by Gray Holborn
I threaded my arm through his, locking our elbows together. I gave myself a quick pep talk about using my charm to save Ralph as we walked away from the rest of the group. Hopefully if there was a wolf around, we’d find it between all of us.
We both walked in an awkward silence for a few minutes, studying the various people throughout the town. They all looked so happy, so blissfully unaware of all the monsters living in the shadows.
“Are most of the people who live here humans?” I asked, kicking a rock along the street as we walked. Everyone out tonight seemed so carefree and happy, I couldn’t imagine them throwing themselves into battle on the daily.
Jer nodded, the red in his hair catching in the streetlamps. “Yeah, for the most part. There are quite a few retired protectors who live in this part of town, as well as some who have non-Guild-based jobs. But for the most part, it’s just a quaint little town close to us with quite a bit of Guild money flowing through it.”
Seeing an opportunity, I looked up at him. “Did you grow up around here?”
“Yeah, I’ve been in this area most of my life. My dad was stationed at one of the smaller satellites for a while, but he’s been at the North American Guild now for about ten years.”
My stomach kicked at the mention of his dad and I silently congratulated myself for getting our conversation on track so quickly. “I got the feeling earlier that you and your dad don’t get along too well.”
“Yeah, you could definitely say that.” He blew out a heavy breath and gave my arm a little squeeze. “Protector families can always be a little volatile and competitive. Usually kids get groomed for research careers pretty early. I never really took too well to my chemistry and biology classes, so when it became pretty obvious that wasn’t going to be the path for me, things grew strained between us. My dad considers the field teams to be full of mindless brutes, so I think he was really disappointed when he realized that was the path I wanted to go down.”
I frowned, trying to imagine the tension. Cyrus wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy, but I knew at the end of the day he just wanted me to be happy and safe.
“I’m sorry,” I said, meaning it. “That’s really rough. And a lot of pressure to put on a kid.”
“It is, but we know where we stand now and I really love my team. It’s where I’m supposed to be. Dad’s just extra sore about it the last couple years because my mom died fighting a vampire. I think on some level, he’s worried I’ll suffer the same fate and it’s easier for him to just create distance between us now. You know, the whole ‘don’t set any unrealistic expectations, just to get disappointed down the line’ approach to life.”
I squeezed Jer’s hand while I watched the pain draw shadows across his face. He put on such a tough, flirty, and carefree persona most of the time, it felt like I was really meeting him for the first time since arriving here. How many protectors felt the need to do this—to hide behind bravado and a sly grin?
I took a breath, steadying myself. Guilt was keeping me quieter than I should’ve been. Ralph’s miserable expression the last time I was in the lab fell through my thoughts and I straightened, ready to do what I needed to do. I silently promised myself that if he didn’t hate me tomorrow for using him to get into the lab, I’d go out on a real date with Jer in the future. Eli made it abundantly clear last night that he wasn’t interested. And maybe Jer deserved a shot. Maybe he was a nice guy under all the fake ego and flirty reputation.
“Do you know much about your dad’s work?” I asked, toying with the hem of my top as we passed a drunk couple meandering down the street while they window shopped.
“He tells me a little here and there.” He grinned, looking down at me. “I think he’s still secretly hoping I’ll switch career paths eventually. Like I’ll wake up one day with a penchant for test tubes and experiments or something.”
The mention of experiments made me shiver. “Have you been down there—you know, seen any of the creatures they experiment on?”
A fond expression crossed his face and it was like he’d disappeared for a moment, lost in a distant memory. “I used to sneak down there quite a bit as a kid to study whichever vamp or wolf they were experimenting on. And then, maybe three or four years ago, when my dad really pissed me off, I’d made plans to free one of them that I’d grown attached to.” He shook his head, embarrassed. “It was the year after my mom died and I think I just wanted out of the protector life. Wanted to destroy some part of it. See one of the creatures in action. It was seriously misguided.”
My adrenaline spiked and I hoped that my heartbeat wasn’t pounding as loudly as it sounded to me. “And did you?” I pressed.
