by Kari Gregg
“Interrupt if you must, but really, can you deny Garrick the sustenance he requires to see to your…urges?” The woman ticked her fingernails across the row of candles as she strolled along the mantle, nearer now. So close Kate clutched the comforter around her throat and shifted higher on the bed, uncomfortably aware of her nakedness beneath. “You’ve been very, very demanding.”
“Kate.”
The relief of his presence in her mind eased the tension in her shoulders, and suddenly, her fear made Kate feel foolish and small. Waking up to find a stranger in her bedroom had unsettled her, but she wasn’t a child. Garrick swore she was safe at Pridemore. She believed him. An entire pack of werewolves patrolled the estate, and if any threat managed to penetrate their defenses, Luc and Garrick, powerful vampyr both, were never far. Either man would die before risking her safety or allowing harm to come to her. If Kate was sure of anything, she was certain of that.
Yet she still cried like a terrified toddler to Garrick because some woman wandered into their private rooms.
Big deal.
She wouldn’t be on the estate if she didn’t belong there, if Garrick, Luc, and the weres all hadn’t carefully vetted her.
Kate stiffened her spine. She was tired of being scared, sick of feeling vulnerable, ignorant, and weak. Something about the stranger rankled, but with so many to protect her, she couldn’t be in any legitimate danger. She could handle one irritating woman by herself. Without Garrick or anyone else.
“Never mind. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“Who are you?” Kate asked, proud when her voice didn’t quaver.
“Pardon my manners.” The woman smiled, sly and devious, as she meandered around the room. “I am Olivia, alpha female of the Pridemore weres, mated to Peter,” she said, an abrupt hard glitter in her gaze, “for now.”
“I didn’t know wolf packs had female alphas.” The other woman’s hand rose to touch a narcissus blooming in a crystal vase, lowered to stroke the fine grain of the armoire. Proprietary. Aggressive. As though Kate were the interloper, not she.
But if Olivia was a were, then she had promised to protect her, from Garrick himself if necessary. She had nothing to fear. “I’m Kate, but you already know that. Pleased to meet you.”
Olivia scowled, her fingers curling to claws on the polished oak.
A cold shiver sprinted up Kate’s spine.
“Kate? You are anxious. Why?”
She must have committed some grave faux pas by not showing the proper deference or respect or whatever it is an introduction to the lead were female warranted, but biting her lip, Kate wondered what she was supposed to do. What could Olivia—or any of them—expect? Luc didn’t tell her anything, didn’t want anyone else around her, and Garrick was worse.
How was Kate to learn how to live as a vampyr and move in her new world if no one gave her the chance? Frustration gnawed at her, but resolution overwhelmed it. Opportunity, thy name is Olivia. And if Kate had failed to adhere to the appropriate etiquette for meeting the pack’s female alpha, Olivia would have to live with the disappointment. Until last week, Kate hadn’t believed werewolves existed.
“Kate!”
“Oh, for pity’s sake. It’s nothing, just some woman. You know, if you and Luc would tell me what—”
“Woman?”
“I’m pleased to meet you as well. Finally. While Garrick hunts, I thought you and I might become acquainted.” Olivia’s mouth tightened to a wooden smile as she yanked a tall, slender bottle of massage oil from the bureau where Garrick had left it. Olivia turned the bottle end over end, her hands careless and impatient. “Just us girls.”
Garrick mentally cursed. “Olivia slipped away.”
Kate stared at the bottle and tried, very hard, to remember that she was safe.
Perfectly safe.
Completely safe.
It didn’t work.
“Garrick will be back.” Kate’s heart thumped, her pulse quickening. Olivia glared. Kate wanted nothing more than to run from the hatred she saw glowing in those yellow eyes. Suddenly, handling Olivia by herself didn’t seem like such a hot idea. “Any minute, he’ll be back.”
“Please come home.”
“He’s running with the pack, dear, who are now encamped on the other side of the estate. By Garrick’s order. He said the two of you needed privacy. Can you imagine? Privacy. From the weres who have vowed to protect you.” Olivia’s eyes widened in pretend dismay. “No, he will be a long time yet in coming. As will Peter.”
