“What’s a Trejan?”
“Our version of a vice president. He’s second in command and Achilles reports to him. If we’re going to hit the Weres, the order will have to come down from Dmitri.” Slade grabbed hold of her hand, steering her through the crowded club toward their table.
“Is that why we’re really here? To feel out if we can get permission to trap a Were and bring him back for questioning?”
Slade smiled at her, the tips of his fangs showing. “Bingo, babe. Now you’re thinking like a security operative.”
Raina noted the slight tone of pride in his voice and was pleasantly surprised at the warmth spreading through her chest at his approval. Since when she did care what Slade thought of her? Her lips tingled at the thought of their first kiss in the tent. She found herself touching her lips and forced herself to lower her hand.
Slade pulled up beside their table. “Trejan, Achilles, ladies,” he said as he inclined his head.
“Evening, Donovan,” Dmitri responded. He shifted his dark gaze to her and Raina felt it melt all the way through her like a laser beam. “Is this Officer Ravenwing?”
Raina swallowed the bubble of discomfort that had lodged in her throat and moved to shake hands with Dmitri. It wouldn’t do to look like a coward in front of vampires who were clearly in charge of things. “Nice to meet you.”
“Achilles tells me you have the dubious honor of being a Wolf Whisperer.” All curious gazes around the table turned to her. The combination of having so many vampires so intently focused on her caused her stomach to swish. Raina fleetingly hoped the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
“That’s amazing,” commented the blonde, filling the awkward silence that stretched among all of them. “Since my husband can’t seem to introduce me, I’m Kristin.” She held out a hand to Raina and gave her a warm smile, which accented her sparkling blue eyes.
Slade leaned in close and whispered in a conspiratorial nature in Raina’s ear. “She’s a reporter.”
“Must you tell everyone that before I even can find out something about them?” Kristin sighed. “My interviewing skills are going to get rusty if you keep that up.” She turned her attention back to Raina. “So what’s a Wolf Whisperer?”
“I always thought it was an honorary tribal title, but apparently it means I can talk to the shifters,” she said with a lightness she was far from feeling. Being in the heart of vampireville topside caused her senses to go into overdrive and she was nearly getting eyestrain from trying to be constantly vigilant.
“Surely they can speak just fine when they are in their mortal forms?” Dr. Chamberlin asked.
“No, she can talk to them when they are wolves,” Slade explained.
Kristin’s eyes glittered with avid interest. She rested her chin on the heel of her hand. “Really? How did you find out you could do that?”
“Well, I—” Raina sensed Slade’s tension increase just a second before he cut her off. He didn’t want her saying anything to the others. Why? Was he that afraid of what might happen if he happened to transition?
“Trejan, we’d like approval to bring a Were back for questioning.”
Dmitri and Achilles glanced at each other then back at Slade. “Achilles has told me about your report. But in assessing the situation we both feel you going back into Were territory this close to the full moon would be an unacceptable risk.”
“What you mean is you don’t trust me and Ravenwing to swing it without getting caught by the Weres.”
Achilles squeezed one hand closed, using his thumb to crack his knuckles one by one. “I know you aren’t questioning your Trejan’s direct order, are you?” The threatening tone in his voice left no room for doubt that their idea of using Raina as bait to go into the shifter territory had fallen flat.
“What about Raina?” Slade pushed. “She’s probably the best chance we have of getting a Were to come close without causing an all-out confrontation.”
Achilles shifted his gaze to Raina. “As a Whisperer, you know that the shifters have a claim on you, don’t you? They’d be well within their rights to kill any vampire holding you back from them.”
Raina crossed her arms. “Last time I checked, I had a say in the matter, same as Kaycee did.”
A meaningful glance passed between Achilles and Dmitri. “Are you aware of what happens to Whisperers who don’t follow the directions of the Weres’ alpha?” Dmitri asked.
Raina’s face tightened and heated. “Yes. Very aware.”
Achilles shook his head. “It’s a big risk. Too big.”
“Isn’t that my call?” Raina said.
Slade grabbed hold of her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Dmitri shifted his stance. “Are you willing to have another vampire accompany you besides Donovan?”
Raina pushed her chin out a little farther, and tried to stand taller, not that she and Dmitri would ever see eye to eye, he was so much taller than she was. “No. I’ll go on my own.”
“Absolutely not.” Achilles stood up abruptly. “You wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“A few large animal tranqs and a night scope and I think I’d do just fine. It’s not as if I’ve never gone up against big game before in my job.” Visions of the pissed-off mama bear trying to untree her cub out of a maple in the front yard of Janice Taylor’s house rose to mind. Sure, she’d been able to subdue the bear, but moving her had taken four officers and three other people from animal control. “The only thing I might need is help bringing him back here.”
“You sound very determined,” Dmitri said, his lips tipping up at the corner. “Sounds like someone else I know.” He glanced affectionately down at his wife.
“If she wants Slade to go with her, I say we let him,” Dr. Chamberlin said. “We’re less than a week out from the full moon and I think I’ve developed something that could mitigate his symptoms.”
“But his moon sickness is getting worse. He could transition out there, and then where would Officer Ravenwing be?” Achilles countered.
