by Katie Reus
Though it felt like forever, she knew maybe sixty seconds had passed. When she pulled back she felt rejuvenated and a thousand times more powerful. The strength from his blood was pure energy. Quickly, she licked the wound to start the healing process, though it was already almost closed. Unlike a human, Finn healed with impressive speed. As she looked at him, she sucked in a deep breath.
His eyes had gone pure wolf as he watched her. She could see his beast right on the surface, his need and hunger a living thing. His gaze zeroed in on her mouth. Instinctively she licked her lips and tasted a little blood she’d missed.
“Meet you outside in a minute,” he said, his voice raspy and growly, more animal than man.
Not trusting her own voice, she nodded and before she’d blinked he was gone, leaving the door open in his wake. Shoving away all thoughts of the two of them naked together, she hurried from the pantry. Now that she had her strength back, everything around her came into focus with a clarity she hadn’t realized she’d been missing the past couple days.
She hadn’t exactly forgotten how potent his blood was, but the energy humming through her made her feel as if she could take on a hundred Akkadian demons by herself.
As Lyra strode across the tiled floor, the swinging door opened and three she-wolves walked in. They all regarded her with surprise. Immediately the tallest of them, a blonde, lean, beautiful wolf narrowed her gaze. She crossed her arms over her chest and remained standing in front of the door. The other two; a redhead and a brunette who could compete for Miss Universe and win, both stepped to the side as if they didn’t want to get in the middle of anything.
She didn’t have time for bullshit. Keeping her eyes pinned to the she-wolf—because averting her gaze would be a clear sign of submission to a female like this—she sidestepped the female.
The wolf moved lightning fast, remaining in front of her. “I don’t care if you’re fucking Finn, we’ll never accept a vampire for an Alpha female.”
Yeah, Lyra already knew that. She also knew that no amount of talking would get it through this female’s head that she wasn’t planning to make a move as head Alpha female. Once Finn knew the truth, the tiny dream of leading by his side that she’d buried impossibly deep, would completely disappear. It would never happen.
“Move,” she ordered.
“No.”
Moving with a vampiric speed borne of her blood line and the shot of power she’d just received from Finn, she punched right through the woman’s chest and grabbed her heart. The room went deathly silent and the blonde stared at her with wide eyes, her mouth open and gasping from the raw pain that had finally caught up to her nerve endings.
This wouldn’t kill her, but it would hurt like nothing else. “If you want to challenge me later, go for it. Right now I don’t have time for this crap.” She leaned in closer to the female, who was making gurgling, gasping sounds as she tried to remain still. Because if she pulled back, she’d lose her heart. “Next time I’ll rip your heart out and make you fucking eat it,” Lyra whispered before releasing her grip and pulling her hand from the woman’s body. She wasn’t actually as bloodthirsty as she sounded, but her most primitive side knew that if she was anything less than coldly dominant to this female, it would be like offering her head on a platter.
The she-wolf fell to the floor, moaning and crying as her body mended itself back together. Blood pooled on the floor from the healing wound so Lyra sidestepped it and grabbed a dry rag from one of the counters. Quickly wiping her hand, she stepped toward the door once again, keeping the other two females in her peripheral.
“She doesn’t speak for all of us. If you’re strong and fair and make Finn happy, I don’t give a shit if you’re a Martian,” the redhead said, no fear in her gaze.
Well that was interesting. Lyra just nodded at her and the brunette before striding from the kitchen. It was time to find her daughter.
* * *
When her phone buzzed, she fished it out of her pocket. Fear was growing inside her like out of control kudzu. That vampire bitch was impossibly fast and strong. What she’d done in the kitchen—that took incredible skill.
With shaking hands she answered the phone. “Yeah?” Glancing around, she hurried out one of the side doors. The pack was busy burning the demon bodies and cleaning up the property. No one would notice her.
“She’s escaped.”
Her entire body went frigid. “What?” He couldn’t mean what she thought.
