Snake Charmer (Shifter Squad Book 6)

by J. C. Diem

“Head back to the others,” his alpha ordered. “I want to have a private chat with the girl.” He waited for Rick to be gone before he approached me.

  Zeus had calmed down after seeing Rick go flying through the air, but he began to growl again. Shh, it’s okay, I told him. If he does anything I don’t like, I’ll shoot him. Mollified, he quietened down again. “You’re not going to make a move on me, too, are you?” I asked Aiden warily. “I’m not really in the mood to fend off someone else.”

  He chuckled and looped his thumbs through his belt. “After seeing that little display of power, I wouldn’t dare,” he replied. “Besides, it wouldn’t do me any good. It looks like you’re already mated to someone else.”

  “I am,” I admitted and blew out a sigh.

  He studied me for a while then shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

  “Like what?”

  “Your mate spoke through you, didn’t he?”

  “Yep. So?”

  “I’ve only heard rumors of that kind of thing.” He sorted through his memories then blinked at me in amazement. “You didn’t just mate with him, did you? You bonded with him.”

  “Is there a difference?” I asked in confusion.

  The look he gave me was almost pitying. “You don’t know much about our kind.” He said that almost to himself. “If you’d grown up in a pack, you’d know that all werewolves can mate with others of our kind, but only in rare instances do they actually become truly bonded. Only alphas have the ability.”

  I gestured for him to continue. “Mated wolves can sense each other,” he went on, “but a bonded pair goes far beyond that. They can speak mind to mind from any distance. They can take control of their mate if they sense that they’re in peril. It’s said that they can sometimes even taste what their mate does when they eat or drink.”

  “Reece and I can do all that,” I admitted.

  “You don’t seem to be very pleased about it,” he observed. “Where is your mate? Why isn’t he at your side where he belongs?”

  “He left me,” I said flatly. “He chose a pure blood wolf and he’s going to bond himself to her soon.”

  Aiden frowned and shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. You can only ever be bonded to one wolf. It can’t be transferred to another.”

  “His mother seems to think it can,” I said bitterly.

  Aiden’s expression turned pitying again. “She has no idea what she’s talking about. My grandmother had a word for a bonded pair. She said they were soulmates. Once bound, they could never mate with another. Their bodies reject the advance of anyone else, just like yours did with Patrick. It would have with Rick as well if your mate hadn’t intervened.”

  “We’re not soulmates,” I told him. “We bonded by accident and Reece wanted out as soon as he realized what had happened.”

  “It isn’t possible to become bonded by accident,” he denied.

  “It is when an insane psychic takes control of you and forces you to have sex with the person you desire the most.” My response came out even more resentful than I’d intended.

  Aiden smiled slightly. “It sounds like you’ve had a very interesting time since becoming a shifter.”

  “You could say that,” I said tiredly.

  “No matter the circumstance of how you and your mate became bonded, it will be nearly impossible to destroy your link. It would take willpower beyond my imagining in order to sever it.”

  “I guess I’ll find out whether it’s possible or not soon enough.” I didn’t try to hide how glum that thought made me feel.

  Aiden’s expression was sympathetic. He stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder. “I know what it feels like to lose the people you love. You might not believe it, but no matter what happens between you and your mate, you’re strong enough to survive it.”

  With a gentle squeeze of my shoulder, he turned and walked away.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  With that drama over, my stomach rumbled, reminding me of my plan to eat dinner. I climbed into the SUV and Zeus scrambled into the front passenger seat. He knew I was fine, but he wanted to be close to me after seeing me in danger. I reached over to pat him and took comfort from his presence.

  “Seriously, what is it with men?” I asked him. “Why are you all so possessive?” His answer was to lick my hand, which didn’t really help me much.

  Sighing, I drove off and searched for a fast food drive-thru. I ordered a burger, fries and a milkshake then headed to a nearby park to eat. There was only one light in the middle of the park, leaving the edges shrouded in shadow. Texas might be warmer than Colorado, but the nights could be brutally cold. My breath fogged, but I felt comfortable enough. I ate my meal before the warmth faded from it.

  Balling up my rubbish, I tossed it into the trash then the hairs on the back of my neck rose. Zeus’ hackles rose as well and he growled when he sensed something approaching. Apparently, Aiden and his pack weren’t the only supernatural creatures in town.

  It wasn’t werewolves paying me a visit this time. It was the undead.

  Four vampires appeared as if by magic to stand at the edge of the light. Three were male and one was female. I knew they could move far faster than I could. I didn’t stand a chance against so many of them. If I’d been in my werewolf form, I’d have had a far better chance of survival.

  Zeus sensed their malevolence and cowered against me. This was the second time he’d encountered vampires and he knew there was something terribly wrong with them. It was hard to explain to him that they felt wrong because their souls were missing.

  “Another werewolf,” one of the men said nervously. “This town must be full of them.”

  “We should leave before the rest of her pack realizes we’re here,” another of the men said, mistaking me for one of Aiden’s wolves. I had Aiden and Rick’s scents on me. Maybe Rick’s high-handed play for me would actually save my life.

