He thought momentarily about what Shimmin mentioned earlier, about omegas and who could see their glow and he decided it must be bullshit.
Cain put a hand on his neck and the fresh, ripping pain began anew.
He managed to wind a hand around Cain’s wrist. “First … in case …”
“You’re not going to die.”
Sure felt like it. By this point, he was either in pain or floating away into some white light. Neither option was great news. “Shimmin … said … wolves … so busy … with magic that they … won’t do … what’s … obvious.”
Jesus H. Christ on a stick, that nearly killed him. He wanted to double over, but he couldn’t move.
Shimmin would kill him for leaking this, once he found out Angus hadn’t been killed by the wolf. Either way, Angus figured he was a dead man.
“What’s obvious, Angus?” Cain demanded.
“Fight. Supposed … to … fight them. Battle. Like … old … times.” After he finished, he closed his eyes and knew he’d pass out again. But he’d given Cain more than enough.
He heard Cain make the call with the intel, leaving someone a detailed message. And then he hung up and continued healing Angus’s broken body as Angus finally let himself slip into unconsciousness.
*
The wolf and the vamp roamed the night. Jinx’s Brother Wolf stopped protesting when he realized that the bloodsucking deadhead wasn’t going to be eating innocent humans.
In fact, Jinx wasn’t sure how or when he fed, but as long as he didn’t see it, he was cool with it.
Even though Brother Wolf was dying to come out, Jinx had to keep him tamped down, promising that he’d shift for a much-needed run later. Now he strode into the cemetery, Jez behind him in a long black leather coat and a buzz cut reminiscent of a military one, although a series of tattoos showed through, intricate patterns that reminded Jinx of the ones that had shown up on Rogue’s face recently.
He really had more to learn about this deadhead. This could all be a trap. But Brother Wolf was the best judge of a supernatural’s character and, so far, no hells bells were ringing.
Except for you.
“You ever go out during the day?” he asked Jez.
The vamp shook his head. “Not unless there’s an emergency. But the sun’s not going to hurt me. Neither will cutting off my head, so don’t get any ideas, wolf.”
“So nothing can kill you?”
Jez shook his head. “Sucks to be us, doesn’t it?”
Yes, it certainly does, Jinx mused as he approached the newly smashed mausoleum, care of Vice. The spell had been broken by screwing with its origins, but Seb hadn’t let it go.
The ghost army hadn’t been defeated, just momentarily delayed, but it bought them the time they needed.
“Are you just saying it sucks, or do you really feel, vamp?”
Jez smiled. “When we came back, we were given souls. Stupid little buggers, if you ask me.”
“That’s gotta suck.”
“You have no idea. But at least I’ve also now got an appetite and needs.”
Jinx looked out the window and wondered how the hell this was all supposed to work. “We’ve got to kill this Dire ghost army, and the witch won’t let me near her.”
“We’ve all got some repenting to do,” Jez told him. “Suck it up and move on. What’s happening with the Dire ghost army is nothing.”
“That’s why you were brought back?”
“You can’t do it alone.”
Jinx snorted. “The Elders think we should.”
“Hey, I’ve got my own problems with higher beings. Let’s just get this started.”
Jinx didn’t see any ghosts except for the few odd ones that hovered around the gates of the cemetery. The Dire ghost army had already blown through here for a practice round, and the news of desecrated corpses was just one more thing New York was buzzing about.
“It’s too damned quiet,” the vamp said.
“Anyone here?” Jinx called, his voice echoing eerily. Usually, there were stray ghosts nattering in his ear at any opportunity, and this was a prime one.
He heard marching—an overpowering sound that echoed through his brain, made him cover his ears in the vain hope of blocking it out.
It only made the sound louder. It was like every single literal thing from purgatory had decided to march.
He managed to stand, wheeled around, expecting to see his ancestors marching toward him, but there was only … nothing.
And that was worse than anything.
