by Scott, Talyn
Bloodlust was not entirely Extol’s problem. Only in regards to Molly, did he suffer any bloodlust. And if he truly fed from her… “I will be leaving North America. Soon.”
“Extol, do not make a fool of me. Just so you will understand the gravity of what happened tonight. The Beta of North America and Heath Faden, a renowned Tracker from Ciaran of Scotland’s clan were the first two who found the dying human. If you did not cover your scent well, it is only a matter of time. Quit playing games.”
“Ah, a Pack Tracker and the imperious Bane Ruyter,” he breathed. “I am trembling.”
“Arrogance will not help you out of this mess.”
This was probably true, but he had a good idea of what would. “We all know that vampires are born of arrogant creatures. It is the human adage, is it not? The apple not falling far from the tree,” he said bitterly. “This should remind you that I left my youngling status centuries ago, so stop your attempts at coddling. I said I would leave soon.” With his decadent property in tow. “Take my word and go.”
Chapter Six
With his youngling Beast greedy for anything to relieve his growing tension, Ail eyed the shadows underneath the great Banyan tree as they passed the Edison Museum and the outbuildings. Anything could be lurking there, hunting the little female walking next to him. Cocking his head, he could smell his brother up ahead. Bane was noticeably tense, his scent acrid. Ail couldn’t blame him there. Some serious shit was going down, making his hackles rise.
He tried not to stare at Molly as she quietly walked beside him. After she had jumped into the pool, he’d pitched her ruined dress far across the Caloosahatchee River. If it were up to him, she’d still be wearing nothing. Yet the fact that she was now dressed in something of his, with her prized underwear gripped in one hand and her shoes dangling from the other, made Ail’s Beast roar for full transform. Wearing his thin shirt, Molly trembled with each step, the cotton sticking to every crevice of her damp body, her nipples puckering beautifully. He wanted nothing more than to slide his arm over her dainty shoulders, pull her close, and warm her in the way a virile werewolf warms his female. Considering she was married to a human that would never happen.
Figuring he was close enough to Bane’s proximity, Ail reached out to Bane’s mind. Did I stall her long enough?
Yeah, Heath and I checked everything in Were speed. Unfortunately or fortunately, whichever way you look at it, Molly’s mystery vampire bolted, though Heath knows his scent.
Apart from you, Heath’s the best Tracker I know. Ail decided to get it over with and admit to his brother that he’d broken Youngling Law. I had to invade Molly’s head, calm her down, and weave a time spell.
The Beta growled. You, of all werewolves, know better than that! You are far too young…you could have…
Ail interrupted, When I first found Molly, she was going into shock. Go all official on my ass and punish me if you have to, but, if given the same situation, I’d do it all over again. Isn’t it you, who gets preachy about how protecting and comforting females go hand in hand?
Ail, you know the rules.
Ail fought not to laugh. Rules, you say. I’m born of the Beta’s blood. By law, I am the epitome of werewolf warriors. Yet those same laws weigh down my Beast with so many useless regulations that I’m surprised I don’t vomit Were Tomes on a daily basis. Let me remind you that you know firsthand what I am capable of, which is more than most males who are centuries older. Blame yourself, Beta. I should have been checking the property alongside you, while Heath be-spelled Molly. So next time, I suggest you set an older Beast on your female nurturing tasks, Bro, and then we won’t have a need for such waste-of-my-time, legalistic conversation.
A beat of lethal silence and then, Are you still calming her?
I’m tapering off, figured I would get her to sleep before completely dropping my compulsion.
Not a word of your compulsion to anyone, Ail, he warned.
Bane, I am practiced in hiding my true nature.
A weary laugh left Bane. Not as practiced as you would like to think. Anyway, did you pick up on that trail of stench?
Molly doesn’t smell that bad, he shot back. A fallen leaf drifted to the ground, and Ail raised his chin, studying its path back to the tree branch, only to find a harmless, scampering squirrel.
