“The little nephew’s returned, eh?” Alan strutted into the room like the Alpha wolf he wanted to be. Out of the entire pack, only he challenged Byron’s inheritance. Of course, being the biggest wolf in the pack meant Alan didn’t lack his share of followers. And frankly, if Byron trusted Alan to lead the pack, he’d let him have the headache of being the Alpha.
“Just for a while.”
“Catch Eddie’s killer yet?”
The image of his uncle lying on the floor of the ranch house filled his memory, causing his gut to roll. Whoever killed Eddie had to be an older vampire, someone stronger and more experienced than the ones he killed tonight. The only clue he had was a few seconds of a voice message on Eddie’s phone when a man with a German accent stated it was time to renegotiate the treaty.
“Not yet, but I got a few leads. I’m planning on staying in Vegas for a few nights so I can catch the son of a bitch before the full moon.” He forced a cocky grin on his face. If catching Eddie’s killer wouldn’t win him pack leadership, he didn’t know what would.
Alan’s face hardened and he cracked his knuckles. “We’ll see about that.”
Byron refused to let Alan coerce him into a fight now. Sometimes, brains meant more than brawn, and he didn’t need to be a batch of bruises if he wanted to hunt tomorrow night.
Or score with Lana.
He stood and stretched. “Well, I’m beat. Goodnight, boys.”
“That’s right. Run with your tail between your legs. Drown your guilt in a bottle, right, Byron?”
Greg lunged at Alan, and Byron threw his arm over his chest, restraining him before the larger werewolf beat him to a pulp. “Shut the fuck up! If anyone could have saved Eddie, it was you. You were the only one here, not any of us.”
“Watch your mouth, runt.”
“Ah, fuck you. I wouldn’t be surprised if you sat back and watched the vamps kill him.”
Byron shoved Greg onto the couch so Alan’s beefy fist wouldn’t connect with his friend’s face. “Stop it, both of you. Fighting among ourselves won’t change the past. In seven nights, we’ll determine a new Alpha, but until then, Eddie left the ranch to me. I’m in charge, and I say anyone who wants to cause trouble will be shown the door. Got it?”
Alan smirked. “Of course, little nephew.”
“I guess so,” Greg muttered when Byron turned to him. “I’ll be in the shop.”
Byron caught his arm before he stomped out of the house. “Be careful,” he whispered. “Alan’s just trying to bully you into submission, so don’t give him any reason to break your face.”
“Whatever.” Greg shrugged free. “All I’m saying is that if he becomes Alpha, I’m looking for a new pack.”
Byron watched his competition out of the corner of his eye. “You and me both.”
Chapter Five
Loud knocking pulled Lana from her dreams. She opened one eye and peeked at the alarm clock. 1:13 p.m. Not an ungodly hour, considering she’d gone to bed sooner than she usually did, but still earlier than she would’ve liked.
The banging stopped and voices drifted in from the living room. Espe must’ve let the person in, whoever it was. At least with it being daylight outside, she didn’t have to worry about a gang of bloodsuckers setting another trap. Goose bumps prickled her skin when she realized how close she’d come to biting the bullet last night.
If Byron hadn’t shown up…
She smothered her cry of frustration with her pillow.
Why can’t I get him off my mind? Am I really that hard up to get laid?
But her chest tightened when she realized she wanted more than just a simple fuck with him. He knew what she was, what she did, and hadn’t run away screaming from her. It was a start. She hated that she’d have to keep him at arm’s length, though it would be safer for everyone.
Yuan burst into the room without knocking. “I hear you had an interesting night.” She began unpacking her kit.
Lana sat up and pushed her tangled hair out of her eyes. “Interesting is an understatement.”
The tiny witch laughed and pulled out her box of acupuncture needles. “Where do you want me to start?”
“Do you have to poke me?”
“Yes. I have to balance out your Qi if you want me to heal you, and yours is always out of whack. Now lie down and tell me where to focus first.”