“I don’t know how, but she’s gone. Her chains are broken. She must have ripped them free.”
Mind working overtime, she raced back into the house, hurrying toward her room on the first floor. “Did you give her the…medicine?” When they’d switched shifts it had been time to pump the girl full of drugs again. He’d promised he’d take care of it.
A short pause. “Yes.”
Her claws unsheathed as she opened her bedroom door. She’d known him long enough that she could tell when he was lying. Looked like she’d be killing this idiot after all. Instead of showing her anger and tipping her hand, she said, “Okay. We’ll find her. I’ll be there soon.”
Once they disconnected, she grabbed her escape bag. If the girl had gotten free, she needed to leave now. She wouldn’t be wasting time searching for the girl. No, she was going to kill her partner, burn down the house they’d been in, then split town with the money she’d made. It wasn’t as much as she could have made, but with the girl gone, the vampire who’d hired her would be raging pissed.
Not to mention it was only a matter of time before Finn found out what she’d done. It didn’t matter that she and her partner had worn masks, that little bitch might eventually recognize her through scent. She’d been careful to change up her smell, but nothing was foolproof. She had to leave while she had the chance. Even though Finn had put them all on lockdown, she’d be gone with no one the wiser.
With everyone so distracted with the recent activity, getting out unseen should be a piece of cake. And it was her only option.
Chapter Nine
In the back seat of the SUV next to Spiro, Lyra looked over at his small laptop screen. He was marking off the homes the other warriors and their group had already visited. They’d been working hard the past hour; parking, splitting up then searching homes with incredible speed. Now they were moving on to another area.
After the attack on Finn’s property, he was even more determined to find Vega. Lyra wasn’t sure why the demons had targeted his pack, but it hadn’t been a random choice. That much was clear.
“Did you see that?” Finn murmured from the front passenger seat.
“Yeah.” Gabriel slowed the vehicle.
Both she and Spiro looked up. Scanning the quiet neighborhood, she didn’t see anything except cars parked in driveways and a few streetlights. “What?”
“Four vampires,” Finn said. “Headed down that street. Moving with purpose. Gabriel, text the other team,” he ordered. Before any of them could respond, Finn opened his door and jumped from the moving vehicle. They were only going fifteen miles per hour, but his action still surprised her. Seconds later Finn jumped a nearby fence into someone’s backyard, disappearing from sight.
“What are we doing?” she asked Gabriel. She knew Finn was more than capable of taking care of himself, but she didn’t like him going off alone without backup.
“I’m going to park and we’re following after him.”
Immediately Gabriel parked next to a giant oak tree. After he sent off a brief text, presumably to the other group of warriors out searching for Vega, the three of them moved silently from the vehicle. Lyra didn’t need instructions from anyone to know what they were doing. Backing up Finn and figuring out why four vamps were in this neighborhood. It was in the zone Spiro had mapped out so for all she knew they were involved with Vega’s kidnapping.
Lyra used her gift of flight and took to the air. With Finn’s blood flowing through her, she barely felt the effect on her energy. It was
harder to track Finn’s scent this way, but it was so faint anyway, she wondered if he was masking it. A gift some Alphas possessed.
When she flew over a house with an Olympic sized pool she spotted Finn facing off with four vampires. No one had weapons drawn so that was one positive point, but a familiar protectiveness rushed up inside her. She unsheathed her blade. Whisper quiet, she descended until her boots hit the grassy ground next to Finn. He didn’t even flinch so she guessed he’d been aware of her presence.
The others moved back a fraction, but almost instantly the tallest of the four held up a hand to the others, staying them.
She nodded once at the male, recognizing him immediately. Justus, one of her brother’s most valuable warriors.
His brown eyes widened incredulously and the tart scent that spiked off him was true surprise. “Lyra?”