Kate’s alarm blossomed to full-blown terror.
“You must not be afraid, love. She’ll scent it on you. Luc is already in the house. See the bathroom door?”
It cracked a silent, stingy inch behind Olivia, who paced at the foot of her bed.
“Stay where you are, bébé.”
“Luc will kill her if she gets too close.”
She gulped, fisting the comforter in her clenched fingers as Olivia stalked back and forth. She couldn’t deny the trill of alarm that kicked her pulse into the stratosphere, but she didn’t want the woman killed. “I think you should go.”
Olivia halted, pinning her with a malevolent stare. “I do not care what you think.” She closed her eyes and blew out a furious breath before opening them again. “There is no need for Garrick or Peter to upset themselves. I’ve no intention to hurt you. If I had, I would’ve killed you while you slept. Tell him that.”
Kate focused on the bottle clasped in the other woman’s hands so her behavior wouldn’t give away Luc’s presence in the bathroom. God only knew if that would provoke Olivia further, but Kate wasn’t willing to risk it, so she watched the other woman’s knuckles shine white against the bottle, amazed that the glass didn’t shatter under the pressure.
“Tell him!”
Kate blinked. “What?”
Olivia growled in frustration, a rough harsh sound that raised the hairs on Kate’s arms. “Garrick speaks to you.” She stabbed a finger against her temple. “Tell him I mean you no harm. Only to talk. Now.”
“Rick, tell me what to do!”
“Okay,” she said, pitching her voice low and reassuring.
“There is no need for this, you understand, this…this…melodrama the men have created. We are both women, are we not, sisters in a sense? Of course, we are! I would never hurt you. Why should I? So I can be punished? Tossed from my home?” Olivia snorted. “You are mistress of Pridemore. I am alpha female of Pridemore’s weres. Building friendship is in both our best interests, so we should act as friends.”
“We’re in the house.”
“Friends talk.”
Kate’s throat tightened. Her lips parted to catch her breath, and her heart thundered so loudly she knew Olivia must hear it. “All right,” she said, though every instinct in her demanded she flee. “Let’s talk.”
Olivia’s eyes sparked in triumph, the corners of her mouth kicking up to form her first genuine smile. “Yes. Let’s.” She returned the bottle to the bureau and leaned against it. “You are enjoying your stay at Pridemore. The house, the grounds?”
Kate gaped at her. She couldn’t help it. The woman was a nutball, pure Grade A psycho. One minute, Olivia prowled like a lethal predator and the next, she was a welcoming hostess? “I…uh…haven’t been here long,” she murmured, floundering. “Garrick told me not to go outside the house yet. I haven’t left his suite in days.”
Olivia shrugged a negligent shoulder. “Ah, well, the heat makes slaves of us all.” She arched a smooth eyebrow when Kate’s jaw dropped. “You think vampyr the only species to experience what you have?” Olivia chuckled. “We weres feel it too. For different reasons, but what we experience is the same. The vampyr blather on about love and union of the soul.” She sniffed in snide contempt. “Just between us girls, we know that’s a load of crap, though. Doesn’t matter if we walk on two legs or four, it boils down to two things: lust and hormones. Love is nothing more than whatever it takes to part us from our p
anties. Case in point,” she said and waved at Kate cowering in the covers. Olivia beamed a lopsided grin that didn’t reach her eyes. “See? We have already discovered common ground.”
The door leading from Garrick’s suite of rooms into the remainder of the house cracked silently open. “We are here.”
“Kate!”
She yanked her attention to Olivia. She seethed, eyes glaring. “The men are near. I can smell them. Tell them to stay away or—”
“Or what?” The door flew wide. Peter stalked through, his eyes hard and flinty. “Think carefully, Olivia. Any threat to the mistress of Pridemore threatens the pack, and any threat to the pack is eliminated. Without mercy. If Garrick won’t demand it, I will.”
“I did not threaten her. We were only talking.” Olivia took a step back in retreat before she squared her shoulders and stood her ground. “You’ve no right, Peter. None.”