Lana flopped back into the pillows and winced. “My ribs or my ankle—take your pick.”
Yuan grabbed her wrists and felt her pulse on each side. “Show me your tongue.”
“This is completely unnecessary—”
“Don’t argue with me if you want to feel better. The Foundation sent me to restore your health and I always do a complete job. Tongue, now.”
Lana made a childish face and did as she was told. She glanced over Yuan’s shoulder at Espe, who was watching the entire process with rabid curiosity.
The witch shook her head and sighed. “I have my work cut out for me.”
“How can you tell?” the rookie asked. “You haven’t even looked at her injuries.”
“Espe, Yuan is a skilled witch who works for the Foundation. Although I don’t always enjoy her treatments, I always feel better afterwards. Let her do her work.”
“And let me do it in private.” Yuan ushered Espe out of the room. “When you get roughed up, I’ll heal you. In the meantime, I need to concentrate on Lana.” As soon as the door closed, she rested her hands on her hips. “You’re going to have your hands full with that one.”
“Tell me about it. She’s fresh out of the Academy.”
Yuan scrunched her face like she’d just eaten a lemon. “Anxious to get a kill and thinks she knows it all?”
“Pretty much.” She pulled off her nightshirt and rolled over onto her stomach so she wouldn’t have to watch the first needles prick her skin. A smell of rubbing alcohol burned her nose as Yuan swiped a pad over her skin, leaving an icy chill behind as it evaporated.
“So, who is he?”
Lana flinched at the question just as the first needle entered her skin. A small current of electricity shot through her body and made her grit her teeth to keep from crying out. The first few pricks always felt like that. “What do you mean, he?”
“Don’t play games with me, Lana. I know you well enough to see how your Qi has changed. You’ve met someone.”
More needles followed, each slowly relieving the ache in her ribs. As her muscles relaxed, she opened up to her friend. “He’s going to be as much trouble as Espe.”
“Most men are,” she replied with a snort. “How is he disrupting the balance in your life?”
Lana chewed her bottom lip as she thought about it. Yuan could have a second job as a shrink, if she wanted. Maybe she was even part mind reader. “He’s made me think of either retiring or breaking the Foundation’s rules.”
“That hot, huh?”
The memory of them in the hallway caused her sex to clench. “Hot doesn’t begin to describe it. I lose all control of myself when I’m around him. I haven’t been this turned on since…” Her voice drifted off, and the ache in her heart quelled any desire left in her body. She still couldn’t bring herself to say his name out loud.
Warmth rolled over her bare back like a tropical breeze. Yuan’s healing felt better than a massage once she got past the needles.
“Do you think Max would want you to grieve for him this long?” Yuan’s voice grew quiet with the hum of magic behind her words.
“I don’t grieve for him so much as I’m reminded how much his death affected me. I don’t ever want to put someone through that hell.”
Or feel loss like that again, either.
“What is that old saying I hear at the roulette table every night? ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’?”
“Money and someone else’s heart are two different things.”
“Maybe so, maybe not.” She started placing needles in Lana’s ankle. “If you weren’t a hunter?”
�
�I’d be all over him like white on rice.”
“Then you have your answer.”
Lana lifted her head and turned to the witch. “Do you always talk in riddles?”
Yuan chuckled. “I’m just a healer and a good listener. Only you can determine what’s the best course for your life. Until then, I’m here to help you gain focus and balance.”
“Until I drop a house on you for sticking needles in me.”
“Like this?”
A slight prick on her ankle caused another electric jolt to race through her that was so intense, it made her teeth ache. She swore under her breath. “I think you just won the title of the Wicked Witch of the Strip.”
Yuan’s lighthearted laughter sounded oddly out of tune with the turmoil in Lana’s heart. She let them swirl around her until the pain lessened in her ankle and in her chest.
