Bad Beta

by Susan Bliler

  Hayes was pacing at the foot of the bed and stopped when she came out. “Alright?”

  “Alright,” she responded, her eyes snagging on the TV tray back at the side of her bed. It held a can of Coke this time, a plate of crackers, and a plate of her favorite snack, salami rolled mozzarella cheese sticks. “Uhhh, that better be for you because I just ate like five minutes ago.”

  “It’s just a light bedtime snack.”

  “Seriously, Hayes. I just ate. I’m so full.” Her argument died off though when she went to the far side of the bed and saw a clean comforter and sheets. “Thanks, but you didn’t have to do that. I could’ve changed them myself.”

  “Yeah, I know. Self-sufficient human, doesn’t need anything from anyone.”

  She climbed between the sheets. “That’s not true and you know it. I went to ask you all for help yesterday, and today Udara had to save my life. Apparently, I need a lot from everyone!”

  Instead of arguing though, Hayes gave her a grin that would be sexy as hell if she thought the rogue had the ability to look sexy. His grin fled though with her next question.

  “My livestock?”

  He paced to the window and peeled back the crimson curtain to peek out. “Vance’s been butchering all day. We found the chest freezer in your cellar. We’ll fit what we can in there and store the rest at the compound. We’ll hold it until you can get a second freezer. Meat should hold you over for a couple of winters, not sure what you’ll do for eggs and milk though.

  “Thanks,” she murmured then looked up and spoke more clearly. “Thank you for everything. You and your pack,” she was shaking her head. “I just don’t know how to thank you, to repay you for all you’ve done today.”

  Her words seemed to anger him and his dark brows speared. “Don’t thank us, Emma, and sure as fuck don’t thank me! If I would have listened to you yesterday, none of this would’ve happened.” He let the curtain fall and walked away from the window. “This is my fault. Your dog, the livestock, your face. All of it is on me. I know that. You know it too.”

  “I don’t blame you for this, Hayes, not for any of it. It could’ve happened to anyone they just picked me because I’m alone, I’m easy…”

  “And you’re beautiful,” he supplied.

  Emma swore she saw a blush steal across his cheeks before he dipped his head. The flush was gone when he looked back up and his eyes had gone all steely, glowing an inhuman color. “But you’re a human.”

  Okay! “And what does that mean?” she asked feeling a little indignant. “Oh yeah. It means I’m the bad guy. Right? I deserve all of this because I’m selfish and inconsiderate. Right? I hate everyone and everything that’s different. That’s what you said isn’t it. It’s what you think?”

  He just canted his head and watched her with glowing eyes.

  “I’ll have you know, asshole, that I spent my late teens different. I was sick and everyone was afraid of me and stayed away. No boys wanted to date me let alone kiss me and the girls acted concerned to my face then talked behind my back. I grew up with zero friends and no siblings. I was alone and different, Hayes. It may not have been your kind of different, but different all the same, and sadly you’re right. Those assholes treated me poorly because of it, but that had nothing to do with the fact that they were human. They were just assholes. Am I human? Yes! Am I an asshole? No! Every time I get the opportunity, I try to do for others. Humans and animals alike. I’m not gonna try to sell you on the fact that I’m a good person because I don’t need to prove anything to you. But you will stop including me in your blanket hatred of selfish humans because I’m not one.” She jammed her finger toward the door. “Now kindly get out of my room!”

  Hayes watched her with those eerie glowing eyes and then finally moved for the door. “Eat all of that snack,” he commanded as he exited as if she’d simply obey.