  “Can’t we at least feed from her first?” the third guy said, dashing my hopes. “I’ve never had a werewolf before. I hear their blood packs a punch.” Unlike the trendy, good looking and well-dressed vampires that were often seen in movies, these ones were filthy and unkempt. The men seemed to be in their late twenties, but it was hard to tell beneath the layers of dirt.

  All three men looked to the female, who had remained silent so far. Unlike them, she appeared to be close to my age. I sensed she’d been undead for far longer than she’d actually been alive. Tall and almost painfully thin, her hair was long, brown and bedraggled. Her dress was torn and stained. She was plain and didn’t look anything like my mother, yet she reminded me of her anyway. They shared the same insane look in their eyes.

  Cocking her head to the side, she examined me closely. “Her blood will be far stronger than a mere human’s,” she mused. “It’s been years since I last fed from a wolf.” It didn’t take her long to reach a decision. “Hold her,” she ordered.

  Before I could even think of making a run for it, two of the male vamps grabbed me by the arms as the female glided closer. Her fangs descended as she leaned towards my neck. One of the men wrapped his hand in my hair and angled my head aside to give her better access. The third man watched on over her shoulder, grinning in anticipation.

  Zeus snarled and braced himself to attack her. No, I shouted and he faltered at my mental order. Find Kala. I sent a pulse of power at him along with the order. He couldn’t resist my command and raced off into the night. He’d never find her in time to save me, but at least he wouldn’t join me in death.

  The vamp’s cold lips brushed my throat. Just as she was about to bite down, she paused and drew back. “Why aren’t you afraid? Are you unaware that my bite will kill you?” Her tone was puzzled and her frown deepened when she noticed something else. “There is something strange about you.” She leaned in and took a deep breath, sucking in my scent. “You reek of werewolves, but beneath that you smell like one of us. How can this
be?”

  “I’m not a normal shifter. Vampire bites don’t kill me.” I wasn’t about to explain the complicated history that I had with my mother. It was already surreal that I was speaking to a creature that was my mortal enemy. While I didn’t fear her bite, I wasn’t ready to die. Any delay in the inevitable was welcome.

  “You’ve already been bitten?” Without waiting for my answer, she pulled my shirt and jacket away to expose the bite mark on my left shoulder. “Werewolf,” she said with a grimace then switched her attention to the mark on my right shoulder. “So, it is true.” One of the men shifted restlessly and she speared him with a glance. He cringed and went still. Clearly, she was their master. Size and physical strength meant little to the undead. Strength of will was required to seize control and to become a ruler.

  Looking into my eyes, she smiled and it was far from pleasant. “I could kill you, but I really don’t think there’s any need. I can sense that you’re becoming one of us.”

  “That isn’t possible,” one of her henchmen exclaimed in shock. “Werewolves can’t turn into vampires!”

  “This one apparently can,” she replied. “Let her go. Her fate is already sealed and there is no need for us to interfere with her destiny. Another master has already claimed her. Soon, she will be forced to serve the one who marked her.”

  Her minions were reluctant to let me go without feeding from me, but they followed her orders and released me. With a last lingering glance, they disappeared so quickly that I didn’t even see them move.

  Once they were gone, shudders wracked me and I wrapped my arms around myself for comfort. I wasn’t sure if I was more disturbed by my close encounter with death or that they’d let me go.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I felt Kala and Zeus coming long before they sprinted into the park. Kala reached me first. Wild eyed and holding her gun ready to shoot, she skidded to a stop. Her nostrils flared and she spun in a quick circle. “Vampires?” she asked and I nodded. “Where are they?”

  “They’re gone,” I said with a shaky sigh as Zeus reached me. Panting from his run, he leaned against my legs, trembling in fright. Unclenching my hands, I leaned down to pat his head.

  Still holding her gun ready, Kala was understandably confused. “Tell me exactly what happened.” She frowned when I inadvertently smiled. “What?”

  “You sound just like Mark.”

  “He’s not here, so I’m stepping up to take his place,” she said. “Spill it.” Her tone was far more authoritative than usual. I’d never seen her so serious, which drove home just how bizarre my short meeting with the undead had been. I told her what had happened, glossing over my encounter with Aiden and Rick. It wasn’t important enough to go into full detail. “There were only four of them?” she asked.

  “I didn’t smell any other vamps on them.”

  Debating about our choices, she reached a decision. “Hopefully, they won’t go far tonight and we might be able to catch up to them.”

  “We’re going after them?” Our odds were definitely better with two of us, but we were still outnumbered. Even one vampire would be far more deadly than we were in our human forms. Taking on four of them would be suicide.

  “We can’t let a vampire nest get away,” she reasoned. “Not even a small one like this.”

  I knew that look in her eye. She didn’t just want to hunt them down, she needed to go after them. Reece was gone and Flynn’s mind had been hijacked. The tension was getting to her and Mark wasn’t here to talk sense into us. To be honest, I didn’t want to let them get away either. It wasn’t just because they were evil. Too many people had already learned about my secret. I didn’t want the knowledge that I was turning into a vampire to spread any further.

  “How far could they have gotten by now?” I asked.

