He glanced at her arm, his eyes widening as he saw the movement beneath her skin, the crescent scar from the Hive Father’s bite.
“What the hell is that?” he said.
“Put the fucking wristband back on or they’ll spread.”
Finally, he seemed to understand the danger she was in. He grabbed the small black band and stretched the elastic, pulling it up over her forearm. It was tight enough that he had to tug it into place. After a few seconds, the maddening wriggling slowed, then stopped.
Her stomach was in knots. She took a few deep breaths before carefully letting go of her arm, watching for movement—for any sign that they had escaped into her body or hand. Her skin remained smooth.
She turned away from Marcus and threw up on the ground.
He had the stones to come up behind her and rub her back. She wanted to punch him, to kick him, to kill him. But there was no way.
No way she could take down a werewolf.
She lurched away from his touch. It reminded her that she was naked. Naked, homeless, weaponless, and stuck in a junkyard with this…Blade?
Another high-pitched laugh escaped her. “I can’t believe I made out with a werewolf.”
His brow lowered and his lips twitched away from his teeth. Shit, this was unbelievable.
“You made out with the guy who helped you clear a Redcap nest and saved you from that queen—and king. It shouldn’t matter what else I am.”
“Seriously? You think that’s enough to make up for—”
“For what? Being a dweller? I’m one of the Blades of Janus. A Guard. I use the strength and speed being colonized gives me to help protect people instead of preying on them. Like I helped you.”
“Don’t paint yourself as some saint. You know damned well you should have told me before we started anything.”
“I was trying to tell you, but you kept kissing me.”
“My mistake. I sure as hell wouldn’t have if I’d known you’re infected.”
He actually looked hurt for a moment. Then he narrowed his eyes and growled. “We say ‘colonized’. And what the hell are those little pets in your arm?”
“Fuck you.”
“I didn’t think you were interested.”
Yeah, she was going to kill him. She just had to figure out how.
She knew it was safe for her to have sex with people. Ever since Kyle and all of his tests. He’d been highly motivated to make sure they could have sex safely. Too bad he hadn’t been so cautious in the lab while extracting one of the dwellers from her arm.
“Please, Tess. I don’t feel any different,” he’d said. “It’s still me.”
She had no idea how many parasites the Hive Father had injected into her body through his bite. She only knew that the tourniquet she had put on right after it happened had stopped their spread. And that she had one less now—since she had accidentally infected Kyle.
She shook her head, pushing away the memory. Running from it. Always running.
Now she had no weapons, no shelter, and no clothes aside from her wristband. This Blade was going to pay.
“Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have stopped you right away and told you. I lost control.”
“And how many people have paid the price when you lost control in the past?”
His jaw tightened and he shook his head. “It’s never happened.”
She let out a laugh. “I don’t believe you.”
There was no way he didn’t have a body count.
“Believe what you want,” he said. “You’re the first person I’ve even kissed.”
She laughed again. Wait, what was he talking about?
“I meant victims you’ve killed,” she said. “I couldn’t care less how many notches you have on your bedpost.” Even if there weren’t…any?
He took a step toward her, shoulders rising and hands curled into fists. It was a posture meant to intimidate her. It should have scared the crap out of her. But for some reason, she wasn’t afraid of him.
Maybe because he actually had put on the brakes. He could have had sex with her easily. Hell, all he would’ve had to do was lie back and enjoy himself while she took care of the particulars. But he had stopped her so he could tell her what he was, knowing it would royally piss her off and ruin his chance at them having sex.
Which, apparently, he had never had before.
What the hell?
“I only kill when I have to,” he said. “Only threats.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re a virgin Blade who also happens to be a werewolf, but you’re able to control your dweller nature enough that you never go on killing sprees.”
“I guess so.”
She snorted. “Is the tooth fairy real, too? Wait, don’t tell me. She’s actually in charge of the Blades of Janus.”
He didn’t respond, so she prodded him more.
“What about your pack? Are all the Blades in this town werewolves?”
That thought did frighten her. Dealing with Marcus on his own…she could almost believe him. A werewolf who used his power to make the world safer seemed like something out of a storybook. But the rest of his pack might not be so restrained.
If Marcus was his pack’s Omega, that submissive role could be enabling him to control his urges. Most of them, anyway. Her lips still tingled from kissing him.
She didn’t think the night could get any weirder. Then it did.
“I don’t have a pack,” he said.
She laughed.
“There is no such thing as a werewolf without a pack.” Not a sane one, anyway. Maybe it had only just happened. “How old were you when you were colonized?”
“Sixteen.”
A year younger than she’d been when her “foster-father” had infected her. Or tried to, anyway.
Marcus should be nuts. Insane or dead. Werewolves couldn’t function without a pack. They sure as hell couldn’t control themselves as well as Marcus did.
She’d met several werewolves in her life—before she started hunting on her own. Edgar had introduced her to all sorts of dwellers while he was playing house with her.
“If we’re going to stand around here talking, could you please at least put my shirt on?” He pulled his shirt over his head and held it out to her.
