by Aliya DalRae
She was a bartender, a pretty brunette with shoulder length curls and a heart shaped mouth that revealed perfect white teeth when she smiled. She used her considerable assets and charm to entertain the animals that frequented this place, and was somehow able to turn some good tips in the process. It had already been a long night, and things were just warming up. When you tended bar in a place that catered to creatures of the night, though, that was to be expected.
She walked from one end of the bar to the other, talking to customers, refilling drinks and baskets of pretzels. “What’ll it be?” she asked out of habit when a new customer approached the bar, but when she looked up her face lit up like Christmas and the Fourth of July all wrapped up into one. This was one Vampire she was very happy to see. He leaned across the bar and planted a firm kiss on her lush lips, and her heart did the Mambo in her chest.
After a brief, whispered conversation, the girl quickly checked her other customers before hollering, “Tony, I’m taking my break,” to someone unseen. “Back in fifteen.”
She walked to the other side of the bar, took the Vampire by the hand and led him through the employee’s exit. After a few moments, a large, dark shape followed them, staying in the shadows as they got into the backseat of a car parked in a secluded section of the lot. The dark man moaned, his hand moving to the front of his pants, moving in time to the car’s rocking, the scent of sex permeating the night and washing over him like a summer rain.
Moments later, the young Vampire exited the car and returned to the bar the same way he had left. He paused at the side entrance, briefly searching the shadows, nodded in the dark man’s direction, and continued inside.
After a bit, the girl crawled out of the car, a satisfied smile on her lips and a dreamy look in her eye. The dark man stepped out from the shadows, revealing a broad form with long, nearly black hair. The girl jumped at his sudden appearance, but relaxed as he approached her.
“Christ, Raven, you scared me,” she said, her hand clutching at her chest to still the pounding there. Her sunny smile faltered when the Vampire in front of her failed to respond, but continued toward her, stalking her.
“You okay, man?” she asked, shifting her feet. “Perry told me you’ve been having a rough go of it. Anything I can do to help?”
“Yesss,” he hissed, and the girl was bathed in an amethyst glow. She tried to scream, to run, but he was too fast for her. He had her in his grasp, his hand covering her mouth, and she was dragged deep into the nearby woods before she could blink.
Raven moved with lightning speed, mindless of the trees that slapped the girl’s exposed skin, scratching it, tearing it, creating bloody gashes as they tore through the forest. She struggled in his grasp, but he was too strong, even against her own Were strength.
He ran on before coming to an abrupt halt, and forcing her back against a large oak tree. They were far from the bar now, and not even the supers would hear her screams. He removed his hand from her mouth and watched as she stared up at him, eyes wide and wet with unshed tears.
But she didn’t scream, merely continued to search his face, those large brown eyes silently begging to understand.
“Why?” she asked at last, and when he laughed his fangs glinted in a shaft of moonlight that had pierced through the surrounding trees.
“Because it is who I am.”
Her mouth widened in soundless terror as his claws lengthened before her. When they tore through the tender skin of her stomach, she found her voice, and her screams echoed her pain through the gently swaying trees.
Chapter Forty-Eight
P atrick sensed Butch outside the study door moments before his Second knocked.
“Come in,” he said, and the burly male entered the room.
“Sorry, Patrick,” Butch said, taking in Maggie’s haggard expression, her tear-stained cheeks. “Did you hear?”
Patrick led Maggie to the sofa near the desk, handing her a tissue from a box on the end table. “Yes,” he answered, moving to join Butch by the door. “Looks like we have a problem with our little guardian.”
“Yeah,” Butch said, scratching his beard, “I think it may be even worse than we thought.”
Patrick raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“I think the cat’s in love with your daughter,” Butch said on an exhale. He was the only wolf in the Pack who knew the details of Patrick’s former life, the only one he trusted with the knowledge.
“Why would you think that?” The question came from Maggie, and Patrick nodded for Butch to explain.
