by AJ Jarrett
“You haven’t lost, Kevin.” Colby placed his warm hand to Matt’s cheek. “He’s still out there.”
“But where? I’m his brother, and I need to protect him.” Matt’s leg was bouncing with the need to jump up and go search for his brother.
“Matt.” Ben’s booming voice pulled him from his near panic attack. “We’ll find Kevin, but first we need to get the hell out of this town before Hale returns. God knows he might show up with his mother in tow and we’re not prepared for that battle.”
“No! We can’t leave!” Matt shouted. “Kevin could still be here.”
“Matt, I’ve been a Warrior for over a thousand years.” Ben stood. “Trust me when I say this, but the chances of Kevin still being here are slim to none. We need to somehow locate Hale, and there we will hopefully find your brother.”
“That’s a lot to gamble don’t you think?” Matt wiped at his eyes.
“But it’s all we have, and if you want to live to help find Kevin, then we need to get out of here now.”
“I called Garrett.” Miles walked toward the door. “He’s expecting us.”
Matt wasn’t sure where they were going, but he had nothing keeping him in this town anymore. With his parents gone, this place held no meaning for him. All that was left for him was to find Kevin. Kevin didn’t ask for this life and Matt sure as hell wasn’t going to allow his brother to suffer because of him.
Chapter Nine
“Wes, man, wake up.” Lachlan opened his door and shouted into his room. “Shit’s going down and we need to get ready.”
“Huh?” Wes sat up and rubbed at his eyes. It had been three days since he arrived in Nebraska to move in with Garrett and Lachlan, and things had been pretty quiet until now. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Hale surfaced.”
At Lachlan’s words, Wes was on his feet. Hale was the offspring to the greatest evil known to mankind. Nothing good came from that kid making his presence known.
“What happened?” Wes pulled a shirt on over his head and hustled into the kitchen.
“Hale found Colby,” Garrett said under his breath, and Wes bit out a curse. “Colby’s fine but apparently Hale attacked one of Colby’s friends. Killed the poor kid’s parents, tried to kill him, and ran off with his little brother. Fucked up shit, man.”
“Motherfucker.” Wes’s fists clenched. The Warriors of the Light protected people from things like this, but with Athena growing more powerful they were all forced to hide like scared beaten-down puppies. It wasn’t right. “So the kid survived?”
“Yeah.” Lachlan shook his head and grinned. “I guess little Colby’s blood is some potent shit. His friend, Matt, had just a little bit of it hours before Hale tried to drain him dry. Our little child of the light is more powerful than everyone thought.”
“I wonder why that kid was tasting Colby’s blood in the first place?” Garrett looked over at Lachlan. “Are they dating or something?”
“Now that would explain why Hale showed up and attacked him,” Wes said aloud. “They are mates.”
“Yeah, but Klaus and Astrid cast a powerful spell that hid all of us Warriors from them.” Lachlan plopped down in the chair next to Garrett.
“But magic isn’t perfect.” Wes yawned. “If Hale or Athena found a trail of magic and followed it they would discover whoever was using it.” Magic wasn’t an exact science, and where there is a will there’s a way. That’s why Wes wasn’t a fan of it or people who yielded it.
“This sucks,” Lachlan groaned.
“Think how that poor kid must feel.” Wes cocked his head. “Matt, was it?” Garrett nodded. “Are we operating under the idea that his little brother is dead?”
“Nope.” Lachlan tapped the fingers of his right hand on the table. “According to Matt, they took him with them. Said Hale had one of his lackeys with him. Guy’s name was Kayson.”
“Never heard of him.” Wes shook his head.
“Me either,” Lachlan said. “I guess Hale said that this Kayson took a liking to the kid and wanted to keep him.”
“Fuck.” Wes’s stomach turned at the mere thought of what the poor kid must be going through. “How old is he?”
“Fourteen. This is bad. First, you get attacked out in Chicago, and now Hale finds Colby in Columbia, Missouri.” He glanced over toward Lachlan. “Do you think they’re making a move on us? Hoping to take out some Warriors?”
