“She’s not a stray.” Peder shifted to his civil form and took the kilt.
The other two sniffed at her.
Her spine stiffened involuntarily as a nose came too close. She cuffed the guard. It was a reflex she’d developed living in her own den. She needed to set her dominance now before they found out she couldn’t shift. One never knew who they would meet in the future.
He jumped away and rubbed his offending snout. “A Payami bitch?”
“Sorin’s given me permission to accompany Peder.” She held out her wrist. “I carry his mark.” Squaring her shoulders, she met their gazes, mimicking her mother’s usual behavior. “Get the medicine, Peder.” She shoved past the guards into the Apisi den.
Her heart raced as she waited for a hunter to attack from behind. She’d heard many terrible stories about this pack.
The den was set in a canyon. Caves lined the two sheer walls that only went up another story with small landings and stairs. She glanced around. The guards watched by the gate. “I’ll wait here for you.”
“Sure, as long as you don’t challenge my pack mates anymore. Smacking the guard was foolish. I can’t defeat him if he were to challenge you.”
“Who asked you to fight for me? I don’t bend over for anyone. I can’t afford to.” Her father always told her to act like the biggest shifter in the room. Most wouldn’t call her bluff. One day, though, someone would.
“I’d be disappointed if you did.” He grinned. Dark circles hollowed his eyes.
She wanted to hug and shake him at the same time for tying her emotions into a knot. She was a daughter of alphas, yet an omega brought her to heel. How pathetic.
A pretty female carrying a basket of laundry paused on her away out the gate and waved at Peder.
He smiled and nodded in her direction.
Kele growled and turned her back to him. How many lovers did he have, anyhow? And she thought Ahote a terrible flirt.
“The medicine is kept in the kitchen. This way.” He led her along the single corridor to a dead end of the ravine. The den was so much smaller than hers.
They entered the kitchen where a stunning, strong female worked with—moldy bread?
“Peder?” She set her work aside and hugged him. “Where have you been?”
“Lailanie, we’re in a hurry. Susan is ill. Sorin sent me to fetch some penicillin for her.”
The female’s expression fell flat. “Susan? Did she return?”
“No, they’re at the Temple.” Peder explained what had transpired in the last couple days.
The attentive female nodded as he spoke and stroked his arm.
Kele couldn’t tear her eyes away from their touch. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.
Lailanie retrieved a bottle on the shelf above the hearth. “Take this one. It’s the first batch Susan made and should be the strongest.” Tears spilled from her eyes. “It’s all my fault. Sorin will never forgive me.”
“You made Susan sick?” Kele asked.
The female sniffed. “No, I convinced her to leave the den. It’s not fair. I’ve done everything expected of a good alpha female, and he doesn’t see me. She makes one potion and now she equates the Goddess.”
Drama grew in all packs apparently. It sounded as if Susan had not had a dull visit in the Apisi den.
Peder sighed. “Sorin mated Susan.”
Blinking her tears away, Lailanie nodded. “Good.” She wiped her face and avoided their gazes.
“We have to go, Lanie.” Peder squeezed her shoulder. The gesture shot another jolt of jealousy through Kele.
“I’m all right.” She gave them a thin smile.
Leaving Peder behind, Kele stormed from the kitchen and headed toward the gate. He didn’t belong to her. These emotions twisting her gut didn’t have any place within her body. Peder was not Payami and worse, he wasn’t a hunter.
Omegas were generous with their bodies. It was their position in the pack to ease stress, and the omegas needed dominant mates to protect them, to possess them. She cared to do neither for a male. She wanted to be the one that was desired.
Peder caught up with her. He carried a back satchel.
Against her will, she glanced at him. He appeared happy. No signs of guilt or—or, what was she expecting?
An old female waited by a cave entrance. She waved at them to approach. Unable to deny the elderly anything, Kele did as asked. Others from the cavern gathered around her.
Peder hurried to them, hugging his pack mates. “You all look so much better.” His voice cracked as he spoke. “I’ve been so worried.”