  Chapter 8

  Hayes listened as Emma harrumphed when he left the room. Little human didn’t like being bossed around, huh? Too bad, because he only knew how to deal with humans one way. Funny though, his wolf was having an odd reaction to her. The first time he’d lain eyes on her he’d felt ill. Honestly, the reaction had been downright painful. Now though, he couldn’t figure out why his wolf had gotten all growly when she’d talked about fighting the vamps and becoming their concubine. His wolf had snapped at him to protect her, to save her, and when she talked about one of his pack biting her to change her into a wolf…well, his damn wolf’s head had whipped so excitedly in his direction that it had nearly staggered him. She just had his head and his wolf all screwed up. Admittedly, yes, he did want to kill the fucking vampire who’d attacked her, but that was because he’d seen how the death of her dog, Ruby, had gutted her. It had nothing to do with any type of attraction or interest. His wolf chuffed at the thought, clearly not in agreement.

  Making his way through the house, he went back out to help Vance wrap the rest of the cow they’d butchered. The chickens and geese had taken a long time because there were so many, plus he’d had to take all the eggs in and find room in Emma’s fridge. The horses, they’d dragged far from the homestead—downwind—and buried them deep in the ground, because there was nothing else to do with them, and they’d stink up the place something fierce if they buried them too close to the cabin. He assumed Emma wasn’t a fan of horsemeat, and she wouldn’t need it. With her chickens, geese, and cow, she had more meat than she could handle.

  “How goes it, Vance?”

  Vance looked up with sticky red hands. “Just about finished,” he replied folding a stack of meat into a piece of white butcher paper. “ We’ll have to take this last batch over to the compound. She’s outta room in the cellar.”

  Hayes nodded and began packing the wrapped cuts of steaks and roasts into a cardboard box Bay had brought over from the compound.

  Vance eyed the tree line. “You think he’ll be back tonight?”

  “Fucking hope so.”

  Vance’s gaze jerked round to Hayes. “Really? You’re not worried?”

  He knew what Vance was asking. He wanted to know if Hayes was afraid and the answer was a definitive no. In fact, he was itching to get his hands on this fucking vamp.

  Unlike the rest of his pack who had no experience with vampires, Hayes had plenty. He’d come to the pack from Louisiana and for some odd reason vampires just loved Louisiana, so he’d had his fair share of run-ins. Wolf shifters tended to stay to the north, the colder weather soothed their beasts. Vampires liked it hot, which meant they liked the south, which kind of worked out perfectly.

  “I’ve fought vampires before. They’re as easy to kill as any other shifter.”

  “Really?” Vance stilled in his work. “So how? How do you kill a vampire? Can they shift? What about bats? Do they only come out at night? What about their teeth? Do they have claws?”

  “Easy,” Hayes snorted a laugh. “Slow down, boy. One question at a time.”

  “Bats!” Vance started nodding. “Let’s start with bats.”

  Hayes didn’t stop filling the box and motioned with his chin for Vance to keep working too. “They can’t summon bats like that movie we watched, and they can’t shift into them either. There are no bats involved so far as I know other than the vamps like to sleep in damp dark places like bats do and they tend to use the bats as an alarm system. Bats fleeing the cave tells the vamp someone’s coming.”

  “Good,” Vance huffed out a relieved breath. “So no shifting at all then?”

  Hayes shrugged. “Their nails can lengthen and their teeth too, obviously. They go into like a blood lust, which gives them bursts of power and speed.”

  “So they’re not powerful and fast normally?”

  “Well, faster and stronger than a human, but no match really for a wolf shifter.” He winked playfully at Vance. “We’re strong as shit all the time.”

  Vance nodded, “Damn straight!”

  “Their only real power over us is their immortality. If you don’t do
it right, the fuckers will get up and keep on coming.”

  “Stake to the heart right?”

  “Pshhhh, I wish.” Hayes closed the box and reached for the tape dispenser by Vance’s elbow. “Heart’s gotta be removed. Completely. That or the head. Either one will do the job.”

  Vance nodded. “What else? What about sunlight? Burns ‘em right?”

  “Wrong.”

  Vance’s eyes rounded in incredulity, “What?”

  “Sunlight won’t do shit. I mean they prefer to sleep during the day, but I assume that it’s been honed into them over the centuries. It’s easier to attack humans at night. If your best hunting is done at night, you’d sleep during the day right?”

