“Enough!” Lawrence roared. The Packmaster's face was etched with grim lines of fury.
He took in the Alpha and his first, seconds passing. The moment swelled awkwardly, a palpable pressure building, on the verge of bursting. He broke it, “Save it for the ritual. That is the time to fight for the Rare One. Right now,” he swung his direct look to Joseph, tense with the fighting instinct, “your sister is with Julia Caldwell?”
Joseph gave a terse nod, thinking of all that could mean. His sister was... willful.
Tony grunted.
They looked at him and he threw his muscular arms up in the air. “She is not the best at being welcoming. She is the most Alpha of all the females.” He had a look on his face like, clearly she is the least mild choice.
“But, she is female. That is what the Singer needs, reassurances. Another female will bring her a measure of comfort,” Lawrence said.
Joseph winced. He wasn't sure if Maggie wouldn't have been a better choice. Too late now. Adriana had roared in there like a flaming inferno, singeing everything in her path. He shook his head.
Lawrence shrugged, looking at the two men. “She will not intimidate. That is what the goal is here.”
“She will still hold us responsible because of the dead Singer,” Tony clarified.
Lawrence palmed his chin, thinking. “She may hold us to blame, if our soldier had not attacked her mate.” He nodded, continuing. “But much time has passed. Perhaps her love for him fades.” He shrugged. “It does not matter. She is here now, she has not been claimed by the vampire.”
Tony and Joseph exhaled sighs of relief. That would have been an unbreakable bond, her relationship with a vampire, negating her abilities to assist them. It had been a near thing. The entire pack knew it.
Lawrence looked from one to the other of them. “She has one month. Even now I smell her readiness. Her becoming...”
They nodded. Her presence was at once exciting and unbearable. He didn't know what it had been like for the blood drinkers but she was a heady thing amongst the pack.
“Yes, Packmaster,” Joseph said and Tony chorused the goodbye simultaneously.
They walked away together, their shoulders touching. Soon, it would be fists in the ring. A fight between them and others bringing the den closer to the reality of a moonless tide.
A lone howl broke the stillness of the woods where the den thrived. Joseph and Tony gave a wary look at each other, looking in the direction of the call. They looked away, neither commenting on the sound.
Its origin.
The call of the feral.
*
William
A handful of days gone and William felt himself again, sparring with some of the other runners. The ones lost in the battle with the Were a void in the ranks that would not be easily replaced. Especially Pierce. He had been a true warrior, responsible for the deaths of two during the siege that ripped Julia from their hands.
He lunged forward, with both hands meeting in a destructive vee toward the vampire runner who grappled with him. He was met with impervious resistance as their arms collided like flesh-encased steel, the smack of the hit resounding in the acoustics of the underground. The brick and mortar of the cavernous accommodations echoed hollowly in the space.
Vampires did not breathe but one breath to a human's four. That was not the case when fighting. Both runner's actions and speed a blur of muted color as they swung at each other underneath the ambient glow of the skylights that acted as a fractured ceiling of light. The humans that walked the surface lived unaware of the predators that fought below.
“Again!” William shouted as the runner tried to beg off another round. William lost his temper, grabbing his comrade around the throat and jerking him against him, his fists like clamps of unbreakable titanium, buried in the folds of the shirt he wore, tearing it as he pulled.
Suddenly, Gabriel was there and William straightened. He turned to the runner, “Go.”
He went.
Gabriel looked at William, chest heaving, his fist clenched like battle ready hammers. “Enough, beating your fellow runners into the ground will not return her to you.” His eyes searched William’s and he began pacing, the shadowed feet of the humans walking above them throwing speckles of darkness over his face as he moved.
Gabriel stared at William, his expression half in shadow. He glanced upward at the skylight where the humans walked all day and sighed. He knew what the loss of Julia meant to the kiss. He could not imagine what the loss meant when love was twisted inside it.
“I understand the loss of Julia... may be more...”
“You do not,” William said on a hiss, his hand planted on his hips, his breathing finally settling into the normal rhythms of his kind. “You cannot. I waited for her. I was patient,” he seethed. “And now this!” William threw up his hand. “She is with the dogs now. Being subjected to...” William’s expression was thunder contained.
Gabriel strode to William until their chests almost touched. “We will reclaim her.”
“When?” William asked, his brows falling like a brick over his eyes.
“Before the moon comes full again.”
They both understood the significance of the moon's cycle.
The dogs would try for her. The ritual coming full circle. There would be no choice for Julia in their world. It was the Alpha that would be her mate. Whatever one killed the other. It was their way.
Uncivilized mongrels.
*
the Feral
The meat appeared again like clockwork, his tortured mind dismissing its grief for the greater need of sustenance. He leaped forward just as the arm retracted through the hole. The only light and air in the place where they kept him.
He growled low in his throat. Talons leapt free of his fingertips and he plunged them into the prey that squirmed on the end of his talons, sharp as finely-honed razors. He cut its throat with his dominant left hand and caught the lifeblood as it sprayed from the death slice. When its life hung from a string, he sliced the body open, neck to crotch, the steaming entrails his next feast.