Better? They looked like death.
“We heard you’ve been off adventuring with the alpha.” A hunter ruffled Peder’s hair. “Having fun?”
“I’m surviving.”
Most laughed.
Warmth spread through Kele at the sight. Many around them were pale and some needed assistance walking, but all smiled. These were the sick that Susan had saved. If only they could do the same for the human. They needed to hurry.
“This is Kele. She’s from the Payami.”
His introduction froze her heart.
She opened her mouth but nothing came out. Even though Sorin’s temporary mark should protect her, one didn’t dangle bait in front of a hungry lion and not expect it to bite. Sore feelings had existed between their packs for ages. “I’m Susan’s friend.” It was the only good thing she could think to say.
“That’s a fine female to be friends with.” The elderly female patted her cheek.
A huge weight lifted off Kele’s soul. She took a deep breath. They wouldn’t eat her.
“We have to go,” Peder whispered in her ear.
She blinked and broke eye contact with the elderly female. “Yes.” They had to return to Susan.
Her parents would have a fit when they heard of her visit here. Unguarded, she’d been an easy target. She sighed and glanced at the omega male as he undressed to shift. Not completely alone though.
Chapter Forty-Four
The storm had passed during the time Susan slept. She lay across Sorin’s massive, feral chest, listening to his gentle snores. The soft fur comforted her in this rough environment—a living coat keeping her warm.
Her joints no longer burned, only a distant ache existed. The fever had faded. Vague memories of Sorin plagued her—him forcing a foul drink in her mouth, the crash of thunder mixed in with his roar, whispered prayers of him pleading for her to live.
Sun warmed her back and Sorin’s flesh her front. She didn’t want to move but thirst drove her to stir. She ran her hands over his shoulders. Her big, strong shifter who—had saved her? The memory of a few nights before flashed in her mind of Lailanie tending the pup who hadn’t been able to breathe easy. Sorin had taken care of her like pack. No one but her mother had ever tended to her when she’d been ill.
She stroked Sorin’s silky fur. She’d found her place on Eorthe. But why had she been so sick?
Her head seemed full of wool. She recalled being at the Temple then… Benic’s lab. The wine. Oh shit, the virus.
She jerked from Sorin’s arms. She had survived the mutating virus. Searching her teeth with the tip of her tongue, she found enlarged canines.
No.
She sat bolt up right and tumbled from Sorin’s chest. The thirst, the teeth—”No, no, no.” How else could she check her mutation? She touched her face.
“Susan?” Bleary eyed, Sorin reached for her.
She grabbed his hand. “What am I?”
His eyes sprang open. “You’re my female.”
“No! Am I a vampire?” A strong scent hit her senses, scattering her thoughts. Coarse and raw, it turned her stomach. “What is that stench?” She covered her nose. The closer she drew to Sorin the stronger it became. “It’s you.”
He opened his mouth then snapped it shut. Shaking his mane, he glared at her. “I’ve swam in mud, been sprayed by a skunk, and been out in the rain mos
t of the night. What do you expect?” His scent altered a little into something sharper and prickly.
“Your smell changed. How did you do that?” Why hadn’t his stink bothered her when she lay across his chest?
Sorin’s ears perked forward. “You noticed the shift of my emotions through scent?”
“I guess I did.” She uncovered her nose and buried it in his fur. Past the exterior odor she found something musky, spicy like cinnamon and earth mixed together. Very sexy. Very male. This smell transformed from prickly to smooth and heavy. It soothed her nose. “You’re pleased.” Her senses were already mutating in less than twenty-four hours. She’d know what she was turning into within days at this rate.
“Yes.” His voice deepened as he traced her face with a claw. He shifted to civil form. The soft fur disappeared into his sun-kissed skin and his scarred muzzle reshaped to his scarred, serious face. His amber eyes remained the same though. No matter which form he wore, he was hers.
He swept her into his arms, crushing her to his chest, and his lips found her mouth. He kissed her as if drowning and she was his only air. Pinned in his embrace, all her worries vanished.
