“It doesn’t. It’s just a side effect that’s mostly in our scent. And one that can be damn troublesome at times.”
Christ. It was completely shit news, but at least they now knew why the shifters at the pink strip club had been so drawn to her that first night, without even having set eyes on her. Apparently, her scent alone had been enough to draw them out of the woods and into the club.
“A side effect that turns me into some kind of freaking lure,” Vivian muttered, snorting under her breath. “What kind of sexist crap is that?”
With a wry twist to his lips, Kyle said, “It’s not just the females of our kind who have to deal with it, Vivian.”
“The male Venatori have it too?” She sounded just as surprised as Max was by the revelation.
“Sure do,” Kyle sighed, and Max figured that explained a lot about why the mercs’ beds were like constantly revolving doors back at the Alley. Sure, they were good-looking guys, but not even Cian Hennessey in his heyday had seen as much action as the four mercenaries did.
With a worried frown, she took a step forward, asking, “And what about my younger brothers? Are they going to awaken too when they get older?”
Lev shook his head. “Only the firstborn is a given when it comes to the Venatori bloodline. But now that we know about your family, we’ll keep a close watch on them just in case.”
“Your father must have kept you and your brothers a secret from the Venatori Council,” Kyle said. “Otherwise, they would have already been monitoring you.”
She glanced at Max, and his fucking heart broke at how lost she appeared. “I don’t know anything about a Council. But why would he do that?”
“Who the hell knows?” Lev muttered. “It doesn’t make much sense. I mean, he obviously left you that necklace you mentioned, so why not explain what it meant?”
She wrapped her arms around her middle, her jaw tight as she said, “He didn’t leave it for me. He just…left it.” She pulled in a deep breath, then slowly let it out, her eyes glittering with anger as she looked Max’s way again. “I can’t believe the bastard didn’t tell us. Or at least leave us some kind of freaking letter explaining everything. What was he thinking?”
“I don’t know, baby,” he rasped, his need to close the distance between them and take her into his arms nearly impossible to resist. But he sensed that she wanted to stand on her own just then, and so he stayed where he was, even though it hurt like hell to deny his natural instinct.
“Look, I know your head must be spinning right now,” Lev said, in the gentlest tone Max had ever heard from the guy, “but we’re going to help you, honey. It’s more important than ever that you come to the Alley, so that me and the guys can train you. Help prepare you for the hunts.”
“Hunts?” they both said at the same time, though Max had basically snarled it, the words demon hunter starting to make a painful amount of sense.
“Now that you’ve awakened,” Kyle murmured, “you’re definitely going to pop up on the Council’s radar.”
With that bad feeling in his gut kicking up a notch, Max heard her ask, “What is it exactly?”
“The Council is based in Rome,” Lev said, “with satellite locations all over the world, and it’s responsible for assigning Venatori to a specific hunt. That’s actually how the old necklaces work. The Council used them to track the Venatori, as well as to contact them. But the newer generation of hunters have ditched the necklaces for small tattoos that we have inked on our inner thighs, or sometimes under our arms. The tats also have certain spells attached to them, which help to stabilize our abilities.”
“Stabilize them how?” Max asked.
Crossing his arms over his brawny chest, Lev said, “Vivian’s change has no doubt caused her abilities to be a little all over the place at the moment; sometimes strong, sometimes weak. But once she’s completely awakened and at full power, she could easily slip into a frenzy if she becomes too emotional, or is put in a life-or-death situation. It can be extremely dangerous, because not all Venatori come back from it, so that’s why the spells were incorporated into the necklaces, and then later, into the tattoos.”
Max shared another weighted look with Vivian, and he knew she was thinking about what had happened at the garage. If that had been even a fraction of the kind of “frenzy” Lev was talking about, then he wanted her to get the damn tattoo as soon as possible.
And the fact that her old man had left her that necklace, but not a single explanation, made him want to tear the bastard apart with his bare hands.