“Who knows?” Lachlan pursed his lips.
“Maybe Hale just can’t stay away from his mate.” Wes shrugged. “He might be a Warrior of the Dark, but he’s still a man with needs. Maybe in some sick way, he loves Colby.”
“Well, the way to that kid’s heart isn’t by killing his friends.” Lachlan crossed his arms over his chest.
“So what’s the plan?” Wes asked.
“Not sure we have one.” The phone started to ring, and Lachlan hopped up to answer it.
Wes stared across the table at his oldest and dearest friend. He saw what must be reflecting from his own eyes. Fear, excitement, and anxiousness. It had been a long time since they had a proper fight with those dark bastards. The time had come for a reckoning.
* * * *
Everything was happening so quickly, and Matt was helpless to stop any of it. Ben and Miles had taken charge of the legal matters involving the house and his parents’ funeral. The police chief was an old family friend and was thankful for Colby’s family helping him. The chief even agreed with Ben and Miles that it was good to get away for a while.
Miles called the dean of administration at the college. Matt and Colby were taking a leave from school. Until things got ironed out with the whole Hale thing, they were on the run. Matt wasn’t sure how he felt about all this. He didn’t like it, but with his parents gone, what else did he have left? If going with Colby’s family meant finding Kevin then by God he’d go.
As Matt sat on a plane heading to Omaha, Nebraska, he let his mind wander. He thought of all that he’d lost and was losing. It hurt. His entire body quaked with the pain of everything in his life being taken from him. His mom and dad, his childhood home, playing football, going to college, his future and most importantly Kevin.
“How you holding up?” Colby asked.
Matt turned to look at his friend, and it was hard to be angry at him. Colby didn’t plan any of this. He was just as much a victim as Matt was.
“Not good.” Matt sighed. “All of this royally sucks.”
“I know.” Colby grabbed his hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry, Matty.” Colby shifted in his seat to lean his side against the back so he could look at Matt. “I don’t want to sound like I’m defending him, but Hale use to be normal and good. His mother turned him into this…this thing.” Tears filled Colby’s eyes. “This isn’t the man I fell in love with when I was a young teenager.”
Matt had heard all the stories Colby had to tell about Hale, his wicked mother, and his father. It all sounded like something out of a book, but it was Colby’s life. The thought that witches, fairies, shifters, and vampires were real was still hard for Matt to comprehend. He’d grown up believing these things were make believe but now he knew better. Now he was one of those monsters that scared him as a child.
“I’m sure he wasn’t,” Matt comforted Colby. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. “Like your dads and grandpas said, evil and power can change a person.”
“No matter how much we wished it didn’t,” Colby whispered. “I wish he wasn’t my mate. Then I could be free from all this. Free to find someone else and fall in love.”
Mate. Matt kept hearing these men use that term. Miles had explained it briefly earlier, but Matt had a hard time believing it. According to them, a paranormal being could go hundreds or thousands of years without ever finding one. It seemed cruel and unfair. Matt wanted to have a say in who he fell in love with not some magical destiny he wasn’t sure he even believed in.
“Is that why you turned me down?” Matt asked to
lighten the mood. He wanted to see Colby smile. “Because there’s no other explanation for you not wanting all this.”
“Yes.” Colby looked at him with sad eyes. “I’m forever tied to Hale until one of us dies and even then I’m not sure I’ll ever be free of him. We’re part of the prophecy. For all I know we can’t die or ever be separated. Our destinies are entwined to either stop this great evil or give into it and become a part of it.”
Matt bit the inside of his cheek to keep from asking another million questions. His brain had been overloaded with paranormal knowledge given to him by Miles, Ben, Benedict, Asher, and Colby.
“I don’t believe that.” Matt turned in his seat to gaze into Colby’s blue eyes. “I know you guys put a lot of faith in destinies and soul mates, but I don’t. These are our lives to live. We get out of it what we want. There’s no mystical force pulling the strings, Colby. You might think you love Hale, but you don’t have to. You deserve better, Colbster.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” Colby smiled. “You’ve only been a vampire for a day and a half. Just wait. You’ll see.”