“His concern for her was from the soul,” Butch said, trying to find the right words. Explaining wolf-sense to a human wasn’t always easy, but he tried for the Alpha’s mate. “His questions were general, but his scent was one of protection. Plus he threatened us.”
Maggie looked quickly to her husband, and he shrugged. He hadn’t planned on telling her that part. “But why?” Maggie cried again. “We only want her safe.”
“He doesn’t know that, now, does he?” Patrick joined his wife on the couch, placing a comforting arm around her. “We’ve given him no reason to trust that our intentions regarding Jessica are honorable, and let’s face it. The cats aren’t exactly our closest allies. They respect us because we are stronger, but they don’t really trust us.
“Jessica nearly died saving Allie, and if he knows it was our daughter she was protecting…”
“My actions in town would have been interpreted as blatant disrespect.” Maggie finished. Butch raised a questioning brow to Patrick, who shook his head. “Oh, Patrick, what have I done?”
“You’ve done what we’ve always done. You tried to avoid screwing her life up any more than we already have.”
“But, how do we fix this?” Maggie asked. “If the cat is suspicious of us, won’t he refuse to report? What if she gets in trouble again with the Vampires? What if she’s hurt, or worse?” Maggie swallowed a sob, and Patrick rubbed her shoulder.
“I told him if he didn’t want the job anymore, we would find someone else,” Butch said, “but I don’t think he’ll be leaving his post any time soon. With or without pay, he’ll protect her. Only now he thinks he needs to protect her from us.”
“What did he say?” Maggie asked.
Butch looked at Patrick before responding. “Well, ma’am, he said if she was hurt he’d declare war on us.”
“But that would be ridiculous. There is no way the cats could win.” Maggie looked to her husband for confirmation.
“Usually true,” Butch agreed, “but he threatened to bring the Vampires on board, and given Jessica’s relationship with the leeches, there’s a good chance it could get ugly.”
Patrick stood to pace, to think. For her safety, the last thing he wanted was for anyone else to know his connection to Jessica.
But if anything questionable happened to her, and Malcolm thought for a minute it was the wolves, all hell would break loose. The peace Patrick had worked so hard to broker for his Pack with the other supernatural beings in the area would be decimated. All over one lovesick cat. Christ!
“Bring him to me,” Patrick commanded.
“I’m sorry?”
“I need to speak with him myself. Either he backs off or he dies. There is no other way.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
P eregrine nervously shifted on his barstool. Heidi should have been back by now. He smiled as the image of her lithe, naked hips resting against his own, their bodies joined, burned in his mind. Gods, she was amazing.
They met last spring at Good Times, of all places. He had been patrolling with Tas, when their nightly inspection of the bar had changed his world forever.
Perry was never much for karaoke, but there was a girl on stage that night who had his fangs drilling into his bottom lip. She was small and strong with bouncy curls and the cutest mouth he had ever seen. When she sang, she was like a Siren, her tones smooth and clear, and every male eye was drawn to her like bears to honey.
; However, it was Peregrine she noticed in the crowd and it became obvious, at least to Perry, that she was singing for him and him alone.
As her song ended, Tas razzed him a little before suggesting he go and introduce himself. Approaching her table, he sensed she was more than just a girl. In fact, this whole table was full of Werewolves, the object of his desire included. He hesitated, but she immediately offered him the seat beside her, and the rest, as they say, was history.
Perry took a long pull on his bottle of beer and pulled his thoughts back to the present, checking his watch again. Nearly twenty minutes had passed since his return to the bar, with Heidi’s promise that she was not far behind. She needed to call her sister, the reason for the urgent phone call making him smile.
They spent her break in the back seat of her car, where she had crawled onto his lap and ridden him like a carnival attraction. And it was—damn! He’d taken her vein, his cock buried deep inside her, and her tiny body had shivered against him in a sensory induced orgasm, tightening around his shaft and bringing him over again.
And as she lay trembling in his arms, Perry had asked Heidi to marry him.