But, hell, who knew what Vincent Pius had been thinking when he bailed on his family. A family he’d kept secret from this Venatori Council they’d just been told about. The guy must have had some kind of mental break, because his actions didn’t make any fucking sense!
Unless… Son of a bitch! Did Pius leave the necklace behind because he didn’t want the Council to be able to track him? Had he bailed on his family and his job as a hunter?
Looking at Lev, he asked, “And if she doesn’t want to work for this Council? What happens then?”
The merc smirked as if he’d said something funny. “They don’t exactly take no for an answer.”
“Or any form of dissention,” Kyle murmured, something in his tone catching not only Max’s, but Vivian’s attention as well.
“What aren’t you telling us?” she asked, pinning the merc with a hard stare.
With a wince, Kyle rubbed at the back of his neck, looking like someone about to impart some seriously shit news. “Lev might not have ever heard of Vincent Pius, but I have. It’s widely believed that he was killed during an unsanctioned hunt about seven years ago.”
She jerked as if someone had just kicked her in the stomach, and Max was by her side in an instant, pulling her into his arms as he scowled at the merc. “Jesus, Kyle. Way to soften the blow.”
“Sorry, man, but we don’t exactly have time to sugarcoat all this crap for her. She needs to know what she’s up against.”
“Speaking of knowing things,” Lev murmured, sliding him a curious look. “Have you told her yet?”
“Told me what?” she asked hoarsely, still gripping the front of his shirt.
The merc snorted as he shook his head at Max, and then his expression softened as he looked at Vivian. “Between Max’s secrets and the stuff you need to know about your bloodline, Vivvie, I could talk for days and still not run out of things to tell you.”
Max wanted to lay the bastard out so badly he could taste it. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned in a low, lethal voice, leaving Vivian standing by the window as he took a step toward Lev.
“What’s going on?” She moved to his side as she looked between him and the merc. “What am I missing?”
The jackass gave him a pointed look. “She deserves to know, man.”
“Know what?” she snapped with frustration, obviously at the end of her patience.
Lev slowly brought his sea-colored gaze back to hers. “You’re his, honey.”
She frowned with confusion. “His what?”
“Lev, shut the fuck up,” Max snarled. But the prick refused to listen.
“His life mate.”
Those three huskily spoken words struck with the force of a grenade, and her hair whipped around her shoulders as she looked toward Max, her shocked gaze wide and searching. “You mean…like his sister and her husband?” she asked the merc, pressing an unsteady hand against the center of her chest, as if she were afraid her heart was about to pound its way out.
“Yeah,” Lev said quietly.
During one of their late-night talks, she’d asked about how his sister and Brody had met, and Max had ended up explaining how the life-mate connection worked, and even about the metaphysical link that could be made when a Lycan bit their mate, creating a powerful blood bond between them. So he knew she understood what Lev was telling her.
“No. You’re…wrong.” She shook her head, keeping her focus on Max as she yelled a
t Lev. “He would have told me!”
Looking over, she caught the way Lev was arching his brows at him, and a low, broken sound tore from her lips, her body jerking away when Max tried to reach for her. “Ohmygod,” she groaned, using both hands to push her hair back from her face as she hunched forward, her lungs heaving. “Why didn’t you say something?” she demanded, without even looking up at him. “Is it because of what I am? Because I’m not one of your precious humans?” Her head lifted, and this time he was the one flinching, her shattered gaze making him feel like the biggest bastard alive. “Is this one of those it’s not me, it’s you things?”
“Fuck no,” he growled, having to fist his hands at his sides to keep from grabbing hold of her again, his blood rushing hot and fast through his veins, while the surface of his body went painfully cold.
She kept yelling as if she hadn’t even heard him. “You don’t want it, do you? To be connected to someone like me?”
“That’s bullshit,” he roared, while his damn wolf started howling in his head, every bit as furious with him as Vivian was. “That’s not it at all!”