“Oh, I think I’ll be just fine.” Matt grinned. He refused to be a slave to his desires. He had a mind of his own and would fall in love with who he wanted when he wanted. Just because he was a vampire didn’t mean he had to change his way of thinking.
“You are handling this change pretty well.”
“Not really.” Matt raised his finger to push up on his upper lip. His cuspids were sharp points, and he was unable to make them go back to normal. It was getting easier to talk with the dang things out, but it was annoying. “I can’t make them go back in.”
“Probably because you’re hungry.” Colby reached for his backpack that was under the seat. “Here.” He handed Matt what looked like a kid’s juice box. “Drink this.”
“Is this?” Matt eyed the box suspiciously.
“Yes.” Colby laughed. “Now drink it. You’ll feel better, and those shark teeth will go back to flat little human teeth.”
It still creeped Matt out that he had to drink blood to survive. It didn’t taste bad, but the idea of knowing where it came from was unsettling. He took a sip, and the gnawing hunger in his gut eased. He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly slurped down the rest.
“Better?” Colby asked.
“Much.” Matt burped loudly then quickly covered his mouth. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Colby patted his cheek. “Baby vamps have an enormous hunger. It’ll get better.”
“Baby vamp?” Matt made a face and shuddered. “I hate that term.”
“Well, that’s what you are, so get used to it, young one.” Colby shoved him playfully in the arm. “You should also know you’re stronger than you were before and you must be careful. You could accidentally put a hole in the wall of this airplane.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that out earlier.” Matt winced. “When I went to the bathroom the door wouldn’t open when I was done. The lock stuck and I barely tugged on it, and the whole damn thing came off the door. I had to tell the stewardess that it came undone by itself.”
“Shit happens. Don’t sweat it.”
“So,” Matt said after a long stretch of silence. “Why are we going to Omaha?”
“A few of my uncles live there. They were the closest to us, and we didn’t want to go too far just in case Hale is still in the area with Kevin.” Matt’s eyes watered at the mention of his brother. “My dads meant it, Matt. They will do everything they possibly can to find your brother. They’ve called in some of my other uncles to help out. We have two powerful witches and a fairy on our side willing to help. If Kevin is out there, we will find him.”
“But at what expense?” Matt overhead Colby’s dads and grandfathers talking before they left. Going after Hale in order to get Kevin back would put them all at risk. Matt wanted Kevin found more than anything but was he willing to sacrifice all these people to do it? It made him selfish, but he was. Matt wanted Kevin back that badly, and he’d do anything to accomplish it.
The pilot came on over the intercom to inform they’d be landing soon. Matt and Colby shifted back in their seats and refastened their seatbelts. Matt was nervous, but he had to be strong. Kevin was depending on him.
Chapter Ten
Wes was on edge. Ever since the ambush in Chicago, he was half expecting Dark Warriors to just start showing up everywhere he went. Every person that passed him in the airport, he stared them down. He sniffed the air and was looking for any little thing that indicated danger.
“Man, Wes, chill out.” Garrett nudged him in the ribs with his elbow. “You’re going to scare the humans and the last thing we need is airport security giving us shit.”
“Sorry, Garrett.” Wes forced a smile. “Habit.” He jammed his hands into his pockets just to give them something to do. “Has anyone called Lucian, Damon, or Julian about this?”
“Benedict has, but they all agreed to stay put.” Lachlan stopped to stare at one of the monitors indicating departure and arrival times. “If we all get together in one big group it might be just what they want. Take us all out in one big swoop. As it is, I’m nervous just having this size of a group together.”
Wes was in agreement with that. Klaus and his mate Astrid were flying in later this evening. With Hale just showing up out of the blue and the attack on Wes, everyone was on edge. And now that they had a defenseless child caught in the middle of this, they wanted to do the right thing, what was bred into every Warrior to do—save an innocent.