  Vance nodded, “Makes sense.” His nose crinkled, “But wolves do great at hunting at night.”

  “Small creatures,” Hayes supplied. “Big game is taken during the day. Plus, we don’t rely on only one food source. We don’t need to hunt as wolves to survive. They don’t have that luxury. It’s human blood or nothing.”

  “Fuck,” Vance breathed. “So the guy attacked Emma to feed and then liked her so much that he’s brining friends back to taste her.”

  “Wrong, again.” Hayes reached out and rapped Vance on the forehead with a knuckle. “You’re not paying attention. What did Emma say the vamp wanted?”

  “Oh…her land!”

  “Which makes zero fucking sense. Like I said vamps don’t like the cold and it’s literally two seconds away from snowing up here. They want something else. Finding out Emma is delicious was just a bonus. The land is a ruse. They’re up to something else and it’s got to involve us. Why else move so close? They’ve got to know we’re just on the other side of the valley.”

  “What do you think it is about her? Emma?” Vance asked. “What makes her so different, so special?”

  Lots of things. “Not sure.”

  Vance waggled his brows, “You think she’d taste good to us?”

  That had Hayes fighting the urge to punch Vance square in the face. Instead he fisted his hands and growled, “Don’t fucking talk about her like that! She’s been through enough!”

  Vance’s smile vanished. “Sorry, Hayes.”

  “Don’t be sorry to me, boy. She’s the one who’s been through hell.”

  To his credit, Vance turned to look toward the house and murmured, “Sorry, Emma.”

  His words took the edge off Hayes’ anger. He hoisted the box up and said, “I’m taking this back to the compound. You good here?”

  Vance eyed the area, “Uhhh…yeah?”

  Brows hiking, Hayes asked, “Well are you or aren’t you?”

  “So head off or heart out,” Vance rubbed his hands together nervously.

  Hayes lowered the box and set it back on the table. “How ‘bout you take the box to the compound and I’ll wait here.”

  Vance shot out of his seat. “On it!” Then he was hauling up the box and hurrying from the homestead, his eyes scanning the forest nervously.

  It had Hayes thinking that he needed to have a sit down with the full pack and go over everything he knew about vampires. He didn’t want them all reacting like Vance or thinking they were lesser creatures because they weren’t. Hayes always had and always would believe that wolf shifters were the most powerful creatures on the face of the earth.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning, Hayes sat on the picnic table he and Vance had used to butcher Emma’s livestock. There had been no action the night before, but he was beat from standing guard. Now that the moon had nestled tight and the first rays of dawn were streaking the sky, he decided he’d go trade places with Vance where he was currently snoring like a demon on Emma’s couch.

  Standing, he stretched and turned to the cabin just in time to watch the door open. He thought it’d be Vance coming out to trade. He should’ve known better.

  Emma stepped out of the house. She was wearing worn jeans and a heavy powder blue coat. Her hiking boots were on her feet and still had dried blood splattered across them. What drew Hayes’ attention though was her face. She was pale and it made her shiner all the more prominent. Her lip and cheek weren’t healed yet either. Udara’s healing could have fixed those things if all her energy hadn’t gone toward keeping Emma alive. He hated seeing her busted up, especially when he knew she was still wounded on the inside from her losses.

  “Hey,” she greeted softly.

  “Hey.”

  She stepped out the house and quietly closed the door with a grin, jerking her head toward the door. “Kid snores loud.”

  “Did he keep you up?”

  “No,” she shook her head. “I slept like the dead.” Her grin vanished and she paled slightly.

  “What are you doing up so early?”

  “Usually feed the animals and milk the cow about now.” She shrugged sadly, “Internal alarm clock and all.”

  Hayes nodded.

  Looking him over, Emma’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t sleep last night, did you?”

  “No.”

  She pointed at the door. “You can take my bed. I think Vance is gonna sleep a bit longer.”

  “And you?”

  She looked toward the barn. “I was gonna go see Ruby, say a proper goodbye.”

  Hayes was shaking his head, “Not alone, you’re not.”