Somebody cleared their throat. “Can I eat Benic now?”
She twisted in Sorin’s arms.
Ahote lay on his side by the burnt-out fire. “I don’t mind watching if you’d rather I wait.”
“What are you doing here?” Last she remembered he had attacked Sorin.
He shrugged. “I had nothing else to do yesterday so I volunteered to help your mate.”
“Never mind him.” Sorin turned her face back toward him, his gaze drinking her in. “The fever’s gone. How do you feel?”
“Tired, achy, thirsty.” She’d never had someone so focused on her.
“Ahote, hand me the water skin.” Sorin ran his fingertips over her cheeks, her arms, then her thighs. “I knew you were a fighter. Knew you’d win against the illness.”
The Payami shifter brought the skin. “I’m going hunting. I could eat a whole stag—antlers and all.”
Meat. It made her mouth water. “I’m hungry too.” She drank the water in great gulps, trying to quench her thirst and fill her stomach at the same time.
Sorin pried the skin from her hands. “Not so much at once. You’ll make yourself vomit.” He set it behind him, out of sight. “Besides your sense of smell, is anything else different?”
“I don’t know.” Disoriented and exhausted from being sick, it was difficult to tell.
“Try to shift.” The eagerness in his voice was clear.
Her pulse fluttered in her chest. “How?” He may as well have requested her to see with her knees.
“You need to find an emotional trigger that will set off the shift. My trigger is when I recall the sound of my mother singing.”
“Uh—okay.” She massaged her temples, trying to relieve her growing headache.
“Try random memories.”
She wandered down memory lane—her childhood home, her family, going to college, developing DOUG, her co-workers. Nothing happened. If she couldn’t shift, did that mean she was a vampire?
Sorin hated them. He’d leave her and she would be lost on this monster-infested world, left to the mercy of Benic. Tears ran along her cheeks. She wiped them away, hoping no one saw.
“Don’t try so hard.” Sorin pet her hair. “You’re exhausted. I shouldn’t have asked you to try.” He kissed her cheeks.
“It’s too soon.” Someone spoke from outside their shelter—a male voice, weak and empty.
“Who’s that?” She started to move from Sorin’s arms but he pulled her back.
“It’s Benic. Stay here while I take care of him.”
Her heart flatlined. What was the vampire doing here? “Wait…”
Sorin didn’t listen. He crammed his large body into a pair of too-short pants and left her.
She crawled out after him and gasped.
Benic lay supine on the stone Temple floor, arms and legs splayed out. His pasty, pale skin contrasted against the dark stain of blood under his body. She couldn’t believe he lived since a huge sword protruded from his abdomen.
The chances that Benic had tripped and impaled himself on the huge weapon were pretty slim. She pinned Sorin with a glare. “You did this?”
He raised an eyebrow at her and crossed his arms. “Yes.”
Benic rolled his head to face her. “I’m glad to see you survived.” He stared at Sorin. “Now, set me free, you over-paranoid, crazed alpha!” His shout echoed in the forest, sending a flock of birds flying in the trees above.
Sorin crouched next to the vampire. “What do you mean it’s too soon?”
“She survived the initial virus infection, and now she’s a carrier like the rest of us. I assume the changes don’t happen overnight. She probably needs more time—”
“To incubate.” She should be jumping for joy at being alive, not desiring to creep in a hole and cry.
She wasn’t human anymore.
She stared at her hands. They appeared the same but for how long? Her sense of smell had already changed. What would it be like to have super strength, to drink blood or shift?
If she knew which virus had won the battle, she’d be coping better. “How long do you think I have to wait?”
“How am I supposed to know? This was all theory until this morning. Now, get this forsaken sword out of my gut, Sorin. We had a deal.”
Sorin fingered the sword hilt. They had made a deal. Susan lived; so should Benic. He’d given his word. Then again…
Why should he let the vampire go? They’d broken agreements with shifters throughout history. He would be doing his people a service by destroying a vampire lord.