The three of them walked over to gate fourteen and waited. The flight was on time and had already landed. Passengers would be disembarking at any minute.
Wes kept up his guard but did his best to appear relaxed. The airport was crowded, and the last thing they needed was for the Dark Warriors to attack here. It would be very bad.
Wes kept sniffing the air and glancing from side to side. The air conditioning was on in the building. The smell of stale air and people clogged his nose. Wes was certain there were no the Dark Warriors close by. He casually leaned against the wall while he waited.
“I see Miles.” Lachlan turned to smack Wes in the chest. “Let’s go.”
Wes straightened up from his stance against the wall. He stretched and yawned, and that’s when he smelled it. The heavy aroma of peaches and rain. It was an unusual combination but nonetheless intoxicating. Wes could get drunk on that smell. His dick twitched in his loose-fitting jeans, and his heartbeat sped up. His chest was heaving up and down with each breath he took.
“Wes, you all right?” Garrett patted him on the back.
“What?” Wes jolted forward. He was sensitive to the touch, tingling with an unseen energy. A bead of sweat worked its way down the side of his face.
Wes walked toward the lovely aroma. He spotted Ben, Miles, Benedict, Asher, and Colby right away. Walking beside Colby, was another man. They were talking and walking close to one another. Wes didn’t like that.
He was tall with wide shoulders. The shirt and jeans he wore did nothing to hide the expanse of muscles lying under his clothes. The younger man had dark blond hair with a few natural highlights flittered through it. He had light blue eyes and rose-colored lips that were plump and so kissable. Wes was smitten, but it was more than that.
“Mine,” he growled deep in his throat. He stood up tall and straightened his shoulders and marched forward, bumping into a younger man walking in the other direction.
“Dude, watch where you’re going,” the man snapped.
Wes rounded on the man, lips pulled back in a snarl.
“Hey there, Wes.” Garrett wound his arm around Wes’s shoulders and guided him toward their group of friends. “What the hell, man?” Garrett steered him away from the crowd walking toward them. “You feeling okay? Did you see something?” Garrett turned to look over his shoulder.
“Who is that with Colby?” Wes asked between clenched teeth. His wolf had risen to the surface, and it was
taking everything inside Wes to keep the beast at bay.
“His friend, I’m assuming. His name is Matt. Why?” Garrett eyed him strangely. “Wes, what’s going on?”
“Mine.” Wes fisted his hands in Garrett’s T-shirt. “He’s mine.” Wes leaned in close to press his forehead against Garrett’s chest. He was trying to calm himself down, but it was so hard to do. With everything that had happened in the past week and now this? His wolf wanted to protect its mate and Wes was afraid to allow it to.
“Oh shit.” Garrett steered him away from the men walking toward them.
“Babe, where are you going?” Lachlan called out to Garrett.
“Restroom,” Garrett shouted over his shoulder. “Be back in a few.” Garrett opened the door the restroom then led Wes down the long aisle of open stalls and shoved Wes into one at the very end. “This can’t be happening.”
“I know.” Wes reached up to run his hands over his shaved head. “This is the worst timing in the world for this to happen. Shit! Fuck!”
“Calm down, Wes.” Garrett put his hands on top of Wes’s shoulders. “Everything is going to be fine. You need to breathe before you get all furry if you know what I mean. This is going to all work out.”
“How can you say that?” Wes snapped. He lowered his voice. “He’s a freshly turned vampire. His life is in shambles. He won’t want this or me.” Timing was everything when it came to finding one’s mate. With Matt newly turned, he was still thinking as a human with human mannerisms. He wouldn’t want to believe they were mates because mates don’t exist in the human world.
“Well.” Garrett took a deep breath. “We don’t know that. Sure this kid has gone through a lot in the last forty-eight hours, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be some snot nosed punk. He might be open to the idea.” Garrett smiled, but it looked more like a grimace. “After all, he can’t be that bad. Colby likes him.”