She did so as he shifted. Turned, prepared to run into the trappers, confuse them by turning the chase onto them. He could handle bullets—the wounds would heal. At this point, Gillian’s might not.
He waited until he saw them in the clearing, maybe fifteen feet away, and he began to run. As he did, the earth beneath his feet shook. The air chilled and as the trappers descended, so did the dogs of hell. Shots rang out, and something caught him in the neck. It took Brother Wolf mere seconds to realize it was drugs, not bullets, and he cursed and tried to force himself to shift as the hellhounds passed him.
He tried to tell them to stand down but the tranquilizer was strong, had him wobbling, unable to shift. Hellhound didn’t understand wolf. All they understood was that they were supposed to keep Jinx safe. And that’s exactly what they did.
Through his position prone on the ground, he could see the way the hellhounds poised to rip the unsuspecting trappers to pieces. Three men who never stood a chance.
He was finally able to convince Brother that he should shift. It hurt like hell but he did it, managed, “No,” and the hellhounds whimpered but stopped. “Make . . . them . . . run.”
They did. The trappers had no idea that hounds of hell were at their heels but they knew something was after them and they ran for their lives.
Jinx lay on his back, staring up at the dark sky as his brother came up on him. “Gilly . . .”
“I’m here.” She moved closer, still holding the gun. “They’re gone.”
“I know.” He rolled over onto his side as Gillian told Rogue, “Help him, please.”
“Can’t take him back into the mansion,” he heard Rogue say and then someone—Jez—picked him up. He was vaguely aware of a rocking car ride, muttered something about deadheads being terrible drivers.
“Asshole wolf,” Jez told him, carried him up the stairs instead of taking the elevator without Jinx having to ask. So yeah, he owed the vamp.
“Gilly?”
“She’s with Rogue in the elevator—checking the apartment.”
“I think I can walk,” he mumbled but Jez didn’t listen, carrying him the entire way to his bedroom, where he laid Jinx on the bed and began to get supplies together.
“Gwen told me to run saline to get the drugs from your system,” he explained.
“You know how to do this?”
“I know how to find a vein,” Jez deadpanned and Jinx groaned and closed his eyes.
* * *
Cain, Cyd and Liam had been preparing for a night of patrols and meetings when they heard the ruckus. They’d run through the underground hallway that connected to the main mansion and burst into the living room in time to see the Dires headed out the window. Kate was following them and Cyd helped her out the window, picked her up and carried her to where everyone had gathered.
Cain passed him by when he smelled wereblood. Liam was right behind him. And now, minutes later, he was trying to process what he’d just seen.
Bigger than Dires. Blacker than night, foul smelling with glowing yellow eyes that looked more than other. Unworldly. And they were chasing the trappers through the woods.
It was obvious they could’ve caught them, ripped them to pieces. The question was, why didn’t they?
“What was that?” Gwen asked. She was shaken—they all were—but none of them could put a handle on exactly what they’d seen.
Vice was tracking whatever it was and nearly tripped over the bodies. “That’s why Jinx was running. He was trying to save Gillian.”
Cain came up behind him and knelt by the bodies. They were too far gone for anything, but he still passed a palm over both young wolves eyes to close them so they were no longer staring vacantly in death. “Things are getting more violent.”
They were. Nothing was as downright evil as when the weretrappers had both the Shimmin brothers in charge but since their deaths, the trappers had gone Wild West on all wolves. If we’re going down, we’re taking as many wolves as we can with us seemed to be their motto.
Liam would be upset by this.
Stray and Killian were out there, both of them looking unhappy, and Killian more than a little disoriented as he sniffed the air. Cain’s wolf was pissed and confused, maybe more so by the fact that he hadn’t been allowed to help Jinx recently, and since that’s what he’d cut his teeth doing, he was lost out here. But only for a moment, because he’d gotten through his moon craze and was going to be the omega for Liam. He had other responsibilities, and he’d help Jinx whether the Dire wanted him to or not.
He approached Kate, who was staring off into space, hand on her chin. “You all right?”
“Not really. Rogue left with Jinx.”
“Do you think that’s a good thing?”
“It’s the best thing for now. Do you know what was in the woods?”
“I know of only one thing that makes tracks like this, but I’ve only seen pictures of it in books. Depictions, actually.” He stared down at the massive footprints again and back up at Kate. “These were made by hellhounds.”
Kate’s mouth opened and then closed. Finally, she said, “Do the others know?”
“I want to make sure before I open this up to them.”
“Rifter overheard Rogue saying they came to protect Jinx.”
“Why does he need protection from the Dires?” Cain asked, completely confused. He could feel the empathy coming off Kate in waves. She knew more than she was saying, probably because of her connection to Rogue when he’d been in the coma. There was a bond between them and he was grateful that at least someone knew what the hell was going on.
Finally, he said, “Jinx isn’t bad.”
“No, he’s not,” she said quickly. Sincerely. “But he’s in some real trouble.”
Cain would lay down his life for Cyd and for Jinx. For any of the Dires and their mates. Kate put a hand on his shoulder, told him, “Rogue will help him, Cain. He won’t let anything happen to them. Let’s concentrate on what we can help with now.”
