by Lauren Dawes
‘You did what?’ The memory of Beth crying on her shoulder was like a smack in the face for Indi. About two months ago, Beth had broken up with that knuckle dragger after he posted his latest conquest on every social media network available to him. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t still been dating Beth at the time. ‘Don’t you dare think about going back to him,’ Indi bit out the words, holding back on a few other choice ones she wanted to slip in.
Beth ducked her head, shame and regret bruising her cheeks. ‘I just wanted to talk to him.’
‘Why? What could you possibly have to say to him?’ Indi snapped back.
‘I miss talking to him.’
Indi slammed her fork onto the side of her plate, causing Beth to wince. ‘After what he did to you, you want to talk to him still? Tell me that you told him to shove it at least once when you were having your catch up chat.’ Her voice was hard, the edge so sharp it cut.
‘He said that he missed me and he was sorry for what he did to me,’ she replied softly.
With a cool rush, Indi’s anger woke from its temporary slumber. Her head began shaking at the possibility of it all. ‘No.’ It was the only word she could formulate that didn’t involve a curse. Indi hated Jason with such passion. He had hurt Beth and she promised herself that she would never let that happen again. Ever.
‘What do you mean no?’
‘I mean no—not him Beth.’ Indi didn’t beg, so this was as close as she ever flirted with it.
‘I still don’t understand.’
Indi couldn’t believe she couldn’t see what he was doing. Hell, she couldn’t even see what she was doing. ‘Don’t believe his lies. Please,’ she ground out. She suddenly felt dirty for dipping her toe into the begging pool. Twice in as many minutes was not good.
‘What’s wrong with Jason?’ she asked in her softest voice ever. ‘You liked him just fine before.’
Indi wouldn’t have even said that. Like was a strong word. Tolerated maybe, but even that implied a certain amount of apathy. No, Indi would say that she hated his fucking guts, not that she had ever told Beth that. ‘Exactly. Before. Before he went and fucked Sophie because he couldn’t get what he wanted from you. Before he broke your heart. What he did to you …’ she stopped abruptly, feeling the familiar unease of her anger clawing at her skin. ‘Has what happened slipped your mind completely?’ she finished harshly.
Beth’s arms crossed over her small chest. ‘No, I haven’t forgotten,’ she said in a hard whisper. Indi just couldn’t understand what the hell was going through her mind. Love wasn’t just fucking blind. ‘The Bible says we should forgive others,’ Beth added softly.
Indi shook her head at her, not even bothering to launch into the whole Bible thing with her. ‘He’ll hurt you again, Beth. And you know what will happen if he hurts you, don’t you? I’ll make sure that he’ll never be able to have children—that’s what will happen.’
Beth frowned and turned away from her, concentrating on the TV. Fuck it. Indi didn’t like it, but she knew she had to apologise, but Beth’s phone rang just as she opened her mouth. Her eyes snapped down to the illuminated face of her iPhone lying on the table next to her plate. The background picture was of her and Beth on Indi’s last day of school. ‘HOME’ flashed impatiently on the screen, tap dancing with the Marimba ringtone on the phone.
Beth glanced at Indi. ‘It’s my mother.’ She waited for Indi to nod before running her finger over the phone to answer the call. Not wanting to be rude, Indi focussed on the TV while Beth talked.
‘Sorry Ind. She wants me to be home in half an hour,’ Beth told her a few minutes later.
‘So we can finish eating, at least.’
Beth shook her head. ‘I also have to stop at the store to pick up some things.’
Indi didn’t want to leave things how they were right now. ‘Feel like some company?’ Besides, she’d rather be dead than let Beth out of her apartment in this neighbourhood at night.
Beth seemed to think about that for a moment. ‘You’ll have to walk home afterwards.’
Shrugging her shoulders at her, Indi asked, ‘So?’
‘What about the rapist?’ Beth asked, lowering her voice as if the rapist were in the room and would be offended if he heard they were talking about him.
‘I’ve got it covered,’ Indi smiled coolly. Beth’s eyes flickered to Indi’s right leg then back to her face. Weapons made her nervous. At least it wasn’t a gun. There wasn’t a chance that she could accidentally cut her own foot off with a knife. Indi could practically see the thoughts churning around in Beth’s head as she tried to think of a way to stop her from going with her. ‘Beth, I’ll be fine. Trust me.’