  She shrugged again. “Well, I’m going so…” She stepped off the porch and had to steady herself on the hand rail when her leg nearly buckled. “Shit!” she whispered, but lifted her head ignoring Hayes as she strode past him determinedly.

  He followed close behind. “You’re still not fully healed, Em. What happened to you isn’t like a cold. You were nearly drained...killed. It’s gonna take a minute to get back to where you were.”

  She kept on walking, haughty little chin lifting. “Don’t have a minute.”

  He grinned, liking her fire.

  As they approached the hill, he held back, finding a tree to lean against. Emma approached the fresh mound of earth that he’d covered with large stones. The mound had a white wooden cross poking out of the top of it, which he may have spent the night carving and painting out of guilt for the way he’d spoken about her dog. He’d even found some red paint and had painstakingly painted Ruby across it in his best penmanship.

  Emma dropped to her knees and he could hear her words even from where he stood several yards back.

  “Hey, baby.” She started crying right away. “Oh, Ruby, I’m so sorry.”

  Her shoulders started shaking and Hayes blinked rapidly a few times and lowered his head.

  “I just wanna say thank you for choosing me to be your Mama, and…” sniff. “I wanted to tell you that you were the best part of my life, and if I could go back, it’d be me here and not you.” Emma’s voice grew thin and as she tried to get it all out. “I miss you so much already baby and I wish… I wish I was there with you and dad.”

  Dad? Hayes wondered if she meant her dad or Ruby’s dad. Was it Emma’s father lying next to Ruby, her husband, or Ruby’s father?

  “I’d give anything to be with you both right now, but apparently God has other plans and I can’t ignore that.”

  Hayes looked up and watched her pull a tissue out of her coat pocket and rub at her nose. “Soon though, baby.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to one of the rocks. “I love you.” Before she got up she turned to the other cross. “Dean, take care of our baby.” Her voice hitched and when she spoke again it was brittle and barely there. “I’m losing hope here. Please ask God to send me help. I need…something. I’m losing the fight. So…”

  Then she was swiping her eyes and trying to control her steady her breathing. The scent of her grief was overwhelming and had Hayes’ wolf whining for him to do something. He shoved off the tree as Emma tried to get to her feet, but crumpled back to the ground.

  “Damn it!” she bit out clearly annoyed, but Hayes was already to her.

  ***

  Emma frowned at Hayes who grabbed her arm a
nd helped her to her feet before scooping and lifting her off the ground. Wordlessly, he turned and paced away from the hill and back toward the cabin. She noticed that he was all frowny again. Angry man!

  “I told you that you’re not one hundred percent yet, and emotional exhaustion drains you just as fast as physical exhaustion.”

  “Well, so-rry.” But she wasn’t and she wasn’t looking at him anymore either. Pulling a move from his playbook, she crossed her arms over her chest and let him carry her back to the cabin. She hoped she was heavy as thirteen cows! Truth was though, she was pretty underweight from all the physical exertion of keeping up the homestead by herself.

  Back at the cabin, Hayes carried her inside and took her to the picnic style dining table, setting her on one of the wooden benches before ordering, “Take off your coat. I’ll start breakfast.”

  “You haven’t slept. You sit, I’ll cook.” She was getting up off the bench when Hayes slammed his hands on the table, causing her head to jerk up. On the couch, Vance startled awake with a, “Wh-what?”

  Hayes leaned in going nose to nose with Emma and growled, “Woman, I am making you breakfast, and I don’t make anyone breakfast. So, sit your ass back down and let me do this!”

  Emma’s look grew mutinous and she considered arguing, but truth was, her arms and legs felt like mush. “Fine,” she snapped, closing her eyes and lifting her chin. “Coffee first…please!”

  When she opened her eyes to peek at him, she swore Hayes was grinning as if he’d just won some great battle. He grabbed a mug out of the cupboard though and filled her a cup of coffee from her twelve cup automated machine, which she’d had set on a timer from the morning before.