Funny. Vampires are misting all over the place, Bane replied, clearly annoyed. What’s mixing with Molly’s scent, turpentine?
Old paint, hence the pit stop we made at the pool. Ail pressed his hand against the small of Molly’s back, guiding her to the left.
Amongst the stench, I felt a distinctive power when we first arrived, unfathomable power.
Me, too, Bro.
Bane continued with marked concern, We found that security guard stashed in the corner of Edison’s laboratory, nearly drained of blood.
Gluttonous leeches! Ail kicked a stick from Molly’s path a little too roughly, her brows popped but she kept quiet. Yeah, this will complicate things for our dear Molly, particularly since this guard’s disappearance will spark a human, police investigation.
Bane replied, The guard hasn’t yet disappeared. He’s holding on to life, barely, mind you, but he’s trying. Bite’s strange, though, one I’ve never before seen. It’s not from a Species Vampire or an Undead. Hell, I don't think it's from a mixed blood, either.
Ail knew what that meant. Sounds like you’re gonna have to deal with the vampire experts. And since they piss me off by their mere presence, I’m going to be out of here before they arrive. Heath can drive Molly wherever. Minute by minute, Molly was making him edgy, and he needed to find another willing female or three to let off some steam. Strange part? He wanted to bite Molly something fierce, and considering he’d never wanted to bite a female in his entire life, Ail was beyond freaked.
Mason drove your car from Six Feet Under. I’ll meet you in the parking lot. You’re to drive Molly straight to the Sanibel Island compound. I’ll be along after I meet with Heath and the investigating vampires. This whole thing has a sick vibe to it. Stay on Molly nice and tight.
Presently, nice and tight were two very sensitive words. Particularly while suffering blue balls in the proximity of a gorgeous mixed blood, during a walk beneath the pull of a strong moon. Times were tough. He could scarcely endure the escalating need to position himself behind her lovely ass, where he would then pin her with his canines and grip her mightily, thrusting inside her all night long until the sun rose high over the horizon. From there he would start all over again, watching as her riot of blond curls bounced with the force of his lust. Dream on, Ail. No matter how much Ail teased Molly, throwing out innuendo after innuendo; he would never touch any woman claimed by another male, human or otherwise. Yeah, he refused to lose himself that way.
“Here’s Molly’s keys,” he said when he spotted Bane in the parking lot.
“And here are yours,” Bane said in an inscrutable tone as they exchanged key rings. To Molly, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“More than okay,” she lied and both werewolves could smell it. “I’m sorry about phoning you over… nothing.”
“You can always call us. Anytime and for anything, okay?” Bane cupped her elbow and guided her in the passenger’s side of Ail’s new, super silver GT-R. “Relax, Ail’s gonna give you a lift while I lock up for you. We’ll have your car at The Blue Pelican in a few. Sound good?”
Glancing at her trembling hands, she admitted, “Yeah, I’m pretty, uh, tired…so I appreciate that.” She dropped her undies and shoes on the floorboard. “This will be my last day working here, if I don’t somehow get that mess in the main house cleaned up.”
“Paint?” Bane asked with a gentle smile.
“It’s probably dried by now,” Molly whispered, her fingertips nervously tapping her lips. “They’ll sue me.”
“I know somebody who knows somebody, who has a knack for cleaning up ridiculous messes,” Bane assured her with a wink. “By morning, it’ll be tip-t
op and none the wiser.”
“Why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why did I call you first? How did you come so quickly?” Her words grew harsher. “Why do you want to help someone who clearly doesn’t like you, particularly the relationship you have with my sister Renee?”
Bane shrugged. “We’re family.”
Ail laughed as he settled behind the wheel and started the car. “Don’t say that, Bro, she’ll start screaming if you do.” Instead of hearing the snappy retort that he expected from his big brother, Ail watched Bane’s nostrils flare. What is it?
If you have to, use the nitrous. Bane shut Molly’s door and jetted across the parking lot. Go!