Her bottom lip made a trip into her mouth. ‘Okay,’ the word and the tone of her voice didn’t really match, but Indi let it go. Her anxiety was just that––hers.
‘Are you ready?’ Indi prompted after she just sat on the couch looking at her while worry etched small lines on her face.
‘If you’re sure?’
*
Rhett had felt Indi’s anger like a slap in the face as he left her at her apartment. And he deserved to feel every little bit of it. He had overstepped his bounds. He ran his hand through his dark hair, fighting the urge to rip it out in frustration. He’d been a fool to think that he could take on this job. He had no idea why the Seer had even found Indi while scrying for other wereanimals in and around their territory about six months ago, but she’d shown up all the same.
‘I’ve found a félvair,’ the Seer said, sounding like she was a five-pack-a-day smoker.
His alpha—Antain—steepled his fingers under his chin. ‘Are you sure, Seer?’ he asked in his deep, rumbling voice.
She nodded; her white, spider-web hair rasping against the top of the hood on the black robes she always wore. ‘Yes, Alpha of the Helheim Pack. I am sure.’
Antain settled further into his seat becoming deathly still as he considered the news. The pack’s beta, Vaile, schooled his expression well—giving absolutely nothing away. He made the cop-face into a scary-ass art form. Rhett glanced over at Sabel. He was captain of the pack’s enforcers and technically Rhett’s boss. The guy was an asshole who he’d never seen eye to eye with anyway.
Sabel’s hand was clutching the arm of his chair—his knuckles turning white with the effort. Chartreuse eyes stared out at the Seer, his wolf at war with the man. Suddenly his eyes narrowed, swinging dangerously in Rhett’s direction. Instinctively—but not consciously—a low growl vibrated Rhett’s chest, his lip curled away from his top teeth. When he realised what he was doing, where he was, he looked away into the hearth he was standing next to, watching the flames lick the wood like a sadistic lover. Submitting to Sabel made his skin crawl, but it was a necessary evil.
‘You,’ the Seer croaked. Rhett turned around to see her pointing at him with a bony finger. ‘Come here.’ Her sightless eyes were eerily precise, managing to stare right into his soul even though her sight had been stolen so many years ago. Rhett glanced over at his alpha, waiting for permission to participate in the meeting that he was technically intruding on. Antain’s brown eyes slipped to gold before he gave him a nod. Rhett swallowed past the lump in his throat and pushed away from the mantel.
The pack’s Seer had always given him the heebies. Her leathery skin was stretched tight over long bones. Her hair trailed down her back like long fingers, her cloudy eyes sitting in hollow sockets.
‘Give me your hand,’ she commanded.
Rhett exhaled and placed his hand in hers. Her skin was warm and smooth. When she started to hum something quietly, he felt a tingle rush over his skin, burrowing into every cell in his body. After a few minutes, she released him and placed a hand over his heart. Heat flared from between the connection of their meeting skin until Rhett thought he couldn’t take anymore. Just as he was about to break, the heat faded and it was just an old woman’s warm hand on his chest again.
‘You will be her Guardian a
fter her transition.’ The Seer dropped her hand just as Sabel lost his goddamn mind.
‘What?!’ Sabel roared, pushing out of his chair and sending it clattering to the ground. ‘This fucked up excuse for a wolf? He should have been put down when he was a pup,’ Sabel yelled, moving towards Rhett until he was up in his face. Rhett’s chest vibrated; the growl travelling up his throat and trickling out from behind his bared teeth.
‘Sabel!’ Their alpha’s voice boomed through the room, shaking the pictures on the wall and making the fire in the hearth hiss anxiously. ‘Enough,’ he muttered. ‘The Seer has said it is so and so it is.’
‘He’s defective. Rightfully, he should have been dead already. He has no right to have the honour,’ Sabel spat, glaring at Rhett, challenging him with his fixed chartreuse stare. Sabel’s wolf was dangerously close to the surface.
‘Purer blood runs through my veins, you Bitten piece of shit,’ Rhett snarled back, feeling the hairs at the back of his neck standing on end—the best his human body could do to represent his wolf’s raised hackles.