He fed.
Satisfied, he flung the corpse in the pile in the corner of the metal room he was kept in.
The food settled and began to work its magic on his body, his senses springing to life, his sense of smell the most keen of all.
A dim memory was upon him and he felt compelled to move. He did, dropping to the ground he reversed his wolf into his human form again. His hands bit the ground and he allowed his body to assume a plank-like position. He raised and lowered himself until he lost count and the rivulets of sweat ran off his face and pooled beneath him.
When the female returned to collect his dead meals, their eyes met and she looked away. He was above her. Even he understood that. She was behind a partition that was clear.
His mind knew somewhere from Before that it was called acrylic. At two feet thick, even he could not overcome its strength.
He was very strong now. He smelled the fear on the female through the holes that were drilled like Swiss cheese in the clear wall.
When he lifted his nose to scent her, he smelled another scent, very faint.
It caused the wolf that rippled underneath his human flesh to roar to the surface in a grinding purge that blew his body apart, skin and tendons tearing in a sickeningly painful mesh of wolf and human flesh.
His half form emerged, seven feet tall and covered with a deep wine-colored coat of fur. In the light of day it would have looked like the sun set on his back.
He howled, the scent of the female was one he knew.
He despaired.
He rushed the partition, his talons scraping the acrylic where deep grooves appeared like quartz scars on its surface.
The female backed away, running outside the door and closing the bolt that barred entry.
And escape.
The werewolf howled and bayed until his voice box no longer cooperated.
The female cove
red her ears and ran away, hot tears beating a burning trail down a face that held but one expression.
Shame.
CHAPTER 22
Julia undressed and stepped into the shower, the hot spray hitting her body, the aches lessened but the headache remained.
There was absolutely no peace as Adriana kept talking while she bathed. Thank God for opaque glass.
“You're probably wonderin' why I can't be somewhere else while you're de-scuzzing.”
Actually, Julia totally was.
“Gotta keep an eye on ya. The boys are all frothing at the mouth about you escaping. Like that's even remotely possible. Duh.” Julia could feel Adriana rolling her eyes.
Julia rinsed her hair and body off, eyeing the razor. She'd love to do a full groom. Now wasn't the time though. How could she even give a crap about shaving when a pack of werewolves were sniffing around? Julia guessed that she was getting used to her strange life as normal.
It made her want to cry again.
Just as she thought she might lose it, a skinny arm stuck a towel through the shower curtain.
“For your hair,” Adriana said.
Huh.
Julia wrapped her head in the towel and stepped out.
Naked.
Adriana tossed a second towel in her hand and walked to the vanity, busying herself with getting the necessities out: toothbrush, paste, floss, comb...
Julia patted dry and wrapped herself in a towel that had been washed with the same detergent Aunt Lily used and Julia bit the inside of her lip to keep from crying again, the taste of copper filling her mouth.
She widened her eyes to keep the tears from falling.
Adriana turned with a grin. It dropped like a sack of stones when she saw Julia's expression. “You're not gonna start bawling or something? Like, right now? 'Cuz, I'm not equipped for female sniveling.”
That stopped Julia's tears and made a grin appear despite herself.
“Good, you had me worried.”
Julia said, “You don't seem very...”
“Were-wolfy?” Adriana asked with a sarcastic lilt to her voice.
Julia nodded. “Yeah, that.”
“Well, what didya expect anyway? All shaggy mutts howling at the moon or some shit like that?” Her hand pegged her hip, eyebrows to her hairline, ready to fight.
She was hell on wheels Julia thought helplessly. “I didn't know... I just woke up,” she shrugged. It was impossible to explain.
Adriana smiled. “It's okay, you'll get used to me. It's the boys you'll have to keep an eye on. You're like their bitch in heat.”
So subtle too, Julia thought. Hell.
Adriana saw her expression. “Nah, it's not that bad. Can't you feel her?”
“Feel who?”
“The moon, silly. She's not full. You're safe till then.” Her eyes became warm, the brown fading to a molten chocolate and Julia saw the wolf she was underneath her human flesh.
It was disconcerting as hell.
She knew she shouldn't ask.
Julia did anyway. “Ah... what happens then?”
“Nothing special. My brother and a bunch of other wolves will fight to the death to mate with you.”
Julia's hand flung out and grabbed the vanity to steady her sudden vertigo, the other hand clamped onto the knotted towel at her breast.
“Are ya okay?”
No. She was definitely not okay, she thought, starting a slow stagger that led to her falling.
The wisp of a werewolf caught her and looked down on her with a flicker of compassion. Just as Julia was sucked under into unconsciousness she said, “We're gonna have to toughen you up.”
Julia's eyes fluttered closed and she slept.
Dreamlessly and deep.
*
Were
They looked down at Julia as she slept. New jammie bottoms replaced the others, now dirty.
“How'd she do?” Joseph asked his sister, resisting the urge to tuck her dark blond hair behind her ear like he'd done when she was a whelpling.