“What’s happening?” Molly asked, exhaling a stunned breath. Amazingly, her moss green eyes trailed Bane as he jumped from tree to tree, in speeds humans couldn’t normally follow.
“Never mind what’s happening, just hold on, Molly.” Ail cursed, his breathing deepening due to his rising werewolf. Tamp it down. Tamp it down. One slow exhale and it…worked. Werewolf averted, thank you very much. He peeled out of the parking lot, kicking up a fine spray of gravel and dust. “Oh, and you may want to close those lovely, Irish eyes.” By the time Ail realized exactly what was happening, the sick sensations his body refused to believe, an ominous flapping sounded overhead.
“Oh, my…w-what is that?” Molly gasped, her head careening this way and that.
He threw more compulsion her way: You didn’t see that. “I told you to close your eyes.” He smoked through the intersection, unable to stop for the red light as they careened down McGregor Boulevard. With the moderate traffic and their breakneck speed, Ail figured they had a fifty fifty shot of making it to Sanibel Island without him turning werewolf…unless the police got involved. “Shit!”
Molly turned to him with patrol lights flickering across her face. “The cops are chasing us, like we’re criminals!”
“We kind of are,” he barked, nearly sideswiping a Royal Palm while weaving around a slow going minivan. “Well, more like you, being a vandal and all.”
“I’m not a vandal!”
“Ah, Innocent Molly, that wasn’t finger-painting I saw back there. By the way, you don’t have any of it dried under your nails, do you? Cops will scrape them for evidence.” Ail crossed the median, passing four cars before having a near-miss collision with yet another patrol car. Yep, the mortal authorities were calling in reinforcements.
“Running makes things worse!” With a cry, she stretched her hand toward the steering wheel.
“Everyone knows that you don’t touch a man’s equipment unless you intend on putting out.” He gripped her wrist, circling the tiny bones with his fingers and placing it back onto her lap. When his forearm brushed her soft thigh, he inwardly groaned.
“Ail, pull over!”
When the third patrol car entered the melee, Ail realized he had no other choice but to drop his hold on Molly’s mind and redirect his coercion on the six officers, who were tailing them. In the process of him confusing the police, sending them in different directions, Molly would remember everything that she had seen and felt tonight. More than likely, the memory rush would propel her into a human hysteria of some sort, and he wasn’t so good with consoling hysterical humans. “I’m not stopping so sit tight.”
“Are you kidding?” she sputtered. “You most certainly will stop!”
“No, I won’t,” he said patiently. Even mixed with remnants of paint, her scent was killing him. Ail’s werewolf was too twitchy around her, shooting primordial tingles up and down his spine. Gritting his teeth, he shook those thoughts off yet again and finally released his compulsion on her.
“What’s happening to my head?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute.” His left hand sprouted claws, so he thrust it under his thigh, waiting it out. Down Beast, she’s not ours. “On the count of three, take a deep breath and hold it.”
“For what?”
Ail growled, “Can’t you stop asking questions long enough to do what you’re told?” His werewolf picked that time to slam his head, rattling his skull until his ears started ringing. He stretched his neck, fighting the pain, but it was no use. To his right, Molly was shattering his sensitive Were ears, her mouth firing on all cylinders, spewing out shit regarding women’s rights. And how he couldn’t tell her to ‘do what she was told’ or she was going to do something anatomically impossible to his body. He’d never heard anything like it in his life. And she didn’t stop there. Oh, no. After that, Molly told Ail that it didn’t matter if he was three times her size - probably four times but he wouldn’t interrupt her - since she took a premium self-defense course and knew a thing or two about removing assholes from deserving people. He didn’t particularly like the way she drew out the word deserving, but he was too busy outrunning the cops to mention it. It didn’t matter; Ail knew she was all fluff. Molly was horrified when he’d found her coming out of that hidden room beneath Edison’s staircase, but he didn’t have the heart to point it out and shoot down her self-confidence.
