Twenty-One
CALLING THE ENEMY
DOMINICK
I settle Ruby down on the bed that will be hers for as long as she needs or wants it. If she wakes. No, I’m not allowing that to be a possibility. When she wakes, she’ll be a vampire and my vampires will always have a home at the compound.
I take a seat at the desk in the corner of the room and pull my phone out. Calling that furry mutt is the last thing I want to do. But he’ll start worrying soon and I only have a short window to tell him what’s happened before I’m out of action for the day. I find his name in my contacts list, press call and put the phone to my ear.
He answers immediately. “I don’t have time for any shit, Drake. What do you want?”
“Let me guess, that beautiful little sister of yours hasn’t made curfew? Do they still call it curfew these—”
“How the fuck do you know that?” he demands, cutting me off mid-sentence. “If you’ve done something to her, not even Bel can hold me back from killing you for it.” He has every right to dish out the threats.
“You might want to listen to what I have to say before you start with the threats,” I growl into the phone.
“I’m listening.”
I take a breath I don’t need and let it all out. “I came home to find another gift waiting on my doorstep. It...it was Ruby.”
“No! You’re wrong,” he denies immediately, as though he won’t even allow the idea in his mind.
“Theo, I’m sorry. I’m not mistaken. It’s Ruby.” I can’t hide the sympathy in my voice.
“Is she…” Knowing all the others had been dead when they were found, I can understand him jumping to that conclusion.
I kick myself for not making him aware of her status sooner. “She was so close to death, Theo. Too close. I couldn’t stop it...I...The only way I could save her was to turn her. She’s currently going through the transition.”
The silence on the end of the phone is unnerving. I’d thought he would’ve had some form of an outburst after I’d finished.
“Did you hear what I said?” I ask, the sound of his breathing is the only sign he’s still on the other end of the phone.
“I heard you. She’s dead,” he says, his voice void of any emotion. He sounds...deadly. I’ve never been scared of the wolf but hearing him like that has me on edge.
“If it works, she’ll be a vampire. She’ll still be here on this earth. Hell. She can still live with you if she wants. Nothing has to change,” I say, trying to get something out of him. I know he hates us, but surely he’d rather his sister be here, even as a vampire, than completely cease to exist?
“Everything has changed. She can never come here, it’s a sanctuary for pack members. I can’t let a vampire in here. Our scent will drive her crazy, I can’t allow her to feed on pack members, just like I don’t allow any of you bloodsuckers, too. I don’t care if she was once my baby sister,” he says flatly.
Fuck!
That’s not going to help her transition, if she wakes up and has her brother and the pack waiting for her, she could fight the bloodlust. But if she wakes up and finds out she’s been as good as disowned, she has nothing to fight for. I say as much to the furry mutt.
“Your sister is strong, she’ll fight the bloodlust. She’ll do it for you. For the pack.”
“She isn’t pack anymore. She’s yours,” he says. “She isn’t mine,” I hear him whisper before disconnecting the call. Those three words were full of the emotion his earlier words had been missing.
He’s right. She is one of mine now. I’ll make sure she has something to fight for. She’ll prove how strong she can be to that furry mutt.
I watch the female for a moment hoping the unseen magic is doing all it can to change her body so it will stay forever young and beautiful. Knowing Ruby won’t wake up until well into the night, I don’t worry about leaving her alone throughout the day. I head to my room and allow myself the recuperation that vampires receive from dying for the day. Essentially that’s what we do. We die with the sunrise and reanimate with the sunset. The older you are, the longer you can last between those hours. I open my door to find a small body curled in the sheets waiting for me, exactly where I’d left him after I’d had my fill earlier.
Twenty-Two
THE WORLD SHATTERS
EDDIE
I’m standing in Theo’s dining room-come-pack meeting room, with Billy, Jared, and Wes. They all look just as clueless as I feel. Our eyes are darting between each other. I received a phone call from Theo ten minutes ago. He muttered the word ‘emergency’ before hanging up. Hearing the front door open we all turn and watch Paddy enter.
“What’s happening?” Paddy asks.
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Wes mutters flatly.
We all feel Theo’s energy as he approaches the room. By the time he’s in sight, we know this is serious.
The hackles rise on my wolf.
Our alpha isn’t in a good place. He’s on the edge of losing control; which makes our wolves testy.
Bel comes in chasing after him. “Theo! Take a second to calm down.” She overtakes and stops in front of him, causing him to halt mid-stride. “Babe, please,” she pleads, with a comforting hand pressed against his chest. “Once you tell them, they’re all going to be struggling with control enough as it is. They don’t need your wolf’s anger pushed on them too.”
In the silence of the room, I watch as Theo closes his eyes; eyes that are currently flashing wolf. He takes a deep breath and pushes his wolf down. It’s a full sixty seconds before he opens his eyes and turns them on us. Human eyes.
I let out a breath I wasn’t even aware I’d been holding, until just now.
Obviously satisfied with his change in temperament, Bel moves to the side allowing him to step closer to us all.