She couldn’t bring herself to take it. She was too busy staring at his chest. At his scars.
The ones on his arms were impressive. The ones on his body…
He had been cut to ribbons.
Mauled, bitten, clawed. Not an inch of his skin was unmarked. It had to have happened when he was first attacked—when he was infected. Any injuries after that would have healed without leaving a mark. But to have so many…
“Shit,” she said. “You’re an alpha.”
“I’m a what?”
Her heart started to pound. Her throat was so tight, she could barely swallow. She glanced at his eyes. They were gleaming gold. The glasses couldn’t mask it anymore.
Don’t challenge him. She dropped her gaze to the ground.
An alpha. That changed things. Killing him would be even harder, on multiple levels.
Werewolves toyed with their kills. The pack would…entertain themselves with it. If their prey fought back hard enough, the human might gain a sort of respect among the pack. Sometimes, they would try to infect their victim instead of killing them.
Most of the time, packs only brought in children. Edgar had explained that adult humans were too set in their ways and often insisted on fighting to the death when their families had already been slain or were threatened.
At sixteen, Marcus would have been considered too old to adapt by most pack’s standards. If his scars were any indication of how hard he’d fought, they could have considered him a prize worth the risk.
Knowing that he didn’t have a pack… That choice could have blown up in their faces. Maybe he had somehow killed them all.
Damn. She almost didn’t want to kill him.
Almost.
She finally took his shirt and put it on, her thoughts spinning. Alphas led their packs. If they were capable of controlling the werewolves under them, why not themselves?
But Marcus didn’t have a pack. He had the Blades. Maybe he was their leader?
“This place is remote, but someone had to have heard that explosion,” Marcus said. “The cops will be here—”
He jerked his head to the side, then turned around, stepping closer and sort of herding her behind him. If only she had a weapon. She wouldn’t get a better chance to kill him.
God, his back was covered in scars, too.
Against her better judgment, she asked, “What is it?”
Instead of answering, he wheeled around and lunged at her. He caught her below the ribs, keeping his forward momentum so that she fell over his back. She kicked at him, trying to get him to put her down.
If the cops found her there, she could talk her way out of the situation. Say she’d been abducted or something. But if he took her to his den—or the Blades of Janus—she had no idea what would happen.
Pounding on him did nothing. She bounced against his bare skin, exhausted from struggling. The ground blurred beneath them as he ran at inhuman speeds. Blurred and…
Holes were appearing all around them as more Redcaps tunneled to the surface.
“What the fuck?” She stopped trying to get away and instead clung to his back.
There were dozens of them. Even more than before. If he dropped her, she was dead. She’d be torn to pieces—or worse.
Her brain presented a morbid scenario. What would happen if a Redcap tried to ride her body while it was infested with Edgar’s spawn?
She had no intention of finding out, and her best bet was to stick with the werewolf.
They had to be nearing his bike. But it wouldn’t matter if they reached it. The Redcaps would overrun them the moment they stopped.
She felt Marcus’s muscles coil beneath her as he crouched, and then the ground fell away as he jumped incredibly high. Thankfully, her stomach was already empty, or she would have lost whatever was in it then.
There was no way she would survive their landing. She closed her eyes tight, knowing the impact of the fall would kill her. Except they didn’t fall.
She felt him land on…something. He shifted his weight and sat on the “something” floating in the air, then pulled her down the front of his body. She kept her legs tight around his waist and her arms around his neck.
“I actually do need to breathe,” he said. His voice was a little strained.
Tessa loosened her grip on his neck a little and forced her eyes open. The ground was so far below. She leaned into him, holding him tighter.
“Relax,” he said. “It’s okay.”
Her brain was trying to figure out what was going on. Soft blue light illuminated the vehicle they were sitting on. Marcus’s motorcycle?
“What the hell is this thing?” She craned her neck to look around at it.
Spinning blue disks flanked each wheel, two in the front and two in the back. They made a kind of whomp-whomp noise. The lines of blue that she had noticed before were shining bright, pulses of light illuminating streaks all over the thing.
It was beautiful and impossible.
Like Marcus.
She groaned inwardly at the ridiculous thought, even though it was kind of true. He was holding her gently, stroking her back as she calmed herself down.
“Welcome aboard,” the bike said.
“Oh my God.” She ratcheted right back up. “Is this some kind of AI robot hoverbike thing?”
Marcus laughed. “No, that’s Vaughn—the guy who’s been talking in my ear. He’s just using the bike’s comm system.”
“AI robot…” Vaughn said.
Marcus scowled at his bike. “Don’t get any ideas.”
“Hmph,” Vaughn said. “Well, I thought you’d like to know that the cavalry has arrived. I detected the movement beneath the ground, and activated the hover function of your bike remotely to help you out. The police will be on the scene in five minutes, so you don’t have long to do any necessary clean up.”
Another hoverbike flew past them, on what looked like a direct collision course for the ground. A few feet before impact, the disks folded back onto the bike’s wheels and it landed, jerking and bouncing as the rider—pilot?—regained control.
