’t even know if feeding you cranberry juice and blood would work. Hell, I don’t even know if it worked!”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re still in pain. Rest, food, and the bath may have helped a little, but you got very agitated being in a room with that many people. And we weren’t in battle.”
Well, yeah, the meeting had been a little uncomfortable, but I handled it.
“I said, I. Am. Fine.”
“Of course you are. Even if you’re bleeding to death in the middle of the road, you’re still fine.” He snarled.
“I wasn’t fine then, okay?” I whirled on him and snapped back. “I can admit that. I would have been fucked. Thank you, Mister Werewolf
, for coming to my damn rescue. My fight isn’t yours and thanks to my Gran, I feel guilty as shit that you have been brought into it, and I don’t have time to feel guilty.”
“Oh, you don’t have the time to feel guilty? Well, I am sorry, Slayer, but this fight is ours now. Not yours. So do yourself a favour and stay here. The Pack doesn’t need a liability.” He turned and stalked back toward the house.
“If I am such a damn liability to you, why didn’t you just kill me?”
He stopped, his back tense. “Because I’m supposed to protect you, to keep you alive, and that is what I have been doing.”
“And why did my Gran ask you to do that in the first place? Because I have a shitload of fucked-up problems to deal with, and now I have to go back to that facility and make sure those poor people are put out of their misery. Did you really think I wouldn’t go back? That I wouldn’t want t’fight after what the Leeches did to me? To you? To those patients?”
He turned back to me; tension gripped his entire body. “I thought after what you’d been through, you’d become a bit smarter and figured out when to back down.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but it isn’t in me simply to back down.”
“I can’t afford to be worrying about you when I need to help my Pack.”
“Worry about me?” And just to prove how stupid I actually am, I am not backing down. “This is my life. These are my problems. I have a totally messed-up family, and considering every fucking Leech in this country has a hard-on for changing or killing me, I am actually, sometimes, surprised that I have managed to survive this long. But I owe most of that to my Gran; she did everything she could for me. Protected me for my entire life. She’s dead. So now, it’s up to me. I don’t need someone else wasting or even losing their life in order to protect me. This is my fucked-up problem! I’m on my own and I will fight and live as long as I can, but if I die, it doesn’t matter—”
“Yes, it does,” he growled and stalked toward me.
“As long as I die after I kill Marko—” I have to stay alive to kill him; as much as it sickens me to be so hypocritical, I have to finish this for my mother, my father, my Gran. For every generation of my entire family that died trying to save innocent people and stop these creatures. “As long as Marko is dead, what happens to me doesn’t matter.”
He stopped in front of me and grasped my shoulders. “You’re fucking twenty-one, Heather.” The muscles in his thick neck twitched. Small beads of sweat crawled down his square jaw.
I looked up into his eyes. “I have Vampires wanting to kill me every damn day of the week, so much so that my Gran got an entire Pack of Werewolves involved. And what makes it worse, these Vamps now know how I tick, and they want to give this stinking disease that is coursing through my veins to others.”
His grip tightened.
“I am not a normal twenty-one-year-old. I am no more normal than you or anyone else in that house. I am my own damn species.” I bit down on my tongue. “I will fight as long as I am able.”
“You didn’t even know who you were yesterday—”
“I knew who I was in that room, Brendan.” Guilt ripped through my chest as I studied his face. “I knew who you were, but I couldn’t control it, okay?” I sighed. “If he had fed me more blood, I don’t know what would have happened. If he would have just fed me diluted blood, then, well, look at me.” I shrugged. “I’m standing. Talking. Dehydration totally messed me up, and that’s the only reason. You saw for yourself how much cranberry juice and blood I had to drink after being out like a light for three days.”
“I know, I—”
“I don’t know how I am going to be, but that is my problem, not yours. My addiction isn’t your problem. My lack of plan-making skills is not your problem, and if I die, it really isn’t your problem. People die.” He opened his mouth, but I continued. “It hurts. My Gran just died, and I have no parents. I’m alone and yeah, life is shite. If me being the way I am—”
“A pain in the arse? Crazy? Stubborn as hell?” His hot breath skated over my nose as I held his gaze.
“—helps me get by, then that is that. Do yourself a favour, Wolf Man, and don’t start threatening me. The harder you push me, the more silver I add to my list. I’m sorry you don’t like the fact that I’m coming tonight, but I really couldn’t care less.”
His grip on my shoulders relaxed.
“I’m coming and you are just going to have to play nicely. I’m going to help you and the Pack; soon, you will realize that and you will be thankful.”
The small smile lines at the corners of his mouth deepened as I finished reciting everything he had said to me in my kitchen the first morning we met.