“Thanks for coming guys…” Theo pauses, and shakes his head as though he can’t find the words to say. “There is no easy way to say this. So I’m just going spit it out, it’ll be like ripping a Band-Aid off, painful but fast. The rogue vampire…he got Ruby. He killed my sister,” his voice breaks with his last sentence. My heart shatters and I drop to my knees. I don’t even realise I’ve hit the floor. Surely I didn’t hear that right.
“Killed? Ruby? Are you saying Ruby is dead?” Paddy asks, sounding almost mechanical; yet confirming my ears aren’t playing tricks on me.
“Yes.” That one word hangs in the air. My wolf charges at me trying to get out. He wants to kill. He wants to tear everyone apart. He wants to tear me apart.
She was ours. We should have protected her.
He’s right, but I push him back. I can’t let him out now. I’ll never regain control if I hand over the reins to him.
The room comes back into focus and I hear everyone talking at once. I can’t even pick up on the individual words.
I stand up quickly. “Enough!” The order leaves my mouth before I can hold it back and the room falls silent. Theo takes a challenging step in my direction and I bow my head submissively. I should have never given an order like that. That’s something the alpha should be doing. If she were my mate, it would be understandable, but I hadn’t claimed her. Hell, no one even knows how I feel about her.
She died without knowing I love her.
I slump back against the wall before the weight of that thought tears me apart. I feel like I can’t breathe.
“You love her,” Bel whispers. “Loved her.” Her correction tears at my heart even more.
I meet her eyes but don’t need to say anything, I’m stripped bare. They’ll all see it. On my face, in my eyes, in the way I’m being held up by the wall behind me. I can’t hide it even if I try.
Both Theo and I choose that moment to ask each other completely different questions with the exact same word. “When?”
“Since…always,” I reply honestly.
His eyes shift from me to Paddy and with a nod, I know he understands. He knows why Paddy ended things; he know
s why two people who were once as close as brothers can no longer bear to be in the same room as each other. In fact, this is the longest we’ve been in the same room, without someone having to pull us off each other.
Theo addresses us all. “I received a call from Dominick, about thirty minutes ago.”
“Domi—” Theo’s raised hand causes the cursed name leaving Wes’ mouth to stop.
“Dominick found her body outside his compound. She was left as a gift.” He visibly swallows the lump in his throat and carries on, before any of us can argue. “The reason I called you all here tonight is because I need to know who was with her last? Who was meant to be guarding her?”
Bel waivers on her feet, her knees almost giving way beneath her. “Oh God.” She slaps a hand to her throat.
Theo reaches out to steady her before her legs fall from under her. “Sweetheart? What is it?” he asks gently as he wraps her in his arms.
“No, don’t.” She pulls away from his reach. “I don’t deserve it. It was me. I…I was the last one with her. We went to the movies and I left her to walk to her car alone. I was too wrapped up in myself, and grabbing my last things from Misty’s. I just teleported without thinking.” In a hasty move, she turns and leaves the room. “I need to go.”
“No!” Theo shouts as he dives for Bel before she can teleport anywhere. We’ve seen them do it a number of times before. Bel is a werewolf with druid blood; one of her abilities is to teleport at any time. Unfortunately, that means when she feels the need to escape she just dematerialises before your eyes and no one can stop her.
“You will not disappear on me again. Dammit! We’ve had this talk before, don’t run. It was my fault, not yours. I should’ve had you both protected. You’re my mate, and Ruby…my sister.”
Bel stands stock still in Theo’s arms as she takes in his words and no doubt feels his emotions through her empathy, another druid ability. Their mating bond will be telling her a number of things about his words and feelings too.
“The rogue will be hidden from the sun for the day, so we’ll meet at sunset to hunt him down when he resurfaces,” he says, as he comforts a silently sobbing Bel in his arms.
Unsure what else to do I mumble a reply, “Okay, boss.” As much as I want to find the fucker and tear him apart right now, I know Theo’s right. He’ll be impossible to find before dark. Hunting him down now would be a waste of time and energy.
“Guys, you know the way out,” Theo throws over his shoulder, apparently dismissing us.
I leave the house feeling disconnected from reality. Surely this is some nightmare? Ruby can’t just no longer exist. She was meant to be my mate. My back connects with the brick wall of the house painfully. I’d been so distracted I didn’t even see Paddy set his sights on me.
“She’d be alive if you’d manned up and claimed her!” he yells in my face as he pins me to the wall with his body. His anger travelling over me feeds my own.
I shove him in the chest. “If you hadn’t broken her heart, she’d have been with you,” I spit back the lie, knowing he’s right but not wanting to admit it.
“You’re a coward. You won’t even admit your guilt. You’re going to leave your alpha pair in there,” he points an angry finger to the house, “blaming themselves when it was you. I broke up with her because she was yours. You should have claimed her.”
The truth of his words and the anger I have at myself forces me into action. My arm comes back and my fist flies forward connecting with his nose before he can block it.
Blood spurts everywhere. The sight of it doesn’t make me feel any better, it makes me think of the blood Ruby would have lost in the moments before her death. Paddy’s fist hits my cheekbone before I can dwell on that thought.
The pain takes my mind away from everything else. The ache in my chest eases and I stand there, ready to take anything he will throw at me just for a little peace from that ache. The punches come thick and fast and I soak up the pain, I deserve worse.
