by A. D. Ryan
His hand caressed my cheek, brushing my hair back over my shoulder. “Me too. I just…” He sighed, his breath turning to fog between us as his gaze fell to our feet.
“Wish you could have been there, I know.” I pressed my hand over his and then shifted to try and draw his eyes back to mine. “I wanted that, too. I thought about it almost every second. When I watched the tape of my parents at the airport, moving from screen to screen until they just disappeared. Finding the photo in that album, being back at the Pack’s house—alone in your bed.” I paused, biting the inside of my cheek nervously. “Going back to my house…remembering the night everything changed.”
Nick didn’t move, but I felt the distance that wedged itself between us with my statement.
“I don’t regret anything that’s happened since,” I assured him softly. “But…I’d be lying if I said I don’t still miss him…that I don’t still love him.”
Posture softening, Nick wrapped his arms around me. “Brooke, I don’t expect you to stop loving him. He was a big part of your life. Your relationship with him helped shape you into who you are today. I can’t begrudge either of you for that.”
Loosening his hold on me, Nick pulled back, bringing his hand up, the backs of his fingers stroking my cold cheek and pushing my hair back over my shoulder. His blue eyes held mine, his gaze so intense it made me shudder as he slowly lowered his face, licking his lower lip in anticipation. Closing my eyes, I stood on my toes and met him halfway.
Our lips barely brushed when there was a high-pitched squeal in my ear before loud crackle of static filled my head. The sound thrust me back to when I was being tortured with high frequency sound, and I could feel panic beginning to rise. Both of us pulled back abruptly, pressing the heels of our hands against the sides of our heads until the sound softened to a dull hum. I calmed myself just as we heard voices and realized that it was just the police scanner we were picking up from our position behind the house… more than a hundred yards away, once you factored in the lengthy driveway.
“There’s been an attack in South Glenmore Park,” a female dispatcher said before static cut her off.
“We’re close,” one of the cops in the car said to his partner.
“We were told to stay here,” the other replied, voice wavering with uncertainty.
They argued back and forth for a minute before the car was put in gear and they sped away down the road, the tires spitting gravel up from beneath the light dusting of snow left on the driveway.
I turned to Nick, eyes wide. “We should go.”
“Brooke, we can’t. If they found out…”
“We’re leaving the house. Not the city. We don’t need their permission to go out…” I paused, trying to come up with an excuse we could use if asked where we had gone. “On a date?”
The left side of Nick’s lips quirked up into a devilish smirk. “I do enjoy a good loophole.”
“I figured you might.”
Taking me by the hand, Nick led me back into the house where we told the Pack what we’d heard and where we were going. While Nick grabbed the keys, I grabbed my badge, slipping it onto my belt as I raced back to the front door. We climbed into Nick’s truck and headed to South Glenmore Park, hoping to get some answers about what Bobby and his band of freaks were up to.
When we arrived a while later, Nick parked on the other end of the park, staying out of sight of all the police officers that were milling around. We jogged across the park, staying hidden in the shadows, skulking stealthily until we were within earshot.
We watched as the cops surveyed the area, using their flashlights to look into the darkness to find the attacker. In the distance, I could see three people in civilian clothes—a man and two women, likely in their early twenties and fresh from club-hopping. Even from my spot in the shadows, I could see the way the women wobbled as they stood by, holding each other with terror in their eyes. Their blonde and brown hair was slightly mussed, and their mascara smudged from crying. The man sat on the back of an open ambulance while an EMT examined his neck and shoulder. I tried squinting my eyes to get a better look at the bloodied spot on his neck, but I was too far away.
I moved to get closer, but Nick grabbed my arm and stopped me, shaking his head. The Alpha in me, narrowed its eyes and bared its teeth in warning, but the cop in me knew he was right and submitted to his silent request. While we waited, I picked up bits and pieces of the information, but it was all so jumbled and nothing added up—it reminded me of that game most people played as kids where you sat in a line and whispered something in one another’s ears, passing it down the line and seeing how the story changed by the end. If I was going to get the true story, I was going to have to get it straight from the source: the victim.
So, we waited some more. The cops cleared the scene, and the EMTs decided that the man was okay to drive after tending to his wounds. They’d wanted to take him to the hospital, but he refused, telling them he’d drive himself. For some reason, they didn’t argue with him, instead packing up their things and driving away.
This was our chance. Nick and I moved across the park silently, eyes always on the victim as he led the two women toward his vehicle. He was just unlocking the driver’s side door to his new Ford Escape when I stepped out of the darkness while Nick hung back so as not to spook him.
“Excuse me?” I said softly, hoping not to startle him further. He turned quickly, and I smiled, pulling my jacket back slightly to briefly flash my badge; I was far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to read that it was Scottsdale PD and not Calgary RCMP. “I’m sorry, I know you’re heading to the hospital right now, but I just had a couple of follow up questions before the ER potentially destroys any evidence left by your attacker.”
“Look, lady,” he said, unlocking the car so the girls could climb in.
“Detective Leighton.”
“I’ve already talked to the cops.”