***
Byron awoke as the sun was setting over the burnt orange mountains. Sleep had been a bitch that eluded him all night. Thoughts of Lana clashed with images of his uncle’s dead body and his concerns for the fate of the pack. What would it take to bring peace to his unsettled mind? Sex? Revenge? Power?
He rubbed his face and grimaced at the rough stubble under his fingertips. Damn, he didn’t even feel like himself. He was usually the one the pack turned to when chaos ruled everything else. Before Alan joined, no one questioned him as Eddie’s choice to become the next Alpha. Hell, the old man had groomed him to take over since he joined the pack as a child, far too young in age to bear the curse of the werewolf’s bite, but mature beyond his years. Or, at least, that’s what Eddie always told him.
He thanked God every day that Eddie had taken him in when his own parents wanted nothing to do with him. He was seven when a large wolf attacked him during a family camping trip at Yosemite. He had survived, but when the first full moon came, the transformation his body underwent terrified him and everyone around him. His father, under consideration for dean at a small college at the time, threw him into a mental hospital to avoid anyone learning the truth. The day Eddie showed up and whispered that he knew exactly what Byron was going through had become a bright star burned into his memory forever.
Byron’s fist clenched. He owed that man his life, his sanity. And he would find Eddie’s killer if it was the last thing he ever did. This whole true-mate thing was distracting him from his real goal. Granted, Lana teased and tormented him in ways he couldn’t imagine, but all of them were pleasant in their own way. A form of sweet torture compared to his need for vengeance.
Stubble always reminded him of the three days of the month when he lost control of his mind and body and collapsed in a disheveled heap when the full moon set each morning. After a long shower, he took his time shaving and dressing. Even his boots wore a mirror shine by the time he finished with them. Tonight, he wanted to show Lana what he normally looked like.
Greg was waiting for him when he entered the kitchen. He pointed to the package on the counter. “I made you a whole box last night.”
“Thanks.” He flipped open the lid and admired the identical rows of wooden-tipped bullets. “You’re a master at these.”
He shrugged. “If I’m gonna be the smallest in the pack, I need to prove my usefulness somehow.”
A growl formed in Byron’s throat. Greg had become like a brother to him over the years. “If anyone questions your place in the pack, let me know and I’ll rip his throat out.”
“Thanks for the support, but what did you say last night? That we shouldn’t be fighting among ourselves?”
“There’s a difference between defending your brothers and bullying them.” He reached into the fridge and grabbed a soda. It was too hot for coffee, but he still needed his caffeine jolt for the hunt tonight. “You want to come with me to Vegas for a few days?”
“And intrude on you and your lady friend? No way.”
The image of Lana with her pupils dilated and her leg wrapped around his waist while he kissed her in the hallway flickered in his mind, and the blood rushed to his cock.
He shook his head to clear his mind. First kill the vampire; then, try to convince someone like her to want someone like me. “I don’t think I’ll be playing with her tonight.”
His friend snorted and sank into a nearby chair. “Tell me what’s so special about her. You’re more of the love ’em and leave ’em type. For you to keep running back to her says something.”
Byron kept his mouth shut. With Alan’s smear campaign going on, he didn’t need him to catch wind of Lana and use her against him.
Greg was in the process of cleaning his glasses when he froze and his mouth fell open. “Aw, you’re shittin’ me, right?”
“Shut up, Greg.”
“Seriously?”
“I told you to shut up.” Byron snatched his keys off the hook and stalked out the back door before his friend could utter the words he didn’t want to hear.
Greg followed him down the driveway and shoved his hand in the door of the Jeep to keep him from closing it. “The truth? Just between us?”
He gripped the steering wheel and pounded his head against the back of his seat. “Yes, she’s special.”
“Special, or special-special?”
“Dammit, Greg, what do you want me to say? That’s she’s my true-mate? That there might be some smidgeon of truth to the legends?”
“Holy shit.” He reached for his glasses and began to clean them again. Silence filled the space between them for almost a minute. “So, what are you gonna do about it?”