He shook his head. “No, I chickened out at the last minute. They brought a protector in who was beaten to a pulp by a vampire, and I just couldn’t let one of them loose after that. It all sort of sunk in then—what happened to my mom—and gave me my purpose back.”
I could understand that. Being up close and personal with a vamp, and then seeing Wade after the attack—my focus on being the best protector I could be was much more solidified now. But I could see how easy it would be to soften towards one, why Jer might be tempted. I hadn’t been afraid of the little girl until she started pulling against her restraints to drain me like a milkshake. The lab and those cells were important, I understood that now.
But Ralph wasn’t a vampire. He was good. I knew he was. And I also knew that he did not belong down there.
“I don’t know,” I said, twirling my hair a little in what I hoped was a sort of seductive way, all the while hating myself intensely for having to manipulate Jer for the information I needed. “It sounds like your dad maybe underestimated you. I think it takes more than a brute to break into a top secret lab all the time. And you have to be pretty smart if you came up with a plan to let one of those beasts free in the first place. I doubt most protectors in The Guild could do that.” I leaned into his side a bit and prayed that I wasn’t laying it on too thick.
Jer’s eyes crinkled a bit as he looked down at me, a genuine smile pulling up the corners of his lips—a smile that made guilt pool deep in my belly. “It wasn’t all that impressive. The individual cells themselves are impenetrable, but if you swipe one of the higher up’s cards, you can get into the main lab where the backdoors to the cells are.”
“That’s it?” I asked, putting as much confusion into my tone as possible. “I would think protectors had more failsafes than that.”
“They do,” he continued, “but not against protectors. Once you’re in the main room, you need a drop of a higher-up protector’s blood to open the individual door. It blocks whatever magic they use to keep the beasts contained.” He shrugged, grin widening. “Since my dad is one of the top guys down there, he has clearance and his blood works. And my protector line comes from him, so…”
“So your blood would have opened it,” I finished, my head rushing with excitement. Would Jer give me his blood if I asked for it? I blanched at the thought. There was no way I could just casually be like hey, babe, can I steal some of that O-neg you’re rocking?
I was lost in thought when I went barrelling into something.
No, someone.
“Thought I gave explicit directions to be home by nightfall?” Declan’s emerald eyes were sparkling down at me and I watched as they moved over to Jer and down to the spot where our hands were linked.
So it was her messy scrawl that left the note?
“You guys aren’t in charge of my curfew,” I said, my cheeks reddening with the thought of the last time she’d snuck up on me and caught me doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. “You ditched me for the day, so Ten let me tag along.”
“Oh, don’t be like that, Max,” Eli said as he hopped out of a bright red car next to us. “They sort of just sprung you on us, we weren’t prepared to have you along today.” He circled the car and paused. “Although it doesn’t exactly look like you’re on official Ten business right now, either,” he added,
his thick eyebrows arched in challenge. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side, away from Jer. “We’ll take her from here, Jer. Get back to whatever mission you’re on.”
“Don’t be such a prick, Eli,” Jer said, the open expression he’d had with me suddenly walling back up into the mask he donned most days. Protectors were an emotionally constipated bunch. “Let her finish the mission tonight and then tomor—” He cut off instantly, his stance stiffening. “Holy shit.”
I followed Jer’s line of sight to the opening in the woods a few feet away from us.
And then I saw it: a large wolf baring its teeth at us.
Familiar yellow eyes glaring right into mine.
Chapter Fourteen
Max
Without a second thought, I reached into the thigh holster I’d fixed to the outside of my jeans and grabbed my silver-coated knife. Before I could take off to attack the wolf, Declan and Eli positioned themselves in front of me. While it was sweet they wanted to protect me, I guess, I was frustrated I was being blocked from the action. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I pushed through the gap between them to get a better look at the wolf. My gaze was met with dark brown fur and familiar yellow eyes. Either all werewolves looked identical, or this was the exact one that had attacked me before.