“Fine, Molly Ballbuster, have it your way.” Now, he had a healthier respect for his brother’s ability to multitask, specifically while guarding impossible females. “Don’t say you weren’t warned.” Slamming his teeth together to ward off his growing canines, Ail released his compulsion from Molly and threw everything he had towards the six officers. Come on! Come on. “Flip off your lights, turn those patrol cars around, and leave to find real criminals.” It took all of ten seconds before the patrol cars ceased chase. One problem down, many to go.
He heard Molly’s sharp intake of breath, but he trained his eyes on certain shadows hovering in the sky, which could lead to a potential problem and a half. In his side vision, though, he saw that she had wrapped her arms around her head, her lips soundlessly chanting something. “If those are prayers, work ‘em in triple time, sweetheart, if my instincts are right, things are just about to get interesting.”
“He disappeared!” She screeched in a disbelieving voice. “It really happened. He kissed me and then disappeared right in front of me!”
For the first time in his short twenty years, Ail finally understood what possessive jealousy was all about. “Who the hell kissed you?” Oh, he would never get his claws to retract now!
“That man.”
“Your husband, right?” Damn it! Why did he nearly choke on that word? She’s not ours.
“No! Under the stairs, the man with those eyes kissed me before he vanished.”
“Those eyes, you say?” Molly’s face contorted in panic before she shook her head no, and he knew what she was thinking. That he would rat out her supposed insanity to her nutty family, who would then toss her into a padded cell and never look back. They might do that to Renee but not to Molly. “The man disappeared and,” he coaxed.
“Then, you found me.”
A partial truth, there was something she was hiding. “What are you leaving out?”
She finally admitted, “He…acted like he knew me and said he would find me after the next rain.”
“Really?” Surprise, surprise, they were in the middle of rainy season. “So we’re to expect mystery man tomorrow or perhaps the next day?”
Molly dared to ask, “What do you mean by we’re to expect him?”
Ail bent the steering wheel. “Bane reminded you that we were family, right? Or do you think your husband,” he sneered the word, couldn’t help himself, “can take care of this man?” Cause I sure as hell can!
Instead, she countered with yet another question of her own. “You don’t seem shocked that I told you a man disappeared, like, into thin air.”
“Shocked?” They had finally reached the Sanibel Causeway, and as Ail suspected, their uninvited guests had flown ahead, creating an aerial roadblock. “Look in front of you, Molly, and you’ll understand why nothing shocks me.”
Chapter Seven
At Molly’s gasp, Ail bestowed the barest thread of tranquil co
mpulsion on her distressed mind. It would have to do, since the remainder of his persuasive powers would be reserved for the oncoming traffic, in a there’s-nothing-to-see-here-keep-driving sort of way. “Calm down. I don’t know about you, but I want to go home tonight with all my limbs attached.” Molly stayed quiet. “Good. Now, reach behind you and pull out my compound bow.” She dug it out. “Excellent,” he coached, gripping the steering wheel with his be-clawed hand and grasping the bow she’d given him in the other. “Do you see my quiver?”
“What…Y-you have claws!”
“Yeah, about that, now would be a good time for you to see reason. Be glad for my claws, Molly, they give us a sporting chance. Focus on staying alive, on the sound of my voice, and block out everything else. Believe me, buried deep down, you have the ability to do this. Search for my quiver, please, second request.”
He rolled down the window at the tollbooth and kept it that way. Hanging his head out, the sight above him made his stomach plummet. A solid black mass nearly blocked out the moon. Rock had told Ail about these creatures, how in full transformation, he’d taken down one. Considering Ail was now staring at three of the Dynasty Empire’s Gryphs flying low, their midnight wings flapping in the island breeze, he felt seriously outnumbered. Seen by few, the royal guards kept a low profile, obscuring their cunning predatory skills from not only the human world, but also the immortal world as a whole. Ail knew that the only reason he could see these particular Gryphs was that they allowed it. So what exactly was going on? With his blood running colder by the second, he told Molly to hurry up.