A giant hand landed on Rhett’s shoulder. He didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Vaile’s palm. ‘Break it up,’ he rumbled. Rhett refused to back down; waiting until Sabel moved first.
The Seer pointed at Rhett again, breaking the tension in the room. ‘He is the one who must be her Guardian.’
Antain held the Seer’s gaze. ‘And it will be done, Seer. I will make sure of it.’
‘Alpha, I would like to speak with you privately if I may. There are some things you must know,’ she added in her rasping voice.
Antain bowed slightly. ‘Of course.’ Turning to Vaile, Sabel and Rhett, he said, ‘We’re done for tonight.’
‘I cannot leave your side,’ Sabel replied, stepping forward.
‘I am quite safe, Sabel. Leave us now.’ Rhett could tell by the way Sabel curled his fists that he was fighting the direct order. ‘Now!’ Antain barked at Sabel. The look on his face was like a puppy being hit with a rolled-up newspaper, but he turned on his heel and stalked out. Vaile followed him and Rhett came up the rear, closing the huge mahogany door behind him and leaning against it for support.
‘I bet you’re pretty fucking proud of yourself, aren’t you?’
Rhett opened his eyes to find Sabel eye-fucking him about two inches away from his face. Rhett’s wolf bristled. ‘Get out of my face Sabel,’ Rhett growled.
He didn’t move. ‘You weren’t even supposed to be in that meeting.’
‘And I didn’t ask to be there either,’ Rhett replied, glancing over Sabel’s shoulder at Vaile. He had propped himself up against the opposite wall just watching them as he always seemed to do. He wouldn’t intercede unless blood was going to be spilled.
‘That doesn’t stop it from happening though, does it?’ Sabel snarled, still not giving an inch.
Rhett’s eyes ratcheted sideways back to Sabel. ‘Fuck you Sabel. I didn’t ask for this.’ He shouldn’t have been in that meeting and he sure as shit shouldn’t have been chosen as Guardian to the félvair. That honour usually went to the strongest, unmated wolf, which meant that Vaile or Sabel really should have been selected—not him. He tried to sidestep the guy, but he moved in front of him again.
‘The only reason you’re still breathing is because of our alpha.’
‘And that’s the thing that really gets to you, isn’t it? How a defective wolf, who should have been put down when he was a pup, has the ear of the alpha. I’m the only family he has left. I should be alpha. Just be thankful that I’m not because I would have had you killed the moment I assumed leadership. Now get out of my fucking way before I make you get out of my way,’ Rhett snarled. After a long, hard minute, Sabel backed away from Rhett and stalked up the stairs. After getting his temper back in check, Rhett looked up to find Vaile staring at him from the same position he was in before. He didn’t say anything, but Rhett could have sworn that he nodded at him before navigating his way through to the kitchen.
So here he was, six months later, still her Guardian and still with no idea why he had been chosen. He’d started just going to the café to see her, to make sure she knew who he was before he applied for a job there. He figured he’d keep her close. He just had no idea that by keeping her so close that he’d develop feelings for her. He ran his hand through his hair again, laughing at the hopelessness of the situation when his phone started ringing.
He pulled it out of his pocket without checking who it was. ‘Yeah?’ he answered gruffly.
‘It’s Vaile. Get back to the house. We’ve got a situation.’
‘What is it?’
‘Just get back to the house,’ he said, the line going dead a second later.
With a curse, Rhett jogged to his car and began driving home. Even though he’d just seen her, he drove past Indi’s apartment block—relieved to see the lights on. Lights on meant she was safe and just where she was supposed to be. Driving north, he got out of Buxton and headed towards the farmhouse.
Rhett pulled his 1993 Volkswagen Jetta onto the gravel road that lead to the pack’s farmhouse on the outskirts of Buxton. The place had been built at the turn of the last century, and had been in his family ever since. His father should have been alpha, not his uncle, but being killed sure put an end to that particular dream. Leadership ran from family to family, and father to son unless the son abdicated from the duty—in which case the next eldest son would step forward. If there were no sons to take control, the alpha could choose their own predecessor. That’s what had happened to Rhett. When his father died, he was supposed to become alpha of the Helheim pack, but his defect would never be acceptable, so leadership went to his uncle. Rhett brought the car to a stop next to the house and got out; leaving the bitterness that constantly lapped the angry shores in his head behind.
