The Wolf Next Door ( A Paranormal Romance) (The Anthology Novella Series)

by Darlene Kuncytes

  You have to get to Bader. You have to let him know that they’re coming.

  She shook herself as she wondered just who they were.

  Bade’s eyes snapped open as the sound knocking invaded his sleep, and he jumped up on full alert. He dashed through the apartment to see just who in the hell was bothering him at three in the freaking morning. He swore to God if it was Liam again, heads were going to roll!

  He threw open the door with every intention of beating the Hell out of whoever it was, only to find an absolute vision standing there, looking up at him with wide, frightened eyes that sparkled like stars with their unshed tears. Unruly auburn hair framed a perfect face as she stared up at him, her bottom lip quivering ever so slightly, and he felt a strange tug to his heart.

  “Ember,” he husked out, confused as to why she was standing here at his door in the dead of night, dressed only in a thin, oversized t-shirt with a giant bumblebee on the front flexing its muscles with the words “Bee Strong” written underneath.

  The nightshirt barely hit her at the knees, and her tiny feet were bare, yet she looked like a freaking Angel sent straight from the Heavens standing there like a delicate, porcelain doll.

  Shit.

  “Do you know anything about my brother?” She blurted out finally, and he was completely thrown for a loop. That was about the last thing he would have expected to come out of that incredible mouth of hers.

  How in the hell had she found out?

  Ember swallowed with difficulty as she waited for him to answer her, trying her best to stand her ground and not waiver, even though it felt as if she had just finished running a marathon, and was pretty sure she was going to burst into tears at any moment.

  She couldn’t exactly be sure that she wasn’t making a huge mistake by coming here. Maybe Evan had only said that to her in her dream because she had spent time with Bader earlier in the evening and he was as hot as hell, and she had been thinking about him. Maybe it was just subliminal horseshit or something.

  She steadied her nerves as she reminded herself that no matter what the outcome, she needed to know either way. Either she looked like some crazy-ass, flighty loser, or this man knew something about where her brother was, and she wasn’t about to ignore it. The had been much more than merely a nightmare.

  As twins, she and Evan had always had a strange sort of connection, and she was willing to take the chance of looking like a fool now in order to prove to herself that their connection was real, and that he was calling out to her, asking her for help.

  If she ended up looking like a horse’s ass…well, then, so be it. It wouldn’t be the first time and she was pretty damn certain that it wouldn’t be the last.

  “I need to know if you know something,” she pleaded softly, urging herself to keep her tone as even as possible. She sure as hell didn’t need to sound like a neurotic nut-case. “I need to know if I’m…” She was about to say crazy, but stopped herself. Deep down in her gut, she knew that she wasn’t. “Please, just tell me the truth.”

  “Come in,” Bade responded, stepping aside and ushering her through the door.

  Ember walked into the apartment and stopped short, her eyes darting around the room in shock and a growing fear.

  The apartment held no furniture of any consequence whatsoever.

  There was a chair and small table, and just a few boxes scattered about, which seemed to contain nothing more than clothing.

  Nothing at all adorned the walls or covered the windows. It was as if the space was still vacant.

  Hadn’t he said that he needed to finish unpacking?

  The question that was rattling around in her head as her panic grow was: unpack what?

  Oh, sweet tap dancing baby Jesus! Just what had she walked into?

  “Ember…” he whispered, reaching out his hand, but she quickly took a step away from him, trying to make her way back towards the door in case she needed to run.

  “Ember,” Bade repeated, trying his best to put her at ease, but he could see the panic welling up inside her like a tidal wave. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

  “Really? Then, just what in the hell is it?” She snapped, and he reached out again to take her hand, but she pulled it away as if she’d been burned. “Why are you here, Bader?” She asked, her eyes still darting around the near-empty apartment before finally settling back on him, and he could see the anger in them.

  “I’m here to help you find Evan,” he admitted quietly, and saw her body wilt in what he hoped was relief.

  “So, you do know what’s happened to him,” she croaked out as her face drained of all its color and she turned deathly pale. He swore that her knees were about to buckle on her as he watched her sway slightly.

  Without even thinking about it, he swept her up into his arms and headed back out the door and down the hall to her apartment.

  He carried her over the threshold and to the sofa, setting her down and seating himself beside her. He could feel the heat of her skin against his thigh and realized that he was trembling. He cleared his throat and gave her a small grimace, wondering where to even begin.

  “This may take a while,” he explained softly, feeling like the biggest shit in the world for having had to lie to her. “I hope you don’t mind me bringing you back here, but I figured we might as well be comfortable.”

  She nodded slowly, her eyes not leaving his for a second and he saw the weight of her emotions fighting against each other. He knew that she was trying desperately to grasp everything that was happening, and wondering if she was safe with him.

  “You can trust me, Ember,” he promised her, and he could tell by the slight relaxing of her shoulders that there was that small part of her that knew she could. Almost as if by instinct.

  Thank the Gods for small favors.

  “Do you want some coffee?” She asked shakily, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. Always the hostess.