The male was more like a mercenary and almost as old as Claudius. Not a blood-born, but he was over nine hundred years old. It was hard to feign the kind of surprise she sensed from him, but she wasn’t stupid enough to underestimate him. “Justus.”
“You know him?” Finn’s voice was deceptively quiet, as if he wasn’t concerned. But she knew him better than that. The quieter he got, the more focused and deadly he was.
“He’s part of Claudius’s coven.” She didn’t take her gaze off the four vamps. Behind her she heard a slight rustle of movement and tensed until she scented Finn’s packmates. The backup shifters Gabriel had texted had arrived.
“Darren, Bruno, this is Lyra Marius.” At that, all four of the vamps knelt briefly in a show of respect for her royal status. Though Justus hadn’t introduced the third vamp, she recognized him as Christian. He was about five hundred years old if she remembered correctly.
She was confused by their action. “Why are you all bowing? And why are you here?”
As they rose, he motioned for the others to move back, a clear sign of respect to Finn. Something she appreciated. Right now the situation could turn incendiary in a millisecond.
“You’re with the Alpha?” Justus asked, ignoring her questions.
“Yes. Now answer my question.”
He shot Christian a quick glance, then looked between her and Finn. “I believe we might have been given misinformation. We were told you were dead and your child had been kidnapped. Claudius rescued her, but—”
“Claudius has my daughter?” she shouted, then remembered the humans in so many nearby homes. Panic hummed through her, raw and wild as she tried to contain her rage from breaking free. She needed answers.
“Yes.” He flicked a glance at Finn, his jaw tight. “We were told two wolves had killed you, taken her and the Alpha of this region refused to punish them. Claudius rescued her, but only one wolf was there when he did. He wanted us to wait for the other one and eliminate both of them at the same time.”
None of that mattered to her right now. “Where’s my daughter?”
He started to answer when two of the vampires made a break for it. Before she could move, Finn and Gabriel sprung into action, their speed a little terrifying. Her hair blew back as they flew past her, pinning the two vamps to the ground. Finn gripped one of the vamps’ throats, his claws slicing deep through the male’s skin. Gabriel did the same to the other. The two vamps gasped and struggled, but without the ability to speak, the sounds were muted.
Justus didn’t attempt to stop them, just looked at her with concern. “Something tells me you didn’t leave our coven voluntarily years ago.”
Now it was her turn to be stunned. “Is that what Claudius told everyone?”
He and Christian both nodded.
“I did not leave voluntarily. I was kicked out half an hour before sunrise.” Her voice vibrated with anger. She had a ton of questions but only one mattered. “Now where is my daughter?” Humans nearby or not, she was about to lose control.
“Claudius said he was taking her back to our coven, but I don’t think that’s true now.” He shot a glance at the two vampires who’d tried to run for unknown reasons. When he looked back at her his eyes had gone pure amber, the anger emanating off him a reminder of the type of power he possessed. Justus was not the forgiving type. He respected power, but wouldn’t tolerate a coven leader who lied.
A flood light flicked on next door and a dog barked as it raced into the nearby yard. A high wooden fence separated the houses, but they needed to find privacy. Fast.
“Where were you headed?” she asked quietly.
“I think I know,” Spiro said just as low, walking up beside her.
She glanced over her shoulder to find only one other shifter. She frowned. Where were the others? She knew she’d scented them all before.
“Everyone head to the house now. I’m going to get some fucking answers,” Finn growled, ripping the vamp off the ground.
She wasn’t sure what house he was referring to but it was clear the others did because they all moved into action. She didn’t care where it was; if it led her to her daughter, she’d go anywhere.
* * *
Finn didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but he wanted answers. Being exposed with so many unsuspecting humans nearby was one of the only things keeping him restrained.
He let Lyra enter the two-story home ahead of him. Gabriel had informed him that his warriors were already waiting inside. There’d been more his Guardian had wanted to say, but hadn’t. Finn had a feeling he was about to find out why.