“Left to use her skills as a Wolf Whisperer,” Kristin cut in. “Look, if she can talk to the Weres, then even if Slade transitions they can still communicate. Just because he might transition isn’t a reason for him to avoid this assignment altogether.”
“Thank you,” Slade said, with a nod in Kristin’s direction.
Dmitri huffed. “You’re interfering in clan security matters again, wife.”
Kristin threw him an arch smile. “And your point would be?”
Dmitri rolled his eyes. Dr. Chamberlin chuckled. Raina tried to take it all in as they talked among one another, squabbling and laughing, all working together. The dynamics of the clan were far different than she’d imagined they’d be. This was more like a large extended family than simply a society.
They ordered drinks for everyone and she picked a shot of whiskey, while Slade ordered a beer. The flow of conversation and the warm air in the club lulled her into a relaxed state. But the memory of Kaycee’s brutal death made a full-body shiver ripple over her. She tried to picture Slade as the young boy alone, without a memory of who he was, and her heart twisted uncomfortably. Raina took a sip of her whiskey and let the liquid slide down her throat in a slow burn.
She couldn’t imagine her life without the tribe she’d grown up in. The annual customs had set her routine, the tribal meetings more like extended family parties. Her mother and father had always maintained a calm, steady influence on her life. They were strict but kind. Without all of them she’d be rootless, ungrounded and blown about by the winds of life.
Clearly Slade had found a similar place where he belonged among these vampires. And that place was in now in jeopardy. Raina decided then and there that she’d do what she could to help him resolve this and protect his place among his people.
She could certainly understand Achilles’s concerns. If Slade did transition out there, she’d need to be able to act quickly. While Slade might be able to fight off a
group of Weres with his vampire skills, she’d be left with just her wits, her weapons and her tranq darts.
“Does anyone know what happens once a Were transitions?” she asked as she tapped her finger thoughtfully against her glass. The flow of conversation around the table stopped dead. “I mean, can’t they move back and forth between the two forms? Wouldn’t he be able to choose what form he was in, even if it does happen out there?” She looked hopefully at Dr. Chamberlin.
The doctor shrugged as she picked up her glass of red wine and took a sip. At least Raina thought it was red wine; she didn’t want to examine it too closely.
“Honestly, we don’t know. Everything I’ve been able to dig up on it says that around the full moon the shifting stabilizes into the lycan form. They can’t shift back to their human form until the moon begins to wane again.”
Raina estimated that left them about three days. That was cutting things close if they wanted to capture Ty, interrogate him and make plans to resist whatever plans the Were pack had rolling.
“But considering Slade isn’t fully Were, wouldn’t that change things? Wouldn’t he potentially have more control?” Raina asked.
Achilles leaned in, putting his elbows on the table. “That’s the problem—nobody knows. This isn’t something that normally happens. Traditionally, we vampires and the Weres have maintained our territorial boundaries. We don’t mix with them and they don’t mix with us. I didn’t think a vampire of Donovan’s stripe was even possible. No offense, Donovan.”
“None taken,” Slade said, tipping his bottle of beer in Achilles’s direction.
The first heated rush of anger had begun to abate, leaving a gaping hole that hurt far worse. While the doc and Kristen were newcomers to the clan, Slade had vivid recollections of the others from his childhood. Achilles and Dmitri hadn’t changed at all. No. That wasn’t true. While they looked just the same as they always had, there had been changes. Both of them had found mates and seemed far happier, even though the challenges of the past year had been intense.
The thought of being cast out of the clan made him physically ill. Worse than moon sickness did. And the beer wasn’t settling his stomach. Everything he knew, everything he’d worked for, was tied up in this clan. If he didn’t have them, he’d have nothing—be nothing—all over again. He began picking at the label on his beer bottle, peeling it off in strips. Thoughts, fears and worries rolled around in his head, smacking against each other like the balls on a pool table after a clean break.
He shifted forward in his chair, catching both Dmitri’s and Achilles’s gazes. “So do we have your permission to tag us a Were and bring him back?” he asked, keeping his voice even, and ruthlessly keeping hidden even a hint of his inner turmoil.
Achilles looked to Dmitri and Dmitri nodded. “There’s just one thing, Donovan. Make this operation clean. I don’t want any loose ends or hurt mortals,” he said as he glanced in Raina’s direction.
Slade nodded and relaxed back in his chair. Good. Now they were getting somewhere.
“I’ve got a serum I’d like to administer to you before you leave,” Dr. Chamberlin added.
“No problemo,” Slade said. He looked over at Raina. “Those shifters won’t even know what hit them.”
Dmitri gave a mirthless laugh. “That’s not the only hit they’re unprepared for. The shifters don’t know what they’re asking for when it comes to introducing themselves to mortal society,” he said as he leaned back in his chair, his arm resting around the Kristin’s back.
“What do you mean?” Raina asked.
“Think about it,” Kristin said. “In a world that values digital entertainment and artificial cooling, light and heating even more than land and water, do you really think the Weres are going to be able to hold their own?”
Raina shrugged. “They’re stronger than humans and they’ve lasted this long.”