Her trembling stopped for a second, before her entire body exploded into motion. She tightened her arms around his neck and said, “Yes, yes! Ohmigod, yes!”
Perry shifted in his seat, the memories of being inside her making his leathers uncomfortable, and he stole another look at his watch.
He took a swig of beer, and looked around the bar for Raven. He had sensed the Warrior outside as he returned to the bar, but was unable to see him. Guy probably needed some air. But as he searched the tables, he discovered the large male was nowhere to be seen.
At first he thought nothing of it, knowing Raven would come back when he was ready.
But…
Perry was on his feet, a knife’s edge of fear piercing his heart as he ran through the bar, searching for his charge.
He was supposed to be keeping an eye on Raven, but when he saw Heidi, he couldn’t resist her offer of some semi-alone time during her break. The Legion’s questions could wait that long. And Raven was cool, insisting he would be fine without a babysitter.
But now they were both missing. Shit!
Perry ran out to the parking lot, back to the car. It was empty, and the doors were safely locked. He scented for Heidi, and he smelled her anxiety, her fear.
No, he screamed silently. Raven…no. Not Heidi!
He ran through the forest, following her scent, her terror, her blood. He felt the sting of every branch that had torn at her body, the panic she felt, the betrayal. Perry felt the betrayal as well, and cursed his own stupidity.
How could he have trusted him? Because he was nice to Jessica? He was a fool.
He ran and he ran, through stinging branches and twisting vines, and when the scents became stronger, he refused to allow his mind to accept the inevitable. He burst into a clearing and slid to a stop, his eyes unable to process what he was seeing.
Heidi—he knew it was Heidi because he knew the scent of her blood as well as any part of himself. But what he saw before him was unthinkable. So much blood. Too much!
She lay slumped near the bottom of a large oak tree, its bark shimmering an unnatural red in the moonlight. The button-down shirt she’d worn tied at her waist had been torn from her body, as was her little skirt, and her naked form was rent from the angle of her strong cheeks, to the gentle rise of her tiny ankles.
She reminded him of how Jessica looked when Raven had brought her out of the clearing those few months ago, only Heidi’s wounds hadn’t been created with a whip. These were claw marks, not that the disparity mattered. The injuries were equally lethal.
The image of Raven giving his blood to Jessica, saving her life, flashed in his mind and Perry tore at his wrist as he knelt beside his love, his world. Forcing his bleeding wrist to her ashen lips, he willed her to drink, to live. They had so much life ahead of them, an eternity to be together. He couldn’t lose her now.
He watched with hope as his blood flowed into her mouth, but hope turned to despair when her throat remained still. A scarlet river ran from the corner of her lips, falling uselessly to the forest floor to mingle with her own spilled blood.
“Drink, baby,” he sobbed, pulling her further into his lap, cradling her broken body to his own, and pressing his wrist more firmly to her lips. “Please, don’t leave me. Please, Heidi!”
But it was no use. The wound on his wrist was healing, the flow of blood slowing to a trickle, and she hadn’t moved, not even a reflexive swallow. He was too late.
Too late.
“No, no, no,” Perry whispered, clutching her too-still form to his chest, rocking in misery. He threw his head back, his furious roar echoing through the trees.
Why? he thought. Raven had been so sure of his innocence, and Perry had been so bloody quick to believe him. The male was an animal, pure and simple. And like any rabid beast, he needed to be put down.
The thought was soothing, and as quickly as it brushed his mind, his keening stopped.
He gazed once more into the lifeless eyes of his lover. With renewed purpose, he rose, her body cradled in his arms, and walked slowly back to the parking lot.
Chapter Fifty
M ason and Harrier returned to the Compound, taking the elevator to the Sub-T level. When the doors opened, Merlin stood before them in his standard uniform of t-shirt and torn jeans, his dark hair tucked casually behind an ear. Before they could exit the lift, Merlin was in report mode.
“Mason, I saw you enter the Compound. I’ve been working on that little project you gave me, and I have something.”