The exact one I’d seen last night out at the pond.
“You,” I said, trying to elbow Dec and Eli to the side so that I could get after Wolfie. This asshole ruined my one and only date. And then whatever last night with Eli was.
The beast was as large as I remembered and giant, sharp teeth were bared in the shadow of a vicious growl. Its eyes were fixed on Jer, and a heated, visceral tension filled the air. The sound emanating from the wolf was so low that I could feel the environment grow heavy with it.
As if suddenly aware that I was digging my limbs into her, Declan looked down at me. Her sharp eyes were filled with confusion, but also a healthy dose of fear—but the fear seemed directed towards me, not the wolf. In fact, she was presenting her back to the wolf, which didn’t make any sense.
Who turned their back on an enemy? Especially one as vicious as a werewolf.
“You should go,” Declan said, looking from me to Jer. “Eli and I can handle this from here. Jer, take her home.”
Jer rolled his eyes before shoulder-checking Declan out of the way. “Why are the members of your team all such fucking glory hogs?” He lunged towards the wolf, right arm pulled back and ready to strike.
My breath caught in my throat as I watched Jer land on top of the creature, the two of them a pile of limbs and muscles in alternating layers of fur and skin.
“Fuck,” Eli said, running towards them. “What a fucking mess.”
He ripped Jer away from the wolf just as the creature’s jaws would have clamped around his neck. The thick black hilt of Jer’s blade was protruding from the wolf’s left side. It was enough to cause some heavy damage that the creature would need to heal from, but not enough to kill it. Not even close.
Eli and the wolf squared off, studying each other. There was a stillness to their staredown that didn’t make sense and I held my breath waiting for one of them to lunge. In a bizarrely human gesture, the beast nodded ever so slightly a second before Eli pounced. By the time Eli’s knife met the spot where the wolf was standing, it was gone; I watched, shocked, as the wolf went barrelling back into the forest.
I lunged to chase after it, but Declan caught my momentum just in time, wrapping her lean arms around my waist. I fell against her chest with a thud as she held me to her, her heart beating a quick pattern into my spine. She radiated calm, collected energy, but it was clear she was flustered, afraid.
I stopped fighting against her grip until we were locked like that, in an odd hug. As if realizing that she was still holding me to her, Declan’s arm fell. She took a step away from me, my back suddenly struck with the chill air of the night.
“What the hell, Eli,” Jer said. He lifted himself back onto his two feet and I noticed a soft trickle of blood dripping from his mouth. “I would’ve had him. You let him get away.”
Declan shared a look with Eli before glancing over at Jer, her lip curled in frustration, like she was chastising a child. “Shut the hell up, Jer. Eli saved your ass. You’d be wolf meat if he hadn’t grabbed you. And the wolf would be dead if you hadn’t gone charging at it like a bloody asshole.”
Jer’s nostrils flared with a heat I hadn’t seen before. His usual cocky persona was gone, as was the vulnerable Jer I’d spent most of the evening with. “Fuck off, both of you, I’m going after it.”
“You’re going back home,” Declan said, her voice low and filled with a menacing warning.
Atlas was definitely the leader of the group, but Declan held a controlled, immeasurable power. And it was a power that grew more and more clear the longer I observed her.
She was a bit of an outlier on campus and didn’t seem to have many—or any—friends outside of her team. Even so, in my time at The Guild, I’d seen that people didn’t challenge her—didn’t cross her. She was the smallest on Six, that much was clear, but she wasn’t a pushover and I could see Jer wilting under her glare like a pruned flower.
The hair on my arms was standing on end from the energy and I looked back as Izzy, Ro, and the rest of Ten made their way over to us, confusion mirrored on all of their faces.
“We should go after it,” I said, watching as the group caught up to us. “There’s way more of us. The wolf doesn’t stand a chance.”
Eli walked up to me and touched my chin, tilting it to one side and then the other as if convinced I was harmed in some way. Apparently satisfied, he dropped his hand from my face and ran it through his hair in frustration. “Atlas is in the woods, he’ll take care of it. Everyone else should head back.”