Swiping at the tears that were suddenly pouring over her cheeks, she cried, “Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s…complicated,” he ground out, acutely aware that they had an audience. “If you’ll just follow me back into the bedroom, we can talk about it in private.”
“Actually,” Lev murmured, looking past them, his gaze focused out the front window, “you can talk about it once we’re on the road. Right now, we need to get the hell out of here.”
“You can goddamn wait,” he growled, glaring at the jackass. “Vivian and I need to talk, and this place is as safe as any other.”
Lev moved to his feet, his golden brows knitting together as he kept staring outside. “I’m not so sure that’s the case anymore.”
Biting back a frustrated curse, Max stalked over to the window, his hands pressing flat against the glass the instant he realized what had caught Lev’s attention. The lake that he’d thought was beautiful the day he and Vivian had first arrived at the cabin was no longer placid and blue, reflecting the clouds in the winter sky. Instead, the thing was now as black as night and bubbling like a cauldron.
Behind him, Kyle said, “Looks like the two of you are getting out of here just in the nick of time.”
“I… I don’t understand,” Vivian said, her voice wavering. “Arra said we’d be safe here.”
“And you should’ve been,” Lev said in a tight voice. “Shit like this only happens when something bad is coming.”
“B-bad like what?”
“I’m not sure,” the merc told her. “But whatever it is, it ain’t gonna be good.”
Max didn’t waste time trying to talk to her while they quickly grabbed the bags they’d already packed from the bedroom, knowing they’d have plenty of time to sort things out once they were on the road. But when they walked back into the living room, she headed straight for Lev, saying, “If you’re okay with it, I’d like to ride in your truck.”
“Vivian, that isn’t happening,” he ground out, unable to believe she was trying to ditch him.
“Don’t,” she whispered, not even bothering to turn around and look at him. “I’m not running. But I… I need a break.”
“From me?” he croaked, no longer giving a shit that Lev and Kyle were getting a front row seat to this clusterfuck of an argument.
“From this—us,” she hissed. “I need time to think.”
“Fine. You have until we reach the Alley.” He was so furious, his voice was nothing more than a guttural scrape of sound as he headed for the door. “And then I don’t care how pissed you are, baby. You’d better be ready to talk.”
Chapter Eighteen
We Need to Work on Our Communication
Max had hoped he would find a way to calm down before they reached the Alley, but it hadn’t happened. His thoughts had been in turmoil the entire drive, his fury at himself, and over what Lev had done, only growing wider and deeper, until it was eating him raw inside. And now, hours later, as he followed Lev’s black truck into the frost-covered glade at twilight, all he wanted to do was kill the know-it-all son of a bitch.
He parked beside his cabin and climbed out into the biting cold, vaguely aware of some of his friends coming down their front porches, no doubt dying of curiosity to learn where he’d been and what he’d been doing. But he didn’t even bother to call out to anyone, his attention focused solely on Lev’s truck, which was parked further down the glade, where the mercs’ cabins had been built. He watched Vivian, Lev and Kyle climb out of the massive vehicle, then start making their way up, a low snarl rumbling from his chest when Lev leaned over and said something to her that made her give him a smile, and Max saw red.
Blood. Fucking. Crimson.
One second he was standing near his bumper, and in the next he was charging down the Alley, deadly fangs bared as he launched himself at Lev, their bodies rolling as they hit the frosty, rock-hard ground. Slamming the bastard onto his back, Max straddled his torso and threw a bone-cracking punch that busted the guy’s lip. Lev fought back, popping him in the jaw, but he didn’t even feel the pain, already throwing another powerful punch as heavy footsteps thundered toward them, the sounds roaring out of him far more animal than man.
But that was nothing compared to the shit he was shouting.
“What the fuck?” Brody yelled, looking stunned as Wyatt and Mason each grabbed him by an arm, jerking him away from the scowling mercenary. “Did Max just threaten to bite Slivkoff’s head off?”
Looking at him as if he’d just sprouted wings, Michaela shook her head with dismay. “I’ve never seen you act like that, Max. What’s going on?”