He found his uncle, Vaile and Sabel in the living room waiting for him.
‘Is she safe?’ his uncle asked as soon as he walked in the room.
Rhett nodded. ‘The last I checked she was.’
‘Good, because we have a problem.’
‘What is it?’
‘A vampire,’ Vaile replied, taking over from his alpha. ‘In Buxton. I came across a body on my shift tonight. The body was drained, the throat slit to hide the bite marks.’
Rhett swallowed thickly. ‘Is it one of the Sicarii?’
Vaile shrugged. ‘Not sure, but the Sicarii don’t feed on humans, so I’m guessing it’s just a regular vamp.’
‘What are we going to do?’ Rhett asked.
‘Hunt it down and kill it,’ Vaile replied; a glint of malice flashing in his normally passive eyes.
‘When?’
‘Now,’ Antain said. ‘You, Vaile and Sabel are going in.’
Rhett glanced at Sabel then Vaile then back to his alpha. ‘Isn’t that a bit of overkill?’
His uncle gave him a meaningful look. Right. So leaving Sabel alone with him wasn’t such a good idea. He was being babysat. Rhett opened his mouth to protest, but a stern look from his alpha closed it for him. ‘I want you to be careful Rhett. It’s not just your life you have in your hands now. Remember that.’
‘I will Uncle.’
Rhett took the Jetta into Buxton. Vaile was riding shotgun while Sabel kissed his own kneecaps in the back seat.
‘I should have been driving,’ he grumbled.
‘Nobody drives my car Sabel,’ Rhett snapped, trying to hide his smile but failing. ‘How’s the space back there by the way?’
‘A fucking midget wouldn’t be comfortable,’ Sabel muttered.
‘Enough,’ Vaile snarled, his eyes flashing icy-blue before looking out the passenger window again.
Twenty minutes later, Rhett parked in Hell one block away from where the body had been found. Vaile had called in the pack to dispose of the body as soon as it was discovered and found to be a supernatural kill. Humans didn’t need to know about that stuff.
‘It was down this alleyway,’ Vaile said,
leading the way down the dark, dank space. To Rhett, all he could smell was death; the scent of the vampire an aftertaste to that. ‘Rhett, shift so you can pick up the scent a little more strongly,’ Vaile added.
‘No. I’m going to Change. Rhett’ll probably fuck this up for us,’ Sabel snarled, pushing past him as he pulled his t-shirt over his head and unbuttoned his jeans.
‘This isn’t some kind of pissing contest Sabel,’ Rhett said. ‘But go for it. I haven’t got a hard on to get killed tonight.’
Sabel’s lip curled away from his lip, but he said nothing. Vaile and Rhett turned around when the alleyway filled with the wet sucking sounds of the Change. Shifting into a wolf wasn’t a pretty thing. When Sabel growled softly, them both turned around to face the huge chocolate-brown wolf that shared Sabel’s body. Dropping his head to the ground, Sabel sniffed around the alleyway and picked up the scent a minute later. He charged out of the alleyway with Vaile and Rhett on his tail.
They didn’t get very far before Sabel stopped and growled down a dark backstreet. By the looks of it, the streetlights overhead had been broken and never bothered to be replaced. Sabel disappeared into the swallowing darkness, leaving Vaile and Rhett to cautiously slide in after him. The sound of suckling was faint, but Rhett honed in on that one sound, navigating himself to the other side of a dumpster.
The vampire hadn’t heard them or smelled them yet; too engrossed in feeding than worrying about its safety. Sabel crouched down to hide and after a nod from Vaile, Rhett stepped away from the dumpster; his arms crossed his broad chest. ‘And what do we have here?’ he asked, staring into the dirty-brown eyes of the vampire. Shocked, the vamp disengaged its fangs and let the human drop. She was female and probably no older than nineteen or twenty. Her clothes told him that he had picked her up from “The Imp and Impaler”, an underground Goth club not too far from here. She made no attempt to move, the euphoria on her face enough to tell Rhett that the vamp’s saliva was doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing.