“Jinx, move.” Jez’s voice boomed over the other sounds. Brother Wolf forced Jinx to drop and roll just in time for the vamp to slice through a demon with a long silver blade that glowed with an eerie light, similar to the ring around Jez’s eyes.
The demon screeched, stared at Jez like he was a devil the thing hadn’t seen before, but one in particular it feared. It burst into flames and then disintegrated into a pile of ash.
The vamp stared at Jinx, who asked, “You gonna share your heritage now? I’m thinking you’re part demon.”
“No, but I am from hell.” Jez stared at him. “I can take down the possessed ones, and there are a lot of them.”
“You were really sent here to wait and watch for thirty years for purgatory to open?”
“For however long it took. I’m a patient thing. I knew it would happen. No matter how much I tried to find a way around it, you had to do what was meant to be.”
Jinx studied the vampire and wondered if trusting him was the stupidest thing he could’ve done. “Tell me more about yourself.”
“I’m from an entirely different race of vampires. An ancient one that none of these young, vulnerable fangers remember,” Jez told him. “You already know I can’t die. I can influence humans and other supernatural beings except Dires. I can influence you, but I can’t force you to take my advice. And I can kill. Well. But I can’t get rid of your Dire ghost army problem. I will, however, fight with you and then force you to deal with the purgatory issue. And yes, I’ll keep your secret until you decide your kind should know about it. Is that enough sharing? I typically like to play this a little closer to the vest, but considering we slept together—”
“Next to each other,” Jinx told him. “Are you king?”
“There are twelve of my kind left, scattered about.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know.”
Jinx sighed. “I think you need to come back to the house and talk to Rifter.”
“I can do that, if he’ll listen.”
“Am I possessed?”
“No, but you’re purgatory’s conduit. The spirits that emerged are going to keep track of you, make sure you don’t try to close their passageway. The ghost army was just there temporarily—some of those other spirits had been there for years, and they can’t just rush out. Many of them have to claw their way to the opening, which is why we need to close it before everything manages to escape. Because that would be … horrific.”
Meaning, if Jinx thought the ghost army was angry, he hadn’t seen anything yet. And with that thought, he threw up, heaved his goddamned guts out. When he stood, Jez handed him a bottle of water.
Where he’d gotten it, Jinx hadn’t a clue.
“Looks like I’m going to severely disappoint them,” he managed. “So what, you’re like my big, bad vampire guardian angel?”
“Something like that, wolf. Hell knows you needed one.”
“I need my twin back.”
“Can’t help you there. But once the Dire army’s defeated, there’s a whole new presence to deal with.”
“What if I hadn’t come to the apartment and talked to you?”
“You have an interesting way of talking, wolf. But I would’ve worked on my own,” Jez said. “I’m helping you, but we didn’t need to be a team. The walls are coming down. We’ve got to build them back up again, and the Dires are the closest thing to us there is.”
; “I’ll call Rifter on the way over.”
An unlikely alliance would be forged between vamp and wolf. There was already one between wolf and witch, but that had gone so badly before.
Chapter 42
So much had happened over the past weeks—the past twenty-four hours—that Gwen’s Sister Wolf was urging her to shift, to stop thinking and start letting her beast side take over to handle things.
It seemed like an awesome idea, but first she needed to communicate with Rifter, and that had to be through talking.
“I’m worried about Stray,” Gwen told him, the words tumbling out as he emerged from the shower, before he could take her to bed again. It didn’t stop him from coming over to her, nuzzling her neck before answering. “You’re worried because of Killian?”
“Killian, the witch … there’s a lot of pressure on him.”
“On all of us.”
“Yes, but you’re all old,” she teased. Rifter grabbed her and tickled her for a few seconds until she sputtered, “Uncle—I’ll remember to mind my elders.”
“Yes, you’d better.” Rifter nipped her neck gently. “I’ll keep an eye on him, Gwen. And you—promise me.”