“I can track the trappers,” he said as Vice joined them. He knew the Dire wouldn’t say no. Those men needed to be brought to justice. And wolf justice meant an eye for an eye. “When you’re done, bring the dead to Liam.” He pointed to the young Weres. “He’s their packmaster, even though they’d never met him. But they served him. And they fought.”
Cain nodded. Called to Cyd with a long howl and waited until his twin bounded through the woods, already shifted.
“We’re tracking,” Cain told him and Cyd took off, Cain at his heels without waiting for further instructions.
Cain noted the hellhound prints as his paws passed through them—it looked like there had been at least six of them, maybe more. He smelled the sulfur in the air and something else that reeked of rotten eggs and dead things. It was easy for them to follow that scent, as it overpowered that of the trappers, but the underlay was there.
He ran side by side with his twin for miles. The trappers wouldn’t have been able to keep the running up for miles and miles, and they’d find it impossible to evade the hellhounds. They were trapped in this ring of woods and Cain’s wolf bared his teeth as he thought of the young Weres who’d been sacrificed.
Even through all their injuries, Cain could smell the fight—and the fear—they’d carried. They hadn’t gone down easy.
Finally, the trail was getting colder for the hellhounds, stronger for the trappers. It was as if they’d gotten bored of simply cornering the men or they’d gotten distracted and Cain was glad. Hadn’t wanted to come face-to-face with those creatures.
As the scent of human trapper became overpowering, the wolves passed quietly. Cyd paused, Cain at his side, and for a long moment, they waited in silence. The hellhound scent was gone suddenly and a rustle in the trees told them the trappers were near. They didn’t know how many tranquilizers they had, so it would have to be an ambush. There wasn’t time to call for help. Neither wolf had any desire to, either.
Instead, Cyd circled t
o the back of the large tree where the trappers were hiding and in a graceful leap, jumped up to the branch, scaring the three men who’d been perched precariously. Cain lunged for all three as they fell as if they were bowling pins, taking them down by slamming their legs out from under them. Cyd leaped onto them and without thinking, they acted like the wolves they were, avenging the Weres’ deaths. Acting in Liam’s stead. Doing what warriors would. There was no pleasure in the task—it was purely necessary justice and the trappers’ throats were torn out in rapid succession, with no excess torture. Far more care than the trappers had given the Weres, but that was the Weres’ tradition and the twins honored it.
And when the trappers lay dead, excoriated so there was no doubt they’d been killed by wolves, it was only then Cain and Cyd stepped back. They howled together, the sound echoing in the quiet night, bouncing through the woods and possibly the town beyond, and tonight, neither wolf cared.
No mercy can be shown, Cain thought and his twin answered him with a growl of approval. The time for mercy was over. The time for revenge was here.
* * *
Liam made calls all night, with Vice at his side.
“Keep going.”
The list was long and so far, the response had been good. News of Liam’s kills of Tals and Walker had continued to spread and the respect in other alphas’ voices had been evident.
Good thing they couldn’t tell how freaked he was.
Now, he traced the smooth surface of his android phone with his thumb, staring at his reflection in the back screen. He had others to contact, to make inroads with and still, he couldn’t get the idea of calling a meeting with the head of the hunters out of his mind. He dialed the phone and left a brief, firm message that he wanted a meeting with the head hunter ASAP. Now he’d wait to see how much respect he actually commanded.
He’d been doing his best to still push Max and the baby from his mind as he worked the command center of his pack from inside the Dire house. But what he would do—whether or not he’d follow the tradition demanded of him—was on the mind of all the packs who’d stood behind him thus far.
He couldn’t forgive or forget. The love he’d felt for her had morphed into a kind of hatred that still signified his feelings.
That’s what you get for hanging with a human.
The baby was late. And even though he dreaded asking about it, he forced himself to pay Gwen a visit in the downstairs clinic she was setting up.
“I figured you’d come to see me soon,” she said as she unwrapped a bottle of medicine and wrote on the label.
“Sorry—I didn’t mean to avoid you.”
“You did. That’s okay.” She paused and then told him, “She’s not showing any signs of labor yet. And I won’t induce because I don’t know what that does to a wolf pup.”
He nodded. “Why’s she late?”
“It’s either stress having the opposite effect on her body or she was just off as to when she was impregnated,” Gwen told him. She moved forward and took his hand in hers.
“I’m sorry, Liam. I know how hard this must be. But the baby’s coming soon. You need to make a decision so we can make arrangements. A few packs have come forward with offers of foster care. They don’t want a half Were in human hands. That would cause too many problems.”
Liam agreed. What he didn’t know yet was whether or not he was keeping Max’s child. Vice’s words echoed in his mind.
We don’t blame the child for the parents’ mistakes.
Vice was too damned wise for his own good. But it still didn’t help him with his decision regarding Max. And it didn’t make him feel any more confident about keeping this pup.
Chapter 19
Gillian paced nervously as Jinx slept. Since she’d known him, albeit, not for that long, he rarely, if ever slept and woke on a dime. Seeing him out like this . . .