“I know,” I assured him gently, adjusting my posture to appear like less of a threat. “But there are still a few things I’m unclear of.” I eyed his bandaged neck, noticing how red the skin was around it. I took another step closer, eyebrows pulling together when I saw the dark purple veins spider-webbing up his neck. I’d never seen anything like it before on any of the victims that were about to turn. Was this what it looked like when a vampire was unable to finish the job? It looked like it was infected already.
The man noticed me staring and stepped back toward the open car door. Before I could say anything, the blonde girl leaned over the center console. “Corey, come on.”
“Listen, I’ve got to go. I’m sure the cops have everything in some kind of file folder thing.”
Desperation clawed at me, forcing me two more steps forward. “Corey, wait.” He did, and I stumbled for words. It was ridiculous since this was my job. “I…that is, your neck. It looks like it might be getting infected.” I met his eyes, holding his gaze, hoping to draw him in and gain his trust. “Would you mind if I had a look?”
He hesitated, but when he released a sigh and stepped forward, I mentally patted myself on the back. Carefully, he peeled the tape away and pulled the gauze back. I cringed when I saw the gouges in his flesh, skin torn jaggedly, held together by butterfly bandages until he could get to the ER for a proper cleaning and stitches.
“It came out of nowhere,” he said without coercion as he held the bandage down for me.
I pulled out my phone in a silent request, and he nodded his permission before I snapped a couple of pictures while he continued his story.
“We’d been out having a good time—Casey, Marisa, and me. We decided to take a walk through the park since it wasn’t that cold out. Everything was fine and then it slammed into me.”
That was the second time he’d described his attacker in that way, so I inquired. “It?” I reached out to touch the skin surrounding the area, but pulled back when the heat emanating from the wound was almost unbearable.
Even for me.
<
br /> “At first, I thought it was a man. The girls screamed as I fell to the ground, struggling to push it off of my back. The growls soon drowned the girls out, and then the entire world slipped away when it bit down.”
I stopped looking at the bite mark, raising my eyes to his as I tried to calm my pounding heart. This all sounded familiar… Looked familiar… felt familiar…
“It was over a couple seconds later—I think. I don’t know, I guess it could have been longer. All I know is I opened my eyes and saw a huge shadow running away before disappearing into the darkness. And then the cops showed up thanks to Marisa calling them.”
The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to articulate them without choking on them. I knew I had to try. “Was…was it an animal? A w-wolf?”
Corey sighed. “I can’t be sure. It was dark, and I’d just…” He hesitated again, and I knew why; I could smell the marijuana on him.
“You’d been smoking,” I finished for him. “It’s fine.”
Shaking his head as if pulling himself out of some kind of trance, he slipped the bandage back over his neck and stepped toward his car. “Am I good to go now, Detective?”
Smiling, I nodded. “Absolutely. Thank you for your time. Take care of that wound, okay?”
“Will do.” He climbed behind the wheel and pulled away, his taillights shrinking in the distance as Nick emerged from the darkness.
“Damn vamps,” he growled, and I shook my head.
“I don’t think it was them,” I said, voice quivering as I turned to him. I shook with fear, wondering if we now had some stray werewolves to deal with. “That wasn’t a vampire bite.”
“There’s no way strays would hunt on Pack land,” Nick argued adamantly.
I scrolled to the photo I’d taken and thrust it in Nick’s face. “This isn’t a vampire bite. A vampire would have killed all three of them.”
Nick looked at the photo skeptically. “That doesn’t look like a wolf bite either.” He looked at me pointedly. “You should remember all-too clearly what it looked and felt like.”
“I do,” I agreed firmly. “My shoulder was shredded and burned like a son of a bitch.”
“That’s not a wolf bite.”
Not wanting to argue here, I put my phone away. “There’s only one way we can be certain,” I told him, piquing his curiosity. “I want to see the other victims.”
“It’s late, Brooke.”
“Tomorrow, then,” I bargained. “For tonight, let’s look around the area and see what we can pick up.”
Nick nodded as he started to pull his clothes off. “We’ll be able to pick up more as wolves, plus we’re less likely to be asked what we’re doing if someone sees us. We will likely be mistaken for wild wolves roaming the city. It happens often.”
Knowing he was right, I started to strip along with him, and before long, we were shifting and roaming around the park with our noses to the ground. We came across a few new scents, and there were a couple times I picked up the stench of death, indicating a vampire had been here in the last few hours. It was faint, though, making me wonder if it was earlier that night, and had nothing to do with the attack.
After combing the entire park, Nick and I shifted back. We were just pulling our shirts on, discussing how I wanted to search the other crime scenes from the last couple days, when the breeze picked up, bringing with it a familiar scent that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Well, well, well,” he said in a voice that I once longed to hear, but now made me want to rip his larynx from his throat.
Nick whipped around to find Bobby standing in the middle of the parking lot with a cocky smirk on his face.
My rage spiked, remembering how he had my parents and Cordelia. “Where are they, you sick son of a bitch?” I snarled, marching toward him.
His expression shifted to one of mock-offence as he laid a hand over his unbeating heart. “Watch your mouth. That’s our mother you’re talking about.”