“You’re going to make me do this on a daily basis, right? I won’t go anywhere without you or one of your brothers. I’d never put myself into a position where I could be used as a weapon against you.”
“I know you wouldn’t. But in the heat of battle, if something goes wrong, your Sister Wolf’s first instinct will be to save me. You have to fight that. Know that I’ll always come back to you. You’re safest in here, you and Sister Wolf. And I hate having to cage you in.”
“I have everything I need—I have family,” she said quietly. “This seems a small price to pay.”
Finding out that her blood had the capacity to kill the Dires—that it was the one, the only thing that could end their centuries of immortality—was a sobering discovery for all of them. Gwen couldn’t imagine them being taken from her, since upon her mating, the Elders had granted her immortality as well.
She would do everything in her power to keep her new mate and his family safe. Being watched over when she was allowed out seemed a small price to pay for getting rid of the seizures that had been killing her.
Maybe in a century, she’d feel differently.
“Anything more happening with the clinic?”
“I’ve been ordering more supplies, stocking up,” she said. She couldn’t help thinking about Rogue telling her she was both healer and destroyer.
Healer. If she could actually heal, if that was her ability, the clinic could handle the load it might see when the Dire ghost army marched through town.
But if Kate could stop it … Well, it seemed like a long shot no matter how Gwen looked at it.
“Hey, we’ll be okay,” Rifter told her. “We’ll find a way—we always do.”
“Are you ever going to let Harm fight with you again? Or at least, run with the pack?”
“I think he’ll work the clinic with you for the time being. With the fed still around looking for him, it’s too dangerous for him to show his face and risk our exposure.” He paused. “Will you be okay working with him?”
“We need to repair the relationship between all of us,” Gwen said. “That starts with me.”
“Good. Harm’s open to it.”
She knew Rifter would still prefer to barbecue Harm over an open pit, but maybe that would ease somehow. Before she could say anything else, Rifter’s phone beeped and he pulled away reluctantly. He read the text message with a serious look on his face, and then he showed it to her.
It was from Jinx—and he had information. “Let’s go hear him out, Rift.”
“Jinx and a vampire—this better be good.”
*
Jinx and Jez both rode their own Harleys, the vamp’s quiet next to Jinx’s noisy ride. The two, Jinx was sure, were quite a sight tearing through the streets and up the private road to the Dire house.
Brother Wolf howled, grateful to be home. Jinx didn’t have the heart to remind the wolf that wouldn’t happen yet. Instead, he led Jez toward the gazebo where the wolves, Dire and Were, waited for them.
They parked, and Jinx led the way to his family, feeling strangely out of place. Rifter was the only one who waited outside the sunroom for them, but Jinx could see inside to the others. Kate and Stray were there, on opposite sides of the crowd. They weren’t all right yet, which was a shame, because they needed that damned bond to get through this.
“Keep your cool,” Jez told him. Jinx wanted to snap at him, but he didn’t. Instead, he continued along with a deep breath and jumped right in.
“We’ve got some intel from Cain on Leo’s plans,” he reported.
Rifter didn’t say anything, moved tensely to one side and allowed them to walk past him.
“I can see your goddamned house, wolf,” Jez told Rifter by way of greeting.
“I can beat the shit out of you, vamp,” Rifter replied haughtily. Then the two shook hands. Two centuries-old supernatural creatures. Jinx didn’t know if Jez was a king or not, but he sure as hell acted like it. Jez immediately sat in an empty spot on the couch next to Kate while the others stared at him. “Tell them what you told me, Jinx.”
Jinx did and Vice clarified. “Cain’s still with the fed, Angus, making sure he’s safe from Shimmin.”
“Because he’s so trustworthy?” Stray muttered.
“Anyway, I think we’ve finally got intel we can use, and the fed nearly lost his life over it. I don’t know if he’d go that far for the trappers,” Jinx said.
“Could be a trap,” Stray pointed out.