As he and Gabriel dragged the two whimpering vamps into a living room he found Blaine and Dawn, two of his packmates cowering on one of the couches while three of his warriors guarded them.
“I remember you from the kitchen,” Lyra growled at Dawn. “You were with the redhead and blonde. If you’re involved with my daughter’s kidnapping, what I did to blondie will be nothing compared to how you’ll suffer.”
Finn knew there was more behind that statement, but didn’t ask. He scented roses. Lurking under everything else in the room, it was there. Stronger this time. Lyra scented it too. He could see the hope and fear flare in her eyes almost simultaneously. He didn’t blame her after what Justus had said about her brother.
“You two,” he said to Dawn and Blaine. “What the hell are you doing here? Are you involved with her daughter’s kidnapping?”
Dawn started crying. The pretty brunette wrapped her arms around herself, shaking. “Blaine made me do it. He said no one would find out and no one would get hurt. It would just be easy money.” Her voice shook as she averted her gaze from him, looking at her lap.
“Liar!” Blaine shouted, fear and a healthy dose of truth rolling off him.
Finn thrust the vamp he was holding at Justus. He might not know why the guy had tried to run, but innocent people didn’t flee like that. First, he had another problem to take care of. Then maybe all this shit would get ironed out.
The vampire took over without question, wrapping his fingers around the whimpering vamp’s neck. Finn stalked toward the couch, shoving the coffee table out of the way before he bent down in front of them. “Dawn,” he growled low in his throat, letting his wolf show in his eyes.
She blinked at him, sniffling. As if she thought he’d believe her act.
“I know what kind of wolf you are. You would never let a male talk you into anything.” No, she preferred to be with betas she could dominate. “Tell me the truth and I’ll make your death easy. Lie and I’ll give you to Vega’s mother…or these vamps.”
His words elicited the fear he’d hoped. Vampires could torture for decades.
She swallowed hard, but when she spoke, her voice didn’t shake and all trace of tears dried up. “I have a friend that sometimes throws me odd jobs. He contacted me because a powerful vamp wanted a quick grab and bag job. It was supposed to be simple.”
“Then you got greedy,” Blaine spat.
Dawn lunged at Blaine, but one of Finn’s warriors immediately pushed her back against the couch with ease.
Finn waited, keeping his wolf in
check until he had answers. The safety of Lyra’s daughter depended on it. “Continue.” A deadly order.
“I knew he needed her alive. He wouldn’t tell us why he wanted her, but it had to be for something really important because he was willing to pay us a ton of money. So…” She glared at Blaine before looking back at Finn. Immediately she dropped her gaze. “I demanded more. I knew he needed her by the eclipse in a few days.”
“Do you know why?”
She shook her head and he didn’t scent any lies rolling off her. But she was hard to read. One of the few wolves under his purview who was that way. He’d thought it was one of her natural abilities, but now he guessed she was just a sociopath. She’d only been with the pack less than a year and the reason he’d let her join was because so many of his warriors had requested it. All because of a pretty face. Stupid mistake he wouldn’t be making again.
“Do you know where she is now?”
“She escaped,” Blaine said when Dawn didn’t answer.
“Is that true?”
“I wasn’t here when it happened.” Her voice had a bite to it.
He leaned closer. “Where is she?”
Her gaze strayed behind him, probably to the waiting vampires. “I don’t know, but I don’t think she escaped.” She shot Blaine a disgusted look and rolled her eyes before turning back to Finn. “There’s no way she pried those silver chains free by herself.”
So maybe Lyra’s brother did have Vega. Shit. “Why did you try to kill me?” Finn asked.
She blinked, true confusion spiking off her. “What?”
“The car bomb,” Gabriel growled, his first words since they’d arrived. He’d never liked Dawn and now Finn realized he should have listened to his own instinct and that of his Guardian’s about allowing her to join their pack.
She shook her head adamantly. “We didn’t try to kill you. I just wanted to make money and we have no reason to want you dead.”