  “They can move pretty damn fast when they want to. They could be fifty miles away already. They’ll need to feed soon if they want to maintain that kind of speed. We should get moving before their trail begins to fade.”

  I doubted their trail would disappear that quickly, but I was just as eager as she was to track them down. We took off at a fast jog and followed their scents to the edge of town. Kala took a deep breath and eyed the road that led westward. “Head back to the park and get the SUV,” she told me. “I’m going to keep following them on foot to make sure they haven’t changed direction.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” I barked and saluted her briskly.

  “Smart ass,” she smirked. “Zeus, stay with me.” He looked at me for confirmation then took off after her when she began to run. In the off chance that she lost their scent, he’d be able to follow it. It was amazing how quickly we’d all come to rely on his help. He and Kala’s alter ego weren’t even the same species yet they still worked well together.

  Knowing I’d be able to find them again by following my link to Zeus, I backtracked to the park as ordered. I might be an alpha, but Kala was still the senior agent and she was far more experienced than me.

  Keeping to the speed limit, I drove after my two teammates and caught up to them a few miles down the highway. I stopped to pick them up and Kala wound her window down so she could continue to follow their scent. “They’re still heading west,” she told me and I put my foot down.

  Kala’s cell phone rang a few minutes later and we knew who it had to be. Mark had some kind of built in radar that told him when his agents were in trouble. “Hey, boss,” she said when she answered it.

  “Is everything alright?” he asked.

  “Well, the curse of Lexi struck again, but we’re both fine.”

  “Tell me what happened.” His tone was serious and devoid of amusement. She told him what had transpired and that we were now chasing after the vampires. “I can see you’ve already made up your minds to hunt them down,” he said with a heavy sigh. “It would be useless for me to try to dissuade you. You both know better than to attack them while it’s still dark.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

  “Yes, Dad,” she said and rolled her eyes. “We’ll wait until the sun comes up and they’ll be nice and helpless before we kill them.”

  “Good. Call me as soon as you’re done. I want you both to get back to the base as soon as possible so you can keep your eye on Flynn.”

  “How is he?” she asked. He had access to the cameras inside our base through his tablet.

  “He’s gone back to being catatonic now that the hydra head is gone. He’s just standing there staring at nothing.”

  “He’ll snap out of it.” She sounded far more confident than she looked. They hung up and I concentrated on driving.

  As she’d informed me, vampires could indeed travel a long distance when they were in a hurry. We passed two abandoned cars on the side of the road with the occupants missing. The bodies would turn up eventually, but it was doubtful the corpses would be in any shape to tell the authorities how they’d died by then.

  Feeding had slowed them down enough for us to finally close the distance. If they’d known we were in pursuit, they’d have made more of an effort to elude us. I sensed them only a few miles ahead and slowed down. “We’re getting close,” I said when Kala looked at me.

  “Keep your distance,” she advised. “They’ll have to find somewhere to stop soon.”

  Dawn wasn’t that far away and the vampires would have to find shelter. “They’ve veered off the highway,” I said a few minutes later when I felt them angling to the left.

  “Your ability to sense them is pretty handy,” she said, but her tone was disturbed.

  I heaved a small sigh. “We have to pay Katrina a visit soon. I don’t want to end up like her.”

  “We won’t let that happen,” she said firmly.

  I was quiet for a moment then asked a question that had been on my mind. “Could you pull the trigger on me if I turned into a vampire?”

  She turned to stare at me and I read the answer in her golden eyes. It would kill her to g
un me down, but she’d do it if she had to. “It won’t come to that,” she said firmly.

  Strangely, I felt better knowing that she’d kill me before she’d let me turn into an even worse monster than I already was.

  “They’ve stopped,” I told her and pulled over. If we went any closer to their lair by car, they’d hear us.

  “We’ll wait until the sun comes up before we go any closer,” Kala decided. It wasn’t very sporting to wait for the vamps to die for the day before we moved in, but Mark was right. It would be far too dangerous to face them when they were still awake.

  We settled down to wait and she quickly became restless. “I feel like I’m in one of Thomas’ stories,” she said a few minutes later. “Wouldn’t it be awesome to have been part of his team four hundred years ago?”

  “I thought you hated to read through the archives.”

  “I do,” she said and made a face. “Mark used to read the journal entries to us when we were small.”

  That made me smile. I could easily picture Mark reciting PIA missions as bedtime stories. “It would have been awesome to work with Thomas, but he would have killed us if he’d known what we were. All shifters were evil to him.” It was his only flaw. He’d been the perfect man otherwise.

  “If I could meet a guy like that,” she said and trailed off with a wistful sigh.

  “You’d never be happy with a human long-term,” I pointed out.

  Her tone was dry. “I’m not happy with anyone long-term. There always seems to be something lacking.”

  I knew what it was, but it would sound naïve if I voiced it out loud. Unlike me, she’d never been in love. Once you loved someone, no one else could ever compare to them.

  That thought made my depression return in full force again. Zeus shifted from the seat to the floor and poked his head through so he could stare up at me worshipfully. I gave him a pat then looked at Kala when she snorted out a laugh.

  “What?” I asked.