“Yeah, but the mortals outnumber them,” Slade said. “This isn’t the old days where they could control a tribe who had a parallel belief system and revered them and nature. This is the twenty-first century. If they push at the mortals to get control over a larger territory, they’re going to get their asses handed to them with a side of silver.”
“And why do you care? I thought vampires hated Weres.”
“We don’t hate them. We just don’t respect them,” Achilles said matter-of-factly. “They’re like animals, only concerned with their own needs.”
“So if you think that wandering into your territory isn’t going work out well for them, how would it impact your clan?”
“If they rile up the mortals, you can bet vampires are going to catch it, too,” Dmitri said, his dark brows drawing together. “Our clan has a fragile peace going with the locals. We don’t need some testosterone-filled bunch of hair balls lousing it up by coming in here and ripping apart some mortals to prove a useless point.”
“Out in the wild, what happens when one wolf pack invades another’s territory?” Dr. Chamberlin asked.
Raina tucked her hair behind her ear. “They get frenzied, trying to compete with one another to claim food. But the Weres don’t feed on people like vampires do, do they?”
“No, but Eris does,” Achilles muttered. “She feeds on their misery, anger, pain and suffering, and if she can, she’ll get the Weres to cause as much chaos as possible.”
“Which means…” Raina said slowly, her gaze going from one somber-looking vampire to the next.
Slade’s heated gaze connected with hers. “Which means, babe, unless you and I pull this off, we’re screwed.”
Chapter 14
The plan had seemed incredibly simple when they’d drawn it out on paper. Slade would flux invisible. They’d creep to the Weres’ back door, then she’d reach out to them, calling them to her. Once she made contact, if it wasn’t Ty that came for her, she’d ask to speak to him. Then Slade could slip a silver chain over him and they’d transport back to the clan, Were in tow.
Easy, clean, simple. But now that she was sitting at the stream that marked the edge of the shifter’s territory, she wasn’t so sure. Wind whispered through the woods, making dried leaves rattle and goose bumps pimple her skin. Evening shadows gathered and stretched over the landscape with tenacious dark fingers.
She rubbed her arms trying to ward off the sudden chill invading her bones. “Do you really think this is going to work?”
“Babe, you reek of Were-bait,” he whispered low enough for only her to hear.
“Fabulous,” she said without enthusiasm.
“Trust me, they won’t be able to resist you.”
Raina controlled the urge to reach out and touch him. It was disconcerting talking to Slade when he was invisible. She felt as though she were talking to an imaginary friend. For a second Raina wondered what other powers vampires possessed. If they could read minds, and go invisible, did they also have X-ray vision?
“Shouldn’t you be somewhere else so they can’t smell you out?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She didn’t know if Weres had the same superhearing vampires appeared to.
“We’re downwind. They won’t know what hit ’em until they’re laid out flat.”
Raina stared down into the shifting waters of the creek as it swirled golden aspen leaves around the smooth stones. Slade’s grazing touch on her shoulder made her start.
“Be careful but don’t be scared,” he whispered in her ear, the words warm against the skin of her nape, sending a delicious shiver down her skin. “I’ll be right with you the whole time.”
Raina took a shaky, deep breath. She closed her eyes, trying to center herself, then cupped her hands around her mouth and called out as loudly as she could. The series of howls and yips she let out were responded to almost instantly by a howling chorus in return.
Minutes later the large wolves melted through the trees, seeming to appear out of thin air from behind the massive trunks. She recognized Ty by the darker ruff of fur, like a dark gray collar, about
his throat.
“I’ve come to speak to you, brothers,” she called out.
Ty sniffed the air, his keen gaze darting about the clearing. “Where is your vampire?”
Raina snorted. “He’s not my vampire.”
“Why do you come to us?”
She glanced at the four other wolves, two flanking each side of Ty. “I have news from across the mountain. But I would only speak with your leader.”
Ty stalked toward her slowly, circling her, his warm breath huffing at her clothing. He sniffed the air, his furry brows bending over deep brown eyes. “Take her to Bracken,” he ordered.
Raina turned, looking at the large wolf beside her. “No! Wait, I meant I wanted to talk to you.”
The wolf’s mouth elongated into somewhere between a smile and a snarl, his black lips pulled tight over his pointed teeth. “I know what you meant, Whisperer. But in this pack we all follow Bracken’s lead. He, and no other, will decide what is to be done with you.”
Slade cursed silently to himself as he watched the four escorts close in around Raina, one in front, one behind, and two on either side of her. He didn’t want to endanger her by taking out the wolves with her in the center but Dmitri had been specific. No casualties.
He calculated the possibilities. He could perhaps take out two of them before the other three knew what was happening, but there was no way he could take out four without Ty becoming aware of his presence.
Raina’s hiking boots splashed in the creek as they crossed the water. She glanced back in Slade’s direction, even though he was invisible.
“Your vampire can follow along if he is brave enough to,” Ty said, his tone mocking. “And if your vampire is fool enough to leave you to us, we’ll use you as bait to lure him out. Duamish still wants blood payment for his brother. And he doesn’t care if he takes it from the vampire or from you.”
The Half-Breed Vampire Page 14