  “More than I want air,” he quipped, and was more than a little relieved when he heard her soft, musical laughter in response. It was quiet, and abrupt…but it was there and it was the sound of Angels singing.

  She stood on legs that he could see still shook slightly and headed toward the kitchen. “I’ll only be a minute,” she called over her shoulder as she disappeared through the archway, and he could hear her take a deep, shaky breath, and let it out slowly, and knew that she was trying her best to get her emotions under control. The offer of coffee was to help her get her thoughts in check he surmised.

  She returned a few minutes later with two steaming mugs held tightly in her delicate hands and he jumped up to take his from her.

  She sat back down and took a sip of her coffee. “Alright, spill everything,” she urged over the rim of her mug.

  He was silent for a long moment, trying to figure out where to begin as he gazed into those amazing eyes of hers. They seemed to capture his soul with their intelligence and depth and he could easily find himself getting lost in them. Completely and totally and willingly…lost.

  “I know this is going to be extremely hard to take in all at once,” he began, struggling to keep his train of thought on the matter at hand and not frighten her again, so he did he damndest to keep his tone as light as possible. “But I really need you to keep an open mind right now. Do you think you can do that for me?”

  “Well, considering that the only reason I was pounding on your door at three in the morning like a lunatic, was because my twin brother came to me in a dream and told me that They were coming for me and that I needed to get to you…I promise to keep my mind as open as humanly possible.”

  Bade would have laughed at her choice of words if he hadn’t honed in on the They were coming for me part.

  Son of a bitch!

  “Ember, what did he say to you in your dream? I need to know word for word,” He pressed, much more harshly than he had intended, and he clenched his jaw.

  Ember set her mug down, watching him a moment in silence, and he knew
that she was picking up on his anger.

  “Just that I needed to find him, and that they were coming for me, and to…to go to you.”

  Bade nodded, taking a deep breath and realizing that they didn’t have a lot of time.

  “Did you recognize anything in your dream that could possibly pinpoint where Evan was?” he asked, hoping she had been given some clue as to where her brother was being held. He knew it was far-fetched, but he was desperate. “Ember…think carefully, did anything look familiar to you, at all? No matter how insignificant you think it may be.”

  She seemed to consider this a moment, then finally shook her head. “No. There was this thick fog all around me, and I couldn’t make anything out. Please, Bader, I need to know what’s going on here. My life has gone straight off of the rails and right into crazy town ever since I made that stupid wish.” Her eyes widened and she reached over and grasped his arm. “The wish!” she squeaked. “I went to this tiny little shop in town the other night, and the woman there gave me a coin. She told me to go to this fountain and to make a wish! In my dream, Evan gave me the coin that she had given me back!”

  “Neoma gave you the coin,” Bade replied, and she nodded her head.

  “Yes! That was her name! Wait…you know her too?” She asked incredulously.

  Bade took another gulp of air into his lungs as he steadied himself. He needed to get this over with.

  She deserved to know the truth.

  “We’re friends,” he explained. “We grew up together, and she’s more of a sister to me than my own flesh and blood. She and Evan were planning to be married before he was taken.” He placed his hand gently over hers where she still gripped his arm and experienced a strange sort of hum at the contact. He shook it off and gave her a small smile. “This is where the open mind part comes in to play,” he continued. “Your brother has been taken by a group of vampires he had been…associating with.”

  He watched as Ember’s eyes grew very large, and her mouth dropped open.

  She pulled her hand from his very slowly as the blood drained from her face, and he knew that she was debating on whether or not he was a complete nut-case or not, and trying to decide if she should just call it a day and run like hell.

  He could see the disbelief in her eyes, and yet he could also detect a faint glint of something else in her expression that was telling her that she could trust him.

  “Ember, I know this all sounds insane, but…” he paused, wondering just how in the hell he was supposed to explain all of this to her, and not have her go bat-shit crazy. “Neoma’s a witch,” he went on finally, figuring that it might as well be all or nothing, “and she believes Evan was befriended, for lack of a better word, by this particular group of vampires because he has a unique psychic ability. It’s extremely strong, and very rare. She thinks that he’s always had the ability to read people’s minds and to place suggestions into their thoughts without even knowing that he was doing it. She was trying to help him learn how to harness those abilities when Devlin and his family found out about it. He didn’t just fall in with the wrong crowd, Ember, he was being initiated into it.”

  “Vampires?” She breathed, her voice no more than a whisper, and Bade nodded slowly. “You’re talking about blood drinking, daylight hating vampire’s?” She asked. “And, not the kind that sparkle in the sun or go to high school forever. Right?”

  Bade nodded again, feeling like the biggest ass on the planet for having to be the one to dump all of this craziness on her, and implode her entire world in the middle of the night like this.

  But, what choice did he have?

  “And, this Devlin character,” she croaked. “He took Evan? Just because he can read peoples’ minds?”

  “In part.” Bade responded, dreading what was coming. “Contrary to popular belief, vampire’s do not have the ability to control a victim’s thoughts. But, if a person had those abilities before they were turned, those talents would magnify a hundred-fold. Once they became…” he hesitated, hating that he had to say the words, “the undead, they would be nearly unstoppable.”