He glanced over his shoulder at Susan. “He infected you on purpose. He wanted to steal you away from me.” He couldn’t restrain the growl that followed his words.
Dark circles hollowed her eyes, and her long hair fell limp over her shoulders. The sickness had drained her but left her alive. She’d heal. Into what, though?
She watched his hand on the sword. “You infected me when you bit me as well.”
“Making you sick wasn’t my intention. I barely understand this virus even with both of you explaining it to me.” He twisted the sword a little.
Benic’s scream pierced his sharp hearing.
“I should kill you for putting her through this.” He yanked the sword from the vampire body and pressed the blade at his throat. “I’ll keep my promise for today, because you saved her. Next time we meet I won’t be so generous.” The sword felt awkward in his grasp. How did vampires fight with such bulky things?
Benic rolled onto his knees and rose on shaky legs. He clutched the wound. In a few days, the bloodsucker would be fine. “If she turns vampire, I want your word you won’t harm her.”
“I’d never hurt Susan. This wasn’t her choice.”
The vampire nodded, then shuffled to the Temple’s exit. “You might want to tell her that when you find her.”
“What?” Sorin spun around. The shelter was empty and Susan gone.
Chapter Forty-Five
The scent of roasting pig had Kele halting in her tracks. She met Peder’s questioning gaze. Who was cooking?
Outside the Temple, by the entrance stairs, Ahote guarded a fire pit in feral form. He waved.
Kele stared at the food, her stomach rumbled. “You went hunting?” When had she last eaten?
“There’s plenty for everyone.” The hunter’s ears fanned out as if pleased with himself.
She expected a different scenario upon arrival. The worst being Susan dead, but Ahote seemed far from grieving. “We brought the medicine. Where’s Susan?”
Someone moved in the shadow of a tree close to the pit. “She left.”
“Benic?” She recognized his voice. Glancing at Ahote, she posed a silent what-is-he-doing-here question.
He shrugged. “I found him sitting on the steps. Waiting. Clearly, he’s not in his right
mind.”
“I’m not leaving until I know what Susan has become.” The vampire remained under the tree, unmoving.
Kele frowned at his uncharacteristic behavior. “What are you talking about?” The vampire seemed more subdued than usual, and she smelled old blood drifting from his area.
“Those myths Susan spoke of—the ones about humans changing into vampire or shifter after a bite—they’re true.”
Kele scratched her ear as she tilted her head. “And exactly how did you find this out?” She wanted to shake him. That’s why he’d stolen Susan away. He wanted to try out his theory without her permission. Arrogant ferret.
“She gave me a blood sample to study.” He shifted his body and clutched his stomach as if uncomfortable.
Pausing by the cooking pit, Kele gave Ahote a questioning look. What, by the Dark Moon, had happened while they’d been gone? “So there is a world full of people who could change species by a single bite?”
“If they survive the infection.” Ahote crossed his arms. “He forgot to mention that important fact.”
A jolt of revelation rocked her. “What have you done, Benic?” Susan had been so ill leaving the castle. Sorin had told her he assumed she’d caught the Apisi illness.
The vampire hung his head. “I’m tired of being alone. I don’t expect any of you to understand.”
“What happened? Where are they?” Her voice rose as she spoke. Two good people were missing and—and here Benic, Ahote and Peder sat having a pig roast.
“They’re fine.” Ahote poked at their cooking meal. “It’s done.”
“I gave Susan something to prevent her from dying. She left the Temple and Sorin went after her.” Benic sighed. “But she’s carrying both vampire and shifter viruses.” He turned his head toward Ahote. “I’m not leaving until I have a better idea of what she’s becoming.”
She shook her head. “Oh, Benic.” He always meddled in other’s affairs. She searched the surrounding woods but saw nothing. May the Goddess bring Susan light.
“Once we eat, I’ll return you home, Kele.” Ahote sliced some meat from the roast with his claws and handed it to her.
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