He was clad entirely in black. Jacket, pants, helmet, just like Marcus had been dressed, except this guy’s jacket was a more sensible length for riding motorcycles.
It was a good thing, too, because the moment he had a handle on his bike, flames shot out of what looked like its tailpipe. The nearest Redcaps let out screeching wails as they caught fire.
“Who is that?”
“My boss,” Marcus said.
The second rider turned toward them briefly. She couldn’t see his face through the tinted visor of his helmet. He pointed forcefully at Marcus, then toward the overcast sky. He kept staring in their direction for a moment longer, then turned to the Redcaps, flame erupting all around him.
The message was clear. He wanted Marcus to get Tessa out of there. She was all for it.
“Hold on tight.” Marcus flew the bike out to the street, then brought it down for a landing. He gunned the engine the moment the wheels hit the asphalt.
Chapter Ten
Tessa’s chest was pressed against him, only his T-shirt separating them. Marcus could feel her heart beating against his. Her warmth, her scent, was all around him as they sped away from the junkyard.
Part of him wanted to keep going. They could drive on past the ranch, find another small town to settle in. Maybe convince Vaughn to join them in secret. To keep them all together.
“Your pack.”
“Shut up,” Marcus thought.
He didn’t know how Dexter and Porter would react when they found out about Tessa’s dwellers. Marcus wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.
No wonder Marcus had never really seen her as prey. He could probably sense the dwellers lurking in her, even if they hadn’t taken over her entire system.
He couldn’t believe she smelled human—as long as the wristband was in place. When he’d pulled it off, the smell of leaf rot had overpowered his senses for a moment.
She seemed so normal. From what he had seen back in the junkyard, she was anything but.
He was just glad she was safe. That had been way too close. He wouldn’t let her get in harm’s way again. Not with only beaten up weapons and a piece of shit van to protect her.
“Stop nuzzling me.” Her harsh voice snapped him back to the moment. She was still holding on to him with a death grip, but her body had gone stiff against his.
“What?”
“You were nuzzling my hair.” She hissed the words into his ear. “We’re not having sex on your motorcycle. Or anywhere. That ship has sailed.”
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Her scent was honey-sweet around him.
“You should know I can smell your body’s reaction to me. I get that nothing’s going to happen, but it’s still…really distracting.”
She made a noise that almost sounded like a growl.
“So lovely…”
A rumbling sensation echoed up through Marcus’s body. He wasn’t sure if it was from him or his dweller.
“It’s not you turning me on,” she said. “It’s the bike.”
Marcus let out a brief laugh.
Whump, whump, whump.
He stiffened as he heard the sound of Dexter’s motorcycle approaching them. Tessa picked up on his tension.
“What’s wrong?” she said.
“Company.”
“Friendly or otherwise.”
“Depends on whether we’re still operating as a team.”
He couldn’t keep himself from grinning at her. The idea of them working together felt right. Her lips twitched up at the corners before she forced them into a murderous frown.
&
nbsp; Dexter pulled up alongside them. He stared at Marcus, yet somehow kept his bike going straight ahead. Marcus could only glance over, then had to look back to the road. He couldn’t risk crashing with Tessa. He didn’t know how much protection or strength her dwellers granted her—if any.
There were always tradeoffs. Humans gave dwellers host bodies, and the dwellers augmented them. And, yes, sometimes drove the human insane or took them over entirely. But only sometimes. Not always.
Tessa had fought Redcaps. She fought her dwellers’ influence—if they even tried to influence her to do harm to others.
She had lost a brother, had lost her human-ness, but not her humanity. She protected people. Like him.
“Oh, look,” she said. “He has a bike just like yours. What’s that doing to my scent?”
Marcus knew she was baiting him, but he still felt his heartbeat spike. The pleasant tingling her touch had brought out of him amped instantly to stinging as his hair thickened. His muscles twitched in preparation for a change.
“Not now. Not now,” he chanted under his breath.
If he changed, they would crash. Period. But he could feel his boss’s stare, even through the visor of Dexter’s helmet. It felt like a challenge—a challenge for Tessa.
No matter what Tessa had said back at the junkyard, Dexter was the true alpha. And he was trying to maintain his dominance. It wasn’t going to work where Tessa was concerned, and his attempts might have deadly consequences.
“I know I keep asking this, but is that guy a robot or something?” Her voice pulled Marcus back again—a little. She was staring at Dexter.
“No.” Marcus bit out the word through a throat that didn’t seem quite as built for human speech as it had been a few moments before. The sound was off enough to get her attention.
“Shit. Are you changing? Is he a threat?”
“No.” Not exactly.
“Is he bothering you?”
“Yes.”
Tessa pushed herself closer to Marcus, increasing her grip with one arm as she reached toward Dexter with the other. She waved her hand at him and said, “Shoo! Shoo!”
Marcus burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it. If only she knew who she was trying to shoo away—what Dexter was capable of.
Pack Page 10