  Ember’s hand flew to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears as the reality of his words hit her like a sledgehammer. “You mean…they’ve turned him into one of them?” She gasped, and the pain he saw reflected in those amazing cinnamon depths cut him to the quick.

  “Neoma doesn’t believe so. At least not yet. In order to turn a human, that human must be a willing participant and drink from the leader of the family. It cannot be forced upon them.”

  “Oh, thank God.”

  “Ember,” Bade went on, his heart aching for her. “Devlin and his family are cold, calculated, vicious killers. They won’t hesitate in torturing your brother to bend him to their will and get what they want. And if they are coming after you now, it’s because they need to use you as a bargaining chip to get Evan to submit to them. Your brother must be stronger than they had at first anticipated.”

  She nodded sadly, her gaze never wavering. “He always was a stubborn jackass,” she told him as her mouth curved up ever so slightly at the corners, but there was just so much sadness there. “There was no changing his mind once it was made up. It used to drive me absolutely crazy when we were kids.”

  “Well, that just might be to our advantage,” Bade replied, a glimmer of hope that there was still time welling up inside him. “But, we can’t stay here. If Evan was sending you a message that you need to get away, we’d be wise to listen to him until I can track these assholes.”

  “Is that why you came here?” She asked suddenly. “Did you know that they found out about me and you were sent to keep an eye on me?”

  “I was sent here to see if you could connect with Evan and help us find where they’re keeping him,” he replied honestly. “That’s why Neoma gave you that coin. She knew that your wish would be to find your brother, and she knew it would open up the connection between the two of you. Which, obviously, it has if Evan is coming to you in your dreams.”

  She watched him for a very long moment, her brows furrowed together thoughtfully and he knew she was trying to take control of what had to be a million different thoughts and emotions swirling around in that pretty little head of hers.

  “Ember,” he said quietly, his eyes locking with and holding hers as he tried to convey to her that she could trust him to protect her. “I know this all seems pretty damned jacked-up, but you need to know that we are only trying to help you find your brother before it’s too late.”

  After what seemed an eternity of heart-wrenching silence, she took a long, slow, steady breath of air and let it out with a resigned sigh.

  “All right. What do we need to do?” She replied with a straightening of her spine. Her voice was laced with a stubborn conviction and strength that blew him away. “Will Neoma be all right if we leave?” She asked, her mouth tightening with worry.

  “She’s gone to her coven,” he explained, his admiration of this woman growing by leaps and bounds with each minute that passed. “She’ll be safest there.”

  She nodded; her lips set in a straight, stubborn line as her brow furrowed.

  He admired that.

  Ember took another quick gulp of air into her lungs as she got her ragged emotions under control. This was just so twisted and messed up in so many ways that it was making her head spin, but she knew deep down in her gut that what this man was telling her was the absolute truth. She couldn’t really explain how she knew it exactly. She just did. It was just a fact.

  Now, she needed to figure out how in the hell to deal with it all and find Evan.

  Holy Crap! She thought with a small little shake of her head.

  Vampires? Witches? Really?

  Ember pushed the thought away and stood up from the sofa. Bader had said that they needed to get out of here, and for all intents and purposes, so had Evan. So, if what they were conveying to her was true, they really needed to get their asses in gear.

  “Where should we go?” She
asked, and Bade stood up beside her.

  “I have a cabin not too far from here. We’ll hole up there while I try to track these bastards, and you work on your connection with your brother.”

  She felt her heart flutter around in her chest and tried to force it to settle.

  Yes, her attraction to this man was undeniable, but it didn’t mean a thing. He had been sent here to do a job. This wasn’t going to be some romantic rendezvous. This wasn’t a fun weekend getaway to wine country.

  This wasn’t anything but a man helping her to find her brother, and doing his best to keep her safe.

  From freaking Vampires!

  Good God.

  “Let me just go change and pack a small bag,” she said, trying hard to keep things as business-like as she possibly could, considering the fact that she was still sort of numb and the thought of spending time alone with him kept creeping into her thoughts. She turned and headed toward her bedroom. “I’ll only be a minute.”

  She stopped suddenly as a thought occurred to her. She turned back and looked at him, struck by the intensity of his eyes as he met her gaze full on and she knew in that moment, and without a single doubt in her mind that she could trust this man standing there in front of her with her very life.

  “Forgive me if I’m overstepping here, but I’m the curious type, and I really have to ask. Neoma’s a witch. And, my psychic brother was taken by a group of vampires,” she husked. “Just what in the hell are you? I mean…are you a witch too?”

  “No,” he responded simply, and she relaxed just a little bit more.

  Thank God for small favors.

  All this supernatural crap was beginning to make her head ache, and she really just needed a little bit of normalcy at the moment. That, and an aspirin the size of Texas.

  “I’m a wolf shifter.”

  Her mouth dropped open for the second time in the last fifteen minutes as she tried to convince herself that she had to have heard him wrong.

  But, she knew that she hadn’t. If nothing else, she had always been blessed with exceptional hearing.