“You preyed upon her while her mate was away.” Luc stalked into the room from the master bath. “That is threat enough.”
Olivia’s jaw dropped, her face paling.
“I’m your alpha,” Peter said on a low growl. “I’ve every right to demand blood for the danger you’ve brought down on us.”
“He doesn’t mean… Surely, he won’t…”
The sick fear pinching the features of Olivia’s face confirmed Kate’s horrified suspicions. “Garrick?”
Garrick eased through the door and smiled at Kate. “Come to me, love.”
Olivia’s shoulders slumped. Tears pooled in her eyes.
Kate shifted on the bed, fidgeted with the comforter. “Don’t let him kill her.”
Garrick reached for her. “Olivia violated pack law. Even if I wanted to interfere, I would not.”
“But he’ll kill her!” Kate rose to her knees on the bed, cover clutched to her chest.
Garrick shrugged. “She should not have dared to come to you while I hunted.”
Lucien nodded. “Let the weres settle this, bébé.”
Kate gulped, shaking her head in stunned denial.
Peter stalked to Olivia, jerked her by the arm to face Kate. “She begs for your life. She wouldn’t if she knew. Tell her.”
Olivia jerked her head from side to side, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
“Tell her!”
Scowling at Peter, Garrick anchored the comforter more securely around Kate. “This is pack business. Do not draw my mate into it.”
“Don’t kill her, Peter. Please.”
“She draws herself into it. Control your mate, vampyr, and I’ll control mine.”
Olivia winced as Peter’s fingers dug into her arm.
“And you’ve controlled your mate so well thus far?” Garrick lifted Kate into his arms. She struggled, but his muscle tightened to unyielding bands. “Kate, stop. Your human mind revolts, but there are reasons, prices that must be paid to keep order—”
“For me, Peter.”
The were snarled.
Garrick’s body tightened like a clenched fist. “Olivia believed herself mistress of Pridemore because I bedded her. That ended years ago, but Olivia refused to accept it. She came to you while I fed out of jealousy and spite.”
Luc’s furious eyes narrowed on the sobbing were. “She sought you out to reassert her claim to not only Pridemore, but also to your mate.”
“I wouldn’t have hurt her,” Olivia said. “I just wanted things back the way they were before—”
Peter backhanded her.
Kate gasped at the sharp crack of his palm meeting her flesh.
Olivia’s head whipped back, an angry red mark marring her cheek.
“Your selfishness endangered the pack! You think many vampyr would offer us sanctuary?” Peter shouted. “If Garrick tosses us out because of your betrayal, as he well should, the pack would return to the streets. Like dogs. Hunted by the rest of his kind, maybe hunted by him.”
Kate’s stomach pitched. “Garrick, no—”
“Quiet, love.”
Olivia crumpled to the floor, folding her body over Peter’s feet. Ugly sobs tore from her throat.
“What would happen to our children, Olivia? Without his mark protecting them, what will happen to them? Our daughter? Our son?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, sniveling.
“You’re sorry? Sorry?” Peter kicked at her. “You risked us all!”
Kate stiffened.
“No, love. Watch. Learn.”
“Which says nothing of the bonds you broke with me.” He bent, grabbing Olivia by the jaw to jerk her tear-stained gaze to his. “I never asked for or expected love. You think I don’t know you endured me only because I am the price you pay to have no other master? I knew. We all knew.” He shoved her away. “I didn’t expect love, nor do I want it, but I do demand obedience. You’ll die for failing to give it to me.”
Kate buried her nose in Garrick’s chest. “Make him stop.”
“Because of you, contenders in the pack will think me weak, challenge me as alpha. And fight to the death for it. They’ll die! Our best and strongest men will die, when the pack needs them most, because you couldn’t keep your—”
“Peter.” Garrick skated a kiss across the crown of Kate’s head. Luc nuzzled the palm of her hand, crooning to her.
The were growled out anger and frustration, then taking a deep breath, he strode to Garrick, to Luc. To Kate. She cringed in Garrick’s arms, but Peter ignored it, stroked her hair with clumsy hands. “For your sake, I won’t make an example of her. I’ll kill Olivia quickly. For you.”