Wyatt’s response was wry as he gave him a warning look that said to behave, then released his arm. “If I had to guess, Mic, I’d say your brother’s animal side is finally making itself known.”
“For the first time when he wasn’t under attack or going into battle,” Jillian added, while Jeremy walked over and offered a hand to Lev, helping him up.
“You can let me go now,” Max muttered, jerking his arm away from Mason, who was also giving him one of those looks that said it was time to calm the hell down. He noticed Elliot coming over to join the group, a concerned expression on his partner’s face, but his attention was stolen by the sight of Vivian standing beside Kyle. She looked horrified, her lower lip caught in her teeth, cheeks burning a violent shade of pink, and as much as he hated to have embarrassed her in front of his family and friends, he didn’t regret punching the cocky merc, or Venator, or whatever the hell Lev was, because after the way the jackass had shot off his mouth, Max figured he’d deserved it.
“Does anyone care to explain what exactly is going on here?” Cian drawled, crossing his powerful arms over his chest as he looked from Vivian to Max, and then over to Kyle. But it was Lev who answered the Irish Bloodrunner.
“She’s his mate,” the merc ground out, wiping the back of his wrist across his bloody mouth. “His fucking life mate, and he hadn’t even told her. She was in the dark until I brought it up this morning.”
Cian and Wyatt both whistled low under their breaths, Elliot looked confused, and Michaela stalked over to Lev, Brody right at her side. “What gives you the right to share that news?” she demanded, clearly enraged, and Max had no doubt his sister was already picking up on his shredded emotions. “What business is it of yours?”
“The girl. She’s our responsibility,” Lev explained, while Brody wrapped his arm around Mic’s waist and pulled her away from the merc. “Mine, Kyle, Sam and James’.”
Max snarled so hard it hurt his throat. “The hell she is!”
“Lev’s right,” Kyle said with a rough sigh, sounding less than thrilled by the way things were playing out as Sam Harmon, another mercenary, finally joined them, his dark eyes taking in the scene. “Vivian’s one of us.”
“And what exactly is that?” Mason gr
owled, giving Lev a piercing look. For nearly a decade, the Runners had been patient about the question of the mercenaries’ bloodline. But that patience had obviously come to an end.
Glancing up to the top of the Alley, where Rachel, a Lycan who was close to Carla and Jillian, was coming back from a walk in the forest with all of the little ones—a walk that had no doubt included some snowman making—Lev said, “I think we should take this into my cabin. We can talk things over there.”
“Fine, but it happens now,” Mason clipped. “We’ve waited long enough to hear this shit.”
“I’ll send a group text out,” Carla murmured, speaking up for the first time. “Let everyone who can make it know to get down to Lev’s as quickly as possible.”
Hanging back to talk to Elliot while the others went ahead and started walking down the glade, Max watched Kyle point Vivian in the direction of Elliot’s place, since that was where Skye most likely was. Then he looked at his partner and braced, knowing he was about to get a shit-ton of questions thrown his way.
“So that was a bit of a shock,” Elliot murmured, shoving his hands in his pockets. “When exactly did you tell Vivian the truth about what we are?”
Max rubbed a hand over his sore jaw. “She’s, um, known for a while now.”
Elliot gave him a sharp look. “Since when, Max?”
“Since that first night,” he mumbled, the admission tasting like sand in his mouth. He knew his partner had believed one of the reasons they hadn’t come to the Alley sooner was because he hadn’t told Vivian that he was a Lycan, and Max hadn’t corrected him.
Elliot lowered his head, taking a moment to process that telling bit of news. Then he gave a low laugh and looked back up at Max. “So your life mate, huh?”
He swallowed back a gritty curse. “Yeah.”
Understanding filled Elliot’s gaze. “I knew there was something more to how you were acting. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to bring her back here because you were worried about her finding out the truth about what we are, like I’d assumed. It was because you knew we’d all pick up on it.”
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