“Everything okay?” Izzy asked, her eyebrow arched at the energy brimming around the group. “We heard a commotion and—” she glanced at Jer and walked over to him. “Shit, you’re bleeding. Were you hurt? Bit?”
Jer shook his head, but didn’t offer anything more. He was practically vibrating with frustration and I watched, annoyed, as he stared Eli and Declan down with an I’ll-kill-you-later glare.
Fucking testosterone. Thank the gods that Ro didn’t put me through that shit—proving that men were capable of being reasonable and composed on occasion.
“We shouldn’t leave Atlas out there alone though,” I said, concern clouding my thoughts. One protector against a werewolf wasn’t a desirable ratio.
“He’s not alone,” Declan said, interrupting me before I could get another argument in edgewise. “There’s another team with him. They’ll be more than capable of handling it.” She spun her glare on me, stepping closer and it took everything in me to not wilt like Jer had.
“This is pointless.” Jer’s jaw tightened and he eyed the non-existent space between me and Declan. “I’ll take you home, Max.”
Before he could walk more than two steps towards me, Eli shook his head. “We’ve got her.” There was an edge to the words and I glanced at Izzy with a question in my eyes. What the hell was going on between Jer and Team Six. The confusion on her face made it clear she was just as clueless. I hadn’t seen any of the teams work together really, and the competition between them was startling. I wondered who Atlas was working with now, and why Six didn’t have that sort of relationship with Ten.
“Jer brought me, he can take me home,” I said, though I wasn’t exactly dying to be in a car with Jer and his attitude right now. At least Izzy and Ro would be there too. I hadn’t forgotten the fact that while the guys had ditched me today when I was supposed to be shadowing them, Ten had let me into their circle with open arms. My loyalty was with them.
Plus hanging out with Ten didn’t spike my emotions in a million different directions. Being around Six sometimes felt like hanging out with and befriending a hurricane.
“Don’t be stubborn, Max,” Eli said. Exhaustion colored hi
s features and I almost felt sorry for him. He couldn’t quite meet my eyes when he spoke and shame curdled in my belly. Was he disgusted by our kiss last night? He exhaled and glanced around the street filled with unsuspecting barhoppers like he was surveying it for something.
“Besides,” Declan added, slow and drawn-out-like, as she studied Eli with curiosity, “Wade is awake. They’re taking him back to the cabin now and we should be there when he arrives.”
I wasn’t sure who ‘they’ was, but I didn’t really care.
Awake. Wade was awake. Relief fluttered through my body and I suddenly felt lighter than I had in weeks. I knew he’d wake up, somehow I was sure of it. But now that I was faced with the truth of that belief, I realized how fragile that hope really was. My skin was buzzing with excitement and I almost jumped towards Declan to give her a hug.
Almost. It was going to be a long night.
Turning, I stepped up to Jer and tore a piece of fabric from my top, the thin material ripping like paper. “You’re bleeding.”
I swiped the blood from his mouth in a smooth stroke. My fingers lingered briefly on his bottom lip, drawing a small gasp from him. I could feel Eli’s eyes boring into my back, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit satisfied that he was seeing this, petty as it was.
But I didn’t linger. I wanted to get back to Wade as soon as possible. Excitement was rushing through my blood at the thought of seeing him awake again.
With a quick hug, I moved away from Jer, ready to follow Eli and Declan back to the cabin. The drive and walk back was filled with silence, the only acknowledgement that I was there filtered through occasional heavy glances.
They were doing that thing again, where they communicated with nothing but eyes and perfectly timed sighs, and I was big enough to admit that I wanted in on that conversation something furious. But more than ever, it was clear that I was on the outside of their little family and, more than that, I understood. They’d been together for years, protected each other, cared for each other. I was an intruder, throwing all of their plans and goals for a wickedly unexpected loop. They hadn’t asked that I apprentice with them, that I move in with them and disrupt their living space.