“No matter what he says, he’ll kill her because of me, and I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t. Please understand.”
“I do, love.” He sighed weary acceptance. “I do.”
“Don’t.” Kate shifted her gaze from Garrick’s chest to Peter’s resolute one. “I’m begging you. Please.”
“No, bébé. You cannot conceive of the repercussions of what you ask.”
Peter’s eyes shifted to meet Garrick’s, though his hand continued to pet Kate. “Olivia’s death would torment her,” Garrick said. “Her heart is tender.”
“Too human.” Deep grooves of angry disapproval bracketed his mouth, but Peter’s hand remained gentle on her. He cursed under his breath, long and fluently, until finally, he kissed her temple. “You cause me much trouble, and in the end, you’ll wish I hadn’t spared her.”
Behind them, Olivia moaned in terror.
“But for you, I will.”
Relief poured through Kate, made her dizzy and weak. She tried a smile. “Thank you, Peter.”
“You interfere with pack law.” His eerie yellow eyes focused on Garrick, cold and implacable.
“Yes.” The stare Garrick returned was just as steely. “And you yield for love of her.”
“I yield because I choose to yield.” Peter brought her hair to his nose, sniffed. “My reasons are my own. Irrelevant.” He smiled, a wicked curve of lips that made Kate’s blood ice. “I demand my boon, Garrick. You. In Olivia’s stead.”
“Agreed.” Garrick’s eyes narrowed. “Take your bitch away. Kate needs me.”
“An hour, then. Come to the camp. It may dissuade them from challenging me.” Peter nodded to Luc, who lifted and partially dragged Olivia’s tightly balled body toward the door. “Bring your mate.”
“Leave Kate out of this.” He returned her to the bed, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Tonight has upset her enough.”
“It’s my boon, and I say she comes.” Peter glared with cold yellow eyes from the door. “You are too easy with her, Garrick.”
Garrick blew out a pained breath. “Kate will be there.”
“I’ll be where for what?” Kate looked at him with wide eyes. “What’s going on?”
He stripped out of his shirt, crawled under the comforter beside her, pulled her hard to his chest. “Feed, love.”
“Tell me! What’s he going to do?”
He threaded his fingers through her hair, cradling
her scalp to push her mouth to his throat. “Feed, Kate. I need it as much as you do.”
Chapter Twelve
Kate should’ve been grateful.
She’d never been outside the house. Before she’d become a bloodsucking vampire, she’d never traveled farther south than Memphis, and the sights and sounds in the shadowy bayou dazzled her. The light of the fingernail moon washed the drooping vines and clumps of moss in a soft inky silver. The shiny eyes of the night creatures both fascinated and frightened her. Even though spring hadn’t begun, at least not back home, the subtle scent of jasmine wafted through the air here, teased her nostrils. A stray cricket chirped. Something plopped into the water to her left, adding to the symphony of insects and rustling animals.
She’d never been in a boat either, though she wasn’t entirely sure this one qualified. Since it had no motor, Luc poled them through the dark, weed-choked channels of the marsh.
Still, it was a new experience for her, and Kate loved exploring new things.
She would finally meet the weres too. All of the weres. To date, she’d only seen Peter and Olivia. They hadn’t left her with the greatest impression of their kind, but meeting a bunch of werewolves? That should be exciting. Given that the pack was sworn to protect her and she knew she was safe with them, she ought to be exhilarated.
Kate shivered.
Though she tried to be, she wasn’t grateful.
Or impressed.
Or excited.
She was terrified.
Garrick had left their rooms after an hour, as promised.
“It’s not much farther. Look.” Luc pointed to the north. “You can see the flicker of their campfires.”
Garrick had told her nothing, her guardian less so. Which meant what was coming must be unspeakably horrible. Trepidation snaked up her spine. Her stomach rolled with sick anxiety, her mind torn between wanting desperately to know what would happen once they reached the orange glow approaching through the tangled vines and instinctively recoiling from it.
Kate knew what a boon was. Or rather, she knew what it was supposed to be. A prize or treasure among thieves or pirates. Maybe?