“He’ll be okay, Gillian. They shot him up with some powerful drugs.” Rogue was next to her, hadn’t left his brother’s side since they’d gotten back here either.
“And if they hadn’t been stopped?”
Rogue’s brow furrowed. “They would’ve taken him in. Experimented on him. Tried to, anyway. We wouldn’t have let him stay for long.”
“That’s what these people—these weretrappers—do?”
“Yes.”
She stroked a hand across Jinx’s brow and he stirred for a second, whispered her name. She put her palm into his and squeezed. “You were captured by these trappers.”
“He told you?”
“No, you did.” There was something in his eyes when he spoke of them. “I’m sorry.”
He didn’t respond, and she continued, “What were those things? They smelled like . . . they were around Jinx when I escaped from the mansion and found him by the cemetery.”
“They’re hellhounds.” He paused. “You couldn’t see them?”
She shook her head no, then swallowed. Hard. “Am I supposed to?”
“No. That takes a different kind of ability.”
“You see ghosts too?”
“Spirits.”
She didn’t ask about the distinction. “I’m guessing the hellhounds can take down wolves.”
“I’m thinking yes.”
“But they didn’t. Why?”
“I think Jinx should be the one to tell you that. Let’s just concentrate on him for now, okay?”
“Is this how you all live, all the time?” she asked. “Or is it worse now because of me?”
“You don’t want me to answer that. No matter how I do . . .” He trailed off and she supposed he was right. Then again, they all lived with something. Rogue was as worried as she was—he couldn’t hide the anger and fear and she decided she loved him for that alone. The fact that he was related to the wolf she’d fallen in love with made it that much easier.
“I might want you to answer that for me when all of this is through,” she told him truthfully. “For now . . . Jinx.”
He gave her a small smile and nodded. “For now, Jinx.”
* * *
He smelled the hellhounds, heard their paws stamping and swore the ground was moving underneath him. He struggled to get up, to move away from them but they drew closer. Followed him. Worshipped him. Wanted him to run with them and all he wanted was to escape.
They’re never going to let you go.
Jinx’s eyes opened with a start and he nearly sprang from the bed. Caught himself before he toppled over, because he was all twisted in the blankets and there were no hellhounds here, just wolves and a vamp and he was safe. For now.
He blinked a few times and saw Rogue’s form standing facing the window in the dark. Heard Gillian’s restless footsteps outside the partially opened door. Scented Jez, who was hopefully ordering Chinese food, because he heard his own stomach growl.
A good sign.
“Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” Rogue said without turning around.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice still groggy.
“I don’t know if I’m okay. Might not ever be again,” Rogue said honestly.
“You shouldn’t have come with me the other night.”
“It’s what I’m supposed to do, Jinx. Cut the guilt shit.”
“Then you shouldn’t have come back here with me tonight.”
“Didn’t exactly have a choice. It’s not like Rift doesn’t know where I am.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Enough, to Vice. Rifter overheard some of it, about how the hellhounds protect you.” He leaned back, the bottle of Johnny Walker Green balanced on his thigh, half full. He took two more long drinks, nearly draining the bottle before he said, “What the hell are we going to do about this, brother?”
Jinx stared out the window. “What am I going to tell Gillian?”
“The truth.”
“I don’t even know what that is anymore.” He groaned in frustration. “How the hell are we going to get rid of them?”
“I think I know a way,�
�� Rogue said.
“Well, come on—I’m listening.”
Rogue crossed his arms and said, “We can’t open purgatory again—can’t risk it. But we can banish the monsters to hell.”
“They won’t just go,” Jinx pointed out.
“No, but they might follow. If you get the prayer done at the right time, I can lead them into hell.”
Jinx stared at Rogue, waiting for the joke. None came. He opened his mouth, then closed it, because what the hell was he supposed to say? Besides “No way in hell.”
“Nice pun.”
“You know what I mean. Even if that would work, you’re not doing it.”
“Maybe you’re just jealous that I could be, like, a king there.”
“I would kill you if I could,” Jinx muttered.
“We can’t keep trusting hellhounds,” Rogue said. “I know it will pain you to give up your king status.”
“Screw you.”
“That’s better. I hate being treated like glass.”
“I’ll beat the shit out of you if it makes you stop talking about going into hell.”
“I’m there, Jinx. Location isn’t much more than a state of mind.”
“I’ll sacrifice myself before I let that happen.”
“That would be stupid. You have a mate.”
“I’m not having this discussion now.”
“Something’s got to happen soon. Very soon,” Rogue warned him, and Jinx planned on ignoring his twin and his stupid, stupid suggestion for as long as possible.
* * *
After what seemed like forever, Rogue called to her and Gillian left Jez eating moo shu pork.
“Is he all right?”
“He’s up. He wants to see you.” Rogue slid past her and she hesitated for a brief moment. “Don’t be scared of him. He’d die if you felt like that.”
“I could never be scared of him. Of any of you,” she whispered.
“Except me, right, darlin’? Because I’m the big bad scary vampire,” Jez called through the pancake he was eating delicately with chopsticks.
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