“Merlin has been investigating the history of Raven’s crimes,” Mason informed Harrier as they followed Merlin to the e-man’s office. Computer monitors papered one whole wall, with various other pieces of electronic paraphernalia littering nearly every flat surface. Merlin settled himself in front of the bank of monitors, his fingers flying over the keyboard. Mason moved a stack of papers to the floor before taking a spare chair next to him, while Harrier leaned against an empty piece of wall in the corner near the door, folding his arms across his chest.
“Merlin?” Mason prompted.
“Yeah, well, I’ve done a lot of digging, and it’s interesting. Raven’s existence was never documented until the murders started. In fact, if the rumors are true, he should never have been born.
“It all comes down to a prediction made by a Seer back in the 1400’s. The Primeval always have Seers on the payroll. I mean, so do we, but anyway. This particular Seer predicted that a Vampire would be born who would destroy everything the Primeval had worked for, as far as keeping us hidden and ‘civilized’ and all that.” Merlin sifted through some papers, tapped on the computer keys.
“Here it is,” he said, almost to himself. “Yeah, this Seer, this Victoria, told the Primeval that if this baby were allowed to be born, he would be the most vicious of all Vampires. No regard for any life, human or Vampire, blah, blah, blah.”
Harrier tensed in the corner where he stood, his eyes narrowing and a growl forming in his throat, as Merlin continued unaware.
“Knowing that particular Primeval, it should have been all he needed to either slay the mother while she still carried Raven, or at the very least take him from his parents as an infant and eliminate him before he got the chance to grow into his destiny.”
“Go on,” Mason said.
“So if that’s the case,” Merlin looked away from his monitor and met Mason’s eyes, “why is Raven still here?”
“That would be the question, wouldn’t it?” Mason leaned back, his long fingers drumming the arms of his chair.
“It took some doing, but I was able to track Victoria,” Merlin continued. “She’s holed up in a castle in Northern Scotland. Primeval Baron’s territory. That’s your neck of the woods, isn’t it Harrier?”
“It is,” Mason answered for him when Harrier didn’t respond.
He
wasn’t sure how many times his Warlord said his name before he finally met his eyes. He knew where this was headed.
“Are you up for some international travel?” Mason asked.
“I don’t have a fuckin’ choice, do I?” Harrier glared golden daggers at his Warlord before reaching for the door.
“Harrier?”
“I’m going to prep the Citation,” he said without turning around. When Mason didn’t respond, Harrier walked out, closing the door behind him as someone’s phone began to ring.
Chapter Fifty-One
W alking through the forest with Heidi clutched in his arms, Perry called Merlin, to request a cleanup crew. He was short on details, and when Merlin started asking questions Perry hung up.
When he reached the edge of the forest, Viper was there with a select group of Soldiers whose primary job was removing evidence when things got messy. There was no need for direction. The stench of blood and death would lead them to the clearing. The trick would be keeping this under wraps with so many supernatural beings inside the bar. It wouldn’t be easy, but the Cleaners had skills. They would see it done discreetly.
Viper was the only one to approach Perry, the others merely glancing his way before averting their eyes as they headed into the forest. The Warrior was dressed in his standard biker garb, complete with leather chaps, shitkickers, and a leather vest over a black wife beater that showcased his many tats. His bronze, snake-like eyes narrowed as he absorbed the scene before him.
“Perry,” he said, rubbing a hand over his clean-shaven skull. “I’m sorry, man.” Viper wasn’t much for sentiment. From him, that was like a hug. Perry blinked at him.
“You look like hell, brother. Here. Let me take her.” This registered, and Perry took a step back, hissing through extended fangs as his eyes sparked in warning.
Viper threw his hands up in surrender and took a step back himself. “You know you can’t keep her,” he said softly. Perry glanced around. The Soldiers had all disappeared into the woods, and he was standing near the edge alone with Viper. He could hear the male speaking, but his words could have been in Greek for all Perry understood.