She wouldn't appreciate it now. He smiled at his reflection.
Adriana looked up at him and scowled. “Obviously, so great! She fainted when I glossed over the mating ritual.”
“Glossed over?” Tony asked.
She waved her hand around. “I just mentioned, ya know, you guys were gonna fight to the death over her and she'd be with one of ya. No. Big. Deal.” Adriana put her hands on her hips, daring them to contradict her logic.
Tony's mouth opened and closed and Joseph put his a palm on his forehead and scrubbed his face.
“What?” she all-but-shrieked and Julia turned, moaning in her sleep.
“See! She's gonna be fine. Better to have radical honesty, guys. You should try it sometime, works like a charm on the chicks.”
“Yeah, I see that!” Tony said, pissed at Adriana.
Joseph knew it had been a mistake to have his sister be the first one that greeted the Rare One.
Julia opened her eyes and saw two men standing over her bed and scuttled into the corner where the wall met one side of the headboard. She clutched the sheet and hoped for some handy telekinesis. And why the hell hadn't that come when she needed it last night as the tranquilizer darts flew? She winced where she'd bitten the inside of her cheek to keep from crying.
No worry over tears right now. She was pissed instead.
“Who are you?” Julia ground out, her voice hoarse, her body tensed.
Adriana grinned. “See, she's just fine. You jackasses got her off on the wrong foot and now you're gonna have to romance her,” Adriana finished, supremely satisfied with herself.
Julia, Tony and Joseph glared at her from separate corners.
“Fine!” She fumed. “You guys can figure it out on your own. Good luck with that!” Adriana took a look at Julia, shook her head and marched out the door, slamming it off its hinges on the way out.
Joseph cringed when the wood slapped together with a resounding thwack.
“That ah...” he began.
“Nice family,” Julia said.
Tony laughed and Julia looked at him and his smile faded.
She was acutely aware of being in a bedroom with two men she knew to be werewolves in nothing but a cami and jammie bottoms. She pulled the sheet up higher, clutching it underneath her chin.
Joseph watched how she moved into the corner defensively and was distressed about it. There was nothing he could do but explain their position.
“Julia...” he started, then abruptly changed his mind, “let's get some food.”
“Yeah, okay. Just as soon as you gents get out of this room and let me get dressed.” Her eyes searched theirs, the one that hadn't said much giving her pause. He was a big guy even without being a werewolf. Julia was guessing he had a foot and over a hundred pounds on her. There was something in his eyes, the predator never really left them, she decided. She was going to keep him in her sights for sure.
All of them.
They left the room and Julia ran over to the door and slid the bolt to lock it. Like that was going to be any help. She took her hand away, a slight tremor making it quake.
Julia spied some clothes on a lone chair in the corner and pulled the drape as she passed in front of the window, shutting out the forest from sight.
Her head snapped up a few seconds later when a plaintive howl sounded.
It pierced her gut, there was something so sad about it, tears actually flooded her eyes at the mournful call.
What was wrong with her? She shook it off with difficulty.
Julia dressed. Moving toward the door she put the flat of her palm against the wood, calming her wildly beating heart. She pressed her forehead to the wood for a moment, clenching her eyes, her mind touching on William and just as quickly shoving the thought away.
He couldn't help her now.
She slid the bolt back and opened it, walking out of the only sanctuary she knew, into the unknown.
He knew the ro
utine and would bide his time. They assumed that he was crazy. They were right. But he was also determined. He had something worth escaping for. He now knew so much more than he had, the memories of others a part of the fabric of who he was now, centuries of genetic thought processes and experiences crowding his skull.
They kept him here in this holding cell to study him. They fed him, allowed him to kill, forced him to exercise and maintain a standard of hygiene.
Not that he cared.
He had died that night.
Now he waited to be reborn.
The feral watched the lock turn and three of his kind came inside. They used more now. After he had taken the head of one, they now used three.
“Time for your bath, feral,” Tony said without compassion.
That would be the first of them he would kill, he thought with satisfaction. His patience had become its own force to be reckoned with. Soon, they would taste it. He repressed a low growl, some of it escaping like a breeze in the quiet room.
Joseph looked at the feral warily, his eyes flicking to Tony's. “That's not helpful and you know it. He can't help what he is any more than you can. Now let's herd him in there and get it over with. And be careful.” Joseph said, eyeing the wolf in front of them. Big in human form, he was huge as a wolf, and one of the rare reds. It was a shame that he couldn't be part of the pack. But he'd been turned, not born. That branded him other in the pack's eyes. All the benefits of the Were but without the protection of the den at his back. An anomaly.
And feral, his mind nearly gone.
Who could blame him?
Tony snorted a laugh. “He is not Alpha to me!” He rolled his big shoulders into a muscular shrug of irritation that would have been impressive, but next to the huge red wolf, it just wasn't.
The Blood Bundle, Books 1-2: Blood Singers and Blood Song (New Adult Paranormal Vampire/Shifter Romance) Page 16