“Angus saved Cain—why go to all that trouble?” Jinx asked. Stray shrugged. “Look, he said that Shimmin basically has us where he wants us—chasing our tails, looking for a way to defeat the Dire army that involves Rogue and witches and magic.”
“What the hell else are we supposed to defeat them with?” Vice asked.
“Us,” Jinx told them. For a long, astonished second, no one spoke.
When Rifter did, it was with the calm purpose of a leader. “Then we fight, using the old ways.”
Vice nodded in agreement. “It makes so much goddamned sense. That’s what Jameson has always wanted—a fight from Rifter.”
“And Harm,” Stray added. “You’re going to have to let him out to fight.”
“It’s not a matter of me letting him any longer. Now it’s up to him,” Rifter said. He stared at Harm, who held out his hands, wrists ringed in silver.
“Take this shit off. I’m going to kill that motherfucker,” Harm said with such command in his voice, it left no doubt that he could’ve led the Dires as the Elders wanted centuries ago. “And that is not a challenge to Rifter—he’s the rightful king now.”
“What about Seb?” Stray asked.
“He’s turned,” Jinx said. “The demons are making him push things too far. Seb had to know it would all start backfiring, that soon no one would control the demon-possessed humans but the demons themselves.”
“What if we can’t save enough of them?” Stray asked. “Maybe we should have some kind of contingency plan.”
“What, take all the Weres we can and hide on some deserted island until this is all over?’ Vice asked.
“Not a bad plan,” Kill said. “Maybe this is like survival of the fittest.”
“Or maybe the Elders will have our heads,” Jinx said darkly.
“Not necessarily a bad thing,” Vice pointed out.
Rifter began to laugh, long and loud, and the others joined in, even Jez. Jinx knew it would be the last time they shared this for some time. He pretended that everything was fine for the moment, because he desperately wanted it to be.
Chapter 43
Gwen knew what Rifter would want to do directly following the meeting. The mood was somber, although she finally felt as if everything was settled. The Dires had a true direction, a plan that seemed right, if not completely dangerous.
Jinx and Jez left. Gwen wished Rifter had invited both of them to stay, but knew he wouldn’t. Cain was still with Angus, and Cyd went with Liam to do some more scouting.
Harm went back upstairs. He’d looked more like a warrior than a rock star during that meeting, and she wondered if her father was finally accepting himself as wolf. If she had more courage, she might talk to him about it. But her husband—her love—was her first priority.
Rifter came into Rogue’s room and found her there. Vice was behind him. She realized it had been one of the first meetings they’d had that didn’t center literally around Rogue.
She reached out and stroked his hair.
“Vice, you stay here with us,” Rifter told the wild wolf. “Gwen and I are going to see Rogue.”
Gwen knew Vice noted the determination in Rifter’s eyes. There was no talking him out of this. “We have to confirm what Jinx told us.”
“Because you don’t trust him?”
“Because Rogue might be giving Kate misinformation,” Rifter growled.
“Jinx thinks it’s the best way to give Kate help,” Gwen explained. “We can’t put this all on her.”
“What do you want me to say—you know it’s the most dangerous thing you can do now,” Vice told her.
“I’m more afraid of losing my family than anything,” Gwen said softly. She took Vice’s hand in hers. “We’ll be careful.”
She tried to reassure Vice, who walked away without being very reassured at all. Still, she had no doubt he’d watch over them.
She did, however, have other doubts. “We haven’t been able to do this since Rogue helped to save me,” she reminded Rifter, although he hadn’t needed it.
“We haven’t been able to because he hasn’t let us,” Rifter growled. “He goddamned will now, because I’m his king—he will remember that.”
Gwen didn’t doubt Rifter’s words at that moment—the alpha was large and in charge, his eyes lupine, the growls coming so fast she was sure she’d be holding Brother Wolf’s paw at any moment. And as usual, Sister Wolf wanted in.
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