“What can I do? She’s a vampire hunter and I’m worried she has a stockpile of silver bullets hidden on the side. I can’t tell her the truth.”
“Bullshit. You’re just scared to let someone know the truth.”
He thought about it for a moment. A heaviness settled over his chest, making it hard to breathe. “You’re right, because if there’s any more truth to the legends and she rejects me—or worse, hunts me—it might destroy me.”
“But if you don’t mate with her, it will do the same thing. Listen, I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but do you know how Eddie always used to say that there was something beyond our wills that shaped our lives?”
He nodded, remembering the first time he heard those words from the man whom he looked up to as a father. Byron had asked him why he’d been turned into a werewolf. Eddie’s explanation had comforted him then as a child, but now, too many doubts filled his heart.
“So if you’ve found your true-mate, there must be a reason why. And I don’t think God or Fate or whoever is behind all this would be so cruel as to bring her into your life only to destroy you. If she’s a vampire hunter, chances are she’s a bit more open to people like us than most normal women would be.”
A half smile forced its way onto his lips. “Thanks for the advice. Sometimes I don’t see things so clearly.”
“That’s because you usually have your head up your ass,” Greg said with a grin.
The engine roared to life with a twist of the ignition and he closed the door. “Stay out of Alan’s way until I get back, and call me if anything seems fishy.”
His friend stepped out of the way and disappeared into the dust cloud in his rearview mirror as he drove away. Maybe things weren’t as bad as he imagined they would be. There was only one way to find out. Tonight, if he found Lana, he’d try to earn her trust and discover her opinion on werewolves. If there was a chance in hell he could make this work, he’d give it all he had.
Chapter Six
Lana pursed her lips together and drummed her fingers on the bar inside the Luxor. The Foundation had had enough insight to give Espe a fake ID so she could patrol the casino floors. Unfortunately, she had decided to squeeze in a little flirtation when she finished her rounds. At least she wasn’t knocking back shots or something stupid like that while on the job.
When Espe didn’t notice her, Lana cleared her throat. Loudly.
The younger woman spun around and a flush
crept into her cheeks. “Lana, I didn’t see you there.”
“Obviously,” she said and glared at the five men clamoring for Espe’s attention.
Nervous laughter spilled from her mentee’s lips. “Well, it’s been a slow night. I’ve been walking and walking and nothing. Zero. Nada. Zip. So, I decided to take a break and grab something to drink…” She shrugged as if to say the male attention came with the territory.
“Who’s your friend, Espe?” A wannabe frat boy threw his arm over Lana’s shoulders. “She’s hot. Let’s invite her upstairs to our little party, too.”
Lana’s skin crawled from his touch. She threw off his arm and resisted the urge to break it. Causing a scene would only draw attention to them, and with an elder vampire setting traps for hunters, they didn’t need any more trouble than they already had. “Time to get back to work, Espe,” she said in a tone that left no room for argument.
“Aw, don’t be such a bitch,” another guy slurred. “We just wanna have a little fun.”
“You have no idea how bitchy I can truly be.” Lana tightened her jaw and grabbed Espe by the wrist, yanking her away from her horde of half-drunk admirers.
When they’d retreated about twenty feet away from the bar, Espe jerked free. “Why did you have to do that? I was just taking a little break and trying to have some fun.”
“Fun?”
“Yeah, like you were having last night with your guy.”
Lana fought to keep her cheeks from turning red as her body remembered how well it fit against Byron’s. She crossed her arms, hoping her anger would keep her raging hormones in check. “That was a fluke.”
Espe mirrored her stance. “A fluke, huh? It looked pretty serious to me.”
“It was a one-time thing, and I shouldn’t have let it get that far.”
“But you did, and I saw it.”
“And I’m sorry you caught me in a moment of weakness.”
“Come on, you can’t tell me you’ve been a hunter this long and not indulged in a few one-night stands along the way. I mean, you seem to be all dedicated to your work, but you’re also a woman.”
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