He moved his hands to his hips and looked at the trees behind me. “Stealing other people’s lines?”
“I’m told that is what smart people do.”
He took a deep breath and rubbed his hands roughly across his face. A sharp laugh left his mouth. “You really infuriate me.”
“Good, because the feeling is mutual.”
A small smile played on his lips and he pushed his fingers through his hair. His eyes gleamed emerald as he brought his focus back to me.
I could feel heat radiating off his body and swirling in the small gap between us. I dropped my gaze from his as the tangy, wild scent of him wrapped around me. I could hear the gentle whistle of the wind as it shook the trees behind us, joining the growing sound of his beating heart.
“I could have killed you,” I said to his chin. “I could have bled you to death, or the virus might have been enough to kill you. Or I could have had a hand in making you a monster—” I stopped as he cupped my cheek.
He brushed his thumb across my skin. “I’m already a monster, remember?”
I shook my head, my focus remaining on his shirt. “You’re irritating, opinionated, a little crazy with your moods sometimes, but you’re not a monster, Brendan.”
“Well, that is the sweetest thing you have said to me.” He placed his hand under my chin, bringing my gaze back to him. “I could have done the same, you know?”
“None of this would have happened if my Gran had just told us what she had seen.”
“Remember what you said to me on the rooftop and in the back of the van? You said you trusted her more than anyone else and that whatever she saw, there will be a reason why she never elaborated.”
“This was fucked up, though.”
“Understatement of the year, Slayer,” he said. “We’re going to fix this.”
“Yeah, and I’m going with you.”
A faint smile spread on his lips. “I got that much, hence the fact I said we’re.”
“Brendan?” Carter’s voice floated on the breeze, causing Brendan to drop his hand immediately.
The cool summer wind hit my cheek like a ton of ice-cold water, sweeping away the heat that Brendan’s unexpected touch brought.
“Carter.” Brendan turned to his Alpha.
“I want to speak to Heather,” Carter said, stopping beside him.
Brendan nodded, then headed toward the house.
I looked up into Carter’s dark brown eyes; he studied me carefully for a moment.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get a moment to speak before the meeting.”
“My fault, not yours.” I kept my eyes locked on his. We stood for a moment, neither of us looking away. I sighed and looked at the trees. “Forgive me, but I am in no mood to play dominance games with you, Carter. If I look you in the eyes, I am only trying to be polite. I am fully aware that you could rip me to pieces with your bare hands.”
He barked, a deep laugh that rumbled in his stomach like a thundercloud, his shoulders bobbing up and down. “You are just like your grandmother, lassie.”
“Thank you.”
“There is no need to worry. You not part of the Pack, nor are you another predator, so—”
“Technically, that wouldn’t be true.”
“Technically, no, but I am fully aware
of what you are, Heather Ryan, and although you have power and strength of your own, I also know you are no threat to me or my Pack.”
Maybe I should have been insulted. I was sure that I could kill a Werewolf if I really needed to, but no, I was not a threat to them and hopefully, I wouldn’t become one. So for now, I guessed I would just take it as a neutral comment.
“You must forgive Brendan; he is far too opinionated for his own good at times.”
“I just told him that.”
“He means well. I also want to discuss what you said during the meeting, about myself and my Pack being brought into something we shouldn’t have. Sofia is—” he stopped and corrected himself, “—was very special to me. Her gift helped the Pack on many occasions; too many to be able to list. Our helping you was the only favour she ever asked in return, Heather. So whether you choose to accept that or not, the moment she asked me the favour, it became my business. As for the Pack, the moment one of us is involved, the rest are involved. We stand together. Protect each other.”
“I appreciate and respect that, but—”
“No buts, Heather. I realize, no, I know, you haven’t had an easy life; you have to forgive me for seeming to pry, but Sofia explained as much as she possibly could to me. You lost your parents and she was your sole guardian. I know that you have been brought up for one purpose and one alone, and without that, you probably don’t know who you are, or what you would do. You relied on your grandmother, and now you want to rely on yourself, because you know that is what you need to do. I respect that, Heather, but you are not alone now. I owe Sofia for many things, but now she is gone. I can only pass the favour on to you, so if you need anything, you just ask me.”
“Thank you Carter, but—”
“No buts, pet. Just accept it.”
I nodded.
We stood quietly for a moment, but I couldn’t keep the question from passing my lips. “How did you know my Gran? She never mentioned that she knew an Alpha. Were you and she an item—?”
“No.” He coughed. “No, we weren’t romantically attached. I knew her since her childhood; such a bonnie wee thing. Same air about her that you have. We got along. She was a good...friend.”
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