“For fuck’s sake,” I hear Billy shout, as Paddy’s punches suddenly stop. “Can you not see he wants it? He’s not even fighting back, Paddy.”
Arms suddenly turn my body and through my swollen eyes I can just make out Wes’ face peering at me, he prods at my face and I welcome the pain it causes. There’s a click in my cheek as he manipulates the bones back in place before they heal. “You’re lucky it wasn’t shattered to pieces, it wouldn’t do your lovely face any favours.”
“I don’t care,” I mutter. “Ruby’s dead and Paddy’s right, it was my fault.”
“Give yourself a break. If what Paddy is saying is the truth, I can see why you didn’t claim her. She was still cut up over him. They broke up what, two days ago? She needed a friend, not someone dominating her by claiming her. You and your wolf did the right thing, you gave her what she needed.”
I shake my head denying his words, even as the anger I had at myself dissipates. Without the anger, the ache in my heart intensifies and I raise my hand to clutch at my chest.
“Come on, come back to mine for a bit. You can get your head straight so we can get the bastard tonight,” he offers.
I glance at the woods and know instantly what I need to do. “No. I need to run.” I’ve denied my wolf to come forward even a little. He’s calm enough to be allowed out now. He believes the only person to blame is the rogue vampire; even if I don’t agree with him.
“Okay. You know where I am if you need me? Don’t be alone too long.” Accepting my nod as agreement, he turns his attention to Paddy and Billy. “Did you manage to straighten his nose before it set?”
Ignoring the rest of their conversation, I head into the woods. Once I’m out of sight, I strip off my clothes and place them over a tree branch for when I change back.
Crouching down, I release my wolf and welcome the freedom that comes with it. As soon as I transform, my wolf lets out a long, heartbreaking howl. Breaking my heart right along with it. Ruby.
Twenty-Three
REBORN
RUBY
The noise wakes me. It’s like someone’s decided to take up the drums. But they have no rhythm. No, it’s worse. It’s like multiple people are having a drum off, and no one has any rhythm. It almost sounds like heartbeats, all beating at different times and paces.
It is heartbeats.
Concentrating on each individual one, tells me there are five of them. One of them is erratic. My breath comes in short, sharp gasps and I realise too late, that heartbeat belongs to me.
“She’s waking up,” a male voice shouts.
“Whisper. Remember how deafening every little noise seems when you first come around,” another male says much quieter, not quite a whisper to my ears.
I open my eyes to a dark room. It scares me for a moment and I bolt upright. A hand rests on my shoulder holding me in place.
“Take it easy, Ruby. You’re safe now,” the second male says. I relax and he removes his hand. “What do you remember?”
My eyes are adjusting to the light and I can now see the silhouettes of four people, two are close to me and the other two are hovering by the door. He said I’m safe, but how do I know these people didn’t cause whatever happened to me? I guess if they had meant me harm they wouldn’t be hanging back from me. Wouldn’t they have killed me instead of letting me come around?
I try to think about the question I’d just been asked. I remember darkness and tell them as much. “Darkness,” I reply. My voice sounds croaky, as if I haven’t used it for some time. I cough trying to clear my throat.
“Can you remember what you had planned last night?” he asks.
I wrack my brain, trying to pin down anything. I have so many thoughts and worries going through it. I can’t concentrate on just one. My brother. Where the fuck is he? I’d somehow been knocked unconscious, why isn’t one of his wolves here? There is always one following me. Why am I in a room full of strangers? I was with Rosabel, she should be here. The thought pops into my head and I re
member.
“I was at the movies with Bel,” I say excitedly. “We left. She needed to pack some more things so she did her little trick of disappearing.” I can’t think of the word she calls it, hoping they know what I was meaning, I carry on with the memory. “I needed to get to my car down the road. I was jumpy, but I thought it was lingering from the movie we’d just seen. Until I heard footsteps behind me. I told them…told them Theo would be pissed because they weren’t being covert enough.”
The second male who seems to be in charge interrupts me, as I pause for a breath. “You told who?”
I think for a second trying to remember more. “Whoever was following me, Theo always has someone following me,” I say, slightly confused at the question. Who else would I be talking about? I shake my head and allow the memory to flow. Not speaking, just reliving it.
The dark street.
The click, clack.
The vampire at my neck.
The terror.
My last wish of being a werewolf before nothing but blackness.
“It was a vampire. He was draining me. Killing me.” Panic sets in and my stomach churns. What happened to me? Am I dead?
“Is this...is this heaven?” I ask in a whisper.
“Ha! Far from it sweetheart.” A woman by the door laughs obnoxiously. The noise startles me and I jump back on the bed, pressing my back firmly against the headboard.
“Sam!” the leader admonishes.
“I’m sorry, Dominick, but you are babying her. I know you’re trying to be gentle, but you’re going to make it worse for her in the long run.”
“Leave, before I say something I regret!” the male, Dominick, orders.
Dominick. I’ve heard my brother talk about him before. He’s a vampire. The female leaves the room leaving the door slightly ajar, allowing a little light into the room.
Mount Roxby Box Set Page 33