A feral scream flew from my mouth as I lunged for him, but Nick stopped me, grabbing me around the waist. “My mother,” I corrected him, struggling against Nick’s strong embrace. “You tell me where they are, you twisted freak, or I swear to God…”
“I don’t know why you’re so upset, sis,” Bobby said, making me cringe against Nick. “All I’ve ever wanted was to reunite our family.” My stomach flipped and lurched as I feared the worst. Bobby only smiled. “Don’t worry. They’re still very much human.” A pause. A malicious smirk. “For now.”
I rushed forward again, and this time Nick was barely able to grab me and hold me back. “If you touch one hair on their heads—”
“Relax, sis. Turning them now wouldn’t be conducive to my plan to reunite us all…especially now that our family is growing.”
My body went still in Nick’s arms, and they loosened around me. I could sense his confusion mingling with my own as I tried to decipher what Bobby had just said.
Was he out there attacking these people to rebuild his army of vampires? How was that possible without draining them, though? I needed to look at the dossiers to see if a vampire could be created from a single bite.
Pleased with himself for having confused us, he took a couple steps back toward the darkness, eyes bright and mischievous. “I have them on the grounds of Stampede Park.” This meant nothing to me, but I was sure Nick knew what he was talking about. Something flashed in his eyes just then—anger, a warning—and he narrowed them at me. “Come alone, Brooke. I’ll know if you bring anyone with you…and I’d hate for Mommy or Daddy-dearest to pay the price.”
I felt Nick tense behind me, likely ready to argue that there was no way in hell he would let me go alone, when Bobby spoke again. His voice was so cold it sent a shiver up my spine. “We won’t be able to complete your transition for a while yet”—his eyes dropped to my stomach, and his grin widened, flashing his fangs—“but I look forward to meeting the whelp.”
My right hand settled over the slight bulge of my belly as dread dropped like a lead weight in it. Bile churned, and I felt nauseated all of a sudden, remembering the envelope that was probably still crumpled in my jeans from a few days ago. That was when I understood his comment about our family growing. The image of him hurting an innocent child—my child—was burned into my mind. It filled me with an overwhelming urge to rip his throat out.
“I’m excited to see if the merge works on something so young…so pure and innocent.”
And then he was gone, leaving me standing there in shock with Nick staring blankly at me, his own bewilderment hanging so heavy it was almost suffocating.
Chapter27 | expanding
By the time we arrived back at the house, everyone else had turned in. Before we left the park, I suggested we track Bobby back to where he was holding Cordelia and my parents. Shockingly, Nick refused, arguing that we weren’t prepared and had no idea what we’d be walking in on. I considered pulling rank, ordering him as his Alpha, but the cop in me knew he was right; if we rushed in there alone, not knowing what awaited us, there was a high probability we’d both be captured or killed.
The rest of the drive back had been quiet, the air thick with tension and unspoken questions. I could tell Nick wanted to ask me about what Bobby had said back at the park, but something stopped him. Probably my current state of shock. Bobby’s final words before he fled ran on loop in my mind, freaking me out and spiking my anxiety.
I entered the house before Nick, heading straight for the living room where our things were still located. Nick shut the front door, sliding the lock into place and soon joined me. I could feel his eyes on me, watching as I filtered through the clothes in our suitcase, looking for the jeans I wore the night Miranda and Marcus had died.
When I found them, I had to contain a triumphant shout, respecting the late hour and everyone sleeping throughout the house. This victorious feeling was soon extinguished when I smelled the fresh detergent and fabri
c softener.
“What’s wrong?” Nick finally asked, and when I turned around, I saw him sitting on the couch, arms resting on his thighs, hands clasped, and posture slumped. “You’ve been tense since we saw your bro—” He cut himself off with a dry laugh. “Bobby.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat felt tight, making it difficult to utter a sound. Finally, my larynx relaxed. “There was an envelope in the pocket of these jeans,” I managed to whisper.
Nick lifted his head, his blue eyes troubled, eyebrows pulled together, and he pushed himself to his feet. He crossed the room, holding eye contact. For the first time since I returned, I could sense some kind of conflict. I could see it in the stormy blue of his irises.
Once he was next to me, he knelt down and reached into the pocket of the suitcase, producing the wrinkled envelope. My heartbeat picked up, my skin prickling with sweat as I worried that he’d opened it and just not said anything. He stood slowly, turning and handing me the envelope. My hands trembled as I reached for it, afraid to turn it over and find the seal broken.
It wasn’t, and I lifted my wary gaze. “You didn’t open it?”
“Doesn’t have my name on it,” he replied softly, expression no less concerned or hesitant. “What is it?”
Sighing, my exhaustion from the last few days finally grabbed me, weighing me down like cinderblocks tied to my feet and pulling me to the depths of the ocean. I flopped down on the couch, staring at the envelope, turning it over again and memorizing Miranda’s elegant handwriting.
The couch dipped next to me, Nick’s thigh brushing mine, and his hand came into view, covering my own. “Brooke.”
I took a deep breath, trying to keep the shudder from it, but failing miserably. “I’d forgotten about it with everything that’s happened,” I mumbled, my eyes burning and threatening tears. “The other day, when Marcus and I were sparring in the yard before I…”
